The nearly fifty-meter-long three-headed dragon spread its enormous wings, blotting out the sky as it flew over Temple Mount, the Kidron Valley, and the Mount of Olives, then resumed circling Jerusalem's walls.
Standing atop its head, the Crusader King remained utterly still amid the dragon's undulating flight, like a holy icon within a shrine.
A sacred golden radiance coiled around his body. From afar, he looked like a tiny sun. Even the fearsome, savage dragon, its eyes filled with brutality, seemed to gain a trace of compassion beneath that golden glow.
The dragon circled the city more than ten times before finally descending slowly onto Jerusalem's walls.
Its three heads rose high, and the cold, emotionless vertical pupils in their sunken eye sockets swept across these tiny lives.
Watching this scene, the city guards felt their hearts skip a beat, afraid that the long-neglected walls would collapse beneath this colossal creature's weight.
"Good day, Your Majesty!"
"God bless you."
The guards had originally been quite eager, hoping to make an impression before such an important figure. But when this enormous beast truly landed beside them, they could barely even speak properly.
Now, even one of Ladon's heads was as large as a house, while its tail resembled a battering ram. The impact of such a terrestrial behemoth was far more overwhelming than that of those sea monsters.
"Gentlemen, open the gates and welcome my soldiers into the city."
Lothar lightly patted Ladon's head. The unruly Fire Dragon Head immediately lowered its head obediently to the ground. Soldiers standing nearby could clearly see the yellow sulfurous smoke billowing from the dragon's nostrils, as well as the grim, curved fangs between its lips.
Viscous dragon saliva dripped onto the ground, instantly corroding pits into the bricks and stones.
Yet this very beast