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"Finally escaped."

Tinia shook her frost-white wings, stretched her neck, and let out a joyful howl.

"Awoo~"

As if remembering something, her slit pupils flickered, and she suddenly appeared rather annoyed, icy air seeping through the gaps of her sharp teeth.

"Hmph, those despicable humans, forcing me to learn etiquette. One day, one day I'll freeze them all, then eat them one by one."

She tilted her head, instinctively glancing at the nearby palace.

"But if I do that... Master will definitely be furious."

"If it's just a beating, that's fine, but if Master locks me in that 'cage' again..."

Tinia couldn't help but shiver, trembling all over, and immediately dismissed the idea.

In truth, over these three years, this white dragon with a thin trace of ancestral bloodline had not caused any trouble. Instead, she obediently studied magic, etiquette, and even languages.

Unlike common white dragons whose bloodlines had degraded, Tinia's intelligence was actually comparable to that of ordinary humans, though she was still somewhat clueless in certain respects.

Her learning speed had even surprised the ogre archmage. All it took was Langpu dangling the bait of "Master favors educated retainers," and the white dragon became exceedingly eager, as if injected with vigor.

Now, Tinia had mastered basic communication in the common tongue, the fundamentals of royal etiquette, and had even learned transfiguration. Within her typically dim-witted species, she was practically an intellectual.

"When will Master finally awaken?"

Thinking of the unprecedentedly powerful red dragon, her rightful master, Tinia's face flushed slightly.

The white dragon sneaked closer, pressing her body against the outer wall of the palace—due to the influence of the red dragon's slumber, these metal walls were often scalding and red-hot, enough to cook raw meat, so much so that even the tiefling guards stationed around dared not touch them lightly.

White dragons, lovers of the cold who only ate frozen food, had little resistance to heat.

As soon as she touched the wall, Tinia's side emitted a searing "sizzle," and her pure white scales were charred black.

"Awoo~"

Tinia whimpered in pain, but stubbornly continued to rub against the wall.

She felt the heat from the metal as if it were her master's powerful, rough, and searing body, pulsating with wild and overwhelming strength.

"Master..."

Thinking this, drool hung from Tinia's mouth, her tightly scaled cheeks unable to hide the fascinated and enamored look on her face.

The tiefling guards were about to investigate the disturbance, hoping for a reward for capturing an intruder, but upon realizing it was the white dragon, they slunk away like they'd seen a plague—this had happened many times before.

In a sense, this white dragon was beyond saving.

Suddenly, a powerful gust of hot wind erupted from the palace's center, and the ground began to quake, forming fissures.

"Crack, crack."

"Boom!"

With a thunderous explosion, Tinia, lost in her daydreams, was abruptly startled awake.

She flapped her wings and awkwardly took off, wobbling in midair, letting out a panicked howl:

"Awoo~~"

The tiefling guards near the palace were also terrified, urgently retreating and evacuating to avoid ending up like those unfortunate predecessors who had died in the palace.

"Gurgle, gurgle."

Scalding magma poured from the fissures, turning the surroundings into a deep black lava field.

"No! Get out of here now!"

"We must leave immediately!"

The tiefling captain in charge of palace security, Ekmon, immediately turned pale.

Cracked ground, bursting magma, smoke and ash filling the sky—the scene before him was almost identical to last year's disaster. He had been there, stationed at the palace's perimeter, helplessly witnessing the inferno swallow the unfortunate tieflings.

He had been powerless to help, forced to watch them die. And now, the disaster seemed to have come for him as well.

To Cassius, this was just a trivial leakage of power during his slumber, barely worth mentioning. Yet even a speck of a dragon's might was enough to bring utter catastrophe upon mortals.

"Run! Cough, cough!"

Ekmon shouted, but the fine ash particles had already entered his mouth and nose, causing him to choke.

He quickly followed his training, covering his nose and mouth with his clothes and bending low as he moved, trying to leave the hellish place as soon as possible. The other tieflings followed closely behind.

But with another "crack," the ground split open once more, deep chasms blocking their path, spewing forth more searing magma.

"Cough, cough."

"No, I don't want to die..."

Gazing at the sky thick with ash, Ekmon's face showed despair as he muttered.

"Am I really going to die because of His Majesty's 'morning grumpiness'? That would be quite the joke."

The ash nearly blotted out the sky, with not even a ray of sunlight piercing through. Magma flowed across the ground, and the earth cracked open, mercilessly cutting off their escape route. The area around the palace resembled an apocalypse.

Tinia, too, flew desperately through the volcanic haze, her body covered in ash, almost turning her into a "black dragon."

Fortunately, white dragons could fly and were far more resilient than mortals. Though she looked rather battered, she managed to flee without her life being in jeopardy.

But the tieflings were not so lucky. They faced an inescapable doom.

Just as Ekmon was about to succumb to complete despair.

"Roar—"

Suddenly, a loud dragon's roar echoed, stretching out as if from ancient times.

Accompanying this sky-shaking roar, an invisible wave of influence expanded rapidly. As the wave arrived, all the turbulent magical phenomena suddenly calmed.

The ash that had shrouded the sky visibly dissipated, the flowing magma receded back underground or cooled into solid rock, the searing heat that twisted the air abated, and even the scorching ground began to cool.

All of this happened in just a few breaths' time.

The scene that had resembled an infernal catastrophe returned to normal.

"I... I actually survived!"

"Huff, huff!"

Ekmon patted his chest, breathing heavily to calm his racing heart after his narrow escape.

He turned to look at the majestic palace within the walls.

"His Majesty... has awakened."