"A few years ago, a group of cultivators came here, and among them was a talented, young man who owned that exact same sword." The dragon prince spoke, "My father needed that sword and so he struck a deal with them; To gain access to cultivate in this land, they had to pay the sword as a price. The man eagerly agreed, not realizing how powerful that sword is but a few months later, he saw through my father's desperation and realized something was wrong. When he saw that my father regarded the sword in high value, he thought it was indeed quite powerful and so he grew greedy. One day, the group of cultivators finally decided to go back and it was time for them to keep up with their end of the deal but we didn't expect them to be so deceptive. Not only did they feign ignorance and say that they had never made such a deal, but the man who owned that sword was also not among them anymore. My father thought that the man ran away with the sword and was enraged to the point he lost control over his anger and started spewing fire left and right. The cultivators, no matter how high their cultivation may be; were still no match for the Great Dragon Monarch. Although they were gravely injured, they still managed to survive and ran away. My father thought it was the end of it, but who could foresee that the cultivators would return just a few weeks later in the name of vengeance. This time the cultivator who owned this spiritual sword was with them, leading them. They fought for a whole day and night, Many of the cultivators were injured and some even lost their lives on the spot but the injuries were not only on their side.
I don't know who planned it but they came here with a solid strategy and their goal was to kill my father and take this land which was abundant in spiritual energy. The young man seemed to have formed a bond with the sword in those few days and with a deeper understanding of it, he was able to injure my father, but that was it; he could injure him but not even dream of killing him. When my father could fight no more, he receded back to his den and the cultivators thought they won. The rest..... hehe." The man smirked.
Looking at the wickedness displayed on the man's expressions, Zhihao already had a few guesses on what might have happened.
"Did he kill them all?" Li Ling asked, straightforwardly.
"What else could it be? Didn't they deserve it?! A righteous man must never go back on his word and if they do, shouldn't they be punished? My father didn't hide away in his den because he was afraid or injured, he did it to teach the cultivators a very fatal lesson."
"So, the great fire dragon was the one who caused the volcanic eruption?" Zhihao asked brusquely.
"My father has a contract with the mountain, it would heed my father's every command. My father triggered the eruption due to which all those cultivators who were dancing in joy of their victory were burned alive with not even their bones left to show as a trace of their being. Unfortunately, the sword was also irreversibly damaged and melted away together with its owner."
"Why did your father desperately need that sword?"
The dragon prince glanced at the sword, Shuang then his eyes trailed towards Zhihao, who asked the question.
"This sword is a rare spiritual weapon capable of destroying the mountain." He answered
"So your father wanted to safeguard the future of this land by eradicating the possibility of this sword falling into malicious hands?" Li Ling inquired.
"Not at all!" The man responded immediately, "My father wanted to destroy the mountain with it."
"How can this be? Didn't you say, he had a contract with the mountain? Why would he want to destroy it?" Zhihao spoke up, stating his thoughts.
"You are not wrong, he indeed loved the mountain but he loved something else more than the mountain; his son. For a thousand years, I was sealed under that mountain and the only way to break the seal and free me was if the mountain was destroyed. Throughout those 1000 years, my father tried everything possible to break the seal but he failed until one day by chance this group of cultivators brought along with them a legendary spiritual weapon capable of destroying the mountain."
"B-But isn't he the monarch? Isn't he supposed to protect this land?"
"If the mountain is destroyed, this will become a plain area. What's the big deal? Couldn't he still rule over it?"
"Even if that may be..." Li Ling wanted to say something but his voice trailed off not knowing how to respond to the logical question.
"Wait!" Zhihao realized something, "If that's the case, didn't we indirectly save you by blowing up the mountain? Shouldn't you be thankful to us? Why were you angry instead?"
"Thankful?!" The dragon prince fumed, "Have you no face? If you wanted to help, you should've done it when my father was not inside the den! Now he's trapped in there!"
"Ah! So right now, he's still in ther-" Zhihao glanced at the destroyed mountain oozing lava, "In there?!"
Li Ling sensed an upcoming headache, "A-Zhi, did we just kill the fire dragon by mistake?"
"That shouldn't be it! Isn't he also a Dragon like you? How can you come out but he can't?" Zhihao questioned.
"Although we are both dragons, unlike him, I can turn into a human and slip out from the cracks but not only can he not do that but he is also still recovering from the injury inflicted on him by that sword." The dragon prince pointed at the innocent Shuang in dissatisfaction and anger.
"So your father is still trapped in there?!" Zhihao snapped. If they can't get the fire dragon to come out, they have no way of completing this mission and if they don't complete the mission; They'll be eliminated before they could even get to see a trace of the gamemaster. He could already predict the humiliation; the way BBtrash would call him just to annoy him and the way his brother would be deeply disappointed in him and even Li Ling may feel like he had wasted his time overestimating Mastermo who by then would lose the right to call himself a master. All those years of hard work, from the day he gained his first fan to the day he became a pro-gamer with the help of millions of fans, all of it would turn to dust, He'd become the laughing stock of the entire gaming world.
