Chapter 179
Hiccups POV:
It's been twelve days since I used the last of my dragon eye lenses and discovered the legend of the four dragon kings who were imprisoned beneath the mountains for saving the people from the drought that plagued the land and those days have been both relaxing yet busy. The first five days had been me relaxing with the girls enjoying some down time and preparing for the long journey to free the four dragon kings from their wrongful imprisonment. During the preparations consisted of me gathering supplies for the long journey and studying the pendant, figuring out how it worked. I learnt that it could shrink down and grow at will and what's more when I mentioned the name of one of the dragons the map could show me the best route to them along with known information on them like how they each be one of the essence of the four seasons.
It was interesting and with the pendant I was able to decide where to go first but before I embarked on my journey however, I had Astrid and Blanca return to my island with Zhang Yong, Stormfly and my new dragons along with dropping of my new treasures and Chang's staff all to be sorted later. They weren't happy about this but if I was going to risk the anger of the Jade Emperor then I wanted them out of his territory as he might try to get to me through them. Along with that we'd been gone for a lot longer than I originally thought we would, and I knew Astrid's parents were worried about their daughter. When I dropped her and Stormfly off at her family's home her parents rushed out and pulled her into a hug that was so tight I couldn't believe her ribs didn't break. They then grabbed me and began questioning me about what happened in China, if I let anything happen to her and other things until Astrid told them to back off and claimed she'd tell them everything that happened.
After that I had to deal with my parents who wanted to know what my trip was like, what I saw and of course my mom asked for the chance to study the new dragons. I was happy to allow her to do so since it calmed her down and made my dad happy to see her so happy which allowed me to inform them that I was going back to China to free the four kings. When they learnt about the four kings through telling their story and how it could lead to angering the leader of the local gods who might come after me. It was this last bit that set them off since they pretty much forbid me from going anywhere near China and tried to confiscate the pendant from me but I was faster and hid it in my spiderpack where they couldn't get it.
After that I reminded them of all the major threats, I'd gone up against in my life including the titan Chronos who was by far one of the most powerful beings the world has ever known. They weren't happy about it, but they accepted it and made me swear to come back to Berk as soon as I was done, keep in contact through Blanca's wedding ring and not to hop into any unnecessarily dangerous situations. After that I spent one night on my island, but Blanca made sure I knew how much she was going to miss having me to cuddle in bed and I wasn't complaining one bit.
All of this brings us to now with me finally laying eyes on the mountain where the first of the dragon kings was being imprisoned after six days of flying. I smiled at the sight of the mountain and steered Toothless towards the peak of it since I figured it would be the best place to start the search for a way in and allow me a chance to think of what I did know about the dragon king imprisoned within it. Reaching and landing on the peak didn't take that long and once we'd landed, I dismounted him smiling while giving his head a rub and scratch as I said.
"Thanks for the lift bud." He just crooned as I looked around. "Now let's look for some clues on how we can get into the mountain to free the king."
He growled and nodded before walking off while I rubbed my chin in thought going over everything, I knew about the dragon that was imprisoned in this mountain. This mountain was said to be the prison of the black dragon king Xuánlóng who is known as the dragon king of the north and is said to be the essence of winter. Besides that, the pendant didn't show much else other than how he and the other kings were the largest dragons in the China with fire power that was unrivalled by any other dragon species and are able to summon the power of the seasons when necessary. Along with this the four-dragon kings are said to possess a "sensitivity", which allows them to sense potential dangers and a powerful healing factor. This healing factor is said to be so strong that when a scale is cut off from one of the dragon kings and used properly for medical means it holds powerful healing properties but that doesn't mean they can't be injured. Besides that, I learnt Xuánlóng was also known as the 'dark dragon' or 'mysterious dragon due to his scale colors which besides the season he commands is one of the few things that separates him from the other kings.
I sighed in annoyance wishing the pendant gave me an idea of where I could find a way into the mountain to release Xuánlóng from his prison while letting him know I'm a friend. I felt like slapping my head in realization that the pendant might be the answer to finding out how to get into the mountain so I reached into my coat as my spiderpack brought out the pendant and put it into my hand. I pulled the pendant out and examined it in my hand trying to figure out how it could help me find my way into the mountain but didn't see how it could help until it glowed dark grey as a black coloured lens that rippled like the surface of water when I tried touching it formed in the opening. When I put my finger through it, it felt like water and when I pulled it out the lens immediately sealed up as if it were never damaged to begin with.
It was when I tried looking through it that things got interesting since everything was grey except a path that was glowing light grey and I knew this could be the key to finding my way in. I followed the light grey path getting a croon from Toothless but signalled him to stand back since I didn't know if this path would lead to the answer. I followed it to the edge of the mountain side where I saw it went down the side of the mountain before I released my hook and used it to slowly lower myself down the side with Toothless looking down at me in concern. I just gave him a smile and said.
"Don't worry bud, I'm just following what I think is the way to the black dragon king." He crooned and tilted his head. "Trust me bud, I don't know how it works but it's the only clue we have." He just growled and huffed making me roll my eyes as I continued down the side of the mountain until the path went into a large crack in the mountain side making me look back up at Toothless. "I think I've found a way in bud, but I've got to go in alone since the passageway is too narrow for you to get in so just fly around the mountain and keep an eye out for trouble." He growled and nodded before he took off into the sky while I looked back into the entrance. "Now let's see where this crack in the mountain leads."
