Under the Red Dragon

"Heh, my object of fear? I'd like to see just what I would fear!"

Karon exerted force from his hind legs, lightly standing upright, looking down at the cocoon deep within the mist with some anticipation.

Karon's immense spiritual body displayed the changes his body underwent during his slumber. His body's proportions were growing and evolving toward their most perfect state, not only in appearance but also in the adaptation of power output.

This caused his neck to become slightly more slender than before. To brew more explosive dragon fire and make the impact flow of the dragon fire more intense, an extra layer of protective tissue was generated in his throat, specifically to protect the red dragon's frequently used throat.

Karon knew about this nightmare ability that initially originated in the dreams of living beings. These nightmares possessed the ability to travel through the connection channels between the spiritual realm and the River of Spirituality of living beings, moving between the dreams of living beings.

These nightmares fed on fragments of living beings' dreams as their food and source of power. These dreams also radiated their spirituality, which the nightmares could absorb.

Some exceptionally powerful nightmares even possessed the ability to invade the spiritual realms of living beings through dreams after devouring enough spirituality to grow.

However, every living being, within their spiritual realm, was equivalent to a passive creator. The spiritual realm, governed by the subconscious of the living being, would spontaneously counterattack these invading nightmares.

Nevertheless, these nightmares possessed a unique ability to stir the spirituality of living beings, transforming themselves into the most terrifying enemy in the hearts of the invaded beings.

In the spiritual realm, the nightmare that transformed into the feared enemy of the living being would possess the abilities of the person feared, as imagined and intertwined by the living being's subconscious.

And these nightmares relied on this ability to make living beings defeat themselves, thereby seizing their light of spirituality.

They would absorb the spiritual power of living beings and eventually, like a cuckoo occupying a magpie's nest, be able to walk in the material world with the real body of the living being whose spiritual power had been consumed.

However, this strange monster did not have the ability to reproduce. To have offspring, it had to self-differentiate, splitting off its power and spirituality. Therefore, almost no nightmare would make such a choice, making this race particularly rare.

"Ignorant red dragon, you will never truly understand the abilities of the great Nightmare race,"

The mist churned, and illusory whispers echoed throughout the space like ghostly sounds. The light of spirituality twisted and changed within the churning mist, gradually taking shape.

Thump, thump, thump.

A figure stepped out of the mist. It was a strange fellow with a human-like appearance, quite tall among ordinary people, wearing brown pants, a red shirt, and an ugly, bone-like mask that revealed a pair of eyes and a mouth.

The strange weapon in this person's hand vibrated constantly, like a rolling chainsaw.

"Hahaha, die, red dragon! I will deliver your fearful end," the nightmare's spirituality, transformed into a human body, raised the buzzing chainsaw in its hand and revealed a cruel smile.

Smack.

Karon's right paw stretched out its five dragon claws, straightened and joined together, slapping the nightmare's face, sending the nightmare spinning in place like a rolling top, knocking the mask away.

"I can give you another chance. Your ability is quite interesting," Karon said, looking down at the nightmare's incredulous face, revealing his long fangs with interest.

"Something's not right, something's not right. Why would you be afraid of such a weak creature? You are a dragon, you are a red dragon,"

The nightmare roared, but its body involuntarily took two steps back. It could not feel any extraordinary power beyond the norm from the monster formed by Karon's inner fear that it had evoked, only a slightly strange human.

"I feed on your fear, transforming into your nightmare," the nightmare roared loudly, its distorted figure gradually changing, transforming into another terrifying image.

This was also a human, also wearing a strange white hockey mask, but taller, with a height of two meters and two, wearing black farm clothes.

A pair of numb, bloodthirsty eyes revealed a desire to destroy life, and the blood-stained machete in his hand possessed a strange power, impossible to lose or damage.

"I am immortal, hahaha," the nightmare laughed wildly, feeling the strange power coming from within, and the machete in its hand fell with a whistling sound.

Clang.

Karon stretched out a dragon claw, gently blocking the machete's chop, and then his left dragon claw grabbed the nightmare's head, crushing the nightmare's head with a little force, like a watermelon smashed by a heavy hammer.

"Oh, Jason, it's been a while,"

Karon said with a smile, cleaning the illusory bloodstains on his palm, looking at the body that was still twitching.

The nightmare's body suddenly dissipated with an angry scream, and the next moment it transformed out of the mist again, transforming into a man wearing a black top hat and a red and green striped sweater.

The face and body burned by flames were particularly ugly, covered with scars left by burns, skinny all over, and a sharp metal claw was on his right hand.

"Oh, my God," Karon showed a horrified expression and couldn't help but exclaim loudly.

