Chapter 353: A Friendly Negotiation between Demi-Gods... Part-4.
Chapter 353: A Friendly Negotiation between Demi-Gods... Part-4.
Idri didn't want to turn this fight into an all-out death battle.
Although he can certainly win this battle easily if he goes all out, even he can't guarantee the lives of the ordinary folk in the dragon valley.
Even the weakest of the attacks from an SS ranker can slaughter millions of innocent people, and if Idri really pushed Neo to the point of life and death, Neo might cause a big ruckus that might affect the people.
This is Idri's home, and he doesn't want it to get destroyed from collateral damage; thus, he calmed down his anger and didn't continue the fight or ask an explanation for Neo's rude behavior.
This battle can be considered a casual spar for SS-rankers, as no one suffered any harm. Idri also used his world authority to heal the people who had gone blind from seeing those extremely bright attacks.
As there were no real casualties, Neo couldn't be punished for anything at all.
While Idri was still contemplating what to do, Neo was done healing his arm, and he shamelessly introduced himself formally, directly ignoring the fact that he was cursing at Idri just a while ago.
"Nice to meet you, Dragon King. I am Neo Aldif, a Summoner from the Human Empire..."
Idri scowled at Neo's remarks and voiced a complaint.
"Now you are introducing yourself? You are just as shameless as the rumors say about you... Forget it; tell me why you are here in the dragon valley?"
Neo nodded his head at Idri's words and replied in his usual shrewd tone.
"Haha, it's nothing major. In fact, I am not even on an official visit right now; it's more of a personal one... You see, my son has come here to the dragon valley, and I couldn't help but come too..."
"After all, dragons are not really close friends with the human race, so I was worried about my child..."
Idri frowned at Neo's words and said in a disapproving tone,
"The dragon race respects the strong; those kids are all talented and strong; there's no way we will plot and try to harm them..."
"Dragons abide by their promises, and the moment those children entered the dragon valley, they became guests of the dragon valley, and I had promised to protect the interests of the dragon valley when I took the throne..."
"Entertaining and protecting the guests is the duty of the dragon palace, you don't need to worry about their well-being... so, leave on your own before I kick you out-"
Before Idri could finish his sentence, Neo smirked and spoke.
"Well, the dragon king might already know, but let me remind you that I have a lot of clones... When I came to the dragon valley, I scattered them all around the place..."
"And I can make them self-destruct and cause massive damage... So please be more patient with me, Dragon King; I will leave with all of my clones once you are done with your Dragon Festival..."
Idri's expression turned cold at those words,
"I can easily expel all of your clones, along with you, out of the dragon valley, and then I will invalidate entry for you in the dragon valley by using my authority..."
As the dragon king, Idri has the power to choose who can enter or exit the dragon valley.
He can directly block entry for certain individuals as long as he has felt their 'Aura' even once.
And now that he has already sensed the aura of Neo's real body, it would be easy to block Neo from entering the dragon valley without any problem.
"Ah, you can certainly do that, but I have already made them very fragile; as long as you try to expel them, even the slightest bit of touch from Mana or any authority will cause them to self-destruct..."
"You might be able to expel most of them, but some might still cause casualties... Are you prepared to take this risk, Dragon King?"
Idri frowned at Neo's words and said with a sneer,
"Hmph, are you threatening me? Do you really think I will let you go back peacefully if even a single person in the dragon valley was killed because of you..."
Idri narrowed his eyes and spoke in a threatening tone.
"Fine, you can stay... But keep in mind, if even a single person died due to you, Dragon Valley will become your final resting ground..."
"Don't even bother escaping after that; I will chase you down to the depths of hell.... This is a warning."
Neo nodded his head at Idri, then flew into the sky.
"I will keep that in mind; don't worry, I will leave on my own when I am done playing around in the dragon valley..."
With that said, Neo headed towards the dragon palace without hesitation.
Idri kept staring at Neo's fading back, and the frown on his face remained for a long time.
