Rumble, rumble...
There was a continuous, dull roar coming from the underground, like something moving through the rock formations.
The ground began to shake, not the kind of violent shaking that made people unsteady, but the kind of continuous and subtle shaking, like something moving slowly under the feet.
The gravel was shaking, the soil was rolling, and the rocks on the edge of the pothole began to slide down, making a clattering sound.
Then, a purple, huge claw covered with stone scales and crystals stretched out from the side wall of the pit.
Not from the bottom of the pit, but from the side walls of the pit - about ten meters above the ground, the rocks were turned outwards like peeled orange peels, revealing the fresh, deeper and darker rock formations below. The claw was clasped on the pit wall, and the tip of the claw was embedded in the rock, and he pushed hard.
Click, click, crackle - the sound of cracking rocks was as dense as firecrackers. Valeria squeezed out of the pit wall, like a snake waking up from hibernation and eager to come out for air. Its body was pulled out of the rock layer bit by bit, and gravel and soil fell from it.
The left wing still has not fully recovered, only a small section, but most of the left forelimb has grown back. Although it is not as strong as the right forelimb, it is enough to support the body.
It jumped down from the pit wall and landed on the ground, making a dull, heavy sound like rocks hitting rocks.
Valeria stood there, his huge body bowed slightly, his head drooped, his four eyes staring at the ground, not looking at King Ghidorah.
"It seems... like a shield machine." King Ghidorah's head in the middle tilted, and an impenetrable look flashed through his golden vertical pupils, which Valeria couldn't understand.
The three heads looked at Valeria one after another, from head to tail, from wings to tail, paused for a moment at the incomplete left wing, and then moved away.
"Are you ready?"
Valeria was silent for a moment. Are you okay? Its core energy has not been fully restored, its left wing is still missing a large section, and although its left forelimb has grown back, it is not strong enough.
The rune circuits in the body had several minor misalignments during this serious injury and rapid repair, and they need to be slowly calibrated in the next time. But if King Ghidorah is asking "can it move", "can it fly", "can it work", then the answer is - yes.
[Okay.]Valeria answered.
[The great and kind King of the Monsters... Thank you for your patience.] Valeria's voice is much smoother than before - not "restored" smoothness, but learned a new way of speaking.
Two streams of warm air came out of King Ghidorah's nostrils. He looked Valeria up and down, "I need you to do something."
[Please tell me.]
"Go find a palace." King Ghidorah's tone was as casual as saying, "Go to the vegetable market and buy two green onions." "I'll live there."
Valeria was silent for several seconds. Look for the palace. For this era, there are not many palaces left. Most of the palaces in the Age of Gods were destroyed in War of the Gods, and the remaining parts have become ruins after tens of thousands of years of wind and rain erosion.
There are still many human palaces, but the human palaces are too small. King Ghidorah can't even fit a foot in. The dwarves' dungeon is too short, the elves' tree city is too brittle, and the two-headed dragon's palace...
Valeria remembered a few places. When it was not separated from the main body, when it was still part of the main body and had no independent consciousness, the main body once owned many palaces across the entire continent.
Those palaces are not for showing off, but because the body needs multiple energy extraction points to maintain strength. Those palaces are distributed in different areas, some deep in the mountains, some on the edge of the crater, and some on the seabed.
After War of the Gods, most of those palaces were destroyed, but perhaps one or two remained, buried deep underground, covered by rock and soil, buried by time and forgetfulness.
If those palaces are still there, if they can still be used, they should be the places on the entire continent that best meet the requirements of King Ghidorah.
[Yes.] Valeria said. It went through the directions of those palaces in its mind. It has been sleeping for too long, and some memories have been blurred. It needs time to recall.
"By the way, you have a colleague." King Ghidorah's voice came from behind it, "My name is Voraksa."
Valeria's body stiffened suddenly. It was not the stiffness of "being startled", but the stiffness of "hearing a name that shouldn't be heard" - the whole body completely stopped moving at that moment.
Even the purple crystal light in the gaps between the scales stopped, like a statue that had been cast into stone. Its left eyeball slowly turned half a circle in its orbit, and its pupil contracted, then expanded, and then contracted.
[Voraksa?]Valeria's voice is very soft. King Ghidorah is not even sure whether it is asking itself or talking to itself.
Dragon of Destruction, Lord of the Old World, Silencer of the Gods. When those ancient gods mentioned this name, their tone of voice would unconsciously lower by half a degree.
When the ontology was making it, no detailed information about Voraksa was engraved into its core runes, only some fragmentary, vague information that seemed to be saying something that everyone should know.
War of the Gods, and God King, both suffered losses and were sealed. Since then, this name has never appeared in its world. It thought that Voraksa had died in War of the Gods, or was sealed in a place that could never be found, sleeping like itself, and then slowly forgotten by time.
But now, King Ghidorah said this name in a "just mention it" tone, as if he was talking about an unimportant person he just met today.
