Ethereal Entry

After eating and drinking his fill and fully recovering, Keosius returned to the heavy stone door.

Instead of pushing it open, he cast:

Bear's Endurance

Cat's Grace

Owl's Wisdom

Bear's Endurance made his physique hardier, Cat's Grace made his movements more agile, and Owl's Wisdom sharpened his senses. The Red Dragon received an all-around enhancement.

Even after casting the set of spells jokingly called the "Zoo Series" on himself, Keosius was still somewhat uneasy. This was, after all, a legacy left behind by a legendary druid. Who knew what contingencies it might contain?

Gilded Shell

The golden elements accumulated within his body gathered across the Red Dragon's surface, turning his scales a metallic golden yellow. If one did not look closely, one might even mistake him for a Golden Dragon.

Protection from Lightning Damage

With Keosius's soft roar, an invisible field gradually formed over his body, shielding him from lightning attacks.

"After all, it was a spellcasting class."

"How could I not pull some monkey business?"

After that entire routine, Keosius lowered his head and looked at the spell radiance covering his body. Only then did he feel much more at ease, finally gaining a little confidence.

The Red Dragon stared at the stone door before him, drew a deep breath, then took a firm step forward.

Knock

Arcane light flashed over his claws as they touched the stone door.

"Boom..."

With a loud knock, the heavy stone door let out a deep rumble and slowly rose.

The view before him suddenly opened up.

What he saw left even the Red Dragon shaken.

It was a vast, open space, large enough to hold nearly an entire mountain.

Yet there was only a narrow stone bridge suspended ahead, while all the other ground had sunk dozens of meters below.

The cliff walls were smooth and sheer, as though they had been sliced from top to bottom by a sharp blade.

Looking down from the stone bridge beneath the illumination of the eternal dim-blue flame lamps, he could see all kinds of debris piled across the underground floor: shattered giant statues, the broken walls and remnants of magnificent buildings, illegible inscriptions, old broken weapons of every kind, and the enormous bones of giants. Looking upward, he saw murals covering the distant vault. They were not exquisite, but they brimmed with a primal sense of power.

He could see the ancient war between giants and dragons; the once-glorious territory of the Giant Empire; the majestic figures of the giant gods; and the tragic scene of the empire's fall. This was no mural. It was clearly a history book.

"So this was the Giant Empire heritage he collected."

Keosius marveled as he carefully made his way across the stone bridge.

His Wings spread slightly, his footsteps softened, and he remained alert to his surroundings, ready for danger that could come at any time.

The Red Dragon looked toward the end of the stone bridge.

There stood a throne.

It too was made of stone, over twenty meters tall.

It bore no excessive decorations, only ancient and mysterious patterns carved across its surface.

And seated upon it was the corpse of a Storm Giant, long devoid of life. Its purple-gray skin was covered in a thick layer of dust, as though it had slumbered here for countless millennia, silently watching the visitor's arrival.

Yet for some reason, it had not decayed into bones.

"The last Storm Giant prophet..."

"So this was Landeta?"

The Red Dragon was quite curious about this Storm Giant.

He did not know how Landeta had created such a magnificent tomb through his own power alone, but this spectacle was enough to show how formidable he had been in life.

Keosius continued along the stone bridge until he was several dozen meters from the corpse.

Then, in an instant, something changed.

One of the giant's eyes suddenly opened!

That eye contained an endless storm, as though it were glaring furiously at the insolent visitor! Unknown crystals all around flickered incessantly, filled with violent and abundant elemental energy.

And those violent elements began to gather rapidly.

"Not good!"

Keosius felt an incomparably terrifying surge of magical power suddenly spread outward.

"This power..."

The Red Dragon raised his head slightly.

He saw a roiling, churning mass of dark clouds centered on the giant's corpse, spreading and multiplying with near-madness. Like a terrifying beast that devoured people, it was about to swallow everything within the cavern.

It was filled with flashing lightning, rumbling thunder, and howling winds.

Vengeful Storm!

Thunder boomed!

It was a primal roar from ancient times.

Boom!

The aftershock of that thunder alone shattered rocks across the cavern ceiling, sending them crashing down one after another.

"Bzzzz—"

The roar also made Keosius's ears ring without end, as though someone had struck them with a Great Hammer. For a time, he was rendered deaf.

The dark clouds spread rapidly as well, about to swallow him.

Seeing that the situation was dire, the Red Dragon ignored his headache and ringing ears, enduring the damage from the thunder as he cast a spell.

Instantaneous Blink!

As Keosius worked the spell with his will, he prayed inwardly that it would succeed. The "destruction" brought by this druid had already far exceeded his expectations.

After all, Blink only had a fifty-percent chance of prying open the barrier of the Prime Material Plane and successfully entering the Ethereal Plane. If it went the other way, he could only endure this frenzied storm head-on.

It worked!

The Red Dragon was overjoyed. He abruptly felt his body break through the boundary between reality and nothingness.

[You cast Blink]
[You gained the special status "Ethereal Entry"]

The Ethereal Plane was a passage connecting the Prime Material Plane and the Inner Plane. Every part of the Prime Material Plane was touched by the emptiness of the Ethereal Plane. The two were like parallel planes that touched but did not overlap, allowing people to see the scenery within adjacent planes.

And he was now at the edge of the plane.

In an instant, everything before Keosius turned black and white, and chaotic lines filled his vision.

His body was in a disabled state, unable to move freely. He could only float quietly within this void.

The next moment, he saw the place where he had been swallowed beneath the frenzied dark clouds.

First came a torrential Acid Rain from the clouds, corroding countless pits into the stone bridge.

Then hail poured down from the cloud mass, the chunks striking the stone surface with crisp cracks.

Bolt after bolt of immensely powerful lightning fell from above, blasting several-meter-deep craters into the stone and creating a terrifying lightning storm that instantly swept over where the Red Dragon had just stood.

For a time, lightning filled the air and thunderlight covered the sky.

The crisscrossing lightning formed a terrifying prison of thunder, incinerating everything that strayed into it into ash.

Boom!

Boom! Boom!

Several bolts of lightning came down and directly blew apart the stone bridge, sending the heavy boulders crashing down. If lightning like that struck the Red Dragon, he would likely find it difficult to survive.

Endless gales and icy rain battered the area beneath the clouds, turning this place into complete Ruins.

In Keosius's eyes, the once-grand tomb had already become a black-and-white graveyard for all living things.

Having avoided that terrifying wave of storm in the Ethereal Plane through Blink, Keosius was left shaken with lingering fear.

If the Red Dragon had remained where he was just now, even Protection from Energy Damage would not have been able to withstand that violent lightning and endless icy rain.

"This is..."

Keosius felt a powerful pull trying to drag him back into the Prime Material Plane, repairing the breach in the planar barrier.

Though he resisted desperately, it was useless. Keosius was still far too weak, utterly unable to contend against the laws of the planes. He could only let them do as they pleased.

[You lost the special status "Ethereal Entry"]

The Red Dragon reappeared in the same spot and was immediately dumbfounded.

"Fuck me—"

At once, the elements stirred again.

Endless gales and icy rain lashed his body, while the flashing arcs on the ground immediately gathered and surged toward his Limbs.

And within the rolling dark clouds overhead, terrifying lightning began to build once more. The sound was like a deep, long-suppressed roar.

The most terrifying wave of spells had already passed, and these were merely its lingering aftershocks.