With that said I made my way in through the crack and after pulling my hook back to me I made my way deeper into the mountain by walking sideways and using the pendant to see the way to go in the darkness. The deeper I went the wider the cavern got so the easier it was for me to walk into the darkness, but I also noticed that it was getting colder as I went in. It eventually got so cold that I could see my breath but it didn't bother me thanks to my immunity to the cold so I was able to follow the golden path with no trouble but the strange thing was that there was soon snow crunching beneath my feet. It was then I finally entered a large snow-covered cavern that was cylindrical in shape and looked to be made of black stone and in the walls were indents. In these indents were black statues of soldiers that were made of the same black stone and each armed with a Chinese weapon known as ji's. Their ji's were made from the same material as the statues themselves and had a crescent moon shape facing outwards with a pointed blade coming out of the tops. The thing about these statues though was that I couldn't help but feel they were staring at me from the moment I first entered the room.
I ignored this feeling but pulled out my Bo staff and made it grow to normal size to be safe and turned my attention to what was in the middle of the cavern. There were four large pillars that reached up to the ceiling and connecting each of the pillars were stone supports connecting them but all at different heights leading upwards like a staircase. When I saw what was connected to them and the pillars along with what was in the middle of the pillars, I understood why they were built in such a way. Connected to the pillars and wrapped around the supports were large thick chains that looked to be made of pure jade and on the other end of these chains were shackles that were wrapped around the arms and legs of the very dragon I came to free while the long chains wrapped around it body.
The dragon that was shackled in the centre of this cavern was none other than the black dragon king Xuánlóng who was just holding still with his eyes closed but I know he was alive from the way his nostrils flared and the small pond he was sitting in rippled when he took a breath. I took a breath and began walking towards him as wondering how to break the chains as I began examining them from a distance. Before I could cross past the pillars though I thought it better to make sure there wasn't any trap to stop anyone from getting near the dragon. I put the pendant back into my spiderpack before I stabbed my bo staff into the ground leaving both my arms free so I could run a simple test. I picked up a single stone and gently tossed it towards the dragon.
The stone never made it past the pillars since as soon as it passed through the space between the two pillars there was a moment where a grey see through wall appeared that turned the stone to dust. I knew if I tried going through that wall then I'd probably end up the same as the stone, so I began thinking of a way through until the sound of stone cracking caught my attention. I immediately turned to the direction of the sound and saw one of the statues charging at me with the end of his ji pointed at me and ready to impale me on its end. I quickly stepped to the side dodging the blow before swinging my bo staff into the statues side making it go flying between the pillars and like the stone it was turned to dust by the protection. I smiled and took a breath as I said.
"Well that was easy." It was then the sound of stone cracking and snow crunching caught my attention and I turned to see the other statues had come to life and were now approaching me making me groan. "Why is it never easy?" I then readied my staff and got ready for a fight.
Nobodies POV:
Hiccup looked around at the multiple statues charging at him with the heads of their jin's ready to stab into his body, but Hiccup knew panicking is the worst thing anyone could do in an ambush. He took a breath before turning his prosthetic into its dragon claw form and turning to the nearest statue that immediately thrust the head of his jin at him, but Hiccup side stepped the blow and thrust his own staff forward into the statues gut. When the end of his staff contacted the statues gut Hiccup immediately made it rapidly extend pushing the statue back into another one behind it until they both slammed into the wall. The staff didn't stop extending and went right through the bodies of the statues before the stone that made up their skin and armour shattered into pieces leaving skeletons made of jade that remained still for five seconds before turning to dust.
He then quickly turned around while shrinking his staff down to a size that was only twice the length of its usual size as he swung his staff at the head of another statue. This knocked the head right off the statue and like the others the stone shell shattered while the jade skeleton within turned to dust after a few seconds. He then stepped back avoiding another stab at him from the side before he grabbed the pole of the ji and pushed it back into the gut of the statue and lifted it up with the statue on the other end of the pole. Hiccup lifted it up and flipped it over his head throwing the statue onto one that was charging him from behind and before they could recover Hiccup dropped the ji and swung his extended staff into their sides. The two statues were thrown between the pillars and like the other things that went between them was destroyed but the shield that caged the dragon.
Another statue charged at Hiccup with its ji extended but Hiccup sidestepped the stab of the ji before he swung his staff at the statues leg tripping it. Before it could get up though Hiccup ran up and placed his foot on the statue's chest pinning it down as he slammed the end of his staff into its head smashing it to pieces. Hiccup then turned in a swinging kick as another statue came at him activating his ox flame boots extended blades severing the torso from the legs ending the statues attack. Hiccup released three of his scimitars throwing knives and spun around throwing them at a group of six statues charging at him and smiled as the knives lunar mirage ability activated nailing each of them in various places destroying them.
Hiccup looked around for his next opponent and saw the statue was coming at him fast, so he jumped into the air and brought his staff down on the statue with such force that he split in two right down the middle. Hiccup breathed heavily while looking at the remains and looked around for any more of the statues but didn't see any more of them and smiled at the sight of there being no more statues. With the statues taken care of Hiccup shrunk his staff down and put it away before he picked up some of the black stones to check out later and turned his attention back to the dragon imprisoned within the centre of the pillars behind that strange grey wall.
Hiccups POV:
I walked up to the side of the pillars and ran a hand through my hair wondering how I was going to free Xuánlóng but then I remembered the pendant and figured since it got me this far it might help get me through to him. I reached into my coat and felt the pendant gently pushed into my hand by my spiderpack before I pulled it out and held it towards the wall between the pillars hoping something would happen. I smiled when the cracks in the pendant glowed grey before it floated and grew to the size of the map as it got between the pillars with the grey wall appearing around it but not within the ring. Just to be safe I threw a rock through the ring and smiled when it went right through without any trouble. I smiled but just as a precaution I put my prosthetic through first and when it wasn't damaged, I made my way fully through and was able to approach Xuánlóng. As soon as I walked through though the pendant shrunk down back to its original size before I picked it up and walked up to the large black dragon to see what could be done about the chains holding him. When I took a closer look at the pond, I knew it was the source of the river that lead out of the mountain since there was a large tunnel at the bottom in the side of the wall that I'm sure lead outside.
