Volume 7 Chapter 462: The Underground Dragon Lair Connected to the Cursed Land and Bella’s Preemptive Strategy
Translator: The Light
Edits by Lord Immortal
The arena for the finals, Light of Dawn, Christopher Dragon Ruins at the center of Phoenix Island, located in the coastal areas of Oldrango, the seaside resort of Aldridge Empire…
In a tunnel somewhere at the center of the mysterious underground cave, Bella and the others, who had come to explore, encountered a colony of vampire bats residing in the cave. The group engaged the bats in combat.
Bella and the others relied on cheat-like combat power to easily defeat the vampire bats. The vampire bats soon fled, leaving hundreds of corpses behind.
Bella and her team’s brutal and bloody style had stunned the colony of vampire bats. They were beaten so much that they didn’t even have the courage to take revenge. In a flash, God knew which corner they had gone to hide.
After the vampire bat colony retreated, Bella and the others found the emblem of the Bridges Kingdom, the former ruler of Alan Island from more than 1,300 years ago, among the remains of the victims scattered on the ground. Bella had seen Prince Brizig, the current leader of the Bridges Kingdom’s restoration movement, when she fought with the Blood Race that was occupying Ota Town on the Alan Island. Last time, she had accidentally let him slip.
According to the intel given by Brehanna, the last princess of the Bridges Kingdom who had been taken by Bella, she came to know about the restoration plan of the descendants of the former kingdoms. They were trying to get the mysterious power by opening the doors of the Cursed Land. Even if they couldn’t receive any mysterious power, they could use the countless demons sealed in the Cursed Land as their henchmen to severely damage the Aldridge Magic Empire.
Princess Brehanna had no idea who had sold the information about the gates of Cursed Land to them. When Bella had gone back in time to 1,300 years ago, it had changed the timeline of many parallel worlds. The most obvious one was related to Princess Brehanna. She should have been the restoration movement leader, but now, it was Prince Brizig, who was even worse than her.
Obviously, the owners of those mysterious footprints going inside the mysterious cave should be Bridges Kingdom’s descendants. They were trying to open the door of the Cursed Land, but they all lost their lives halfway. The vampire bats that were beaten black and blue by Bella and the others had powerful acoustic detection abilities. They could detect most of the human assassins through their stealth skills.
Had they not run into Bella and her team of gangsta girls who attacked them directly, this colony of vampire bats would not have easily left such a good hunting place. After driving the vampire bats away, Bella asked Assassin Noreya to activate her group stealth skills, making their team of four enter a concealed state. She might not know what enemies she would be facing next, but Bella was still eager to learn the secret of this mysterious cave. She didn’t want to fight, so she could temporarily change her strategy.
With the defeat of the vampire bats that could see through the sneak skills, Bella and the others proceeded without any obstacles. They didn’t encounter any other demon along the way. There seemed to be no other demon in the cave apart from the vampire bats. However, the deeper they walked into the mysterious cave, the more Bella and the others could feel an unknown aura coming from the depths. Judging by the various signs, it became evident that some terrifying cursed demon was hiding in the depths of the mysterious cave. Other demons were afraid of this existence and dared not appear here.
The true face of the mysterious monster couldn’t hide for too long from Bella and the others. There was no other option, as that guy’s size was really enormous. Bella and the others noticed its existence from a fair distance away since its figure was very inconsistent with the surrounding environment. It was a huge dragon, looking like a standard western dragon. Its size was larger than most dragons Bella had met. It was at least comparable to Thunder Dragon Queen Geleman, who was contracted to Bella.
What weirded Bella and her team out was that the giant dragon was actually transparent. Its entire body was like a transparent shadow. And because Bella couldn’t feel the aura of its soul, she judged it wasn’t a dragon soul. The dragon that could advance to a Dragon Soul basically had the qualifications to become a Dragon God. And a Dragon God would not choose such a dark cave as his lair for cultivation.
“Sister Bella, this is Ender Dragon, a mutated Dragon Soul. There should be a stronger dragon in the vicinity controlling it; otherwise, the humans can’t control the Ender Dragon.”
Bella’s young sister, Dragon Knight Lisha, also possessed another identity of being the Demonic Dragon Emperor. She could see through all types of dragons. According to Lisha’s analysis, this giant transparent dragon was an Ender Dragon, a kind of mutated evil dragons. Ordinary dragons didn’t know about them because they had a body that could grow indefinitely without any physical restriction. Therefore, the Ender Dragon was also called Limitless Dragon.
Without the intervention of any external force, an Ender Dragon could grow infinitely, even completely cover the entire continent. Heck, it could even cover the whole plane. This was also one of the reasons why it was classified as an evil dragon of doomsday. The Ender Dragon that Bella and her team encountered today was still in its growing phase; it could only cover this mysterious cave’s underground area.
