Siegfried walked over and picked up the Hoop Snake, examining it with interest. He had heard that the Royal Cliff was home to a strange beast—a dragon resembling a snake that consumed its own tail. Its scales were black and shiny, its eyes blood-red, with immense attack power, and it was a beast king that even other kings avoided.

"It doesn't seem like it, it's so small,"

Siegfried murmured to himself, then tossed the Hoop Snake aside. The freed Hoop Snake hissed softly in pain and anger, but no one heard its faint sound except for...

"A level 90 Hoop Dragon King is preparing to attack!"

The system's warning made Chang Long and the others turn pale, looking around anxiously. Soon, the ear-piercing roar of the unseen beast caused chaos on the Royal Cliff again. All the beasts fled, even the beast kings, ignoring Chang Long's group, who stood frozen in shock.

The roar of the Hoop Dragon King echoed all the way to the pine forest and the path down to the Southern Sea Abyss, causing players there to look around frantically in confusion. Soon, they heard loud noises coming from the path up to the Royal Cliff.

"Oh my God!"

A player in the hunter profession exclaimed in shock, seeing the impending disaster.

Shortly after the hunter's exclamation, countless beasts, ranging from mid-level to beast king, came rushing down. Players who saw this were wide-eyed with fear. Some quickly used teleportation scrolls to escape, while others, too stunned to move, were trampled to death by the fleeing beasts.

The hunter, who had been observing from a tree, survived the stampede. He climbed higher to see what was happening on the Royal Cliff that caused even beast kings to flee. Despite having read in the newspaper about the previous chaos caused by the battle between the Windborne Viper King and the Sky Hawk King, this time the situation seemed much worse.

A dragon-like beast with shiny black scales, with scale tips curling up like spikes, and a massive body that made Chang Long and her group look like tiny ants appeared. Its tail was swallowed into its mouth, and its wings, constantly flapping, made the large trees around sway as if a storm was passing through. Its blood-red eyes searched angrily for the enemy who dared to kidnap its child.

"Oh!"

Oliang's mouth fell open at the sight of the enormous and terrifying Hoop Dragon King.

"It's freaking huge!"

Wet Trash Can exclaimed, mirroring his friend's shock.

"............"

Siegfried was silent, his face showing a mix of intense concentration and excitement at encountering the supreme ruler of the Royal Cliff, the Hoop Dragon King.

"Who invited it?"

Chang Long asked curiously, unaware that her action was the sole cause of the supreme king's appearance.

'You did!'

Davy-chan, now invisible again, wanted to knock some sense into Chang Long.

"Master, I heard a noise—ah!"

Kitsune, who had gone to lure other beasts, returned looking alarmed. When he saw the enormous beast in the sky, he nearly stumbled in shock.

After standing in stunned silence for a while, Siegfried regained his composure and quickly instructed everyone to hide under a large tree to avoid being seen by the Hoop Dragon King. Although hiding there risked being crushed by a falling tree, it totally would be better than being eaten by the beast in the sky.

"So this is the supreme king of the Royal Cliff!"

Siegfried marveled at the Hoop Dragon, just as impressed as everyone else. The Hoop Dragon was a legendary beast in the game and extremely rare. Since the launch of Adventure World Online, no one had seen it until now.

"They said it was rare, so why is it showing up so blatantly!?"

Wet Trash Can shook his head in confusion. Just dealing with ordinary beast kings had nearly cost him and Oliang their lives. Now they were facing the supreme king of the Royal Cliff.

"Just a sneeze from that thing and we'd be dead,"

Oliang said, shuddering.

"Don't worry. We just need to stay hidden and wait for it to pass by,"

Siegfried assured them. Everyone tried to blend into the environment, hoping the Hoop Dragon King would overlook them.

Hissss!

A faint hissing sound came from behind, making Chang Long's group turn around. The Hoop Snake that Chang Long had carelessly tossed away was slowly spinning into a vertical ring, looking at them with what seemed like a mocking gaze.

The Hoop Dragon King, about to fly past them, heard the familiar sound and immediately turned toward their hiding spot. Chang Long, wide-eyed, quickly grabbed the Hoop Snake, that was about to show itself in front of the Hoop Dragon King and clamped its mouth shut to prevent it from making any more noise.

As the Hoop Snake's hissing stopped, their luck ran out. The Hoop Dragon King, believing its child had been killed, roared furiously. It spun in the air with incredible speed, folding its massive black wings against its body, and plummeted towards the ground, spinning with incredible speed.

Boom!

The Hoop Dragon's high-speed descent created a thunderous explosion upon impact, followed by the sound of trees snapping and falling, closing in to where Chang Long's group was hiding.

"We're doomed!"

Oliang yelled as wood splinters flew in all directions like a giant was throwing them.

"Run! It's coming this way!"

Siegfried shouted, snapping everyone out of their stupor. Chang Long and Kitsune struggled to stuff the Hoop Snake into a backpack.

"Chang Long, why are you taking that thing with us? It'll get us into more trouble!"

Wet Trash Can yelled at Chang Long's action, worried.

"It won't! Look, it's so scared it's shrunk itself,"

Chang Long replied, showing the Hoop Snake, which had swallowed more of its tail, making itself even smaller.

"No time! Let's go!"

Siegfried urged, clutching his egg that had been glowing since the Hoop Dragon King appeared, fearing it might attract the beast's attention.