I then turned my attention back to the restraints on the dragon and when I felt the jade chains they were as smooth as glass but seemed to be harder than jade normally is, so chances are it was not going to be easy to brake. I was about to bring out my star sword to try and cut the chains but before I could the pendant started glowing again and floated out of my hand and began to grow with one side folding back to reveal a sharp black blade until the still covered side landed in my hand. This formed a sickle knife with a curved handle, and I had the feeling this blade would work better than my star sword since I had the feeling that this is what this knife was for.
Nobodies POV:
Hiccup slowly walked up to the chains holding Xuánlóng and ran his hand over one of them before he brought the knife up and tried to cut the chains with it. The blade cut the chain link as if it were made of butter and the blade was a hot knife before the link turned to dust followed by the rest of the chain and shackle holding the back-right leg. Xuánlóng let out a huff as it slowly moved its head making Hiccup turned to it worrying that it might do something that could mean trouble, but the dragon laid back down. Hiccup took a breath and did the same with another chain freeing his other back leg making him flex its claws and twist its arms in the shackles. Hiccup ignored this as he severed another chain freeing Xuánlóng's right arm before moving onto the final chain which would set the dragon king free. The second the blade cut into the chains Xuánlóng's eyes burst open revealing large golden eyes with a black slit in the centre that looked like a long tunnel with no end.
As soon as the shackle around its arm shattered it took off flying around in circles twisting its body and smashing the pillars into nothing but rubble as Hiccup stood back and watched while avoiding the falling rubble. Once all the pillars were nothing but rubble on the ground the black dragon landed and stared down at Hiccup who was standing right in front of its face. The dragon stared at Hiccup for a few tense seconds until it lowered its head while closing its eyes and letting out a gentle growl bowing to Hiccup as a sign of submission. Hiccup stared at the dragon in shock before he slowly walked up and gently patted Xuánlóng's giant snout while giving a gentle scratch making Xuánlóng growl in pleasure before turning his head and lowering it right to the ground as if asking Hiccup to mount him. Hiccup was a little unsure but nevertheless took the offer and mounted the back of Xuánlóng's neck and held onto his horns before they took off with Xuánlóng smashing through the stone as if it were nothing.
They burst out of the mountain shocking Toothless who was circling the mountain and turned to down to the direction of the sound to see Xuánlóng flying around the mountain with his rider behind his head holding onto the large dragons' horns. Toothless quickly gave chase wanting to ensure his riders safety but found it hard to keep up with the large dragon since he was so fast before they landed at the base of the mountain. Toothless landed in front of Xuánlóng and growled as if challenging him but Xuánlóng just looked down at him confused as Hiccup chuckled from his place on top of the giant dragon's head as he looked down at his companion and said.
"Calm down bud, he's alright." Xuánlóng lowered his head and Hiccup slowly dismounted him and gently patted the side of the dragons' neck before walking between them as he looked at the large dragon he gestured to Toothless. "Xuánlóng this is Toothless, my best friend and main riding dragon." He then turned to Toothless and gestured to Xuánlóng. "Toothless this is Xuánlóng, the black dragon king of the north and first of the four kings we'll be freeing."
Toothless growled before he reluctantly bowed making Hiccup smile before he turned back to Xuánlóng and began examining him without the darkness of the cave. Xuánlóng wasn't as thick as a Red death but he was no doubt a big with a body that was as thick and wide as two Viking huts with a head that was slightly larger in width of the body with both covered in black scales. He had blunt black spines running down his entire back with some sticking out longer than the others and down the back of his arms with his arms ending in four toes with curved black talons. His head had a long muzzle with two long whiskers and spines around his chin giving the appearance of a beard that was short around the chin but got bushier when it went around the back of his head and these spines also formed eyebrows but were shorter. He also had two fangs sticking out near the back of his mouth and two horns that were gold in colour, went back like a monstrous nightmares horns but they were shaped more like tree branches that had small bumps on them. The end of his tail had the same spines at the end of it and ended with two rows of flat black spines on both the top and bottom of the tail at the end. All in all, Hiccup knew this was one powerful dragon and had no doubt that the other three kings would be just as powerful if not more than Xuánlóng.
Hiccup then pulled out the pendant and activated its map so he could see what the nearest one to their location and saw it was Qīnglóng the Azure dragon king. He smiled as he collapsed the pendant back to its original size before putting it away and turned to Xuánlóng and said.
"Me and Toothless need to head out to free the other dragon kings so it was nice meeting you, but we have to go." Xuánlóng growled and lowered his head before bowing it to Hiccup and letting out a gentle growl. "Do you want to join us in freeing the other dragon kings?" He gave a gentle nod making Hiccup smile and gently pat his snout. "Welcome to the team then Xuánlóng." Hiccup then walked back to Toothless and mounted him. "Let's get going guys." With that said we took to the skies to begin heading to the mountain prison of Qīnglóng the azure dragon king.
Four days later
Hiccups POV:
It's been four days since we freed Xuánlóng and began our journey to the mountain that held Qīnglóng and that time we'd mostly been high up in the sky to avoid being spotted by the people since a dragon of Xuánlóng's size would no doubt cause a panic. Other than that nothing much has happened other than me using my prosthetic arms ability to identify the stone the statues were made of and found it to be black obsidian stone and it made me wonder if I'll encounter other statues like those ones guarding the other dragons but other than that, we made amazing time on our way to the mountain prison of Qīnglóng.
