Epic Of Ice Dragon: Reborn As An Ice Dragon With A System Chapter 2424: The Beginning Of The End [5]

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"Ugh! What is this?! The air is so thick here...! It’s... Eh?!"

Drake’s eyes widened as he took in the sight before him, leaving him utterly stunned.

A world underground.

The ceiling consisted of hard black stone covered in faintly glowing dark blue and gray crystals that provided dim illumination to this shadowy realm.

A gigantic cavern stretched almost endlessly in every direction, supported by enormous stone pillars that held up both the ceiling and the world itself.

Below, billions of Undead roamed—skeletons and bone beasts, zombies, ghosts, and specters of every kind.

Lakes of Nether spread across the ground, a ghostly green miasma-like fluid where countless souls drifted. Some screamed, others groaned, and most simply looked lost and sorrowful, silent.

"This is...! The Underworld?! Helheim...!"

Drake sensed the atmosphere was heavy and faintly toxic, similar to the Cursed Dimension but not quite as oppressive. The reason was clear: there was almost no Lifeforce anywhere. Instead, this world was saturated with Nether and Phantasmal Essence, which served as its very air.

That energy permeated every corner of Helheim, yet Drake was barely affected. He felt strange at first, but his body, having fully mastered the Death Dragon Bloodline, easily assimilated the surrounding energies and even recovered his internal reserves faster.

"Wele to Helheim, Drake! A world Yggdrasil has kept hidden—very well hidden—from all of us! Would you believe I was never allowed to enter during my first life? And now look! They forced my hand. I had to dig my own way in!"

"There’s a reason they never let you in!"

Drake charged at Oberon. The elf stood calmly, watching him approach with a serene smile. Drake’s dragon claws slashed downward, cleaving through space and even slowing time around his opponent while accelerating himself.

"{Primordial Dragon King’s Spacetime-Splitting Claws}!"

CLASH! CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!

Yet Oberon simply raised his arms and took every strike. Despite being far smaller than Drake’s colossal draconic form, he remained pletely unharmed—like an indestructible insect.

"Hmm! You are quite strong. A little too eager, though, aren’t you? We haven’t even reached the good part yet, Drake."

"Why are you talking to me like this?! We’ve been enemies this entire time! I’ve heard you scream in frustration every time I defeated you! Are you pretending to be calm now? Pretending to be friendly, you bastard?!"

"Hm? Ah, you mean my Split Souls? Yes, they were quite irritated by you. But they’re all gone now. Even the Greenwood one you knew—he’s part of me again. All of them are. Their knowledge, wisdom, memories, and powers flow through me. You actually helped me a great deal by destroying them. Otherwise, chasing down those independent fragments would have been rather annoying."

"What?!"

Drake was stunned.

He had helped him?!

What kind of nonsense was Oberon spouting?

Was this just coping after losing repeatedly?

Or...

Did he truly mean it?

Either way, it only fueled Drake’s rage further.

And then, through the smoke, he noticed Oberon’s arms were now covered in sharp, silver scales.

"Scales?!"

"Ah, these? Yes... Well, as you can see, I am your brother now—a fellow family member."

"No way...!"

Drake did feel it—a repulsive, undeniable connection, the same he felt with every pure-blooded dragon he had ever encountered.

But this made no sense! Oberon had been born an elf!

Even if he injected himself with dragon blood, he should never be recognized as a true dragon.

Or...

Had he found a way, with all his knowledge and resources?

"Yes! In fact, why don’t you see for yourself?!"

Oberon smiled and kicked Drake away. The Dragon King flew backward despite resisting every claw strike, vomiting blood as his internal organs ruptured in an instant—only to regenerate just as quickly.

"OBERON!"

Drake shot forward like a blazing meteor, every elemental aura exploding with all the power he could summon.

Yet...

BOOOM!

Oberon unleashed his own power. His Aura surged as the silhouette of a roaring dragon appeared, followed by a gigantic muscular humanoid. The two forms overlapped and then fused pletely.

"Wait, what?!"

Drake halted mid-charge. A tremendous shockwave of pure force struck him and pushed him back. Through the smoke, Oberon’s form transformed.

"I told you, didn’t I?"

Oberon was no longer merely a majestic male fairy.

He had grown to match Drake’s size—three hundred meters tall.

Muscular. Stronger than ever.

"I have achieved perfection..."

His body was covered in silver, white, and golden scales.

Four enormous draconic wings spread behind his back, acpanied by a long, powerful tail.

"And that means I have incorporated the DNA of the strongest beings in this world. And who could be stronger than the descendants of Yggdrasil’s two Primordial Children?"

Horns adorned his forehead. Sharp claws and dragon talons pleted the transformation.

"This has to be a sick joke..."

Oberon laughed, spreading his massive, scale-covered arms.

His aura radiated both the fiery elemental might of dragons and the raw, overwhelming strength of titans.

"Drake, you are not the only one who has bined Dragon and Titan Bloodlines! I actually succeeded long before you were even born."

Drake’s eyes twitched. His claws sharpened as he clenched his fists tightly.

"You bastard... what did you do to obtain those bloodlines?"

"Hah... What didn’t I do? Oh, it was quite the tedious process."

"Hah?"

"I lost count already."

"What?"

"Of how many I needed for it to finally work..."

"..."

"Hmm, perhaps... a hundred dragons? Maybe a dozen titans. Titans were much larger, so that helped."

"Y-You..."

"Oh, young dragons? Useless. You have to wait centuries for them to mature naturally without training or incentives. Very inconvenient."

Drake stared at Oberon. In his mind, he could almost see the screaming faces of dragons and titans being tortured, torn apart, and used as mere materials for Oberon’s twisted ambition all those years ago.

Rage boiled inside him until he felt he would explode.

And he did.

"OBERON!!!"

BOOOM!

Roots.

Drake saw roots spreading through his soul.

Each root connected to a dragon family.

Another set of roots, separate yet intertwined, led to the titans.

He had been tapping into dragon power this entire time.

But in his fury, he finally understood.

Just like Oberon.

Why couldn’t he use both at once from the beginning?

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