[... Okay.]Valeria didn't ask, didn't dare to ask. It just lowered its head, staring at the ground with its four eyes, looking at the tiny, shimmering purple crystals between its claws.
King Ghidorah said no more. Valeria knew that its time was up, so it turned around and flew towards the west.
It remembered the location of that palace, at the end of the mountain range, in the heart of an extinct volcano, one of the many palaces in the body.
That place was once the body's favorite residence, not because it had the most energy, but because it had the best scenery. Looking down from the edge of the volcano, one could see the ridgeline of the entire mountain range, like the spine of a sleeping dragon, winding from the earth to the sky.
Valeria doesn't know if it can find the palace, doesn't know if it can go in. But it has to try. Not because it wants to find the palace, but because it doesn't dare to go back and tell King Ghidorah--Your Majesty, I didn't find it.
As for the body... I'm sorry.
King Ghidorah stood on the ruins, watching Valeria's retreating back. Valeria walked forward alternately with the right forelimb that was still functioning normally and the left forelimb that had just grown but was not yet able to bear weight.
The hind limbs are thicker than the forelimbs, supporting most of the body weight. The tail drags behind it, leaving a deep, crooked mark on the ground.
Every once in a while, it will flap its somewhat broken right wing, not to fly, but to rely on the wind to lift its body, reduce the burden on its limbs, and go faster.
King Ghidorah's three heads watched the black-purple, bulky figure that looked like a walking stone building getting further and further away, disappearing at the end of the ruins and wasteland.
What should we do now? King Ghidorah started thinking.
The clone is gone. That sixth era limited edition high-tech top-level intelligent body that Apekus boasted about so much is gone as soon as it is gone, without even a after-sales phone number.
I would trust Apekus at most 30% from now on. King Ghidorah mentally lowered Apekus's credit rating from "barely credible" to "questionable".
The contract has been signed, and Valeria seems to be more reliable than Voraksa - at least he talks nice. Voraksa's Old Dragon hasn't even found a trace of the palace, although King Ghidorah doesn't expect him to find it.
It was originally a relic from ancient times, and its brain had been soaked by the long sleep, and it was hard to even recognize the road.
Well... look where that guy Voraksa is now.
King Ghidorah closed the eyes of the middle head and extended his perception outward. Not with sight or hearing, but with the kind of inexplicable signal that only Titan could sense each other, like a smell but not like a smell.
Not long after he traveled to this planet, he discovered that those ancient, powerful beings that exceeded a certain level would leave something similar to a mark on this land.
They didn't leave them deliberately, it's because their power is so powerful that just by existing, they will leave traces in the surrounding environment, just like walking in the snow will inevitably leave footprints. King Ghidorah can find those marks, and now he is looking for Voraksa's marks.
Found it. In a very far place. Deep in the continent, at the junction of mountains and plains... Voraksa's breath came from that direction. It was very clear, indicating that the guy should be in that place or nearby now.
What was he doing there? Did he find the palace? Or did he get lost and fly to a place he shouldn't have flown? King Ghidorah doesn't know and doesn't care. He only knows that there is a Old Dragon in that direction who owes him a palace.
King Ghidorah took back his perception and opened his eyes.
He no longer hesitated and flapped a pair of huge wings. The huge golden wings suddenly spread out on the ruins. The biological electricity wrapped around the wing bones suddenly burst out. Golden arcs jumped between the wing membranes, heating the surrounding air until it was distorted.
The black storm clouds regrouped around him. They did not gather slowly, but came from all directions the moment he flapped his wings, like thousands of troops who had been waiting there for a long time, just waiting for his order. Coerced by the storm, he rose into the sky and flew towards the depths of the continent.
Deep in the continent, Valerilus City.
The capital of the "empire" ruled by Red Dragon Emperor. This city was built on the plain at the foot of the mountains. The terrain is open, surrounded by mountains on three sides and a river on one side.
The city wall is made of red granite, which looks like a burning dragon entrenched on the ground in the sun. The city has dense buildings, criss-crossing streets, and a huge castle in the center.
The height of the castle even exceeds the city wall. If you look up from any corner of the city, you can see the flag with the red dragon emblem flying on the top of the castle.
Lufuna stood on the edge of the square outside the castle, bent over and panting. She moved a stack of books that were taller than her from the carriage and moved them to the door of the library on the wing of the castle. She had moved back and forth several times, and her arms were so sore that they felt like they were filled with lead.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked up at the huge castle in front of her. She had been here for a while, sorting documents in the library, copying ancient books in the archives, and working as an assistant in the scholar's workshop.
The work was complicated and tiring, but she was responsible for the food and had a small sheltered house to live in. In this era that was messed up by storms and wars, she was very satisfied to have food to eat, a place to live, and access to her favorite books.
Lufuna looked at the castle in the distance and was silent for a moment. Then she took a deep breath, bent down and picked up the last pile of books on the ground, and walked towards the door of the library.