The overwhelming disparity in power meant the battle held no suspense from the outset. The two Walkers who had fallen into Lin Luo’s trap from the beginning had no chance of turning the tide; consumed by the merciless burning of the Black Flame, they were ultimately reduced to ash, leaving behind only two Heart Sutras and two World Cores.
“In that case, our mission is complete,” the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon descended from above, reverting to her statuesque, classically beautiful form, and spoke softly. Following her were the three Golden Dragons, who had also assumed human shape.
“Mhm,” Lin Luo nodded, taking the two Heart Sutras and the two World Cores into his hand—the Book of Charm and the Book of Strength, the Core of Space, and… huh?!
Suddenly, Lin Luo’s expression shifted. He could not discern the attribute of the other World Core.
“Is something wrong?” Long Wanxuan frowned, instinctively asking, her gaze cautiously sweeping the surroundings; she assumed there were still other enemies.
“No, nothing. Just a slight surprise,” Lin Luo’s expression returned to normal. Explaining such things to them would be useless anyway, he said with a smile, “Thank you all for your help this time. Without your intervention, slaying those two would have been quite difficult.”
“Hmph, of course it was. Don’t forget who we are,” Onyxia, the Black Dragon who had transformed into human shape, puffed out her chest proudly before Long Wanxuan could speak, though she possessed minimal bosom.
I haven't even brought up the time you almost hit me just now, and you’re still acting so arrogant. Forget it, considering I’ve ‘pushed’ you a few times before, I won’t hold a grudge.
Lost in thought, Lin Luo restored all the floating cities to their original positions, and then the five dragons and himself descended onto the Great Sky City.
It was then that Long Wanxuan asked, “By the way, did you do what I asked you to last time?”
“You mean Dragon City? It’s right over there,” Lin Luo smiled, then pointed to a spot about ten li to the right of the Great Sky City.
“There… there’s nothing there?” The dragon maidens looked utterly bewildered, for in their sight, there was nothing but blue skies and white clouds.
“Hey, are you trying to fool us?” The Black Dragon’s tone held a hint of displeasure, which was understandable. It was like playing Dungeon Fighter Online and finally clearing a deep abyss run after using ten revival tokens, only to have no epic drops—the resulting frustration was palpable.
“Well,” Lin Luo waved his hand by way of explanation, “since I’m not very familiar with where dragons like to reside, I made it a little different. Although you can’t see it now, Dragon City definitely exists. I’ll take you there.”
“Alright,” Long Wanxuan conceded.
“Hey! Let us out of here first before you go!” Just as everyone was about to move, Misaka’s figure, clad in a bunny girl outfit, suddenly materialized in the giant holographic display. She was seen slapping the screen nearby and shouting loudly.
“The three-hour limit isn’t up yet, and you haven’t taken down the Final Boss, so go play your games for a while longer,” Lin Luo shrugged, maintaining a placid expression. Firstly, he couldn’t release them even if he wanted to, and secondly, he wouldn’t. After this fashion show, it would likely be impossible to get them to enter the Treasure Mountain Game again, so why not let them film to their heart’s content? Otherwise, all the cameras he installed in the game space would have been wasted.
“Damn it!” Misaka instantly erupted in fury.
“Never mind, we’re almost at the Final Boss anyway. Let’s take it down first, then come out, it’s the same thing,” Lily patted Misaka’s shoulder beside her, offering counsel. Although she had initially disdained playing this game, she had become somewhat addicted by now. Furthermore, since she didn’t need to worry about the situation outside, it was a perfect opportunity to unleash her full capabilities.
While the young ladies’ dragon-slaying battle raged on in the Treasure Mountain Game, the five dragon maidens accompanying Lin Luo to Dragon City froze. They hovered mid-air, staring at the ripples in the air ahead, which looked like a water surface, their faces etched with disbelief. “This is Dragon City?”
“Of course. But this is just a gateway; the true Dragon City lies beyond,” Lin Luo chuckled. The Dragon City he constructed mimicked the shared area he encountered with Hei Ji in the Moon World—a space within a space, infinitely vast inside, which could also be understood as a demi-plane.
