Chapter 916: Black Lake, World-Class Assets! Elma, Ilulu
Golden afternoon sunlight spilled across the sparkling surface of the swimming pool. Ren reclined comfortably against a cushion of soft thighs, lazily watching the beautiful figures splashing in the water while enjoying the attentive service of the women surrounding him. A peeled grape was brought to his lips, and he chewed it slowly, the picture of absolute leisure.
Suddenly, his expression shifted. The relaxed curve of his lips straightened.
"A world-class one has arrived," he announced out of nowhere.
The women beside him paused, exchanging puzzled glances. What exactly did 'world-class' refer to? A new enemy? A catastrophic event?
Their confusion evaporated a second later.
Guided by Ren's spatial manipulation, a spatial tear opened, and a woman stepped through. Instantly, every woman present sensed the overwhelming, non-human aura radiating from her. But more, their eyes were immediately drawn to her terrifyingly massive chest. The sheer scale and bounce of those assets defied all logic and gravity.
The answer was obvious. World-class proportions.
"Lucoa, you're here again!"
Seeing her good friend arrive, Tohru immediately abandoned her poolside lounging and bounded over with a bright, welcoming smile.
"Lucoa, did you come this time because you finally thought about what I mentioned before?" Tohru asked, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. She had been relentlessly trying to recruit the former goddess to become her 'sister'—which, in Tohru's vocabulary, meant officially joining Ren's harem.
Lucoa offered a wry, apologetic smile, her usual laid-back demeanor replaced by a rare trace of tension. "Sorry, Tohru. I'm here this time because I have an urgent matter to discuss with Ren-kun."
Ren had already pushed himself up from his comfortable spot. He waved a hand dismissively, his casual posture returning.
"I know why you've come," Ren said smoothly. "Even if you didn't show up, I was about to head over there myself."
With his absolute authority and omniscient awareness, nothing happening across the connected worlds escaped his notice. Something highly unusual had manifested in Tohru's original world—an anomaly significant enough that even Ren took it seriously.
He turned to the rest of the girls in the pool. "You all keep having fun. I'm taking a trip to Tohru's previous world."
"I want to go too!" Tohru hastily volunteered, stepping up to his side.
"And Kanna." The little dragon girl trotted over, her tiny feet pattering against the wet tiles as she grabbed the hem of Ren's shirt.
Ren glanced down at Tohru, an amused glint in his eye. "Didn't you want to avoid going home?"
"It's different with Ren here, hehe~" Tohru beamed, puffing out her chest with absolute confidence.
She felt zero fear about returning to the dragon realm now. After all, her father, the terrifying Emperor of Demise, couldn't even scratch Ren. Hell, with her recent upgrades, even she had surpassed her father's strength. What was there left to be afraid of?
"Alright," Ren chuckled. "Let's go then."
The skies above Tohru's original world were heavy and oppressive.
At the edge of Dragon Valley, massive winged beasts hovered in the air or perched on jagged cliffs, forming a tight perimeter around the entire region. Leading them was the Emperor of Demise, his colossal draconic form radiating authority and deep-seated anxiety.
"What is the situation?" The Emperor of Demise growled, his deep voice vibrating through the rocky terrain as he addressed the giant dragon commander beside him.
The commander lowered his massive head. "Lord Emperor of Demise... the scouting party that went inside... they haven't returned."
Hearing the grim report, the Emperor of Demise's expression darkened considerably. His claws dug into the stone beneath him, crushing boulders into dust. "Why would such a bizarre anomaly appear in our Dragon Valley?"
"Emperor of Demise, we have returned."
Lucoa's calm voice cut through the tense atmosphere, causing the giant dragon leader to snap his head around.
Seeing Tohru step out of the spatial rift gave him a brief pause, but the moment his reptilian gaze landed on the human male standing beside her, the crushing weight on his shoulders visibly lessened.
The Emperor of Demise immediately shifted his massive form, bowing his head in a gesture of absolute respect. "Lord Ren. Please help us."
He didn't waste time with pleasantries or pride. He was a pragmatic ruler, and he knew perfectly well that submitting to an absolutely supreme existence like Ren was the only logical choice.
"I came specifically to handle this," Ren replied, his gaze already drifting toward the ominous aura bleeding out from the depths of Dragon Valley. He took a step forward.
"Wait, Lord!" The Emperor of Demise hastily called out, moving to block the path. "Lord, the entity inside is extremely dangerous. If you proceed without fully understanding the situation, it could be perilous even for you."
The Emperor gestured with a massive wing toward the rear of the encampment. "These two are survivors. Their former homelands experienced this exact phenomenon. You should hear their accounts of the situation first."
