Chapter 359 The First 'Death' (7000)

The Ancestral Dragon Church's purpose in coming was actually quite simple.

The previous battles between several Dragon Ball holders had been too grand, and now anyone paying even a little attention to the information knew that the Dragon Ball contest, which hadn't appeared for eight hundred years, had begun again on this continent.

The almost completely cut-off Unfrozen River, the land within nearly ten square kilometers that had been swept over, and the still-lingering poisonous breath of the Great Serpent in the sky, were all forces that even elite transcendents would find difficult to deal with.

Although many tourists had come specifically for the news that 'there might be a Dragon Ball holder in the North', when they actually encountered this kind of transcendent violence capable of leveling cities, most of them would choose to leave immediately.

In the words of Vika, the young priest leading the Ancestral Dragon Church, the Lord's Mansion and the Ancestral Church, which nominally co-manage the order of the North with the Maya family, should now work together to maintain order in the city—in the coming week, more than hundreds of thousands of non-permanent residents would leave Maya City, and even more transcendents from all over the world would rush here.

"A large number of active transcendents will make the city extremely dangerous. We must cooperate to maintain order in the city."

"Therefore, I suggest that the Lord's Mansion should share information with the Church to prevent those transcendents from running rampant in the city as much as possible."

The young priest's tone was polite, and although his expression and posture were flawless, everyone knew that the Church, which usually didn't interfere in worldly affairs, had suddenly taken the initiative to appear, certainly with ulterior motives.

"You're right." Lord Maya's face was cold, but he was well aware that what the other party said was indeed the truth.

Transcendents were walking bombs no matter where they were placed, and no one knew what those guys would do when they went crazy. Maya City was his property.

"Specific cooperation matters will be discussed with you later." Sitting in his chair, Lord Maya suddenly felt a little tired, and Priest Vika tactfully withdrew.

Dismissing the other servants, he stayed alone in his study. The middle-aged nobleman closed his eyes and pondered, suddenly feeling a deep sense of powerlessness.

Whether it was the mysterious person who gave him the Dragon Ball, Su Zhou who acted on his own, or the suddenly emerging, incredibly powerful Dragon Ball holders who could destroy cities, and the large number of transcendents, all made him feel a sense of confusion.

These forces were all existences he couldn't control or refuse. Faced with these guys, even he, the northern tyrant who could selectively ignore the orders of the imperial family, didn't have any extra dignity.

Was his rash decision to get involved in the Dragon Ball contest the right choice?

"At least... the Dragon Ball isn't in my hands now."

Suddenly, with a bitter smile, Lord Maya gave himself a self-deprecating comfort: "It really is as that mysterious person said—it's really a good thing that the Dragon Ball isn't in my hands."

While the lord was worrying about the transcendents in the city, the transcendents who remained in Maya City were also worried and hesitant.

Most transcendents who were targeting the Dragon Ball didn't actually know how strong the Divine Dragon was—the last Dragon Ball contest had been eight hundred years ago, and the Kerber Royal Family would never show the Divine Dragon power inherited in their bloodline unless absolutely necessary.

Most of the transcendents who came with a fluke mentality, led by the fearless emotions of the ignorant, had now developed cold feet after witnessing the terrifying power of the Divine Dragon. After all, a power that could make the entire earth tremble slightly with just one attack was clearly not something ordinary transcendents could contend with.

If they could find the Dragon Ball holder, then with their methods, some of the more powerful transcendents might be able to fight, but if they faced the Divine Dragon, they would definitely not be able to win.

But here came the problem—how could they find the Dragon Ball holder?

At this moment, a disguised Dragon Ball holder was walking among the panicked crowds in Maya City, entering a tavern and familiarly ordering a glass of wine and a bowl of mutton soup.

The tavern owner was a veteran who had participated in the Elf War more than twenty years ago. He had been conscripted into the army back then, but in the famous blood-and-flesh grinder battle of the Silent Forest Campaign, he stepped on an elven vine trap and broke a leg. After returning to his hometown, the owner couldn't do physical work because of his disability, and he couldn't be a worker either. So he opened a meat stall to sell meat, with the hot soup skills he learned in the army as a bonus, and sold some wine. He didn't expect the meat business to be popular, but the mutton soup became more famous, so he simply switched to the catering business.

