novelraw Chapter 412: Legendary Equipment, Earth Ripper
Chapter 412: Legendary Equipment, Earth Ripper
The history flowing with dragon blood and giant corpses has etched hatred for giants into the hereditary memory of every true dragon.
In Garoth's inheritance, there is also an innate imprint of hatred for giants.
However, through long-term adaptation, his powerful will is sufficient to control the influence brought by this nature, preventing it from interfering with his rational judgment.
This expedition against the Mountain King is for the grand unification and practical interests of the Molten Iron Tribe, not merely to vent hatred.
If the Mountain King and the giants under him could recognize the situation and choose to submit, Garoth wouldn't mind sparing their lives.
However, considering that giants also have a deep-rooted instinctive hatred for dragonkind, it's difficult to expect their genuine loyalty.
Garoth will not grant any surrendering giants the status of followers. If they wish to live, they must accept the identity of slaves, serving him under strict supervision.
At this moment, a blue figure gracefully flapped its wings, arriving opposite the Red Iron Dragon.
It was the Blue Dragon Zoraya.
She slightly raised her head, displaying her slender neck and exquisitely crafted dragon horns that resembled works of art, gazing up at the majestic form of the Red Iron Dragon.The Blue Dragon Zoraya said, "My Lord... Your dragon might grows stronger with each passing day, filling me with admiration."
"I believe that after this battle, you will ascend to the supreme throne of the wilderness, becoming the sole ruler, the only master of this land."
Her gaze was soft as water, brimming with undisguised admiration and worship.
Her voice also seemed to carry a hook, tugging at the heartstrings of the listener.
The Red Iron Dragon looked directly into her eyes, and Zoraya slightly lowered her head, avoiding direct eye contact with him, revealing a somewhat bashful appearance.
Zoraya's appearance was that of a beautiful Blue Dragon, while also possessing latent Green Dragon bloodline.
It must be said, she is skilled in seduction like a Green Dragon, meticulous in thought, full of cunning, and knows how to utilize her own advantages.
Garoth knew this and did not expose it.
His gaze shifted away from Zoraya, slowly sweeping over the assembled dragon horde, preparing to say some inspiring words that could ignite dragon blood and boost morale.
A few seconds later, he organized his words and then spoke.
"My blood kin, my warriors!"
"Beneath our feet lies the land we already rule. The entire wilderness will tremble under our wings. Anything that tries to block our path will become mere fleeting dust."
His voice rumbled like thunder, echoing and buzzing in the air.
"Now, to our northeast, in the mountains, still lurks a group of stubborn stones that need to be crushed."
"Those stray dogs from the Thalassian Continent, they have forgotten who once ruled the sky and the earth! They have forgotten under whose flames and claws their ancestors trembled in fear."
"I will lead you—my sharpest claws and fangs, my sturdiest dragon scales—to crush them! To make them either turn to ash in the flames or kneel prostrate on the ground!"
He suddenly spread his wings, like banners unfurling.
"Let the mountains crumble, let the giants wail! Let the entire Ser Wilderness achieve its final unification under our dragon wings!"
The moment his words fell.
"ROAR—!"
The dragon horde erupted into a sky-shaking roar. Dragon might surged into the sky, seemingly about to disperse even the clouds.
Territorial ambition, hatred for giants... these intertwined, making the great dragons eager to ignite the flames of war.
Ser Wilderness, Northeastern Region, Iron Spine Mountains.
Steep, jagged peaks resembling the fangs of a great beast rose and fell across the land, forming a continuous, seemingly ancient natural barrier.
At the very center of this treacherous mountain range, one peak stood out particularly.
It was more treacherous and taller than all the surrounding peaks. Its steep cliffs were almost vertical, with sparse vegetation, resembling the spine of a giant god thrusting towards the sky, somewhat unique.
Deep within the massive space buried beneath the mountain, there was a grand and rugged stone hall.
In the center of the stone hall, there was no throne.
Instead, there was a vortex nearly a hundred meters in diameter, slowly rotating and emitting a dim yellow glow.
It resembled flowing sand, or the manifestation of the earth's pulse, constantly exuding a heart-palpitating, immensely heavy and condensed energy aura.
Around it were several strong giant warriors.
They continuously carried various minerals flashing with elemental light, uncut massive gemstones, strange crystals... and threw them into the quicksand vortex. As the quicksand rotated, these things merged into the vortex.