Lin Luo offered no further explanation, stepping forward and passing directly through the air ripples stretching several hundred meters, vanishing completely.
“Don’t be left behind!” The five dragon maidens exchanged glances and quickly followed.
Upon entering, the dragon maidens were utterly stunned, as the world inside defied their wildest imaginations… The first sight to greet them was a dozen massive volcanoes erupting continuously, streams of lava flowing down from the craters to form a gigantic sea of magma below.
“Ah, I love this place!” Onyxia, the Black Dragon, instantly lit up, cheering before transforming into her hundred-meter-long Black Dragon form and plunging with a splash into the sea of magma, beginning to roll around and bathe, churning the entire molten ocean into chaos.
Lin Luo felt speechless. Although he knew fire-attribute dragons loved lava, he hadn't expected the Black Dragon to react so dramatically, taking a bath in magma… While his current power level allowed him to perform such feats, he certainly wouldn't jump into lava for fun.
Besides the Sea of Magma, this world contained various other environments: a vast snow plain of glacial ice, an endless Black Forest, a sky shrouded in dark clouds, a Forbidden Zone of Life crackling with lightning, and, of course, a golden palace glittering with gems… This was no longer just a Dragon City; it was practically a world unto itself.
“How is it? Are you satisfied with this place?” Lin Luo turned back to ask.
“Satisfied? Of course, we are satisfied!” Long Wanxuan said excitedly. She hadn’t expected much originally, but what Lin Luo had given them far surpassed her hopes. Different breeds of dragons preferred different living environments: fire dragons liked magma, ice dragons preferred snowfields, thunder dragons dwelt in the clouds, and forests, mountains, and oceans were favored by certain dragon kin. A Golden Dragon like herself preferred shimmering, golden light.
This world contained almost every necessary living condition for most dragons. How could she possibly be dissatisfied?
Long Wanxuan nodded repeatedly in excitement, then turned to the three other equally elated dragon maidens beside her. “Go tell the rest of the clan to prepare to move into this Dragon City.”
“Yes,” the three nodded and immediately flew out of Dragon City.
“Thank you so much. This Dragon City is the most incredible place I have ever seen,” Long Wanxuan said sincerely to Lin Luo afterward.
Lin Luo smiled, “No need for thanks. After all, you all helped me immensely, and I merely created this based on my vision; it didn’t take much effort.”
“While it might be trivial for you, for us dragons, this environment is essential for our survival,” Long Wanxuan shook her head, her expression tinged with a shade of nostalgia.
Lin Luo guessed she was recalling her destroyed homeland. Thinking of that, he became curious: with Long Wanxuan’s strength, she was nearly invincible in most worlds. What kind of power could make such a powerhouse unable to survive? And what about the WW World where the Black Dragon originated? That world’s power level wasn’t low either. “By the way, there’s one thing I wanted to ask.”
“What is it?” Long Wanxuan looked up, asking with suspicion.
“You mentioned before that you were all gathered together by someone because your original world was destroyed. How was your world destroyed?”
“That’s a long story…” Long Wanxuan sighed mournfully. “Although the method of destruction differs slightly in each world, the cause is usually the same—it stems from a specific type of entity.”
“A specific entity?” Lin Luo was immediately baffled. So many worlds destroyed by the same thing? What could possess such immense power? A World Core, perhaps, or a Heart Sutra?
“No, not the kind you mentioned,” Long Wanxuan shook her head. “I don’t know the exact details, but in other worlds, that thing has a certain common name… the Seed of the Holy Stone.”
“The Seed of the Holy Stone… So it’s that thing. That explains a lot,” Lin Luo suddenly understood. The Seed of the Holy Stone, an ancient legacy, possessed the power to grant wishes, and if that power ran rampant, it could destroy worlds. The battle between Tyrant Naye and her Consort Fete had nearly resulted in—wait?!