It was then the mountain came into view below us so I steered Toothless down with Xuánlóng following us until I jumped off Toothless and spread my wings allowing me to glide down onto the top of the mountains peek. Toothless soon followed while Xuánlóng circled around the mountain. I knew the pendant was most likely once again the key to finding a way into the mountain to free Qīnglóng so I reached into my coat as my spiderpack pushed the pendant into my hand. I pulled the pendant out just as it began to glow like last time but this time instead of glowing dark grey as a black coloured lens formed it glowed dark blue as a sky-blue lens formed. When I looked through everything was dark blue except a path that was glowing sky blue in colour, and I knew that like before this was the key to finding my way in. I turned to Toothless and said.
"Alright bud, it looks like it'll be the same as last time so just fly around the mountain with Xuánlóng until I get back with Qīnglóng." Toothless just growled and looked away. "Come on bud, it'll be fine since this time I know what I can expect if it's anything like the cave where Xuánlóng was being held." He just huffed before I used both hands to take his head and make him look at me. "Everything will be fine bud."
He just crooned before turning around and taking off as I brought the pendant back up to my eye and began following the glowing path and saw that like last time it led over the edge and down the side of the mountain. Like last time I released my hook and used it to slowly lower myself down the side with the pendant over my eye allowing me to see the path. Like last time I found an opening in the side of the mountain where the path continued but this time, I pulled my hook back in got ready to release my weapons since I wanted to know what I'd be up against before I brought out my weapon. As expected, the entrance was narrow at first but got easier to walk down the deeper, I got into the mountain but as I did, I went over what I knew about the Azure dragon. Like last time the pendant didn't show me much information other than how it's the dragon king of the East, embodies the essence of spring and is named Qīnglóng.
It was then I finally entered the chamber where Qīnglóng was being held and saw it was almost identical to Xuánlóng's cavern with the large pillars in the centre with jade shackles holding the azure dragon in place in the water of a pond. The difference was the walls were dripping with water and both them and the statues were dark blue in colour meaning they were made of a different material. Along with this the statues were all armed with crossbows and instead of there just being one row of statues there were two with one row above the other.
I put my pendant away as I examined the statues knowing if they were going to be like the other ones, I faced then I'd need to be careful and keep my guard up more since these ones would be attacking me at a distance so I wouldn't have their footsteps to warn me. Along with this they're around the entire room so I'd have to keep my eyes peeled since they're arrows could come at me from all directions. I figured I could try attacking one before they activate but if I did that then I'd be close to them so making it easier for them to aim and hit me. This was the kind of situation that I needed to think about, so I took out my dragon pipe and began smoking to help me think of a way to handle this obstacle on my journey. I gently puffed the smoke out of my pipe in thought before I was struck with the idea of how I could handle the statues bolts and take them down as well.
With a plan in mind I let out one last puff of smoke before I turned my prosthetic into its dragon claw form as I put my pipe away in my coat as the leg of my spiderpack pulled it in while another one took out the weapon I'd need for this fight. This weapon was my ice claw rings since they would allow me to return fire when I wasn't dealing with the arrows along with my spider packs. I put my rings on as I took a breath and let the claws form on my hands before cracking my neck so I could begin freeing Qīnglóng from his cage. I took one last breath before kicking a single stone in between the pillars and as expected it hit some sort of wall but unlike the last one that was grey this one was blue. Not a second later the sound of stone cracking filled my ears followed by a familiar whooshing sound making me drop to the ground in order to avoid the multiple arrows that were launched at me but instead went over my head as I said.
"Time to get to work."
Nobodies POV:
Hiccup heard them reloading their bows just as the ones above launched their arrows, but he dived out of the way of those arrows and launched a few icicles at some of the statues on the upper levels. He succeeded in hitting four in the heads shattering them while and the bodies followed after showing the jade skeletons within that soon turned to dust. Hiccup didn't get to enjoy this short victory since a second later the statues on the lower part fired their arrows at him making him dive out of the way. He saw three arrows hit each hit a statue but was surprised when they didn't even leave a scratch on them meaning he couldn't try using his grootslang coat to absorb the arrows and then fire them back since it wouldn't do any damage to them. Hiccup quickly tuck and rolled out of the way of multiple new arrows with the archers from above firing at his moving form, making a small row of arrows imbedded in the ground.
He stopped when he was kneeling in front of one of the statues on the bottom row, but he didn't give it the chance to fire as he stabbed his claws into its chest shattering it while releasing the legs of his spiderpack. He quickly used the top ones to stab into the upper indents lifting him up and out of the way of multiple arrows that imbedded themselves into the wall where her once was. As he lifted up though he used the bottom legs to stab into the two statues that were in the two indents on either side of the indent that now held the shattered remains of the statue he just destroyed. When the legs pulled him up fully, he swung his claws slicing up and shattering the statue that was standing inside it before it had the chance to fire its crossbow.
Hiccup then quickly dived out of the indent once again avoiding multiple arrows that were fired at him while also launching a few icicles from his ice claws and crystals from his spiderpack. He took out six more statues this way before running away from the wall that still had multiple archers who were readying their bows on the upper shelf while those on the lower shelf took aim at him. Hiccup backflipped out of the way of the arrows avoiding the arrows launched at him while pulling his spiderpacks legs back in before standing up straight and launching a few icicles back at them taking down three more statues on the upper shelf leaving one.
