Translator: AnubisTL
The weather had been relentlessly harsh for days.
The sky was swallowed by thick, grayish-white clouds, hanging low as if on the verge of collapse. Snow didn't fall; it flew horizontally, like a silent, furious rage, howling and tearing at trees, rocks, and frozen earth. The distant mountains had long vanished behind the blizzard's veil, leaving only blurred outlines.
The centaurs, ogres, and other chosen creatures guarding the abyssal rift clearly felt the discomfort.
Their vision was obstructed, their body heat drained. They hastily erected temporary tents to ward off the wind and snow, but their combat readiness was still compromised.
Yet White Dragon Treacy stretched her wings with delight, soaring freely through the blizzard.
As a typical cold-aligned creature, this weather was her element.
Feeling the bone-chilling cold, she even felt her mind sharpen, as if her intelligence had increased.
Less than forty years until I achieve true freedom.
The thought flashed through Treacy's mind as she executed a graceful aerial barrel roll.
As she soared through the air, reveling in the thrill of flight, Treacy pondered her future choices: "Should I remain with the flourishing Ironforged Tribe, or leave and forge my own path?"
This momentous decision weighed heavily on her mind.
Both options had their pros and cons.
Among all the dragonkind members, Treacy's current status was arguably the lowest.
Ten years ago, her strength had been second only to Garos.
But as time passed, those juvenile dragons had grown considerably, and her position had slipped to the very bottom, now barely above the servants and familiars.
What made it even more unbearable was the constant verbal abuse she endured from Red Dragon Samantha.
"White Scale freak," "white-skinned beast," "white savage"—Samantha twisted these discriminatory terms into endless variations.
Some of these insults weren't even part of the dragon race's traditional inheritance.
White Dragon Treacy couldn't fathom how Red Dragon Samantha, with her meager brain capacity, could concoct so many vile epithets.
If she stayed with the Ironforged Tribe, Treacy estimated she would inevitably continue to suffer such abuse.
On the other hand, the Ironforged Tribe was in its golden age. As long as she followed the rules set by the Ironforged King, she could gain substantial benefits and advantages.
After careful deliberation, White Dragon Treacy still leaned towards staying.
She was tired of the miserable days of constant insecurity, when her only treasures were animal bones and stones.
"Besides," Treacy thought happily as she twirled in the air, "Garos had asked me earlier if there were any other hidden young or juvenile dragons in the Frontierlands."
"The Ironforged Tribe plans to emulate the blue dragon community by adopting young dragonkind."
"With new young and juvenile dragons appearing, my ecological niche among dragonkind will rise higher. I can bully those young and juvenile dragons, and even when they grow up and bully me back, I'll be used to it. I can continue to bully new young and juvenile dragons for amusement."
Through her long life of being discriminated against and discriminating against other dragons,
White Dragon Treacy had come to understand a fundamental truth:
An ecological niche is not fixed; rather, it is constantly changing.
In the presence of the Ignis Brothers, Treacy's niche would plummet to its lowest point, making her the lowest-ranked dragon in the pack, subject to constant humiliation and trampling. However, among ordinary young and juvenile dragons, her niche would soar, transforming her into a formidable half-step adult great evil dragon. Even if those young dragons looked down on white dragons, they wouldn't dare voice it, leaving her free to bully them as she pleased.
"Even Garos," she mused, "would see his niche diminish when facing an adult silver dragon or a more powerful legendary creature."
Treacy continued to ponder deeply. "Thinking about it this way, even legendary powerhouses and divine spirits are bound by my Dynamic Niche Theory. A lesser deity facing a greater deity can hardly maintain the same lofty status they hold in the eyes of mortals; they would likely feel quite humble."
White Dragon Treacy suddenly had an epiphany: "In this world, unless one is the absolute supreme power, all creatures are inevitably humiliated by those stronger than them, and inevitably humiliate those weaker than them."
"No one is inherently nobler than another."
"Any humiliation I endure is fundamentally just a strong entity bullying a weak one. It's ubiquitous; I don't need to care."
She had achieved enlightenment, ultimately arriving at a profoundly philosophical conclusion.
Since it didn't matter where she went, Treacy decided to remain with the Ironforged Tribe. After all, the dragon population here would only grow, allowing her to continue being humiliated by powerful dragons while also having the opportunity to humiliate weaker ones in return.
As the number of young and juvenile dragons adopted by the Ironforged Tribe increases, my ecological niche will continue to rise.
Heh, eventually, only a few dragons above me will be capable of humiliating me, but the number of dragons below me that I can humiliate will far outweigh them.
With this realization, White Dragon Treacy felt an extraordinary sense of comfort and contentment in both body and mind. She soared through the sky with even greater abandon, dancing gracefully through the wind and snow.
Just as Treacy was lost in this blissful state, the deep, resonant sound of a horn pierced through the thick curtain of snow from afar. She immediately stopped circling and turned her sharp dragon eyes toward the ground.
This distinctive horn call could only mean one thing: another demon had emerged from the abyssal rift.
From her vantage point high above, Treacy could see the guards stationed around the rift rapidly converging from all directions. At the center of their forming encirclement, the once pristine white snow was visibly blooming with eerie black-purple spots—a telltale sign of abyssal energy corrupting the Material Plane.
Unlike the other guards, Treacy felt a thrill of excitement.
Based on past experience, this abyssal rift had never spawned particularly powerful demons.
More importantly, under the current extreme weather conditions, she could unleash far greater combat power than usual.
"It's time these demons tasted the bitterness of humiliation!" The white dragon extended her slender tongue to lick her jaw before beating her wings violently, swooping down in a blizzard of snow and wind.
Boom—!
The ground shuddered violently as the abyssal rift tore open, gaping like a wound in the earth.
Quasits swarmed out in a dense tide, pouring forth like blood.
These goat-sized demons with tiny wings let out excited cries the moment they touched the air of the Prime Material Plane.
Next came the imps, their twisted torsos and limbs grotesquely disproportionate.
Then the fiends, their bodies covered in festering sores and bulging pustules, reeking of filth and decay.
As the demons massed together, the abyssal aura grew thick and suffocating.
(End of the Chapter)
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