Boom!
The cave violently shook as a cloud of dust and shattered stone collapsed from above. Three shadows were concealed within the collapse. Rubble tumbled down from the darkness as an enormous amount of loose stone continuously scattered through the air.
Several long seconds later, as the dust slowly began to settle, two figures emerged from the debris with miserable expressions.
"Cough! Cough-cough!"
"Fuck! What the hell!"
Rifrit shoved away a broken piece of stone before climbing out of the rubble with an ugly expression. He looked around, then grimaced, trying to think back and figure out what had just happened.
Tsk! What was it, what was it?
"I remember seeing a group of super suspicious, black-robed people with horns, then the tunnel rumbled, and then..." He frowned. "And then the world collapsed! Is this another part of the tunnels? This is deeper underground... the cave, did it collapse? Damn it…"
His wild red hair was covered in dirt, his clothes were torn, and a series of fresh marks had formed across one side of his jaw, but they were already healing. He wiped his chin with the back of his hand and looked around. The small marks had already vanished by the time he was finished.
"Wait, that voice? No, there's someone else here!" His perception swept out and scanned the surroundings, and it didn't take him long to instantly find the other party.
Not far away, Petik crawled free from beneath several shattered rocks, clearly in a much more dishevelled state. Seeing this, Rifrit felt a strange sense of disconnect from this person, as if what he was looking at shouldn't be here.
In other words, something was wrong with this guy!
"Strange…" Rifrit looked at the skinny Playboy and sneered.
What was this feeling?
Bah! It doesn't matter!
He walked forward aggressively. This demon looked as if he were in an even worse mood than he was. Rifrit could tell that this black-haired playboy had an extremely high cultivation, one that might even rival his own, but that didn't seem to matter to him! His dark clothes had been partially burned away by something, probably by Rifrit during the fall, one horn was slightly chipped, and his face carried the expression of someone whose patience had already reached its absolute limit.
The two young men immediately looked at each other.
...Silence!
Then—
"YOU!? You idiot!" Rifrit roared in shock!
Who did he see!
"Me!? No! YOU!" Petik exploded. "You're the one who caused the collapse! You and your fat ass!!!"
"What!? This tone! You damn demon!! I heard that you guys were almost wiped out! But look who it is!"
"Ha! Happy to see me, damn gecko?!"
"OH!!"
"How was I supposed to know it would collapse!?"
"Clearly, the tunnel was too weak!"
"Because there were warning symbols everywhere, right?! Obviously!! Didn't you see them!!"
"I naturally did, they were in bright red paint!!!"
"Ha!"
"Ha!"
The atmosphere instantly became tense! These two young masters looked like angry dogs ready to bite at each other's throats. But just then—
Crash!
A small figure suddenly burst out from the rubble!
"Ayaya!"
From behind them, she jumped up and struck a little pose.
"Hahaha! Amazing, that was amazing! That was amazing!"
Popo popped out, completely unharmed. The energetic little girl hopped onto a nearby stone while grinning brightly. Dirt and dust covered her cheeks while several tiny pebbles remained tangled in her fluffy pink hair. Instead of looking miserable, she looked extremely excited, almost too excited.
Her eyes sparkled as they swept around.
"Hey, hey, hey, did you guys see that light? I think I saw Petra! Ha, ha, hey, did we just fall from the sky? Hehe! How fun! Hey, hey, hey, who are you? Horns? No! Those are demon horns, hohohoho!"
She rambled on and on like a little machine.
Rifrit and Petik both froze, suddenly overwhelmed by the inexplicable enthusiasm. Their expressions darkened simultaneously, but Popo had already started bouncing around the cave.
"Oh! Oh! And then Sister Trili flew through the air like fwahhh! And Miss Demon hit the floor like baaaam! Ah! Where are they…? Hmm? Walls and ping-pong people! Boing-boing-boing!" Popo's big eyes looked around, seeming only confused at the absence of her other companions.
Petik's face twitched, and Rifrit's eye twitched even harder.
Then, together, in unison—
"SHUT UP!"
The roar echoed through the cave!
"Uwah…!" Popo shrank backwards. She lowered her head while poking her fingers together innocently.
"S-Sorry…"
The cave became quiet…
-
While the two young men continued angrily glaring at each other, Popo secretly bounced away and soon reached into the rubble. She grabbed a strange green shard, then quietly stuffed it into Rifrit's pocket after stepping back with an innocent smile. If Petra were here, she would recognize this shard as a part of the ore she was mining.
Neither of them noticed…
Her eyes turned back and forth, then she covered her mouth and giggled to herself mischievously.
* * *
Somewhere else—
Rumbel!
Dust drifted through the darkness. A cracked stone rolled down a slanted pile of rubble before eventually coming to a stop.
"…Cough!"
Suddenly, a hand pushed through the debris. Raina slowly climbed out from beneath the collapsed rubble with a deep frown. Her long black hair was messy, and several pieces of broken rock slid from her shoulders as she stood upright.
The demon auntie looked around cautiously. "…Where am I?" she muttered, slightly confused.
She racked her brain but came up with a blank.
The last thing she remembered was seeing a flash of blue cloth, then a flame, then darkness. She shook her head and looked around. The cave she had landed in was enormous. The surrounding towering stone walls disappeared into the darkness above, and there was little light, but a few small plants illuminated the floor and parts of the collapsed cavern, glowing with a pale blue light. Dust floated through the air, and somewhere deep within the cave, water slowly dripped in the silence.
