Defeating the World with the Power of One Dragon!

Chapter 17: Pursuit and Kill

Gurgle!

Her stomach protested again.

Hunger caused Samantha’s belly to twitch and spasm painfully.

She whimpered softly, lowering her head to nibble on the unpleasant, damp earth. She missed the days under the Dragon Mother’s protection even more, despite being oppressed and bullied by Garoth every day. That was still far better than these precarious days of eating dirt to fill her stomach.

“Garoth... should I beg him to take me in?”

Suddenly, Samantha recalled what Garoth had said when he left.

Though reluctant to admit it, she knew clearly that Garoth was smarter and stronger than her and should be living better.

“Even if I have to follow all of Garoth’s orders, that’s fine. I never liked using my brain much anyway.”

Samantha no longer wanted to wander endlessly.

Yet, she couldn’t let go of her pride and arrogance deep within her heart. “No, no way. I am a Red Dragon, destined to stand at the peak of the world. How can I be defeated so easily by the wilderness? I can’t let Garoth look down on me!”

She gritted her teeth, rising from the muddy water and threw aside the thought of following Garoth.

“I’m too hungry. I need real food, not mud or tree bark.”

Samantha took a deep breath, dragging her heavy steps through the rain curtain.

The Iron Fir Hills.

After the rain cleared, the air was filled once again with scorching heat. Moist vapor steamed up from the coniferous forest, gathering in shallow pools with shimmering rainbows in the lowlands. Broken fir branches lay scattered in the mud, their cut ends oozing amber-colored resin.

Garoth lay on a huge rock on the hillside.

Golden sunlight bathed him, coating his scales with dazzling brilliance.

He spread his wings, enjoying the comfort of the sun warming his body, lazily squinting his eyes and unwilling to move.

Given Garoth’s diligence and self-discipline, such rest was rare, but he understood the principle of balancing work and rest—excess was as bad as deficiency. While pursuing evolution and strength, he allowed himself moments of relaxation during free time.

The heavy rainstorm had lasted a whole week.

During that time,

because the wilderness was usually dry and rainy days were rare, Garoth cherished these precious rainy days. Bathing in wind and rain, he repeatedly used the Dark Gold Tail Ring to train himself. After depleting its energy, he immediately recharged it with lightning, then resumed training, cycling like this continuously. But he also remembered the dangers of the wilderness and inserted rest periods to conserve strength, avoiding overexertion.

After being washed by the rain and tempered by lightning,

Garoth’s buffer scales had all been beaten off by himself over the past few days. No new ones had grown yet, revealing a layer of cracked, pitted, rugged, and mottled black-red scales that looked like armor forged in fierce battle.

As for results,

aside from an unknown increase in lightning resistance, Garoth felt a slight tingling sensation, like mild electric shocks, in the muscles beneath his dragon scales and skin.

This was also a sign of gradual adaptation and evolution.

Basking in the sun, Garoth’s tail dangled off the edge of the rock, gently swaying. He shifted his body slightly to let the sunlight warm his belly.

Until noon, when the sun’s rays became the strongest and most scorching,

Garoth still did not move to hunt.

He decided to give himself a day off and let Mobel hunt for food.

“Just a little more rest.”

Garoth yawned, closed his eyes, and continued sunbathing, drifting toward sleep.

Suddenly,

his nose twitched as if sniffing a scent, then his black dragon pupils opened wide.

—A familiar scent reached him through the air.

The Red Iron Young Dragon propped himself up and looked toward the distance.

At the same time,

Samantha took uneven steps, running across the damp, muddy ground of the wilderness. Her already half-broken right dragon wing was more injured now, with several poison-coated feather arrows still embedded.

She flapped her wings, trying to take flight.

But after several attempts, her broken wings and weakened body could not support her ascent. She could only run swiftly on the ground.

Behind her, dozens of goblin wolf cavalry pursued relentlessly.

The gray giant wolves’ paws splashed through mud and water as they ran swiftly, steadily closing the distance.

Samantha gritted her dragon teeth and looked toward the hills dense with iron firs ahead, a flicker of hope in her eyes.

“Almost there, almost there.”

“I hope Garoth is still here. I hope he can forgive my past ignorance and brutality.”

Even if she had to become Garoth’s follower, bow her proud head, and obey this elder brother completely, Samantha accepted it.

Having endured hardship, she deeply realized

that dignity couldn’t keep her alive in the wilderness; she had been too naive before.

In fact, both the Iron Dragon Mother and the Dragon Legacy mentioned that young dragons surviving alone was not easy and required extreme caution. But arrogance and pride were born alongside the dragon bloodline. Young dragons who had not experienced storms always thought they could easily conquer the world.

However,

the Dragon Mother and legacy knowledge could not teach that.

But harsh reality could.

On the first day of the heavy rain, Samantha had the idea of following Garoth. Yet, at that time, her heart still harbored pride and unwillingness to admit defeat to the wilderness.

Bathing in the storm,

Samantha tried hunting to replenish her strength and heal her wounds.

But things did not go as hoped.

Creatures that could survive in the wilderness, whether intelligent or beasts, all had their own survival rules. With Samantha’s poor hunting skills and weak body, all hunts ended in failure.

If not for the tenacity of dragon life,

any other creature would have been barely alive after such torment.

After nibbling on bark and mud several more times, Samantha finally recognized her situation and decided to follow her strong and wise elder brother.

Unfortunately,

the goblin tribe she first encountered had been searching and chasing her, aiming to turn the young red dragon into alchemical materials. After some time tracking, a group of goblin wolf cavalry found her trail, followed her, and gradually spotted the young dragon.

“The distance is close enough. Archers, prepare!”

Among the goblin riders mounted on gray giant wolves, several drew their ironwood longbows to the full moon limit. The bowstrings were strung with finely inscribed runes, and the arrows were coated with poison.

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!

Three feathered arrows tore through the air, emitting piercing whistling sounds as they flew toward Samantha.

Her ears twitched, sensing danger behind her. Samantha rolled awkwardly.

Two arrows missed and landed in the wet ground, sinking deep from arrowhead to tail. Another pierced her hind leg. The armor-piercing arrowhead broke through her dragon scales. The metal shaft trembled slightly, emitting a faint metallic hum.

The pain from the wound was secondary.

Worse was the toxin spreading from the arrow.

Samantha was too weak now.

At her prime, such poison would have caused no effect.

She felt her last strength gradually fading. Her steps slowed, her body heavy as a mountain, and the Iron Fir Hills before her seemed as distant as the horizon.

If given another chance,

Samantha would definitely cling tightly to her brother’s leg and never let go, instead of stubbornly trying to survive alone as a foolish self.