"I think there might be some misunderstanding between us."
Listening to Garon's words and watching his rapidly changing expressions, Galon's lips slowly curled into a smile, revealing his sharp, snow-white dragon teeth.
"Misunderstanding?"
"You're not going to say that your magical fleet has come for peaceful exchanges, are you?"
On the layered scale-covered face, the silver dragon revealed a mocking anthropomorphic expression.
Galon remained unfazed.
In such a situation, brute force was the worst decision.
"Of course, our Imaska Second Empire respects all civilizations and races in the prime material world. We are an empire that venerates goodness and equality."
Empire, goodness, equality - these words put together made Galon burst into laughter.
No empire, which has risen from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, eliminating countless nations and species along the way, has any connection to the words goodness and equality.
Amidst the laughing dragon roars of the silver dragon, Galon's expression became uglier.
However, this ugly expression was fleeting. He tried to maintain a calm demeanor, rapidly thinking of a strategy while continuing: "Respected true dragon, please believe that our Imaska Second Empire has brought knowledge and resources to many small civilizations in the prime material world, helping them rise from weakness to prosperity and wealth."
"Coming to this demiplane, we too are here to spread the light of civilization, with goodwill, not expecting such powerful dragons already present, not needing our support."
Galon, suppressing his discomfort, still wore a calm look.
He wasn't usually like this. Galon's nature was silent and serious, not fond of speaking. However, as the captain of the 21st magical fleet, with a severe miscalculation, he felt he needed to account for his crew.
He wanted to bring the magical fleet back to the Cain continent intact.
Galon was buying time, preparing a teleportation spell, wanting to leave the magma demiplane immediately.
With Galon's perception of elemental energy, he had already noticed this.
Around the magical ships, elemental energy was beginning to gather.
But he seemed unconcerned, just saying to Galon: "Oh? Bringing knowledge and resources?"
Galon's gaze swept over the magical ships and their crews.
He found that almost all of them were armed to the teeth with magical items. Each person had at least ten items emitting elemental glows, with magic flowing through them.
Normal spellcasters couldn't use so many magical items simultaneously.
"Yes, we never stint on knowledge and resources."
The magical ships had teleportation spells engraved. Galon was buying time, and the teleportation spell was almost ready. He couldn't help but smile a little.
"You are filled with magic."
"What kind of people are you? You don't seem like regular spellcasters."
Galon asked patiently.
Galon knew he was asking about their profession. To buy time, he said: "In the Imaska Second Empire, we are known as Eccentric Engineers."
"If you are interested in Eccentric Engineers, we can have a good talk."
Eccentric Engineers.
They seem adept at using magical items and quite wealthy. Galon assessed the Eccentric Engineers on the magical ships, thinking this.
At this time.
The teleportation spell of the magical fleet was ready.
With an escape route, Galon's smile quickly faded, and his face gradually returned to a stern and dignified look.
The next moment, under the watchful eyes of legendary dragons.
Magic shone brightly on every ship's surface. In this dazzling light, noticeable ripples in the surrounding space appeared, and the ships gradually became indistinct and ghostly.
They seemed to break through the planar barriers, leaving the magma demiplane.
When the rather covert teleportation spell finally activated, Galon's face showed a relieved smile. He and the other legends on the magical ships prepared for the legendary dragons' crazed attacks and blocks.
However.
He noticed something odd about the legendary dragons' reactions.
Not too swift or fierce, but too subdued.
Pairs of dragon eyes watched the magical fleet curiously. It was apparent they were trying to escape, yet not a single legendary dragon made a move to stop them.
Their gaze was familiar to him.
It was like a cat playing with a mouse, clearly anticipating their use of teleportation spells to escape.
"Bad news!"
"They seem to have come prepared."
Galon's heart sank.
At the same time.
Just as the teleportation spell was about to work, the magical ships almost breaking through the space.
Humming sounds arose.
Magic runes, already branded in space, slowly became visible.
These magic runes, shimmering with magical light, densely filled every corner of the surrounding space, vague and fluctuating unpredictably.
Under the stabilizing enhancement of these runes, the surrounding space suddenly became as solid as a thick copper wall, unbreakable.
Thus.
Every magical ship was firmly bound again in the demiplane.
