novelraw Chapter 319: The Dominic Blue Dragon Family, Mother and Son Reunited
Chapter 319: The Dominic Blue Dragon Family, Mother and Son Reunited
The bitter cold from the convergence lands could not entirely breach the natural barriers and sweep across the Ser Wilderness.
Due to recent climate shifts and the invisible aftermath of the earth-shattering battle between two legendary rulers, the vast wilderness—though slightly cooled overall from its usual scorching temperature except during the brief rainy season—still showed no sign of even a single snowflake.
Only in the northernmost fringes, near the border with the convergence lands, could one occasionally see sparse, thin snow drifting on the wind.
Huu—!
The red iron dragon beat his wings and tore through the high sky above the Ser Wilderness, ripping powerful air currents apart and leaving a long, swirling wake behind him.
With each sweep of those wings, time quietly passed.
Beneath Garoth’s gaze, the landscape shifted like a rolling painted scroll.
He gradually flew over luxuriant, vibrant primeval forests, skimmed past a huge lake clear and green as jade, and looked down upon endless plains covered in drought-resistant shrubs and hardy grasses.
At last,
his massive body began to slow, a steady black cloud settling onto the jagged rim of a steep cliff.Sharp talons tapped and sank into the hard rock, anchoring him firmly.
He folded his broad wings and lowered his head to peer downward.
A vast depression, as if struck long ago by a meteor from the heavens, lay before him—a deep hollow plain etched into the earth.
This was his birthplace, the Sky Pit Territory ruled by the Iron Dragon Matriarch Leticia—a broad, sunken basin of a domain.
Garoth’s gaze shifted slowly.
He could faintly make out, beneath the steep cliffs opposite, a patch of ground especially pockmarked and rough, the adjacent rock faces still bearing deep cracks and enormous claw marks.
Though decades of weather and natural change had left many unfamiliar scars,
he could still clearly recognize the marks left by his youthful training—the daily, relentless pounding of the earth and stone.
A mingled wave of strangeness and deep familiarity rose involuntarily from his chest.
“Good. The Iron Dragon Matriarch’s aura remains strong—she’s clearly still living in this territory, not gone.”
Garoth lifted his stern, rugged head and no longer restrained his power. A tremendous surge of dragon might rolled outward like an invisible tide across the territory ahead.
Among dragons, social conventions were clear.
Entering another’s domain without the lord’s explicit permission is an extreme rudeness—an action that reeks of provocation and can be taken as a declaration of war.
Although he had been born in this place, it remained Leticia’s domain, not his direct territory.
So he first released his unique dragon might, making his presence and location unmistakable rather than brazenly plunging into the depths of the Dragon Nest. This served as a gesture of basic courtesy and to show he meant no hostility.
As Garoth’s unchecked dragon might swept over the land like a storm,
creatures living in the Sky Pit Territory, both great and small, felt an instinctual weight press down upon them, a heavy oppression that made them restless and anxious.
The first to react were a cluster of disturbed scorpion-lions.
A pack of snarling, malevolent scorpion-lions beat their huge batlike wings—dragon-like membranes—rising like a dark cloud from cavernous holes in the cliff beneath.
They were unmistakable in appearance:
humanoid heads with shaggy manes,
lion-like, muscular bodies,
a pair of massive, dragon-like leathery wings sprouting from their backs,
and most striking, a flexible scorpion tail covered in hard keratin tipped with a cluster of deadly venomous barbs.
Scorpion-lions were not a species of exceptional intellect; their intelligence roughly matched that of the Earth Rampage Bears.
They could manage basic speech, but an evil current ran in their blood. They relished serving strong lords who treated them well, could intimidate them, and regularly allowed them to sate their bloodlust on hunts.
Order-aligned evil dragons, brutal goblin warlords, cold-hearted giants—these were typical employers.
Any scorpion-lion pack appearing inside the Iron Dragon Matriarch’s core territory naturally belonged to her retinue of guards.
At the head, the scorpion-lion leader was unusually massive, almost comparable to an ordinary young dragon in size.
More conspicuous still:
on its scarred brow sprouted a pair of short, sharp black dragon horns. Between the thick mane, rows of black scales embedded beneath the skin flashed with a dim metallic sheen, exuding an unmistakable iron dragon aura.
This was a scorpion-lion strengthened by a dragon vein transformation ritual.
