Destroyer of Ice and Fire Chapter 122

Destroyer of Ice and FireChapter 122: A dragon’s arrival

"They’re too irresponsible! They’re actually calling my brilliant handsome wargod self’s team a weeds-level team!"
Stingham’s face even went green. "Where are those guys from yesterday, I have to go and beat them up!"
Just at this moment, Ayrin shouted out loud, "Belo, don’t go!"
What made everyone suddenly sweat was, they clearly saw an impulsive glint shine beneath the quiet and gentle Belo’s glasses. He was already a dozen meters away from them. He was certainly thinking of finding Breith Trading Company and doing something.
"The drawing ceremony is going to start soon. Also, you first listen to me."
Ayrin pulled Belo back. The latter wasn’t batting an eye; there was no telling whatever he was planning. Ayrin nodded at the magazine and said, "In fact, the rating on it isn’t without any rhyme or reason."
"Our Holy Dawn Academy hasn’t been in the national tournament for close to ten years. Historically, our results are the worst among all the sixty-four teams. Also, in our team, there’s really no one who ever participated in the national tournament. Even Chris never participated in it. So there isn’t any relatively famous celebrity-level contestant in our team. Even if other teams don’t have celebrity-level fighters, at least they have some main members who already participated in the nationals before."
"It’s also great this way actually. It looks like Breith Magazine is truly very influential. Almost everyone has a copy in hand. Also, everyone trusts the data inside." Not only Ayrin wasn’t angry, he was even in high spirits instead. "This way, everyone thinks us a silly team that’s extremely weak. They think that we never saw the world, that we don’t know anything, that we only know to disregard our opponents. Then we might as well let our opponents think so. The more the opponents think we’re a dumb team, the less they’ll have an understanding of our strength. They won’t even look at us as an opponent. Their attention will be more channeled on the other opponents in the group. Then it’ll be easier for us to obtain victory."
"You’re right." Sophia’s eyes shone. "That said, the way they talk about you guys, I still can’t help but feel angry when I think about it."
"It’s no use even if we get angry. We can’t explain anything even if we beat up the people from Breith Trading Company. We just need a neat and efficient victory, it’ll be enough to state our strength. True brave warriors never fear being misunderstood!" Ayrin had the expression of one who didn’t admit defeat. "I don’t give a damn about whatever outstanding or monster team. When they’re in front of me, I’ll knock down all of them!"
"In that case, we might as well act a little stupid and ignorant." As soon as Moss heard, his depressed mood went away. He became happy instead. "Then these guys will fall for it even harder."
"Alright!" Stingham’s eyes were also shining. "How do I play the part?"
"No need for acting, you already very much look like it," several persons said in unison.
In the distance, done with the relevant procedures, Carter and Fran both shouted anxiously, "Hurry up and come over. We already settled the contestant certification ages ago, it’s our turn to go inside the arena. Why are you guys still dawdling here?"
…
The Hegemonical Cup of Starry Skies Academy Braves was the greatest competition in Eiche.
Also, it was responsible for the important task of teaching the youngsters in the whole kingdom about courage and conviction, of stimulating the growth of arcane masters, as well as selecting the future elite masters. That was why the tournament’s entire process was extremely formal and solemn.
The kingdom’s parliament and some important clan figures would all be in attendance.
Even the various teams made their entrance inside the arena in order, according to the area their city belonged to.
Team Holy Dawn and team Agate Lake entered the Arena of Fire and Blood one behind the other through a special passage. Only then did Ayrin, Moss, and the others notice that, though this arena was a crater-shaped arena, the field in the center of the arena was a square-shaped platform three to four hundred meters wide sticking upward.
This platform wasn’t even completely flat, but rather seemed like a mushroom. The four sides were slightly inclined downward. It made this tournament field look a little strange. At the same time, the stands on all four sides sat closer to the field. One could see even clearer everything happening on it.
The entire arena was a mixture of black and blood-red. This was the color left behind by the elemental tides in ages gone by. For some inexplicable reason, it radiated an atmosphere that made a man’s blood stir and surge.
All the school teams making their way into the arena followed a flight of stairs to the field, then lined up.
As more and more school teams made their way inside, as more and more school teams wearing different clothes surrounded them, Ayrin’s heart was increasingly filled with a feeling he never had before.
All of a sudden, Moss pulled strongly on Ayrin’s clothes, and said in a low voice, nervous, "Look, Rinsyi!"
"Hm?"
Ayrin immediately saw a team wearing golden clothes coming up the stairs. The magenta-haired boy walking at the front was precisely the forever haughty-looking, the one who seemed to be always looking down on others, Rinsyi.