"Dimensional Anchor, Space Lock, Planar Seal."
Galon's mood plummeted.
For some reason, the legendary dragons in this demiplane seemed to know precisely that they would arrive here. Before their arrival, they had set up many spells to prevent their escape.
"Why is this happening?"
Surrounded by legendary dragons, Galon was deeply puzzled.
If it were due to an internal traitor, revealing information to these unknown legendary dragons for some reason, he could barely accept it, as it was still within his understanding.
However.
What Galon couldn't understand was that even he didn't know the precise landing spot after arrival!
Whether it's a planar portal or a phase door, such cross-crystal wall teleportation inevitably has some errors. He could only know a general range, but from the spells set up here, these legendary dragons predicted even their landing spot without error.
Galon initially thought that being surrounded by legendary dragons here was just an unlucky accident.
But from the current situation, it's completely unrelated to an accident.
The other side was waiting for them here.
"Coming here to spread knowledge and civilization?"
"A greeting not given, and you want to teleport away? Isn't that too disrespectful to our local dragon race?"
Before the group of legendary dragons spoke, Roel, a relatively small red dragon compared to the giant dragons, jumped out fiercely.
Listening to Roel's words, Galon felt a strange déjà vu.
This guy made it seem like the dragons here were some kind of underworld force.
Galon shook his head slightly, then looked coldly at Galon and said calmly, "Stop pretending. We are very clear about the purpose of your magical fleet coming here."
Galon remained silent, his expression becoming serious and heavy.
After a pause, the silver dragon, unhurried, emotionlessly continued: "Disable your ship's defensive shields and surrender, and you might survive."
After this period, no new phase doors had opened.
This meant the magical fleet had no reinforcements.
The twelve magical ships displayed here constituted the full force invading his magma demiplane.
In Galon's psychic perception, there were nine legends on these ships. The rest of the thousands of crew members were also not weak, with the lowest being at the level of a mid-tier spellcaster.
The elemental glow here was almost blinding.
On the other hand, hearing Galon's indifferent words, Galon stopped pretending.
"We come from the Imaska Second Empire, here for the resources of this demiplane."
"However, since it's already owned, we do not wish to be enemies with the powerful dragon race."
Galon's gaze swept over each legendary dragon, saying solemnly: "We have disturbed the powerful legendary dragons. I, on behalf of the entire 21st magical fleet, deeply apologize."
"To express our sincerity, our fleet will offer sufficient treasures, asking for forgiveness from the legendary dragons."
"Imaska Second Empire."
Before the words fell, Galon saw the imposing silver dragon impatiently wave its sharp claws.
"I don't care where you're from or your purpose."
"I don't want to say it a second time. If you want to live, disable your defenses and surrender now, understand?"
Use treasures as an apology?
Joking, these magical ships, including everything inside, were already the dragons' spoils. Why would he negotiate with them?
If not to preserve the magical ships as intact as possible and to capture more enemies for more information on the Imaska Second Empire, Galon wouldn't even want to waste words with them.
"Are you sure you want to make enemies with our Imaska Second Empire?"
Galon frowned.
His words were full of confidence in the strength of the Imaska Second Empire.
Galon couldn't believe they had no fear of an empire capable of interplanar travel.
It seemed they were not going to surrender easily. Galon shook his head slightly.
He didn't want to see such a scene.
Because once the fight started, the magical ships he coveted would inevitably be damaged.
"Seniors, these interplanar intruders seem to want to witness our dragon race's strength."
Galon softly spoke to the legendary dragons around him.
"Then let them have their wish!"
Lockweed, an ancient gold dragon, humphed heavily.
Immediately, the roar of dragons like thunder rose, echoing deafeningly.
Under Galon's intense gaze, each legendary dragon opened its mouth, each breath different but equally dangerous.
"Prepare the anti-magic field, make every effort to break through the dimensional anchor of this space!"
"Don't waste energy on the magic cannons."
"."
"Defend with all your might, full power to the ship's shields!"
Commands were issued rapidly.
"For Imaska! We can safely return home!"
Galon shouted.
"For Imaska!"
"For Imaska!"
