Ashen Dragon

Chapter 538: Chapter 9: Dragon Awakens_3 Chapter 538: Chapter 9: Dragon Awakens_3 The earth lay bare, riddled with scars.

But soon, the ground rumbled and shifted, the magma-flowing fissures closing again, and the craters made by meteors were filled in.

Under that all-encompassing force, the surrounding landscape gradually restored itself, as if the recent cataclysm had never occurred.

A vast Red Dragon soared in the sky, its golden vertical pupils gazing down at the beings below. Its shimmering scales glinted brilliantly in the sunlight.

Udo disregarded the dust, pressing his forehead against the ground, before lifting his head to gaze devoutly at the majestic figure of the Red Dragon.

“Your Majesty…”

Udo couldn’t help but call softly, his body trembling with an uncontrollable surge of ecstasy.

He knew what this meant. It signified that the invincible His Majesty Cassius would once again lead them to victory, incinerating all enemies who dared stand before the Empire.

At last…

His Majesty Cassius had awakened.

The sole ruler of the Anzeta Great Wilderness, the breaker of the Wings of Silver, the destroyer of the Frost Giants…

The nemesis of abyssal demons, the Soul Devouring Dragon, the controller of guns and cannons, the supreme Ashen Empire’s Emperor—His Majesty Cassius, had awakened!

…

At the Dragon Mountain Summit.

“Huff—”
Cassius slowly flapped his wings, landing thunderously at the mountaintop. He exhaled a breath of sulfur-scented smoke, observing his current form.

“Finally awake. This familiar feeling… Dragons are indeed marvelous creatures. Each time I awaken, I feel reinvigorated with strength…”

“However, I seem to sense a repelling force.”

Cassius tilted his head with a peculiar expression, snorting and expelling a burst of hot, white steam.

—It was the repelling force of the Material Plane.

For the world, such terrifying beings were meant to reside outside the Material Plane: the star realm, the Etheral Realm, the Outer Planes, the Inner Plane…

After a year of slumber, Cassius’s body had grown several sizes larger, the muscles tighter, emanating an unparalleled sense of strength. Now, the Red Dragon measured approximately forty-five meters from head to tail—far beyond the typical limits of an ordinary Red Dragon.

Due to the gradual dilution of Dragon Blood and the constraints of the Prime Material World’s rules, even those ancient Red Dragons that lived over twelve hundred years rarely exceeded forty meters in length, but Cassius had already surpassed this by a significant margin.

Among the four spiral horns on the Red Dragon’s head, two had become especially thick and large, more like a dignified crown.

Cassius’s chin had also grown heftier and more pronounced, not quite to the level of the “Deathwing’s” iron chin of his past life, but rendering his visage extremely fierce.

On that mountainous dragon body, the spines along the back not only featured the typical Red Dragon spikes but also glittering fire melting crystals.

“This energy…”

In his slumber, Cassius was like a draconic black hole, greedily, even crazily, absorbing the surrounding energy before exhaling it—evident from the changes in the surrounding environment.

In this cycle of energy absorption and transformation, an increasing amount of pure fire element was stored within Cassius’s body.

Moreover, not just the natural energy from the environment but also the elemental ore obtained through negotiations with the Empire of the Fire Giant Spirits—which had enough energy to power a kingdom—was entirely consumed by him.

The Dragon Crystal in his chest still flickered with firelight, and flames occasionally spurted from the gaps between the scales.

At this moment, Cassius’s body contained an enormous amount of terrifying energy, akin to a moving living volcano, even more dreadful than that.