Legacy of the Dark Sage

Chapter 1258: Beginning Of The End (4)

lucian met with several leaders in the morning. after that, there was a break before the meetings started in the afternoon.

throughout his meetings, lucian barely contained his excitement. obviously, the cause of his excitement had nothing to do with what the leaders he met said. instead, it had to do with the time drawing closer to the meeting he had been looking forward to all day— his meeting with the dragon clan.

why was he looking forward to it?

it was because that time was when everything would start.

the beginning of the end.

whose end?

obviously, the dragon clan.

lucian had already received a report that the dragon emperor’s aura was barely visible within the dragon plane. the fact that his people managed to infiltrate the dragon plane’s powerful array formation and search for the dragon emperor proved that the news about the latter’s failed ascension was accurate.

although lucian had little reason to doubt ames’s word, that did not mean he would believe everything she said 100%.

anyway, he needed to confirm the dragon clan’s military strength before he could order his people to attack. so, it was not strange for him to ask them to infiltrate and observe them from the outside.

observing a plane from the outside using divine sense was only possible with high-level mages. apart from that, if a mage with the same level as them was around, there was a risk of getting exposed.

since none of the aides that stayed in the dragon plane noticed the infiltration of lucian’s people, then it went without saying that their level was higher than the aides of the dragon clan.

knowing that did not mean lucian should be complacent. in fact, he ordered his people to continue observing the plane. he did not want any problem to arise once he ordered the attack.

the palace of the king was too far from the dragon plane, so lucian could not join them immediately. at most, it would take him a week, and that was after he went to the nearest junction port and transmitted there to the one near the dragon plane.

lucian would not be going to any junction port. this was because he was not going there alone. he would be taking several others with him, and obviously, he would not go there without a ship.

if there was something lucian learned about going to war against the dragons, that was to be generous when spending his war funds.

dragons could easily overwhelm similar-level mages without reverting to their original form. their stamina was also monstrous. considering these things, lucian could not waste his manpower to deal with the dragons one-on-one. he needed to use several warships to cause as much damage from a distance as possible and support the mages that would fight the dragons nearby.

for this reason, lucian could no leave his ships behind.

could he not just change into his original form and overwhelm the dragons?

while this was possible, lucian was only one being. the dragons were numerous. moreover, when lucian overwhelmed the blade dancer clan, he succeeded because the latter had no intentions of deying him. if faced agaisnt a clan that would retaliate, not to mention, having good synergy with each other, he would also be burdened.

’...just a little bit more...’ lucian thought, while pretending to listen to the leaders who were in the middle of some unimportant matter.

*

"those are the emperor’s sentinels." his face distorted slightly before adding, "i never expected him to send those right from the start."

"fighting them without releasing our true form would be hard..."

"it is quite unfortunate that only a few of us can fully utilize anahita’s technique—."

"the enemies haven’t made their move," celestine cut them off before they started spouting more negative thoughts. "fortunately, we’ve found them first. now, we have to prepare accordingly."

he turned to one of the younger talents assigned to relaying messages and said, "inform the rest and send a visual of the projected enemy number."

"yes," the young dragon focused on the panel before him and manipulated the runes on the panel’s surface to relay the message as celestine instructed.

*

aron received the message from the war room, and his expression turned solemn.

seeing his reaction, jared, who was with him, asked, "have they come?"

instead of answering, aron turned and went to the room’s balcony.

below, the regis family, who completed their training in the tower of the ancients this morning, were gathered.

kyran’s people were among them and were distributing black coats that kyran personally enchanted.

on the other side, kyran’s people were also lined up. since they were the first to complete the training in the tower of the ancients, they had already changed into new coats and robes that kyran enchanted.

as if sensing aron’s gaze, everyone looked toward the balcony. even though they had yet to hear anything, their expressions had hardened at once.

"...we... from the lower realm can be considered weak in the eyes of the higher realm mages," aron started.

though his words were demeaning, none reacted because it was the truth.

"however, i’ve seen how you strived to improve and finally complete the last part of my grandson’s plan. we were thought to be a liability if a war broke out between mages of the higher realm. but that is no longer the case.

"today, we will show them what humans of the lower realm can accomplish."

aron did not know it then, but his words carried more meaning than he would have known.

"get ready. we will depart in half an hour."

there was no shout or cry of encouragement after aron gave a short talk. he was not expecting one, either. the determination reflected in each others’ eyes was enough.

as soon as aron said his piece, he turned and returned inside the room.