The Epic Dragon Titan

"I don't want it!" Cynthia hurriedly shook her head, dragging the dragon hunter away to the upper cloud island, much like a girl who had seen a poisonous snake. She didn't want to get near the equipment that made her uncomfortable, clearly seeking to avoid trouble.

"Is the repulsion really that strong?" Muria mused, watching Cynthia flee as if for her life. "I don't feel much; maybe it's because I'm half-dragon?"

Muria fiddled with the Dragon Slayer Spear and Sword in his hands, preparing to return to the central cloud island when another wave of legendary energy rose from the White Dragon City below.

"Another legend has infiltrated? What do they think this place is?" Muria's eyes turned cold, and he shot down towards the White Dragon City as a golden beam. There, he saw a human being beaten by a legendary white dragon, surrounded by various monster corpses, including a few white dragons.

"Move aside!" Muria's eyes filled with killing intent as he saw a dragon being slain. He shouted at the ancient white dragon struggling with the human, asserting his authority as the leader.

The legendary, who had intended to investigate the strange occurrences in the sky, panicked upon seeing Muria's sudden appearance. Realizing the danger of being in a true dragon's lair, the legend turned to flee. 

"Where do you think you're going?" Muria's white, slender hand transformed into a dragon claw covered in golden scales, reaching out and quickly enveloping the fleeing human.

"Spare me!" The human, realizing they were trapped, begged for mercy. But Muria was unmoved; his dragon claw clenched, accompanied by screams and the sound of bones breaking. A spray of bright red blood mist burst from between the claw's scales.

Muria then released his grip, his claw returning to a white, slender human hand, once again appearing as a dignified nobleman. The fleeing legend had been reduced to an unrecognizable mass of flesh, mixed with deformed armor, falling to the ground. The mass of flesh continued to wriggle, attempting to regenerate.

The ancient white dragon, which had retreated moments earlier, wisely rushed forward, freezing the wriggling flesh into an ice block with a breath of cold air. With a fawning smile, it presented the sealed flesh to Muria.

"Your Highness, how should we handle this?" 

"Send it above," Muria ordered, studying the ancient white dragon, whom he vaguely recognized but did not know by name. Yet, this did not prevent him from issuing commands.

"This continent is becoming increasingly chaotic," Muria rubbed his temples. He understood the root cause of the chaos: it was due to him and Claudia seeking to expand their territory. The human duchies of the North were unwilling to submit, spreading news of Claudia's existence worldwide. A white dragon, ruling over four human duchies with only first-tier legendary strength, naturally attracted the attention of dragon hunters seeking fame and glory. It also stirred dissatisfaction among some human legends, prompting them to cross the sea to kill Claudia. This situation reflected the mismatch between Claudia's power and her reputation.

Muria realized that for Claudia to truly become the White Dragon Queen, he needed to eliminate all the dragon hunters and drive away all the so-called righteous legends. Only then could Claudia wage war and continue expanding her territory.

Regardless of the war's outcome, Muria had to kill these dragon hunters. The survival of dragons on this continent was under significant threat. Recently, a crystal dragon had been slaughtered, prompting its elder, an ancient crystal dragon, to seek revenge. Such incidents were likely to increase as human numbers grew, with some individuals taking advantage of the chaos for personal gain, indifferent to the resulting death toll.

As the situation developed, the number of dragon hunters on the continent increased, leading to frequent news of dragons being killed. Wild white dragons outside the White Dragon Principality were killed without reprisal, but when dragons within the principality were killed, Claudia ordered her followers, including monsters and white dragons, to retaliate fiercely, resulting in numerous deaths.

Not only white dragons but also crystal dragons were hunted by humans, leading to a series of reprisals. Several ancient dragons emerged, sweeping the continent to hunt dragon hunters, escalating the conflict between dragon and human legends. This situation had reached a point where only the defeat of one side could bring an end.

A month later, Muria received shocking news: in the Kingdom of Thiago, a young male silver dragon was murdered in its lair, while its mate—a beautiful female silver dragon—and their eggs disappeared, presumably the work of dragon hunters. The Silver Dragon Queen, in fury, mobilized the entire kingdom to hunt down the dragon hunters, joining the purge already underway.

