Pirate Kingship

Chapter 430 - 342: Skin Peeling and Bone Scraping: The Crown of the Dragon King, The Chief of the Gods

Chapter 430: Chapter 342: Skin Peeling and Bone Scraping: The Crown of the Dragon King, The Chief of the Gods

An invisible spiritual light, unseen by anyone, swept across Tayapan in an instant.

It was as if numerous seasoned auditors had tallied up every asset owned by the city-state, converging them into a massive golden treasure chest that materialized before Byron.

From a beast bone needle to the twelve-layered Pyramid, including the Number One Crystal Skull and the ownership of the Heavenly God Itzamna himself—everything was encompassed within.

SNAP!

The chest opened automatically, revealing three radiant hooks inside: one purple, one gold, and one red.

Upon seeing them, Byron immediately understood these were the tiers of treasures he could extract from Tayapan.

Among the three tiers, purple was the highest and red the lowest. Their combined value was roughly equal to that of his about-to-be "liquidated" stock price.

My greatest contribution to this city-state was the life-saving vaccine I gave them during the smallpox plague, which can be considered an investment, Byron thought. Although they paid me a ’monopoly trade right,’ it was not equivalent in value to the lives of 70% of the city’s population. At the time, my priority was to preserve this vast population of 13 million, to contain Castilia’s military advance, and then plan for more benefits later. That’s why I offered a friendship price. Moreover, the execution of the ’monopoly trade right’ faced many obstructions from the Tayapan higher-ups, with only a handful of nobles joining the trade system. All that spillover is right here now.

Even if it was the red hook, the lowest tier, meant to guarantee some baseline value, it should still be of considerable worth. But what one could extract within the same tier still depended on a bit of luck.

As Byron rubbed his hands together, ready for the draw, he suddenly remembered his deep-seated terrible luck, a trait he’d had since childhood.

Whenever it came to games of chance, he would more often than not face a crushing defeat, and hesitation crept in.

Others didn’t know that in addition to being scheming and cunning, he was also notoriously unlucky. In the past, during such moments of chance, it was usually his sister, Catherine—who possessed such incredible luck she could find money just by stepping outdoors—who took the lead. But now, although Catherine was not present, Violet seemed to have a sufficiently lucky aura.

"Miss, do me a favor..."

After a brief explanation, Byron stepped aside.

The girl approached, hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the red hook, the least valuable one, and threw it mightily towards the center of the city.

THUNK! It sounded as if a fishing line had suddenly gone taut.

In the next moment, the hook was swiftly reeled back in, before the two of them could clearly see what they had caught.

"ROAR—!"

A terribly agonizing scream suddenly erupted from the battlefield at the heart of the city-state.

It was the Demon Dragon. Just moments before, it had been prevailing against a hail of bullets and a siege of Third Order Transcendents and Guardian Spirits. Now, it clutched its chest, stumbling backward.

With every step it took backward, its aura weakened and its body shrank.

In just a few breaths, its size had been reduced by at least a quarter, and its majestic strength diminished accordingly.

Speed, power, and defense all declined. The breaths from its five dragon heads also became significantly weaker.

Finally, even the dragon’s form started to regress significantly, appearing more like a bloated, clumsy-looking lesser dragon beast.

The pressure from the indigenous allied army dropped drastically, and their counterattack surged fiercely.

"Did you see that red light just now? My prayers have been answered; this must be the great power of the ’Father of Healing’!"

"The ’Father of Healing,’ who saved the entire Taino Group, is a true god! After his death and ascension, I will kneel and worship every day so that his head might become the fourteenth Crystal Skull of the Taya People."

"The Demon Dragon is weakening! Charge with me!"

Under the lead of Cortes, the ’Conqueror,’ nearly twenty Third Order Beast Spirit Warriors from the various city-states, transformed into their beast forms, surged forward all at once.

At last, they inflicted real damage on the Demon Dragon, piercing its scales and wounding its flesh, covering it in blood from head to toe.

Byron looked down. Violet was holding a red orb in her hands, and inside it floated a luminous, multicolored liquid.

Her sapphire-like, lovely large eyes widened involuntarily.

"Is this its Dragon Blood?"

Moreover, it was five-colored Dragon Blood, purified by an Incarnation of a Heavenly God.

Even though it was not as potent as the blood of true dragons, in an era where genuine dragons had long since vanished, it was exceedingly precious.

Presented in any church’s taboo rituals, it would be first-rate Extraordinary Material.

The sweet, bloody scent also stirred a yearning inside Byron. No, it made his index finger twitch with desire.

The Night Demon instinct within him knew a sip would vastly benefit him. Not only would it aid in enhancing his Night Demon power, but thanks to the boon of the ’Infinite Evolver,’ it would also significantly bolster the growth of his Blue Dragon Vein, guiding him further down the path of ancestral return. But now was not the time.

Suppressing the surging appetite within, Byron nodded at Violet.

"Put it away for now," he said. "When we get back, we’ll use this Dragon Blood to inscribe your fifth Curse Seal; I’ll drink the rest afterward."

"Alright."

Accompanying Byron on one trip had advanced her "Deep Sea Lineage" Promotion Ceremony by five-sixths. The girl instantly smiled like a little fox, her eyes curving in delight.

In contrast, at a crucial point in the great battle, the Demon Dragon had its ’core asset’—essential to its maximum strength—stripped away to settle a debt. This was a fate a hundred times crueler than anything found in the capital market!