Re-Awakened :I Ascend as an SSS-Ranked Dragon Summoner - Chapter 413

Chapter 413: Queen’s mandate

The notifications flooded Noah’s vision in rapid succession, each one accompanied by a warm pulse of energy that seemed to resonate in his chest:

[BOND RECOGNITION DETECTED]

[IVY SHOWS EXTREME ATTACHMENT TO SUMMONER]

[EMOTIONAL RESONANCE: GRATITUDE, LOYALTY, PROTECTIVE INSTINCT]

[RECOMMENDATION: ESTABLISH FORMAL BOND CONNECTION]

[WOULD YOU LIKE TO CREATE A PERMANENT BOND WITH IVY?]

[WARNING: THIS PROCESS IS IRREVERSIBLE]

[YES] [NO]

Noah didn’t hesitate. ‘Yes.’

[BOND CREATION INITIATED…]

[CONNECTING NEURAL PATHWAYS…]

[ESTABLISHING EMOTIONAL LINK…]

[SYNCHRONIZING COMBAT RESPONSES…]

[BOND CREATION COMPLETE]

[NEW BOND ESTABLISHED: IVY, THE THORN EMPRESS]

[BOND STRENGTH: MAXIMUM]

[BOND TYPE: PROTECTIVE DEVOTION]

The sensation was unlike anything Noah had experienced with Storm or Nyx.

Where Storm’s bond surged with the untamed force of a blizzard barely held in check — a raw, instinctive imprint that had existed since the moment he broke free of his shell — and Nyx’s burned with molten ferocity, a fierce, almost sibling-like loyalty forged through time growing together, Ivy’s connection was something else entirely.

It was grounded on fierce gratitude, sharpened by an almost maternal protectiveness, wrapping around him like a living shield. If Storm and Nyx were bound to him because they had never known a world without him, Ivy stayed because she had chosen him.

[CALL PHRASE ASSIGNMENT REQUIRED]

[PLEASE DESIGNATE SUMMONING COMMAND FOR IVY]

Noah smiled, the decision already made during his moment of hesitation. The word came to him naturally, perfectly suited to the dragon who had suffered so much but retained her deadly beauty.

“Ivy,” he whispered, his voice carrying across the battlefield with quiet authority, “Bloom.”

The response was immediate and catastrophic.

THRRRUMMPH!!!~

The ground beneath Noah’s feet didn’t just crack—it exploded upward as massive roots burst through the soil like artillery shells breaking through armor plating. These weren’t the delicate tendrils of normal plants, but gnarled, ancient-looking structures as thick as the support pillars of skyscrapers, their surfaces covered in thorns that gleamed like polished steel.

Emerald light pulsed through the roots like liquid fire flowing through veins, spreading across the entire battlefield in seconds. Wherever the green luminescence touched, the ground erupted in violent botanical growth. Razor-edged vines thick as Noah’s torso burst from the ground, wrapping around fallen trees, scattered debris, and the facility’s outer walls with crushing force that reduced concrete and metal to powder.

The air became thick and heavy, saturated with the intoxicating scent of blooming flowers—jasmine, roses, and something else Noah couldn’t identify but that made his pulse quicken. Beneath the floral perfume lay an unmistakable metallic tang, the smell was so overwhelming yet unmistakeable. It was without a doubt, the smell of blood.

Above the chaos, supported by an intricate lattice of living roots that wove together like the framework of a massive cathedral, a colossal flower bud began to form. It was easily fifty feet across, its petals tightly closed but pulsing with the same emerald light that flowed through the root network. The bud grew larger with each pulse, its surface shifting between deep green and rich red as internal pressure continued to build to impossible levels.

One pulse. The entire battlefield trembled.

Two pulses. Nearby trees bent away from the growing pressure.

Boooom!!!!

The bud exploded.

The detonation was silent but devastating, sending thousands of blood-red petals scattering through the air like a swarm of organic blades. Each petal caught the light as it fell, revealing edges sharp enough to slice through steel. They drifted down like deadly snow, embedding themselves in the ground, the facility walls, and anything else unlucky enough to be in their path.

From the heart of the shattered blossom, Ivy emerged.

She was smaller than Nyx but moved with a grace that spoke of perfect predatory control. Her scales shifted between deep forest green and rich jade, each one edged with gold that caught the light like captured sunlight. The thorny ridges along her spine and wings had regrown since her captivity, now longer and more elaborate than before, creating patterns that were both beautiful and unmistakably lethal.

Her wings spread wide as she descended, revealing membrane patterns that looked like stained glass windows depicting scenes of forests and growing things. But there was nothing peaceful about her presence—every line of her body spoke of a predator that had been caged too long and was eager to demonstrate exactly what that captivity had cost her enemies.

She was war made beautiful.

Noah felt his throat tighten. “That’s… just gorgeous,” he breathed, not caring that the comms were still open. Lucas swore softly in the background. Kelvin held Lucy by the arm with an almost reverend gaze. Kaia and the rest including uncle Dom looked up in shared astonishment.