With the silver dragons joining the conflict, the chaos escalated further, prompting the mobilization of all dragons on the continent against human dragon hunters. During this purge, silver and crystal dragons abandoned their previous moderate attitudes towards humans, becoming extremely ruthless. Crystal dragons, in particular, resorted to mass slaughter, while silver dragons, though slightly less brutal, still killed on sight, preferring to err on the side of caution.

In contrast, Muria's approach was considered the most merciful. His forces only acted against dragon hunters after thorough investigations and evidence gathering, striving to avoid harm to ordinary humans.

...

"I think I've discovered something significant. The locals on this continent are hiding something important," said a man with short, needle-like hair, his eyes gleaming in the dimly lit secret room, illuminated only by runes.

"Heh, I've also found something interesting. What did you find?"

"I think we might have discovered the same thing. You go first!"

"I found something peculiar during my investigation of the Frost Queen."

The man with the short hair pulled out a crystal, activating it to project a clear image on the room's wall. The image showed two powerful beings in battle, their clashes causing the ground to crack and mountains to collapse. One figure wielded twin swords, wore armor, and had eight pairs of wings, surrounded by crimson flames, with a visage resembling a divine entity.

The other figure was a massive, never-before-seen dragon, its golden scales resembling a suit of dragon-shaped armor. It had six dragon horns extending backward from its forehead, like an incomplete crown.

"This dragon..." The room filled with heavy breathing, the sight of the unprecedented golden dragon form clearly leaving a deep impression.

"This is a unique variant of a golden dragon, never recorded in our archives. If we could hunt it and offer it to the great Dragon Pursuer, we would receive unparalleled divine favor."

"Hunting such a dragon, are you mad?" A dragon hunter stepped forward, examining the dragon, which was surrounded by thunder and flames, its size dwarfing the collapsing mountains and fleeing beasts below. Estimating the dragon's size, the hunter's expression turned grim, as this dragon's size surpassed the ancient dragon level, indicating an elder dragon status.

"So what? It's just a slightly larger dragon; why can't we hunt it? With the blessing of our Lord's Dragonbane Crossbow, even elder dragon scales can be easily pierced. This dragon is no different; hit its vital spots, and it will die. No dragon can resist our Lord's power."

"Stop pretending, this is a golden dragon. Even though it looks different from usual dragons, it's clearly a golden dragon. Do you know what consequences will follow if you kill it?"

"What consequences? It's just a dragon; if we kill it, so be it. We are the followers of the great Dragon Pursuer Maloc, our Lord will protect us," a dragon hunter replied, his eyes gleaming with madness.

"Besides the Platinum Dragon God's protection over golden dragons, just look at this dragon. Anyone with eyes can see it must be connected to the Dragon King. Who here can withstand the Dragon King's wrath? If we anger the Dragon King, not even our Lord can protect us."

"We're dragon hunters; hunting dragons is our duty. Being killed by the Dragon King might not be so bad," another hunter with faint wrinkles on his face laughed nonchalantly.

Those who chose to fight dragons often had traumatic pasts, usually involving being harmed by dragons in their youth, leading them to see dragons as enemies.

"If you're afraid, you can leave, but this golden dragon must die. Let those of us unafraid of death handle it. Dragons are a plague upon the world, their existence bringing nothing but harm. They must be eradicated."

"Let's discuss how to hunt this dragon. First, where is it located?"

"It's with the white dragon known as the Frost Queen. I discovered this unique golden dragon while investigating."

"So it's surrounded by white dragons," an older dragon hunter remarked, finding it odd that a powerful metallic dragon would be among white dragons, known as the shame of dragonkind.

"No, you're mistaken. The white dragons are merely its subordinates. There are also two other ancient metallic dragons nearby."

"So how do we hunt this dragon?"

"We need to find a way to separate it from its entourage. The dragon alone is troublesome enough; if it stays with the others, we're just going to die."

"I hate these lord dragons; they're always surrounded by minions."

"The stronger the dragon, the fewer it travels alone. It's common sense; what's there to complain about?"

"Let's come up with a plan to lure it out."

"I heard this golden dragon is organizing a purge of dragon hunters."

"Purge of dragon hunters? This dragon must die quickly; the longer we wait, the more harm it will cause the world."

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