Seven days later.
The flying ship slowly descended from the skies into a stretch of continuous mountains near the Central Mountains.
This place was covered with sharp and dangerous peaks. Even the unbroken sea of the forest had been split into patches of green and scattered around the perilous ridges.
The green dragons were forest dragons. They liked warm and humid environments, and thus they would never place their dens on the cold and dry mountain peaks. That was why Green Dragon Ohgu's den resided in a silent valley at the foot of these mountains.
The extended presence of the green dragon had driven away all of the large beasts within a radius of several hundreds of kilometers of the mountain. Even the previous magical wolf lord had no choice but to lead his descendants to another territory following the arrival of the green dragon.
Green Dragon Ohgu's violent personality and unbearably horrible temper made it such that even the elves didn't dare to enter his territory for no reason.
That was why this valley had become an unguarded treasury after Ohgu left for the frontlines.
No. It wasn't wholly unguarded.
Green Dragon Ohgu had chased a nearby group of kobolds to his den to protect his wealth, recruiting them as his slaves. This way, the group of slaves would care for his dragon den.
One had to admit, these kobolds weren't much good in combat but they were very proficient at pleasing and serving the dragons.
That was how Green Dragon Ohgu had lived his carefree life within this silent and isolated valley for as long as a hundred years!
It was because he had figured out all of the information about this place that Greem had been bold enough to drive the flying ship straight into the valley.
It was only when the giant hull of the flying ship descended above the valley and blotted out the sun that the kobold guards lazily lying around realized something was off.
As a piercing alarm rang out, along with a mess of barking and yelping, the enter den was thrown into chaos.
These cowardly kobolds immediately turned when they saw the intimidating aura of the enemy and hid within the dragon den. They shut the door made of wood and twigs with a resounding slam. Yet, with the size of the entrance to the cave, the two wooden doors weren't even capable of closing it off. They had absolutely no defensive utility apart from making the enemy speechless when looking from afar.
The magical forest beasts that the green dragon had enslaved to be his guard dogs poked their heads out of the cave to peek and immediately shrunk back when they sensed the ominous aura.
The enemies this time seemed quite fierce. It was best they didn't go out to die.
As for the punishment of the green dragon? No penalty could be more terrifying than death, could it?
Greem saw all this happen as he scanned the surroundings of the den with his powerful Spirit. A light smile appeared on his cold face.
As he nodded his head lightly, the two dozen magical metal golems waiting by the edge of the ship slid down on ropes with Tigule's Goblin Shredder in the lead.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
Several dull thuds later, they pulled out their thick robotic legs from the dirt as black gun barrels emerged from their metallic bodies. These machines then walked toward the dragon den's door with earth-shaking steps.
For a moment, the clanging metallic sound of the giant golems filled the entire valley!
Greem stood on the flying ship and coldly looked at the sea of forests. The corners of his mouth turned upward slightly; he couldn't help but betray the traces of a disdainful smile.
Greem abruptly started chanting a profound magical spell at the top of his lungs.
As his voice rolled across the landscape, strands of magical power from the forest below started to react. Wisps and traces of invisible magical elementium began to rapidly gather toward him in the air, forming into a summoning portal filled with mysterious runes.
Soon, with the intense trembling of magical energy, a spatial wormhole appeared at the center of the summoning portal. Third Grade Thunder Dragon Arms once again displayed its lithe, muscular, and bright blue body in front of the adepts.
Arms struggled within the wormhole and finally broke free of it after three minutes.
"Brat, you owe me for last time."
The Third Grade thunder dragon impatiently started grumbling at Greem the moment he emerged from the wormhole. However, he suddenly stopped before he finished. The Third Grade thunder dragon turned his body toward the northeast and lifted his snout to sniff the air, almost as if there was something that interested him.
"Lord Arms, last time I promised to introduce you to a flight of green dragons. How is it now? Can you smell the scent of the Dragoncliff?" Greem asked politely.
"Not bad, not bad," Arms couldn't help but sniff the air. There was no hiding the excitement in his large, intimidating eyes, "I looked it up when I went back. This Faen Plane isn't listed in the sacred texts of the dragons, so the dragons here are still considered wild dragons. If I can lead them toward the glory of the Great Dragon God, I will most definitely be rewarded by the Dragon God himself."
