Chapter 9 Chapter Eight: The Ancient Dragon Valen

A hundred feet long, the coiled tail was another hundred feet, and every inch of the beast was covered in gigantic, metallic scales—and Cadderly had no doubt that these smooth The red scales must be as solid as wrought metal.The dragon's massive leather wings are now folded, wrapping the giant beast like a blanket around a baby. But the peaceful scene at this time cannot deny the facts related to Valentenima.Were those six-inch-deep claw marks on the rock near the dragon's front feet the result of a nightmare?Cadderly wondered.And how many humans have become the feast of this giant beast, so satisfying its hunger that it can sleep for centuries?

For a long while, Cadderly thanked the gods a thousand times for allowing him to meet Valentenima in its slumber.If he had run in blindly and the old Varen was awake, Cadderly would be dead before he knew what was happening.His good luck didn't stop there, for none of the toads followed him—these little ones were smarter than Cadderly thought.However, Cadderly still knew that the dragon's sleep was full of uncertainties.He must move quickly, have magical defenses at his disposal, and be mentally prepared to take on this awe-inspiring behemoth. He summoned the song of Denir into his mind, but for a moment—a time that seemed endlessly long to a panicked Cadderly—he couldn't make out any meaningful sequence between the notes, couldn't Fully aware of the harmony of music, unable to find the place where he should focus and listen among the many mysterious notes.And it was that harmony, the understanding of universal truth, that gave Cadderly magic its power.

Cadderly finally managed to create a magical defensive sphere around his body, reversing the composition of the air, which would (he hoped) thus protect him from the dragon's flames. The young priest took out the book of Universal Harmony and turned to the page he had marked before leaving the Moezhi Library.The origin of dragons is unknown, but scholars apparently believe that these creatures did not obey natural and predictable laws.They are so large that logically, their wings are not enough to support them in the sky, but dragons are among the fastest flying creatures in the world.Some typical druid magic - effective even on the strongest animals - is not very effective on dragons, so many special defenses against these huge monsters were developed by magicians and priests. Come out to try to survive in a wilder world thousands of years ago.

That page of the Book of Universal Harmony told Cadderly of these special defenses, and in a slightly different way, directed his thoughts to the song of Denir, changing some of the notes.Soon, he erected a defensive wall called "Dragon Poison" between the walls a few feet ahead.According to records, the huge body of the ancient dragon could not pass through it. Valentenemar moved uneasily; Cadderly figured that the elder dragon had probably sensed the magical energy emanating from the room.The young priest took a deep breath and told himself over and over again that he must complete this extremely important mission of the long march, and must trust his spells and himself.He took the vile weapon out of his knapsack, put away his flimsy weapon (even a fine little crossbow was useless against such a monster), and wiped his shirt on his shirt. Sweaty palms.

He said a simple incantation, so that when he clapped his hands it sounded like thunder.The huge wings waved in the air, making a rumbling sound, and lifted the front half of the ancient dragon's body.The head of the ancient dragon Farren was lifted from the ground in an instant, soaring into the air more than ten feet in front of Cadderly, and the young priest had to fight hard to resist the urge to fall down on all fours in front of this stalwart creature.How could Cadderly have the audacity to assume that he could do anything that would have any effect on the majestic Valentine? And those eyes!Scrutinizing it like two torches put Cadderly to the test before he even spoke.They themselves radiated as much light as Cadderly's magic lumens.

When the tired, bad-tempered dragon, who was not in the mood to talk at all, spit out a mouthful of hot breath, Caide's limpness increased tenfold. A stream of flames shot at Cadderly, but scattered when it hit his magical defense sphere, enveloping him in flames.The translucent orb was green under attack, this defensive orb seemed rather thick at first, but quickly thinned out as the dragon continued to spit flames forward. Sweat was breaking out of Cadderly profusely, his tongue was dry in his mouth, and his back was itching as if all the moisture in his body was being evaporated.Several wisps of smoke rose from the edge of his jacket; he held the stiff metal frisbee in one hand but had to let go because the metal was starting to heat up, and had to switch the metal light tube with the same care.

The dragon continued to spew out flames with its powerful lung capacity.Doesn't this old Farren need to breathe? Then the flames stopped. "Oh, dear God Denir," the young priest exclaimed, as the green of the magic defense orb faded, and he looked at the ground just outside the defense orb.This astonishing sight can be seen without any light tube. Under the powerful force of the flames, the molten stone glows red, boils and foams, then cools rapidly and hardens in waves. Cadderly looked up to see the dragon's long, lizard eyes widen in disbelief, for something could survive its fiery breath.The evil eyes narrowed quickly again, and the dragon let out a low, menacing growl that shook the ground beneath Cadderly's feet.

