novelraw Chapter 357: Father and Son
Chapter 357: Father and Son
Heavy clouds, leaden gray, draped over the ring-shaped Sky Pit like a weighty curtain.
Cold, fine rain seemed endless, falling without pause from the dim sky, beating on the wet ground.
Huff! Huff! Huff!
With heavy, forceful wingbeats, the blood-red dragon Gorthax skimmed and circled in the half-light above the Sky Pit.
Dense raindrops rolled down his smooth, blood-colored scales, splashing into tiny fountains where they hit the earth.
But the search had yielded nothing this whole time, and the red dragon’s naturally surly expression grew even darker and more oppressive than the clouds choking the pit.
After several dozen seconds, his patience seemed to be exhausted.
Gorthax abruptly folded his massive wings, his heavy body flanked by gusting wind as he descended to a relatively open patch of ground at the bottom of the Sky Pit, mud splattering under his talons.
Right behind him, the iron dragon Leticia landed as well, cautiously holding her position a hundred meters away from the red dragon.
Rainwater likewise slid off her metallic scales, and her stance was full of vigilance.“Leticia, tell me…”
Gorthax slowly turned his head, the huge skull dipping slightly, his eyes fixed intently on the iron dragon.
“Why can I find not a single trace of frenzied flame?”
His tone was unnervingly calm, the quiet before a storm, yet it set alarm bells ringing in Leticia’s chest as if she faced a volcano about to erupt—she could feel the danger trembling beneath her feet.
Perhaps this trip had failed to achieve its purpose.
Perhaps it was just the aggravating rainy weather, or his own unpredictable mood swings.
In any case, the aura radiating from Gorthax showed he was teetering on the edge of madness.
“I don’t know.”
Leticia replied, keeping her voice steady without a ripple: “I never personally witnessed the frenzied flame reigniting here. What I told you were only rumors I heard.”
Gorthax took a step.
His colossal body advanced toward the iron dragon step by step, each footfall making the ground tremble.
“If there were rumors coming out of here, how could there be not even the slightest sign of its existence?”
Under Gorthax’s oppressive stare, Leticia slowly moved backward to maintain a safe distance.
“I already said, it might have just been a bunch of adventurers spreading—”
Her words were cut off by Gorthax’s sudden explosive roar.
“Shut up!”
His voice instantly overpowered the howl of wind and rain. His face went from calm to fierce and savage, the flames in his pupils seeming ready to burst forth.
“Leticia! Was it you?!”
“Did you secretly take the frenzied flame that belongs to me? Did you hide it?!”
Leticia’s whole body tensed like a drawn bowstring; inside she was sternly composed, realizing how unstable he had become.
She maintained an outward calm and answered: “I have no interest in the frenzied flame, Gorthax. In the entire wilderness, you are probably the only one who would treat such a dangerous and twisted thing as a treasure.”
Gorthax fell into a brief silence, his huge head tilting slightly as if thinking hard.
A few seconds later, the anger on his face ebbed like the tide, replaced by a deceptively gentle expression.
“Good, my dear Leticia.”
“I know, maybe you did it for my sake, afraid the frenzied flame would hurt me, or perhaps for some other reason I don’t yet understand, so you hid it.”
“But, look.”
His voice softened further, yet beneath that softness lurked a chilling danger: “I’ve already wasted a lot of time here because of this, and my patience is limited.”
“Don’t disappoint me. Bring out the frenzied flame.”
“Now. Immediately.”
This capriciousness made Leticia even more unnerved.
Her eyes sharpened with caution and she repeated, “I’ll say it one last time—I do not have the frenzied flame.”
“Gorthax, what you cling to is just your own imagination.”
At her words, the gentle look on Gorthax’s face vanished, replaced bit by bit with gloom, irritation, and fury.
He began to swish his massive tail in agitation; the tip carved deep furrows into the soft, wet earth like a plow, flinging mud and rock everywhere.
“Leticia! Do you think I’m an idiot you can fool at will?!”
Gorthax let out a suppressed, rolling growl like distant thunder. “People fear me, call me the Mad King! The Frenzied King! A tyrant! But never a fool!”
“No rumor is born from nothing!”
His sharp gaze fixed on the iron dragon like a blade: “If there are reports that the frenzied flame renewed in the Sky Pit, then there must be traces of its existence!”
“Yet I cannot find a single clue!”
As he spoke, his pupils narrowed to slits and his voice sped up.
“Now, only two truths stand before me—”
“Either the frenzied flame truly exists here, and you, my dear Leticia, hid it from me!”
“Or you, Leticia! You deliberately spread false news to lure me here! Trying to kill me!”
Gorthax’s massive body leaned forward, each word a roar: “Tell me! Leticia! Now! Which is it?!”
Cold raindrops tapped on Leticia’s scales with a staccato sound.