And at the very center of the quicksand vortex, where the energy was most violent and purest.
A figure as massive as a mountain range sat within.
He was the Mountain King who had ruled this northeastern region of the wilderness for decades, Grumm, a Mountain Giant with a life level of 20.
The Mountain King's skin presented a texture of granite weathered by wind, frost, rain, and snow.
Rough, hard, covered with gullies and cracks of varying depths.
Many of these were scars left from bloody battles with the Orc Empire on the Thalassian Continent in the past.
His muscles bulged and swelled like mountain ridges. Merely sitting there, he exuded a heavy pressure that was one with the earth.
He tightly gripped a massive, ancient-style battle-axe in his hand.
The entire axe presented a dull brass color. The axe head was covered with dense, spiderweb-like cracks, as if it might shatter completely at any moment. Yet, even so, it still exuded an indestructible feeling, as if a light swing could make mountains crumble and the earth wail.
—Earth Sunderer.
It was once a legendary artifact.
The reason for saying "once" is because it was severely damaged in a fierce battle. Its current power hasn't even recovered to half of its peak state.
However, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse.
Even in such a damaged state, it is stronger than top-tier equipment below the legendary level.
Moreover, if one could observe carefully, they would find that as the Mountain King continuously drew on the earth vein energy, extremely fine threads of energy were slowly wriggling along the deep edges of the cracks on the axe head, gradually healing the wounds.
Given enough time, it might not be impossible for it to regain its former legendary edge.
The Mountain King Grumm's own aura also grew increasingly heavy and profound under the continuous nourishment of the earth vein energy.
The swirling, sand-like substance around him was, in essence, earth vein energy.
The reason the Mountain King chose to dwell here was because he discovered the rich earth vein energy.
After dividing the wilderness into three with the Lord of Molten Iron and the Fungus King, he halted his steps of external expansion. He chose to fortify himself within this mountain territory, silently drawing on the earth vein energy day after day for decades, hoping to continuously accumulate and precipitate, ultimately using quantitative change to trigger qualitative change, breaking through the legendary barrier.
Back then, the Lord of Molten Iron was in slumber, and the Fungus King seemed to have a similar method of accumulation.
In short, the peaceful coexistence of the several regional kings was actually for the purpose of breaking through to the legendary level using the wilderness resources before the end of the civil wars among the nations. War was not their goal; becoming stronger was.
Unfortunately, things did not go as planned.
The barrier of the legendary level was exceptionally solid; otherwise, it wouldn't have stymied countless heroes.
Especially for long-lived species like dragons and giants, who are innately powerful but have long growth cycles, and special existences like the Fungus King with vastly different life forms, it was even more difficult to reach the legendary domain in a short time.
By the time the civil wars in the southern nations ended, gradually stabilized, and turned their gaze back to this lawless land,
None of the three regional kings had successfully taken that crucial step. They had only reached the peak of level 20, the pinnacle of the mundane.
"Power... I need more, stronger power!"
The Mountain King's low roar echoed in the stone hall, carrying an ancient accent from Thalassia.
He once belonged to a powerful and ancient Mountain Giant tribe on the Thalassian Continent, and was the son of the chieftain.
However, the good times didn't last.
The Orc Empire continuously expanded, sweeping across the giants' homeland with an unstoppable, destructive military force.
The magnificent giant city turned to ruins. His chieftain father died on the battlefield covering the retreat of their people. The once prosperous tribe disintegrated in the blink of an eye.
He could only lead the surviving tribesmen in flight, using the Earth Sunderer to repel wave after wave of pursuers, gathering a few Fire Giants and Stone Giants along the way.
During this period, he used the Earth Sunderer to repel an orcish Legendary, but the Earth Sunderer was also damaged.
Later, after a perilous journey crossing mountains and rivers, they arrived at the Atlantis Continent. After many twists and turns, they finally ended up in a land called the Ser Wilderness.
All these years, the flame of revenge burned incessantly in the Mountain King's heart.
That flame scorched his soul, driving him to constantly pursue greater power.
He yearned to break through to the legendary level, to become stronger, to one day lead his people back to that homeland defiled by orcs, to demand blood debt from those damned invaders, to use their skulls to honor the departed ancestors and kin.
But all these grand blueprints for revenge must first survive the imminent survival crisis.
