Chapter 707 — Greed

Contrary to what one would expect, following Hermes’ ascension to Demigod, the Mortal Plane remained strangely calm.

All races maintained a state of harmony, as though preparing for something far greater.

It was only several years later that war finally broke out.

Surprisingly, it was not initiated by the races that were enemies of humanity, but by humanity itself.

Within a few years, the entire Mortal Plane had been engulfed in the flames of war.

Under such a condition, time quickly passed.

--

"Roar!"

In a devastated valley, a mournful cry full of pain and resentment rang out.

Hundreds of human Mages and Warriors surrounded an enormous Dragon. Spells and various abilities were continuously cast, causing wounds to gradually accumulate on its body.

Its blood turned into rivers. Each scale that fell caused the entire valley to shake.

Cries and calls for help constantly rang out.

It was only several days later that everything finally stopped.

The earth shook more violently than ever before.

The Dragon... had collapsed to the ground!

Dead! Lifeless!

Although hundreds of humans had perished to achieve this result, all apex beings among humanity, Hermes was still filled with satisfaction.

This was the third Dragon they had slain over the years.

As long as he was able to extract its bloodline, he would be able to add another powerhouse to the human race. The sacrifice of weaker humans was absolutely worth it!

Dragons that descended into the Mortal Plane were all Rank 10 creatures, after all.

"As long as we kill enough of them and graft their bloodlines into our Warriors, we should be able to give birth to more and more powerhouses."

"It’s only a matter of time before we surpass all the other races! The war will soon be over!"

"Humanity will emerge victorious!"

Hermes burst with excitement at that thought.

It had been hundreds of years since his advancement to a Demigod and his meeting with the Witness.

Since then, he had been working hard to find a way to break the deadlock.

Finally, after studying the skeleton he had received as a gift, he came to a solution:

To hunt down Dragons and plunder their divine bloodlines!

This was a crazy thought for other people. Dragons were divine creatures akin to Gods in the minds of most beings.

Yet Hermes did not merely dare to think of hunting them down. He had actually put that thought into action.

Although he only dared to do it secretly, afraid of facing the Dragon Race’s wrath, it was only a matter of time before he dared to do so openly.

"Collect the corpse! Erase all evidence of the battle!"

"Disable the concealment array in the valley!"

Order after order was passed down from his mouth. The human Warriors and Mages did as they were told.

Soon, every trace of the battle that had lasted several days had vanished.

With practiced movements, the humans hurriedly left the valley.

No one knew that only moments after their departure, the space above the valley suddenly shattered.

An enormous dragon head peeked out from the spatial opening, its ruthless eyes staring down at the valley. The pupils inside flashed crimson, full of hatred and resentment.

Scenes flashed in them.

Moments later, the dragon witnessed its own descendant being torn apart and collected as spoils of war.

"Humanity!" A thunderous cry came out of its mouth.

The mere sound was enough to pulverize the valley below.

Space itself trembled.

Even as time passed, the dragon did not calm down. If anything, it grew increasingly furious.

Finally, a powerful roar left its mouth.

Countless messages were sent out. Within moments, the dragon had communicated with all its companions.

After billions of years since their disappearance, the entire Dragon Race began to move again!

The "mortal" creatures were bound to witness what would happen when they offended them!

What the furious dragon and its race did not know was that a white-haired woman floated a few feet away from its head.

She didn’t hide herself, but the dragon was unable to detect her, as though they existed in different dimensions.

The woman held a thick book and wrote down on it with elegant movements.

At the same time, her soft voice lingered in the air.

"Blinded by greed, Mage Hermes decided to hunt down Dragons and plunder their bloodline. Unfortunately, driven by his own arrogance, he failed to take sufficient precautions."

"How could he possibly understand the power of the Dragons? His actions only served to put himself and humanity in danger."

"Following the war between humans and the other races, another, even fiercer war was destined to break out."

"Would humanity survive? Would humanity perish? No one knew..."

Click!

The book in Ysset’s hands closed. She then walked away, continuing to act her role as the Witness of history.

--

Many years had passed inside the Veythalis World, with Liora having adjusted the flow of time throughout the Cosmic Sea.

Still, this time, the time acceleration was not too fast. At most, it was a dozen times quicker.

As such, though hundreds of years had passed in the Veythalis World, only a few years had gone by in reality.

--

A small secret realm had unknowingly been created at the very center of the Human Federation.

No one knew of its existence, whether they were the Emperors of the human race or even the Rank 12 and Rank 13 beings residing in it.

The secret realm was relatively small. It could not be compared to the Blood Forest Realm Liora had visited in the past, much less the Cosmic Universe itself.

However, that didn’t mean the secret realm was weak. In fact, its nature surpassed the Blood Forest Realm.

A lonely figure sat within the Secret Realm.

With its eyes closed, it didn’t move, resembling a lifeless corpse.

Every second, countless flickering lights would enter the secret realm and flow toward the figure.

Like a black hole, the figure would absorb them, each one making its aura grow stronger.

Individually, the improvement was not anything great.

However, when one considered that the lights numbered in the millions every single second, and trillions every day, the final result was obvious.

The figure remained motionless for quite a while.

It was only several hours later that its eyelids suddenly trembled.

Its eyes opened.

The power hidden beneath its unassuming appearance was released. It quickly spread with the figure as its center.

The secret realm, which was powerful enough to sustain Rank 12 battles with ease, could not contain it.

The aura reached the Cosmic Universe the next instant, threatening to spread throughout the Human Federation.

Fortunately, the figure seemed to realize what was happening just in time. It consciously restrained its aura before it could truly affect anyone.

Its movements were so fast that no one even noticed anything.

Well... no one but one person.

A moment later, a phantom materialized within the secret realm.

It stared at the figure and seemed to have realized something.

"Is it time for the plan to commence?" Anna couldn’t help but ask.

In response, the crimson-haired woman nodded.

"We can finally start..." An aloof voice lingered in the secret realm.