Upon returning, Ina spent the afternoon in the village named "Gama." She noticed Luciano and Ahti still stationed by the farmland, unchanged from when she left with the fox girl. She couldn't figure out what they were guarding.
Ahti, with an air of mystery, told her to wait and see. She commented, "Despite the trouble, this thing has caused us, it does look quite beautiful."
Curiosity piqued by Ahti's words, Ina decided to stay.
Though it felt like evening by her estimation, there was no sun in the ancient god ruins, hence no distinction between day and night. All light came from the clouds in the sky. As the clouds gradually darkened, Ina noticed their color shift from a bright red to a stone-like brown-gray, with a stunning rose hue at the edges.
Ahti whispered, "It's starting."
Looking up, Ina saw Luciano and Ahti spread their membranous wings and soar upwards, casting eerie, winding shadows over the farmland.
Villagers quickly sought shelter indoors. Soon, the colors of the clouds deepened further, and Ina was treated to a magnificent meteor shower.
Countless enormous rocks, engulfed in fiery flames, plummeted from the sky with an unstoppable force, turning the ground an ominous shade of red. It was a terrifying apocalyptic scene, yet breathtaking. The rocks descended with grandeur, resembling falling stars.
Almost instantly, the heavy rocks crashed to the ground, causing it to tremble beneath Ina's feet, kicking up a thick cloud of dust. In the air, Luciano and Ahti deflected any rocks that threatened the village. The meteor shower seemed widespread, as most of the land within Ina's view was affected.
She was suddenly grateful that her restaurant was located in a cave. While unconventional, it spared her the constant worry of meteor showers.
About half an hour later, the rumbling sounds subsided. As Ahti landed, Ina finally understood why the dragons always guarded the farmland. It seemed these meteor showers occurred frequently. Without intervention, the entire village could be devastated in a matter of weeks.
Ina had encountered two distinct disasters in the ancient god ruins within a day: stone rain and the thorned ghost vines.
"It's not just stone rain," Ahti elaborated, "there's also lava rain. When the clouds darken, and the edges are tinged with pink, like today, it's stone rain. If the edges of the clouds are shining bright red, then we're in trouble. Lava will fall like raindrops, and even we can't do anything against it, except to put up a protective barrier."
Luciano chimed in, "Our magic crystals are running out. If we still had them, there would be no need for us to guard during the lava rains; humans could just activate the barriers." Thinking about his dwindling treasures, Luciano couldn't help but feel distressed.
When other races migrated to the ancient god ruins, they didn't bring much value as their lives on the Moro continent weren't that great to begin with. Only the dragons brought their entire treasures, consisting mainly of coins, precious ores, and magic crystals.
To their surprise, the ancient god ruins were barren. The ores they brought became incredibly valuable. Now, every tool that humans used, even common farming tools, was made of black iron mixed with fine gold, and each was a genuine heirloom. Some tools had already been passed down through over ten generations and still looked as good as new. They could likely last another five hundred years.
But the dragons had to watch as their treasures diminished in their nests, the pain evident in their expressions.
Listening to all this, an idea sparked in Ina's mind.
———
When Ina found out that Ahti and the others were staying overnight, she decided not to disturb them and offered to return to her cave.
Before leaving, she reminded Luciano and Ahti, "If you have time, you can always visit my place. Remember the sign hanging on my door."
Which sign? It took Ahti a moment to recall. It seemed the sign wasn't just a casual decoration. Was Ina really planning on opening a restaurant?
"But you've already realized the value of food. Even if you have some now, you'll run out soon," Ahti questioned, puzzled.
Ina knew her secret of returning to the Moro continent for food would be exposed eventually, but now wasn't the time to reveal it. Instead, she simply said, "I've always had a fondness for running restaurants. More importantly, enjoying delicacies alone doesn't bring me joy. Not just you, but if I encounter other dragons, I'd invite them to dine at my place too."
The location of Ina's restaurant meant that, aside from dragons, no other race would risk dining there. Given the cave's modifications by Ina and the lava fountains that were harmless to dragons but perilous to others, it seemed this branch in the ancient god ruins would cater only to dragons.
Ahti nodded solemnly after hearing Ina. "We will come."
"She must be very lonely, hoping to win our favor by sharing food with us and integrating into our group," Ahti murmured to Luciano after Ina had left. "We felt the same when we first arrived here — isolated, scared, and lost."
Luciano, idly digging his claws into rocks as he stood guard, looked up in confusion. "Did we? I never noticed."
