Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

However, with this newfound information, a new revelation dawned upon Rain. He considered the possibility that those craters were not merely the aftermath of fierce conflicts but rather remnants of the dragons' arrival - as if they had descended like meteors after traversing space from other planets. The idea that the dragons might have arrived on the planet in a manner akin to meteorites crashing into the ground appeared to align with the evidence of the craters observed at the battle sites. It presented a plausible explanation for how the dragons appeared suddenly within the beast people's territory during those conflicts. Rain now considered the prospect that the dragons were not native to the planet but perhaps beings that were bred outside, descending upon the world like celestial bodies plummeting from outer space once they reached adulthood… that at least would make sense for all the species aside from the water dragons… "If the first dragons left the world after killing all humans… perhaps they went to increase their numbers in other planets," Larisa said while nodding. "That wouldn't explain why Mars vanished, though." "My memories of the fighting were returning, but I don't recall anything akin to the destruction of a planet in the solar system," Nigel said. "Then again, we didn't have many chances to look beyond the sky thanks to the dust… it covered our world for decades." "That maybe was something caused by them to prevent us from seeing what was happening outside the planet," Isa said. "... Why aren't you saying anything? You know more than us, right?" "I don't have any reason to share what I know unless I gain something in exchange," The woman in the darkness said. "You learned how the world turned after all these years, but you didn't say a single thing about your experiences at the time," Larisa added. "I will share anything useful when I decide to do so, and not a single minute earlier," The woman in the darkness said. Rain felt like massaging his eyebrows… it was like dealing with children. Children that had too much power and had no idea how to handle it properly. Still, Rain shouldn't have expected anything else since he knew that when people have power, they show their true colors. "First of all… let's confirm the number of dragons here and what they are doing," Rain thought while moving toward the mountains using the Water Mirror Technique. Rain approached the mountains as carefully as he could to avoid detection. As he got closer, he eventually found some spots where the wind was blowing so strongly that it became clear that some dragons were dragon were there… However, Rain couldn't approac since the snowstorm would reveal his position. If he gets closer, a fight will definitely break out. In the end, Rain decided to move along the mountain range to check all those spots and he found around ten places where he definitely could feel powerful presences ahead… but he couldn't see anything that far ahead even with his Magic Eyes because of the mana being emitted by the ice dragons. "... It almost feels like they are using Dragon Rage all the time to emit this aura and keep this snowstorm as powerful as possible," Rain rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "In any case, they definitely are the strongest dragons that I have seen since the dragon god… five thousand years old? Maybe they are ten thousand years old." "That seems like a fair estimation…" Larisa said. "Since one of our guests are so uncooperative, perhaps you could seal them away and force them to reveal what they know about the beginning of this new world." "Only the dragon gods would know enough, that is what Isa said," Rain said and then rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Anyway, I don't think that the dragon god and the teleport guy are allies, so maybe I can kill or seal them and make it look like it was the teleport guy." "And I am the bad guy around these parts," Nigel shrugged. "Everything is fair in war, even more so when the enemies are assholes," Rain said. Despite Nigel's words about Rain's potentially morally ambiguous tactics, he knew that in a survival scenario, he wouldn't hesitate to resort to questionable methods if it meant gaining an advantage over his enemies as well. The complexities of the situation weighed heavily on Rain's mind. He remembered that the teleporting guy had aided the humans during the initial dragon invasion, showing a willingness to support humanity against the dragons, even while keeping themselves hidden. However, there remained an underlying discomfort within Rain regarding the teleporting guy's stance toward his interventions in the world's affairs. While the teleporting guy seemed opposed to Rain's influence over the world, he also appeared uninterested to interfere actively in the final battle against the dragons. This reluctance to take significant action during the decisive conflict troubled Rain, raising questions about the teleporting guy's true intentions and motivations. They probably assumed that there was nothing to be done in an all out war of that scale. Amidst these considerations, Rain remained resolute in his quest to stop the ice dragons' activies. He knew the potential repercussions of his actions, acknowledging that manipulating adversaries against each other might be a necessary evil in the face of a dire threat such as the dragons' dominance. "My children are no longer kids… they survived in this unforgiving world by themselves, so I don't have to be lawful good all the time," Rain thought. "Even though that would be helpful to improve the effects of the virtues." "Still, can you deal with them all at once without making it look like you have returned?" Larisa asked. "No… I guess I also need to learn the Shadow Clone technique," Rain rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Too bad shadow magic apparently isn't a thing… or maybe it is and no one was able to use this so far. This system is lazy as heck, it only has skills and paths of what people already learned. I need a better golden finger."