Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat - Chapter 629

Chapter 629: The Dragon in the Egg 

Ethan peered into the murky depths of the giant egg. Inside, a vague silhouette shifted within the gloom. He had already encountered two dragons: the Dragon Child, who embodied the Blue Dragon, and the little Golden Dragon, born from the Ancestral Dragon’s Imperial Aura. Yet what he saw now was something altogether different. Whatever slumbered in that egg did not look like any dragon he knew.

The creature’s body was immense and elongated, its eyes glowing black and yellow in the half-light. Three horns jutted from its head, and, strangely, not a single scale covered its body. It was serpentine but not quite a serpent, closer perhaps to a monstrous mudfish than a wyrm. Beneath its belly, five limbs flexed faintly, each ending in clawed digits. That detail caught Ethan’s eye—the little Golden Dragon in his palm also had five legs. The Dragon Child, in her true form, had only four.

It made him wonder. The little Golden Dragon, formed from the Ancestral Dragon’s aura, seemed to hold a higher status than the Dragon Child, though Ethan couldn’t say for certain. Was this mudfish-like being another step above them, or something aberrant entirely? Legends spoke of five-clawed golden dragons as kings of their kind, but those were just tales. There were also stories of wyrms transforming into dragons after surviving countless trials, though the Dragon Child herself had dismissed that as nonsense. Still, this strange creature, too, bore five claws. Ethan’s mind spun with questions. What was it, truly?

Then the thing inside the egg stirred. It opened its mouth, and a deep, resonant roar rolled out—”Aooo…wooo…”—a sound that seemed to reverberate straight through Ethan’s soul. His whole body trembled inside the mech suit. The roar carried genuine draconic might, the same kind of oppressive power he had felt from his own Blue Dragon’s aura.

“Damn… it really is a dragon. But its aura feels… confused. Could it be some kind of hybrid?” he muttered, his expression tightening as he drifted closer.

“You human ant, how dare you insult this venerable one… hmm?”

The voice cut through the water—rough, old, and unmistakably speaking in human tongue. Before Ethan could react, the creature flicked its head, and several long whiskers, like the tendrils of a catfish, shot outward. The tough membrane of the egg split with a shriek that felt like space itself tearing. A surge of alarm jolted Ethan into motion; he darted aside just as one of the whiskers lashed past, slicing the water where he had floated a heartbeat ago.

The tendril stretched far beyond the egg, writhing upward through the water curtain above. When it pulled back, it dragged with it three wriggling fish—one of which was the same kind of strange fish Ethan had ridden in on. In an instant, all three were swallowed into the egg’s depths.

“Three of them… it’s been far too long since this venerable one’s had a proper feast! How curious—how did a human insect like you get in here? Hmph. No matter. I’ll spare you for now. You can’t escape anyway. Once I’ve eaten, we’ll talk.”

The monstrous dragon-catfish lowered its head and began to chew. The crunching echoed through the water, deep and unsettling. Only then did Ethan realize that it hadn’t actually been attacking him earlier. The creature had merely been feeding itself, using those whiskers to draw in prey. The bottle, it seemed, was designed to catch fish from outside and deliver them directly to it.

“Eeyah-yah…”

A soft cry broke through Ethan’s thoughts. He turned the mech’s head and saw the little Golden Dragon huddled behind him, its bright eyes wide with both excitement and fear. It trembled as it peeked at the egg, tiny claws gripping Ethan’s shoulder armor. Whatever was inside terrified it—but at the same time, it seemed drawn to it.

“Eeyah-yah,” it chirped again, waving its two front paws with a kind of impatient insistence. Ethan frowned, then realized what it was trying to say. It wanted him to go over there. To fight that thing.

“Hmm? That human… What’s behind you? Why does it smell of… it?”

The voice rumbled from within the egg, low and distorted, vibrating through the water. The creature’s glowing eyes narrowed, fixing on Ethan.

“You mean this?” Ethan reached behind his neck and carefully pulled out the little Golden Dragon.

“Eeyah-yah!” The tiny dragon squealed, struggling frantically in his grip, its fear almost palpable.

The monstrous creature’s pupils contracted. “Ancestral Dragon… hatchling?” Its voice rose sharply, and it slammed its massive head against the edge of the egg. The whole shell shuddered, but it didn’t crack. The beast reeled from the rebound, its breathing ragged, yet laughter burst from its throat.

“Hahaha… good… good! The wheel of time turns, and retribution comes quickly! Ancestral Dragon, you never thought it would end like this, did you? And so weak! Come, let this venerable one devour your essence and erase you completely!”

With a hiss, one of its long whiskers lashed out, slicing through the water toward Ethan.

“Get lost!” Ethan snapped, pulling back his mech’s arm. The thrusters roared to life, and he threw a punch.

Boom!

The impact shook the water around them. The force hurled Ethan backward, his mech’s stabilizers flaring as he regained balance. Across from him, the creature’s whisker recoiled violently, and a hiss of pain echoed through the chamber.

“Human ant! How dare you wound this venerable one!”

Its colossal body thrashed in fury, chains clattering around it. Ethan flexed his arm inside the suit, his hand numb from the shock. But his eyes lit up.

‘That hit actually hurt it… It’s not that strong.’

A grin tugged at his lips.

“Don’t start bragging, mudfish. Forget this ‘venerable one’ nonsense—you’re just a glorified catfish in a cage. I can knock you around whenever i want. So go on, tough guy, come out of that shell and let’s go some rounds!”

Ethan’s tone was deliberately mocking, almost cheerful. He had already noticed that the creature couldn’t leave its prison. The altar and the cage were one structure—bound together in a formation that siphoned the creature’s draconic aura whenever it moved. Even when still, traces of its power were constantly being drained into the altar beneath. That last outburst had cost it dearly; when it slammed its head, a surge of aura had flared up, only to be instantly absorbed.

No wonder the island’s altar now stood deserted. If anyone had still been performing rituals here, they would have noticed something was wrong long ago. The wyrms who once came to this place to “worship” were in fact growing by feeding on the dragon’s stolen essence. The altar’s design ensured that none of that power was wasted—it harvested every drop, storing it for the next generation of supplicants to draw from. This so-called Pilgrimage was nothing more than an elaborate form of parasitism.

The monstrous dragon knew all of this. It had endured endless years trapped in that prison, its strength continuously leeched away. It also knew that every time it struggled, the cage drank deeper of its essence. Yet the human’s words—so insolent, so casually disrespectful—made its blood boil.

“Little ant! I am the ancestor of the Dragon Clan! How dare you speak so to me! In ages past, I would have crushed you into dust!”

Its voice shook with fury, but it did not move again. It didn’t dare. The outburst had already cost it half of the essence it had spent centuries recovering.

Ethan smirked. “Oh, really? The ancestor of the Dragon Clan, huh? Then what’s this little guy supposed to be?”

He held up the tiny Golden Dragon by its tail, letting it dangle in front of him. The little creature wriggled and chirped in protest, its golden scales glinting faintly in the dim light.