More notifications cascaded through Noah’s vision:

[NAME: IVY, THE THORN EMPRESS]

[SPECIES: THORN ASSAULT DRAGON]

[ABILITIES: FULLY ACTIVATED]

[Thorn Assault Dragon: Natural Arsenal]

[Ability 1: Razor Vine Whips – Controllable plant weaponry]

[Ability 2: Toxic Breath – Poisonous gas projection]

[Ability 3: Thorn Barrage – High-velocity spine projectiles]

[Ability 4: Living Armor – Regenerating bark defensive plating]

[Ability 5: Root Bind – Subterranean entanglement attacks]

[Ability 6: Spore Cloud – Area denial through botanical agents]

[Ability 7: Garden Sanctuary – Accelerated healing through life energy]

[Special Buff Activated: Queen’s Mandate]

[The battlefield becomes an extension of Ivy’s will. Terrain within her influence grants enhanced recovery and control to the summoner while creating hazardous conditions for enemies.]

[Buff Effects:]

[Regenerative Bloom – +3% HP per second for allies within affected area]

[Thorned Path – Enemies suffer -35% movement speed and bleeding damage]

[Root Curse – +4% Void Energy per second for summoner within domain]

Noah felt the buffs take effect immediately. The ground beneath his feet pulsed with life energy, and he could sense his void reserves beginning to regenerate at an accelerated rate. Around him, his team looked up from their evacuation efforts as they felt the healing effects wash over them.

“You seem to have this covered,” Lucy said, looking up at the dragons.

“Yeah, we’ll just go back in there and fetch the test tube babies. After that, dibs on Ivy. I ride first!!” Kelvin said with excitement.

Noah nodded and turned away. His attention was focused on the three Category 5 beasts approaching through the storm-darkened sky.

Through their bond, he felt his dragons’ intentions without needing words. Storm, newly awakened and ravenous from his healing hibernation, had locked onto the Phantasm Hydra—the multi-headed creature whose various breath weapons represented the kind of challenge that would satisfy his hunger for complex combat. Lightning was already beginning to arc between his wings as he prepared to engage.

Nyx, ever the proud one, had fixed his burning gaze on the Cinderheart Behemoth. The massive, slow-moving creature represented exactly the kind of opponent that would allow him to demonstrate his raw destructive power, and Noah could feel his anticipation through their bond.

That left the Abyssal Basilisk for Ivy, and Noah sensed her satisfaction with the arrangement. The serpentine creature’s subterranean capabilities and corrosive breath would be a perfect test for her.

The three Category 5 beasts had spread out as they approached, clearly intending to surround the facility and overwhelm through coordinated assault. But they hadn’t counted on facing three dragons who had spent their entire lives preparing for exactly this kind of challenge.

Storm struck first.

The Hollow Blizzard Monarch activated his Lightning Dash, disappearing from his position in the sky and reappearing directly above the Phantasm Hydra in a crackling display of electrical energy. His Thunderbolt Strike followed immediately, a concentrated beam of lightning that struck the creature’s central mass with enough force to crater the ground beneath it.

The Hydra’s response was immediate and devastating. All six of its heads turned toward Storm, each one unleashing a different breath weapon simultaneously. Superheated plasma jets, cryogenic vapor, corrosive acid, sonic pressure waves, and photonic blinding bursts filled the air where Storm had been hovering.

But Storm was no longer there. His Arctic Shroud had activated, wrapping him in a protective barrier of supercooled air that allowed him to phase partially out of normal space. He reappeared behind the Hydra, his Winter Vortex already spinning up to create a localized blizzard that began freezing the creature’s multiple necks.

Meanwhile, Nyx had engaged the Cinderheart Behemoth with characteristic directness. His Dive Bombing attack carried him down from the sky like a falling meteor, his molten core ability already activated and raising his internal temperature to match his opponent’s thermal output. The collision when he struck the Behemoth’s armored hide was audible for miles, sending shockwaves through the ground that cracked the facility’s foundation.

The Behemoth’s response was to release a massive Heat Burst, venting stored thermal energy in an explosion that would have incinerated anything within a hundred meters. But Nyx’s Fear Aura had already taken effect, disrupting the creature’s concentration at the crucial moment. Instead of a focused explosion, the thermal energy scattered in all directions, turning the surrounding forest into an inferno but leaving Nyx free to follow up with his Magma Bomb breath attack.

Ivy’s engagement with the Abyssal Basilisk was more subtle but no less devastating. As the serpentine creature attempted to burrow underground to launch a surprise attack, her Root Bind activated, sending massive root networks deep into the earth to intercept its movement. The Basilisk found itself trapped in a cage of living wood that tightened with each attempt to break free.

When the creature finally managed to surface, breathing its corrosive mist in Ivy’s direction, she responded with her own Toxic Breath—a cloud of spores and botanical agents that neutralized the acid while introducing compounds that began breaking down the Basilisk’s nervous system.

For a moment, it looked like they had it under control. Storm’s lightning turned the Hydra’s sky into a stormfront, Nyx’s molten strikes split the Behemoth’s armor like wet bark, and Ivy’s vine network kept the Basilisk penned in like a rat in a maze.

But then Noah’s gaze cut past the fight — to the facility.

Cracks spiderwebbed through its reinforced walls. Smoke curled from shattered vents where the earlier bombardments had rattled loose fuel lines. And inside… creatures still waited for their chance at freedom. Elven prisoners still waited for someone to carry them out.

‘We’re winning the battle,’ Noah thought grimly, ‘but if that place goes down before we clear it, the victory means nothing,’

He opened a channel. “Lucas, status on evac — we’re on borrowed time,’

As he listened to the status, he continued to watch on to see the outcome.

Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!