"I am the God you speak of, hahahaha!" The nightmare transformed into a ghost and laughed wildly. "You have finally been caught by me, you pathetic fellow, I love your soul."

The nightmare's body instantly disappeared into the surrounding space. Given the endowment of spirituality, it now possessed multiple abilities such as invisibility, teleportation, and changing size, making it more bizarre and powerful than the previous forms it had taken.

The nightmare's body quietly appeared behind Karon, and the sharp iron claws of his right hand reached towards the red dragon's abdomen, but the burning flames suddenly appeared, descending around Karon like a fiery hell.

The spiritual fire jumped, transforming from the burning flames into a strange, long-armed and long-legged fire sprite, hugging the nightmare's entire body.

The nightmare could not break free from the shackles of the spiritual flame and was burned to ashes by the flames bursting from the fire sprite.

"Damn it, damn it, how could these weak pig-like dogs make you feel fear?" The angry voice roared in Karon's ears. The nightmare's repeated failures caused it to feel unparalleled anger and incomprehensible emotions.

"Hehe, the past is the past, and now is now. Life is always in a state of change," Karon responded indifferently.

The nightmare now understood that the red dragon in front of it was playing with it, but the nightmare could not rashly invest all its power. Most of its power was still maintaining the gestation of its real body and was still absorbing and digesting the remnants of the Supreme Heaven Titan.

It could only use its ability to guide the fear that spontaneously arose from Karon's spirituality, transforming into enemies, just to reduce the rejection and resistance of Karon's spiritual realm to outsiders.

The nightmare could only tirelessly use its ability, drawing on Karon's decreasing fear aura, wanting to delay Karon's time.

It had no idea that Karon had mastered the ability to actively enter the spiritual realm, unlike some lucky ones who accidentally stepped into the spiritual realm for some reason and would immediately disappear from the world of the spiritual realm when the appointed time arrived.

And Karon was also actively consuming the nightmare's spiritual power. Both sides harbored unspoken thoughts.

The nightmare tirelessly transformed into various forms: a female wraith with long hair crawling out of a strange square box, a terrifying female corpse born from the bottom of the water, a ghoul crawling out of a grave, and so on.

When the nightmare died in Karon's hands countless times, this nightmare finally woke up.

"You are a mind master, you are actually a high-ranking existence of mind casters. This is impossible. You are a dragon, how can you become a high-ranking existence in this field?"

"This kind of thing is as absurd as a red dragon becoming a paladin!" The nightmare's voice had an incomprehensible anger.

Having understood the truth, the nightmare did not become Karon's fear. Instead, Karon became the nightmare's feared existence.

For every mind caster's spiritual realm, even if controlled by the caster's subconscious, it was extremely dangerous for these nightmares.

Because the caster who actively mastered this ability was equivalent to the best nourishment for creatures like nightmares, but also their greatest nemesis. Once these mind casters' spiritual realms reacted, they could deal a fatal blow to these nightmares.

"Look, it's boring and ridiculous prejudice again,"

Karon showed a sneer and stepped into the constantly churning mist for the first time. Deep in the mist, the large cocoon was shaking violently, and countless spiritual powers were trying to sever the connection of the entire passage.

The nightmare was trying to escape the battlefield of this spiritual realm.

But Karon's power firmly entangled the connection between the two spiritual realms. He had discovered the weakness of this nightmare, and he would completely eliminate this nightmare here, without giving the other party a chance to breathe.

The body conceived by the other party after devouring all the spiritual flesh and blood of the Supreme Heaven Titan would definitely not be weak. He could not give the other party this opportunity.

Letting a bloodthirsty tiger return to the mountains and forests was an act that hunters must never choose.

Moreover, the ethereal spirituality could devour real flesh and blood, transforming into a real body. This ability was not something that nightmares could possess.

The value of this nightmare should be placed in the laboratory by Karon as a precious sample for research.

The nightmare sensed the danger. Its cocoon shook violently, and a huge spiritual power surged out of the mist, stirring the rich mist to churn endlessly.

It squeezed out all its power, wanting to forcibly guide Karon's spiritual breath, transforming into the most terrifying enemy, destroying Karon's spiritual body.

Its spirituality twisted, transforming in the boiling mist, from the image of the blue dragon Akz, a young boy in the past, to the image of the blue dragon Kalirete sleeping in the dragon's nest.

Then, from the image of the blue dragon Kalirete, it transformed into the image of the ogre tyrant Molgoth, but these images were difficult to truly form and quickly collapsed.

In the past years, the figures and enemies that Karon had experienced changed and jumped: the human nobleman Will Clarence, the high mage of the sanctuary Lapers, the former emperor of the Carthage Empire Charal Caesar, and so on.

