Chapter 83: Dragon’s Gift

"A gift?" I repeated incredulously. The black dragon nodded sagely.

"That's right," he affirmed. "We have a gift for you, your majesty. Treat it as a token of goodwill, and as an apology for causing you so much trouble."

"What sort of gift is it?" I asked warily, glancing at the others. They looked at me blankly. Even Silvia and Lindley didn't have a clue.

"I did hear that the dragons also tried to give the previous Demonic Emperor, his majesty, a gift," Silvia said and shook her head. "But something happened and he ended up not receiving it. So I have no idea what sort of gift it might be."

"Same here," Lindley added. "But I did hear that it has something to do with dragon magic or summoning magic. However, as Lady Silvia says, his majesty the previous Demonic Emperor failed to receive it, so I do not know anything more than that."

"Huh. Interesting."

The vampires knew nothing about this, especially since none of them was a Divine General. Perhaps Vincent Lucard might, but he was dead, slain by me. Whoops. Well, I didn't regret that. The fucker was trying to kill me, after all.

"For you to accept the gift, you'll have to accompany us to the Dragon Valley," the white dragon said.

Stella immediately jolted at that, her hand on the hilt of her sword. She stepped forward protectively and regarded the dragons suspiciously.

"This might be a trap."

"Actually, this was what happened with the previous Demonic Emperor, his majesty, so I don't believe it's a trap." Silvia was quick to refute that.

"That's right," the green dragon confirmed. "We swear upon our honor that this is not a trap. We have no intention of deceiving the new Demonic Emperor."

"Well, as you can probably guess, I'm a busy guy." I scratched my head. "So unless you elaborate on what kind of gift this is, I might have to put visiting the Dragon Valley on the backburner. If you don't mind."

"Ah, of course," the white dragon said with an understanding nod. She smiled. "But we think you will appreciate having this gift. It will come in useful when you continue to unify the Demonic Legions under your command and rule over the Demonic Empire."

"Oh?" Now that caught my interest. "What sort of gift is it?"

"We'll explain to you while we return to the Dragon Valley." The green dragon nodded toward the rest. "And you can bring your forces with you if you wish, but that might slow down the journey."

"What do you mean?" Stryker asked, narrowing his eyes.

"There are too many of you for us to transport to the Dragon Valley," the green dragon explained, not taking any offence at his tone. "If it's just a few of you, it'll be an easy task for us to ferry you to the valley in short order."

I immediately understood. Turning back to my allies, I nodded.

"Not all of us have to go. I'll just take a few guards with me. Who would like to volunteer?"

"Me." Stella was the first to step in, without any hesitation.

"I'll go too," Stryker said, a close second. Larson also raised his hand.

"You have my sword."

"I will go too," Silvia said. She shared a glance with Stella, an unspoken message passing between the two of them. "If any emergency arises, my magic will come in useful."

"I wish to go too, if you do not mind." Eleanor raised her hand. The blond strategist seemed to be pondering something, her eyes studying the dragons. She turned to me and smiled. "To b frank, I'm very curious as to what this gift entails."

"All right then." I nodded, making a headcount inside my mind. Turning to the rest, I bowed my head. "The rest of you should return to the castle. Claude, you're in charge. Take care of everyone."

"Please leave it to me," the count replied with a bow. He looked up, a little worried. "Please be careful, my lord."

"All right. We will." I glanced at the entourage who had volunteered for the trip. Stryker, Silvia and Larson. That was quite the powerful lineup. The dragons aside, there probably wasn't any demons within the Demonic Empire who could match their power. Add the loyalty of Stella and brilliance of Eleanor…

Yup. If anything went wrong, I could rely on these guys to pull my ass out of the fire. Of course, Eleanor was an unknown quantity, but she was a proven strategist. Unfortunately, that was also what made her dangerous. I still didn't know what she was scheming or where her loyalties lay. Then again, the same could be said for Lindley.

The lich lord, in particular, was curious.

"Please tell me more about this gift when you return," he told me, no doubt wanting to conduct some research. I smiled wryly and nodded noncommittedly. Speaking of which, I wondered why the previous Demonic Emperor, Viledoofus, didn't share the details of the gift with his Divine Generals. They were supposed to be his closest confidants, weren't they?

After Ragios was healed enough to be able to fly back to the Dragon Valley under his own power, we set off. Of course, Ragios hadn't fully recovered from the grievous wounds that I had dealt him. It was clear that he would still need to recuperate for a brief period of time in the Dragon Valley after his return. Well, he was the one who challenged me to a duel.

I learned that the green dragon's name was Jaden. The black dragon was Orwell and the white dragon's name was Whitney.

"We're supposed to have some elder dragon living inside the heart of the volcano, but he hasn't emerged in ages," Jaden told me. The dragon with jade scales had offered to give me a ride, so Stella and I had hopped onto him. Stryker and Larson were riding Orwell while Silvia and Eleanor were riding atop Whitney. Since Ragios was still injured, he was excused from having to ferry anyone.

"Oh. He must be very powerful."

"According to legends, he is," Jaden agreed. "But I've never seen him. He apparently went into isolation several centuries before I hatched. I don't even know if he's real."

"Wow." That was unreal. So even dragons had their own legends. Cool.

"So what is this gift?" Eleanor asked, refusing to be distracted. She was clearly fascinated by this new piece of information and was no doubt itching to factor it into her strategies. For a brilliant strategist such as her, knowledge was power and information was her lifeblood. Nothing was scarier than not knowing what your enemies – and allies – had hidden up their sleeves.