"You always wear your heart on your sleeve," Ahti replied with a smirk, then his face lit up. "Tomorrow, when Lenny and the others take over our shift, we can visit Ina's place in the afternoon."
Luciano's eyes sparkled with anticipation. "Will there be meat again tomorrow?" In his excitement, he gripped a rock tightly, sending shards flying everywhere.
After leaving the village of Gama, Ina didn't head straight back to her cave. Instead, she wandered outside. The time was evening in the ancient god ruins, the only distinction between day and night being an additional moon in the sky.
It was a fractured, dim moon as if some colossal creature had taken a bite out of it. Ina observed the thin mist shrouding the moon, seemingly spreading.
There had been no mist around Gama when she left, but as Ina ventured further away, the mist grew denser.
It instantly reminded her of the thick fog of Mist Town.
With this revelation, she pieced some things together. Upon arriving in Gama, and learning how its inhabitants procured food and essentials, she'd found it perplexing. In such an arid environment, and among these races from whom magic had almost entirely vanished, they shouldn't possess the capability to generate the vast fog that blanketed both Mist Town and Midnight Marsh. This intricate plan spanning three centuries was enormous. From what Ina had gathered, besides the dragons who adapted to the magic-devoid life in the ancient god ruins due to their formidable strength, almost no professionals remained among the humans, orcs, and goblins.
Thus, the fog of Misty Town wasn't artificially produced by the races within the ancient god ruins but naturally emerged from them. It possibly seeped through the slight gaps between the two realms.
During their attempts to open a portal back, they might have inadvertently widened a gap, allowing the fog to permeate. Over years of isolation, they might have discovered that the Breath of Vistan could transform the stable white mist into the volatile black fog, eventually devising the plan to have a silver dragon blow open the passage between the two dimensions.
This plan was fraught with risks: not enough fog could seep into the Moro continent, the silver dragon might never achieve a successful dimensional leap, and the explosion might not open a path between the two realms but rather risk tearing a rift into the void, threatening both dimensions with annihilation. A single mistake could jeopardize everything.
But they had no other options.
As Ina pondered, she flew towards the area where the fog was denser. The stark gray mountains stood bare against the pale landscape, where occasionally a dormant Thorn Ghost Vine could be seen. Their tentacle-like tendrils spread out lifelessly, resembling a giant starfish or octopus, each trying to make as much contact with the fog as possible.
Whenever Ina flew over these vines, they would swiftly retreat underground, as if their previous lethargy was merely an illusion. They had probably come close to human settlements and had learned caution and concealment.
Ina continued her pursuit of the fog. The milky haze now obscured the deep-red clouds above, and all she could see was an endless expanse of gray—gray fog and gray earth.
The appearance of the Thorn Ghost Vines became more frequent, and some bolder vines dared to extend their tendrils provocatively, attempting to ensnare the passing creature. Ina paid them no mind; her massive wings never ceased their flapping.
Continuing deeper into the fog, the familiar oppression that she had once felt in the depths of Midnight Marsh emerged once again. Perhaps she shouldn't continue. It wasn't just the pressure from the dense fog, but looking downwards, she could no longer see an inch of the ground.
The ground was entirely covered with Thorn Ghost Vines. In the air, they stretched their tendrils with abandon. Tendrils that spanned hundreds, if not thousands of meters, danced, entwined, separated, and then reached eagerly for the skies, trying to pull Ina down. The phrase 'a dance of demons' seemed to aptly describe the scene.
Here, the Thorn Ghost Vines didn't need to lie dormant or be cautious. Their main tendrils brazenly showed themselves. Most were red, with only a few being deep green, virtually indistinguishable from the other tendrils.
Only the Thorn Ghost Vines that had fed on the flesh and blood of living beings would have red main tendrils. A chilling thought struck Ina: how many humans or members of other races lay buried beneath this land?
From a distance, Ina, amidst the forest of vines, appeared as a tiny shrimp lost in an infinite forest of sea anemones. Yet she wasn't just a shrimp. To maintain her peak strength, she had already transformed into her black dragon form. Legends say that the largest black dragons were as massive as a mountain range. Perhaps this was true in ancient times when magic was denser, but even now, an adult dragon was larger than a grand cathedral.
Yet, within this forest of Thorn Ghost Vines, Ina felt like a bird that could be devoured at any moment. She decided to retreat. However, at that moment, she spotted something peculiar amidst the entangled vines.
Dragon bones.
