Dracotitán

"Do you know what the surrounding nations do when the undead ash fog appears?"

"..."

"They send legendary powerhouses leading their most elite legions to fortify the fortresses bordering your kingdom, then wait for the moment when the undead ash fog dissipates."

"How can they do this?" The girl's body trembled, guessing what those nations intended to do. "Aren't they afraid of the same fate befalling them?"

"It's just a less than one percent chance," Muria said with a hint of mockery, "and this time, your Bavarian Kingdom has been chosen.

They just need to wait, do nothing, and then they will have a kingdom without an owner and without strong protectors to occupy and plunder."

The Council of the Undead's centennial kingdom annihilation to replenish cannon fodder is a catastrophe only for the targeted nation. But for the neighboring countries and the people on the same continent, it's a grand celebration.

The Council of the Undead unleashes necromantic disasters in every city of the target kingdom, nearly annihilating all the people, turning them into undead, and then takes away all the newly created undead cannon fodder, leaving none behind.

So, when the undead ash fog dissipates, it signifies that the land under its cover no longer has living people, only ownerless land and wealth...

Therefore, when the Council of the Undead replenishes its cannon fodder, the neighboring nations do not send any powerhouses or armies to the rescue.

Once, there were human monarchs in history who, during the Council of the Undead's annihilation, contacted surrounding nations for aid, launching attacks on the legendary undead to stop the disaster.

But the final result of this rescue was the expansion of the undead ash fog, enveloping all the nations that participated in the rescue. When the fog dissipated, those nations too were destroyed and disappeared.

After that tragedy, all human kingdoms and duchies knew how to face the Council of the Undead's centennial annihilation.

If chosen, one can only silently endure, awaiting death or becoming an undead creature. Rescue is almost hopeless, even prayers to the gods are futile.

If not chosen, then pray that the Council of the Undead selects a neighboring nation and quietly wait.

To save or not to save is an easy choice. Participating in a rescue means facing annihilation, but observing quietly offers a chance to partake in the division of a kingdom or several duchies' lands and accumulated wealth.

After all, those participating in the annihilation from the Council of the Undead are legendary liches and undead, along with some soul-intent level members. They take any useful resources and treasures with them.

However, the wealth and resources left behind by the Council of the Undead, which they couldn't take, are more than enough for the observing nations.

...

"Your Highness! I've found a teleportation array in the castle of this city leading to the city of Asriel, well-preserved and usable."

"Alright, start transporting the survivors of this city over!" Muria ordered the green dragon who reported to him, "Remember to list all the consumed elemental crystals, and get reimbursement from Lud once you're back in Asriel City."

"Understood!" The reporting green dragon obeyed and started working with other green dragons in Ansel Castle.

Although there were only fifteen green dragons, it was enough to make nearly ten thousand humans obey their commands. In fact, even one dragon was enough. In the presence of such powerful beings, the weak have only one option: to submit and obey.

"No one will rescue us..." Hearing Muria's description of the cruel reality, the girl Orina, apparently greatly shocked, muttered to herself. But soon, she looked at Muria with hopeful eyes, "Sir, aren't you here specifically to rescue us?"

"..." Muria fell silent for a moment, then turned and flew towards the central castle of the city, "It's time to retreat, and besides, I'm not human."

"You're not human, but you still came to rescue us!" Watching Muria turn into a golden rainbow and fly away, the girl Orina shouted.

"Rescuing you was just incidental," Muria sighed to himself.

That night, in the mage tower of the Golden Dragon Sister, Caslana, Ancient Gold Dragon Alvis learned from Golden Dragon Lud about the appearance of the Death Dragon Rider, Berthelain. He immediately notified a group of ancient dragons and had the young giants at the banquet inform their elders of a level above ancient dragons.

They were called to respond to the summons of the Platinum Dragon God, Bahamut, and the three great Dragon Kings, to hunt and seal the enemy of the Dragon Race, Berthelain.

That night, Muria gained a lot of insight. He wasn't sure if it was due to the unity of the Metal Dragon Race or because the hatred the Death Dragon Rider had garnered was indeed substantial.

In less than two hours, nearly twenty ancient dragons descended upon Bologna, including metal and gem dragons.

According to the Golden Dragon Sister's introduction, half of them came from other sub-continents, regardless of the cost.

These ancient dragons gathered together and, upon finding that their numbers were sufficient to confront the legendary undead and liches deployed by the Council of the Undead, immediately descended upon Lud's domain, Asriel City, following the coordinates provided by him.

The spatial blockade of the Council of the Undead couldn't withstand nearly twenty ancient dragons joining forces and was directly broken.

With so many legendary-level ancient dragons heading to the Bavarian Kingdom, the dragons originally cautious of legendary undead and liches suddenly became bold.

All the young giants who attended the banquet followed the ancient dragons to Asriel City.

Upon arrival, they saw three soul-intent level liches of the Council of the Undead patrolling Lud's city, collecting middle and high-level undead born in the necromantic disaster.

Then, there was no more 'then'. An ancient dragon took action, directly crushing the liches' undead bodies and capturing their soul fires for interrogation, seeking information about the legendary undead and liches of the Council of the Undead in the Bavarian Kingdom.

The ancient dragons interrogated the lich souls, while the young giants who came along helped Lud clean up the city's undead and rescue his people at his request.

Because the rescue started earlier than in Cecil City, the survival rate of the residents was slightly higher.

Asriel City, with a population of nearly one million, had about a hundred thousand survivors when the dragons came to the rescue.

Later, under the guidance of the ancient dragons, all dragons of the soul-intent level began scouring for undead and hunting the liches left by the Council of the Undead to collect cannon fodder, starting from Asriel City.

The ancient dragons hoped to use the mass disappearance of soul-intent level liches to attract the elusive legendary liches and undead.

As for rescuing human cities, only some benevolent metal dragons would incidentally save some along the way.

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