“…Hold on! What did you say? The Seed of the Holy Stone?!” Suddenly, Lin Luo’s expression froze. Looking at Long Wanxuan’s utterly bewildered face, for a moment he thought he had misheard.
“Uh, is something wrong?” Long Wanxuan tilted her head, uncomprehending.
“You said the source of the world’s destruction was the Seed of the Holy Stone? That Seed of the Holy Stone?!”
Long Wanxuan nodded. “Yes, it looks like just a tiny piece of rock, but it contains the power to annihilate existence. It’s truly incomprehensible.”
Lin Luo was speechless. I’m even more unable to comprehend why the Seed of the Holy Stone would end up in your world! That’s supposed to be in the Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha dimension! It was too incongruous, too bizarre! Although the Space-Time Administration Bureau could travel between worlds, he had never heard of them crossing dimensional planes!
Lin Luo’s mind went into overdrive. The fact that the Seed of the Holy Stone ended up in the WW dimension was utterly ridiculous! It was like if Auntie Qiong Yao claimed she wrote Twin of Brothers, or Louis Cha claimed My Fair Princess was his debut work—it felt utterly out of place.
“Damn it, the Seed of the Holy Stone, it’s actually the Seed of the Holy Stone…” Burdened by this absurd question, Lin Luo left Dragon City. Long Wanxuan and the others didn't know much about the Seed of the Holy Stone. It seemed that to truly understand it, he would have to find a way to visit the dimension of the Three Giants himself… though that was currently impossible.
Dealing with just the ‘Gaze of Luo Zhen’ was headache enough. Now, there was an errant Seed of the Holy Stone running around. Lin Luo dared not imagine what else might appear next… Perhaps a certain unscrupulous witch from the To Aru Majutsu no Index series might show up demanding a hundred thousand yuan… or perhaps a certain forever-seventeen-year-old girl from the Macross Frontier universe might teleport him to some unknown location… Maybe soon, some nefarious wild animal would seek him out for a contract to become a Magical Girl…
“Ah, forget it, forget it. Thinking about this now is useless. I should consider how to face the furious tigresses later,” Lin Luo vigorously scratched his head, tossing all the messy thoughts to the nine heavens.
Returning to the Great Sky City, the three-hour time limit was nearly up. The joint effort of the fifteen Dragon Slayers had been quite effective; apart from being wiped out by a Slime once, they hadn’t died since, and they were currently challenging the Final Boss, the Cute Big-Breasted Dragon. Everyone was clad in the most provocative outfits imaginable: maid uniforms, nurse outfits, police uniforms, cat ears, school swimsuits, bikinis, bunny girl outfits…
“This is bad. A fifteen-person team is a bit too large. That Cute Big-Breasted Dragon can’t hold them off for much longer.”
Watching through the holographic display, Lin Luo grew increasingly alarmed. Misaka and the others employed a simple yet highly effective tactic… three tanks rotated to hold the line, three priests focused on healing the tanks, three archers provided ranged suppression, three assassins moved to prevent the Boss from using its ultimate abilities, and the main assault was handled by three mages. Their coordination was flawless.
What amazed Lin Luo even more was that the three main attacking mages used only one type of magic: Non-Attribute Magic. One spell sent red numbers flooding the screen.
Due to the dragons’ inherent advantages, they possessed high resistance to magic. Most elemental spells could barely harm them, but Non-Attribute Magic delivered 100% damage. However, Non-Attribute Magic was notoriously weak in the early stages.
“It seems these girls know how to play games. They actually specialized three mages purely for this purpose… No, if this continues, it won't take five minutes for that Cute Big-Breasted Dragon to be defeated. Then I’ll be in danger,” Lin Luo frowned. Once they were all released, he was certain to face a group beating.
“The only option is to temporarily avoid the fray.” When the Cute Big-Breasted Dragon’s HP dropped below one-tenth, Lin Luo rushed into the main hall of the Great Sky City at top speed.
One minute later, BOOM! On the holographic display, the Cute Dragon was thoroughly defeated, yielding magnificent loot. However, the Dragon Slayers paid no attention to the drops; they rushed out of the Treasure Mountain Game immediately.