It was then the remaining statue on the top shelf let its arrow fly and since Hiccup was focused on the statues that were on the lower shelves, he didn't see it coming. The arrow barely missed him when he turned his head, so it only cut a few of his hairs but making him take a deep breath of shock. Hiccup glared at the remaining statues and stood in place as they launched their arrows, but Hiccup just leaned, ducked and turned his body avoiding the arrows without moving from where he was and caught the final arrow in his hand. He then launched icicles from his claws, nailing the statues in their heads and torsos before he smiled as they shattered with their pieces hitting the ground. Hiccup looked around for anymore statues but smiled when he saw there were none left and took a breath before he said.
"Finally, those statues were annoying." He then turned his attention back to Qīnglóng smiling. "Now to get back to freeing the azure dragon king."
Hiccup walked up to the invisible wall as he pulled out the pendant that glowed light blue before it floated and grew to the size of the map as it got between the pillars with the blue wall appearing around it but like last time it did not form within the ring. Hiccup walked through again before it shrunk down and floated back into my hand as he smiled and turned his attention back to chains holding the azure dragon behind me. Hiccup walked up to one of them and felt it feeling the smooth jade against his hand knowing how strong these chains were considering they're holding one of the dragon kings.
It was then the pendant started glowing again and floated out of his hand and grew with one side folding back but this time the blade it revealed was azure coloured before the covered side landed in his hand. Hiccup smiled at the blade before he began using it to cut the chains one by one and like the chains that held the black dragon the chains that held the azure dragon shattered. When it came to the last shackle Hiccup took a breath before cutting into it and the second the shackle around Qīnglóng's arm turned to dust his eyes golden yellow eyes with black slit pupils snapped open and he took off. He flew around in circles twisting its body and smashing the pillars into nothing but rubble like Xuánlóng did but while his was stiffer and throwing snow around, Qīnglóng differently throwing water around.
Hiccup stood back and watched Qīnglóng move his body as if he were swimming while Hiccup did his best to avoid the falling rubble that was once the pillars forming the cage. Once all the pillars were nothing but rubble on the ground the azure dragon landed and stared down at Hiccup who stood his ground as he looked up at the azure dragon in the eye. Hiccup looked at the azure dragon as it let out a final growl and lowered its head in a bow making Hiccup smile and bow back as he said.
"I am honoured to have helped you Qīnglóng." He then stood back up straight. "Right now, your comrade Xuánlóng is waiting outside with my dragon Toothless and I know Xuánlóng will be happy to see you again so let's get out of here."
Qīnglóng growled while turning his head offering Hiccup a seat on his neck like Xuánlóng did. Before he mounted him though he picked up some of the stones that made up the shell of the statues that he just fought so he could identify it later. Once he mounted Qīnglóng he took hold of the horns as Qīnglóng took off into the wall and digging through it like a screaming death while Hiccup just held on trying to avoid the rocks.
When they burst from the mountainside Qīnglóng let out a mighty roar catching the attention of both Toothless and Xuánlóng with the latter roaring back in joy at seeing his comrade again before flying up to meet them. They flew around each other going upwards before hovering up high with their bodies facing down while they bowed their heads down to each other. Hiccup smiled at the reunion before they flew down to the ground and dismounted Qīnglóng while Xuánlóng growled and roared a bit while gesturing to Hiccup a few times.
While they did this, Hiccup took this opportunity to study Qīnglóng since he was now out in the light and was able to see there was a lot more differences between him and Xuánlóng besides the colour of their scales while petting Toothless who had walked up next to him. To begin with Qīnglóng had spines running down his back but these ones were more like fins with lighter blue flaps and the front bone holding them being the same azure blue as the rest of the body while the end of his tail resembled a fishes tail. He also had the same head shape as Xuánlóng with the same spines forming a beard around the sides, but they weren't as bushy at the back and his horns were straight and pointed going back. He also had the same whisker like moustache at the end of his muzzle with the fangs sticking out from his closed lips making him look more vicious. It was then Hiccup was brought out of his thoughts when Qīnglóng turned to him and bowed to him making Hiccup smile and said.
"I'm guessing you want to join us on our journey to free the red dragon king and the white dragon king." He growled and nodded making me smile. "Then welcome to our little team Qīnglóng." He growled and once again lowered his head as I brought out my pendant while activating the map. "Now let's see which dragon is up next." I examined the map and saw that the nearest dragon was the white dragon. "It looks like the dragon who's closest to us is the white dragon king and if we start flying now, we might be able to make it in five to ten days." They all growled as I mounted Toothless. "Let's go guys." With that said we took off.
Six days later
It's been six days since I freed Qīnglóng from his prison and in that not much has happened other than me needing to calm Toothless down a few times. Apparently Qīnglóng and Xuánlóng weren't that respectful towards him since he might've been an alpha to the dragons back in the archipelago, but they didn't see him as such, even when he began glowing blue, they'd just snort at him unimpressed. I could tell they were proud dragon kings and it would take a lot more than a strong blast and roar to show them that he was worthy of the titles of alpha and king of dragons. I could respect this, but it doesn't mean I liked it or approved of the way they'd look at Toothless sometimes since he may not have been as big as them, but he was still my best friend.
Besides that, I'd used my prosthetic arm to identify the stone shells of the statues with the crossbows I faced when I went to free Qīnglóng as blue quartz. Along with this I'd done some research on the white dragon and like with the last two dragons it didn't give me much information other than how he was named Báilóng and held the essence of autumn. Getting to the mountain that acted as his prison took six days of flying which brings us to now. The dragons were circling the mountain while I was once again making my way into the mountain using the pendant that was making everything appear in light grey except for a glowing white path that I was following.
