Maintaining his dragon form, Todd crawled on all fours along the steep slopes of the Supuha Mountains.

Todd glanced back at Elijah, who was far, far behind him. To Todd's figure was like an insignificant black dot on the horizon.

Todd stopped, his voice echoing across the foothills: "I can fly while holding onto you, which will save a lot of time."

Eliard raised his cane and shouted something towards the sky; Todd could barely hear his voice.

“My dignity will not allow you to do that.”

Todd shook his head helplessly, slowly lowered his body, and lay down on the hillside.

Fifteen minutes later, Iliad finally reached Todd's position.

Todd raised his dragon head, looked at the panting old man, and asked him, "How much further?"

Eliade pointed his cane at the distant mountaintop, where gray smoke billowed out, making it look like a burning lake embedded in the mountain.

Todd squinted and said, "That's a crater."

Ilyad: "One of the many volcanoes in the Supuha Mountains."

Todd: "You mean Sutherland lives there? That sounds incredible." Elijah took a breath and continued walking.

Todd watched his retreating figure and asked, "Why did Sutherland test me?"

Elijah: "You've asked this question several times along the way. As for the answer, you can ask Sutherland yourself."

Todd said in a deep voice, "Are all people who come from the Elder Council so enthusiastic about testing? You are, Sutherland is, and Rachel is too..."

Elijah: "That's because of what we've been through in the past, which has taught us how to cherish trust."

Todd: "But with this mindset, you'll miss out on a lot."

Eliades: "It's better to miss out than to be betrayed."

Todd didn't intend to say anything more, and the two of them walked and stopped until they finally reached the edge of the crater.

The pungent smell of sulfur filled his nostrils. Todd looked down into the bottomless abyss, where thick smoke and dust obscured his view.

Looking back at Elijah, Todd was amazed to see that the old man seemed largely unaffected by his surroundings.

"Go this way, there's a downward path here, it's a bit narrow, you need to turn back into human form first..."

Todd glanced at the narrow path Eliad had mentioned, shook his head, stretched out his dragon claw, grabbed the former, then flapped his huge dragon wings and leaped toward the crater.

Passing through thick smoke and dust, letting large and small pebbles swirl around him, Todd descended for several minutes before finally seeing a flat area.

With his feet outstretched and wings spread, Todd slowed down and came to a steady stop on an open ground, gently placing Iliad down from his claws.

Fiery, churning lava, rugged, towering stone forests, and vast, boundless rock formations.

Todd looked around at his surroundings, finding it hard to believe that anyone could live in such a place.

Iliad, who had landed on the ground, first rubbed his waist and legs, then patted the dust off his body and said to Todd, "Young man, walking more is not a bad thing."

Looking at the vast, boundless sea of ​​lava in the distance, Todd asked, "Where is Sutherland?"

Elijah first looked into the distance, then slowly bent down and said to Todd, "He's here."

"You're here? I didn't see you..."

Before Todd could finish speaking, a tremendous tremor came from underground, and magma shot up more than ten meters high. The entire volcano was even emitting a deafening roar.

An enormous shadow rose from the lava, obscuring the sky and dispersing the smoke and dust.

It was a strange creature so enormous that words could not describe it. Compared to it, Todd, who had transformed into a dragon, was like a toddler placed next to an ancient giant.

The creature was covered from head to toe in a thick, charred black carapace, with hundreds of pairs of sharp limbs, each nearly ten meters long, twisting and swaying like the legs of a centipede.

Its head was entirely crimson, its skin covered with huge, wrinkled scales, and hundreds of eyes of varying sizes were scattered among the scales. It had a gaping maw full of sharp teeth that would terrify even demons.

Standing on the rock, Todd raised his dragon head to look at the enormous monster, his heart filled with utter shock.

He had seen the images Rachel brought back in the soul space, in which Sutherland's blurry figure was visible.

However, only by standing directly in front of Sutherland can one truly feel his power and terror.

Sutherland moved closer to Todd, lowered his head and stared at the latter. The countless eyes on his head blinked incessantly with the rise and fall of his body, as if he had seen something interesting.

Todd opened his mouth as if to say something, but was a little worried about whether the other person could understand him.

Elijah stood up and said to Todd, “You don’t need to speak; he can hear everything you’re thinking.”

Todd turned around in surprise and asked Elijah, "You mean, Sutherland can read minds?"

Eliades: "The abilities of the ancients far exceed your imagination."

Todd turned to look at Sutherland and said, "I need your help with something... but even if I don't say it, you should be able to guess."

The enormous monster swung its body, extending a sharp limb toward Todd.

Todd instinctively tried to dodge, but the other person was slow and didn't seem to have any malicious intent.

The limbs touched the dragon's head, and the next second, Todd instantly felt his consciousness being pulled away and drawn into a certain place.

When Todd opened his eyes and regained consciousness, he found himself in a vineyard.

The ripe grapes hanging on the trellis, heavy with their bright purple skin, evoke a sense of joy and longing for a new harvest.

Looking up into the distance, amidst the endless vineyards, atop a low hill stands a pure white garden-style house.

Todd pushed aside the plants in front of him and walked towards the courtyard. The setting sun cast his shadow on the ground, pointing into the distance.

As Todd reached the foot of the hill, he heard voices, including those of women and children.

As Todd climbed the rocky steps, before he even reached the mansion, he saw someone in the garden outside the gate.

The man appeared to be in his fifties, dressed in a men's toga commonly seen during the Taro era, carrying a half-empty watering can in his hand, and had a faint smile on his face.

"Come in and have a seat. We've been waiting for you for a long time."