"Silence!"
"You shall submit to me unconditionally."
Cassius unleashed the full force of his chieftain's aura, subjecting every retainer present to a crushing, top-down pressure.
Whether wyverns, chimeras, or ogres, all bowed and prostrated themselves involuntarily.
Once every retainer had lowered their body to the ground, Cassius slowly drew his sharp claw across the skin of his palm.
There were no scales covering his palm, only thick, tough hide, and even for the red dragon himself, slicing it open was no easy task.
The cut widened. Warm blood slowly welled from the wound, gathered, and dripped down.
Drip...
Drip...
Drip...
Bright crimson blood flowed steadily onto the boulder, pooling in a shallow depression.
The retainers kept their heads bowed, silence thick in the air.
Not a single creature dared look up; all eyes were pinned strictly to the ground, terrified that an errant glance might anger the red dragon and bring about a gruesome end.
"Bloodline Boon," Cassius chanted silently.
As the special ability activated at the red dragon's will, a strange power surfaced within his chieftain's aura, binding the dragon to his blood.
Immediately, Cassius felt that the shed blood was no longer an inert substance. It was intimately linked to his body, to his very bloodline.
It was like an extension of his own blood, capable of projecting his influence further and deeper.
When all the blood had been fully transformed, Cassius could clearly feel a portion of his power being partitioned away.
Yet this was no mere gift; it was more like a tree scattering its seeds. When the day came for them to "blossom and bear fruit," they would feed back into him.
The still-warm blood in the shallow basin flowed sluggishly, humming with incredible power.
This was Boon Blood.
The retainers did not know how far the ritual had progressed or whether it had succeeded, so none dared raise their heads.
The air in the valley hung heavy and stagnant. Over a thousand monsters were packed together, yet an eerie, profound silence reigned.
At last, Cassius broke the silence of his own accord.
"You may rise."
Hearing their master's command, the retainers in the valley breathed sighs of relief and rose to their feet in waves.
Yet the moment they caught sight of the dark red blood swirling in the depression, they held their breath once more, hearts in their throats.
Who wouldn't want to be the lucky one blessed with extended life and immense power?
"Langpu."
Cassius called the first name.
This ogre mage was the chief steward personally chosen by the red dragon—a rare monster spellcaster and a cornerstone of Cinder Nest's flourishing growth. More importantly, he had been thoroughly swayed, utterly devoted to the red dragon's so-called grand blueprint.
Cassius needed him to maintain his authority and possess even greater strength, setting a shining example for all the monsters of Cinder Nest.
Langpu adjusted his spectacles with feigned composure, as though he had long anticipated being the first to receive the boon.
In truth, he had been trembling with nerves just moments ago; only when the red dragon called his name did he manage to rein in his racing heart and put on an all-knowing facade.
Langpu scrambled onto the rock with some effort and waited quietly.
The blood surged upward against gravity, rushing straight into the ogre's mouth.
Only a portion entered Langpu's gullet—hardly a substantial amount for a three-meter-tall ogre.
Under normal circumstances, this gluttonous ogre could easily drink a woolly mammoth dry.
Yet the moment the Boon Blood passed his lips, Langpu's body violently shuddered.
The fat across his frame jiggled uncontrollably.
"Aaargh—!"
A torrent of elemental energy flooded down his throat.
The ogre's eyes turned bloodshot, his features twisting into a hideous grimace. He threw open a maw large enough to swallow a human head whole, screaming like a beast driven completely mad—all trace of his earlier composure wiped clean away.
The searing fire element plunged down his esophagus and into his gut, scorching his belly until it glowed bright red, as if a raging inferno had ignited within him.
Ogres were notorious for eating anything, possessing an unfathomably robust digestive system, but at this moment, he experienced an unimaginable agony tearing through his insides for the very first time.
"Burning! I'm burning up!"
Langpu could no longer stand. He curled up involuntarily on the ground, his massive bulk rolling and writhing as his arms slammed against the stone to vent his agony.
His fists thudded against the boulder, even as the dragon blood churned violently within his belly.
Amidst the ogre's thrashing, the element-infused blood surged into his blood vessels, pumped by his wildly hammering heart to every corner of his body, preparing to remake his entire form from the inside out.
"Hah... hah..."
He panted heavily, sprawled across the stone. His massive, flabby body had grown swollen and scorching red, plumes of white steam rising from his skin. At this moment, he resembled an overinflated balloon on the verge of bursting.
The might of dragons was simply too overwhelming for an ogre of such humble bloodline.
Langpu let out low groan after low groan, his voice growing fainter. Yet a glimmer of clarity slowly returned to his eyes, even as anyone present could sense his life force rapidly waning.
The dragon blood ravenously drained his vitality, transmuting it into boundless elemental energy that flooded his flesh.
Would it end in failure?
Cassius made no sound, merely watching in silence.
If it failed, he would regret losing a capable subordinate, but that would be the extent of it.
The ogres gripped their wooden clubs tensely. They had little affection for their kin and would not hesitate to feast on a fallen companion's corpse. But when it came to a boss who was so skilled at finding food, they genuinely wanted him to survive.
On the other side, the hobgoblin commander Duoluo began breathing faster.
He had been suppressed by Langpu for far too long. If the ogre died, none of the other retainers were fit for major responsibility; Duoluo could seize the opportunity to rise and become Cinder Nest's true chief steward.
At the thought, the corners of Duoluo's mouth curled upward.
Just then, a sudden change occurred.
"Aaargh—!"
The long-silent ogre unleashed a deep, rumbling roar.
Dropping to all fours in an unnatural posture, his swollen body continued to expand, ravenously drawing in surrounding energy and leaving the air bone-dry.
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths.
His chest heaved up and down.
His height grew from three meters to four, stopping only when he reached past five meters tall.
A ridged spine bristling with bone spurs jutted from his back.
His hands and feet grew sharper, shifting into forms resembling dragon claws.
His thick hide ruptured, forced apart by his expanding frame to reveal freshly grown, rock-hard red scales beneath, like a snake shedding its skin.
Only now did Cassius realize that the ogre mage had not been passively enduring the changes brought by the boon. Instead, he was harnessing the elemental power within the dragon blood to interact with the Weave, constructing a spell matrix akin to Fireball inside his own body to absorb the blood's energy far more completely.
The risk was immense, but the payoff was just as extraordinary.
Thanks to Langpu's meticulous study, his control over magic had reached a terrifying degree.
Chapter 39