What kind of trouble am I getting into?Cadderly asked himself, but he quickly dismissed the thought that would frighten him, thinking of the evil Qilufu who was doing evil here and there, and if he didn't destroy it, it would continue to plague the world. "Great Valentene," he began bravely, "I am only a small and humble priest, and I have come here to see you in all sincerity." Farren inhaled sharply, causing Cadderly's cloak to curl around him, pulling him forward almost over the wall of magical dragon poison. Cadderly knew what was going to happen next; he frantically recalled the song, singing it at the top of his voice to strengthen the already thinning walls of fire.Jets of flame erupted horribly, stronger than the last—if that was even possible.Cadderly watched the thin green sphere dissipate, felt a gust of hot wind, and thought he'd be scorched right where he was.

But a blue orb appeared in place of the green one, deflecting the flames again.Cadderly was aching all over, as if he had fallen asleep in the summer sun; he had to stamp his foot to extinguish the little flames on the laces of his boots. "I have come to see you with sincerity!" he yelled when the flames died down, and the eyes of the elder dragon Varun grew wider in disbelief. "I just want to ask you a favor so you can go back to sleep!" Surprise turned into fury beyond measure, such fury that Cadderly could not have imagined existed.The dragon's jaws opened wide, rows of ten-inch fangs gleaming horribly, then its head swooped forward, its neck flung out like a coiled snake.Cadderly groaned, nearly fainting, and for a moment he was sure he was going to lose consciousness and die.

But when he surreptitiously opened his eyes to Valentenema, the young priest almost laughed out loud, despite his fear.Because the dragon's face was being squeezed against the dragon poison magic wall, its facial features twisted into a weird look.The look reminded Cadderly of those mischievous young boys in the Moezhi Library, who would press their faces against the study window to startle the students inside, then run through the solemn hall. The young priest's subconscious lightheartedness actually helped him, as the dragon stepped back to look around, seemingly beginning to hesitate for the first time.

