Chapter 116 Prepare!

A chill suddenly rose in the air!

Grinning, Vetter subtly shifted his position so that he faced Antawana as directly as possible, yet his mouth uttered, "Great work!"

At these words, Antawana rolled her eyes but refrained from saying anything else. As a mighty dragon, she found it dishonorable to resort to such tactics just to fend off her enemy!

"So, is that it?" she inquired.

"Whether it's truly over, we can't say for sure. It depends on whether it bears a grudge. If it does, it might linger nearby, awaiting our exit. The woods here are too dense; with its size, it can't fully exert its strength," Vetter replied.

After a brief pause, he continued, "Uh... it might hold a grudge, after all, I blinded one of its eyes, and you..."

"So what should we do now?" Antawana hastily interrupted.

Vetter didn't pursue the topic further and instead turned his head to survey the surroundings.

"It just so happens that we need a place to land; the environment here is ideal. The noise from the earlier battle was quite loud, yet no other dragon beasts approached, suggesting that the nearby dragon beasts aren't very powerful. It's not near the Moon Shadow River, but it's also not too far for the floodwaters to reach. Furthermore, I've discovered something," he said.

Antawana looked at Vetter with suspicion.

"Something?" she asked.

Vetter pointed downwards. Seeing Antawana still looking at him with confusion, he extended his tail and swept it over the ground. They were standing precisely where the Elgin Dragon Beast had once stood. The beast's enormous, sharp claws had loosened the soil significantly. With a gentle sweep, Vetter revealed what lay beneath.

"I noticed earlier that the claws of that Aiel-class Dragon Beast didn't sink deep into the ground but were stopped by something! It seems to be this!"

Upon seeing the grayish-white, stone-like object, a flicker of surprise appeared in Antawana's eyes.

"Bones!" she exclaimed.

Vetter nodded and prodded the ground with his claws, but it left no mark.

"A very tough bone. I'm not sure if it's from a dragon or a dragon beast, but it must be big," he said.

Antawana gave Vetter an odd glance.

"Do you like collecting bones?" she asked.

Vetter hesitated for a moment, then shook his head with a mixture of laughter and embarrassment.

"How could that be? I have no interest in bones. However, I'm quite intrigued by its crystal core. If it's a dragon crystal, it can be preserved for an eternity!"

"..."

"So huge!" Antawana exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise.

Vetter was also taken aback. He hadn't expected the bone to be so massive once fully uncovered. It was a piece of tail vertebrae, and the smallest bone spur on it was longer than Antawana's entire tail—and this was just a segment of the tail.

After a quick calculation, Vetter was horrified to realize that the creature's body length might have exceeded a thousand meters. But that wasn't the main point. The crucial part was that as Vetter tried to unearth the entire tail vertebrae, he discovered that the upper and lower sections were intricately connected.

A normal dragon's tail doesn't look like this. Vetter had seen a dragon's tail stripped of flesh and blood in Bocco's lab, and there was cartilage between each tail vertebra, allowing for flexibility.

"Antawana, I think I've uncovered a giant!" Vetter said.

Antawana looked puzzled after hearing his words.

Vetter pointed at the unique structure between the two tail vertebrae and explained, "Typically, tail vertebrae aren't connected like this. There are only two types of giant dragons with this structure: the Bone Dragon and the Undead Dragon. While Undead Dragons have bony bumps on their bodies as scale armor, Bone Dragons have no such armor. Unsurprisingly, we've uncovered a Bone Dragon!"

Saying this, Vetter glanced at the enormous tail vertebrae and added, "An extremely powerful Bone Dragon, likely an ancient one, an Ancient One!"

Antawana sniffed and fell silent for a moment before whispering, "You're not kidding!"

Vetter chuckled bitterly.

"That's a joke I wouldn't dare make. In the wild, an adult dragon's attitude towards a younger one depends entirely on the latter's character and mood. Do you think I'd risk it? But..."

