Chapter 631: The Underworld Dragon (1)
The Myth of the Underworld
The Underworld is unlike other realms.
It's not a sphere, but a special space existing outside the known universe.
It is boundless, filled with all manner of bizarre lifeforms. Its name is known not just on Earth, but legends of the Underworld exist on Krypton, Zamaron, Oa, and even Apokolips.
It represents death and is the final destination for all lost souls.
Though Anubis, the Egyptian God of Death, claims the title "Lord of the Underworld," the truth is he's just one of many Gods of Death. There are many similar death deities—Earth alone has seven or eight, not to mention those from other civilizations.
A God of Death represents order and is essentially a profession. Their job is to preside over the cycle of life and death, guiding the dead and seeing off the living.
The Underworld Dragon is also one of these death deities. It was originally a malevolent dragon born in the Underworld, but by chance, it devoured the body of a God of Death and usurped their divine power.
With this newfound divinity, the Underworld Dragon transformed from a local tyrant into a ruling class. Using the God of Death's authority, it began a frenzied expansion. In just a few hundred years, it carved out billions of miles of territory and amassed tens of millions of subjects.
It's important to remember that this is the Underworld, a resource-scarce realm where intelligent life is rare, primarily consisting of stitched-up monsters and vengeful spirits. Many areas go hundreds of miles without a single sentient being. (Creatures like the Kormod don't qualify as intelligent species.)
Those who are called subjects are powerful tribes with formidable combat strength, capable of surviving the Underworld's brutality.
The Underworld Dragon rules them, extracting warriors to form an army of destruction. Periodically, it leads its troops to invade other territories, slaughtering, expanding, and plundering. It treats defeated captives as livestock and hoards the stolen treasures in its lair. As a God of Death, the Underworld Dragon embodies the most extreme form of draconic evil.
Legend has it that its lair contains immeasurable gold, silver, and jewels, with magic metals, artifacts, and minor artifacts everywhere. If one could acquire this treasure, they could practically buy a quarter of the Underworld's territory.
Of course, these are just legends that no one has dared to verify.
Dragonhold: The Seat of A Vicious God
The dominion ruled by the Underworld Dragon is called Kormagard, and its capital is Dragonhold. This is a spectacular city built into a mountain range. Buildings of all sorts are distributed layer by layer, from top to bottom, across the peaks.
The strong reside above, and the weak below, forming a perfect pyramid structure. The Dragon's lair is at the very summit of the tallest peak, perpetually shrouded in a Mist of Death. Ordinary beings cannot approach it; even those who manage to enter are stripped of their life force by the mist and turned into dry bones.
Dragonhold has a resident population of over two million. With so many creatures gathered, the annual waste produced is incalculable. To manage the problem, the Dragon had its sorcerers build portals at various points at the base of the mountains. Leftover bones, corpses, and flesh debris are all transferred through these portals to locations thousands of miles away.
This is the origin of the Valley of Noxious Fumes they just left.
Passing through the portal, the four heroes arrived at the base of the Dragonhold mountain range. The horned-goat workers handling the "garbage" looked at them with confusion.
Invaders? Or stowaways?
In any case, they smell delicious.
Luke asked in the Kormod language,
"Can anyone tell me where this is?"
One worker stepped forward, ignoring Luke and curiously staring at Clark and J'onn.
"What race are you? How many of you are there? What do you usually eat?"
The two heroes were utterly confused, unable to understand the language.
Luke was perplexed. "Why are you asking what they eat?"
"None of your business. You don't need to eat."
Clearly, the creature had recognized that Luke was a soul body without a physical form.
Eat?
Luke's brow twitched. He swept his gaze over the other workers. Their eyes, filled with avarice, looked like those of hungry ghosts seeing food. In that moment, he suddenly understood.
These damned ugly creatures were seeing Clark and J'onn as food.
An Unavoidable Fight
Killing intent flashed and was instantly replaced by a chilling wave of fear projection.
The air seemed to be sucked out of the area, falling into a strange silence. The workers stared at Luke in terror, backing away repeatedly.
Luke stretched out his hand and snatched a hapless creature toward him, demanding in a chilling tone,
"Tell me, where is this place?"
The horned-goat creature, paralyzed by Luke's killing intent, stammered, "Dra-Dragonhold!"
"Who is the master?"
"The gr-great King, the Underworld Dragon, His Majesty Avogadro."
The creature's eyes were filled with awe as it spoke the last sentence.
The Underworld Dragon, Avogadro!
Luke's mouth twitched slightly. How did they end up right in the creature's lair?
Diana asked curiously, "What is it saying?"
"This is Dragonhold, the lair of the Underworld Dragon, Avogadro."
Diana covered her forehead, exasperated. "I knew it! I knew something would go wrong!"
Clark cut in. "What do we do now?"
Before he finished speaking, over a dozen armored soldiers rushed forward. These soldiers were exceptionally strong, each over eight feet tall, with sharp fangs and claws, and bodies covered in black scales. From their appearance, they looked like a hybrid of a demon and a lizard.
The lead soldier briefly glanced at Clark and J'onn, then focused on Luke, whose aura was the strongest.
"Invader, state your identity! Why have you infiltrated Dragonhold?"
Luke spread his hands. "This was an accident."
"Whether it's an accident is not for you to decide. Arrest them and take them to the City Lord for disposition."
The soldier was not interested in Luke's excuses and immediately gave the attack command. The demon lizard-men behind him pulled out their weapons. Diana asked sternly,
"What now? Do we fight?"
Luke shook his head. "Let's get out of here first."
The four flew away from the garbage dump. The demon lizard-men spread their wings, but after only two seconds, they lost sight of the heroes.
"Incredible speed."
"They're not ordinary invaders."
The soldier didn't hesitate. He pulled out an alarm compass. A roaring sound echoed overhead. Looking down from the sky, one could clearly see dense figures pouring out of the mountains.
They were spreading out like a huge net, forming an encirclement from all sides.
Sorcerers skilled in magic quickly constructed portals, using spatial teleportation to appear directly in front of the four heroes, backed by a variety of powerful warriors.
"Lay down your weapons and surrender immediately."
A red-skinned female warrior with horns and a human-like appearance stepped forward, staring menacingly at Luke. "Wight, this is your last chance."
Luke responded coolly, "Is this how Dragonhold treats its guests?"
"His Majesty, the Great Underworld Dragon, Avogadro, has said that Dragonhold has no guests. Only enemies and servants."
Luke sighed softly.
"I didn't want to do this."
As his words ended, Fear instantly descended. An invisible wave enveloped the area for several kilometers. Everyone froze in shock where they stood.
Diana swung her longsword, slicing off the red-skinned female warrior's head.
Clark and J'onn, internally frustrated, had no choice but to follow suit.
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