Chapter 377 The Well, Part 3/3

The world around the dragon morphed and changed as the liquified time dragged him into the whirling pit. Before he could even blink, he vanished from the dungeon and was thrown into the turbulent stream of time.

The colours and blurry silhouettes of humans and buildings appeared in his visions, only to vanish again, looking distorted like when watching something under the water.

There was no gravity which made him feel like he was floating in a thick viscous liquid.

Ding!

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Connection to the servers lost...

Attempting to reconnect...

Attempting to reconnect failed

Disconnecting from the servers...

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'No... This makes no sense. How can not even the system reach here?'

The mage's old voice, getting weaker with each word, resonated in the dragon's ears, "You have brought both death and opportunity to my doors. I will do the same. If you survive you will become stronger, but if you fail you will forever vanish into the stream of time. Hahaha!"

History moved before the dragon's eyes, slowly crawling back and forth.

'No wonder the system refused to copy time magic. It is a power that could mess even with it. I am sorry system I have wronged you.'

The dragon's huge body floated in the infinite expanse of the glowing liquid, with random images appearing and vanishing around him.

He raised his clawed hand, which looked just like a dark blur. It moved slowly, leaving behind its distorted afterimages. As it rose, it grew smaller with energy leaking out, making him feel weaker.

His claws quickly shrunk and his armor lost its beautiful shininess.

'Huh?'

With curiosity, he lowered his hand back down. It quickly swelled in size and power with each centimeter, all the energy that previously leaked getting sucked back inside.

'Huh?? This might really be an opportunity.'

Filled with greed for power the dragon lowered his hand deeper through the liquid. The long claws prolonged, and the armor gained a dark and glossy glint as his arm grew in size. The strength of his muscles swelled as they sucked in all energy.

"Ahhh!" Without any warning, a pain akin to anything he had felt before stabbed him in his arm as his muscles and energy deteriorated again. He felt like a human that aged by decades in one go.

The armor on his hand crumbled and cracked, exposing black scales that lost their vibrant black color and turned gray, beneath them.

With the reflex, he quickly raised his arm back into its original position, all the injuries reverting right before his eyes.

Vesuvius wasn't stupid and immediately connected all the dots: ' Any movement here is not moving through dimensions of space but through dimensions of time. Upwards, goes backward, and downwards goes forward? So what about other directions.'

The dragon tried to move to the side, but a powerful current of time immediately stopped him in his movement and pushed him back. The rebound force made him flinch as he staggered.

'Question is why I can't move downwards without backlash? Shouldn't I as a dragon be age...' He didn't even finish his thought as he remembered the energy that moved out and into his hand.

'When dragons age they absorb the natural elements and life energy from their surroundings to fuel their growth. However, there is none of it, all that is here is time. So when I move in the direction of the future my body likely tries to grow, but lacks the nutrients needed for it, basically damaging itself up in the process.'

The dragon helplessly stared at the time flowing around him as he felt lost and stranded like a sailor on an uninhabited island. He could move limitedly, but he was still trapped in the end, and moving out of the small boundary meant death.

However, a new hope lit up in his heart, 'Maybe space magic can help me. What if I forcibly teleport myself out?'

Mana flowed through the dragon's horns that lit up in bright light. Runes flew out and rotated around his horns, but the next moment they dissipated into the stream of time, washed away as ink dropped into a river.

'Nope, this is not over. Maybe I can enter my divine kingdom.' Vesuvius refused to give up as his mind searched for possible solutions.

The single gem embedded in the dragon's forehead shined, its rays passing through the waters of time. However, the overwhelming time elements immediately suppressed all the space elements. It was nothing but a single drop against an entire ocean, totally and utterly crushed and overwhelmed.

'Can I burn it with my divine energy? It must work! Otherwise...'

Vesuvius felt the fear slowly creep into his soul as his options quickly dwindled and time moved around him, spinning and rotating in unpredictable and chaotic currents.

One month later:

POV The Knight:

The battered form of the knight stood in the middle of vast scorched plains. The soil was burned and littered with craters, and the trees were uprooted and broken. The dead humans, kobolds, and horses rotted under the scorching mid-summer sun.

A kobold with a long, tattered cape and with glowing horns on his head saluted, "My lord, there are still no traces after His Majesty."

'It has been already more than a month, which isn't that long for an immortal dragon.' He could still feel the connection of blood with his master, which made him sure the dragon was alright.

His eyes moved from one dead soldier of his to another, 'This position is unsustainable. Should we retreat or bring reinforcement?'

It didn't matter how many they killed. The immortals and wind elementals kept repeatedly attacking without any respite.

'Even if the war draconids can scorch them to ash, the injuries are slowly piling over time and with each attack, enemies push closer and closer.'

He had an overwhelming individual power, but on the other hand, his enemies were numerous. Furthermore, more and more immortals joined the fray over time, all greedy for the loot.

"We must hold this position. His Majesty gave his order and we can't abandon it. Send a messenger back to the capital. We need more immortals here. We will push back enemies with their own weapons."

He shook his head, knowing the consequences of his order.

'The available elite portion of immortals that serve the dragon directly is already here. However, they are not enough.'

He wanted to avoid it, but it was now impossible. He had to release the indirectly serving immortals residing within the kingdom.

They were numerous, but the loyalty was questionable at best, 'This way we will have to allow them access to the dungeon to keep them motivated. That will not be cheap, but still better than letting enemies slowly drown us.'