"Ooooooooh! Finally! At last, I have touched upon heaven on earth, damn it!"
The ecstatic roar thundered across Ward Village, a tiny settlement perched on the edge of the grasslands before the Redwood Forest. Startled villagers spun around as one, eyes wide at the source of the commotion.
In the center of the village square sat a strikingly handsome young man named Rooster. He was perched cross-legged atop a wooden barrel, clutching two massive herbal roasted chicken drumsticks that radiated a heavenly aroma. He tore into them with a primal ferocity, his face slick with glistening grease.
"Human! Bring more!" Rooster barked at the trembling shopkeeper. "This roasted bird is a masterpiece of the highest order! You should be honored to serve a god such as I!"
"Everyone! I am so, so sorry!" Ceylon cried out, bowing frantically to the terrified locals. "He… he just recovered from a fever, you see? His brain is a bit scrambled from the shock. He'll grow out of it, I promise! Please, don't mind the madman—I mean, the patient!"
Rooster froze, a chicken bone mid-gnaw, and fixed a sharp glare on the fallen princess. "You lowly human! How dare you suggest my intellect is compromised? I am Rooster, the All-Knowing Sage of the Universe, damn it! And you… stop standng there naggnig and go get me five more drumsticks! Now!"
"Ah… yes! Right away, My Lord! I'll get them on the spit immediately!" the villager stammered, bolting toward the hearth. Only moments ago, Rooster had demonstrated 'one percent of his divine physical prowess' by shattering a village monolith with a single punch—simply because someone had told him the chicken wasn't ready yet.
"You!" Ceylon marched up and yanked Rooster's ear hard. "Why do you have to threaten people just to get a snack? Do you have any idea how much you're ruining the reputation of the Antaurus Dynasty?"
"Ow, ow, ow! Let go, you stubborn woman!" Rooster snapped, shaking her off and tilting his chin up haughtily. "You have no right to lecture me! The fact that I deign to consume my own kind in this realm is the highest honor I can bestow upon them! They should be rejoicing at the chance to enter my sacred stomach!"
"Sure, sure… talk as if you're actually a chicken, oh Great God of Roast Poultry," Ceylon sighed, her gaze drifting toward the Redwood Forest. "But let's eat and move. I'm getting a strange feeling from that direction…"
[At the Temporary Base Camp, Redwood Forest Perimeter]
While Rooster indulged in his feast, the atmosphere on the other side of the woods was strained to the breaking point. Over a hundred adventurers, clad in heavy plate armor, stood in rigid formation. This was no ragtag band; every soul present was a Rank A or Rank S veteran.
At the vanguard stood a man with flowing golden hair, encased in pristine white armor etched with intricate filigree. The holy sword at his hip pulsed with a radiant light of hope. He was the Hero Icel, the darling of the entire kingdom.
"Alright, listen up!" Icel's voice rang out with absolute authority. "This mission is no game. We are facing the Titan Dragon—a beast the size of a mountain!"
He unfurled a strategic map. "The plan is simple: I will lead a vanguard of ten elite adventurers into the Redwoods to draw it out. The goal is to lure it into the ambush zone by the river, where we have already deployed the Fodder Harpoons!"
A murmur rippled through the ranks. The Fodder Harpoons were colossal siege engines designed specifically to pierce dragon scales, requiring a three-man crew to aim and channel mana into each bolt.
"Once it's pinned and immobilized… wait for my blue flare!" Icel thrust his sword toward the sky, the blade catching the sunlight in a brilliant flash. "When you see it, unleash everything! Strike at the weak point beneath its throat! We will end this legend with our own hands!"
"YEAHHHH!!!" the crowd roared, their morale soaring.
Icel stared into the depths of the Redwood Forest, his eyes sharp and cold. "The strongest dragon, hm? This time, I'll prove who the true Hero is. Forget those ridiculous rumors about a 'Golden Chicken' slaying dragons… if that bird dares to steal my glory, I'll slaughter it without hesitation!"Within the opulent throne room of the Antaurus Kingdom, the atmosphere was thick with shadows and unspoken treachery. Two men clad in obsidian black knelt before the throne, their voices trembling as they delivered their grim report.
