“Dammit!” The leader of Black Dragon, the Autumn Lord Tom, couldn’t contain his anger and swept away the items on his desk. Crash. They were all rare and precious items, treasures that his mother, the Summer Queen, had given him because he was the youngest. However, the sight of them made him feel dissatisfied.
The rumors he heard made him lose all reason—rumors that the dragon king Kalatus’ grave had been discovered. At first, he hadn’t believed them. Talk of a hidden site on the fiftieth floor had been circulating for a long time, but even if it did exist, he never thought the idiotic Gluttony Emperor who would find it first.
To Tom, the Gluttony Emperor was just a tool for decreasing White Dragon’s forces and an easy prey in the future. However, now that he’d discovered the rumors were true, he felt dismayed.
With all the Draconic species gone, and the descendants of the Summer Queen all battling to be her true successor, finding the ancient site of the old dragons could be something that would turn the tide. The legacy of the dragons wasn’t just a treasure in itself, it was also a good excuse to declare yourself the true successor to the Draconic species.
However, this treasure was now in the hands of the Gluttony Emperor, whom he’d already betrayed once. Waltz had become involved in this because she was fighting with Blood Land. The entire situation just made Tom feel worse. “I have to interfere somehow. Any way I can…”
There was still time to enter the grave under the pretext of helping Blood Land, but he would risk being trapped and lose even more of his soldiers. He’d heard that the grave was a labyrinth and one wrong step meant suffering a lot of damage. However, there were rumors that Blood Land had a map. He needed to appease that disgusting pig, the Gluttony Emperor. Overnight, the person who had the upper hand had changed. “I have to give that pig something he will like. What do I have that he’ll want?”
What would be a treasure that the greedy and vain Gluttony Emperor would like? Tom paced around his room and racked his brain. A crystal rolling on the ground suddenly glowed.
『Youngest, I heard your situation isn’t too different from ours. How about we work together for a while?』 A familiar voice rang out. It was one of the leaders of Green Dragon, Dragon Tiger Hyall.
Tom bent over and picked up the crystal. The Summer Queen had given one to each of her children a long time ago, and they hadn’t used it since they’d begun fighting among themselves.
His other siblings were probably as desperate as he was. Thinking that it might be worth listening to their offer, Tom said, “Long time no see, brother.”
* * *
As Ivan felled the Spartoi with the few subordinates he had left, a flash of light burst in front of his eyes. He only felt two things: it was hot and he was furious. He knew what the flames coming from the walls of the cave were, and he felt it was pathetic that he couldn’t do anything but be a sitting duck.
When he came to, his subordinates were all gone, and only a hated face appeared in his vision. It was a man wearing a black mask and coat, the enemy that had taken his son from him and destroyed his clan: the Hoarder, Cain.
“Why are you keeping me alive?” Ivan growled at Yeon-woo. He was wrapped up in strange chains, and he couldn’t even use his skills. His pride wouldn’t let him be pulled around like a dog on a leash. He would rather die than be a prisoner of war like this.
However, Yeon-woo just retrieved strange-looking beads from the skeletal Spartoi using his shadows, as though he couldn’t hear Ivan.
“Why are you keeping me alive?!” Ivan couldn’t hold back his rage and shouted once more. Only then did Yeon-woo stop what he was doing and slowly turn around. His eyes behind the mask were still and emotionless.