Pristine white bones gleamed like polished jade even amidst the murky fog. Deep green tendrils with patterns wrapped around the dead dragon's ribs, slowly slithering and constricting. The sight evoked the term "maggots clinging to bones" in Ina's mind, and she found it deeply unsettling.
This particularly robust Thorn Ghost Vine grew out of the deceased dragon's chest cavity. Undoubtedly, it had consumed the flesh and blood of the dragon, becoming the most potent of its kind.
Its tendrils numbered in the thousands, and its crimson main stem was adorned with spores. One could easily surmise that the myriad Thorn Ghost Vines surrounding this area were its progeny.
Throughout her life, Ina had always struggled with accepting her identity as a dragon. If someone were to curse dragons for their greed or evil deeds in front of her, she wouldn't take offense. She sympathized with Luciano and others, just as she did with the fox girl, Mira. Because dragons were far more potent, she even wished that humans and beastfolk would fare better. But now, seeing the dragon bones overtaken by the Thorn Ghost Vines, used as a breeding ground for these repulsive plants, a surge of immense anger filled her. She felt personally offended.
She dived down, and instantly, tendrils from the Thorn Ghost Vines lunged at her. They were so thick and interwoven that they obscured her vision entirely. Raising her hand, roaring flames surged out, sweeping over the forest of Thorn Ghost Vines. The vines weren't particularly scared of fire, and they moved without hesitation. However, upon contact with the flames, they snapped instantly. They continued to approach, wriggling and intertwining like a horde of snakes.
With such a dense thicket, even the raging dragon flames seemed overwhelmed. Numerous tendrils intersected and divided the massive wall of fire, breaking it into tiny sparks. Dragon flames weren't ordinary. They wouldn't be extinguished by water, and depriving them of oxygen couldn't threaten them. As long as there was magic, theoretically, the dragon flames could burn indefinitely.
But the relics of the Old Gods were void of magic, causing the dragon flames to be massively suppressed. Relying solely on Ina's constant infusion of magic, her energy reserve drained rapidly. She realized the urgency of ending this battle swiftly.
Drawing in her wings, Ina plummeted down at an incredible speed. The tendrils might have contained the flames, but they now eagerly reached out to her. From above, it looked like a dense, sprawling net. But Ina quickly shifted back to her human form, nimbly evading the tendrils and weaving through the gaps.
She donned her top-tier mage armor and held the legendary staff, "Starfall's Verse." One after another, powerful forbidden spells were unleashed from her hands.
Ina's hair billowed due to the fiery updraft, the electric arcs illuminating her determined gaze. Thousands of Thorn Ghost Vines twitched and writhed, creating ripples throughout the forest. Ina dashed into the chest cavity of the dragon bones, slashing through the main tendril of the most robust Thorn Ghost Vine with her blade. Placing her hand on the dragon's spine, a significant depression formed around Ina, and the dense collection of Thorn Ghost Vines sagged. The dragon bones, once the nest for these vines, were instantly drained by Ina, causing even the unintelligent Thorn Ghost Vines to lapse into a brief state of confusion.
Seizing the opportunity, Ina shot into the sky like an arrow released from its bow, eventually soaring to heights beyond the reach of the Thorn Ghost Vines. The wild thicket finally began to settle.
Having expended nearly four-fifths of her magic, this was the first time Ina had come dangerously close to draining herself entirely.
Deciding not to linger in this perilous locale, she immediately made her way back to her cave.
Inside her bag was a new item gleaming with golden brilliance: [Bones of Dragon King Lyssalian]
To think that the dragon bones buried deep within the Thorn Ghost Vines were those of a Dragon King!
Suppressing her astonishment, Ina decided to wait until she reached a safer location to inspect the find more closely. As she flew, however, she noticed that her magic was still depleting at a steady pace. Pondering for a moment, she soon deduced the reason.
Dragons, with their powerful membranous wings, rely on more than just the flapping of their wings for flight due to the sheer strength of their bones and flesh. They also consumed their magic. On a regular basis, this consumption would seem negligible, even less than the rate at which Ina could replenish her magic on the Moro Continent. However, in the Old God's relic, a place devoid of external magical energy, even the slightest drain was noticeable.
This realization made Ina wonder. Theoretically, other dragons residing here would also be unable to regenerate their magic. If they had been here for hundreds of years, their intrinsic magic should have been exhausted long ago. Yet, how were they still flying around, fetching water sources, and protecting villages without showing the slightest sign of fatigue?