"My King… the mission to assassinate Princess Ceylon has failed," one stammered, his head bowed low. "A bizarre creature intervened—a chicken. We believe it to be the 'Golden Chicken' from the rumors, the one that reportedly took down an S-Rank Fire Dragon."
The King of Antaurus let out a long, weary exhale, his eyes flickering with a complex web of emotions. "I see… and where is she now?"
"She is traveling with a young man, Sire. He is insufferably arrogant, looking down on all of humanity as if they were insects. However, aside from his sharp tongue, he appears to be relatively harmless."
The King fell silent for a moment, whispering to himself, "If only Ceylon had listened to her father, things wouldn't have escalated to this point. But she is far too stubborn." Suddenly, his gaze turned ice-cold, devoid of any paternal warmth. "Very well. Since the Hero Icel and his legions of adventurers have gathered at the Redwood Forest… find your moment in the chaos. Kill Icel. I will not have that thorn in my side any longer!"
[Redwood Forest: The Labyrinthine River Zone]
The silence in the Redwood Forest was eerie, almost suffocating. Towering ancient trees reached toward the heavens, their massive canopies blotting out the sun and plunging the forest floor into a perpetual, ghostly twilight. Hundreds of adventurers lay hidden among the brush and giant roots, holding their breath so tightly that the only sound was the rhythmic rush of the nearby river.
"Maybe the damn thing is already dead?" Maduro, a giant S-Rank fighter, grumbled under his breath, tightening his grip on his massive axe. "This graveyard silence is starting to get on my nerves."
Whistle—! BANG!
A flaming arrow streaked across the sky—the signal from the scouts! Icel did not hesitate. He snapped his fingers, igniting a flare of brilliant blue mana. "Everyone! Battle stations! It's here!"
BOOM!
A titanic shockwave ripped through the forest. The ten scouts of the vanguard were hurled through the air like ragdolls, battered and broken, as a colossal shadow descended, swallowing the sky in darkness.
It was the Titan Dragon. Its sheer scale was incomprehensible—a living mountain of stone-grey scales. Its wingspan was so vast it seemed capable of shrouding the entire world, and with every beat, the ancient Redwoods groaned and swayed under the pressure.
"Don't lose your nerve! Hold your positions!" Icel bellowed. "Fire the Fodder Harpoons—NOW!"
Three adventurers stationed at a submerged ballista triggered the mechanism. THWANG! A massive steel harpoon tore through the water at supersonic speeds, erupting from the river and burying itself deep into the Titan Dragon's chest, the tip bursting out through its back. Thick, cerulean dragon blood erupted like a gruesome waterfall.
ROOOOOAR! The beast's shriek shattered the silence. The gargantuan form began to plummet, crashing into the earth with the force of a localized earthquake.
"We did it! It's down!" the adventurers cheered, their voices rising in triumph.
"Fall back, everyone! It's not over!" Icel screamed, his voice laced with sudden dread.
He was right. The Titan Dragon unhinged its massive jaws, gathering a terrifying concentration of energy before unleashing a torrent of primordial flame that incinerated everything within a kilometer radius. Icel leaped into the air, drawing his Elemental Blade, which shimmered with the light of four distinct elements. "Elemental Fission!"
He swung, his blade cleaving through the sea of fire, but the sheer volume of the blast triggered a secondary explosion. KABOOM! The blast leveled the surrounding Redwoods, leaving nothing but splintered wood and a choking shroud of dust and smoke.
"Phase One! ATTACK!" Icel commanded through the haze.
"FOR GLORY!" A war cry erupted as twenty heavy-armored tanks and berserkers charged toward the Titan Dragon, which was even now struggling to claw its way back to its feet.