Thunder Dragon Arms became increasingly excited the more he spoke. His bright blue wings started beating intensely.
"Little adept, if I succeed here I will reward you greatly. I can void the summoning fee for the past two times. Just call me anytime you run into an enemy you can't deal with. As long as it's not one of those Fourth Grade old men, I can send the rest of them packing."
Having said that, Thunder Dragon Arms couldn't be bothered with exchanging any more words with Greem. His giant body quickly rose to the skies and flew toward the location of the Central Mountains' Dragoncliff.
Once the storm stirred by the Third Grade thunder dragon's flight had calmed down, Greem once again cast his gaze toward a snowy mountain peak in the distance.
"Hmph! You are a patient lot!"
…………
Upon the snowy peak where Greem was gazing at, a group of elves was hiding inside a cave of ice. They were monitoring the movements near the dragon's den through a magical water mirror.
The number of elves in the group wasn't many, but the power of each member was shockingly high.
There were Weapons Grandmasters, Magic Marksmen, Druid Elders, and even an elegant dragon with emerald scales among their ranks as well as a fearsome green dragon of colossal size and stature. However, the most conspicuous one among them was a young male elf with a cold and stern expression.
This elf wasn't precisely tall or broad, but his limbs and body had extraordinary senses of flexibility and coordination to them. He was only wearing light elven armor on his body with two long and narrow blades sheathed on his back. A single golden braid trailed down his back all the way to his waist.
No blinding magical light could be seen on his body, nor any bulging muscles. Yet when he stood there in silence, all of the elves present couldn't help but turn their eyes towards him in admiration and respect.
Even the two proud dragons couldn't help but hold their breath in his presence, fearing that their heavy breathing might offend this noble Fourth Grade.
Indeed, the one leading this Witchslaying operation was the Fourth Grade Storm Sword Saint– Agassi!
The attention of the elven kingdom had been tied to the Pale Witches on the Echo Isles all this while. They had stationed nearly forty percent of the kingdom's military strength, and most of their powerhouses, at Greenwater City. It was the only way they had managed to keep the Pale Witches out of Garan.
Unfortunately, what they hadn't expected was the squad of no more than thirty witches, of which none were above Second Grade, utterly throwing the heartland of Garan into chaos by reaping more lives than they could count.
Even putting aside the slaughtered coastal villages, the witches had also baited a Third Grade druid elder into the Death Scar and caused the riot of the undead. This bloody debt was one that would be etched into the soul of each and every elf. Even the rivers and waters of heaven could not cleanse them of their sins!
Moreover, they had even taken advantage of the elves being tied up by the horde of undead to ambush the sacred land of the pegasi in the Central Mountains. They had utterly ruined the place. This wicked punch felt like a blade cutting all the way to the bone for the elves!
With almost no hesitation, the elven higher-ups consulted their gods and sent out this powerful squad to ambush and hunt down these evil adepts.
The God of Luck Visenna had specially conducted several divination ceremonies to get ahold of their locations. Finally, the elves figured out the ultimate goal of these evil adepts and the purpose of their trip to Garan.
To think…to think it was all for a low-grade pseudo-artifact crafted by the fallen human God of Divination, Pantheon– the Staff of Divination.
Pantheon originally crafted this Staff of Divination for his descendants. To accommodate the strength of his descendants, the materials of this Staff of Divination had been downgraded, again and again, until it was at the level where even a Second Grade child of a god could use it.
Unfortunately, this Pantheon had fallen during the last invasion of the continent.
His son had also died tragically upon Garan.
This Staff of Divination came into the possession of the fighters of Garan.
Of course, God of Luck Visenna couldn't possibly desire a pseudo-artifact as weak as this. Meanwhile, the other elven diviners couldn't beat a Second Grade green dragon to claim it for themselves.
After many twists and turns, the Staff of Divination finally became part of Ohgu's extensive collection.
The elven leaders immediately set up this trap after realizing the goal of these witches.
On the one hand, they pretended to send Green Dragon Ohgu to the frontlines. On the other, they gathered a group of elven powerhouses around his den, preparing to cut off and trap the enemy once they had entered deep into the cave.
To avoid alarming the witches, the higher-ups did not move the elven armies at all. Moreover, a divine emblem of Visenna's was hung up within this cave.
They did not need to worry that the Fate Witches would be able to sense the abnormality surrounding the dragon den this way!