As Chang Long's group fled from the rampaging Hoop Dragon King, the unexpected happened (as it often did around Chang Long). She tripped and fell, sending the Hoop Snake in her hand, flying almost ten meters into the air, hissing loudly.

"Chang Long!"

Siegfried, running ahead, rushed back to help her up. The Hoop Snake, falling, struck his hand holding the egg, causing the egg to slip and roll several meters away.

The Hoop Dragon King, hearing the Hoop Snake's hiss, stopped its rampage and took to the sky again. This time, it saw the opponent that had stolen its child clearly, and Siegfried could not deny the evidence in his hands.

Aden, who had been comfortably sitting under a large tree, petting his egg, quickly jumped up the tree to avoid being trampled by the fleeing beasts. He watched in shock as they ran past under the tree, wondering what was happening on the Royal Cliff. First, there had been a deafening roar, and now a massive beast stampede.

Aaaaah!

Ouch!

Cries of pain drew his attention. He saw a group of players who had been running away from the sudden horde, collided with the fleeing beasts before they could put up a guard, some being trampled and ran at, causing fatal injuries. Others, having no time to flee or bring out the teleportation scrolls, tried to fight but despite their high level, were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer number of beasts, including several beast kings.

"Are they crazy, trying to fight instead of running or finding cover!"

Aden wondered, bewildered.

"Fight them. We need to get up there to find Sleeping Beauty!"

One player shouted to his friends.

"How are we supposed to fight them? There are too many! Aaargh!!"

The second player responded before being struck in the face by a Two-headed Lion Beast King, turning into a beam of light shooting into the sky.

"Hey! Why are you guys so weak? You're ruining the reputation of the Journalists and Writers Association!"

The player shouted at two of his friends, who had also been turned into beams of light with a pale face.

"Easy for you to say, hiding behind others!"

Another player, struggling to fend off the attacking beasts with a giant brush, snapped back angrily.

"I have to survive to find Sleeping Beauty. We need to get that 100,000-coin reward!"

The hiding player shouted back, refusing to give up.

"Idiot! Look at the situation! Do you really think we still have a chance to find Sleeping Beauty!"

The player with the giant brush yelled back, furious.

"Hey, why are you turning around? Look ahead. Aaargh!!"

The group's horrified screams made Aden, watching from the tree, shiver.

Despite their best efforts, the group trying to fight their way up the Royal Cliff met a grim fate. A family of Sky Hawk Beasts swooped down to avoid the Hoop Dragon King, scattering the players' bodies. The players were then trampled to death by other beasts.

"Huh? What's that?"

Aden saw a piece of paper flying towards him and quickly grabbed it. It was a picture of a player sleeping against a tree.

"Isn't this Chang Long?"

Aden exclaimed in shock. The face had changed, but he recognized her because he was also interested in her.

Aden tucked the picture of Sleeping Beauty into his shirt pocket, then looked down to check if there were still any beasts around. Seeing that it was safe, he settled back onto the branch of the large tree, still wary of the situation. Though he wanted to see what was happening on the Royal Cliff, he did not want to miss the opportunity that his egg was responding more when under the large tree.

The Hoop Dragon King stared at the still Hoop Snake in Siegfried's hand, thinking its child had been killed. In reality, the snake was just dizzy and unconscious. The Hoop Dragon King glared at Siegfried as if it wanted to devour him, then roared loudly again.

"Not again..."

Chang Long muttered, moving closer to Siegfried's egg, which was glowing brightly on the ground not far away.

"What are you doing, Chang Long?"

Siegfried asked quietly, seeing her move towards his egg.

"Don't worry. The one who shouldn't move right now is you,"

Chang Long replied, inching closer to the egg.

Oliang, Wet Trash Can, and Kitsune, who had run ahead, watched anxiously from behind a thick bush as Chang Long and Siegfried were targeted. Kitsune made a move to run back to Chang Long, but Oliang held him back, fearing the Hoop Dragon King would spot their hiding place.

"Let me go, Oliang! I need to help my master!"

Kitsune yelled, struggling to break free.

"Calm down, Kitsune. It hasn't attacked yet, see? If we rush in, we might endanger both of them!"

Oliang quickly explained, making the young fox calm down a bit.

"What should we do then!"

Kitsune asked anxiously, turning to Oliang and Wet Trash Can.

"Wait for the right moment. Besides, Davy-chan is with Chang Long, right? Even if he's invisible!"

Wet Trash Can said with a serious expression.

"That's true, but that creature is still dangerous. Even with Davy-chan possessing it, it doesn't guarantee she can defeat it!" Kitsune said, watching Chang Long move closer to Siegfried's egg with concern.

"Relax. With our level, this is the best we can do. Don't forget your own level. If you rush in recklessly, instead of helping them, you could make things worse, and we might all die,"

Oliang explained calmly to Kitsune. Once Kitsune nodded in agreement, they continued observing the situation.

"Wake up, you stupid snake! Your dad is looking at me like he wants to eat me alive."

Siegfried whispered, trying to shake the Hoop Snake awake, but it was no use.

"Give it CPR!"

Chang Long suggested, leaving Siegfried momentarily speechless. Before either of them could do anything further, the Hoop Dragon King attacked, spewing a black beam towards them. Chang Long and Siegfried had to jump in opposite directions to avoid it.

Chang Long managed to grab the egg and hug it close, rolling away several times to evade further attacks. Siegfried held onto the Hoop Snake tightly as he ran, dodging the black beams from the Hoop Dragon King's mouth.

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