Above the open wilderness, a massive silver-white dragon circled in the sky.
Waves of ripple-like energy drifted around the dragon, seemingly forming countless layers of shields.
A streak of silver light rose from the ground, shooting toward the wyrm.
Yet the moment it touched those rippling layers of energy, it came to a dead stop, frozen in midair as though suspended in time. Only after the dragon swept past did the silver light continue skyward, though its original target was already long gone.
Catherine lowered her longbow and praised, "What a formidable temporal distortion. Naomi is much stronger than before."
The flying dragon in the sky was, of course, Naomi transformed into a time dragon.
Ever since learning that the Demonic Dragon Tyrant was likely to be resurrected, Anbaixiu had begun preparing to deal with this thousand-year-old monster.
No matter what kind of story it was, a tyrant who unified the world could easily serve as the ultimate villain, and a dragon was the most common and logical choice for one. As for one who controlled time... In any case, with tyrant, dragon, and time combined into one, Anbaixiu had no choice but to rank this Demonic Dragon Tyrant among the most formidable opponents he had ever encountered in his life.
Yes, indeed—an opponent even more terrifying than a deity.
Because the Demonic Dragon's power was unrestricted. Ao would not step in and slap the Demonic Dragon Tyrant across the face when the tyrant bullied him.
Yet Anbaixiu lived in an era devoid of time dragons. Thus, despite hundreds of years of adventuring experience, he knew nothing of how terrifying a time dragon truly was.
Consequently, he could only enlist Naomi's help.
Naomi could transform into a time dragon for short durations. However, she was far too young, and it remained uncertain how much of a time dragon's true power she could unleash. Anbaixiu therefore needed to invite the world's strongest individuals to help "test" her.
The shot just now had been a magical arrow fired by the Elven Queen, Catherine. It boasted homing and armor-piercing capabilities, and she had even used an antimagic arrow, yet it had still been warped by the turbulent time field surrounding Naomi's body.
Still, Anbaixiu said, "Stop holding back. You barely put any force into that shot."
Catherine glared at Anbaixiu. This lich was truly heartless.
"Aren't you afraid of hurting Naomi?"
From the start, Catherine had disapproved of the contract formed between Naomi and Anbaixiu—who on earth took a druid as an animal companion? But Naomi had been willing, and Catherine had no means to stop her. The Elven Queen had always worried that Naomi was suffering under Anbaixiu's care; this lich never showed a shred of mercy when enslaving others.
"Hurt her how? This is the Synesthesia Dreamscape. It's not like you haven't been in here before."
Anbaixiu wasn't a devil; he wouldn't truly make Naomi face the Elven Queen's arrows with her physical flesh.
Catherine countered, "The body won't be injured, but the mind will take damage."
During a previous exercise in the Synesthesia Dreamscape, several elven commanders had wanted to experience the true impact of an undersea battle using their own bodies. Their physical bodies had suffered no harm, but after being impaled several times by dreamscape fishfolk, they had awakened with relentless headaches that took weeks of recuperation to fully heal.
And that was just from having bodies skewered by harpoons. If Catherine truly exerted the full might of her artifact longbow, Naomi could easily suffer severe mental trauma.
"It's fine, don't worry. That kind of damage affects the soul, and that's precisely what I'm best at dealing with. Besides, Naomi is currently in her druidic wild shape. Normally, any damage suffered while transformed vanishes entirely once the form is dismissed."
Anbaixiu naturally understood the consequences and had prepared long in advance.
No matter how much harm Naomi endured in the dream, so long as her entire soul wasn't shattered completely, Anbaixiu could mend it.
Druids were notoriously famous for having many lives; killing a druid was exceptionally difficult, let alone inflicting indelible trauma.
Helpless, Catherine could only draw her bow according to Anbaixiu's instructions.
Even so, she didn't dare go all out, unleashing only half of the artifact's power.
An arrow shot forth like a shooting star chasing the moon, its dazzling brilliance tracing a splendid arc before striking Naomi's wing with pinpoint accuracy.
Catherine remained soft-hearted, refusing to aim for vital points and targeting only non-critical areas.
The temporal barrier around Naomi's body was still active, but this time it could only stall the magic arrow for a brief moment rather than freezing it entirely in midair.
By the time the magic arrow resumed its course, this starlight arrow grazed Naomi's wing, carving out a massive wound.