"Thief!" Valentenemar roared, the force of the dragon's voice knocking Cadderly back a step. "I'm not a thief," Cadderly assured the Elder Dragon wisely. "I'm just a humble priest..." "Thief plus liar!" Valentenemar roared. "The humble priest is no match for the fire of the great Valentenema. What treasure have you taken?" "I'm not here for the treasure," Cadderly said loudly, firmly. "Not here to disturb the sleep of one of the most exalted Elder Dragons." Valentenemar started to retort, but seemed to reconsider, as if Cadderly's "most sublime" compliment had brought it to a halt. "It's just a simple movement, as I said just now." Cadderly continued with momentum. "It's easy for the great Valentenema, but no other creature in this land is capable of it. If you will perform..." "Fulfillment?" roared the dragon, blowing back all of Cadderly's hair with the hot breath from his mouth, and Cadderly began to wonder if his hearing would be permanently damaged. "Valentenemar does nothing! I'm not interested in your simple actions, stupid priest." The dragon surveyed the space directly in front of Cadderly, trying to figure out what kind of barrier was blocking it. Cadderly considered the few options before him.He decided that continuing to praise the monster might be the best strategy.He had read many stories of heroic adventurers who had successfully exploited the pride of dragons, especially red dragons—they were said to be the most vain of all dragonkind. "Maybe I should take a good look at you!" he said dramatically.He flicked his fingers as if an idea had just occurred to him, then swung his thin wand and said "Domin Illu."Immediately the great cavern was bathed in a burst of magical light, and the majesty of Valentenima was fully revealed before his eyes.Rejoicing secretly, Cadderly put his wand back into his cloak and continued his inspection.Then he noticed for the first time that behind the body of the giant dragon in front of him, there was still a mountain of treasures. "You should take a good look at me," Valentenemah began suspiciously. "Or my treasure, you humble thief?" Cadderly blinked in surprise. Perhaps he had made a mistake.It's not difficult to interpret the murderous expression on Valentine's face.Then Cadderly felt the snoot start to heat up, a little too hot, and he had to drop it on the ground.His forearm brushed against the belt buckle, and he winced in pain as his bare skin touched the rapidly heating metal.It didn't take long for Cadderly to realize, and remember, that many dragons could use magical energy, too. Cadderly had to move fast, he had to overwhelm the elder dragon and make old Varon want to negotiate.He began chanting immediately, ignoring the several puffs of smoke rising from the leather belt near the belt buckle. A circle of high-speed rotating magic blades appeared above the head of Valentenima. "They're sharp!" Cadderly assured, and lowered the blades, dangerously close to the top of the dragon's head.He hoped to force old Varon to bow his head so that the giant beast would not have such an overwhelming advantage in size, and he also hoped that the power he displayed would make the elder dragon think: maybe continuing to be hostile is not the best policy. "Try it then!" growled old Varon, and flapped its wings, raising its huge head even higher to meet the magic with all its might.The blade cut the dragon's skin, bursting out bursts of sparks.Small fragments of the dragon scale flew away, and to Cadderly's utter disbelief, Valentenema let out a roar of what seemed to be pleasure. With a sweep of its tail, the dragon struck fiercely at Cadderly's magic barrier, and waves of shock shook the cavern, causing Cadderly to fall off balance.The dragon's poison withstood the attack, though Cadderly feared the cave's ceiling might not.Then he realized how vulnerable he really was, and how pathetic he must have looked in the eyes of an ancient dragon who had lived for centuries and swallowed hundreds of men stronger than himself. He took defenses against the fire-breathing breath, and also created a barrier that the giant beast's body could not pass through (although he was afraid that both of them would not last long), but Cadderly was obviously very comfortable with how to resist Valentenima A string of magic?Then he understood that Valentenema could easily kill him by tearing off a large rock from the wall and throwing it at him! Bobbing its scaled head back and forth quickly, the dragon challenged Cadderly's array of magical blades, mocking Cadderly's spells.It scraped rocky ground with its front feet, creating ridge-like bumps, and its huge tail flicked around, breaking rocks and cracking walls. Cadderly couldn't hold out much longer, he was sure that all his weapons would not be able to hurt the giant beast. He had only one choice left, and he was afraid of it almost as much as he was afraid of Valentina.The song of Denir once taught him that the magical energy in the universe can be used from many different angles, and the way the user uses these energies determines how the magic that can be produced is condensed and formed into a magic field.For example, when Cadderly wanted to create the Dragon Poison Wall, he had to deal with these cosmic energies differently than when he created a barrier against Valentenima's flames, he had to enter the Fire Elemental Realm. Denier is the god of art, poetry, and the sublimation of the soul, approving and accepting the fruits of thought of all kinds.Denier's song resounds across the sky, flowing freely with so many such energies, so that a priest who is attuned to the song of God can find ways, find many different angles, and drive the cosmic energies towards countless direction. However, these energies have a single direction of travel, which is contrary to the harmonious way of thinking of God Denir, where all the notes are indistinct, and no harmony can be maintained.It was the Realm of Chaos, a place of disorder, discord, and no logic, and Cadderly had to go there. ※※※ "Five dwarves down there!" Ivan protested, gripping Danica's wrist tightly.Danica couldn't see where the ground below the vertical steep tunnel was, so she could only trust Ivan's heat-sensing visual