She remained silent, inwardly astonished.
She hadn’t expected that even in his present madness, Gorthax would still, as before, possess such sharp acuity, pressing so quickly toward the truth.
“Look me in the eye! Answer me!”
The red dragon’s low growl escalated to thunderous bellowing, unsettling the surrounding rain.
He advanced step by step, the danger in his eyes almost tangible.
Suddenly his movement froze; one of his talons had stepped on something abnormal.
He lowered his head and saw, partly revealed by the rain washing away the mud, an unassuming fragment of scale.
It seemed to have been there for some time, nearly fused with the earth, only now exposed by the cleansing rain.
The scale was black, its edge glinting with a faint silver sheen.
—Garoth’s Frostburst Scale.
It was a shard of old scale broken and scattered earlier when Leticia had clashed with Garoth on this ground.
“Dragon scale?”
Gorthax extended another foreclaw, pinched up the mud-streaked fragment, and brought it to his nostrils to smell it heavily.
A scent mingled of sulfur and metal, unmistakable to him.
“The red dragon’s aura...and the iron dragon’s scent...”
He murmured, then as if struck by lightning in his mind, he suddenly raised his head, his gaze turning lethal as he bared his white fangs at Leticia.
“Leticia! It seems my warning to you back then was far too mild!”
He demanded harshly, “Speak! Is this the scale of that so-called Lord of Molten Iron?!”
Before the iron dragon could answer, Gorthax sprayed two columns of searing flame from his nostrils, his fury igniting: “Bitch! You actually consorted with other dragons to plot against me!”
The air in the Sky Pit seemed to freeze, the raindrops growing heavier.
“This is a trap! A trap aimed at me, Gorthax!”
The red dragon raged, his roar shaking the sky: “Leticia! I still hold some old affection for you, sincere and burning! You betray me like this? Damn you! You deserve death!”
“You think that whelp of unknown origin, the Lord of Molten Iron, can take me? Bring him on! I’ll wait right here! I will slaughter you all, not leaving one alive!”
He had seen through the frenzied flame rumor as bait. Yet swollen confidence and rage left him no thought of retreat; he intended to stay in the Sky Pit and meet them head-on.
Gorthax’s face twisted with brutality as he hissed: “Before your precious helper arrives, bitch, I’ll tear off that pretty head of yours! Present it as a greeting gift to that bastard!”
“Then I’ll snap his neck and sew your head onto him! Let you two be together forever! Hahaha!”
Provoked, the red dragon fully revealed his deranged, cruel nature.
Leticia, however, did not show fear before such madness. She lifted her head slightly and looked past Gorthax’s vast bulk to the distant sky beyond, shrouded by rain.
A brilliant meteor tore the gloomy sky, burning a long tail of flame, streaking across the heavens with unmatched speed!
It ripped through wind and rain, carving a beautiful and deadly arc against the leaden backdrop.
Its aim was clear—it fell straight toward the Sky Pit!
“Who?!”
Gorthax, guided by an animal instinct, swung around and craned his head to the sky, his pupils reflecting the swiftly approaching point of light.
Boom! Boom!
With rings of sonic booms spreading outward, the meteor reached the Sky Pit overhead at unfathomable speed. It didn’t smash into the ground; instead it deftly circled once and, as if a king descending, settled firmly atop a jagged rock face, revealing its true form.
It was not a meteor from the heavens.
It was Garoth—the Lord of Molten Iron—the undisputed ruler of the convergence lands and the northwest region, a harbinger of death.
He had arrived.
Within the stormy curtain, the two powerful dragons faced each other truly for the first time; no warm or softened gaze met in the air.
The swept-back, rugged dragon horns glinted with cold light.
Countless sharp spines clustered densely along backbones and joints.
Rising plates of armor-like muscle resembled iron, full of explosive power.
Thick, protruding tusks jutted from jaws like predator fangs—these typical red dragon features were clear on Gorthax, yet carried a distinct flavor all his own.
Garoth’s eyes narrowed as he inspected this red dragon father.
He noticed in particular the scales on Gorthax that shone with a bloodlike brilliance, far brighter than any red dragon Garoth had seen. A layer of indelible Battle-Hardened Patterns scarred the scales, testifying to countless battles and triumphs.
Furthermore, though perhaps not as robust as Garoth himself, Gorthax’s physique far exceeded ordinary red dragons. Combined with a length well over twenty-eight meters, much longer than Garoth’s, he appeared several sizes larger—visually overwhelming and intensely imposing.
Across from him, Gorthax’s face was as dark as water, also scrutinizing the unexpected visitor.
Huge wings with razor-sharp edges.
Overlapping layers of heavy scales that seemed to offer multi-tiered protection.
Dense, swordlike spines sharp and cold as a forest of blades.
