Chapter 240 Digging up ancestral graves to one's face, it hurts, it hurts so much (long chapter)

"Evil dragon!"

"How dare you destroy the ancestral altar!"

Shaking with anger, a trembling whisper rose from the swirling dust.

The shaman Leoni was covered in dust but unharmed, keeping a close eye on the red iron dragon while being protected by two guards on either side.

Bang bang bang!

Huge chunks of rubble were lifted up, and the tattoos on the ancestral guardians glowed with intense light as they emerged.

Apart from the four guards who were directly crushed to death by Garros, the other elite guards who were affected by the aftershocks, although they had some injuries, none of them died, clearly all of them were elites.

"Destruction? I want annihilation."

Hong Tielong said slowly and deliberately.

Opposite her, Leoni's thin fingers dug deeply into the grooves of her staff, her knuckles turning white.

Her cloudy eyes blazed with fury, and her voice was hoarse as she said, "You think dragonfire can burn away the ancestral heritage of the Dawn Tribe? You will pay for your blasphemy, you evil dragon cub!"

After a pause, the shaman's voice suddenly rose in pitch.

"Ancestors of all ages, grant us the power to punish the evil dragon!"

The ancestral guardians around them simultaneously let out furious roars, which were not human voices, but rather like layers upon layers of howls.

The tattoos on their bodies all burst forth with dazzling light, sometimes resembling beautiful women, and sometimes transforming into the face of a majestic man, appearing as ancestral war spirits, and then shrinking back to merge with them.

Their muscles bulged like fermenting dough, their bones cracked like popping beans, and in the blink of an eye they transformed into giants at least four meters tall, their veins bulging and contracting like earthworms.

Their weapons, too, were covered in layers of light and grew to enormous size.

"A swift and decisive victory."

Galos's deep voice sounded like two hot irons rubbing against each other. He slowly lowered his body, and his tail spines scraped against the ground with a teeth-grinding scraping sound.

It was obvious to everyone that the Red Iron Dragon was about to attack.

However, the ancestral guardians, whose primary duty was to be barbarians, were in a state of rage and had no fear of death. Instead of dodging, they charged forward first.

The first to rush forward were two guards with giant bear skulls embedded in their shoulder armor.

The ground trembled as they charged, and the arcs of light trailed by their stone axes left afterimages in the air.

Galos did not dodge, but instead raised his right claw to meet the axe blade—clang! The loud clang of metal clashing shook the surrounding ruins into dust. The axe blade got stuck in the gaps of his scales, sending up a trail of sparks and leaving a shallow, bloodless mark.

Tear!

The red iron dragon raised its left claw and then fell, slicing horizontally like a blade. A guard's body exploded into a bloody mist, his tattoo totem was forcibly torn apart, and his body was shattered into pieces.

But strangely enough...

The totem lights that were floating in the air did not disappear. Instead, they seemed to be pulled by an invisible hand and sank directly to the crumbling mountain peak beneath their feet.

"For the Dawn Tribe!"

The towering, imposing, and seemingly inhuman ancestral guardians roared repeatedly, leaping high into the air and slashing their giant axes at the red iron dragon's neck.

Even in his rage, he could still feel the power from the ancestral soul, as if countless hands were gripping the giant axe with him, unleashing the strongest strike ever.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

A sound like countless lightning bolts suddenly rang out.

Thick, shimmering golden lightning crackled across the Red Iron Dragon's body, causing its already powerful form to swell even further, its muscles nearly bursting through its scales, revealing textures resembling cast iron.

Since it's a swift and decisive decapitation strike, ending the battle quickly is the primary objective.

Garos didn't wait for his opponent to break his Cold Explosion Scale first and make good use of all his power; he directly activated his Frenzy state.

"Die, you reptile."

The red iron dragon's figure suddenly blurred.

The guard's axe only struck an afterimage. With a flash of golden light, Garus's true form appeared three meters behind him.

Flames erupted from the dragon's claws, bursting forth suddenly.

In an instant, the guard's back was torn apart as if it were thin paper.

But even more deadly are the dragon flames and lightning that follow, penetrating the body.

Suddenly, a blazing light emanated from the ancestral guardian's chest, and the next second, the entire body exploded from the inside, scattering burning flesh and bone fragments all over the ground.

