Chapter 43: The Dragon King!

"Crack!" The sky above the Titan Archipelago shattered into pieces, with transparent shards falling down! Yet through the gaps left by the falling shards, the sky remained blue, unaltered, not a pitch-black void.

"Hmm?" At first, Muria was puzzled. He believed the sky to be infinitely vast, intangible, and thought the fissures were spatial cracks created by the sun-like entity tearing through.

But as actual fragments fell, Muria realized these weren't spatial cracks. Nor were they shards of space. The diminishing, sparkling fragments were energy crystals.

"Mega Labyrinth Lock." Recognizing what was falling from the sky, Muria immediately identified them based on his extensive readings. Years of study hadn't been in vain.

These were fragments of a shattered Labyrinth Lock Barrier, covering the entire Titan Archipelago. The vastness of such a barrier was beyond belief.

"This lock must have a filtering function! Ordinary creatures couldn't possibly trigger this lock; otherwise, the many foreign giants who've come here would have activated it long before now," Muria looked up at the sky.

"Demos, you've got some nerve, coming here to cause trouble!" At that moment, a thunderous voice boomed across the sky. Simultaneously, blue winds and purple lightning appeared out of nowhere, coalescing into a massive blue-purple hand.

This hand, formed from wind and lightning, was so vast it darkened the skies, instilling awe in Muria—this was power beyond his current reach.

Then, with majestic force, the giant hand of wind and thunder struck towards the entity that had shattered the archipelago's defensive lock, its might seemingly equal to the endless golden radiance of the other being.

"Hey, when have I ever been timid?" The sun-like entity responded with a dignified voice. Predictably, a golden-scaled dragon claw extended from within the golden "sun," clashing unyieldingly with the wind and thunder hand.

"Boom!" The world briefly stilled before a thunderous roar erupted. A visible shockwave spread from the point of impact, whipping up what seemed like a Category 12 hurricane above the Titan Archipelago.

"Hoo-hoo!" As the gale swept across, waves up to ten meters high surged over the sea. On the islands, countless "slender" trees were snapped mid-trunk, their branches and leaves swirling through the air, while herds of animals cowered in their dens, emitting fearful cries.

The islands of the Titan Archipelago were left in disarray by the mere aftermath of the clash between these two colossal beings, with many islands appearing stripped and barren.

"Demos!" An angry roar erupted from somewhere within the archipelago.

"Hey, why the anger? It's not like I started this." The ancient golden dragon Demos, emitting endless golden light, spoke dismissively, as if he hadn't been the one to smash the archipelago's lock.

"…Hmm!" After a moment of silence, the voice expressed astonished doubt: "Demos, have you broken through that boundary?"

"Do you really need to be so surprised? Do you think so little of me?" Demos, clearly annoyed, retorted loudly enough for all below to hear. "You broke through a few hundred years before me; does that mean I can't do it now?"

"…I thought you were aiming for godhood."

"Heh!" Demos scoffed coldly, ignoring further comment, though the golden light radiating from him grew even brighter, rendering his figure even more indistinct.

"Boom!" The massive Labyrinth Lock that covered the sky above the Titan Archipelago was smashed open by Demos, who then charged directly towards Muria on Taiji Island.

"Demos, becoming a Dragon King has made you bold, huh? To think you'd dare shatter the Titan tribe's warning lock so casually." The owner of the voice grew angry upon seeing Demos's actions. "Looking for a fight?"

"Do you think I'm as mad as you Titans?" Demos shot back. "I'm not here to pick a fight with the Titans. I'm here for my grandson. Who asked you to put this broken toy in my way?"

"Since when did your kin of golden dragons have blood ties here?" A puzzled voice responded.

"Osiris, have you gone senile?" Demos taunted, uninterested in the question.

"Hmm?" The will of Titan Osiris followed Demos's path and then saw Muria standing atop the Five-Color Dragon Castle, exclaiming in surprise, "A child of Titan and Dragon!"

