"I pledge allegiance to you, my lord."
A flame gnoll, approximately 2.4 meters tall, kneeled on one knee, panting heavily. His cruel, small eyes were filled with an extremely excited gleam as he looked up at the massive silver dragon perched on the peak of the volcano.
Garlon nodded slightly, his dragon claw gripping the high-temperature rocks of the volcano.
His platinum dragon eyes looked down.
Hundreds of flame gnolls gathered together, kneeling on the ground like their leader.
Gnolls also exist on the continent of Noah.
These flame gnolls are a variant, roughly similar in appearance and habits to the gnolls of Noah's continent.
These creatures have steel needle-like red hard fur from their necks to their tails. Their narrow eyes show malicious and cruel emotions, their bodies visibly hunched, as if it's difficult for them to straighten their waists. Their protruding mouths contain crisscrossed sharp teeth, unconsciously drooling, while their palms have cold, gleaming claws.
Gnolls are a common type of dragon vassal creature.
Like kobolds, they follow the footsteps of true dragons and then volunteer to become vassals of the dragons.
Gnolls are not dragonkin; they do not possess the weak dragon bloodline like kobolds, but their combat power is much stronger than that of kobolds. Many gnoll clans can also speak some simple Draconic.
Not fluent or pleasant to the ear.
But at least, the Draconic spoken by gnolls doesn't have the barking sound of kobolds and sounds somewhat more pleasant.
Although they revered true dragons and came immediately upon hearing the news, they were not the first race to pledge allegiance.
The flame gnolls were the fourth monster clan to come to the Fire Dwarf tribe and swear allegiance to Garlon after the news of the legendary true dragon's appearance was spread.
The ease with which the legendary true dragon gathered vassals was even simpler than Garlon had thought.
Many creature groups, upon arriving at the Fire Dwarf tribe to confirm the information and witnessing Garlon's true form, chose to swear fealty immediately.
This is due to the innate powerful deterrence of dragons, as well as the flesh-and-blood creatures of the lava demi-plane wanting a strong backing.
"The great true dragon accepts your allegiance."
"Now, I have your first task."
"Stand up, then return the way you came, back to your tribe, and along the way, proclaim my arrival to other races."
The silver dragon's voice was deep.
Hearing this, the flame gnoll leader bared his fangs, his red fur fluttering in the wind like flames.
"We guarantee to complete the task; the flame gnolls will not disappoint you."
Then, groups of flame gnolls left from the foot of the volcano, returning along their path. As they passed through some tribes and clans, like the Fire Dwarves, they spread the news of Garlon's arrival.
Not just these flame gnolls.
All the monster clans that had chosen to swear allegiance to Garlon received the same command.
Thus, after just a few days of fermentation, the news of a legendary dragon from the prime material world coming to this lava world spread like wildfire, reaching almost all the flesh-and-blood creature groups.
Under the fiery red sky, time passed calmly and normally.
More and more intelligent creature groups came to the volcano near the Fire Dwarf tribe. After witnessing the legendary dragon's form, they chose to swear allegiance at the speed of light, much to the amazement of the Fire Dwarves.
In the past, there were no lack of powerful creatures or clans who wanted to unite the scattered flesh-and-blood lives, thereby gaining higher power and voice, and then finding a way out under the oppression of elemental giants.
But without exception.
All failed.
Because they lacked legendary-level strength and did not have the dragon's fame that spread across many planes.
True dragons naturally have a kind of ruler's dignity and momentum, making it easy for other creatures to submit.
A newly matured dragon can gain the voluntary allegiance of many creatures, not to mention Garlon is a legendary true dragon, and even has two adult evil dragons as followers.
In less than half a month.
Over half of the flesh-and-blood creature groups living on this scorched land had chosen to swear allegiance to Garlon, becoming vassals of the legendary dragon.
The Fire Dwarves, who are very proficient in forging and smelting, used the entire clan's strength to build a temporary dragon lair for Garlon out of metal and ore within just these few days.
This dragon lair, situated on a steep volcanic wall, was quite majestic.
Lava streams winding out of the volcano surrounded the dragon lair, with flames and thick smoke rising.
Around Garlon's dragon lair, there were two smaller, simpler red dragon lairs on either side, like side halls guarding Garlon's main lair.
These two lairs belonged to Roel and Grelsa.
Although they were mates, dragons, even mates, do not live in the same space. Both needed independent lairs to reside and to store their treasures to prevent the other from coveting.
A dragon lair cannot accommodate two adult dragons, not even a male and a female.
In the largest lair, Garlon soaked in a magma pool drawn from the volcano, his wings spread out, evenly feeling the gentle caress of the flowing lava.
