However.

Astra merely glanced coldly toward the western horizon.

It casually tossed the Heart of the Ancient Tree to Raylo on its back.

Then, its sky-blotting Thunderbolt Dragon Wings gave a mighty beat!

In an instant, Astra—along with Raylo, the Sun, and the Black King—transformed into a streak of blue lightning that tore across the sky. They swept up two other Giant Dragons, also wreathed in lightning, and vanished over the horizon.

All that remained was the ten-thousand-year-old ancient tree, slowly collapsing.

And the Wailing of the Guardians, filled with endless sorrow and despair.

The streak of lightning tore across the sky, leaving the furious roars and the collapsing giant tree far behind.

Astra’s speed was unparalleled, like a bolt of blue Lightning transcending time and space.

Raylo stood steadily on Astra’s broad back and opened his palm.

A heart the size of a human head, seemingly carved from emerald-green Jade, lay quietly in his palm.

It still beat faintly. With each pulse, it released a visible green halo, brimming with immense Life Energy.

An incredibly dense Natural Energy emanated from it. Merely being near it made one feel as if every cell in their body was cheering with joy.

This was the Tier Six Wondrous Object, the Heart of the Ancient Tree.

The Life Essence of a ten-thousand-year-old ancient tree.

Raylo could feel his Fighting Spirit and Magic Power growing far more active, nourished by this pure Life Energy.

Lightning tore across the sky.

It was a bolt of blue Lightning that spanned the heavens, streaking over the Giant Valley at a speed beyond Mortal comprehension.

Astra had become a living Thunderbolt. This was an innate talent of the Thunder Dragon clan, the ultimate expression of speed.

He stood on Astra’s broad back, the scales beneath his feet hard and smooth.

A pale blue Thunder Light Force Field enveloped him, shielding him from the ravaging gales and sonic booms outside. This allowed him to clearly watch the earth recede rapidly below.

Astra crossed the ring of mountains surrounding the Giant Valley without slowing in the slightest. The bolt of lightning it had become continued to race due north.

The land below transformed into a map of ever-shifting colors.

Ink-green forests, ochre wastelands, and rivers like silver ribbons flashed past his view.

After some time, a vast, immense cloud of water vapor rushed to meet him.

The scenery below abruptly changed from rolling mountain ranges and forests to a wide river that stretched beyond the horizon.

The river was a deep azure, its waters churning and roaring. It kicked up countless white-capped waves, the sound as loud as thunder.

The Canglan River. It cut across the center of the Continent, eventually flowing east into the Endless Sea.

Astra finally slowed its pace slightly as it flew over the river.

Raylo’s gaze was drawn to a huge, indistinct shadow in the water below.

He focused his gaze, piercing through the churning, layered waves, and managed to make out the shadow’s silhouette.

It was a Giant Dragon.

An aquatic Giant Dragon of immense size.

Its serpentine body was coiled beneath the water, its deep blue scales blending in with the waves.

Every sway of its body raised monstrous waves on the wide surface of the river.

Azure Wave Dragon Emperor.

The name instantly surfaced in Raylo’s mind.

The undisputed sovereign of these waters. A Catastrophe Level Giant Dragon of unfathomable strength that had existed for countless ages.

Right now, this legendary Giant Dragon was leading a veritable torrent of creatures, slowly making its way east toward the mouth of the river.

Raylo’s pupils constricted.

He could now see the true nature of the torrent.

Behind the Azure Wave Dragon Emperor, countless Water Beasts were packed together, forming a moving, black continent of flesh and shell.

Enormous Deepwater Giant Crocodiles, heavily-armored giant crustaceans, and schools of Giant Catfish...

All manner of Water Magical Beasts, some Raylo recognized and some he didn’t, followed their monarch in a dense throng that nearly choked the entire river.

Their numbers were well into the tens of thousands!

This was an army marching to war.

Raylo’s gaze followed their path of advance toward the distant, eastern mouth of the river.

At the edge of his vision, an opposing, dark tide surged from the river’s mouth, flowing upstream against the current and crashing toward the Azure Wave Dragon Emperor’s army.

It was a beast tide composed of even more ferocious and savage Ocean Magical Beasts.

Giant sea crabs with razor-sharp limbs, sea snakes spewing Venom, and countless bizarre Ocean Demons exuding a thick Abyssal aura. They churned the water into a murky torrent, letting out shrill, ear-piercing shrieks, their eyes glinting with bloodlust and madness.

A war.

A war of Ocean Magical Beasts invading the Canglan River.

The two immense beast tides were about to clash on the wide expanse of the river in the most primitive and bloody of collisions.

Raylo was deeply shaken.

The scene before him was far grander and more brutal than any war between human kingdoms.

This was a war of annihilation between two species, two ecosystems, fought for survival and territory.

’Who could it be?’

Raylo’s mind reeled with immense questions.

’Who possessed such terrifying power that they would dare challenge this ancient Dragon Emperor, a being who had ruled the Canglan River for a thousand years?’

’And what kind of horrifying entity was the master behind these Sea Beasts?’

Just as the thoughts crossed his mind, the war below erupted.

"ROAR!"