Scorpion-lions loved battle and killing.
When they first sensed the approach of a great intruder, they beat their wings and surged forward with threatening, low rumbles, baring vicious fangs.
Yet
when they clearly saw the majestic outline of the giant dragon hovering on the cliff’s edge,
all the roars and ferocious airs were suddenly strangled, as if gripped by an invisible hand, and after a moment dissipated into silence.
After some time of rest and recovery, Garoth had fully returned to his peak condition.
Beneath armor-like, steel-cast scales lay terrifying muscle mass and bone density that few dragons of comparable size could match.
Even red dragons—renowned for their strength—would look diminished beside Garoth, perhaps even ashamed by comparison.
And the scorpion-lions—so slender and insignificant—looked even more so.
Their cruel, savage eyes cleared noticeably when they took in the mountain-made physique of the red iron dragon.
“This territory belongs to the great Steel Queen—Lady Leticia!”
The scorpion-lion leader forced out the declaration in halting Draconic, invoking its dragon lord’s name to intimidate the newcomer. “Strange dragon! Without the Steel Queen’s explicit permission, you must immediately leave this place!”
Its voice tried to sound firm, though a tremor betrayed its unease.
Returning to his old home put Garoth in a good mood, so he remained patient and answered in a deep voice: “Go tell your queen—her former offspring has grown into a powerful being. I specifically came today to pay a visit.”
The scorpion-lion leader’s huge, humanoid face showed obvious skepticism.
Though not bright, it had common-sense judgment.
This dragon’s body length might be slightly less than the Steel Queen’s in absolute terms,
but the mountain-like heft, compact muscle mass, layers of metal scales and serrated spikes presented a visual and visceral impact that even surpassed its impression of the queen herself.
A child this large?
What a joke!
When had the queen ever produced an offspring of such outrageous size?
Still... it twitched its nose and sniffed the air carefully. It detected a faint, barely perceptible bloodline scent similar to the iron dragon lord’s on him.
Realizing that even if the entire scorpion-lion pack and other retinues gathered together they likely couldn’t stop this bane, the leader finally lowered its head a little and softened its tone.
It said, “Powerful dragon, Her Majesty the Queen is currently not within the territory. Please return later.”
So that was it.
Garoth understood.
No wonder he had released his dragon might for so long and Leticia had not responded—she wasn’t home.
“No matter.”
Garoth’s voice was calm. “I shall wait here for her return.”
Having said that, he ignored the scorpion-lion pack. His huge wings beat once, and he descended into the inner basin of the Sky Pit Territory.
The scorpion-lion leader opened its mouth, as if to object,
but seeing a silhouette so far beyond its capacity to confront, the words died on its tongue and it swallowed them in resignation.
All it could do now was watch anxiously and wait for the lord to return.
Under the tensely vigilant gazes of the retinues, Garoth strolled through the Sky Pit Territory like a returning sovereign.
He passed the clear lake where he had long dove to train his lungs as a hatchling, stepped across the training ground he had hardened with day-after-day of earth-pounding, walked by the mining area where he had once forced younger kin to dig, and finally paused near the great Dragon Nest deep in the pit wall where the Iron Dragon Matriarch resided.
More than fifty years had passed.
The Sky Pit Territory had inevitably changed—vegetation shifted, watercourses altered, mine tunnels widened, retinues changed—some marks were added while some old memories blurred.
Garoth himself had changed greatly; he was no longer the hatchling he had been.
“I wonder how the Iron Dragon Matriarch will look at me after so long.”
Curiosity and anticipation rose in him.
While waiting, he kept himself occupied with what he considered light warm-up exercises.
But each movement generated fierce gusts and tremors that made the surrounding watchers, who dared not relax, tremble with fear and grow even more nervous.
At the same time, in another area of the Ser Wilderness far from the Sky Pit Territory—the Crag Plateau—
a huge blue dragon with deep azure scales and dangerous sparks of electricity dancing in the gaps of its armor stood like a statue on the cliff edge.
The blue dragon looked toward the composed iron dragon before it and spoke in a voice like rolling thunder.
“The Dominic family does not provoke adversaries it cannot handle, nor does it act for matters with no benefit. That is our survival principle.”
Opposite him, the iron dragon Leticia’s scales resembled perfectly forged black plate armor, radiating resilience and strength.