Overcome with pain, Naomi could no longer maintain flight and began plummeting toward the ground.
Anbaixiu merely cast Feather Fall on Naomi before turning to the other spectator: "Arthur, did the Demonic Dragon Tyrant defend himself like this back in the day? The effect doesn't seem that impressive."
Standing beside Anbaixiu, Arthur Ryan shook his head. "No, it wasn't like this. While I don't understand how a time dragon channels its power, the Demonic Dragon Tyrant back then didn't wield temporal power in this fashion. He was far sharper. Every intention directed at him would be perceived instantly, and time would be influenced before the attack was even unleashed. For example, if I were to swing a sword at him, the moment the thought formed in my mind, my strike might already become too fast or too slow, rather than him relying on time stop only when the blow was about to hit."
In theory, temporal power could manipulate the flow of time—accelerating, stopping, or reversing it. While these appeared similar, applying them to different objects required vastly different amounts of energy.
It could be likened to a strongman moving boulders. The strongman was indeed immensely powerful, but the speed and effort required to lift a one-kilogram dumbbell compared to moving a hundred-ton boulder were entirely different.
This was fundamentally distinct from Anbaixiu's Destiny Weaving.
Destiny Weaving was like toppling dominoes. Even if the final domino weighed a thousand tons while the first weighed only a hundred grams, so long as the process in between was long enough, the initial force Anbaixiu expended remained the same.
Whether weaving a destiny where someone tripped while walking or one where they died, the cost was identical to Anbaixiu. The only difference lay in when it took effect—the former occurred immediately, while the latter required time to ferment, whether half a year, a decade, or a century, depending on the target being killed.
A time dragon's power took effect instantly, meaning the corresponding expenditure had to be paid immediately; otherwise, it would have no effect.
Naomi was currently in this clumsy state: mentally preparing herself, and then immediately expending the corresponding power to "withstand" the blow once an attack arrived.
However, the Demonic Dragon Tyrant that Arthur Ryan had faced was far more sophisticated than Naomi. He would directly disrupt the attacker's rhythm, making them miss on their own. Not only did this conserve energy, but it also induced a disorienting sensation of spatio-temporal distortion in the enemy; after a few attempts, their battle sense and timing would completely vanish.
Hearing Arthur Ryan's explanation sent a chill right through Anbaixiu's bones. This Demonic Dragon Tyrant was simply absurd.
On the battlefield, once even the most valiant warrior lost their rhythm and feel, their strikes would inevitably feel awkward, leaving them utterly incapable of displaying their true prowess. The same went for spellcasters: if every spell missed, they would start doubting whether their calculations for leading the target were flawed, and those with weaker composure might even botch their incantations.
"How on earth did you defeat that dragon back then?" Anbaixiu couldn't help asking.
Arthur Ryan replied helplessly, "I don't know. I was already sealed at the time."
Anbaixiu felt equally helpless. During the final decisive battle, Arthur Ryan had led heroes of various races to defeat the dragon clan. In the end, wanting to prevent further pointless sacrifices, Arthur Ryan had chosen to duel the Demonic Dragon alone.
No one knew the details of that battle. Even the Old Elven King had only heard fragments. Everyone merely knew Arthur Ryan had won, yet no one knew how he had actually defeated the Demonic Dragon. Looking back now, Arthur Ryan had already been affected by the Dragon Blood Curse at that time, which was why he had subconsciously concealed the Demonic Dragon's weaknesses.
Even so, no matter how difficult, a solution had to be found.
Anbaixiu was not one to give up easily. He directly altered the parameters of the Synesthesia Dreamscape, drastically amplifying Naomi's temporal power.
Naomi was still young and unpracticed in manipulating temporal power, unable to instinctively sense all hostile intent to counter it. But that didn't matter; the dreamscape could do it for her.
After a round of adjustments, Naomi took to the skies once more. This time, there were no rippling temporal fluctuations around her body.
Anbaixiu tried hurling three Fireballs at her. What should have been a straight line of fireballs strangely veered off course, as if a momentary stutter had occurred the instant Anbaixiu swung his hand. The three fireballs flew off into the empty sky, posing no threat to Naomi whatsoever.
Refusing to concede, Anbaixiu continued adjusting his timing and angles, yet no matter how hard he tried, none of his targeted spells could touch Naomi. Only spells with massive areas of effect stood any chance of landing.