Drinking the familiar taste and feeling the rich and fresh flavor, the bounty hunter, now transformed into a black-haired man, picked up the northern strong liquor beside him and took a sip, looking like a normal diner.

Originally, the hunter's white short hair image was to deepen other people's impression of this feature, so as to facilitate his disguise and infiltration, and confuse the line of sight. In addition, he had used some specific methods to cover up some of the facial features that he had also deliberately shown, ensuring that no one could detect that he was the bounty hunter at first glance.

"Have you heard? The Dragon Ball and the Divine Dragon have really appeared!"

"How could I not have heard? It is said that the water of the Kobol River upstream has been polluted by the demon dragon's venom, and several villages downstream have fled for their lives!"

"This northern region is not safe. I plan to go out for a while to avoid it... Alas, why do these people have to come here to grab the Dragon Ball..."

Listening to the news in the tavern, the hunter put down his wine glass and took another sip of mutton soup. He shook his head slightly: "Jormungandr's poison is indeed fierce, and can even kill gods, but it can only last for less than a minute at most, and after that it's just a simple pigment. Drinking it in large gulps will at most cause diarrhea."

Thinking so, just as the hunter raised his spoon, preparing to take another sip, a strange sense of vibration appeared in his spiritual world.

It was hunger—endless hunger.

In an instant, in the hunter's eyes, the surrounding world changed... The people around him who were drinking and eating seemed to become fragmented, turning into countless separated, sweet flesh. Outside the street, the little girl walking with her parents, their family was like a sandwich, exuding the delicious meat aroma of a good steak.

It wasn't just people. The hunter gritted his teeth, his throat rolling, because everything in sight became extraordinarily delicious in the man's eyes. The table was like a biscuit, the walls were like cartilage, and even the spiritual power in the air exuded a strange fragrance that made him want to open his mouth and swallow everything, even the entire world, into his stomach.

"Enough."

Lowering his eyes, the hunter raised the glass in his hand and drank the strong liquor in it. He bit off a piece of glass from the wine glass, and his tongue and palate used the strength to crush steel to grind it into fine silica debris.

Swallowing this clump of inorganic powder into his stomach, the hunter's face gradually returned to calm. He connected to the soul of the giant snake entwined with him, and coldly scolded, suppressing the huge appetite and madness from the other side: "Endure."

[Cannot... endure...] The giant snake's almost irrational voice roared in the soul space: [Odin... the World Tree's spear... eat Him, eat Him!]

"I said, endure."

The giant snake's soul was huge and violent, but the hunter's soul was even more calm and firm. After some soul wrestling and appeasement, he once again calmed the angry giant snake's soul—fortunately, Jormungandr didn't have much intelligence, and with the Dragon Ball, otherwise, let alone suppression, the hunter felt that he couldn't even make this dragon snake hear his words.

Paying the bill and leaving, the hunter left the tavern.

The reason why this Dragon Ball holder, who had fought with Su Zhou, returned to Maya City was because he had sensed before that there was a Dragon Ball holder in Maya City.

That was probably shortly after the last Divine Dragon was summoned. The hunter, with his years of experience and instinct honed in war, sensed a subtle, almost illusory fluctuation coming from somewhere in Maya City.

If he hadn't encountered other Divine Dragons on the road and changed his plan temporarily, the hunter would not have met Su Zhou, but would have sneaked into the city along the river to find the trace of that possible Dragon Ball holder.

War.

Just as the hunter was heading to the place where the fluctuation was located, he couldn't help but think of this word again, and the Divine Dragon who had fought with him.

The Divine Dragon, who saw through his essence and life experience at a glance, proposed to him that He would fulfill his wish as a condition for peacefully handing over the Dragon Ball.

That was not a lie.

With the hunter's experience, he could see that the other party was a character who would do what he said and would not regret his promise. He was a powerful and benevolent Divine Dragon towards humans—and, according to the legend of controlling the wind and thunder and having a record of throwing lightning spears, the hunter could be sure that the other party should be the Divine Dragon 'Zhuzhou' who once transformed heavenly thunder into a spear and killed the otherworldly undead demon emperor.

Many people only have a superficial understanding of Zhuzhou, and at most know that He has a divine knife in His tail that can kill the undead, but only those who have really studied mythology know that the weapon that Divine Dragon initially used was a spear condensed from heavenly thunder.

