novelraw Chapter 28: The Brass Dragon - Naturally Wicked Hybrid Dragon!
Chapter 28: The Brass Dragon - Naturally Wicked Hybrid Dragon!
Near a cracked rocky cliff covered with numerous pits and holes of various sizes.
A fresh piece of skinned beast meat lay exposed on the ground, its tempting bloody scent permeating the air under the scorching sun.
Time gradually passed.
After about ten minutes, the ground before the meat suddenly bulged and cracked.
A spider crawled out from beneath.
Its main body was about the size of a millstone, with spear-like legs nearly two meters long, covered in earthy yellow carapace patterned like stone.
Earth Spider - a Level 3 Fierce Beast.
Moving its segmented limbs, the earth spider approached the meat, ready to enjoy this unexpected 'windfall'.
But what it didn't know was that nothing in this world comes for free.
Whoosh!A sudden gust of wind swept from behind.
The red iron young dragon swooped low, grabbing the earth spider before it could react, then used Mind Link to successfully subdue it through a combination of threats and incentives.
Earth spiders were inferior to Rockgrub worms in every aspect.
But after several days of searching, Garoth hadn't found any other Rockgrub worm colonies or more suitable creatures, so he had to settle for this.
"One earth spider isn't enough. I need to catch more."
Garoth thought to himself.
The meat bait method was inefficient, so he considered changing tactics.
After brief consideration, Garoth noticed his newly acquired earth spider had a faint reddish hue on its brown abdomen.
His inherited knowledge told him this meant it was a female spider currently in heat, capable of emitting pheromones to attract males.
As for why such knowledge existed in draconic inheritance...
Let's just say dragons have diverse interests, and at least one of Garoth's ancestors must have taken particular interest in earth spiders to pass down such knowledge.
What followed was simple.
The female spider lounged casually on the ground, emitting an intoxicating scent for male spiders.
Soon enough, a male spider came following the trail.
However, the male spider didn't get what it came for.
The moment it eagerly emerged, it was ambushed by the red iron young dragon conducting this 'fishing operation'. After some threats and beatings followed by promised rewards, it was subdued using the same method.
"Lust brings danger upon oneself. Poor spiders."
Garoth sighed, then continued his entrapment operation.
Before long.
Garoth had assembled a group of earth spiders - 43 in total.
42 males and 1 female.
All male spiders were dispatched to a small black oil field occupied by dwarves to extract black oil for Garoth, while the female remained safely in the Iron Fir Hills with all provisions provided, kept away from danger.
But this didn't mean the female spider was idle.
Besides continuing to attract more males, it also bore the responsibility of keeping the male spiders motivated and cooperative.
When subduing the males, Garoth had made them a promise.
— Any male spider that brought back black oil would earn mating rights with the female.
For these low-intelligence fierce beasts, the urge to reproduce outweighed all else.
Driven by this primal instinct, the male spiders set off through the earth with great enthusiasm, while Garoth quietly awaited their triumphant return.
Several days later, Iron Fir Hills.
Samantha spat out a fireball.
Boom!
The fireball struck Garoth's body, exploding in dazzling flames. The powerful impact blasted away his last remaining buffer scales, revealing his steel-like black-red scaled armor beneath.
Feeling her throat dry and burning.
"Had enough? I'm getting tired."
Samantha panted as she asked.
"Continue. We're just getting started. Are you saying your stamina is worse than Mobel's?"
Garoth ruthlessly urged, employing psychological tactics.
Glancing at the Earth Rampage Bear resting against an iron fir nearby, Samantha's competitive spirit flared up. Grinding her teeth, she said, "You asked for this. I'm getting serious now."
With that.
Samantha took a deep breath, her chest swelling dramatically as molten-like dark red hues appeared between her scales.
A brilliant flame manifested between her crisscrossed draconic fangs, churning within her maw.
Explosive Flame Breath!
The surrounding air temperature rose imperceptibly. After several seconds of buildup, a concentrated magma-like fireball shot from Samantha's mouth directly at Garoth.
Watching the rapidly approaching fireball reflected in his eyes.
Garoth didn't dodge. Instead, he straightened his chest to take the hit head-on.
BOOM!
A powerful shockwave erupted, flames spreading outward in a blast that left a massive crater of scorched earth.
Red dragons were renowned for their devastating attacks.
Even Garoth couldn't completely withstand her fully charged attack, getting blasted backward through several iron firs before stopping.
Standing up and looking down, he saw the thick black-red scales on his chest were dented, with cracks radiating outward.
"Now that's what I call an attack!"
Rather than anger, Garoth felt exhilaration by the pain in his chest.
Samantha's previous attacks had been too weak to satisfy him, but this one finally met his expectations.
"Again. I'll stand still for you to attack."
He told Samantha with eager anticipation.
Unexpectedly, Samantha had already collapsed like a limp rag, the Explosive Flame Breath having drained her last reserves of energy.
"Garoth... you're... getting... more... insane..."
Samantha panted heavily, tongue lolling as she spoke haltingly.
She was done.
But Garoth still wanted more, turning his gaze toward the Earth Rampage Bear Mobel.
Mobel closed his eyes and pretended to be dead.
He'd been Garoth's previous sparring partner before Samantha and still hadn't recovered. Despite attacking Garoth, he always ended up sore all over.
Still unsatisfied, Garoth shot skyward, finding a barren hill and open area to repeatedly crash into.
Nearby beasts watched in terror as the seemingly deranged dragon kept smashing into hills and ground, quickly fleeing the area to avoid collateral damage.
CRASH!
Solid granite shattered under Garoth's horned impacts.
After more such training.
Garoth emerged from the 'cave' he'd smashed into the hillside, shaking off dust and debris, still not fully satisfied.
As his body continued strengthening, ordinary training methods were becoming less effective.
Like this modest barren hill - Garoth had nearly smashed straight through it, yet his scales only showed some cracks without any actual breakage.
"Ordinary mountains and earth can no longer meet my training needs."
"I need better, more suitable environments."
Flapping his wings to stir up dust, Garoth contemplated while preparing to return to Iron Fir Hills.
Just then.
A dry, desert-like draconic scent suddenly reached him.
Narrowing his eyes, Garoth looked up at the sky.
Within his vision.
Appeared the silhouette of another dragon.
Its scales bore a coppery hue that shimmered with metallic luster under sunlight. Spiral horns resembling ram's horns extended back from its forehead, while copper-colored hardened scale tendrils grew from neck to spine, fluttering in the wind as it flew across the sky like a crimson sandstorm.
This was a brass dragon, a type of metallic dragon.
It was heading straight toward Garoth's location with clear purpose, having obviously detected his presence.
"Mindlessly destroying innocent mountains and land, huh? You naturally wicked red-and-iron hybrid dragon! Today I'll make you experience the righteous punishment of a metallic dragon!"
The juvenile brass dragon had caught Garoth's scent and took immediate dislike to him, feeling intense battle lust rising within.