No! he cannot let that happen. His career had only just begun.
"Trapped?! He's being suffocated in there. He's being buried alive or maybe even burned alive!"
"No! That can't be. Aren't dragons supposed to be fire-proof or something?" Zhihao responded.
"We can handle high levels of heat but who in the world can survive standing on lava?!"
"You two should stop fighting amongst yourselves. Let's work together to save him." Li Ling was the only one who had a clear mind in this situation. The dragon prince's father was on the verge of dying and so was Zhihao's career and hence both of them could not think straight and were on the verge of a panic attack.
"Li Ling, I'm sorry for not taking you seriously, please let me make it up to you by trusting you now. I'll follow your lead this time." Zhihao apologized for the time he jumped to conclusions and blew up the mountain on a whim.
"..." Li Ling was speechless. He, for a fact, did not know that! Oh, how great it felt to not be taken seriously by your long-time idol but he had no time to get angry at Zhihao, there were more pressing matters before them in need of his attention. "I have an idea but it might not be of much help."
"What is it?" the dragon prince asked
Li Ling, "Since Shuang is a water element spiritual sword capable of destroying the mountain, shouldn't we be able to destroy the ground with it as well?"
"Are you suggesting that we tear open the ground and pull him out?" Zhihao asked, thinking it over.
"Exactly! But if I'm guessing correctly; A-Zhi would not have enough spiritual energy to pull it off so why don't we have the dragon prince try it out?" Li Ling glanced at Zhihao and the two had an understanding between them. Both Li Ling and Zhihao turned towards the dragon prince who was wordlessly observing the conversation between the two.
"..." The dragon prince didn't respond, suddenly taken back by the request. He felt like this young man was certainly sharp.
"You see, there was something I'm curious about." Li Ling spoke up
"You said your father wanted to destroy the mountain with the sword but he's a fire dragon and this sword has a cold constitution. By logic, the two should be incompatible." Zhihao continued.
Li Ling, "It was also weird how only you could turn into a human form and your father couldn't."
"And to top it off, the first thing you did after coming out was attacking us."
"Not only that but even after knowing that your father was trapped in there, you still had the leisure time to chat around with us." Both Li Ling and Zhihao pointed their swords towards the man in unison.
"And you also gave yourself away by saying that you were trapped in there for a thousand years. If that were true, How would you able to recite your father's story in such great detail as if you were also there."
The 'dragon prince' understood that he had been found out and in his mind, he acknowledged the fact that these two were no ordinary people.
"Who are you really?" Zhihao investigated.
The man sighed, "It seems I have underestimated you two." He smiled wickedly sending a shiver down Zhihao's spine. In an instant, the surrounding started dissipating, the lava which was crawling towards them ceased to move any further, The crack on the ground started closing itself, It was as if time was running in reverse but at the same time, it wasn't.
Zhihao and Li Ling were constantly on their guards as the half-human man started transforming into a full-fledged dragon, first, his skin started changing, scales started appearing and his limbs started expanding, growing and changing into those of a Dragons.
All of a sudden, a number of notifications popped up on the screen for both the players:
[Congatulations to Mastermo and Devilmagiclover on successfully clearing level 1034: volcanic eruption. You have indeed proved your compatibility. Your team has a very bright future]
[Secret mission unlocked: Break the fire dragon's illusion]
[Secret mission completed]
[Original Level name unlocked: Dragon's illusion.]
[T- points gained: +1000]
[Player health status refilled]
[Skills gained: +illusion master]
[Logging out of level 1034: Dragon's illusion]
[Preparing for transmigration]
[3]
[2]
[1]
Zhihao and Li Ling were thrown out of the level. Their mission was completed and they had gained all their rewards, however, they still felt a bit unsatisfied by the revelations.
At this exact moment the comment section of the live stream was going insane:
[What...]
[Did I miss something? Were they using telepathy?]
[How did they figure it out?]
[Let this sister tell you; They were having a moment *giggles*]
[OMG! OMG! OMG! MASTERMO IS SO HOT]
[Replying to the person who commented above: Devilmagiclover wants to know your location]
[Who else is shipping them?]
[+1]
[+2]
[+400]
[Big sister approves.]
[Can we all just talk about how hot that Dragon man was?!]
[Wait... I'm still confused]
[It's official! They are made for each other]
[Where are the haters now? Too scared to show your face?]
[asghyuefjberh]
[Want BBtrash to react! His Darling is being stolen away]
[My heart! This is too much.]
[Somebody please explain to me what just happened!]
[I freaking love this]
[Their chemistry! awww...]