Musculature so massive and powerful that even Gorthax felt inwardly surprised.
...The bloodline features of red and iron dragons on Garoth seemed perfectly fused and elevated, with many unique traits of his own.
“A Lord of Molten Iron, a hybrid mongrel.”
Gorthax spoke first, his voice laced with contempt and murderous intent: “You mean to join Leticia, that bitch, to kill me? Come on then! I guarantee you’ll feel the ultimate pain and torment in this world!”
Yet as soon as his cruel words fell, his nostrils fluttered slightly, picking up drifting draconic scents from the air.
A hint of indescribable puzzlement replaced some of his rage in his eyes, causing him not to strike immediately.
The red-iron dragon spread his wings and leapt down from the rock face, landing steadily on the ground.
He walked with measured steps closer to Gorthax.
As the distance closed, Gorthax detected a clearer and ever more familiar bloodline scent from the red-iron dragon.
Molten iron lineage...red dragon bloodline...iron dragon bloodline...
Gorthax subconsciously glanced down at his own blood-red scaled body, then abruptly turned his head to look at Leticia, who maintained a wary posture at his side.
At the same time, that vague sense of familiarity in his mind ignited like a fuse, skyrocketing to its climax and forming a somewhat absurd conclusion.
“You...you are my offspring?!”
Gorthax blurted in astonishment, his pupils widening.
He looked at this red-iron dragon before him—so strong, only slightly smaller than himself—and his mind raced for a moment.
Judging by the timeline, if this were his descendant, the dragon should be at most in the Young Dragon stage.
A Young Dragon with such a terrifying size and overwhelming life force, already notorious across the wilderness.
Gorthax’s brief shock quickly gave way to a darker emotion.
Pride in an exceptional offspring? Comfort?
That was never his style.
Instead, the thought that a descendant bearing his blood might, in decades or centuries, have a great chance to surpass him swelled an uncontrollable fury and an overflowing urge to kill from his core.
“Hello, Father.”
Garoth met the red dragon’s cold, dangerous gaze without fear and approached slowly, step by step.
“I’ve heard many things about you. Your methods do pose a threat, but those were hearsay, not what I’ve seen with my own eyes.”
“Perhaps we can try talking.”
“I don’t mind living in this vast wilderness with a blood relative. There’s room enough here; we should both be able to inhabit it.”
When the distance between them closed to less than a hundred meters,
Gorthax suddenly twisted his mouth into a snarling smile, but there was no amusement in his eyes—only cold derision.
“You brat, listen to your arrogant tone.”
“Not minding? Haha...who do you think you are? Who gave you the right to stand here and speak to me as an equal?”
He paused, then his tone shifted unexpectedly.
“Oh...I suppose I got a bit...overexcited just now.”
He spoke with mock cheer: “My dear child, perhaps we really can join forces!”
“Father and son united, conquering and ruling this endless wilderness together, making those lowly creatures quake under our dragon might and praise our greatness for generations!”
“Of course, there’s one small condition.”
“Good son, kneel now in this mud and prostrate yourself before your great father! Let me see your proper respect and devotion!”
This was no normal negotiation; it was outright provocation and humiliation.
Garoth stopped at only a few dozen meters from Gorthax.
He shook his head slightly and said to the red dragon, “It seems there’s nothing for us to discuss.”
Almost at the same moment,
the Amethyst Dragon Lion, the holy spirit deer, the phoenix, Gold Dragon Alberto, Lord Flower Shire, iron dragon Sorog, red dragon Samantha...one by one, powerful presences emerged through the rain, appearing around the cliff edges surrounding the Sky Pit.
Their various gazes, like tangible chains, focused and locked onto Gorthax.
The smile on Gorthax’s face vanished instantly.
“Damn hybrid!!”
He let out a thunderous roar that tore the rain; his massive wings flared violently.
“You think bringing this ragtag bunch allows you to challenge me?! You dare to come this close alone?!”
“Today I will tear out your heart! Snap your neck! Crush your bones!! I swear!! The pain will be unbearable!! And I will savor every second!!!”
Whoosh!
The red dragon suddenly spread his wings, about to lunge at Garoth.
But Garoth moved faster.
At the instant Gorthax struck, Garoth’s claws, already poised, slung out a metal formation disc etched with complex runes.
He had closed in on Gorthax for this exact moment.
The disc spun rapidly in the air, exuding a dim light.
In an instant, Gorthax felt the surrounding space distort; his body began to sink.
It wasn’t a physical descent, but the space itself collapsing inward.
Centered on him, a dark-red spatial vortex opened up like a beast’s gaping maw, swallowing his entire form.
The scene before the red dragon first froze, then, like an oil painting washed by a storm, colors blurred and quickly faded away.
In their place,
figures gradually sharpened within the twisting light and shadow, and the outline of a strange building emerged.