This is basic mythological common sense, but the public is not clear about it. In order to cope with the Dragon Ball War, the hunter had crammed on this knowledge and knew many common misconceptions.

Zhuzhou is indeed a Divine Dragon who is friendly to humans. If it were other matters, the hunter would be willing to believe Him.

But, no matter how powerful or kind.

In the final analysis, these summoned Divine Dragons are not existences of this world.

All the dragons and snakes summoned by the Dragon Ball are like this. In the final analysis, They do not belong to this world and are destined to leave.

Since that is the case, then They can never change this world and shape a new order.

"So, you can't fulfill my wish."

Speaking to himself in his heart, the hunter turned past streets.

The density of pedestrians on the street has decreased significantly. Most people left Maya City as soon as possible, and a small number of people who couldn't leave temporarily stayed in hotels waiting.

Eight hundred years ago, the Kerber Empire's royal family successfully made a wish and obtained the mandate of heaven, sweeping across the many city-states and alien races on the continent, establishing a great empire and driving many other intelligent civilizations into harsh environments.

But, eight hundred years have passed, the empire has begun to decay, and the alien races have not yet been eliminated... Even the most recent war of aggression with the southern elves, the empire, which technically has an absolute advantage, has simply thrown down many corpses and signed a truce agreement with the other side in the Silent Forest.

Zhuzhou said that He could see the resentment on his body... that was not a lie. How could there be less resentment on his body? Which veteran who survived the meat grinder battle is not covered in blood.

However, killing enemy soldiers is the job of soldiers, and he doesn't think there is anything wrong with that.

What really made the hunter fall into memories were the comrades who fell in the war.

"I can't do it anymore. The poison has spread throughout my body. It's useless even if you cut off my legs... Kill me." This was his old captain, who was poisoned by a mysterious elven poison. It can't kill people, but it will gradually turn people into vegetative people who are almost senile.

There was no antidote in the early stages of the war, and most of the injured chose to commit suicide, or asked their comrades to help them to avoid suffering the chronic torment of memory loss and mental death.

"My waist is broken... It hurts so much, it really hurts so much... Give me a shot, please..." This was his nemesis in the army, a thorn in his side since training camp. He stepped on an elven plant bomb, and his entire lower body was cut to pieces by the whirling knife leaves.

Because the pain nerves were amplified dozens of times by the poison, before he could help him get rid of it, he had already lost his mind from the excessive pain... The arrival of death was so rapid.

"Huff... Ah..." This was a new recruit he brought with him. He was caught in an elven trap, and his chest was pierced by cursed wooden thorns. He couldn't even speak before he died, but the hunter still remembered that desperate and then gradually dying face.

"Cough cough... What kind of expression is that on your face? Hurry up and give me a quick one. Didn't we say long ago that whoever gets poisoned by those pointy-eared blood-burning poisons will help them get rid of it!" This was his partner. They cooperated all the way and survived the long war years, finally arriving at the final Silent Forest Campaign.

And at the end of the battle, he was poisoned by the elven guard's blood-burning poison. It is said that the fierce poison can burn the flesh and blood of the poisoned person and turn it into pure poisonous gas, which continues to spread and infect others.

But the reason why the other party was poisoned was to block that arrow for himself... It was his carelessness that caused his partner to die.

Elves rarely kill people directly, but they have countless ways to make people wish they were dead. Guerrilla warfare with them in the forest requires dealing with the malice of the entire forest.

Poisoning, traps, cold arrows, guerrillas, landmines, and miasma... The years of killing enemies in war and freeing his comrades, the hunter would never forget.

Especially, the confusion and deep sense of guilt that only he survived.

Hate the elves? Indeed, he hated them at first, but wasn't it they who took the initiative to invade? It is only natural for the elves to defend themselves when their homes are invaded—even his comrades would shake their heads if he regarded them as an object of hatred.

So.

The truly sinful thing is this decaying empire that needs a war to divert domestic conflicts.

The truly sinful thing is this society that cannot feed its people, which leads to conflicts.

The truly sinful thing is this world where nobles have everything, the people are insecure, and the soldiers have to pay with their lives for the nobles' desires to fight.

