novelraw Chapter 112: The Young Iron Dragon of the Shattered Stone Beach, Deathwing
Chapter 112: The Young Iron Dragon of the Shattered Stone Beach, Deathwing
“You should cultivate your strengths deeply, rather than stubbornly cling to the mediocre skills that all red dragons excel at.”
“That way, you can stand out and make the title of Red Dragon Queen renowned far and wide in the future.”
“Think carefully—between a wise alchemist dragon and a foolish, barbaric red dragon lord who only fights, which one is more distinctive and easier to be remembered?”
Garoth whispered softly.
Vira, the faerie dragon, nodded vigorously and said, “Vira thinks it’s the wise alchemist dragon. There are too many violent red dragons.”
Opposite them, Samantha’s head was almost raised to the sky.
The clever and wise young red dragon thought deeply and felt Garoth’s words made a lot of sense.
“A true strong one should decide battles from thousands of miles away.”
Garoth took advantage of the momentum and guided patiently.
“Imagine such a scene.”“A legion of adventurers attempts to hunt down the Red Dragon Queen, but before they can get close, unable even to see her true face, they are completely annihilated by the alchemical legion under the Red Dragon Queen’s command, left only to cry out in despair and regret.”
“The formerly hostile organizations all submit to the Red Dragon Queen’s wisdom and strength, offering reverence and endless treasures.”
Listening to Garoth, Samantha instinctively began to imagine this and finally shivered, her whole body trembling.
“Hmm, I agree with your idea.”
She said this, then her steps became more reserved, her pace deliberately steady and mature, her eyes deep and inscrutable, trying her best to appear truly wise.
The idea of building an alchemical legion also took root in the young dragon’s mind.
Eagerly, she returned to her alchemy workshop and busied herself.
Meanwhile, Garoth flew back to the cave dragon nest nestled in the mountain cliff, resting his head on his tail and covering his body with his dragon wings.
“Will the intensity of this battle against the Diamond Stone Giant trigger my awakening of Dragon Qi?”
Garoth pondered.
To awaken Dragon Qi before reaching young adulthood and become a Martial Dragon, beyond daily training and accumulation, the key lies in a selfless, life-risking, all-out battle.
Once Dragon Qi awakens, Garoth’s skills would become richer, his foundation deeper, and his combat power undoubtedly soar.
However, he did not hold high hopes for this. There had never been records of an individual awakening Dragon Qi in the hatchling stage within the legacy.
Slowly closing his eyes, Garoth rested.
For dragons, there is no better medicine than sleep; it dispels fatigue and accelerates the healing of wounds.
Three days later.
Under the cover of night, the gnoll scout Harken led a squad of kin scouts, climbing up the cliff border of Tempering Heights.
Tempering Heights appeared mostly flat overall, but the ground inclined upward at a certain angle. Following Tempering Heights northward, it reaches a vertical cliff boundary nearly nine hundred meters high.
The territory of these gnolls lay beyond the northern border of Tempering Heights, around a large river after crossing the cliff.
This place was called Shattered Stone Beach.
Although living at Shattered Stone Beach, the true ruler was not the gnolls but a young iron dragon.
The long-tailed gnoll clan, allied with a kobold clan, both feared and admired the power of dragons and pledged loyalty to the iron dragon at Shattered Stone Beach.
Their iron dragon lord was ambitious and unsatisfied with just Shattered Stone Beach.
The iron dragon lord possessed strategic foresight, believing Tempering Heights was a strategic point easy to defend but hard to attack, with a broad field of vision. Thus, he regarded Tempering Heights as an objective to capture, planning to seize it.
However.
The appearance of stone giants disrupted the iron dragon’s plans.
Stone giants of unknown origin set up camp at Tempering Heights and constructed a base.
Fearing the stone giants’ strength, the iron dragon dared not act rashly but also was unwilling to abandon his grand blueprint of creating a wilderness empire. Therefore, he kept a close watch on Tempering Heights.
Until a few days ago.
It was as if a meteorite fell from the sky, crashing onto Tempering Heights, with the impact site seemingly very close to or directly on the stone giant camp.
The disturbance was significant.
That glaring crimson light could be seen from far away.
This anomaly was discovered by the iron dragon who was secretly observing Tempering Heights.
So it dispatched gnoll scouts to investigate Tempering Heights.
Harken cautiously led the scouting team across Tempering Heights, stepping silently on shattered stones and grass, ears twitching intermittently, paying close attention to the slightest wind or grass movement around them.
Time passed slowly in the tense atmosphere.