“I understand your principle.”
Leticia spoke earnestly. “But no dragon knows Gorthax’s madness better than I do!”
“As long as he exists on this wilderness alongside your Dominic family,”
“he will sooner or later cast his greedy and violent light toward your territory, your treasures, your dependents.”
“Passive waiting beside a volcano is like sleeping at the crater—you never know when the molten destruction will erupt.”
“Rather than that, we should strike proactively! While we still have the advantage in strength and information, unite to remove this lethal threat hanging over our heads.”
The blue dragon slowly swayed its lightning-marked tail, voice steady.
“I understand your concerns and proposal, Leticia.”
“However, as I emphasized earlier, for the Dominic family, concrete and tangible benefits outweigh vague potential threats or private grievances.”
“I will relay your ideas and proposal to the leader in full.”
The blue dragon paused, adding with a hint of candor: “But I must make clear—based on how our family decides things, the likelihood that the leader will agree to join you in proactively surrounding and killing Gorthax is not high.”
Although both blue and iron dragons belonged to the lawful evil alignment of evil dragons, their mindsets differed significantly.
The blue dragons tended to be rational and calm, weighing pros and cons and long-term planning carefully; iron dragons were more tenacious and stubborn, sometimes willing to pay greater costs for their goals or beliefs.
Without sufficient tempting benefits, why would the blue dragon family join in surrounding a powerful, mad red dragon with extreme vengeance?
If they failed, they would invite a terrifying, mortal enemy for the family.
If they succeeded, aside from a potentially valuable corpse, what real gains would there be?
Gorthax’s ravaged domain had long since become barren; his followers were a chaotic ragtag mass with little worth taking over.
“…I will await your final reply.”
Leticia fell silent for a moment, then said no more. She beat her steel-like wings hard, surged into the air, and flew back toward her territory.
After the brief exchange, she no longer had high hopes the blue dragon pack would commit.
Night deepened and the sky turned a profound indigo; only a few sparse stars twinkled.
Leticia shook her head silently and pushed aside the noisy thoughts, accelerating her flight.
As she neared the Sky Pit Territory,
a peculiarly strong dragon might—strange yet faintly familiar—hit her like a physical wind.
Leticia’s heart jolted. Before she could fully identify the complex scent, her eyes sharpened and she increased speed, streaking back to her territory like a black lightning bolt.
Soon the familiar outline of the Sky Pit was in her sight.
She dove, and her sharp dragon pupils immediately locked onto a broad, solid dragon figure standing near the nest with its back to her.
That silhouette displayed astonishing muscle mass, dense vicious spikes across its body, armor-like scales heavy enough to seem immune to attack, wing edges like blades, a powerful tail, and huge, rugged dragon horns—all signaling extreme danger.
Leticia’s warning bells rang fiercely.
Boom!
Her heavy body crashed down near the nest entrance, limbs crouched and muscles tensed, a surge of magical energy surging within her—she assumed a fully guarded combat posture, ready to launch a deadly strike at any moment.
“Who is it! How dare you trespass into my territory!”
Leticia roared from deep in her throat, a low, threatening electricity-charged sound. Her steel scales bristled and muscles coiled like drawn bows.
Across from her, the broad, weighty dragon shadow that radiated suffocating oppression heard her roar and slowly turned.
When Leticia’s wary, sharp gaze finally took in his face in full detail and she could clearly smell that mixed scent of molten iron, fierce fire, and a strand of bloodline familiarity deep within it,
she first recoiled—her great dragon pupils froze for an instant.
Then her eyes widened and widened further in disbelief… an absurd thought, one that almost made her doubt her sanity, surged uncontrollably from her heart:
“Oh? My dear child, long time no see.”
Garoth looked at the iron dragon matriarch who seemed nearly petrified and grinned, a smile parting his jaws.
“You seem nervous.”
“Have you forgotten your former offspring?”
Across from him, Leticia’s eyes rounded into saucers; her vision was entirely filled with the giant dragon before her—larger, much more robust in every way than she remembered.
A shock unlike any other crashed over her reason like a tsunami, leaving nothing but incredulous expression in her eyes.
Impossible!
This dragon—over twenty meters long, with weight far surpassing hers and the stance of a full adult beast—could this really be the offspring that had hatched a mere ten years ago?!