In their enraged and berserk state, the Ancestral Guardians are like unkillable cockroaches.

Even with its head severed, the headless body could continue fighting for a while driven by instinctive rage, but under the overwhelming power, it was still killed by Garus in one blow and could no longer fight.

"Samantha!"

Galos let out a low growl, his gaze fixed on the old shaman Leonie who was chanting.

The Red Dragon is already poised to unleash its power.

She spread her wings, and liquid-like flames ignited between the gaps in her scales, which then automatically condensed in the air into hundreds of sharp, red crystal spears.

With a light tap of her claws, those crimson crystal spears rained down on the ancestral guards.

The three guards in the front row raised their totem shields, and the ancient runes on the shields glowed blue.

The crimson crystal spear struck the light barrier, but instead of being deflected, it shattered abruptly, bursting forth with brilliant light and flames.

Boom! All the spears exploded at the same time.

The blood-red flames instantly engulfed the guards' bodies.

That was no ordinary flame, but a deadly weapon formed from the flames of a red dragon through alchemy. The surrounding earth and rocks were swept by the aftershocks and melted into crystals of high temperature.

"A stab to the soul!"

Sorog's voice was like the striking of a cold anvil.

Strange ripples appeared on the surface of his obsidian-like dragon scales, and psionic energy condensed into invisible spikes, piercing towards the spiritual body guarded by his ancestors.

The two guards who were about to attack Garros from the flank suddenly froze.

It felt as if red-hot steel needles had pierced their brains. Even though the rage and berserk state reduced the pain by nearly 90%, the intense pain still made their bodies tremble. What was worse, their ancestral souls were also damaged.

The mind mage's attacks are somewhat effective against these ancestral guardians.

Tear!

With a swipe of its wings, the Red Iron Dragon severed the stiff ancestral guard in half at the waist. Its thick, tough muscles, capable of withstanding blades and weapons, appeared so fragile and vulnerable before the Red Iron Dragon's wing strike.

Samantha and Sorog flew over together.

The dragon's powerful body, combined with spell-like skills and class skills, made it difficult for even the ancestral guardians, who could fight against hundreds of enemies, to resist, and they were quickly killed one by one.

However, the totem light on all the deceased ancestral guardians sank to the ground instead of immediately dissipating.

Wing slash followed by claw strike, then tail sweep.

After the tail sweep, there was another round of ferocious claw strikes.

With a simple yet fierce, relentless offensive, Hong Tielong quickly dispatched the guards who stood in his way and charged almost unimpeded to the old shaman.

Suddenly, my vision was filled with a magnificent, imposing red iron dragon, its body crackling with lightning.

"With my life and soul, I offer sacrifice to my ancestors!"

The old shaman raised his head, his face wrinkled, but there was no fear of death in his eyes. He simply ended his chanting at the last moment and slammed his staff heavily on the ground.

Bang!

The ground is cracked.

With a single claw strike from the red iron dragon, the old shaman's body turned into radial bloody mud, embedding itself into the ground.

The totem light shone from her remains, sinking towards the mountain peak. The remaining ancestral guards, disregarding everything, frantically attacked the young dragons, only to be swiftly wiped out and killed.

Just then.

The mountain peaks, which had been trembling and shaking due to the battle, suddenly stabilized.

As rays of light shone and intertwined, the resulting altar pattern was imprinted on the mountain rocks, exuding a unique aura.

"The ancestral altar wasn't broken? No, this thing wasn't originally a pure physical object."

Galos suddenly realized.

The old shaman Leoni, along with the ancestral guardians around her, reunited the ancestral altar with their lives and souls.

At the same time, the rocks reassembled like flowing mud, forming the outline of a rock giant as tall as a small hill in the blink of an eye, centered on the ancestral spirit altar. Its size was even larger than the three teenage dragons combined.

The rock giant stood up, but did not launch an attack.

It silently guards the ancestral spirit altar at the heart of the altar, adopting a defensive posture.

That rocky body covered in totem tattoos looked like it had an indestructible defensive capability; the rock giant seemed to be born purely for defense.

As time goes by, the light from its totem fades, but it will certainly be enough to hold out until reinforcements arrive.

If the old shaman and the guards are killed, but the altar is not destroyed, the raid will not be considered a true success.