judgment.And the "five dwarves deep" (about twenty feet) judgment doesn't sound too optimistic.But Danica heard Cadderly's thunderous applause waking the dragon, and knew in her heart that her love was in dire need of help.She broke free from Yiwen's grasp, quickly climbed to the bottom of the narrow and steep slope, and fell into the darkness without hesitation. She prayed that she reacted quickly when she reached the bottom, that the faint light of the torch that Xuelin was holding on the steep slope would catch it before she hit her head on the floor. Seeing a cloud of gray, she bent her ankles aside the instant they touched the ground, allowing herself to roll sideways, half-bent at the same time.The rolling motion brought her back just enough for her to stand up.Danica didn't slow down at all, and before she could absorb the force of the fall, she bounced into the air and did a somersault backwards.After landing she jumped up again, this time spinning forward.She rolled first, then started to run when her feet hit the ground, and the rest of her strength led her to stride forward quickly. "It's better to turn me into a drinking fairy." Yiwen spit out this sentence in disbelief, watching the spectacle just now from above.Although the dwarf complained, he would not leave his friends to face danger alone, and he knew that any hesitation at this moment would lead Danica to face the upcoming test alone. "Don't try to grab me, girl!" he warned, letting go.Ivan uses a drop technique similar to Danica's.However, Danica just jumped up as soon as she rolled over, somersaulted gracefully, and twisted and turned deftly and effortlessly, while Ivan bounced directly on the ground several times. But he stood up quickly.He adjusted the antler helmet on his head, then grabbed Danica's fluttering cloak as she followed the sound that continued from the east, turning back and running the other way. Vander then jumped down, and the narrow, steep slope was more than a mere (for a giant) landing distance, and it was a headache for the Fubao giant.Xuelin landed in the arms of him waiting below, then almost bounced off him, sprinting after Ivan and Danica. Pikel jumped last and Vander caught him.The Volbol giant stared curiously at the dwarf resting in his arms for a moment, then noticed that something seemed to be missing. "Where's your stick?" Vander asked, and the next moment Pikel's stick, which then rolled down, bounced off the top of his head, and he understood. "Ugh," the green-bearded dwarf apologized, glad they didn't have time to stand and discuss it after seeing the scowl on Vander's face. Danica could have gotten ahead of Ivan in an instant—except that the dwarf held on to the cloak that floated behind her, refusing to let go.Now they heard the distant rumble of Valentenema's voice, and though they could make out nothing, the voice guided them easily.Ivan noticed with pleasure that Xuelin, still holding the torch, was following them. They passed through many caverns, several narrow corridors, and a wide passage.The ever-increasing temperature let them know they were approaching the dragon's cave, and made them all worry whether Valentenema had spit out deadly flames. Xuelin passed Ivan, seemingly as desperate as Danica, and the dwarf immediately reached out and grabbed her cloak as well.He knew they were distraught, that their minds were filled with images of Cadderly being blown to pieces, but Ivan kept it matter-of-fact.As far as the dwarf was concerned, they shouldn't be rushing so scrambled into old Varon's waiting mouth. Sherin's torches revealed that they were approaching another huge cavern.Seeing a light ahead, what seemed to be a pile of embers, led them to an inescapable conclusion. Despite all his earlier protests and stubbornness, Ivan Stoneshoulders now showed his true loyalty.Thinking of the dreaded Valentenemar waiting ahead, the tough dwarf jerked back the cloak from his hands and flew past Danica and Sherin, heading straight for the cavern before he even had time The double-edged battle ax was drawn. Two steps into the hole, a sticky tongue hit him—hit him, wrapped him around, and pulled him sideways.Danica and Xuelin then jumped in and found the hole filled with very hungry and huge red toads.They found Ivan - at least the part of his boot - protruding from the mouth of a rather contented-looking toad on the right.Danica started to charge at it, but was intercepted by a small fireball, and then another came, as two other toads attacked. Xuelin threw the torch forward vigorously, and then picked up the bow and arrow in an instant, and began to show its deadly power. Evan didn't know what hit him, but he knew he was quite uncomfortable, and that he couldn't reach out to retrieve the tomahawk strapped to his back.But Yiwen was never someone who would stay there and listen to himself complaining a lot, so he took the only way to save himself in front of him, struggling desperately, trying to open his mouth, trying to find something he could grab and twist.The antlers on his helmet were blocked by something above, and again Ivan didn't complain about his doom, just pushed his head up as hard as he could again. A toad jumped and rushed towards Xuelin, but she shot three arrows at a very fast speed, blocking its momentum in mid-air, causing it to fall to the ground and die.Two more toads swooped down on the elf at the same time, and although she hit them well, she couldn't change the direction they fell.One toad slammed into her shoulder, another hit her shin, and she flew backwards. She would have fallen heavily on the floor of the giant cavern, but Vander, who came in from the corridor, gently caught her with a giant palm and helped her stop.Then the Fubao giant rushed past her immediately, slashing back and forth with the huge sword in his hand, splitting the two attacking toads in half. A third monster swooped in from the side, but Pikel slid between it and Sharin, holding his tree-trunk club over one shoulder, his hands gripping the thinner end of the weapon .The green-bearded dwarf yelled happily, and beat the flying toad aside.It fell, stunned, and Pikel then stepped on it, flattening it with successive blows. Danica was on her