It was then I entered the cavern where Báilóng was being held and found it to be like the other to mountain prisons that held the dragon kings. There were differences though like how the place was made from white marble as were the statues, but I knew they had jade skeletons within them, but I saw these ones were all armed with two Chinese war hammers each. The Chinese war hammers looked a lot like normal maces, but they had shorter handles and the balls had only a single spike on top of the balls. I took a breath and put my pendant away before I brought out both my eagle shield, turned my prosthetic into its dragon claw form before I switched out my prosthetic hand for my flail knowing they'd be best to help me in this situation while also activating my leather vest. I knew if the way the last two attacks went it was better to be safe than sorry since I use Chinese war hammers to practice my fighting skills sometimes and knew being hit with one was no joke. With my weapons ready I took a breath and kicked a small piece of marble through the gate and as expected a transparent white wall appeared and turned it to dust. I looked around at the sound of stone cracking and saw the statues begin preparing their weapons before they charged at me as I sighed and said.
"This is really getting old." I then readied my shield and flail. "Time to get to work."
Nobodies POV:
The marble statues charged at Hiccup with their hammers ready with one charging ahead of the others right at Hiccup who in turn charged at the statue. He slammed the head of his flail into the gut of the coming statue throwing it back into the wall destroying it on impact before Hiccup swung his prosthetic arm while extending the chain knocking another statue into the side of the wall destroying it. Hiccup then quickly began pulling his flail head back into place, but this gave one of the statues the chance to attack him from the side and bring its hammers down on him. The hammers never reached him though since Hiccup quickly held up his shield blocking the blow causing a shockwave throwing the statue back into the wall destroying it.
Hiccup then turned to a group of four statues charging at him, but he quickly released the chain of his flail and slammed it down hard in front of them causing a shockwave throwing them back into the wall destroying them. Hiccup quickly pulled the head back while stepping aside avoiding a blow from another statue before folding up his shield and grabbing the statues outstretched arm and threw it into the invisible wall between the pillars destroying it. The head of his flail had returned to its slot before he pointed it at another charging statue with its hammers ready to be swung at him, but Hiccup pointed the flail head and launched it at the coming statue.
When the flail head struck the statue it was thrown back but before the flail could touch the ground Hiccup swung his flail up over his head and slamming it down onto another statue crushing it while creating a shockwave that threw the two statues at its sides into the walls. Hiccup smiled as his flails head returned to is slot before backflipped over a statue that tried to attack him from behind and then dropped to the ground sweeping his leg beneath the statue. The statue fell back but before it hit the ground Hiccup brought his leg down in a downwards kick on the statues stomach shattering the statue and taking it out of the battle.
Hiccup turned to deliver another punch with his mace head to the body of another statue sending it flying back as it crumbled due to the blow. He smiled and turned to another statue that brought its hammers down on him, but Hiccup stepped aside and grabbed the statues arm and swung the statue around into another charging statue. Before the statues could recover, he launched the flail head into their bodies knocking them both right into the wall between the pillars destroying them both. Hiccup took a breath and looked around for the next statues to fight but saw none left making him smile before he kneeled down and picked up a few of the shattered pieces and put them away in his spiderpack with the others as a souvenir from this fight.
When the stones were put away Hiccup pulled out the pendant and made his way over to the invisible wall between the pillars and held the pendant between them. The pendant like the last two times grew as it blocked out the wall leaving an opening for him to walk through and enter the cage that held the white dragon. As he walked towards the dragon the pendant started glowing again and floated out of his hand and grew with one side folding back but this time the blade it revealed was white in colour before the covered side landed in his hand. Hiccup smiled at the blade before he began using it to cut the chains one by one and like the chains that held the two other dragon kings that Hiccup freed.
Hiccup smiled at the blade before he began using it to cut the chains one by one and like the chains that held the black and azure dragon the chains that held the white dragon shattered freeing the dragon's limbs one by one. When it came to the last shackle Hiccup took a breath before cutting into it as Báilóng stretched out his talons and cracked them a bit. When the shackle around Qīnglóng's arm turned to dust his eyes snapped open revealing golden yellow eyes with black slit pupils before he took off into the air. He flew around in circles twisting his body and smashing the pillars turning them into rubble like Xuánlóng and Qīnglóng did, but his flying created large winds like autumns winds.
Hiccup stood back and watched Báilóng move his body as if he were controlling the wind while as usual, he was doing his best to avoid the falling rubble that once formed the cage holding the white dragon. Once all the pillars had been reduced to nothing but rubble on the ground the Báilóng landed and stared down at Hiccup who as usual stood his ground as he looked up at the white dragon and made eye contact. Hiccup looked into the eyes of the white dragon as it let out a final growl and lowered its head in a bow making Hiccup smile as he put the pendant that had shrunk back down back in his spiderpack and bowed as he said.
"I'm honoured to meet you Báilóng." He stood back up straight. "My name is Hiccup Haddock and outside with my dragon Toothless are your friends the black dragon king Xuánlóng and the azure dragon king Qīnglóng who I freed a few days ago before coming to free you." He growled before turning his head offering Hiccup a seat on his neck like Xuánlóng and Qīnglóng did before making him smile as he mounted Báilóng. "Let's go see your old friends."
With that said he took off through the stone breaking through it as if it were paper with Hiccup holding tightly onto the dragons horns even after they burst from the side of the mountain as he roared gaining the attention of the three dragons who were circling the mountain peak. Báilóng and Xuánlóng roared back in greeting to their old friend before flying down to meet both their old comrade and the one who freed him. They flew around each other going upwards before hovering up high with their bodies facing down while they all bowed their heads down to each other. Hiccup smiled seeing their joy at being together again before they flew down to the ground allowing Hiccup to dismount Báilóng while the other two growled and roared a bit while gesturing to Hiccup.