The night deepened, and the moonlight was obscured by clouds.
Darkness surged from all directions, filling the gnolls with alertness and caution, unwilling to let their guard down.
A few minutes later, a dozen gnolls halted, stopping at the edge of a massive circular sky pit, their bodies trembling.
“Is this the meteorite’s impact site?”
“But there’s no meteorite at the bottom here.”
The gnolls had dark vision and could see the environment clearly despite the dense night.
“Maybe it’s not a meteorite.”
Harken lowered his voice and said, “Perhaps it’s the stone giants playing tricks.”
Mentioning stone giants, another scout shrank his head fearfully and said, “Let’s go back and report this information to the Dragon Lord.”
“Fools! Such useless information will only anger the Dragon Lord.”
Harken licked his lips, looking toward the stone giant camp, and said, “At least we need to find out if it was the stone giants. These big guys have dull senses. Let’s be careful so we won’t be discovered.”
The iron dragon lord ruled with a mix of reward and punishment and heavily rewarded those who earned merit.
Harken felt his claws loosening, his body gradually weakening. He knew he was aging, slowly entering late years, approaching death.
He was unwilling to accept this.
He hoped to gain the iron dragon lord’s favor and have the chance for dragon vein transformation.
Knowing the iron dragon lord’s way of doing things, he was willing to take risks for this.
Then.
Harken led the scouts closer to the stone giant camp.
But as they gradually approached and could see the camp’s situation clearly, their eyes widened in shock.
There were no stone giants in sight.
Instead, there were some burly ogres.
These ogres were more robust than usual of their kind, all rare elite warriors.
The most terrifying part was that they were methodically dismantling the stone giant corpses and throwing the fragments into a boiling symbiotic pool.
“Something’s not right.”
Harken’s tail tightened.
“These are not ordinary—”
“Careful! We’ve been exposed!”
Suddenly, a gnoll scout on the left shouted.
A thick spear fell from the sky, impaling a gnoll and pinning him to the ground.
The ogre Ugor stood atop a towering stone wall, eyes fixed sharply on the gnoll scouts hiding in the bushes. He twitched his nose, a cruel smile creeping at the corner of his mouth.
“These rock lumps don’t taste good. Little mice like you came just in time.”
He leapt down from the wall, holding a massive battle axe made of metal, enhanced by alchemical runes, and thunderously charged toward the gnolls.
Behind him, more ogre warriors launched a charge together.
Their heavy bodies stomped the ground, causing the earth to tremble.
These huge brutes charged like rhinos, their speed not slow, even quite fast.
The world’s impression of ogres is that they are powerful but clumsy, which is true only for the fat ones, not for these elite ogres.
The gnoll scouts fled in panic.
The ogres threw giant stones and other weapons from behind, disrupting the gnolls’ escape rhythm, and with their own fast strides, soon caught up.
“Stupid ogres!”
Seeing the ogres closing in, Harken realized he couldn’t outrun them and stopped instead.
He turned to face the ogres, puffed out his chest, his fur bristling, bared his teeth, and roared, “We are loyal to the great Iron King! The noble and invincible great dragon!”
“How dare you offend us!”
Ugor, the leader, was momentarily stunned.
The other ogres also stopped, exchanging glances.
Seeing their reaction, Harken grew bolder and arrogantly said, “Hmph! Apologize quickly and beg for forgiveness!”
“Otherwise, the Iron King will trample your lands and kill you all! Turning you into the scum of the wilderness!”
After a few seconds of silence.
Ugor strode forward.
“All right, please forgive my offense!”
Though he said this, he raised the huge axe, longer than the life of the gnolls, and struck down hard.
With pupils constricted, Harken’s pale face could be seen through his fur, stunned stiff, unable to move.
Ogre Ugor was the elite of elites.
In the entire Bonegnaw Clan, he was only weaker than the Gluttonous Ogre Karu.
An ordinary hatchling dragon was no match for him, let alone an average gnoll scout leader.
Bang!
The battle axe struck the ground in front of the gnolls, leaving a deep trench.
“Bind them all! Take them away!”
Ugor said in a rough voice, “Wait for the great Redwing Lord’s judgment!”
The Redwing Lord, Deathwing, the unparalleled ominous star... these were the respectful titles for Garoth within the Molten Iron Clan.
Redwing Lord?
It’s over!
It seemed this group of ogres also had a dragon above them! That title sounded like it belonged to a dragon. The gnolls’ last hope was gone, their fighting spirit completely crushed.
Like wolves and tigers, the ogres quickly captured the gnolls and took them back to the camp.