“Lin Luo, you bastard, we’re here for revenge… Huh? Where is he?” Electricity flickered around Misaka, but she was disappointed to find Lin Luo had vanished.
“He must be hiding in the main hall. Go in and look,” Rin declared fiercely.
The five young women rushed into the main hall—though not everyone was there for revenge; characters like Silver Zipper and Rei, and Black Rock, were there simply to observe.
“Where is your master?” Upon entering the hall and finding only maids cleaning, Misaka grabbed one and pressed her.
“Master is in his bedroom on the second floor. He told us not to disturb him,” the maid replied honestly, showing no inclination to conceal anything.
“Second-floor bedroom, good, very good.” Eilein’s face twisted into a sinister smile as she charged toward the stairs.
However, upon reaching the second floor, they were met with bafflement. Written on Lin Luo’s door were these eight characters: “The occupant is deceased; please burn incense.”
“This bastard actually tried to fool us with this method!” Swish, Mugino Shizuri unleashed an Atomic Collapse, turning the sign to dust.
“Let’s force our way in,” suggested Tohsaka Rin.
Eilein shook her head. “No use, this door won’t open.” Like the “Crystal Palace” outside the main hall, the architecture here was designed with absolute defense; their power was insufficient to break in by force.
“He calculated this all along?!” Rin gritted her teeth. She had actually misunderstood Lin Luo’s intent. The reason he designed all the doors to be beyond their current strength was to prevent architectural damage. After all, every young woman here was not simple; if any two started fighting, the Great Sky City itself could be demolished. By making the defenses absolute, no matter how they fought, it wouldn't matter.
“Lin Luo, get out here!” Realizing forced entry was impossible, Tohsaka Rin began shouting profanities, but there was no response from inside.
“Are you going to hide in there forever? If you’re a man, come out and take responsibility!” Shokuhou Misaki tried appealing to his reason and emotions, but alas, the door remained unmoved.
“He’s really stubborn,” Eilein frowned after shouting and coaxing for over ten minutes with no response. She glanced around and noticed that besides a few people, the rest looked rather uninterested.
“Sigh, so tired. I’m going to sleep,” Rei yawned, her eyes heavy with sleep.
“Princess, your room is this way. Please allow me to escort you,” a maid quickly stepped up beside Rei and said respectfully.
“Princess? Are you talking to me? And I have a bedroom?” Rei tilted her head.
“Yes, this is set in our programming protocol. Master has prepared a room for each of you.”
So, led by the maid, Rei headed to her room to sleep.
“I’m a little hungry. Is there anything good to eat?” Lily grabbed a maid who was mopping the floor nearby and asked.
“Yes, dinner has just been prepared. Please follow me this way.”
“That’s great news!” Lily cheered and quickly followed the maid, accompanied by Nero, Black Saber, and others.
“Hey, this isn't the time to eat! We have important things to do!” Rin hurriedly called out.
“Nothing is more important than eating,” Lily and the others walked away without looking back.
“Ah, speaking of which, our working hours are up,” Yui seemed to suddenly remember something.
“That’s right, I should go dispose of some garbage too.”
“I really want some coffee.”
And so, the three head maids also departed.
“Hearing them say that, I should also go drink some lactic acid bacteria beverage, or I won’t become Alice,” Silver Zipper clicked away on her little boots and left.
Black Rock left without a word, her face expressionless.
In less than a minute, the fifteen-person Dragon Slayer team completely disintegrated. Only Misaka, Rin, Eilein, Mugino, and Shokuhou remained at the door to the second-floor rooms.
“What a group of people with wavering resolve!”
Meanwhile, Lin Luo, hiding in his bedroom, was reclining comfortably on his bed, wearing headphones, sipping a drink, and intensely playing an ACG game. Although all the games on the first floor had been thrown out by Yui, the collection of games in this room was even more complete.
Currently, he was playing a game he had customized himself, titled Conquering Gensokyo.
(To be continued)