In the end, even the image of the young red dragon Cadiloth appeared, and then continued to change, eventually turning into an incomparably powerful five-headed dragon, the five-colored dragon queen Tiamat.

"Hahaha, is this the deepest fear hidden in your heart, red dragon? Welcome the judgment of death," The nightmare, feeling the gradually forming body, swelled up with real confidence again.

Unparalleled power, the imposing manner of a towering mountain descending, irresistible divine majesty, descended on the entire spiritual space at this moment.

"Die, die, you red dragon that I hate, your soul will become my treasured toy, your body will become my doll, I will let you live and see all this, hahahaha,"

The nightmare transformed into Tiamat, unable to wait to stretch out its mountain-sized claws, pressing down on Karon's body with one palm.

"This is the deepest fear in my heart?" Karon frowned, unable to understand, but the next moment, his mouth opened, revealing fangs, and a wild laugh came from his throat.

The body of the five-colored dragon queen Tiamat, condensed by the nightmare's spirituality, quietly collapsed at the moment of final solidification. This did not come from the influence of other forces, but from Karon's inner fear, which had nothing to do with Tiamat.

Or rather, Karon had never truly feared this dragon god; he was only in awe of stronger power.

But the nightmare's consciousness recovered from the pride just now. Its spirituality scattered again, restoring its twisted, indefinite form.

"What are you, what exactly are you? Don't come over, you monster, you monster covered in red scales,"

The constantly changing and twisting body suddenly disappeared into the mist, and even the cocoon of the nightmare, which was pregnant with a real body, disappeared without a trace. This nightmare actually ran away.

"Hehe, my fear is my weakness," As a high-ranking existence in the spiritual realm, Karon had long understood his true heart.

"But the weak me has already been killed on that day, killed by me personally, on the day I glimpsed my destiny,"

Karon muttered to himself, then he suddenly raised his head, watching the surrounding increasingly thick and deep mist that had shrouded him, already obscuring the familiar Wangbao so that it could not be glimpsed.

Thump, thump, thump.

Heavy footsteps sounded in the dark, hazy Wangbao, which was the sound of the giant red dragon stepping.

"Where exactly are you hiding? Let me guess," Karon stepped into the spiritual mist, and a strange overlapping dragon language came from his throat.

"Oh, hide, hide quickly, don't let me find you so quickly. It wouldn't be good if I found you," Karon, like a demon walking through the spiritual mist, issued devilish intimidating whispers.

His perception was fully spread out, wanting to find the emotional fluctuations emitted by the true body of the nightmare. In the spiritual realm, even subtle emotional fluctuations could be easily detected by him.

His deliberately amplified footsteps were also a means of intimidation. Accompanied by Karon's overlapping whispers, it echoed in the entire quiet spiritual space.

"Not here, not here either," Karon wandered in the mist, wanting to traverse every corner. The dragon language intimidation accompanied the footsteps, making this red dragon particularly evil.

"You really are a good kid at playing hide-and-seek, oh, great Nightmare King, should be called the King of Hide-and-Seek! Hide well, I'm about to find you!"

Karon burst into laughter, the Dragon Tongue echoing and overlapping, and at this moment, a slight fluctuation finally arose within the silent space, carrying intense anger and helpless emotions.

"Oh, so you're here. Got you, worm that parasitizes the spirituality of others," Karon's head snapped around, his spiritual eyes blazing with intense light, attempting to penetrate the barrier of spiritual mist.

His gaze pierced through layers of obstacles, meeting the Nightmare's Eye deep within the mist. The eyes of the two monsters clashed, and the spiritual connection made instantaneous contact.

"You are truly pushing me, Red Dragon. I will use all my power to banish you!" The Nightmare within the cocoon opened its brilliant, dreamlike eyes. Immense spirituality coalesced at this moment, transforming into a repulsive force that enveloped Karon's body.

In the next moment, Karon's body was swallowed by a tunnel that appeared in the spiritual space, while the Nightmare's aura, encased in the flesh and spiritual cocoon, also weakened.

The Nightmare gently exhaled, then closed its eyes, still in a phantom state, and entered a slumber.

Karon once again experienced the sensation of passing through a planar portal for the first time. He was like a traveler through time and space, watching the almost tangible manifestation of time and space constantly shifting within the spiritual world.

He couldn't determine where he was, how large the surrounding space was, or how much time had passed. His consciousness, his spiritual body, could only passively experience everything.

This was the desolate tunnel in the spiritual world, devoid of the concept of time or space. It looked like a tunnel, but it was infinitely far, infinitely wide, infinitely broad, and infinitely deep.

Without knowing the origin or the destination, even Karon himself couldn't sense his own body.

