novelraw Chapter 164: The White Dragon's Humiliation
Chapter 164: The White Dragon's Humiliation
Trixie felt discriminated against.
As a white dragon, most creatures would feel fear or reverence when facing her, but when encountering her own kind, the gazes from fellow dragons were always filled with contempt - an unbearable scorn.
She had originally come seeking revenge against the centaurs.
When she saw the red iron dragon at the centaur camp, the powerful Trixie didn't immediately attack.
The red iron dragon's strong and majestic body, densely packed vicious spikes, uniquely domineering wings, and lineage as leader of two great dragon bloodlines made the white dragon's eyes light up, even stirring thoughts of courtship.
She had never seen a dragon like Garoth before.
His posture, appearance and majestic aura somewhat fascinated her.
As for the age difference, that wasn't an issue.
Dragons begin gradually reaching sexual maturity during their young adult stage.
For exceptionally gifted dragons with outstanding qualities, it's common to attract mates from older age groups.Due to their admiration for strength, dragons often prefer more powerful, older mates from their own species.
However, what the white dragon never expected was...
This red iron dragon who had captured her interest and whom she even wanted to pursue immediately spoke disrespectfully to her, calling her "White Scales" right to her face.
In dragon culture, this was practically the most discriminatory and insulting term one could use against a white dragon.
Trixie wasn't an ordinary white dragon - she considered herself quite talented, having reached level 12 by adulthood!
After her adult dragon sleep but before officially entering her prime, she had already reached level 13.
This wasn't something ordinary white dragons could achieve.
Thus, the white dragon Trixie had her own pride and dignity.
Now that dignity had been trampled, filling her heart with humiliation and rage.
The red iron dragon's subsequent words sounded to her more like sarcastic mockery.
A mere young dragon!
How dare he arrogantly humiliate me like this!
Trixie's wings suddenly spread wide, their nearly thirty-meter span casting deep shadows on the ground.
"A slip of the tongue?!"
Her voice icy, she glared at Garoth and roared:
"Hybrid dragon! All I see in you is damned arrogance and conceit! Did no dragon teach you to respect your elders and betters?!"
Hearing the white dragon's words, Garoth felt somewhat wronged.
He hadn't meant to insult her intentionally.
It's just that prejudice and contempt toward white dragons were deeply ingrained in both iron dragon and red dragon bloodlines.
This dual-layered bias made Garoth unconsciously blurt out "White Scales" - that heavily discriminatory term - the moment he saw her.
Judging by her size, she must already be an adult, nearing her prime.
Given Garoth's personality, he actually didn't want to provoke such an adult dragon.
Although white dragons didn't have the best reputation among dragonkind.
Garoth thought that after all, a white dragon was still a dragon.
Any dragon over a hundred years old, approaching two hundred, likely had some special tricks or trump cards - better left undisturbed.
Moreover, her body seemed slender compared to his, almost like a twig.
But her sixteen-meter length was undeniable, while Garoth measured less than fourteen meters from head to tail.
At first glance, the white dragon's physical attributes seemed superior.
However.
Things having come to this, Garoth wouldn't keep backing down.
To evil dragons, retreat signifies weakness, and weakness means becoming a target for bullying - one must show appropriate firmness.
More importantly.
As for white dragons, Garoth didn't discriminate or hold prejudice against them.
But he secretly felt that white dragons posed little threat to him, even this one far older than himself.
The red iron dragon's spikes rose slightly as he said:
"I've apologized, Madam White Dragon."
He looked directly into her cold eyes: "If you're here for revenge, these centaurs are now my vassals, my property. I can't let you slaughter them freely."
Hearing this, the white dragon grew even angrier.
Why would centaurs she couldn't subjugate submit to a mere young dragon?
"Red dragons fancy themselves kings among the Five-colored Dragons, looking down on all others. Iron dragons consider themselves supreme rulers who should dominate all dragonkind."
The white dragon exhaled frost, her back almost arching as she prepared to strike.
"Hybrid dragon! Let me see what skills give you the nerve to speak so arrogantly to an adult dragon!"
Trixie's wings suddenly beat, stirring up fierce winds.
She dove down, her four claws tearing through the air as ice crystals formed razor-sharp frozen blades at their tips, gleaming with piercing cold light in the night.
"Let me teach you respect!"
The white dragon's roar echoed across the sky.
With battle unavoidable, Garoth spread his wings and shot straight upward to meet the descending white dragon.
Under the centaurs' watchful eyes, the white dragon's dive left icy blue afterimages across the sky while Garoth surged against the wind like a crimson meteor streaking heavenward.
