Chapter 376: Chapter 371: Great Change and Investigation Chapter 376: Chapter 371: Great Change and Investigation The elf elders, upon hearing the queen’s plan to bide their time for a few years, exchanged looks of understanding but stayed silent. It was clear that the power of the ruling duke was formidable. So much so, even the queen, blessed by the gods and with an exceptional talent who broke through to legendary status at a young age, had no option but to yield.

Of course, if Dilara ordered them to wage war against the current Lockman Kingdom, they would have tried to dissuade her. Nobody relishes waging a war they are certain to lose; a war that could potentially lead to the extinction of their kind.

Now, the queen seemed to have understood this, planning to lay low during the Golden Dragon’s reign, and only resume their invasions after its departure. This was clearly a wise decision.

It was only a waste of time, and as eternal life beings, what they had in abundance was time. So they could wait and see how long the Golden Dragon intended to rule.

What bothered them was the annual tribute of resources valued at 50,000 blocks, which the queen was not going to provide. That meant it was up to the elf elders to pool the funds.

“Hmph, do you think I plan to stage a counterattack after this Golden Dragon leaves?” Seeing her subordinates with their different thoughts, Dilara snorted in annoyance.

“Whether this Golden Dragon leaves or not, even if it intended to stay in the Lockman Kingdom for life as duke, I wouldn’t care. In less than ten years, there will be a Great Change on our Nocchio subcontinent that will shake the world to its core. What good would even ten ancient dragons do against this change? The slightest carelessness could turn them to dust.”

Upon hearing the Elf Queen’s words that seemed to carry shocking insider information, the Zor Elf Elders were stunned.

As inhabitants at the pinnacle of the world pyramid, they have long since perceived unusual changes in their surroundings, a shift unlike the era they lived in before.

However, they didn’t know the reason behind these changes. But now it seemed their queen was privy to some secrets, even knowing the reasons for these changes.

“Wait patiently and don’t ask too much.” As one of the elf elders was about to inquire, the queen had disappeared from her metal throne, leaving only her words resonating in the empty hall.

…

In the western region of the Lockman Kingdom, over the endless ocean, Ebute led his exploration legion on a hurried flight above the calm sea, after arriving at the Isman Fortress through a teleportation array and learning the location of Cloud Island from the legion leader stationed there.

After almost twenty-four hours of continuous flight, this giant exploration legion finally saw the many Cloud Islands surrounded by hurricanes. Even these giants, most of whom had lived on Cloud Islands, were awed at the sight.

They had never seen such a large number of Cloud Islands, all gathered together. The key point was the massive hurricane group surrounding these islands. Anyone but a fool could see there was something abnormal about this wind. It was too clear! Winds couldn’t normally form in this way.

“Has anyone ever lived on a Cloud Island that was surrounded by this kind of wind?” Asked Ebute, the leader of the Cloud Giants, who was levitating in mid-air by casting a spell and addressing the giants around him.

“Never seen before.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen this kind of Cloud Island.”

…

All of the giants shook their heads. Before coming to Titan Cloud Island, they all lived as dispersed family units, so there were almost no large scale gatherings as was the case with Titan Islands.

In other words, out of the hundred Cloud Giants here, except a portion that lived on land, the remaining majority grew up living on Cloud Islands. Their assertion that they have never seen this before would mean that none of the double-digit number of Cloud Islands resemble the large patch of islands they were currently looking at.

“There could possibly be some powerful creature living on this Cloud Island.” Ebute stared at the crystal clear wind with a grave expression on his face. “This wind could very possibly have formed because of that powerful creature.”

“How powerful does it need to be to form a wind belt of this scale?” A Cloud Giant asked with a look of shock and awe upon hearing Ebute’s speculation.

“Powerful enough to wipe us out with a single breath.” A Storm Giant coldly uttered these words from atop a Giant Peng. He somewhat begrudged taking orders from a Cloud Giant as Prince Mureya had instructed him to. However, orders were orders and had to be followed. For now, he limited his dissatisfaction to grumbling.

“Surely it’s not that terrifying!” A Cloud Giant standing beside Ebute laughed nervously, finding it hard to imagine being killed by a mere gust from a creature’s mouth.

“Indeed, there might be such a powerful being.” Ebute said solemnly. “However, it won’t likely attack us arbitrarily. Such pure wind is not something an evil creature can possess. So there isn’t a high risk, but we still need to prioritize survival. If you encounter dangers that can’t be resisted, retreat quickly.”

“Ebute, is this the attitude you have towards the task given by His Majesty?” A Storm Giant questioned.

“Prince Mureya didn’t specify a timeline for the exploration.” Ebute retorted, “If I risked my comrades’ lives for this exploration, it’s then that His Majesty would reproach me.”

“Everyone, prepare to break through the wind barrier and enter the Cloud Island. Safety is the priority.” With magic staff in hand, Ebute cast a spherical shield that was beyond the imagination of an ordinary human mage, enveloping all the Griffins and himself within it, and then took the lead in breaking through the wind barrier to enter.

The wind barrier’s defense wasn’t strong. Soon, all the giants with the Griffin group pierced through the wind barrier, landing on one of the Cloud Islands. Then, a Cloud Giant cast a detection spell. Not detecting immediate danger, the Cloud Giants spread out to explore this Cloud Island.

What surprised the giants was that the flora and fauna of this Cloud Island weren’t much different from a normal Cloud Island. If there were any differences, it would be that there were particularly many wind attribute creatures here, which meant that local creatures here moved incredibly fast.

After nearly three hours of exploration, the Cloud Giants hadn’t captured an intelligent, gold rank creature to communicate with. But this problem was soon overcome.

A Storm Giant patrolling on a Giant Peng found a Cloud Giant family living next to a waterfall. Upon receiving the report, Ebute immediately led his subordinates to approach them, as communication would be easier with their own kind.

“What kind of giants are you?” A male Cloud Giant, standing around thirteen meters tall with a heavy sword in hand, asked the well-equipped giants that were slowly surrounding his home with an uncertain air.

“Brother, don’t be nervous, we are of the same kind!”

“Do you take me for a fool? Since when did Cloud Giants tower as tall as you?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read