The citizens of the Imaska Second Empire, with a strong sense of honor and responsibility for the empire, took pride in their identity. Well-trained and mentally robust, disciplined, even in such a tense atmosphere, the morale on the magical ships was not significantly affected.
Humming sounds.
Realizing the dragons' attack intentions, substantial blue shields unfolded around the magical ships.
The magical ships were expensive, and their shields had astonishing defensive power at full power. Each second consumed a lot of energy. At the very least, they could resist attacks from legendary creatures for a while.
As Eccentric Engineers, the crew members were not idle either.
Numerous intricate mechanical objects flew from their bodies, connected by magic and under their control.
Mechanical spiders, metal cubes, mechanical spheres. Countless metallic gadgets of different types.
They flew out of the ships' shields, centering on a few legendary Eccentric Engineers' machines, emitting magical energy, weaving into a massive net curtain, forming the first line of defense.
At the same time.
The dragons' breaths arrived.
Boom, boom, boom.
Under the attack of so many legendary dragons, the Eccentric Engineers' metallic gadgets couldn't show much effect.
Facing the fierce dragon breath, the first line of defense of the Eccentric Engineers was torn apart.
One after another, the intricate machines were engulfed in dragon breath.
Then, the weakened dragon breath approached the magical shields. The dragon breath from legendary dragons was strong, but the magical ships' shields were also incredibly defensive. It was like the sharpest spear meeting the sturdiest shield.
Time seemed to slow down at this moment.
Galon clenched his fists, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
Then, under his nervous watch, the dragon breath collided with the magical ships' shields.
Boom!
The magical ships shook violently, their surrounding shields flickering continuously. Like a lake in heavy rain, countless ripples burst forth, with web-like fine cracks extending from the point of dragon breath impact.
However, seeing this, Galon breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as they weren't destroyed instantly, the ship's shields could quickly repair the cracks.
The cracks extended and regenerated at a visible rate.
"The first wave of attacks has been blocked; not a single magical ship has been..."
Boom!
A volcanic eruption-like sound interrupted Galon's thoughts.
He turned his head in disbelief towards the source of the sound.
A three-hundred-meter-long magical ship beside the one he was on, its supposedly robust shield, was torn apart in an instant by a terrifying columnar invisible dragon breath, as if it had no resistance.
Boom, boom, boom.
The invisible dragon breath, standing out among the various legendary dragon breaths, tore through the magical ship's shield and then hit the ship itself.
The magical ship, made of rare magical metals, was also strong.
Under normal circumstances, a magical ship's body hit by a legendary attack could withstand a few hits before being destroyed.
However.
Under Galon's watchful eyes, this supposedly sturdy magical ship's metal body, upon contact with the invisible dragon breath, melted away like snowflakes upon fire, disintegrating, dissolving, vanishing.
The magical ship was directly pierced through by the sudden, powerful dragon breath, shaking violently.
Loud explosions erupted inside the ship.
Bright flames accompanied the explosions.
The precisely constructed body suffered such damage.
Its shield flickered a few times before disappearing completely, exposing the ship's body, which then, like a bird with broken wings, trailed a long tail of flames, falling towards the mountain range below.
A huge, flaming meteor under the tremendous momentum.
Since the dragon breath targeted the ship, only a few unlucky ones on the magical ship were hit by the breath, disintegrated like the pierced ship. Most of the personnel, with their not weak abilities, used various methods to escape the falling ship.
"Galon, am I impressive?"
"Did I do well?"
Yuna, the second-largest dragon among all the true dragons, with scales like diamonds reflecting the firelight, waved her claw excitedly at Galon.
Her forceful dragon breath, upon release, destroyed a magical ship with irresistible force.
The other magical ships blocked the first wave of dragon breath because only her attack was effective, Yuna was quite happy.
"Impressive, impressive."
"Well done, but don't do it like this again next time."
Galon looked at the severely damaged, falling magical ship, feeling immense heartache.
"Ah?"
Yuna blinked in confusion.
But soon, she realized her attack was too violent, seriously damaging the spoils of war that could have been taken.
Yuna showed a look of annoyance.
"I know what to do now."
Force gathered around her, forming an unbreakable force field shield on her body.
Then, Yuna leaped out from among the legendary dragons.
