“Urgh.”

Leo groaned before his eyes jolted open. The gray ceilings above him had different ancient engravings, all adorned with black and gold. He picked himself up and massaged his forehead.

“What the fuck happened?”

He seemed to be inside a spacious hall with only a dim light flickering eerily.

‘Jen!’

‘Jen!’

‘Can you hear me? Status.’

Jen and ‘The Creed’ went in offline mode. Now, what was he supposed to do here?

Waiting mindlessly didn’t suit him. Manipulating mana yielded no result.

“Wrath Armor.”

“Fuck, even wrath armor is gone. Can anyone hear me?! Anyone?! … Is this the spiritual realm Jen said?”

He gave up and sat down, thinking about how to get out of here.

There must be some purpose behind this. It happened when I was about to become Tier 4… more precisely when I was awakening as a dragon…

“Young one.” A deep, dignified voice broke through his stupor

Breaking out of his thoughts, he took in the surroundings that changed without his knowledge. Wide plains spanned all around him and tall mountains stretching into the distance. Strangely, the blue sky showed no presence of any sun.

Suddenly, everything turned black. He raised his head and stared wide-eyed.

The entire sky above him was hidden by a black creature. Its massive wings flapped, creating a gust that almost blew him away and it landed in front of him.

The enormous body covered in jet-black scales, eyes white with no pupils, and many sharp horns protruding from the back of its head.

The intimidating creature’s presence stirred no terror in him. On the contrary, his instincts became calm like saying the one in front held no malicious intent.

“Forgive me for not coming earlier.”

The raspy voice without a doubt came from a male.

“Who are you?”

The dragon leaned, and its head stopped a meter away from him.

“People close to me use Fias. Hop on my back. We can talk during the ride.”

Fias acted like an amiable uncle. Leo thought for a moment before he shrugged and jumped on Fias’ head and moved over to the back.

His instincts seldomly proved to be wrong. Fias flapped his wings and took off in the vast skies.

“So, where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular. Just look around and see more of our kind.”

He looked around to find no presence. Only desolate lands as far as his gaze could see.

“But there are no other dragons here.”

“Ahahaha, young one. You will meet them soon.”

Leo simply sat down on the scales harder than any metal.

“Are you related to my parents?”

Anything otherworldly he ever encountered was related to his parents. And this dragon’s mere presence exuded an ethereal aura.

“You can say that.”

The straightforward answer surprised him.

“We dragons never lie even if it taints our pride. Always remember it.”

Leo’s brow creased. “But a certain goddess said dragons put their pride above all.”

“Which Goddess? I do not know any Goddess.” Fias replied shamelessly.

“C’mon, just spit out the identity of that undies Goddess.”

“Undies Goddess, pffft.” Fias burst into hearty laughter. “That name somehow matches her former title.”

“And what is that?”

“Ah, my old brain forgets many things.”

Leo clicked his tongue when the dragon refused to give an answer.

“Then what is your relationship with me or my parents?”

“You can say that we are allies that joined for the same cause.”

“What cause?”

“I forgot.”

“...”

Fias suddenly stopped and pointed his claw in the distance.

“See that tower there?”

The place seemed to be layered in numerous valleys. In the center of it stood a magnificent tower, reaching far into the sky with no ends.

“That’s amazing.”

“It’s called the Tower of Giganta. After Yggdrasil withered, it became the only way to travel between myriads of realms.”

“Are you talking about Yggdrasil, the world tree in Myths?”

“Young one, many myths are based on reality. Gods, Devils, Dragons, and many races exist. But you seem a little surprised.”

Leo shook his head. “Honestly, I expected something like this when descendants of Fenrir appeared before me.”

“I heard about the result a while ago. It seems they tried to test your strength. You did a magnificent job by claiming the chastity of Baihu’s daughter.”

“Baihu’s daughter? I took her chastity and I don’t know about it?”

His measly knowledge about mythologies had no one with the Baihu’s name.

“You know that side’s chastity…”

An embarrassing memory of piercing a woman’s ass with a spear flashed in his mind.

“Are you talking about that tiger girl? Felina?”

“Yeah. Her father almost teared up when he heard about it.” Fias shook his dragon head. “Old man thought he finally found a son-in-law…”

“What did you guys really send them for?”

“Their mission only was to serve you.” Fias sighed, releasing a burst of fire from its nostrils. “That rebellious tiger girl refused to serve any male. In the end, she agreed when her father scolded her. But we never predicted she would try to harm you instead.”

Leo’s brows raised in surprise. The backstory of the tiger woman implied she was a princess of sorts. No wonder she ended up planning against him.

They sent a princess just to serve him. Then his position was even higher than hers?

“What is my status in my ‘hometown’?

“Yours is basically higher than every other being in the three realms.”

“Three Realms?”

“You will know soon.”

Fias replied and flicked his wings to rush toward the tower. Leo grasped the small scale sticking out on Fias’ back and breathed a sigh. With all of his powers sealed, he was nothing more than a mortal here. And he didn’t wish to check if he could die here or not.

“This place was the battlefield where countless Gods fell, including many of my comrades. I also lost my wife and children in that cruel war.”

His staunch voice carried a deep sense of regret.

This place… I wonder what ties me to all this mess…

As they traveled, the tower’s splendor became clearer. It progressively got steeper the higher it reached. The top could only be described as light piercing into the vault of Heaven. There was a crimson streak spiralling through the tower as though binding it.

“Fias!”

A somber voice echoed around Leo. The crimson lines on the tower stirred as if coming to life.

“Kid, it’s been a while.”

Leo’s eyes stretched wide from the familiar voice.

“Crimson bastard?!”