The red dragon Samantha shone with dazzling runic light, and her scales were coated with a metallic sheen. Then, she flapped her wings wildly and used her body as a weapon to crash into the rock guardian.

Bang!

The red dragon crashed into the giant arm of the rock guardian, and was thrown back by the shockwave. The rock guardian's arm was cracked with tree branch-like patterns, but it healed in the blink of an eye as the earth and rocks surged and churned.

Galos noticed that the rock guardian had some connection to the mountain below.

It seems that as long as it is not destroyed in one blow, and as long as the energy of the altar has not dissipated, it will regenerate continuously.

"To be able to linger in the border area for hundreds of years, they must have some resources and methods."

In addition to their alchemy legions, the goblins also have the palace of the Grand Workshop Master, and the ancestral spirit altar of the Dawn Tribe is no less impressive.

"Unfortunately, she ran into me."

Golden lightning flashed and leaped across the Red Iron Dragon's body, leaving cracks on its surface-level Cold Explosion Scales wherever it passed. It absorbed the scorching heat generated by the intense state and stored some of it.

The body's calorie levels spike.

"Samantha, Sorog, use Dragon Breath on me."

He said.

Without a moment's hesitation, the red dragon and the iron dragon unleashed their fiery and electric dragon breaths respectively, striking Garos.

It was suffering damage from two dragon breaths, as well as the stimulation of the Frenzy state on the Cold Exploding Scale.

The heat energy value increased sharply, surged dramatically, and skyrocketed.

In the blink of an eye, the cold-bursting scales on the Red Iron Dragon's body shattered, revealing the inner dragon scales that had turned red-hot like branding irons. Its body was radiating heat, causing the surrounding air to distort.

Thermal Enhancement - Destructive Dragon Breath!

boom!

The blazing dragonfire transformed into a destructive torrent, surging forth from the Red Iron Dragon's mouth with unstoppable, terrifying power that destroyed everything in its path, sweeping towards the Rock Guardian.

The Rock Guardian's attributes are all focused on defense.

Its movements were sluggish, and it hugged its body tightly to defend itself the instant the destructive dragon's breath was about to hit it, the totem tattoos on its rocky skin shining with the brightest light.

However, it was to no avail.

The destructive dragon breath swept away everything in its path, disintegrating and melting the rock guardians inch by inch, eventually turning them into a high-temperature semi-solid mass resembling molten lava. The ancestral altar, which had been protected within the rock guardians, was also reduced to ashes and completely destroyed.

In an instant.

All the ancestral guardian barbarians who belonged to the Dawn Tribe, who had offered sacrifices to their ancestors and received blessings or protection, including their leader Brunhilde, felt a pang in their hearts, as if they had lost something important.

The ancestral spirit altar has been passed down through generations of the Dawn Tribe, and it is the embodiment of their spirit and a symbol of their tribal culture.

The path of ancestor guardianship also requires taking office at the ancestral altar through prayer or sacrifice to the ancestors.

Now that the Ancestral Spirit Altar has been destroyed, it will be difficult for the Dawn Tribe to generate Ancestral Guardians again. Moreover, after the barbarian chieftains are injured, they can no longer easily regenerate and recover through the altar as before.

The strategy involves attrition at the lower levels combined with a decapitation strike at the top.

It was a great success.

"Destroy my ancestral altar! We'll fight to the death!"

The barbarians, their eyes bloodshot, including their tribal chief Brunhilde, were running like madmen toward the location of the ancestral altar, and were getting closer and closer.

but.

First came a deafening, low rumble, and the night was almost turned into day by the raging flames that shot into the sky.

Immediately afterwards.

Its vast, sky-covering wings tore through the night sky, blocking out the moonlight and casting thick, enormous shadows on the ground. It sped past Brunhilde's body.

He looked up and saw several dragon-like figures leaving from the direction of the altar, gradually disappearing into the distance.

"You vile and cunning dragon! If you have the guts, come down and fight me to the death!"

It hurts, it hurts so much.

Brunhilde's eyes were bloodshot, veins bulging on her thick neck, and her battle axe cleaved the ground in a spiderweb-like pattern.

This barbarian chieftain, who was known for his composure, completely tore off his mask of reason at this moment and let out a hysterical roar at the sky.

The sound waves shook the nearby pine needles, causing them to fall in a rustling sound, but they didn't even disturb the airflow at the tips of the red iron dragon's wings.