While they did this, Hiccup took this opportunity to study Báilóng since he was now out in the light and was able to see there was a lot more differences between him and the other two besides the colour of their scales. He began petting Toothless who had walked up to take his usual place next to him while the much larger dragon kings discussed things with each other.
When it came to appearance Báilóng looked a bit more like Xuánlóng than Qīnglóng since he had the same blunt spines running down his entire back with some sticking out longer than the others and down the back of his arms with his arms ending in four toes. The difference between his spines and Xuánlóngs spines though were that his were sky blue in colour while the rest of his body was covered in white scales and they were also a bit more pointed. At the end of long muzzle were two long whiskers just beneath the back of his nostrils with spines around his chin giving the appearance of a beard that was short around the chin but got bushier when it went around the back of his head and these spines like Xuánlóng's spines. He also had two fangs sticking out from the top near the back of his mouth and two horns that were gold in colour, went back like a monstrous nightmares horns but they were shaped more like Qīnglóngs horns. The end of his tail had the same spines as the ones on his back at the end of it and ended with flat light blue spine on the top and bottom of it.
It was then Hiccup was brought out of his examination when Báilóng stopped talking with the other two dragon kings he turned to Hiccup and slowly walked up to him. For a moment he stopped and turned back to Qīnglóng and Xuánlóng who both gave him a single nod of encouragement before he turned back to Hiccup. He then bowed to Hiccup as a sign of respect making Hiccup smile and say.
"I take it you want to join us on our journey." He growled and nodded making me smile. "Then welcome to the team Báilóng." He growled and nodded as I turned to Toothless. "Three dragon kings down, one to go bud." He crooned and nodded before I pulled out the pendant and activated the map to see where the red dragon king was imprisoned and saw the path. "It should take us about seven to twelve days to get there." He turned to the dragon kings. "And if it's like the other three prisons it's going to be guarded by multiple statues of soldiers armed each armed with a weapon." Toothless turned to Hiccup while tilting his head. "Long story bud, I'll tell you later but for now we need to get going." With that said Hiccup shrunk the pendant down and put it away before he mounted Toothless and took off with the three dragon kings following us into the sky as he yelled out. "LET'S GO FREE THE FINAL DRAGON KING FROM HIS UNJUST IMPRISONMENT!" They all roared, and we took off.
Nine days later
Hiccups POV:
It's been nine days since I freed Báilóng and in that time not much has happened since we had been constantly travelling to the mountain prison of the final dragon king. I'd done some research on him but like the other three there wasn't much I could get on him other than his name being Zhūlóng and how he held the essence of summer. Shortly after we arrived, I used the pendant to find a way in using a red lens that formed in it making everything appear in rose colour except a glowing red path that lead me to a crack in the side of the mountain like the other entrances.
This leads to now with me making my way into the cavern that served as the prison which held the red dragon king Zhūlóng and looking around I saw it was like the other caverns that held the other three dragon kings. The only major differences being the material used to build this prison being a stone I recognised as red quartz, the statues were all wielding swords made of the same material and it seemed to be so hot that when I spit on the floor my saliva dried out instantly. Looking around I released my star sword knowing with its abilities it would be the best weapon to go up against these statues and their swords. I took a breath and kicked a stone in between the pillars and as expected a see-through red wall stone appeared turning it into nothing but dust. A moment later the sound of stone cracking as the statues walked out of the indents in the wall that was used to house them and began marching towards me. I turned my prosthetic into its dragon claw form and took a breath as one began charging at me before I said.
"Let's do this thing." With that said I turned to the charging statues and got ready to fight.
Nobodies POV:
Hiccup ran at the nearest statue slashing it down from its right shoulder to its left hip before it got the chance to raise its sword in defence making its top fall to the ground shattering it followed by the bottom part with each turning to dust. Hiccup then turned around slashing the top half of another statues head while also cutting its arms of due to them holding its sword up to swing down on him. He then turned around delivering a hard kick into the chest of another statue that was attacking him from behind causing a flaming ox to burst out from its back and drag it back into the wall shattering it. Hiccup looked at either side and saw multiple statues coming at him from either side and knew it would be difficult to deal with them from both sides but smiled knowing this was why he chose his sword. He quickly slashed the ground on his right side since the statues coming from that end were farther away before he turned to the statues coming at him from the left.
He ran at the statues ducking beneath the swing of the one that was at the front of the group before he stabbed his sword into the gut of the statue that was before swinging his sword up cutting through the torso of the statue and its head. The body shattered as it fell to the ground as Hiccup swung his sword down on the statue that was in front of the group that had just turned to face him. He cut through the statue splitting it right down the middle before both halves fell either way shattering when they hit the ground while also giving Hiccup a view of what was happening to the other group of statues. Hiccup got a small smile as he watched them begin struggling as wooden vines rose from the ground and wrapped around their legs stopping them in their tracks and making two of them trip allowing the vines to wrap around them pinning them to the ground.
Hiccup didn't enjoy the view for long though as another statue came up behind him with its sword held up and ready to be swung at his head. Hiccup slammed the dragon claws elbow into its gut making the spike on the dragons' claws elbow stab the statue before it extended, going right through the body of the statue. He pulled his prosthetic arm out before the statue fell to the ground shattering its body on impact while he looked around for his next target. He didn't have to look far since another statue charged at him and swung its sword at him, but Hiccup held up his own sword blocking the strike. Hiccup then pushed the statues sword to the ground allowing him to grab the statues arm and swing the body of the statue around before letting it fly into the wall between the pillars and turn to dust. Hiccup looked around for any more statues and realised the only ones remaining were the ones trapped by the petrified wood. Hiccup activated his ox flame boots speed mode and rushed towards them and held out his sword as he ran by them decapitating the statues and smashing the heads of the downed statues pinned to the ground.
