"Black King!"

Raylo turned and ordered the Black Dragon nearby.

"You go search, too! Find one and bring it back to me immediately!"

"GRRR..."

The Black King’s dark gold, vertical pupils locked onto the spot where Raylo had just stored the Divine Wood Fruit. A low growl, filled with greed and desire, rumbled in his throat.

As a Giant Dragon, he could sense far more clearly than Raylo just how immense the Origin Energy contained within the fruit was.

If he could swallow a fruit like that, his power would definitely achieve another breakthrough!

’Why?’

’Why should a Treasure like this be given to this vile human?’

’Why is it that I risk my life, only for him to reap all the rewards?’

A violent thought, full of jealousy and venomous resentment, festered in his mind.

The very instant the thought arose, a cold and irresistible pain stabbed deep into his soul!

The Master-Servant Contract was ruthlessly suppressing his will to resist.

The Black King let out an anguished cry. The flame of rebellion that had just ignited was instantly doused by cold reality.

His dark gold vertical pupils grew dim and lifeless once more.

He knew he had no choice.

The Black King turned his massive body, not sparing Raylo another glance, and shot away in another direction as a streak of black light.

He was off to carry out his master’s command.

He was off to find the Treasure he craved so desperately, but which could never be his own.

"Let’s keep going!"

Raylo patted Sun’s neck, signaling for it to continue the search.

Time ticked by, second by second.

The battle high above still raged on.

"ROAR!"

A dragon’s roar, filled with fury and killing intent, thundered down from the heavens!

As Raylo weaved through the canopy, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

He snapped his head up, staring at the sky.

Although his view was obscured by layers of massive branches and leaves, he could still feel a pressure more terrifying and violent than ever before—a cataclysmic might—furiously brewing and erupting high in the sky!

’We’ve been discovered!’

The thought instantly flashed through Raylo’s mind.

"BOOM!"

High in the sky, the already vast Sea of Thunderbolt suddenly expanded once more!

Astra was pushing its power to an unprecedented extreme.

The thunderbolt it had become threatened to devour half the sky.

Countless silvery-white Lightning Chains, thicker than mountains, shot out from the Sea of Thunderbolt like the fetters of Divine Punishment, madly coiling toward the Jade Dragon Emperor!

High above, the Jade Dragon Emperor let out an even more furious roar.

It felt it.

It sensed them—despicable, insect-like thieves stealing the most precious fruits it had guarded for thousands of years!

Those were its private domain!

They were its hope for ascension!

’Unforgivable!’

’Absolutely, unforgivable!’

"ROAR!"

The Jade Dragon Emperor let out an earth-shaking roar, and its massive draconic body shuddered violently.

A cruel light flashed in its enormous, emerald-like eyes.

A heaven-shaking draconic cry rang out.

The draconic cry echoed across the skies of the Endless Forest Sea; the Jade Dragon Emperor was summoning its subordinates.

"SCREECH!"

"SCREECH!"

Sharp, high-pitched shrieks erupted from all around the Heaven-Reaching Divine Wood!

And then.

One after another, cyan figures shot up into the sky from the forest sea below!

They burst forth from enormous nests in the canopy, nests that resembled islands floating in the sky!

They were the Wind God Winged Dragons.

Now, at their king’s command, they suppressed the fear deep in their blood and rekindled the ferocity and valor of the Dragon Emperor Guard!

One, two...

Ten, twenty...

In a matter of seconds, over fifty Wind God Winged Dragons had appeared around the Heaven-Reaching Divine Wood.

Their massive bodies blotted out the sky, casting vast shadows below.

Their targets were locked onto the few furtive figures within the canopy.

An encirclement was forming!

"Damn it!"

Raylo cursed under his breath.

He knew their time was running out.

"Sun! Full speed!"

Raylo urged the Golden Dragon on, charging at full speed toward the nearest point where he sensed the most concentrated Life Energy.

There was another Divine Wood Fruit there!

「At the same time.」

A streak of black light rapidly approached Raylo’s position from another direction.

It was the Black King.

He had returned.

In his draconic claws, he tightly clutched a Divine Wood Fruit that glowed with a jade-green halo.

His dark gold, vertical pupils were locked on the fruit in his claws, his eyes filled with endless struggle and anguish.

’Swallow it!’

A voice roared madly in his mind.

’Just swallow it and you’ll become stronger! You’ll have a chance to break free from this vile human’s control!’

But another, colder voice, as persistent as a maggot clinging to bone, echoed in the depths of his soul.

’Betrayal means death.’

’Eternal oblivion.’

The Black King’s body trembled violently.

Reason and desire waged a fierce war within him.

Finally.

The fear of death overwhelmed everything else.

"ROAR!"

He let out a draconic roar, and with a powerful beat of his wings, he fiercely hurled the Divine Wood Fruit in his claw toward Raylo!

’That makes four in total!’

Raylo quickly stored the Divine Wood Fruit from the Black King, his mind racing with calculations.