Here, Vetter stared at the tailbone beneath him and continued, "The creature hasn't moved till now, so it might have fallen into a deep sleep. Of course, there's also the possibility that its soul fire has extinguished."

At these words, Antawana's face changed as she looked at Vetter's contemplative expression.

"You can't be planning to stay here!" she exclaimed. She had already intended to leave upon realizing the bone belonged to a Bone Dragon.

Vetter hesitated for a moment and then nodded.

"Whether it fell or entered a deep sleep, it's good news for us. It means we don't have to risk leaving. Moreover, if we can find the location of its head, our safety can be somewhat guaranteed," he said.

Antawana was startled.

"You're crazy!" she exclaimed.

However, Vetter laughed and said, "You don't understand what a dragon in deep sleep is like. Don't worry; it won't wake up!"

Saying this, Vetter's eyes dimmed slightly. If Desiderio had awoken at that time, he wouldn't have been left behind. The activities of a dragon's nest, coupled with two external wars, hadn't awakened Desiderio. Just the two of them, not even mentioning living here, even fighting inside someone's eye sockets, they couldn't even wake each other up.

Vetter wasn't sure what significance deep sleep held for these ancient beings, but he knew that once they fell into a deep slumber, they often didn't awaken easily. Furthermore, this Bone Dragon might not even be alive.

Antawana gave Vetter a penetrating look and then nodded.

"I'll trust you!" she said.

At these words, Vetter chuckled.

"Good. Then let's split up to find the dragon's head. Judging from the direction of the tail vertebrae, the dragon's head is likely in the south or north. We'll each take a direction, and when we sense an unusual aura, we'll spit into the sky. The elemental fluctuations produced by the spit can travel far. Also, don't fly above the forest floor. The Elgin Dragon Beast might still be lurking nearby, especially after what you did to it!"

Antawana rolled her eyes dismissively.

"It's water under the bridge now, so let's not dwell on it!" she snapped, spinning around and darting off towards the south.

After watching Antawana depart, Vetter quickly covered the exposed tailbone beneath him once more. He cast a quick glance around at the towering forest trees encircling him.

"If you've been slumbering, just how long have you been asleep?" he muttered under his breath before taking off towards the north.

Granted, the dragon's head was positioned higher than its tail, but it wasn't the valley's peak either. Of course, using height alone as a gauge was too simplistic. What truly pinpointed the dragon's head was the immense pressure it emanated. This pressure remained unshaken even if the bone dragon's soul fire flickered out. And this formidable pressure was precisely the safeguard Vetter had mentioned.

The more formidable the dragon beast, the more acutely it sensed this pressure, shying away from its source.

Time trickled by as the search continued. As Vetter had predicted, the Moonshadow River's devastating flood hadn't touched this side at all.

"Looks like it's not this way," Vetter sighed, glancing at the sparse forest ahead.

Further ahead lay the valley's exit. Suddenly, a flicker of unease gripped Vetter's heart. Instinctively, he twisted his body and darted to the side. When he glanced back, a deep chop mark scarred the spot where he had stood. Looking up, he saw a colossal black silhouette swinging past.

"Tsk, as expected, this guy won't quit easily," he muttered.

Indeed, this sudden onslaught was the handiwork of the Elgin Dragon Beast once again. Just then, an elemental disturbance echoed from afar.

Vetter cast a piercing gaze at the Elgin Dragon Beast hovering in the sky before shooting off towards the source of the disturbance. He was determined; this Elgin Dragon Beast had to be vanquished at any cost. Otherwise, they'd never escape this valley.

As Vetter scoured for the dragon's head, he encountered few dragon beasts along the way. This meant they'd have to venture outside the valley to hunt.

Moments later, Vetter caught sight of Antawana. Upon seeing him arrive, Antawana turned her head.

"This place gives me the creeps!" she exclaimed.

Upon reaching her, Vetter's tense expression couldn't help but ease.

"Tell me about it!" he agreed, sensing the oppressive pressure around them. A fleeting trance crossed his eyes, but he quickly snapped out of it and began surveying their surroundings.