When their draconic bodies collided, explosions of ice mist and fiery sparks rained down like a miniature meteor shower.
Elvy took a deep breath, drawing the longbow from her back and nocking an arrow, her sharp eyes locked on the white dragon circling in aerial combat, ready to shoot at any moment.
"Wait."
Silvermane's low voice came from beside her: "Without the Dragon Lord's command, don't intervene rashly."
Meanwhile, the night sky battle reached fever pitch as the two dragons closed in.
White dragon Trixie extended her claws toward Garoth.
Having lived long in icy regions, white dragons possessed the sharpest claws among Five-colored Dragons - each digit like a finely crafted sword or short spear that let them walk effortlessly on ice while easily piercing enemy defenses to tear away flesh.
Her body was more slender and larger, with greater reach.
Her frost-coated claws, now sheathed in razor-sharp ice, locked onto Garoth's head and swiped down.
Garoth beat his wings, advancing rather than retreating.
His speed suddenly increased as he weaved left and right with terrifying agility, dodging all the white dragon's savage strikes.
The next instant.
His stockier, more muscular body slammed squarely into the white dragon's chest.
Though shorter in length, the red iron dragon's limbs were thicker in every dimension than the white dragon's, his iron-like muscles visibly defined even beneath heavy scales.
Thus came an irresistible force from the red iron dragon.
The white dragon's body arched as if struck by a meteor, being driven diagonally downward by Garoth's charge.
His body felt like solid iron - heavy, hard, with extraordinary density, possibly outweighing her, carrying tremendous power.
The white dragon flapped desperately to stabilize herself but couldn't withstand the red iron dragon's overwhelming force, continuing to descend.
"If this were a level 13 red dragon, it could have sent me flying."
Garoth was surprised by the white dragon's relative weakness.
"My physical attributes... can't match a mere level 10 young dragon?!"
The humiliating reality of being overpowered by a lower-level opponent enraged the white dragon.
She shook her head, emitting a high-pitched draconic roar - not meaningless noise but a magical incantation to command elements.
Ice Wind!
As the white dragon beat her wings in a casting motion, a frigid gale suddenly erupted around her, cutting like blades as it whirled violently to slash at Garoth, instantly covering his scales with dense cracks.
Sssss!
The explosive scales heated up from attack, releasing intense heat that clashed with the icy winds, producing shrill hisses and plumes of steam. But the extreme cold prevented the scales from detonating.
"My ice resistance still isn't high enough."
Garoth thought to himself.
Inherent weaknesses weren't easily overcome - ice damage remained the most effective way to hurt him.
He felt freezing cold, as if his blood would solidify, circulation slowing along with his strength.
With beast-like combat instincts, the white dragon immediately noticed this and beat her wings to stabilize herself while continuing her incantation to complete another spell.
Ice Armor!
Layer upon layer of ice crystals formed, extending across her scales like frozen plate armor.
Like the earlier Ice Wind, this wasn't a natural quasi-spell ability for adult white dragons but learned magic.
She'd studied magic since adulthood, specializing in ice spells compatible with her attributes, accumulating seventy years of magical experience.
Flame Claws!
Garoth's claws ignited with fire, piercing through the icy gale around the white dragon to strike lightning-fast at her chest.
Simultaneously, the white dragon's claws rose to tear at Garoth.
In that split-second crossing...
The ice armor couldn't withstand the red iron dragon's strike, shattering completely.
Boom! The claws continued downward with a dull thud, cracking the white dragon's chest scales as searing pain made her grimace and gasp, leaving a charred claw mark on her white scales.
Fire dealt extra damage to white dragons.
Had the ice armor not mitigated some damage, her ribs might have shattered.
Almost simultaneously, the white dragon's claws found their mark on Garoth's head, but he merely shook it slightly without any dizziness, while she felt sharp pain in her claws.
The spikes on Garoth's face and head were unusually hard and sharp.
They pierced her claws, breaking off to embed themselves painfully.
"Spikes that hard?"
The white dragon's eyes flashed viciously as she opened her maw, lunging to bite Garoth's neck with beast-like speed and precision - an almost instinctive savage combat technique.
Garoth twisted aside, making her miss.
Her jaws instinctively closed on his exposed shoulder, fangs piercing scales but before tasting blood, her mouth and tongue were lacerated by spikes, making her release instantly in electric pain.
Garoth's spike distribution resembled typical red dragons'.
They just appeared denser and more jagged - nothing to warrant special caution.
But due to prior evolution, his spikes exceeded normal dragon hardness and sharpness, could regenerate rapidly, and acted like thorns - attacking them meant attacking yourself.