Not long ago, the news that the Lord of Molten Iron had challenged and brazenly slain a Legendary swept across the entire wilderness and reached the Mountain King's ears.
He had clashed head-on with a Legendary powerhouse. He understood the terror of the legendary domain more deeply than anyone.
It was a suppression of life levels.
The chasm was so vast it was almost impossible to cross.
Therefore, after learning the news, the Mountain King's heart was shrouded in shadow, filled with intense unease.
Alongside the unease, a sliver of wishful thinking also sprouted in his heart.
For example, human Legendaries were typically slightly weaker than orcish Legendaries. Perhaps the Lord of Molten Iron had only luckily killed the weakest Legendary.
If timing, geographical advantage, and luck were all on his side, with the Earth Sunderer in hand, theoretically, he also had a chance to accomplish the feat of slaying a Legendary.
However, even harboring such hope, the threat from the Lord of Molten Iron still hung over his head like a suspended blade.
Retreat?
Abandon the foundation he had built and poured much into over decades? Abandon this earth vein node crucial to his hopes of revenge? Once again, like stray dogs, lead his people on an uncertain path of exile?
The echoes of Thalassia still lingered in his dreams. The tragic scene of his tribe's destruction was vivid before his eyes. He could not accept it.
All or nothing?
Accelerate, recklessly accelerate the absorption of earth vein energy, forcibly impact the legendary barrier, gambling that the Lord of Molten Iron suffered severe injuries requiring long-term rest to recover after the battle with the Legendary, and would be unable to launch a lightning strike against him in the short term.
This was a high-stakes gamble. The stakes were his life, his lifelong dream of revenge.
In the end, the desire for power, the thirst for revenge, overwhelmed the warnings of reason.
The Mountain King did not flee. He chose to go all-in, staying here to accelerate the absorption of earth vein energy.
However, as a leader who had experienced the pain of his tribe's destruction, he wasn't completely unprepared.
He had already dispersed all the young, not-yet-grown tribesmen in advance, sending some stronger giants to lead them.
These tribesmen couldn't provide much practical help in the war. Letting them disperse and escape first, hiding in various parts of the wilderness—if he broke through to Legendary, the tribesmen could naturally return; if he failed... at least the seeds of revival would be preserved.
Under the Mountain King's will, the earth vein vortex spun faster and faster.
More quicksand-like pure energy surged madly into his body.
Clusters of sharp rock crystals began to appear on the Mountain King's body surface. His aura, amidst violent turbulence, climbed upward bit by bit. Intense pain surged from within, like tidal waves, but he held on stubbornly.
However.
The speed of the Lord of Molten Iron's recovery, the determination and efficiency of the tribe—these all exceeded the Mountain King's expectations.
On the seventh day of him concentrating all his spirit, recklessly impacting the Legendary level, trying to grasp this last lifeline.
Dragons soared in the sky, savagely tearing through the heavens.
Led by the Lord of Molten Iron, the dragon horde arrived in the sky of the northeastern region, blotting out the sky, their dragon might vast and mighty, flying straight towards the Mountain King's territory.
"Enemy attack! The Molten Iron Tribe is attacking! Dragons! A large number of dragons in the sky!"
The giant sentries deployed on the treacherous peaks at the outer edges of the territory sounded the alarm at the first moment, urgently sending messages to the rear.
In the stone hall, the Mountain King Grumm suddenly opened his eyes, filled with unwillingness.
He could feel that he was truly just one thin membrane away from the legendary domain he dreamed of. There was a chance to break through.
But the enemy was already at the gates, giving him no more time.
"Too late... Damn it!!!"
He let out a furious roar, abruptly stood up, and simultaneously pulled the Earth Sunderer out from the earth vein vortex.
He calmed his spirit, forcing himself to be composed. His thick, pillar-like fingers tightened around the Earth Sunderer.
The Earth Sunderer itself was powerful legendary-level equipment. Its recovery after absorbing earth vein energy wasn't slow. Although still not fully restored, its power had also grown much stronger. Combined with his level 20 peak life level and powerful racial stats, it might not be impossible to kill a weak Legendary.
He still had one last chance.
Right here, right now, go all-in, spare no cost, use the might of the legendary artifact to kill the damned dragon!
"Prepare for war!"
The Mountain King roared, shaking the earth and mountains. The dragons tore through the sky, their figures drawing nearer and nearer... The war between giants and dragons was about to erupt.