The Rise of the Titan

The sky was overcast, filled with thick, low-hanging, gray-yellow clouds. The icy wind howled, stinging the skin like needles.

"Heavy snow is coming. Damn this weather," grumbled a soldier, bundled tightly against the cold, as he glanced up at the sky from the fortress wall. Despite growing up in this ice-covered world, he would never like this climate.

"Move around and warm up! Check your weapons! When the snow starts falling, keep your eyes wide open and don't let a single creature breach the Winterfort," bellowed the officers clad in heavy armor as they patrolled the broad walls, wide enough for sixteen carriages to drive abreast. They yelled at any soldiers found slacking off in the shelter of the parapets.

There were many such officers. The harsher the weather, the more vigilant the border soldiers had to be, for many monsters tried to use the weather as cover to cross the border into human territories.

In this perpetually snow-covered land, humans were easy prey. For lesser monsters, slipping into human realms meant abundant food, never having to suffer hunger again.

Before long, large, fluffy snowflakes began to fall, quickly filling the space between the sky and the ground. The soldiers on the walls found their visibility drastically reduced; seeing more than three meters was a rare gift.

Such heavy snowfall caused the soldiers and officers alike to scowl. This severe weather was uncommon. They still believed it to be a natural snowstorm, unaware that something far more sinister was behind it.

It wasn't until...

"Aah!" ...that screams began echoing along the walls, signaling that something was wrong.

"What's going on? Why are there so many monsters trying to breach the fortress today?" A third-tier silver officer swung a ballista mounted on the wall, aiming at an ice python that had been spotted by the patrol and was now wreaking havoc.

"Thwip!" The ballista fired, sending the bolt whistling through the snowy air. The five-meter-long bolt, inscribed with runes for piercing, tearing, and penetrating, ripped through the ice python's steel-hard scales, pinning it to the ground. This was a weapon designed to repel and kill white dragons; an ice python stood no chance.

As a dozen soldiers armed with spears moved in to finish off the pinned python, a ten-meter-tall silverback gorilla suddenly leapt onto the wall, smashing down on the soldiers' heads and crushing two of them into pulp.

"Roar!" The giant ape roared, smashing the nearby soldiers with its fists, reducing them to scrap. In the astonished eyes of the officer manning the ballista, the ape yanked out the bolt pinning the python, freeing it.

"Monsters working together?" Seeing the scene before him, and hearing the continuous sounds of ballistas firing and the roars and cries of monsters and dying men, the officer's heart sank. No reinforcements had arrived; this was clearly a premeditated attack.

"Roar!" A powerful dragon's roar resounded above, causing the officer, reloading the ballista, to shiver. It was the effect of dragon fear.

"A white dragon!" The officer's face grew even grimmer. Things were heading in a very bad direction. After that initial roar, more dragon roars followed, darkening the officer's expression further.

"It seems we won't survive this day. Damn monsters," the officer laughed bitterly. Surrounded by the advancing giant ape and ice python, he aimed the ballista at the python one last time, then drew his sword and charged, igniting his body in a final act of defiance...

"This is going smoother than I expected!" Claudia, transformed into a white-haired girl, stood on a glacier surrounded by numerous white dragons, overlooking the carnage at the fortress below.

The blizzard couldn't obstruct her vision; after all, she had summoned it, concealing the presence and movements of the monsters under her command, allowing them to scale the fortress walls undetected.

"Vile dragon!" Nearby, a human lying on the ground, bleeding heavily, glared at the fearsome aura exuding from the girl. If this fortress fell, his country would be defenseless save for its city walls. His homeland would be trampled by monsters, his family devoured.

"Evil dragon? Hah!" Claudia's face remained impassive. Frost silently crept over the man, turning him into a frozen corpse. "Hypocrites."

This was one of many outposts equipped with alarm systems, the eyes of the fortress. There were over a hundred such structures around the fortress, but none had functioned. Claudia and her white dragons had neutralized them all. Her assault on the human kingdoms of the north was no spur-of-the-moment decision.

"For ages, how many white dragons have had their heads chopped off and displayed by humans for glory? When humans kill white dragons, it's 'righteous' and 'honorable.' But when white dragons kill humans, we're labeled as 'evil.' It's absurd. 

In reality, it's just competition for territory and resources between humans and dragons. It has nothing to do with good or evil." Claudia's face showed a hint of disdain. "This war is for the survival of my 1,300 white dragons. No matter how many humans die, it's our justice, white dragon justice."

"Wise words, my lord. By human logic, this war of ours is indeed just," a thousand-year-old ancient white dragon flattered.

"Don't mimic their pointless rhetoric. We fight for survival. There's no need to distinguish between good and evil. The world is just survival of the fittest. Might makes right."

Claudia pointed towards the fierce battle below. "It's your turn. Go make sure our first battle ends in victory."

At her command, the white dragons around her dove into the fray. The strongest defender of the fortress, a general with peak soul-intent power and the bloodline of an ice bear, stood no chance against the dozens of soul-intent-level white dragons attacking. His fate was sealed.

News of the attack spread like wildfire. Within three days, the Grand Duchy of Venia, located on the far edge of human territory in the Deprazen Continent, had been conquered by a legendary white dragon leading an army of 100,000 monsters.

Due to the intricate relationships among human kingdoms, the rulers quickly learned of the swift and devastating war that had obliterated Venia.

In less than a day, Claudia, the newly ascended legendary white dragon, had overrun the Winterfort, defended by Venia's 500,000-strong elite force, and completely annihilated them.

To make matters worse, the Grand Duke of Venia, oblivious to the disaster, was still indulging in luxury. Only when Claudia and her forces reached the capital did he realize the gravity of the situation.

The Grand Duke, a legendary warrior now lost in decadence, foolishly chose to confront Claudia, facing her directly in a drunken stupor. Before nearly a million residents of Venia's capital, he met a "heroic" end, crushed by the legendary white dragon.

The news shocked the rulers of the human kingdoms, who then began plotting how to divide the fallen Venia among themselves.

For ages, the image of white dragons as foolish and greedy had been ingrained in the minds of humans on the Deprazen Continent. Most rulers believed this newly emerged legendary white dragon would plunder and then retreat. So, none suggested a punitive expedition; they simply awaited her departure to carve up Venia's remains.

But reality dealt a heavy blow to the human rulers' expectations. Claudia, with her boundless ambition, showed no signs of stopping after conquering one human duchy.

She led her monster army and a hastily formed human auxiliary force to attack the neighboring Duchies of Blackwood, Brandon, and Greatland, showing no intention of pausing.

Unprepared, the rulers of these three duchies, who had been mobilizing troops to claim Venia's lands, were caught completely off guard by Claudia's invasion.

In just twenty-five days, these three human duchies fell entirely. Their close-combat legendary rulers all perished, unable to flee. It wasn't their bravery but their inability to escape Claudia's grasp that led to their deaths. A human legend stood no chance against a legendary dragon in direct combat.

This news sent shockwaves across all the human kingdoms on the Deprazen Continent, leading to the formation of a legendary dragon-slaying expedition aimed at Claudia.

Her aggressiveness had exceeded the tolerance of human rulers. No one doubted that if she were allowed to consolidate her hold on the four duchies, she would soon launch even larger invasions.

"The backlash from conquering four duchies at once is coming! If I can withstand it, I'll be able to use the resources of these four kingdoms to support myself and grow even faster. If I can't..."

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