"So it seems. Life is indeed unfathomable. It appears I've slept too long," Osiris murmured upon recognizing Muria's presence, then fell silent once more.

Above the castle, Muria initially felt a consciousness sweep over him like facing a storm at sea, vast and oppressive.

However, Muria felt no discomfort. Instead, as the consciousness passed through him, the boiling of his blood intensified, awakening another power within him but causing no abnormalities. The dragon transformation on his body was even suppressed by this power.

Then, Muria looked ahead as a "sun" descended onto Taiji Island, turning the island into a golden realm as the "sun" bathed it in golden light.

Finally, as the "sun" landed before him, golden light spilled over the Five-Color Dragon Castle. The storm giants standing with Muria at the castle's summit couldn't withstand the immense pressure, falling to their knees and eventually fainting as the "sun" approached.

Even the mightiest of storm giants reacted thus, and the same went for all living beings on Taiji Island, collapsing en masse under their instinctive emergency responses. The "sun" was an entity they could not directly behold.

Now, only Muria remained conscious on Taiji Island, his experience before the "sun" different from that of other beings—warm and comfortable, without a trace of oppression, like basking in the gentle sun of winter.

"Hey, hey, hey, dad. Breaking through is fine, but can you tone it down a bit?" Just then, a spatial portal opened on Muria's shoulder, and a breathtakingly beautiful young woman stepped out, casually sitting on Muria's shoulder.

The Golden Dragon Mother Atrelis, in her human form.

As the Golden Dragon Mother spoke, the golden radiance slowly faded, and the ancient golden dragon's true form gradually became visible.

When Muria saw the ancient golden dragon standing before the Five-Color Dragon Castle, he couldn't help but marvel at the massive golden dragon, like a towering golden mountain.

The Golden Dragon King, standing before the castle, met Muria's gaze on an equal level—an incredibly imposing figure.

Muria's castle had been built to scale for adult Titans, itself a monumental structure.

Thus, from his elevated position some three hundred meters above the ground, Muria could only marvel at the sheer size of his grandfather, Demos Elonsas.

"It can't be!" Muria muttered as he looked at his grandfather's majestic true form, knowing well from his readings that no ancient dragon should possess such a size, not even the largest of primeval red dragons.

"Wow! Dad, you've gotten so much bigger since I last saw you," the Golden Dragon Mother Atrelis exclaimed, clearly surprised by her father's recent and significant change in

 size.

"I took a little trip through time and space, got lucky, and made a breakthrough," Demos explained nonchalantly.

"Who are you kidding? Old man, a time-space trip and you broke through?" Atrelis looked unconvinced. "Next time take me with you. If I don't become a Dragon King, will you take responsibility?"

"Get lost, becoming a Dragon King isn't that easy. You think it's that simple? Look around, across all of Erathia, how many Dragon Kings are there?" the Golden Dragon scoffed. "First reach the peak of legend, then think about how to break through to become a Dragon King."

"Hmph!" Atrelis huffed, then gave Demos a once-over. "Eh, dad, not only have you gotten bigger, but your form has changed quite a bit too."

"Obviously." Demos barely tolerated his capricious daughter. Each Dragon King was unique, their power and forms surpassing that of ordinary dragons.

Hearing Atrelis's words, Muria realized he had been initially overwhelmed by his grandfather's size. Now that he had regained his composure, he took a closer look at Demos's distinctive form.

Demos's true form differed significantly from that of a typical golden dragon. First, his dragon horns—normal golden dragons had only one pair, but Demos's head bore eight, four pairs extending backwards like a regal crown, a symbol of a Dragon King.

Although massive, Demos's body was muscular in a way that seemed exclusive to red dragons.

And perhaps the most distinctive feature was the golden bony scales covering Demos's body, these plate-like scales shielding most of his form, with "fine" dragon scales growing at the joints, giving the impression of a heavily armored golden dragon, majestic and formidable.

Apart from the color, Muria's grandfather bore no resemblance to typical golden dragons; he was a new kind of dragon altogether.