Just then, Arthur Ryan chimed in again: "It's not just that. Even with a massive area-of-effect spell like Storm of Vengeance, the Demonic Dragon could perceive it in advance and jump straight to the moment after the spell concluded."
With Anbaixiu's permission, Arthur Ryan also set parameters for Naomi. When Naomi took to the air once more, Anbaixiu and Catherine attacked with everything they had.
Yet whether it was a torrential deluge of arrows or the various spells Anbaixiu amplified using the Golden Throne, their relentless bombardment failed to touch even a single scale on Naomi.
Naomi, meanwhile, shouted excitedly from above, "This is amazing! This feeling... I feel like a god!"
This time, even Catherine was visibly shaken. "If the Demonic Dragon Tyrant truly possessed such power, how could any of us possibly stand against him?"
Right now, Naomi was merely taking hits without fighting back. If she found a spare moment to retaliate, a single breath weapon could inflict rapid aging upon Catherine, or even reduce her straight to bleached bones.
This was not an exaggeration in the slightest. Although Catherine possessed numerous artifacts, not a single one could ward off the influence of temporal power.
This power belonged to the same tier as Anbaixiu's Destiny Weaving; mortals could scarcely resist it.
Stroking his chin, Anbaixiu said to Arthur Ryan, "How did you fight such a dragon back then? You traded blows with him more than once, didn't you? Was there really no attack that could affect him?"
"Of course there was—the power of the Holy Light. Otherwise, how could I have won? As long as you master Divine Smite to the absolute pinnacle, the Holy Light unleashed is immune to the influence of temporal power. Like this!"
Arthur Ryan drew his longsword toward Naomi in the sky and made an utterly unremarkable slash.
A sword light as thin as the morning dawn flew out... or perhaps "flew out" was inaccurate. The light had been there all along; Arthur Ryan's swing had merely illuminated the dawn.
This faint glow settled upon Naomi's body like a diaphanous veil.
It was gorgeous, yet completely harmless.
Arthur Ryan had only demonstrated how to bypass temporal power, so he hadn't attached any damaging force to the sword light.
Anbaixiu clicked his tongue in wonder, murmuring to himself, "So the absolute speed of light isn't affected, is that it? How scientific."
In his previous life, Anbaixiu had studied ordinary engineering and had little knowledge of advanced physics beyond the basics. He only had a vague grasp of things like relativity. Right now, he was merely remarking offhand, without understanding the exact principles behind it.
Still, it made sense why Arthur Ryan had become the leader of the rebels.
No one possessed Holy Light purer than Arthur Ryan's. It was the sole means of harming the Demonic Dragon.
Small wonder Arthur Ryan had fought the Demonic Dragon in single combat in the end. Bringing more people would have yielded the same result: all their attacks would fail to affect the dragon, serving merely as cannon fodder to wear down its stamina.
Arthur Ryan hadn't wanted to achieve victory by treading upon the bones of his companions, which was why he had chosen to face the Demonic Dragon alone.
"Arthur..." Anbaixiu patted the Holy King on the shoulder, but words failed him after that. Any praise felt pale and inadequate.
Arthur Ryan was bewildered by Anbaixiu's sudden sentimentality. This lich was rarely so emotional.
"Master Ultraman, my suggestion is to leave the Demonic Dragon to me."
It had been so over a thousand years ago, and it would likely be the same over a thousand years later.
That Demonic Dragon was someone only he could face. It was Arthur Ryan's fated nemesis, a continuation of that ancient war.
And if given another chance, Arthur Ryan believed he could win once more.
Anbaixiu, however, did not think that way. Putting all one's eggs in a single basket was something forced upon someone only when they were dirt-poor. But now he was rich enough to rival nations and on good terms with numerous deities. After reaching such heights, was he really supposed to pin all his hopes on Arthur Ryan?
Did he really think this was some sacred bond between arch-enemies?
What if he lost?
It wasn't that he doubted the Holy King's greatness; Anbaixiu simply disliked gambling on odds.
As a divination wizard, he knew all too well that waiting for fate's favor was the height of foolishness.
The Goddess of Fate had no love for those who slacked off; the more you lay flat, the more miserable your end would be. That was Anbaixiu's hard-earned wisdom.
Then what method could possibly counter a time dragon's unreasonable temporal power?
Could it be that truly only deities could break past these limits?
Chapter 491