Last Egg: Reincarnated as a Dragon in a Game

482  The Rertreat!

POV: The Dragon of Craftsmanship

A giant golden portal flickered in the center of the frosty chamber, its golden halo reflecting on the ice walls and floor of the chamber. Rows of thrones, each a testament to power and rank, ascended in tiers around the room. The highest throne forged of pure gold stood vacant, the only living dragon lord absent.

On the second highest layer, Allesia sat silently in her humanoid form atop her green marble throne, interwoven with living vines that contrasted starkly with the cold surroundings. Her eyes absently stared at the pulsing portal.

"This order... it doesn't sound much like their lordship." At last, she shattered the silence of the recently rebuilt draconic council.

"We have received this order through the connection of our blood and souls. There is no doubt of its authenticity," countered the only remaining occupant of the chamber, a burning figure on the throne of black volcanic stone, his fiery form casting a warm, flickering light against the cold, blue ice.

Alesia nodded silently, knowing that the youngest member of the three pure, true dragons was right—his only recently awakened draconic soul, not yet blinding his judgment.

'Still, to run away?!'

She felt her heart clench with fury at the order, the conflicting emotions mirrored in the way the golden light played across her features. The supreme authority of the dragon lord, though unseen, was palpable in the room, casting a heavy weight upon the air. Despite her wishes for the orders to be false, their authenticity was undeniable.

"In that case, start the preparations; we are temporarily retreating from this world. Spread this order to every member of the dragonkind!" she declared, her voice resonating with reluctant authority.

Even though her draconic blood boiled at the thought of abandoning the world, even temporarily, to the lesser beings, even though only temporarily, the remnants of her elven calmness prevailed.

'We have risen from the ashes only to be immediately engulfed in the war. We need more time to grow in numbers.' She knew the last dragon lord was right.

POV Vesuvius:

As the dragon, engulfed in a chaotic stellar storm in the nebula around him, watched the city below him, his heart changed. The tall skyscrapers of glass and the vehicles on the road all reminded him of his more human side.

He made a mistake, and the regret of it made his star-like eyes dim. 'I went down the same road as the old dragons before me, too proud, too arrogant...'

Even though he had the path of retreating from the world engulfed in war to grow stronger in silence, he threw his entire, only recently revived race into a disadvantaged war.

'All the excuses I made...' He always tried to deny the option of retreating, burying it under the false reason, 'Unknown enemies? What nonsense! What is the chance of finding enemies stronger than in Lorenia on some random planet?!'

He knew he let his draconic side grow too strong—the same unreasonable personality that brought their race to ruin once again, preventing him from making the best decisions.

"Mortals, submit peacefully to my rule, or fight and be destroyed!" His voice billowed over the city, the buildings visibly quaking.

'This planet will be a perfect temporary base for my kind.' His soul hurt when he thought of his minions and kin fighting to distract enemies and buy him the time to ascend to a dragon king.

'It is not a shame to retreat temporarily if it will make the victory less painful.' He assured himself of the rightness of his decisions while panic erupted on the streets. "Come, my kin!" With the movement of his claw, a blinding golden light tore the sky above him, revealing the burning star inside his divine kingdom.

Roars and roars came out, making him even more confident in his decision.

'They might call me coward... but it is still for their good.' He has finally forsaken his dump pride and brought the peace for his kind to grow stronger. Their kind was broken and weakened; they didn't need a war, but time to heal.

'Sigh, no more of trading lives for more time.'

Golden eyes lit up in the portal of his divine kingdom, the predatory and greedy eyes of the wyrms, dracowyrms, dracodactyles, war draconids, and false and lesser dragons, all staring at the city below.

POV Hero:

The hooves clapped against the stone rubble as the white rider on the white horse galloped through the breach in the wall. He paused and just stared into the distance of the valley opening before him, his blue cloak billowing in the wind.

'The monster is gone?!' The terrifying storm wyrm that devasted entire armies was absent.

'This silence...' he turned his gaze into the sky, but the ever-present shadows of various draconic monsters were also gone.

It was a victory; the monsters retreated, but an unsettling feeling awakened within him: 'What is that slimy lizard planning this time?'

He was the first ever to challenge the current world threat, seeing it for the evil threat it had had since the beginning, yet it was always too smart, manipulating everyone around it.

Meanwhile, in the capital of the Vesuvian Empire:

POV BoobaFet:

The false dragon spearman watched from the highest tower on top of the volcanoes, the long lines slithering down the street far below him. The armed kobolds marched up and down, loading the carriages drawn by the wingless wyverns with chests and barrels.

He still didn't know what was happening—the entire order coming out of nowhere and too suddenly.

"Lili, just tell me what the hell is going on?!" He looked at the female robes by his side, his head hurting just at the thought of the entire situation. Just a few hours earlier, they were fighting a defensive war over their borders, and now they were invading another world.

"Stop distracting me and keep your guard up! It is only a matter of time before they notice the lack of resistance and swarm us."

'We have all changed...' Booba sighed, reminiscing of the old times when this was just a game.