The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Soshjan had also discussed the concept of childbirth among the Aeldari with Doral, who shared the same view. Due to the Path, the Craftworld Aeldari have an extraordinary obsession with self-achievement. The Path indeed provides the Aeldari with opportunities for positive career and self-development, but it also isolates and separates individuals from each other. This further leads to the Craftworld Aeldari having almost苛刻 demands regarding childbirth. Some Craftworlds have even evolved inhumane so-called 'genetic compatibility marriage' systems. On the other hand, the Wild Aeldari, despite their seemingly primitive systems, have formed a concept of unity and family-centeredness, viewing procreation as a responsibility to the clan. In Doral's words, 'Being backward has its advantages, at least there's not so much pretentiousness. Having a child doesn't require so much overthinking.'

If not for various wars and disasters, allowing a maiden world to develop quietly on its own, the Wild Aeldari's reproduction rate would far exceed that of all Craftworlds. After all, most maiden worlds initially had only a few hundred or a thousand colonists, and now most maiden worlds have populations in the hundred thousand range. This is closely related to their family values and worldview.

Soshjan's view was simpler. Compared to the Craftworld Aeldari, he felt that the Wild Aeldari were more suitable as 'soldiers' because their concepts were simpler and easier to shape.

The main thing was, there were more of them.

"Your Highness, these are my two daughters, Sharie and Kay, and this is my son, Kunobrule."

Soshjan nodded, saying nothing, because his attention was drawn to something on the land bridge.

Even at high altitude, he could feel the tremors in the air. On the horizon, something was getting closer and closer, looming in the sky like a moving gray mountain.

Then a long roar echoed through the clouds.

Even the knowledgeable Doral exclaimed in surprise.

"Mountain Dragons! I didn't expect the Linnae Kingdom to possess Mountain Dragons!"

Soshjan had never realized that natural creatures could grow to such a size. When these two behemoths, one in front of the other, raised their long necks and their oval heads emitted a roar filled with ancient aura, he estimated that these things were probably taller than a Warhound Titan!

These giant creatures had eight legs, each incredibly thick. As they stepped on the land bridge, waves of air could be seen rising. The weight of the entire body was balanced by a tail as long as the body itself. If the length of the tail was included, these things were probably over a hundred meters long. And given their thick bodies, Soshjan couldn't believe how these creatures could stand up. Rudimentary biology told him that the size of land creatures is often limited by the planet's gravity. Beyond this limit, they would be crushed by their own weight, and this world was clearly not the first low-gravity world. If creatures of this size were to support themselves, then their bones must be harder than alloys, their skin must be stronger than the most durable and tensile materials of the Imperium, and their tendons must exceed the strength of artificial metal tendons—

If all this were true, it would mean that their physical strength was comparable to that of a Titan!

How was this possible!?

"This is simply a Titan Dragon."

Soshjan muttered in surprise under his golden mask. As the giant dragons slowly approached, he more directly felt the enormity of these behemoths.

It was no exaggeration to say that they definitely had the ability to overturn a Titan.

These Mountain Dragons were not acting alone. On their backs were layers of buildings, firmly fixed with the Wild Aeldari's own technology. Even when the dragons walked, there was no shaking. The buildings were like small castles, densely packed with many platforms and spires. Soshjan guessed that this was probably the operational base for the dragon riders. There were also weapons of all sizes, with laser cannons and shuriken cannon turrets surrounding them, forming a fearsome firepower network. The most conspicuous of these were six huge prism cannons.

The prism cannon is a powerful laser weapon unique to the Aeldari, and is also the main weapon of the Fire Prism tank. Its characteristics are strong penetration and extremely long range, even capable of being used as an anti-aircraft weapon.

No wonder Valentino Ravic said that if the dragon swarm was present, they would not fear these invaders at all. If these two huge mobile war fortresses were here, those Slaaneshi invaders would indeed be insignificant, and would be trampled to death.

Unless orbital bombardment was used.

In addition, Soshjan saw a small building on the heads of these dragons, shaped like a crown. The Aeldari who controlled and rode these behemoths were probably inside.

"Your Highness, these are Mountain Dragons."

Valentino Ravic knew that Soshjan didn't understand these things, so he began to introduce them.

"They are also guardians left to us by our ancestors. They have been protecting this world since the establishment of the Linnae Kingdom. When the Hunger Dragon invaded, they were the ones who eliminated those most terrifying, largest, and most greedy beasts. Their power comes not only from their size and indestructible skin, but when needed, they can mix flammable gases from the twenty-three stomachs that make up their digestive system and spew flames that can melt steel." (This thing can face several plasma annihilators, which is quite shocking. Although the Adeptus Mechanicus called it the Ancient Dragon in the ancient setting, I changed some settings here and used a new name.)

"So, these two existed before the Great Fall?"

"Yes."

"They cannot reproduce?"

Valentino Ravic shook his head.

"Mountain Dragons are not naturally born creatures. They are psychic beasts shaped by ancient empires using special technology. Although these two Mountain Dragons have laid several eggs over the long period of time, they simply cannot hatch. The ancient empire's technology for creating such large-scale psychic beasts has been completely lost. Our ancestors have only left us with husbandry techniques at the Hill Dragon level, and we can do nothing about it. Fortunately, Mountain Dragons have a long lifespan and there is no need to worry at the moment."

"So, they were created by combining biotechnology and psychic energy. No wonder they can violate biological common sense. If I'm not mistaken, Mountain Dragon actually refers to a specific size specification of tamed dragons, right?"

"Yes, Your Highness. Our ancestors divided tamed dragons into four levels according to size: Slope Dragon, Ridge Dragon, Hill Dragon, and Mountain Dragon. The taming and breeding techniques we inherited only reach the level of Slope Dragon, Ridge Dragon, and Hill Dragon. The dragons that the dragon knights ride are Slope Dragons, and Triceratops and Pentaceratops are Ridge Dragons. Only a few mutated individuals like Frostheart will reach the Hill Dragon level. Generally, Hill Dragons refer to Brachiosaurus and Giganotosaurus."

"So, even the name of this Mountain Dragon has been lost?"

Valentino Ravic nodded somewhat awkwardly.

"That's true, because our ancestors did not leave behind any relevant written records."

At this moment, Soshjan suddenly thought of something and turned to Doral.

"Lord, the Eternal Queen seemed to have said before that the Phoenix Chalice is related to the ancient empire's psychic war beasts? Does this Mountain Dragon also belong to the category of psychic war beasts?"