"Their team Golden Stag has actually been evaluated as a monster-level team," Chris added in a soft voice just then.
"Monster team?"
Ayrin turned his head and looked at Chris’ magazine. He immediately saw that in team Golden Stag’s introduction, the reason that was written as to why they ranked as monster-level was: "Five outstanding-level celebrity fighters."
"They’re all like Rinsyi. What terrifying auras." Sweat emerged on Moss’ back despite himself. The four members following behind Rinsyi, and even the substitutes following behind them, all of them radiated auras that intuitively gave him a tremendous pressure.
Especially, when compared to the pressure he felt from Rinsyi and the four behind him, the strange pressure he’d previously felt from Stingham wasn’t even of a scale.
Rinsyi had also clearly noticed Ayrin, Moss, and the others. A cold smile suddenly filled his haughty face.
At this time, another school team entered the arena behind team Golden Stag.
This was a team wearing unadulterated black, the emblem of wolves and mountain ravines on their clothes.
As soon as they climbed on the field, they immediately started to chat with people from team Golden Stag. They even talked quite loud, their voices falling into Ayrin’s and the others’ ears.
"That’s the weeds-level team?"
"Even if you guys end up in the same group as them, it won’t be your turn to beat them even if you wanted to, except if you run into them in the first match."
"A team like that looks dumb and ignorant, why would your team Golden Stag need to do anything. We actually want to meet them though, we’ll help you guys teach them a good lesson."
"Chris, who the hell are those guys! So arrogant!" When he heard, Stingham’s nose almost bent from anger, especially when the members of that team didn’t care if they saw them. They directly pointed in their direction as if they were watching monkeys.
"The team from Mountain Kings Academy. They entered the top sixteen last year, this year they’re ranked as a strong team." Chris flipped through the magazine and said, "Their captain’s Werther, a star contestant, nicknamed the ‘Wild Battlemaster.’"
"Merely top sixteen, yet they’re so arrogant!" Stingham made a racket with his yelling. "It’s not like they’re some powerful team."
"It’s really a moronic team…"
"Top sixteen still isn’t powerful enough?"
"Did these guys come here to clown about?"
The teams around them immediately let out faint sneers.
Ayrin, Moss, Belo, and the others suddenly exchanged a glance. They looked at Stingham, thinking, this guy really doesn’t need any playacting to look very much like a moron.
"Plus, none of them are as handsome as me! What do they act so arrogant for!"
What made them even more speechless was, Stingham cussed again while fishing out a comb at the same time and combing his hair with a very natural air.
"Alright, the drawing ceremony is starting soon. Don’t be loud, or else referees will come here and give you a warning," Sophia reminded them.
All the sixty-four teams were already in place.
The royal stands and the important guest seats were also more or less all full.
The entire venue automatically become quieter. In the end, no voice could be heard.
First came a deep command.
All around, the honor guard moved together. Sixty-four school flags rose at the same time.
And just at the instant everyone lifted their eyes and looked at these school flags, a huge shadow suddenly shrouded the whole of the sky!
"What’s that!"
Almost everyone, Ayrin and the others included, stopped breathing in spite of themselves!
There was a tremendous feeling of pressure descending with this shadow.
A dragon!
A silent, cold wind seemed to arise inside the entire arena, blowing with it almost everyone’s heart.
Feeling a little numb all over, Ayrin saw it was a red dragon.
An enormous body, like a floating castle.
A pair of wings extended outward, as if covering the whole expanse of the sky.
Scales, shining with light that terrified a man’s heart and soul.
However, as if it felt such a sense of oppression wasn’t enough yet.
"Boom!"
This red dragon that was all at once malevolent, ferocious, awe-inspiring, and radiant with the aura of a king suddenly opened its mouth and sprayed out a blazing dragon breath.
A flame extending several hundred meters long took shape and swept through the air. There was no telling how far it flew before finally vanishing.
After spraying a dragon breath, this dragon that looked like a moving castle suddenly shrank in size and, wrapped in a halo of fiercely burning red light, it fell toward the royal stands.
No one could look straight at it.
When this light as bright as a scorching sun disappeared, everyone saw a handsome man wearing a high-necked gown appear in the stands, tall and slender, his hair red, looking very wise.
"It’s the lord chief adviser."
Just like many others, Sophia couldn’t stop herself from crying out softly in surprise.
"The lord chief adviser, who’s that?" Ayrin was filled with shock. "Is he the dragon from a moment ago? How can a man become a dragon?"
"That’s right, a high-level pure-blooded dragon. Just like Moss’ giant multi-sizing, he can take the form of either a dragon or a human," Sophia lowered her voice and explained. "The lord chief adviser, Angil, from House Targaryen. He’s a pure-blooded dragon."