Alex

Chapter 689 Alex

Red Dragon.

A living, breathing red dragon that only exists in myths, epics, and fantasy paintings suddenly appeared before our eyes.

Tang Zijun gazed up at the colossal shadow that obscured the leaden sky, the astonishment in her heart no less than when she first saw the ruins of Poseidon's divine kingdom. This was no longer a cold, legendary picture book, but a place exuding the smell of sulfur, its scales shimmering with the luster of lava.

The wings stir the real existence of a destructive storm.

This is not the divine dragon of Eastern mythology, which brings rain and is sacred and winding, but the evil dragon of Western legend, which symbolizes power, destruction and untamability. Its ferocious head, its huge body covered with dark red and thick scales, and the terrifying dragon breath that it just spewed to burn monsters all perfectly match the descriptions of evil dragons in those ancient stories.

So this guy is the mysterious dragon that broke through the numerous sentry posts in the Ghost Mist Forest and fled all the way into the depths of the Black Rock Mountains, causing Black City to be on high alert?

Tang Zijun frowned. Although the red dragon had just used its dragon breath to clear out the monsters that were attacking him, the devastating scene was by no means a benevolent act. If he hadn't reacted quickly, he would probably have been engulfed by the flames.

His right hand had already unconsciously clenched into a fist, ready to summon the knight's longsword that gleamed with a cold light at any moment. The single eye on the front of the Langya carriage also flashed a dangerous scarlet light, and the engine emitted a deep roar, entering a state of maximum alert.

However, the anticipated attack did not occur.

The enormous red dragon did not continue its descent. Instead, it gracefully adjusted its posture in the low sky. Its huge membrane wings slowly flapped, creating a violent airflow that was enough to overturn a truck, blowing sand and stones flying everywhere. Like a king inspecting his territory, it landed steadily on top of an ancient ruin not far in front of Tang Zijun, which was made of huge black square stones and had long been half-collapsed.

The moment the enormous dragon claw landed on top of the ruins, the entire ruins groaned under the immense weight, and rubble rained down.

It folded its wings, its massive body perched atop the ruins, and lowered its head slightly. Its vertical pupils, burning with molten golden flames, were like two miniature suns falling from the sky, focusing on Tang Zijun and the Langya horse beneath him with a soul-piercing scrutiny and undisguised curiosity.

A deathly silence enveloped the battlefield, with only the sound of the wind and the heavy breathing of the red dragon, which sounded like a giant bellows.

Just then, a voice rang out directly in Tang Zijun's mind. It was deep, grand, and had the texture of ancient rocks grinding together, yet it was exceptionally clear. Each syllable struck the depths of her consciousness like a heavy drumbeat.

"Amazing power, amazing creation."

The molten gold vertical pupils lingered on Tang Zijun, as if piercing through flesh and blood, seeing the spacetime power flowing within him and the core of the driver at his waist. Then, the red dragon's gaze shifted to the Langya between Tang Zijun's legs, its burning eyes revealing a pure, astonishing interest, like that of a top craftsman seeing a peerless creation.

The first sentence refers to Tang Zijun, while the second sentence clearly refers to Langya.

Seeing that the other party did not attack immediately, but instead began to comment and even communicate clearly, Tang Zijun's tense nerves relaxed slightly.

But he dared not be careless in the slightest. The surging power within him did not dissipate. He simply moved his right hand, which was loosely clenched at his waist, and placed it on the cold handlebars of Langya. His gaze was sharp as a knife as he met the molten gold stare of the red dragon.

"Who are you?" Tang Zijun's voice pierced through the wind, clear and steady, carrying an undeniable question.

The red dragon tilted its head, which was covered with thick scales and resembled a hill, slightly as if it were pondering Tang Zijun's question. Two plumes of white smoke with a strong sulfur smell spewed from its huge nostrils, accompanied by a low, muffled laugh like thunder.

My name is...

That grand and ancient voice resounded in Tang Zijun's mind once again, carrying a pride etched in her blood and time.

"Alex Terragris".

"Alex—" Tang Zijun raised an eyebrow. The name did indeed carry a familiar yet unfamiliar feeling, making him think of the famous Red Dragon Queen in a fantasy game in the real world. A question flashed through his mind: In this bizarre dream world, do dragons also follow the well-known five-colored dragon classification?

As if seeing through Tang Zijun's fleeting thoughts, the red dragon Alex, perched atop the ruins, let out a low, enigmatic hum.

"It seems you are not entirely ignorant of our race." Alex's grand thoughts echoed directly in Tang Zijun's mind, carrying the insight unique to ancient beings. "That's right, as you think, or rather, as the stories you humans have woven suggest, dragons are not a single entity."