The super-giant dragon flapped its wings, bringing howling winds, directly approaching a magical ship.
"Dragon breath breaks the shield; if not careful, it might destroy the magic ship inside."
The other legendary dragons also paused their breaths.
But this didn't mean they stopped. Instead, they decided to change their attack method.
Then, amidst dragon roars and howls, the legendary dragons, like gigantic shells, in groups, charged towards the resisting magical ships.
The Eccentric Engineers on the magical ships also counterattacked.
Countless mechanical creations filled the surrounding space, launching various attribute attacks at the legendary dragons.
Fire, sonic waves, frost, vibration.
Different forms and attributes of attacks emitted from thousands of Eccentric Engineers' mechanical creations, a colorful magical flood, including some large metallic golems also flying out.
A grand and magnificent spectacle.
However, the seemingly splendid counterattack was actually ineffective.
All legendary dragons had extremely high magic resistance.
Each of them was despairingly resistant.
Countless attacks fell on the dragons' scales, but apart from high-level Eccentric Engineers' creations leaving some scratches, and legendary Eccentric Engineers' attacks breaking some insignificant scales, there were no other effects.
The magical fleet had a hundred high-level Eccentric Engineers and nine legendary Eccentric Engineers.
Some of them were also responsible for maintaining the shield's operation.
The remaining attacks distributed over thirty-plus legendary dragons were like tickling, posing no threat.
As for the metallic golems actively intercepting the legendary dragons, each was at least five meters tall, made of steel, covered with dense magical runes, adding not weak defensive and destructive power.
There were about two thousand of these metallic golems.
Almost every Eccentric Engineer could control a metallic golem.
Among them, nearly twenty advanced metallic golems, made by a few legendary Eccentric Engineers, were their ultimate mechanical creations. These metallic golems were intricately constructed, large in size, with combat power comparable to ordinary legends.
Eccentric Engineers.
Given enough resources, one could create an army of eccentric machinery.
This magical fleet was not weak, even strong, or else they wouldn't have the capability to undertake the difficult task of plundering resources from other planar worlds.
The surrounding space blockade was almost lifted by the Eccentric Engineers' collaborative efforts. However, under the pressure of the legendary dragons, they needed the metallic golems to buy enough time.
These greedy dragons didn't want to destroy the magical ships, which was Galon's only chance.
Unfortunately, they were facing a group of prepared legendary dragons.
The silver dragon looked at the sky-filling, both quantity and quality astonishing metallic golems, its platinum dragon eyes emitting sharp light.
Spell-Like Ability: Time Slice!
The power of time burst forth, entering the omnipresent river of time.
In an instant.
In the area near the metallic golems, the river of time was filled with separated time layers.
Galon, besides being the captain of the 21st magical fleet, was also a powerful Eccentric Engineer.
The Imaska Second Empire revered power; the more important the position, the stronger the mission. Galon was the strongest legendary Eccentric Engineer in this magical fleet.
He and a couple of other powerful legendary Eccentric Engineers sensed the power of Time Slice.
"Avoid that area!"
Galon warned loudly.
However, when he warned, many metallic golems had already charged into the area covered by Time Slice.
Thus, reflected in Galon's shrinking pupils, numerous metallic golems moving at high speed suddenly stopped, hanging in mid-air. Then, clearly visible, most of the metallic golems with magical runes carved on their bodies had straight black lines.
Crack, crack.
Along those apparent black lines, numerous well-made, valuable metallic golems shattered, turning instantly into motionless metal fragments.
"Bad news."
Galon's face grew heavier.
Legendary metallic golems reacted quickly, stopping their bodies the moment they touched the time layers, avoiding fatal damage. However, even the most potent metallic golems now had many visible deep marks.
Under Galon's time-based spell-like ability, these metallic golems suffered severe damage.
Then, the legendary dragons arrived.
Each dragon, with a terrifying physique, like steel-forged bodies, roared fiercely.
In the thunderous roars, they extended their sharp, fearsome claws, tearing apart the remaining metallic golems under the frightened gaze of the Eccentric Engineers. Under the dragons' claws and teeth, the hard metallic golems seemed made of tofu, not steel.
Even the metallic golems made by legendary Eccentric Engineers couldn't resist the dragons' attacks.