"Dragon magic." Whitney was the one who provided the answer this time. "It's a spell for non-dragons, usually reserved for the Demonic Emperor."

"So his majesty the previous Demonic Emperor learned this dragon magic as well?" Silvia asked curiously.

"Unfortunately, no." Orwell shook his head. "In order to learn this dragon spell, you will need to go through a trial. The previous Demonic Emperor undertook the trial…and failed."

There was a moment of silence as the humanoid demons stared at the dragons in disbelief.

"That's probably why he never told you guys what the gift was," Ragios said snidely. "He was too embarrassed to tell anyone that he had failed the trial."

Ouch. That was one reason I could relate to.

Silvia was burying her face in exasperation. Stryker's jaw was hanging agape from disbelief while Larson was completely dumbfounded. Eleanor was extremely amused and Stella looked as if she had no idea how she should feel about this. The red-haired knight settled for being indifferent because, quite frankly, she didn't care about the previous Demonic Emperor.

As for me, I was struggling not to laugh. At the same time, I felt sheepish because I knew I would have done the same. And would probably do the same once I failed the trial. Of course I was going to fail the trial. If the previous Demonic Emperor, who was stronger and more experienced than I was, failed, then what chances did I have of passing the trial?

"So what is this trial?" I asked, trying not to sound nervous. Perhaps I could increase my miniscule chances of success by gathering more information.

"I'm not sure. You have to pass through the Dragon's Teeth in our valley. What happens in the dimension in there, we have no idea."

That wasn't good. Well, at least Jaden provided some relevant information. The Dragon's Teeth sounded like a natural formation of rock that resembled, well…dragon's teeth. From what Jaden said, it appeared to be a gateway into another dimension.

"I'm guessing the previous Demonic Emperor passed through it as well?"

"Yeah. When he came out, he admitted that he failed."

Good. That meant that it wouldn't be a one-way trip. I was worried for a moment that if I entered this dimension, I wouldn't be able to return to my original world. From her expression, Stella looked as if she was concerned about the same thing. Actually, that was the reason why I asked the question in the first place.

"We are here," Orwell informed us. The flock of dragons swooped downward, past the clouds, and suddenly a vast mountain range came into view.

The jagged peaks were arranged in what appeared to be a circlet, a ring of uneven mountains, their cragged forms towering over a massive valley. Several of the mountains belched smoke, indicating that they were active volcanos. I suddenly recalled the elder dragon who supposedly isolated himself within one of those mountains. For cultivation, maybe.

Okay, I was being sarcastic. There was no cultivation shenanigans in this world. As if sitting around meditating and taking pills (basically doping) would turn you into an immortal. Like hell life would be so easy.

Then again, I became a vampire by drinking Vincent Lucard's blood, but given how much I suffered before and during the process, I doubted I could compare it to cultivation.

"That's the Dragon Valley," Jaden announced, bringing me back to reality. As we neared the valley, I could see lots of huge shapes scattered across the vast plains. Adjusting the vision on my enchanted lenses, I magnified the scene and saw that they were all dragons.

There had to be hundreds of them.

They paid no attention to us when we landed in the valley. A few of them raised their heads and glanced curiously in our direction, but they maintained a distance. Seeing that Ragios and the others were with us, they didn't get alarmed by our presence and left us alone.

"This way."

After my friends and I disembarked from the dragons, we began to make our way toward the rock formation at the foot of a particular mountain. As I suspected, the Dragon's Teeth resembled actual dragon's teeth, though the resemblance wasn't very literal. Like spikes, the relatively thin column of rocks curved and jutted out of the earth, varying in height and arrayed unevenly. Nonetheless, I could see a vortex of ethereal energy at the far end of the Dragon's Teeth, which took the place of where the surface of the foot of the mountain would otherwise be.

"So I go in there?" I asked. Ragios nodded.

"That's right. Anytime you're ready. Walk in there, take the trial, and then you'll be sent back here regardless of the result."

I swallowed and steeled my resolve. Taking a deep breath, I began making my way toward the Dragon's Teeth.

"Let's just get this done and over with." I turned toward the rest. "Please wait here. I'll be back."

"Are we not allowed to accompany Klein?" Stella asked. Ragios shook his head.

"Only the Demonic Emperor is allowed in the dimension. If the rest of you try to go inside, you'll be spit back out."

"Lovely," I muttered. Taking another deep breath, I glanced at the rest, fixing my gaze particularly on Stella. "Don't do anything reckless. Leave this to me and just wait here. I'll be fine."

"Good luck!" Stryker said cheerfully, having total faith that I would clear the trial. I wished I shared his confidence.

"Be careful," Silvia told me sternly. "Don't push yourself and do anything reckless."

"Well, what's the worst that can happen?" I pointed out while walking through the trail underneath the fang-shaped rocks. "If I fail the trial, I'll just end up being kicked out like the previous Demonic Emperor."

"Uh, actually…" Ragios cleared his throat sheepishly. "There is a chance that you might not survive the trial. I heard that it's pretty dangerous."

"What…? Why didn't you warn me about that before?!"

I never got to finish berating him because I was already halfway through the entrance to the other dimension. Before I could change my mind and run out, the outside world and my friends disappeared from view.

Then I was falling into what seemed like a bottomless abyss.