The entrance of the cave was probably dug out by this Ender Dragon. If no one came forward to stop it from growing and evolving, then the first unlucky island to meet the disaster would be the Phoenix Artificial Island. The Ender Dragon had no wisdom. They would only act out of their destructive instinct. In other words, it belonged to the World Destructors’ Camp. Most Demon Gods and Evil Gods had no intention of controlling the Ender Dragon, as it was too difficult.
On the other hand, the Ender Dragon had a market on Saviors’ side. The Saviors needed a part of Ender Dragon’s soul as the necessary material to refine the artifact. But once the Ender Dragon became too difficult to control, the Saviors’ Camp would exile it to the Cursed Land. After seeing this Ender Dragon, Bella could basically determine that the entrance of the Cursed Land was nearby. If the Ender Dragon could come out, then the door of the Cursed Land was 80% destroyed.
The underground area of the cave was enormous, looking like an unusually spacious hall. At the end of the day, an Ender Dragon was still a dragon. It also had the same hobbies as the ordinary dragonsâ??the habit of collecting treasures and hiding them in its lair. Most of the dragon’s collection had gold and silver treasures.
The layout of the Ender Dragon’s underground lair was the same as the other dragons. The spacious underground lair was full of piles of gold coins. All kinds of open jewelry boxes were lying everywhere. Bright red bloodstains could be seen among the piles of gold and silver treasures. It was the evidence that these treasures were looted from others. Therefore, it had the same virtue as most dragons.
In addition to bloodstains, many human skulls could be seen on the gold mountain. All these skulls were adorned with a crown of gems and a huge pearl in their mouth. Bella could not help but wonder whether the Ender Dragon had also added these treasures’ original owners into its collection; even their heads were brought back as war trophies. This kind of hobby was really too perverse. At least none of the demons under her had such a perverted preference.
“Bella, I heard Princess Ariel mention once that sea caravans would often go missing in the eastern coastal areas of her motherland, the Aldridge Empire. Sometimes, the entire island’s residents would disappear into thin air. Later, the magic empire sent armies to investigate, but they could not find any trace of maritime activities.”
“Sister Kriss, if I’m not mistaken, it should be the work of this Ender Dragon. It is one of the few evil dragons that can commit crimes without leaving a trace.”
There had been many incidents of merchant fleets and the residents of islands disappearing overnight on the eastern coast of the Aldridge Empire. The Aldridge Empire had sent people to investigate in most of these cases, but when they were unable to find any lead or clues, they would often throw these mysterious disappearances on the head of the Oceanic Race that lived in the depths of the sea. Since the Oceanic Race had almost no contact with the human race living on the continent, they had been inadvertently helping the real perpetrator, the Ender Dragon.
Bella had no interest in the gold and silver collected by the Ender Dragon. She had seen a lot of them. More importantly, these gold and silver treasures were covered in victims’ bloodstains; Bella didn’t want them. Blood treasures like these were unlucky, at least, for her. The Ender Dragon’s collection naturally had more gold and silver treasures than other things.
In the corner of the Ender Dragon’s underground lair, Bella also found beautiful girls captured by the Ender Dragon. It was a tradition for the dragon to capture the princess and wait for the hero to save her. God knew when it became popular in the Other World. This Ender Dragon could be considered as an out and out dragon. It had done almost all of the things a demon dragon should do except for slaughtering the city.
All the beautiful girls imprisoned by the Ender Dragon in the underground had unusual identities. They were either from the missing merchant fleet or the residents of the islands. All of them were pretty; they could be considered as small-time beauties. After they were captured by the Ender Dragon, they were stripped clean and could only sit on the pile of gold coins butt naked. In such a state, they didn’t have the courage and face to escape. As the daughters of noble houses, these beautiful girls didn’t dare to run in their birthday suits.
These girls didn’t even have the strength to cover their chest with their hands. They were sitting on the pile of gold and silver treasures like helpless dolls, becoming a part of the Ender Dragon’s evil collection. Bella also noticed marks of vampire fangs on their snow-white arms and thighs; traces of blood could still be found in these marks.
So it turned out that these beauties had been attacked by the colony of vampire bats in the outer caverns of the cave. The vampire bats sucked their blood, making them anemic and weak. They didn’t even have the strength to commit suicide. These girls were extremely pale because of excessive sucking of their blood. Fortunately, this Ender Dragon couldn’t take a human form, or else these girls might not be virgins anymore. Their cherries would have been popped by the Ender Dragon for sure.
The faces of these captured beauties were filled with despair. Their expression gave the impression that all that was left for them was to be raped. The Ender Dragon’s gaze was greedily wandering on their snow-white bodies, as if appreciating its food. Only now did Bella realize that the vampire bats were the Ender Dragon’s subordinates.
No wonder the vampire bats were active without a shred of fear where other demons were afraid to even stay. All of the vampire bats were the Ender Dragon’s henchmen. So naturally, they were fine. The Ender Dragon still needed the help of these vampire bats. He didn’t kill them for the time being. Apparently, the vampire bats were responsible for sucking most of the blood of the captured girls so that they could only remain in the Ender Dragon’s underground lair, waiting to be the Ender Dragon’s plaything.