Raina narrowed her eyes.
She remembered the collapse earlier, but after that… nothing…
"…Tsk!"
She slowly walked through the bottom floor of the collapsed cave while remaining vigilant. She seemed to be looking for something, but she could only frown.
Crunch!
Crack!
Crunch!
The shards of broken stone shifted beneath her feet. Suddenly, her steps paused. Not far away, two figures appeared near the edge of the cavern.
One had silver hair, and the other had golden hair.
Raina's expression became stern.
These two were from the Dragon Clan!
The man with silver eyes stood with his arms folded quietly behind his back. His long silver hair hung down like flowing moonlight, while his cold eyes silently observed everything around him without even a hint of emotion. Beside him stood a tall young man with long golden hair that had been tied back. At first glance, his appearance looked refined and dignified, almost elegant enough to appear feminine, but the pressure his body released was unbelievably oppressive.
Even while silent, he gave off an extremely dangerous feeling, even if he held no malice.
The two dragons also turned toward Raina. Atllin didn't speak, but Lilit nodded politely. Neither side spoke, and soon, silence filled the cave.
The atmosphere instantly became subtle.
After several long seconds, nobody attacked.
Eventually, Raina exhaled slowly. "…Looks like all of us fell down here. I guess we're trapped, right?"
Lilit nodded. "…Seems so…" His voice was calm and cool.
-
Not long after—
The crackling of a fire rang out. Raina sat on one side, while Atllin and Lilit sat on the other.
Both sides were silent.
Drip…
Drip-drip…
Water echoed from somewhere within the darkness. Raina quietly observed the two dragons from across the flame, her brows slightly furrowed.
This was the first time Raina had seen the 'new generation' of the Dragon Clan, so she wanted to take this opportunity to take a closer look, especially at this young emperor.
That was why she didn't immediately split up, but…
This Atllin was really strange. From what she knew, he was the man who would inherit the throne in the future, eventually ruling over the entire dragon race. Putting aside his identity, as an individual, there was also something slightly 'off' about him. He was both elegant and refined, like the most beautiful man, an existence that could charm both men and women with a mere glance. His pale golden hair fell down his back, tied with only a single golden ring. His bright golden eyes seemed to carry both nobility and grace, while at the same time suppressing an unimaginable power. What Raina felt was his most striking feature was the set of horns on his head. Dragon horns were almost like glass. These two crystal-like protrusions almost seemed to contain the stars in the sky. Although all of the Dragon Clan had these mesmerizing horns, the purer one's bloodline was, the closer it was to this almost celestial appearance.
Seeing him for the first time, even though her cultivation was more advanced than his, and her age far exceeded his, she couldn't help but feel inferior, a sensation that was incredibly rare for the proud Demon Race.
As for what was off about him, she couldn't exactly tell.
If she had to guess, then perhaps it was his physique. As a ruler, men who possessed his status had large and muscular physiques. Even if they were less combative individuals, they would at least have a faintly athletic build. But looking at this golden dragon, Raina could almost call him skinny.
Something was off, but she could only see the surface.
Perhaps he was sick, or perhaps he had his own difficulties, but his body seemed to lack many of the masculine traits a common ruler would possess. This naturally made him more androgynous, and because of this, his appeal seemed to skyrocket, but….
She shook her head, finding his quiet personality somewhat likable.
Her eyes turned to Lilit.
This Silver Dragon was a retainer and an advisor to Atllin. Raina couldn't help but feel as if this man looked somewhat familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Looking even closer, Raina discovered many small anomalies. For example, this man didn't possess the feet commonly seen when Dragons take human form. It was possible that he chose just not to manifest them, preferring human feet to dragon claws, but it was undoubtedly uncommon. Next, Raina noted that his horns were unusually dark, perhaps opaque was a better term. Unlike the swirling galaxy of Atllin, Lilits horns lacked that same dazzling light, seeming almost ugly in comparison. Overall, Raina would have to describe him as plain, like the kind of person who, if it weren't for his dragon might, would naturally fade into the crowd like those with a naturally low presence.
One should remember that this was viewed through the eyes of a high-level practitioner…
But!
She still couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen him somewhere before, a long, long time ago!
Was it his appearance…? No. It was something else...
A feeling!
But such a feeling made Raina very annoyed.
Just then—click!
Raina casually opened the strange black compass in her hand, then lowered her gaze toward it with a strange expression.
Her brows immediately furrowed.
it was impossible to tell what she was thinking…
-
Meanwhile, across from them, Lilit and Atllin were also quietly observing this strange demon auntie…
Raina's appearance was slightly different from that of the common demon. Although she still had the traditional pointed ears and long, matte-black horns of the demon race, her horns were actually a bit different from the common demon's. If one looked closely, one would discover that although they had just started to regrow, the shape and curve of the horns were slightly different from those of the others.
Not only was the shape closer to that of the dragon race, but the opaqueness of her horns had actually started to fade, making them ever so slightly transparent. Although Raina didn't seem to notice it to such an extent, both Lilit and Atllin did, causing both of there imaginations to run wild.
They shared a look, their eyes clearly speaking...