Within the depths of the Dragon Nest, an enormous black scaled beast rested, his half-rotten body constantly absorbing phantasmal and death energies coming from the underground pits of Nether, that had appeared within the mountain at the same time as his hideout was discovered by the Dwarves.

His body, which was much more weakened before, had gained almost all of his former strength, and a bit more. This Nether was like an Elixir to Undead, and as he had become an Undead after his defeat from the hands of his own adoptive son, Sigurd, in the long past, this evil dragon needed a lot of healing, his body was in tatters

Using this Nether provided by his Master within the depths of the Underworld, he quickly rose the Dragons from their fossilized corpses, their skeletons gained flesh and scales, and they healed and were reborn anew. Not even resembling Undead compared to him.

This was the miraculous power of the Demon King of Death Thanatos, the ability to not just raise mere Undead, but to bring beings back to life altogether! What difference was between the Dragons from before when they were alive, and the newly risen ones? None! In fact, those that died and became Undead only became even stronger

With his Four Great Dragons, the Evil Black Dragon King of Greed, Fafnir, expected to take over this pitiful city of Dwarves, the descendants of his adoptive son, and then further expand his domain of Nether and Dragons across the Verdant Continent.

However, for that, he would need to regain more of his strength. Because of this, he took much longer than he expected, after all, Sigurd had used the mighty Gram to defeat him, piercing his Dragon Heart. And even now, that piece of Gram remained on his dead Heart, inhibiting his regeneration completely.

A manifestation made of phantasmal energy of the Demon King of Death emerged before Fafnir's eyes, as it resembled a large skull covered on a cloak of shadows

"Fafnir, I believe your recovering is going swiftly." It smoke. "The chains sealing me within the underworld will soon break."

"I am well aware, my liege." The Dragon spoke. "I am looking forward to your resurrection, and the revival of the Kingdom of Sorrow."

"However, there are certain beings in our way." The Demon King spoke. "I want you to wipe everything out, mercilessly. I will give you as much power as you need, do your job well this time, and don't be slain by a brat."

"I won't disappoint you anymore." Fafnir spoke. "That brat no longer is within us. And with Gram being shattered into pieces, there's nothing that can actually defeat me anymore. My powerful Scales that can reflect everything are invincible. I will bring down any foe you want! And I shall begin by setting this entire city of ungrateful dwarves into the flames of death Their souls, will be your offering."

"Good. I shall bring to you the might of my army." The Demon king laughed. "Destroy this pitiful city and bring to me the soul of the damned! The more I gather, the stronger my resurrection will be."

"I will" Fafnir nodded.

FLASH!

As the manifestation of the Demon King disappeared, Fafnir's enormous body slowly stood up, overflowing with power. He was already too bored of waiting any longer. Especially when someone his master wanted to kill really badly was going around this city too

The World Tree's Incarnation.

"I might as well take her soul apart while she's still here" Fafnir laughed. "Even if her body is that of a "Player" such powers cannot protect her soul from my magic I will- Huh?!"

Suddenly, with half of his face resembling that of a dragon skull, he glared into the ceiling, his eyes glowing with phantasmal light, showing a slight amount of shock as he sensed all four of his Great Dragons being slain, and over half of the dragon population being completely defeated

"When did this?! Was it HER?!" Fafnir gritted his enormous fangs. "That damned tree! Fine, I've had enough rest!"

He started walking across the Dragon Nest, his entire body making the whole mountain tremble with each of his steps. Each of his steps spread Nether everywhere. The blue and green liquid quickly spreading across his surroundings.

Nether quickly caught the corpses of hundreds of other dragons, as their bodies were instantly regrown anew, and started marching at his side. Fafnir's eyes glowed with a menacing yet furious light.

"I'll just destroy it all before you can even get back to that damned city." He spoke, his face curving into a creepy smile. "March, my legion of Undead Dragons! Devour and destroy it all!"

"ROOOAAR!"

"SHAAAAH!"

"GRUOORR!!"

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Within the Castle of the Dwarven Kingdom, King Dainn glanced at the developing city while holding a rather stern and calm expression. Yet his eyes clearly showed his concern. He was not only concerned about his city's declining economy, which was bringing more and more poverty to his citizens, but was also worried about the ever-growing danger of the Dragons within the Dragon Nest.

He could only thank the gods that these dragons had yet to come to his city and devastate everything And somehow, they all managed to survive until a group of powerful, brave adventurers arrived here to save them from their impending ruin.

Yet even as strong as they showed to be, he was worried What if it wasn't enough? What if they would end up dying? He wanted to trust them, but as a King, he had to always think of the many possibilities to prepare better.

However, no matter how much he thought about these possibilities, he couldn't really think of any other way to solve them He had to bet it all on them.

The ghost of the long past, Fafnir, had arrived to bring ruin to the kingdom he had inherited from his father, which he had been taking care of for so long.

"Father"

"Brisingra?"