'What does this shrewd fox even want to accomplish?'
No sane person will take the huge risk of provoking the dragon king just so they could get permission to wander around in the dragon valley.
That's just like trying to put your own hand in the mouth of a lion, continuously provoking the lion to try and kill you.
Idri has met many weirdos in his long lifespan, and he has seen many people who were not afraid of death.
But Neo is different; his motives are vague, and the way he does things is also very weird.
If Neo had peacefully talked things out with Idri, then things wouldn't have escalated to this
point.
Idri could have allowed Neo to stay in the dragon valley as a guest, but Neo didn't even bothered talking, he straight up started fighting him and things kept escalating further and further.
Moreover, now that Idri's vigilance has been increased to the max, a foreign SS-ranker who has ill intentions is roaming in the territory freely, so Idri will have to keep his vigilance high
for a while now.
'No matter what, this seems strange...'
Idri couldn't understand what Neo wanted to accomplish by going to such lengths.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
'Come to think of it, the informants did say that Ashtel has entered seclusion for the time being... Could it be that he's going around rampaging because right now there's no one to stop him in the human empire?'
Ashtel has the reputation of being an upright person who always stands with justice; just by existing, he stops many crimes from happening.
Criminals fear his existence and don't dare go overboard; even SS-rankers dare not go out of line due to his presence.
Idri is definitely not weaker than Ashtel, but he himself doesn't get involved with the rest of the world and is always in the dragon valley, so he isn't as famous as Ashtel is.
Ashtel is basically the strongest power in the world alliance, and the SS-rankers who dare to create problems for the alliance have to face him.
Thus, most SS-rankers dare not go overboard.
Even Neo cleared his past and stopped doing weird things after Ashtel took responsibility to
protect the empire in his own hands.
Sometimes people say that the alliance was not made to protect humans from demons but to
protect demons from Ashtel Rex.
'Regrettably, I believe my standing as a formidable individual has diminished in recent times. Perhaps I should invite Ashtel to have spar and establish my reputation back...'
'It would be troublesome if every other random guy like Neo forcefully dares to enter the dragon valley without even asking me...'
The threat a demi-god level individual can possess is just too high; even if the party merely flicked his finger a bit too hard, he could wipe out a city filled with millions of people. 'Forget it... Let's focus on what's important right now. I still need to guide Link in his training next...'
...
In the sky, above Dragon Palace.
'hmm, this place seems like a good starting point... The mana density is high, and the
conditions are just right...'
Neo, who was standing right above the dragon palace, had no interest in looking for his son.
He clearly didn't come here for Liam at all; he has other motives.
He brought out a strange-looking orb from his space ring and embedded some mana into it.
The orb started to shine with dark purple light, and various strange mana circles and patterns
appeared on it.
'Hmm... it isn't here... I guess I should follow the mana flow from here then... I will likely be able to find the clues if I find the main mana node...'
Neo didn't even bother to stay in the dragon palace to wait for Liam and the others and
headed in a certain direction to follow the flow of mana as shown by that strange orb.
The reason he fought with Idri instead of having a peaceful negotiation was because he wanted to have more freedom to wander around.
If he had peacefully agreed, then the dragon king would have likely put some strong tracking methods on him, but now that he has forced Idri to acknowledge his stay here, he can move
more freely.
'Although I forced him to accept my words, I still need to hurry up... Hmm, I guess I have at least two or three days at most to figure things out...'
'If I wander around too much after these three initial days, it will raise his suspicion, and things will get more problematic...'
'It would be better if I could find the 'traces' that I am looking for in this small time... Sigh. I
can't use my authority right now, or Idri will get alarmed. It would have been so much better if I had the legendary skill...'
'Liam, my boy, grow up fast. I will need your efforts to help me out in the future...'
...
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here!
The more time passes, the more suspicious Neo becomes; what is he even planning?
Question of the day:.
What do you think Neo is looking for?
(Tell me your thoughts in the comments)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones!!