She slightly raised her mountain-like head, covered in dark red lava scales, and her voice was filled with an innate pride forged in her blood.

"I, Alex Terragris, am the purest descendant of the 'Red Dragon'."

But this pride was quickly overshadowed by a profound, abyssal sorrow and desolation. In Alex's molten gold eyes, the burning flames seemed to dim for a moment, and her voice lowered, as if recounting an epitaph for a forgotten world.

"Once upon a time, black dragons, blue dragons, green dragons, bronze dragons... and many more, all belonging to different elements, different planes, and different lineages, soared through the sky, dived into the deep sea, entrenched themselves in the mountains, hid in the storms, and roamed in the shadows, together forming the glorious era of the dragon."

, 7

"But now... they're all gone."

"Or rather..." Alex's voice suddenly turned icy, her massive dragon claws tightening unconsciously, the ruins beneath her groaning under the weight. "They...all...fell in battle..."

"Died in battle?" Tang Zijun raised her head slightly.

Alex's molten gold vertical pupils suddenly locked onto Tang Zijun.

"Died in battle."

She repeated, her thoughts like a thunderclap.

"While you humans are tearing each other apart like wild beasts, shedding your last drop of blood, for a few barren lands and a few laughable crowns."

"While your so-called rulers and the church are still scheming, betraying, and even fighting each other for faith and power."

"My people!" Alex suddenly spread her wings, and a shadow that blotted out the sky once more enveloped the earth, a force originating from the primordial...

A terrifying dragon's might, powerful enough to freeze a soul, erupted with her fury. "Our race has long followed its original will to protect, waging an eternal, relentless bloodbath against those 'nothingness' that gnaw at the foundations of the world and pollute the space between reality and dreams!"

Dragon blood stained the sky red, dragon soul extinguished the stars, and dragon bones transformed into mountains.

"Countless of our kind, in order to keep those filthy things out of the world, burned their lives and extinguished their will, and in the end, they turned into the dust and foundation stones of this cursed land beneath your feet."

The enormous head lowered, its molten gold flame eyes fixed on Tang Zijun.

"And what about you?!" Alex's question was like a sharp blade lashing at the soul. "While we shed our last drop of blood in the cracks of nothingness, while the gods crumbled in their own twilight, what were you, you 'weak race' protected in the rear, enjoying a long period of peace... doing?!"

Faced with Alex's accusations, Tang Zijun didn't know how to respond, because in fact, he felt that what she said was very true.

At least on the level of the Dream Inhabitants and Civilization, Tang Zijun's argument is still based on the other side's position. Putting aside other things, after fighting against the Nightmare and then fighting against the Old Ones, the Dream Inhabitants have clearly achieved great results, but they have not made any further progress. Instead, they have become more and more backward.

Just like after the 20th century, is it the 21st century or the 19th century?

The greatest lesson humanity has learned from history is that humanity learns nothing from history. Short-term victories make warriors complacent, and the development of different races and different beliefs further shifts the struggle from the outside to the inside.

This war of the gods, which began with the resurgence of nightmares, saw the civilization of the dream world regress over the course of a century. Although the shadows of the Old Ones and cultists were present, the root cause was the corruption of the nobles and the church's indifference, which played a decisive role in the backlash.

It can be said that the human nations and those incompetent nobles bear the main responsibility for the current state of the dream world.

But what's the point of saying all this now?

Tang Zijun looked up at the somewhat angry Alex, ignoring her words, and instead asked, "Alex, why are you here?"

Upon hearing this, Alex snorted coldly, a few sparks flying from between her teeth, and stared at Tang Zijun with a mocking gaze. "Don't you think this question is a bit unnecessary? The creature in the sea has awakened, and there is no force in this world that can stop it. The sea will eventually engulf everything; only at a higher altitude will there be a chance to breathe. Don't you share this belief?"

Tang Zijun glanced around, noticing the significantly higher altitude, and a smirk played on her lips. "You think I escaped here just to eke out a living?"

"Isn't that so?" Alex retorted. "You're a knight, aren't you? Although this is the first time I've seen such a strange knight, and the first time I've seen such a strange mount, I understand you. There are indeed brave men among you, but those who abandon the battlefield and desert... are not few either!"

Tang Zijun put down her knight's sword and gently patted the hood of Langya's carriage. "Did you hear that? We've been underestimated."

Tang Zijun was met with the roar of Langya's engine. It had never escaped any battle, and even when it fought alongside Tang Zijun against several high-ranking officials of the greedy class, it never backed down.