"Glorious days? Humph."

Recalling the general's grand propaganda during his speech, the veteran just narrowed his eyes slightly. He couldn't help but sneer silently: "How can a country that doesn't even pay all the pensions make people loyal to it."

The reason why he became a bounty hunter was to rely on bounties to help the relatives and children left behind by many comrades.

And the Dragon Ball was a family heirloom given by a comrade's widow and parents to repay him for his many years of care—of course, she didn't know it was a Dragon Ball, she only knew that such jewelry was very precious, and that a widow like her would only cause trouble if she took it out, so it would be better to give it to other strong people as a thank you gift.

From that moment on, the ambition to change this world began to burn in the hunter's heart.

Make a wish—the most direct way to change the world!

Just as the original city-state system was too backward and was crushed by the Kerber Empire's feudal monarchical system, now, with more than 2 billion residents, its system has been outdated for a long time...

It is time for a new and advanced system to change this corrupt world.

Therefore, the hunter needs this wish.

And no dragon or snake other than the legendary Ancestral Dragon can fulfill this wish... Zhuzhou is powerful, but it can't do it either.

At this moment, Jormungandr's huge appetite surged again, causing the hunter's footsteps to stagnate—once again, this world became delicious.

Without any wishes, Jormungandr, who came in response to the call of instinct, simply wanted to 'eat'.

This pure and simple desire was like a tsunami about to overwhelm all reason, impacting the hunter's mental barriers.

But the bounty hunter overcame all of this again and again with his powerful willpower.

Suppressing Jormungandr's appetite again, the man couldn't help but feel a little tired and helpless.

Jormungandr, this huge giant snake, its essence is that the more it eats, the stronger it becomes.

With a lot of food, it can become stronger and increase its size at an incredible speed.

In theory, the hunter has held the Dragon Ball for eight years. With Jormungandr's characteristics, it should have long been able to return to the realm of gods—in that case, facing most of the Divine Dragons who have suppressed part of their strength, Jormungandr can definitely gain the upper hand.

Even if someone summons a Divine Dragon comparable to a main god, Jormungandr's essence is also a dragon and snake with doomsday legends and a record of killing gods, and is not inferior to any Divine Dragon.

If he really let Jormungandr indulge his appetite and turn into a monster, the hunter can be sure that he will definitely win, but this world will also fall into a sea of fire, and his soul is destined to be suppressed by the increasingly powerful world-encircling snake as food.

But what he wants is not just victory—he doesn't want a hellish ruin, but a perfect and flawless utopia.

"So, endure, Jormungandr, after I make a wish, you can eat me, eat all the mountains on the border... but now, you must endure."

The vertical pupils flashed with a cold and ruthless light, suppressing the pure and huge magic power in his body, the hunter finally arrived at his destination.

He came to the west of Maya City, around the Ancestral Dragon Church.

And this is where he felt the fluctuation.

"The Ancestral Dragon Church... It's not surprising that they hold the Dragon Ball."

Disguised as a passerby, the bounty hunter determined that there was indeed a slight aura of the Divine Dragon here, and then prepared to turn around and leave naturally—knowing who the other party is, it will be much easier to guard against the other party, or to carry out a sneak attack against them in the future.

However, the bounty hunter did not expect that at the same time as he was preparing to leave, he ran into Priest Vika and his party who were returning from the Maya Lord's Mansion.

Immediately, Priest Vika, who was in the lead, took a step forward, his sharp eyes swept across the hunter's body, as if he could see through all disguises.

"...The most powerful bounty hunter in the south, 'Stone Heart' Mikhail, what are you planning to do here?"

Immediately, the question was raised, and the church warriors behind Priest Vika also picked up their guns, aiming them at the bounty hunter named Mikhail.

But Mikhail seemed not to see those guns, but stared at the young priest.

——Powerful.

In just a moment of eye contact, the bounty hunter confirmed this—the other party's power was like a heat wave coming in winter, so obvious and undeniable.

Although Priest Vika looked delicate, as if he had never suffered any setbacks or injuries, Mikhail could see that under the other party's fair skin, on the extremely strong muscle texture, there were blood-red dragon patterns spreading.

That is an indestructible defense.

