Chapter 550 — The Dragon and the Crater

Gao Yang simply ignored Amber's prattling. He strode over the uneven hollows and vexing vines of the dense forest, a searing magical blaze rising along the Pioneer's longsword; every shrub and rock in his path turned to ash in an instant, and the party's pace abruptly quickened. As they advanced, Suojilin noticed the changes in the surrounding environment—

Great swaths of shrubs lay flattened backward in neat ranks; the more fragile tree trunks had been snapped at the waist by some invisible force; even the towering giant-woods leaned at crooked, toppling angles—

This phenomenon was not unfamiliar to him.

It was the work of a shockwave of tremendous power.

Gao Yang stopped in his tracks. "We're here."

Suojilin stared dumbstruck at the scene before him, and the elite rangers likewise let out hushed gasps in that instant.

An impact crater of enormous scale, large enough to swallow more than half a city block. Around its rim, countless boulders had been reduced to dust, the earth cracked in every direction, towering giant-woods snapped at the waist; and within the crater itself, semi-molten rock and sintered soil had fused into a black, solidified mass—evidence of the infernal temperatures that had once reigned here.

"Spirit of the forest..." Suojilin cried out. "This... could it have been bombarded by an Annihilation Blast?"

"An Annihilation Blast wouldn't leave such a neat, uniform crater," Gao Yang said, shaking his head. He looked up at the increasingly dim sky. "Something fell from above."

"Something? A meteorite?" Suojilin paused, then gazed down at the bottom of the crater. "There might be a star core down there..."

Amber, quick as a flash, was at his side in an instant. "A star core? The kind where a palm-sized piece buys you half a castle?!"

Gao Yang casually pushed Amber's head back down. "Even if there is one, it goes to the duchy. What are you getting so excited about?"

Then, ignoring Amber as she launched into loud protest, he strode toward the crater.

Suojilin and the steel rangers followed close behind.

Gao Yang swept his gaze across the great pit, murmuring softly to himself: "No fragments, no wreckage..."

All that could be found within the crater was the black substance formed when rock and soil had melted and solidified; beyond that, not a single noteworthy piece of wreckage or fragment was to be seen. That mysterious visitor from beyond the sky—if it had ever existed—had left nothing behind at all.

Could the dragon have taken it? Had that dragon scavenged the place this thoroughly?

Deep puzzlement welled up in Gao Yang's heart, for he had watched with his own eyes as the dragon landed in the impact crater, and its stay had been very brief. Even if it had carried something off, it should only have taken the largest, easiest-to-collect pieces—so how could not a single fragment have been left behind?

Could it be that there was never any extraterrestrial object at all—that this was simply an energy explosion, which is why no fragments were found? Or perhaps... the object had survived that terrifying impact and blast without shattering, and the dragon had carried it away whole?

Gao Yang turned these possibilities over in his mind while continuing to sweep the surrounding area with the satellite view, hoping to find some trace left behind by the dragon. Suojilin, meanwhile, led his soldiers in a search across the crater floor. Before long, a steel ranger cried out: "Sir! Take a look at this!"

Suojilin hurried to the soldier's side, and in a single glance he saw what had drawn the outcry:

On the black, hardened ground at the bottom of the crater, which still gave off a faint warmth, several enormous claw marks lay scattered in slight disarray.

These prints made no attempt whatsoever to conceal themselves. Each was nearly the size of a human torso and sank more than ten centimeters deep into the earth. From the prints alone, Suojilin could easily judge what a fearsome behemoth had briefly paused here.

The ranger who had first spotted the prints muttered to himself, "What on earth left these..."

"A dragon," Gao Yang said, having appeared beside Suojilin and the soldiers at some point. "I've seen dragons. Only those great beasts could leave claw marks this size."

Suojilin stared wide-eyed at Gao Yang. "You're certain?"

Of course Gao Yang was certain—he had seen it with his own eyes—but here he could not speak too absolutely. "Eighty percent. Don't think of dragons as mere fantasy; they truly exist. Old Cecil was once scorched by dragonfire, and to this day it remains a stretch of scorched earth steeped in draconic magic."

"Even dragons have appeared..." Suojilin murmured. "This place... truly lives up to its name as the edge of civilization."

Just then, Amber—who had wandered off after being ignored by Gao Yang—suddenly called out at the top of her voice: "Old Zongzi!! I found treasure!!"