These vampire bats couldn’t even act as good subordinates. After they were defeated by Bella and the others, they didn’t run back to inform the Ender Dragon. It was unknown whether they were confident of the Ender Dragon’s strength or they simply wanted to escape. After all, the vampire bats and the Ender Dragon were in a mutually beneficial relationship; loyalty had no part in it. Judging by how leisurely the Ender Dragon was, it was pretty obvious that he had no idea that his front door had been breached and the enemy had already made her way to its lair.
Bella still didn’t see the last royal descendant of Bridges Kingdom, Prince Brizig, here. Either he never came in, or he had died at the entrance of the mysterious cave long ago, reduced to one of those skeletons lying in the cave. Bella was more than willing to believe the former. Since he could live for so long, Prince Brizig wouldn’t be so stupid to welcome his death before figuring out the actual situation.
The gate of Cursed Land had been opened long ago. There was an open gate, resembling the legendary gate of Hell, in the deepest part of the Ender Dragon’s underground lair. One could find the last moments of the dead carved on the obsidian gate. On the other side of the Gate of Seal was the Cursed Land.
Bella could almost see the outline of the Cursed Land through the Gate of Seal. The Cursed Land seemed to have a desert environment. At least from the other side of the Gate of Seal, one could see the endless golden desert. In her imagination, Bella pictured demons swarming out of the Cursed Land. But apart from the desert, she didn’t see anything of that sort. No one knew whether the demons inside the Cursed Land had noticed this exit or not.
However, Bella had another unexpected discovery. There was a small pond that looked more like the river of the underworld in the center of the Ender Dragon’s lair. Bella could feel an oppressive chill radiating from it. She could also see scary faces purely made of water floating on its surface. It was as if people had died in the water and their resentment had turned into water ghosts, which had been lingering in the water.
Ordinary people would run as far as possible at the mere sight of this kind of pool. However, there was a beautiful loli taking a casual bath in it, completely ignoring the scary faces floating in the water. Her demeanor gave the impression that there was nothing wrong with the pool. On the contrary, it was those horrible faces that seemed to be afraid of the loli. They consciously stayed far away from her, seemingly not having the courage to approach her.
The loli happened to have her back facing Bella and the others. Bella could only see her silky, smooth back. However, the cunning Bella still saw all of the loli’s front through her reflection in the water. It was not the first time that she was peeping at a beautiful girl in the bath. She was already familiar with the whole process. Bella slowly and quietly approached the pool alone; she didn’t call Noreya and the others.
Lisha and the others were oblivious of Bella’s actions. They scattered about to find weak points of the Ender Dragon. Although the Ender Dragon could not be killed, its actions could be limited during the battle. Once its weak point was attacked, it would basically be stunned for a short while. And during that window, Bella and the others could decide whether to make a strategic retreat or continue the fight.
The size of that loli’s chest had really crossed the legal limit. And the expression she wore was like the one found on a cold beautyâ??there was no noticeable change in her expression. Her silver-gray eyes were staring at her own reflection in the water. Her silky, black, long hair was partly submerged in the pool. She seemed as if she couldn’t even tie her own hair.
Bella found a beautiful magical pattern on the loli’s snow-white skin. It was a curse-type magical pattern. In addition, there seemed to be a dragon horn-like prop on this loli’s head. Bella immediately guessed this emotionless loli’s identity: she was the ultimate boss of the Cursed Land, the incarnation of Cursed Dragon.
A Cursed Dragon was on the same level as the strongest dragon girl around Bella, Devastating Evil Dragon Emperor Lolita and Devouring Holy Dragon Queen Euphenisia. This script was totally wrong. She should have been in the cruelest area of the Cursed Land. How could she be here? Bella’s current feeling was the same as a player who had just walked out of the novice village encountering the final boss of the entire game at the village’s entrance. The game plot was extremely horrible.
The Cursed Dragon was taking a bath by herself. Obviously, she hadn’t noticed that Bella, who had been peeping at her, was by the pool. The Cursed Dragon was utterly defenseless. Under normal circumstances, even if she was wide open, a human assassin would still not be able to break through her defense. This was why she dared to remain so unguarded and negligent.
But Bella and her team were far from ordinary. If they really tried to assassinate her, although they might not be able to kill the Cursed Dragon, they could still force her to remain quiet for hundreds of years. Bella was caught in a short mental struggle; she was hesitating whether to kill or capture her.
At this moment, Bella, with her excellent sight, saw Prince Brizig and the other descendants of the Bridges Kingdom on the other side of the Gate of Seal. They were leading a large group of demons out of the Cursed Land. Apparently, he had come in long ago, but he first entered the Cursed Land to gather the demons. Now, he was trying to return. Bella couldn’t hesitate any longer. She came up with a way to kill two birds with one stone.