As the distance closed, Rudeus got a clear look at her.
She was a woman with a shapely figure and pure black wings spread behind her. She wore a long white dress without a speck of dust on it.
A bizarre white bird-beak mask covered half her face, and she held an ancient staff set with an enormous black magic stone.
She hovered in midair, looking down at them from above.
The moment she spoke, her ethereal, icy voice seemed to drift down from the heavens, devoid of the slightest human emotion:
"Who are you? What business do you have trespassing upon the Chaos Breaker?"
Thank goodness. At last, someone normal he could talk to.
Rudeus immediately withdrew his mana and bowed slightly in greeting, then spoke up, making it all up as he went:
"I am Rudeus Greyrat, the [Primordial God]."
"These two are my companions-Eris Boreas Greyrat of House Boreas of the Asura Kingdom, and the Sword King Ghislaine Dedoldia, disciple of the Sword God Gal Farion."
He paused, his tone neither servile nor arrogant:
"We mean no harm. We have come only to behold the unparalleled splendor of the legendary Armored Dragon King."
The black-winged woman fell silent after hearing the introduction.
She lowered her head slightly, seemingly listening to a divine message from within the castle through some sort of mental secret art.
A moment later, she slowly raised her head, her tone easing slightly:
"Please, follow me."
With that, she turned gracefully to the side and motioned for the three of them to follow.
Though the immediate danger had passed, Ghislaine remained crouched, her beastly instincts keeping her eyes fixed on the empty space around them;
Eris, meanwhile, pressed her lips together and anxiously twisted the hem of Rudeus's clothes into a rope.
Next, they really were going to meet the legendary "Perugius."
He had thought this trip would be uneventful, but things had not gone according to plan.
Still, opportunity often came hand in hand with risk.
The Fortress of the Sky-one of the ultimate wonders of this world. At last, he would get to see it in its entirety with his own eyes.
"It's all right, Eris."
Rudeus turned and gave the girl behind him an utterly confident smile:
"I'm here. Leave everything to me."
Sunlight fell on him, highlighting his pearly white teeth, which seemed to gleam with a reassuring light.
Eris looked at my smile, and her wildly racing heart miraculously began to calm. The unease in her eyes gave way to blind trust.
After reassuring Eris, Rudeus quietly summoned the system panel.
In the "inventory" section, he decisively selected the expensive item he had exchanged for long ago but had never been willing to use-the [Dragon God Language Mastery Potion].
With a faint flash, a bottle of softly glowing potion appeared in his hand out of thin air.
He tipped his head back and drank it in one gulp. The spicy liquid, strangely sweet, slid down his throat, and countless memories of the complex, ancient language of the dragons flooded into my brain in an instant, flashing past like a montage.
"Rudeus, what did you just sneak a drink of?" Eris leaned closer, curious.
"Huh? Oh, that..." He wiped the corner of his mouth and laughed it off.
"Just a little sweet drink to soothe my throat. Come on, let's not keep our guide waiting."
The three followed the black-winged woman, flying toward the white castle suspended above the great rock.
"Uh... I haven't had the pleasure of hearing your name. Are you Lord Perugius's...?" Rudeus tried to strike up a friendly conversation.
"I am Sylvaril of the Void, one of the twelve familiars in my master's service."
"Oh, were you also awakened by Lord Perugius's summoning magic?"
"No." Sylvaril paused slightly in midair, and the voice beneath her mask carried an almost religious devotion:
"My master gave me life. Thus, I shall follow him to the end of eternity..."
"Then, before, you..."
"That's enough. We have arrived."
Sylvaril coolly cut Rudeus's prying short.
He abruptly came back to his senses and realized he was already standing at the entrance to the audience hall.
He had been too busy admiring Sylvaril's graceful, swaying figure from behind.
Only now did he clearly see the scene before him, and an indescribable shock washed over him like a tidal wave.
At the entrance to the hall stood two massive doors of pure silver, weighing more than ten thousand jin.
Two lifelike dragons, each clasping the other's tail in its jaws, were exquisitely carved into the doors.
Enormous blood-red gems were set where their eyes should have been, looking down coldly and majestically upon every mortal who entered.
Beyond the doors lay a grand hall that surpassed the limits of human imagination.
The ceiling was so high it induced a powerful sense of vertigo. Dozens of white marble pillars, as thick as ancient trees a thousand years old, soared upward, each entwined with exquisitely carved dragon reliefs.
From where he stood, the far end of the hall vanished into a faint mist and sacred glimmer, its depths impossible to see.
The air was filled with an ancient, timeworn, and intensely oppressive presence, carrying the distinctive mingled scent of dragon scales and high-purity mana crystals.
"Hiss-"
Even Rudeus, who had thoroughly prepared himself, could not help drawing a sharp breath. His palms were slick with cold sweat.
Eris, usually so arrogant and overbearing in the outside world, afraid of nothing, was now as docile as a tiny kitten, sticking close behind Rudeus with every step.
But judging by how tightly she clutched the hem of his clothes, the shock and fear in Eris's heart had reached their limit.
A deep crimson velvet carpet ran from the doors straight to the throne, its edges embroidered with intricate Dragon God emblems in pure gold thread.
It was soft underfoot and made no sound at all, which only made one feel a little uneasy.
In the very center of the hall hung a gigantic magic crystal chandelier that could only be called miraculous.
Hundreds of brilliantly colored, top-grade mana crystals were arranged at varying heights, giving off a soft yet dazzling light that illuminated the interior of the dark castle like a midsummer day.
The walls on either side were covered with ancient banners and trophies from all over the world.
The golden lion of the Asura Kingdom, the holy cross of the Holy Country of Millis, and, at the very top, the special emblems representing the supreme glory of the Five Dragon Generals...
Every one of them spoke of the epic battles in which the castle's master had once taken part.
At the very end of the hall, high above everything else, stood a massive throne carved from a single piece of obsidian.
And seated upright upon it was the man who controlled the course of this world's history-
Perugius, the Armored Dragon King.
Almanfi the Bright stood guard to the left of the throne like a golden statue.
The other eleven familiars stood in two rows on either side of the crimson carpet.
With five or six on each side, they formed an intimidating semicircle, firmly enclosing us uninvited "visitors" in the center.
All the familiars wore pure white robes of varying cuts.
Most unsettling of all were the bizarre masks on their faces-
Some were as fearsome as demons, some mechanical as clockwork, and some even resembled overturned silver buckets, without a trace of life.
Sylvaril walked gracefully up the steps and silently took her place to the right of the throne.
At that moment, all was silent.
The man on the throne leaned forward slightly, those deep eyes of his seeming to have seen through a thousand years of history.
They fixed on me from above, filled with supreme authority and the coldness of scrutiny.
A battle of words that would decide fate had officially begun...