Hiccup looked around for anymore statues but saw that the ones he just took down were the last of the statues that were guarding the red dragon king allowing Hiccup to take a breath as he collapsed his star sword and pulled it back into his prosthetic arm. Hiccup kneeled to pick up a few of the shattered pieces of the statues before putting them away in his spiderpack with the others as souvenirs from this fight. Once the pieces were put away Hiccup pulled out the pendant and made his way over to the invisible wall between the pillars and held the pendant up towards the empty space. The pendant like the last three times grew as it blocked out the wall creating an opening for Hiccup to walk through and enter the cage that held the final dragon king. Hiccup walked through the opening before the pendant once again shrunk down, closing the opening and floating back into Hiccups hand before he turned around and began walking towards the dragon.
While he walked towards the dragon the pendant started glowing once more and floated out of his hand as it grew with one side folding back revealing the blade that was crimson red in colour before the covered side landed in his hand. Hiccup smiled at the blade like he always did before he began using it to cut the chains holding the red dragon king Zhūlóng and one by one the chains shattered into pieces and freeing Zhūlóng's limbs making him tense his muscles a bit. Once Hiccup began cutting into the last chain holding Zhūlóng's right claw the red dragon stretched out his talons and cracked them a bit to relieve the stiffness.
Once the final shackle turned to dust Zhūlóng's eyes snapped open revealing golden yellow eyes with black slit pupils before he took off into the air. He flew around in circles twisting his body and smashing the pillars turning them into rubble like the other dragons did, but while he was flying his body seemed to shine and burn with bright golden flames before he landed staring at Hiccup who stood his ground. Zhūlóng stared at Hiccup who looked into the large dragons' eyes with a determined look never backing down from the dragons look until Zhūlóng gave a growl and nod making Hiccup smiled and bow to the dragon as he said.
"I am honoured to meet you mighty red dragon king Zhūlóng." He stood back up straight. "My name is Hiccup Haddock and outside with my dragon Toothless are your fellow dragon kings who like you were imprisoned by the jade emperor until I freed them before coming to free you." Zhūlóng continued to stare at him. "I guess you're wondering why I would do this for you and your comrades correct?" Zhūlóng growled and nodded. "It's because I knew what you all did to that got you imprisoned to begin with, and I did not agree with the punishment." Hiccup took a breath. "What you all did saved countless lives despite knowing you'd risk incurring the wrath of the jade Emperor and for that" Hiccup bowed to him. "all four of you have my respect."
Hiccup stood back up as Zhūlóng stared at him before nodding and turning its head to the side exposing its neck to Hiccup, offering him a chance to mount him which Hiccup gladly took. Once Hiccup mounted him and took hold of his horns they were off through the stone melting through it as if it were butter until they burst from the side of the mountain as he roared gaining the attention of the four dragons who were circling the mountain peak.
The three dragon kings roared back in greeting to their comrade before flying down to meet both Zhàndòujī and Hiccup with Toothless following close behind wanting to ensure his rider was alright. The four dragon kings flew around each other going upwards before hovering up high with their bodies facing down while they all bowed their heads down to each other. Hiccup smiled seeing their joy at being completely reunited again before they flew down to the ground allowing Hiccup to dismount Zhàndòujī while the dragons began growling and roaring at each other to communicate. While they did this, Hiccup took this opportunity to study Zhàndòujī's appearance since he was now out in the light allowing Hiccup to see the differences between him and the other dragon kings besides the colour of their scales. Toothless who had walked up to take his usual place next to him and crooned at him as they watched the dragon kings talk before Hiccup began petting him as he studied the last dragon king.
Zhàndòujī was the most different from all the other dragons when it came to appearances since while the other three had the hard spines running down their backs and giving the appearance of beards, Zhàndòujī had actual gold coloured fur in place of the spines. This fur looked as if it were silk that was weaved by the gods themselves, soft as a cloud and warm as a gentle summer breeze and all of this just made one want to stroke it. At the end of long muzzle were two long whiskers just beneath the back of his nostrils and he also had two fangs sticking out from the top near the back of his mouth and two at the front coming from the bottom. He also had two horns that were gold in colour, went back like the other dragon king horns but his horns looked more like deer horns, curving at the back with a curving horn near the back and close to the front and finally the end of his tail had a large tuft of fur.
When Hiccup finished his examination, he smiled at the sight at the four dragon kings knowing that they belonged together, but he also knew how powerful they were since they practically radiated power. This brought up the question as to what would happen now since during his journey Hiccup was focused on freeing the four dragon kings, he didn't think of what to do with them afterwards. It was then they all turned to him and bowed to thank him for reuniting them and for returning their freedom to them making Hiccup smile before he asked.
"I suppose you guys will be returning to the ocean you all called home now since you're free now." A voice from behind him then said.
"I'm afraid they will not be keeping their freedom for long and neither will you." Before Hiccup could react there was a right blinding flash followed by the sound of the dragons combined roars and when the light dimmed both Hiccup and all the dragons were gone.
AN: Hey guys I'm sorry this chapter was repetitive in most areas but I wanted to get through this chapter and there wasn't that much I could do but I did do my best to make every fight at least unique in a way. Also if you have questions as to why the statues were so weak and easy to take down don't worry it'll all be explained in the next chapter so you'll have to wait and see. Sorry to leave you on the cliffhanger but if I continued then I'd have less for the next chapter which I hope I can make more exciting for you all but till then please keep your reviews friendly and be patient. Have a lovely day all and stay safe till next time.