Garlon no longer personally dealt with gathering vassals. Because it was too simple, gathering vassals became a procedural assembly line. Seeing Garlon, marveling, and then swearing allegiance, there was no twist or turn in the process. At first, Garlon personally accepted the allegiance, but after numerous times, he grew somewhat weary of it.
This task was handed over to the two red dragons.
Roel and Grelsa both enjoyed the praise and adulation from weaker creatures and gladly accepted the task of gathering vassals.
These creatures living in a world of fire and scorched earth were naturally suited to be vassals of red dragons, and the power of the flame red dragons was also very attractive to fire-attribute creatures. Just seeing the red dragons for the first time and feeling the scorching high temperature of their aura, many clans chose to submit.
Furthermore, although they directly swore allegiance to the red dragons, they all knew that the giant silver true dragon was the real master of this place.
The powerful red dragons were just one of his followers.
Garlon's imagined use of force was now completely unnecessary.
The creature clans here were too sensible; at least for now, not one chose to resist or refuse the rule of the true dragon.
If it continues to be this easy, Garlon is happy to see it happen.
But he understands that ultimately, force will have to be used.
The real masters of the lava demi-plane are the fire and earth giants, not the creature clans that chose to swear allegiance to him.
The powerful elemental giants naturally would not come rushing to swear allegiance upon hearing the news of a legendary dragon; they are more likely to think about how to eliminate Garlon, to remove this sudden unstable factor from their world.
Additionally, Garlon learned noteworthy news from the Fire Dwarves.
The territories of the fire and earth giants are clearly demarcated, dividing this nearly 100 million square kilometer demi-plane into two major parts.
The eastern and southern regions, where fire elements are densely packed, the air occasionally ignites with glaring flames, magma covers the ground, and flames surge, belong to the territory of the fire giant, where a large number of fire elemental lives thrive. There's also a majestic giant city ruled by the fire giant, constructed from a material called flame steel.
Named the City of Flame Steel.
The western and northern regions, where the concentration of fire elements is much weaker, rugged stone hills and mountains rise and fall, the air is filled with rustling stone powder, and earth elemental lives dot the landscape.
Here, countless towering stone walls form a vast and deep stone city maze. Non-flying creatures that enter can only hope for a few lucky ones to find their way out.
The earth giant lives in the stone city maze.
And Garlon's current location is situated between the territories of the fire and earth giants.
The energy of fire and earth elements is relatively balanced here, allowing non-elemental life to barely survive.
Caught between the powerful elemental giants, whenever friction and war erupt, the flesh-and-blood creatures of the lava demi-plane are the unfortunate first to bear the brunt, struggling to survive in the aftermath of the elemental giants' wars.
Their survival to this point is purely because the elemental giants do not regard flesh-and-blood life with any significance.
Occasionally burning some flesh, crushing some bones, is a pleasurable relaxation for them.
"At the beginning, the distribution of elemental energy here probably wasn't so clear."
Garlon thought to himself.
Fire elemental lives gather together, attracting the convergence of fire elemental energy for better survival, either actively or passively, gradually creating an environment where fire elemental energy is extremely dense, and the same is true for earth elemental lives.
After elemental energy becomes dense, it attracts or directly births more elemental lives.
Thus, a cycle is formed.
As time passes, the lava demi-plane gradually evolved into its current situation.
"Both giants wish to annihilate each other, turning this place into a pure elemental plane of only one element."
"If successful, it would become akin to a small fire elemental plane or a small earth elemental plane."
Dragon wings scooped up a handful of magma, then poured it directly over his head.
Whoosh! The fiery magma slid slowly over the silver dragon scales, emitting streams of steam and smoke.
"For elemental lives, the purity of elemental energy is crucial to their race's survival."
"The war between the fire giant and the earth giant is inevitable."
If one wants to take control of the lava demi-plane, starting from the conflict between fire and earth elements is a way, by inciting large-scale strife through their irreconcilable differences, watching from the sidelines, and then reaping the benefits when both sides are greatly weakened.
However, the above is a method when strength is insufficient and one needs to proceed cautiously.
If Garlon had come to the lava demi-plane before this slumber, he probably would have taken this approach.
But now It's no longer necessary.
Because there aren't many legendary creatures in the lava demi-plane.
On the surface, only the lord of the City of Flame Steel and the lord of the Stone City.
The hierarchy among elemental giants is arranged by their own strength, in a pyramid-like form from top to bottom, where the powerful dominate the weak.
The lord of the City of Flame Steel and the lord of the Stone City are the two most powerful elemental giants, both legendary beings.
As for whether these elemental lives have hidden legendary powers in the shadows, or if there are other non-elemental legendary beings hiding in this demi-plane, the Fire Dwarves are not sure, and other clans are equally unaware.
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