Prompted by the Emperor's command, two figures stepped forward from the shadow of the draconic ranks.
Both possessed highly distinctive appearances. The taller, more mature of the two was dressed like a human office lady. She had sleek black hair, striking blue eyes framed by glasses, and a single, spiraling horn protruding from her forehead.
Beside her stood a much shorter girl. Despite her petite stature, she possessed a chaotic, feral energy—and a bust that easily rivaled Lucoa's world-class proportions.
Tohru's eyes immediately locked onto the single-horned woman in the office attire.
The woman stopped dead in her tracks, her blue eyes widening as she stared right back at Tohru.
Sparks practically materialized in the air between them.
"It's you!"
"Elma?!"
They shouted in unison, their voices dripping with mutual recognition and instant hostility.
They had a long, complicated history. Elma was not originally from this specific dragon realm; she hailed from another world entirely. She was a Water Dragon—a unicorn dragon whose true form resembled a majestic Naga.
In her original world, human worshippers revered her as the Priestess of the Sacred Sea. She had a habit of appearing in the middle of human battlefields, dedicating herself entirely to resolving their conflicts. If a war broke out over scarce water and food, she would simply create massive lakes and conjure bountiful harvests to feed the starving masses. If the conflict was driven by pure territorial greed, she would unleash her miraculous magic to strip the armies of their will to fight.
Unlike many dragons, she never demanded human sacrifices. She found the idea repulsive, mostly because she genuinely believed humans tasted terrible.
Instead, she was a professional, uncompromising foodie. She openly admitted that her primary motivation for helping humanity was simply because human cuisine was incredibly delicious. She claimed her magical reserves were fueled by eating good food, and her strict, upright personality made her a natural fit for the Harmony Faction.
She was earnest, pursued peaceful coexistence with humans, and was notoriously easy to trick due to her somewhat naive nature.
Decades ago, she had attempted to recruit Tohru to join her cause. Their wildly incompatible personalities and opposing philosophies eventually led to a catastrophic battle. During their clash, Elma had casually obliterated three entire islands.
Tohru had mocked her relentlessly, accusing her of creating a false, fragile peace that only existed because humans were entirely dependent on her handouts. After that destructive battle, they went their separate ways. Elma retreated to the Harmony Faction's stronghold and cut off all contact with humanity.
The other girl standing beside Elma was named Ilulu.
She, too, was a dragon from another world. During her childhood, she had loved playing with human children. However, the bitter, bloody conflict between humans and dragons in her world eventually reached her doorstep. Human forces slaughtered her parents, leaving her orphaned and deeply traumatized.
Because of that tragedy, Ilulu harbored a deep, festering hatred for all humans. It was evident in the way she was currently glaring at Ren, her eyes narrowed into fierce, wary slits, her posture tense and ready to strike.
"Elma, what exactly do you know about this?" Tohru demanded, crossing her arms and dropping all pretense of politeness.
Elma adjusted her glasses, her expression haughty. "Hmph. I have no obligation to explain anything to you. I will deliver my report to Mr. Ren personally."
Refusing to even look at her old rival, Elma turned her attention to Ren. She took a slow, deep breath, visibly forcing down the lingering terror in her chest before speaking.
"A black lake has manifested at the center of Dragon Valley," Elma explained, her voice tight. "Anyone who enters its waters—and manages to drag themselves out—completely loses their mind. They end up just like them."
Elma raised a trembling hand, pointing toward a cordoned-off section of the rocky perimeter.
Laying in the dirt were several massive dragons. They were barely breathing, their colossal chests rising and falling in shallow, ragged gasps.
Tohru's eyes narrowed as she inspected the fallen beasts. She instantly noticed the unnatural nature of their injuries. "Those wounds... no dragon caused that."
Clinging to the scales of the dying dragons were patches of a twisted, pitch-black substance. It writhed slightly, eating away at their flesh and clearly causing the mighty beasts excruciating agony.
"They didn't even touch the water," Elma whispered, her blue eyes reflecting deep dread. "They merely got too close to the shoreline and were infected by the ambient corruption."
Ilulu finally spoke up, her raspy voice carrying a heavy, bitter weight. "My homeland was completely annihilated by that exact same lake."
She kept her wary gaze fixed on Ren, though the hostility had dimmed, replaced by the haunting memory of her world's end. "A black lake just like this one appeared in my hometown out of nowhere."
"As for their ultimate fate..." Elma finished, her voice dropping to a grim murmur. "It ended up exactly like my world. Total destruction."
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