back, rolling around quickly to avoid bursts of fireballs.She drew her legs closer to her body and rolled back into a standing position, then she grabbed two boots and drew out two short swords, one with a golden hilt and carved in the shape of a tiger, and the other silver dragon-shaped carving. She jumped up and swung her dagger, hitting the nearest toad twice.It closed its eyes and crouched on the ground, and Danica couldn't tell if it was dead or not. She didn't have time to stop and check.Another toad approached her, flickering and retracting its sticky tongue. Danica jumped straight up, her feet tucked under her body like a mongoose repelling a snake.When her feet hit the rocky ground, she jumped forward high again, before the toad had time to flick its tongue again.This time, Danica lashed at the creature's head.She stood firmly on one foot, then spun hard, her face passing by her ankle, the other foot soaring high above her.When she had completed a turn, the momentum was at its peak, and she tensed the muscles of her flying foot, and thrust her foot through one of the toad's bulbous eyes. The force of the blow forced Danica to jump off the dead creature, and she spun around to find her next target. At first, she thought that the toad she saw next to her was the strangest hybrid creature she had ever seen.But then Danica learned that the horns on its head were not its own, but belonged to a dwarf it had unwisely swallowed and could not digest. The horn twitched suddenly, left and right, and then Ivan's slime-covered head pierced through.The dwarf grunted and bent weirdly, and he wriggled his way up until he saw his own feet protruding from the toad's mouth, and then Dany stared at him incredulously. Card. "Will you help get me out of here?" the dwarf asked, and Danica saw the dead toad's eyes bulge and disappear with Ivan's shrug. ※※※ The familiar song sang in Cadderly's heart, but he did not enter into its harmonious flow.Instead, he sang it backwards and out of sequence, forcing whatever combination of notes sounded most out of tune.Tremors ran through his bones; he felt as if he were about to shatter under the impact of the magic.As a Denierian priest, he was doing the worst possible thing: making a mockery of universal harmony, twisting the notes of the Eternal Song so that they rattled painfully in his head, shutting down the song once upon a time. The ways of revelation that were revealed to him. Cadderly's voice sounded stuck and hoarse, and his throat was full of phlegm.His head was aching; Bobo shivered down his spine, stabbing him intensely and constantly. He thought he was going to go mad, or had gone mad, to a place where all logical thinking had lost its purpose and spun around—a place where one plus one equals three, or ten.Cadderly's feelings were equally turbulent.He was angry and angry, for... what?He didn't know, only that he was full of despair.Then suddenly he felt invulnerable, as if he could step out of his magic barrier and snap his fingers under the nostril of that puny valentine. He still kept his gruff voice from letting the harmony of this beautiful song flow, and he still denied the universal truth that this song showed him.Suddenly, Cadderly knew that he had unleashed something terrible inside himself, and he couldn't stop the flashing images and the throbbing pain. His mind raced wildly, like a conjurer's wheel, whizzing through tapped magical energy without root.He kept falling, falling, into an endless pit from which there was no escape.He would have eaten the dragon, or the dragon would have eaten him, but either way, Cadderly didn't think it mattered.He had shattered himself—the only sane thought he could hold for longer than a brief moment was that he had overstepped his limits, rushing desperately into ultimate and endless chaos. He went on rambling dissonant notes, babbling half-truths and untruths in his mind.This time one plus one equals seventeen. one plus one. Cadderly continued to call out the simple math of one plus one no matter what hit his mind.A hundred different answers came in rapid succession, arising out of order from this place—his mind—where no rules were real. A thousand different answers, produced without pattern or guidance, flew past him.And Cadderly let them go, along with other fleeting thoughts, knowing they were all lies. One plus one equals two. Cadderly clung to the thought, the hope.In the chaos, this simple addition, this simple logical truth, became the only harmonious note. One plus one equals two! In Cadderly's mind, a thin wisp of Denir's song played simultaneously but independently in dissonance.It came to Cadderly's heart like a lifeline, and he clung to it eagerly, not to get out of this chaos, but to use it to help him, in this realm, in this slippery path. Stabilize your mind in the chaotic torrent. Now Cadderly scoured this dangerous landscape, found an area of ​​emotional disorder, a zone of emotional reversal, and threw all his psychic strength at Valentenemar. The dragon's rage still raged, and Cadderly knew he had not pierced the monster's stubborn resistance to magic.Then Cadderly found himself sitting; when he was going on the spiritual journey just now, the earthquake caused by Valentenima's impact made him fall to the ground at some point. Cadderly again searched for the specific Chaos Zone he needed - this time it went to a different place - and threw it at the Elder Dragon again.Then threw it a third time, followed by a fourth.His head ached as he continued to cast spells, to attack the stubborn dragon with false emotions and false beliefs. There was a dead silence in the cave, and Cadderly heard only some noise somewhere in the tunnel behind him, perhaps from Toad Hole. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw the ancient dragon Falun sitting quietly, looking at him. "You are welcome, humble priest," said the dragon in a calm and measured voice. "Forgive my anger. I don't know what's causing the din." The dragon blinked its reptilian eyes and looked around curiously. "Now, tell me about the little task you want me to perform." Cadderly blinked a lot, too, in disbelief. "One plus one equals two," he whispered under his breath. "hope so."