"It seems this Nightmare wasn't boasting. It truly possesses the qualifications to be a Nightmare King," Karon said, looking at his dragon claw and revealing a faint smile.

This desolate spiritual tunnel unconsciously absorbed all spiritual matter, including Karon's spiritual body. Even Karon couldn't resist this naturally formed rule.

However, Karon's will unified his solid spiritual body, greatly slowing down this consumption. His spiritual unification autonomously transformed into the supreme authority representing his will—the authority of mental unification.

In this situation, he even began to actively resist the immense, immeasurable spiritual desolate tunnel, seeking a trace that could allow him to find a way out.

"This is just a minor setback. Failing to overcome it is just death," Karon muttered to himself, not allowing the possibility of complete annihilation to taint his mind.

He began to walk in this vast, immeasurable space, actively exploring it.

Time was immeasurable in this space. A blink of an eye might be decades, but decades outside might only be a moment in this space.

…

The Royal Capital, this bustling city, now stockpiled a large amount of supplies. As the largest transit station and command center for troop movements within the territory, it appeared unusually congested.

After the Blue Dragon Akz led the dragon legion to a shocking victory, all the territory's inhabitants appeared exceptionally confident.

So even though the orcs made a desperate gamble, throwing more warriors into this battlefield, they still failed to cause any turmoil in the territory.

Now the war between the two sides had entered a stalemate. Although the Orc Kingdom's forces outnumbered the Dragon Clan Territory, the ring-shaped defense system established by the Dragon Clan Territory made the orc army suffer greatly.

The inexhaustible and indestructible forest always stood in front of these orc armies, and the orcs were just futilely consuming their military supplies.

And once the orcs divided their forces from the forest to attack, wanting to sweep away all connected defense lines in one fell swoop, they would be detected by ubiquitous birds and beasts, and countless musketeers and warriors hidden underground would emerge from the forest.

The warriors near each defensive fortress would also move out one after another, eliminating and driving away these orcs.

Therefore, the orcs could only rely on the Golden City by the coast to re-establish strongholds and gradually advance their army.

Continuous fleets traveled between the Orc Kingdom and the Golden Coast. This war had begun to enter a stage of mutual consumption of strength between the two sides.

Although the orcs had the entire kingdom as their backing, the Dragon Clan Territory had an entire plane as its supply.

Moreover, the orcs' gradual advance was also promoting the development of the vast western region of the Dragon Clan Territory in another form.

Countless elven druids and war treants drove the forest from the western forest to supplement the defense of the front line, and the open space left by these forests was the new land opened up by the Dragon Clan Territory.

In this case, the Royal Capital gradually became the forefront city of the Dragon Clan Territory.

Tuk, tuk.

The small door of the courtyard was gently knocked, and the unique rhythm password relaxed the people huddled in the courtyard.

A lithe figure flashed, leaping over the high wall and landing on the ground, light and silent, showing the visitor's excellent control and agile skills.

This handsome young man with black hair, named Bill, was the assassin master of the once-famous dragon-slaying adventure team, the Crimson Rose, and a rare Saint-tier assassin, a stealth master proficient in shadow techniques.

At this moment, the handsome young man Bill still had a sunny smile on his face, with small dimples appearing on his left cheek, making him look particularly approachable.

It was precisely because of this approachability that this assassin master was particularly popular in the Dragon Clan Territory, captivating many alien women.

Bill looked at the team that had gathered again in the courtyard: the mage captain, the stalwart warrior, the priest, the logistics administrator, and the druid.

"What's the reason for summoning us this time, Captain? Wasn't our team already disbanded?" Bill shrugged, found an open space to sit down, not caring about his image.

"There have already been four bounties issued for that red dragon, and each one has raised the price, enough for us to become rich tycoons, even enough to buy a noble title and build a luxurious castle!"

The blonde mage saw the team reunited and then spoke.

"Are you crazy? Hunting a Dragon Emperor? Although it seems that the red dragon's sleeping place is sparsely guarded, countless people have been hanged at the foot of the mountain."

The tall warrior was the first to object.

But before the others could express their opinions, the Sanctuary assassin master, young Bill, suddenly whistled with his fingers, and countless heavy footsteps came from the street, and the soldiers surrounded the place in an instant.

Young Bill shrugged and chuckled, "Sorry, everyone, I am already the deputy director of the unified front planning department of the Dragon Clan Territory. Given your dangerous remarks, please come with me!"

Sally, the young female assassin hidden in the team, known as the Shadow Widow, suddenly jumped out and shouted loudly, "We are on the same side, we are on the same side, don't do it, don't shoot, I am the intelligence captain under the intelligence department in the territory!"