While enduring the white dragon's bite...
Garoth's hind claws rose, muscles coiling like steel wires as he stomped viciously on her belly, shattering ice armor and abdominal scales to deal another wound.
The white dragon was sent flying, simultaneously spewing Frost Breath.
Substantial cold carrying dense ice spikes formed a frozen trajectory through air toward Garoth.
Garoth didn't dodge.
He inhaled deeply before exhaling Fiery Breath.
A rolling inferno like molten lava erupted from his maw to meet it head-on.
When Frost Breath and Fiery Breath collided, they warred violently, hissing steam blotting out the sky as it spread everywhere.
An adult dragon's breath should be stronger.
Yet the frost was being devoured inch by inch as flames advanced, forcing the white dragon back.
At the critical moment, she shut her jaws and climbed, but her claws were grazed by flames, burning painfully.
BOOM!
The red iron dragon's wings tore through night as he charged.
The two closed again in fierce combat.
The white dragon had greater reach and sharper claws, but less strength - her attacks barely affected Garoth while his shattered her ice armor, keeping her uncomfortable.
Yet the white dragon never stopped chanting.
After a dozen seconds, she uttered the spell's final syllable, wings beating to stir thick ice-fog denser than steam, filled with frozen particles.
Ice Fog!
The thick mist instantly engulfed them both.
Surrounded by white fog with cold seeping in from all sides, Garoth felt increasingly chilled while his vision and senses were impaired.
"This white dragon knows magic."
"Her talent must exceed average for white dragons, otherwise with their intelligence..."
Garoth nearly disparaged white dragons again but caught himself.
Underestimating enemies was dangerous - Garoth didn't want to, but contempt for white dragons was instinctive, sometimes uncontrollable.
The living fog churned as Trixie's form flickered within.
She seized Garoth's turning moment to slash his back with frost claws, leaving a steaming fissure in double-layered scales without reaching flesh.
When Garoth countered, she'd already melted into mist, leaving only drifting ice crystals.
Her voice echoed multiply from all directions:
"Hybrid dragon, I admit you have extraordinary bloodlines."
"But nearly two centuries have granted me wisdom and skill beyond your youthful reach."
She said cruelly and gleefully: "I'll defeat you, trample you, humiliate you repeatedly, torment you slowly - make you pay for 'White Scales'."
Hearing this, Garoth could almost see her gloating smile.
He silently thought that fighting this higher-level white dragon using only base form was indeed troublesome.
Adult dragons were extraordinarily resilient, and this white dragon's ice magic wasn't weak.
Garoth had wounded her multiple times, but all were minor - continuing like this, they might fight till dawn without resolution.
Having assessed her capabilities, Garoth saw no need to prolong this.
He decided to end it quickly.
Meanwhile, Trixie eyed the young dragon's powerful body, stealthily approaching to attack his hind leg joints under fog cover.
But as she raised her claws...
Zzzzt - golden lightning suddenly crackled over the young dragon's body, dancing between spikes and scales like electrified fur as muscles swelled with blood, his already burly frame expanding further into greater bulk.
Her claws had barely touched his glowing hind leg...
Before she could wound him...
Trixie saw the red iron dragon turn impossibly fast to grin at her. Shocked, she beat wings to retreat into fog when suddenly her neck was seized and her whole body slammed down.
The world blurred into streaks of color.
CRACK!
The earth split weblike beneath them as Trixie was driven deep into frozen soil by Garoth's charge.
Her icy scales shattered with each thunderous blow as Garoth's claw-storm wreathed in black-red energy and golden lightning rained down.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ice armor shattered amidst the white dragon's pained grunts.
Trixie's struggles weakened.
Her proud ice magic kept forming only to be smashed, her long tail attempting counterattacks but pinned under Garoth's claw, immobilized.
Under his relentless assault, her feeble resistance collapsed completely.
The proud white dragon now resembled a lone boat in a storm, near capsizing, feeling suffocated, near death, as if facing an invincible dragon-skinned monster.
Survival instinct finally overcame pride.
As Garoth prepared another strike, the white dragon rolled over.
"I... am a foolish White Scales."
Her voice sounded like crushed ice, all four claws raised to expose her vulnerable belly: "Noble red iron hybrid... I was wrong..."
WHOOSH - wind pressure nearly blew her eyes shut.
Garoth's claws stopped an inch away, golden lightning fading.
"No."
Claw-tip breezes brushed ice from her eyelids as Garoth corrected: "White dragon." Slowly retracting his still-crackling claws, he added: "A foolish white dragon."