Galos merely lowered his deep, dark vertical pupils, glancing at the enraged figure as if looking down at an ant, before continuing to soar leisurely in the high sky.

Those curses mixed with ancient barbarian slang were nothing more than hymns carried by the night wind to him.

Garus was never angered by the enemy's insults.

In his view, this was an affirmation of his methods and a compliment to him.

Barbarians, the epitome of rage and violence, gain terrifying power through their fury and rage, but they also bear a fatal weakness—the angrier they are, the more their rationality melts away like ice and snow.

Even the usually wise and composed Brunhilde had now become a beast driven by rage.

Despite their premonition that the ancestral altar was beyond saving, they still made the wrong choice in their rage. The high-ranking leaders rushed to the ruined holy site, neglecting another strategic location that they had been keeping a close eye on.

"The stars are shining brightly tonight. It would be a shame to go back to the nest now and waste such a beautiful night."

The crimson dragon spread its wings, its scales gleaming, and roared with laughter, "Sorog! Samantha! Come with me to Blackrock Pass for a moonlit patrol!"

The night breeze swept across the wings of the teenage dragons, producing a clear and melodious sound.

Behind them, the torches of the barbarian tribe, like a frenzied swarm of fireflies, receded into the distance in another direction, while the outline of the Black Stone Pass ahead gradually became clear in the moonlight.

Not long after.

Black Stone Pass.

The gate was still stained with blood that hadn't dried. The guards of the Dawn Tribe laughed and kicked away the heads of the jackals at their feet, completely unaware that the ancestral altar on the other side had been reduced to ashes.

Only a few leaders held the suddenly dimmed communication stones, their expressions shifting between anger and uncertainty.

On the plains south of the pass, the orc berserkers of the Ironblood tribe were still unleashing their bloodlust as they pursued the remnants of the Molten Iron tribe.

Suddenly, the fiercest orc chieftain stopped in his tracks, his rough hands pressing against his wildly beating heart.

A chilling feeling of being watched by a predator sent cold sweat through the back of his scarred neck.

The moment the orc looked up, two pairs of dragon wings that blotted out the sky were reflected in his pupils.

The steel scales of the iron dragon Sorog reflected the cold moonlight, while the body of the red dragon Samantha resembled a bright red flame.

boom!

Before anyone could react, the ground shook violently, as if a meteorite had struck the earth.

The berserker turned around and looked back, and then he saw that the black stone pass that had once stood firm on the ground was now like a collapsed block, turned into ruins in the flames. An incredibly powerful dragon shadow was rampaging through it, killing the remaining guards around it as easily as crushing ants and crawling insects.

The red iron dragon casually swung its claws and smashed three barbarians who were holding up their shields.

Where the dragon's wings swept, guards wearing steel breastplates were cut in half at the waist. A berserker took the opportunity to leap onto the dragon's back, but before he could land, the butt of the spear pierced his chest. With a slight jolt, his upper body exploded into a bloody mist.

After the incident at the ancestral spirit altar.

In a moment of panic, the high-ranking leaders rushed over, leaving the mid-level leaders completely unable to withstand the dragon's ferocity.

The enraged barbarians, unafraid of death and honored by battle, roared as they charged toward the red iron dragon. The red iron dragon showed no mercy, letting them die in battle as they wished.

"The great Lord of Crimson Wings has arrived! Counterattack! Counterattack!"

Dog-headed Doug shouted.

The appearance of the dragon instantly invigorated the Iron Soldiers, whose morale had almost collapsed. Their fear vanished, and they turned to attack the Orc Berserkers. With the help of the powerful Iron and Red Dragons, they wiped out the entire elite Berserker force.

On the other side.

"Black Stone Pass under attack!"

An urgent message arrived, but as Brunhilde tried to ask for more details, a loud boom followed by silence came from the other end of the communication stone.

The destruction of the ancestral altar is now a foregone conclusion.

The victory previously achieved at Black Rock Pass was also reduced to ashes.

Brunhilde's eyes, which had just calmed down a bit, turned bloodshot again. But as he took deep breaths and pressed his fingers against the throbbing veins on his face, his anger slowly came under control, and his reason was not completely consumed.

Things have come to this.

He could only carefully consider what to do next, try to minimize the losses, and launch a counterattack.

(End of this chapter)