Zong Shen watched the Flame Lord in her dragon form bare her fangs and claws with a teasing look.
Below, the Flame Lord, Alexstrasza · Song of Blazing Flame, also fixed her dragon eyes tightly on the figure at the edge of the fortress platform overhead.
But the distance was too great, and the light barrier blocked her view, so she could not make out his features.
Yet his casual posture as he leaned against the railing, along with his utterly emotionless words, were like icy needles piercing the pride of a legendary red dragon lord.
Even the hot wind stirred by her beating wings seemed to have frozen in place.
She could also sense the change in the gazes cast upon her by her retainers behind her.
Those gazes were filled with fear and confusion as they awaited her command.
But what command could she give?
Before this steel firmament that blotted out the sky, any order to charge or counterattack seemed utterly laughable.
Even her enormous dragon body had become insignificant beneath its shadow.
A low draconic growl rolled from her throat, a sound mixed with rage and alarm.
"Who... are you?"
The Flame Lord's voice shook the air through Draconic magic, attempting to pierce through the low hum and carry upward.
She forced herself to raise her head, maintaining the dignity of dragonkind.
But her tense muscles and slightly curled claws still exposed the unease in her heart.
"This fortress... it should not exist here!"
"This is a relic of the Slavian Red Empire! That empire was long ago devoured by the Eternal Frost Nightmare, its arrogance buried along with it deep beneath the icefields!"
There was an urgency in her words, as though she were trying to regain the upper hand through knowledge.
As if identifying