——Dragon blood covers the body, invulnerable to swords and guns, indestructible dragon body? In an instant, Mikhail thought of several dragons and snakes with relevant legends, and among them, the most famous myth about bathing in dragon blood should be the relevant story of the demon dragon from another world, Fafnir... Heh, I guess the other party won't leave a loophole for himself like the heroes in the legend.

Since he has obtained the other party's information, then this trip is a big profit.

Without answering, Mikhail immediately prepared to turn around and leave—not to mention that he was confident that the young priest couldn't keep him, the bounty hunter also knew very well that if they fought here, the civilians would always be the ones who would suffer.

Similarly, the Ancestral Dragon Church also had the same concerns. Priest Vika saw Mikhail turn around and walk away, and did not intend to chase him. He just stood coldly on the spot, remembering the aura on the other party, so that he could use secret methods to track him later.

"'Stone Heart' is also a Dragon Ball holder... Things are starting to get tricky. If the others are all at Mikhail's level, then if I want to win in the end, I can only rely on luck."

Although Vika himself is also a recognized genius in the church, and even many archpriests are not as strong as him, opponents like Mikhail are not mediocre, especially the other party's decades of combat experience, which is not something that young people like him can match.

So, don't start a conflict first, everyone is testing each other.

But, just when the two tacitly one left and the other didn't stop him,

Rumble——

Suddenly, there was an extremely dull loud noise from outside the city, and the roar of some huge beast.

"What?"

"How is that possible?!"

For a time, both Mikhail and Vika looked shocked. They turned their heads to look in the direction of the sound at the same time, and then they were all puzzled and surprised: "Dead?!"

Then, they turned their heads to look at each other, and Mikhail and Vika saw that the shock in each other's eyes was not false.

Just now, they both felt at the same time that a huge magical power fluctuation came from the vicinity of the Unfrozen Lake upstream of the Kobol River, which was not far away for transcendents... and there were only two possibilities for this level of magical power fluctuation. One is that a Dragon Ball holder died and his power collapsed, and the other is that the Divine Dragon was defeated and his incarnation collapsed.

Of course, there is actually a third possibility, that is, a passing innocent peak god-level powerhouse unfortunately died while walking around the Unfrozen Lake... who would believe that?

The seven Dragon Ball holders have only just been gathered for a day, and someone has already been eliminated? This is really incredible. You must know that according to historical records, the founding emperor of the Kerber Empire fought with many powerful enemies for forty days and nights before defeating all the enemies and being able to meet the Ancestral Dragon and successfully make a wish.

But, no matter how confused they are, staying where they are won't give them the answer. Without any hesitation, Mikhail, who had originally planned to leave, immediately raised the magic power in his body and accelerated directly to the Unfrozen Lake, and Vika turned his head and instructed the church warriors, and then also used magic to follow behind Mikhail.

When they arrived at the bank of the Unfrozen Lake, they found that there was already a 'Divine Dragon' observing the situation.

Needless to say, it was Su Zhou.

"Yo, it's you, you came pretty fast."

Su Zhou, who was looking into the distance and the giant beast wreaking havoc in the center of the lake, also noticed the familiar aura. He turned his head and saw the bounty hunter and another Dragon Ball holder he didn't recognize.

Similarly, Mikhail and Vika also noticed Su Zhou—and more importantly, they saw that Su Zhou's left hand was now holding an extremely petite... uh.

An extremely petite exoskeleton armor warrior.

That's right, it was an exoskeleton armor warrior.

You can see that at this time, the small figure beside Su Zhou, holding his hand, was wearing a full-coverage children's exoskeleton armor. The gray-white dragon scales had a heavy feel, and the defense was obviously extraordinary.

——God damn children's exoskeleton.

Even Mikhail, who was as calm as Stone Heart, couldn't help but be stunned when he saw this scene, not to mention Vika, the young priest even rubbed his eyes, with a ghostly expression on his face.

Naturally, Su Zhou wouldn't care about the feelings of these two. He turned his head again and looked at the huge sea monster raging in the center of the lake, and said calmly: "In addition to you two, there are two other people who have come."

To this, the young man clicked his tongue and said with emotion: "Counting the guy who may have been killed, and the guy who killed him, the seven Dragon Ball holders are probably all here."

The following chapters are all long chapters, so the update may be at midnight. Don't wait, read it tomorrow.

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