An ancient gold dragon, Lockweed, smacked a claw on a legendary humanoid metallic golem.
Rip!
The gold-scaled dragon claw effortlessly almost broke it in half.
Before the metallic golem could counterattack, the ancient gold dragon breathed a close-range breath, engulfing its entire upper body.
In just a few seconds, a metallic golem capable of fighting ordinary legends was rendered motionless under the ancient gold dragon's attack.
Boom!
Suddenly, a hundred-meter-diameter fireball rose, engulfing two legendary metallic golems. The fireball exploded, its mere aftermath causing nearby metallic golems and other mechanical creations to shake violently.
The hot wind hit the magical ship's shield, causing tiny ripples.
The next moment.
A massive silver light streaked through the sky of flames.
Galon accelerated, reaching an unbelievably fast speed, and suddenly appeared in front of the largest, nearly four-hundred-meter-long magical ship.
This most advanced magical ship was Galon's vessel.
Through the strong shield of the magical ship, the silver dragon looked indifferently at the panic-stricken Eccentric Engineers inside.
Galon extended his dragon claw, capable of tearing space, leaving fine cracks in the air, with a terrifying sound, reaching for the magical ship's shield.
At the same time.
The Eccentric Engineers regained their senses.
Looking at the majestic and agile super-giant silver dragon, the Eccentric Engineers, led by Galon, launched a counterattack.
Strange mechanical devices emitted different attribute spells, focusing on Galon, almost touching the magical ship's shield. Their shield's special effect allowed internal attacks to pass through unimpeded, even strengthened when passing through the magical ship's shield.
Under the energy flood of attacks, Galon didn't dodge or avoid.
He opened his dragon mouth, a pure white magic ring barely visible on the tip of a fang.
The next second, the Guardian Ring erupted in bright magical light.
Ninth-ring legendary spell: Greater Dispel Magic!
In the bright magical light, attacks aimed at Galon vanished like shadows under the sun, dispersed in an instant by Dispel Magic.
Galon released Greater Dispel Magic consecutively, quickly using up the Guardian Ring's dispel magic count.
However, this exchanged for only a few attacks passing through the Greater Dispel Magic's barrier.
These pitiful remaining attacks hit Galon, unable even to touch his dragon scales, blocked by the force field shield Yuna had earlier placed on Galon.
Time seemed to slow down.
Under the desperate eyes of many, the silver dragon's claw, capable of tearing space, landed on the magical ship's shield.
Rip!
The shield, capable of withstanding many legendary creature attacks, even the previous dragon breaths, was torn open by the silver dragon's claw like tearing paper.
"Done playing?"
The heavy breathing of the silver dragon seemed to resound in everyone's ears.
Exposed to such a behemoth without any protection, the Eccentric Engineers inside felt an indescribable pressure. Under Galon's might, they could hardly breathe.
First, a dragon's breath directly pierced a magical ship's shield and body, then the most advanced magical ship's shield was easily torn open by another dragon. The Eccentric Engineers could hardly believe their eyes.
Most Eccentric Engineers shivered.
These Eccentric Engineers knew how strong the magical ship's shield was.
Because of this, they truly understood the terrifying level of the legendary dragons before them.
Through the gap in the magical shield, Galon opened his dragon mouth again.
Galon couldn't see any obvious breath weapon in the silver dragon's mouth.
However, among the crisscrossed dragon teeth, it seemed to bite into some extremely dangerous energy, the same source and nature as the energy that instantly tore many metallic golems, invisible to the naked eye, yet truly existing.
"Be careful of this dragon's breath!"
Galon's heart shuddered.
He didn't know what kind of dragon the silver dragon before him was.
Among all the legendary dragons, only this silver dragon and the dragon that previously pierced through the magical ship were the most terrifying. Galon couldn't see through their origins.
If not for them, this magical fleet might have had a chance to escape here.
Whoo!
Eradicating Chronal Breath erupted from Galon's mouth.
Galon twisted his neck, and with his movements, the invisible breath rampaged across the magical ship's deck.
Every Eccentric Engineer hit by Eradicating Chronal Breath, including their defensive mechanical creations, vanished in the breath, cleanly and neatly as if they never existed.
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