novelraw Chapter 494: Desire, Natasha the Golden Dragon Who Sets Herself on Fire 39
Chapter 494: Desire, Natasha the Golden Dragon Who Sets Herself on Fire 39
The Citadel of Crimson Flame, High Mountain Dragon Court.
The red iron dragon folded his wings, landing steadily on the open platform.
He had just finished folding his wings when a fierce gale swept in from the side. The brass-silver dragon Deborah soared through the air, gave her wings a single powerful flap, and landed before him.
"Did you send the children to the Dragon Academy in the convergence lands?"
The brass-silver dragon looked at Garoth, her maw opening and closing. "I heard the training methods there are very harsh."
Garoth turned his neck, meeting her eyes.
"What, worried they won't be able to endure hardship?"
The brass-silver dragon shook her head, a bright smile suddenly blooming on her face.
"No," she said in a light tone, "that's exactly what I want to see."
She ground her sharp back molars, producing a faint grating sound, then continued with a grin, "Those little brats need to suffer a bit more.""When we were in the dragon domains, they caused me no end of trouble. And my parents always shielded them, forbidding me from being too strict."
"Now it's perfect. Over there, let's see how they can keep causing mischief all day long."
Thinking about the tempering her hatchlings were about to receive at the Dragon Academy, Deborah couldn't help but feel joy blooming in her heart.
Perhaps due to her long association with evil dragons, her views on offspring were indeed different from those of ordinary Metal Dragons.
She valued bloodline bonds, seeing them as the most important ties, but that didn't mean she would indulge them without principle. When discipline was needed, her claws and tail would not hold back.
"Your parents shielded them?"
Garoth showed a surprised expression, recalling slightly.
"I remember Edri and Serena mentioned long ago that they hoped to have descendants with evil dragon bloodlines. Then, through careful guidance and education, they could gradually steer that innate ferocity onto the right path."
This was the long-held wish of that Metal Dragon couple.
Because of this, Garoth had always assumed their attitude towards evil dragon descendants would lean more towards strict discipline rather than indulgence.
After all, the deeper one understands the nature of evil dragons, the clearer it becomes that without authority as a prerequisite, excessive favor often doesn't earn gratitude. Instead, it easily fosters the arrogant notion of "I am inherently noble and deserve this."
Deborah shook her head helplessly.
"I was surprised too, but that's the reality."
Her tone carried a hint of accusation. "They talk a good game, saying things like 'we must teach them well' and 'correct their nature,' but their actions are completely different."
"They practically want to hold the little ones in their arms all day, even feeling heartache over a single lost scale."
"If I hadn't been keeping an eye on them, those little brats' tails would have been pointing to the sky long ago."
After listening to Deborah's complaint, Garoth remained silent for a moment before speaking slowly, "True intentions are hard to gauge. Until faced with the situation, who can say for sure what they'll actually do?"
Perhaps before the hatchlings were born, Edri and Serena indeed harbored thoughts of strict discipline.
But when they truly saw these large creatures flowing with their own previous bloodline and carrying heterogenous traits... their hearts softened. And once softened, it's often hard to harden them again.
Deborah flicked her tail, its tip slicing through the air with a faint whoosh, muttering quietly.
"I truly didn't expect them to hold me back in this matter."
Garoth shook his head slightly, saying, "Perhaps there's another possibility."
"They might think the hatchlings already have you, a strict mother, and me, a father who would never be soft-hearted. So, they decided to play the role of the doting elders."
He paused, his voice steady.
"This way, when the little ones feel too much pressure, they at least have a place to seek comfort and refuge."
Deborah nodded thoughtfully.
This explanation sounded much more reasonable.
She looked back at the red iron dragon, her tone softening. "If that's the case... then it's acceptable."
It was currently afternoon. Bright sunlight poured down, bathing Garoth's majestic form.
The light illuminated the interwoven patterns of dark red and deep black on his scales, outlining the contours of each cluster of solid muscle, reflecting his majestic dragon horns and claws and fangs, making him appear increasingly imposing and brimming with a sense of power.
Deborah watched this scene quietly, her gaze unconsciously growing somewhat more intense.
"Hmm..." She tilted her head slightly, lowering her voice a bit.
"Want to go play a game? I mean... the Riddle Game."
Garoth lowered his gaze to look at her.
Under the bright sunlight, the brass-silver dragon's scales reflected a honey-like warm amber and a clear, cool silver-white. The two hues intertwined, making her entire body appear beautiful and radiant.
He nodded, responding briefly.
"Good, to my quarters."
Deborah was already an adult, but in certain aspects, she still maintained a reserved shyness.
Therefore, the "Riddle Game" she spoke of often had a different meaning, and Garoth was well aware of this.
The red iron dragon suddenly extended his right wing.
Amidst the brass-silver dragon's short gasp of surprise, the strong, broad wing folded inward, gently yet firmly enveloping her completely.
Immediately after, Garoth swung his left wing, his powerful hind legs pushing off the ground.
He soared into the air with Deborah wrapped in his wing, flying swiftly towards the direction of his quarters, leaving a swirling gale in his wake.
The interior of the quarters was spacious, with a high arched ceiling cast from metal.
The various gemstones and metal decorations embedded within refracted warm, non-dazzling light under the illumination of magical light sources.
Deep within the palace, a platform carved from a single massive piece of warm jade occupied a prominent position. Its surface was smooth and warm, with naturally undulating edges. This was the Red Emperor's resting place.
The red iron dragon loosened his wing.
Deborah landed lightly on the warm jade platform.
She gave her neck a slight shake, the silver-amber scales shimmering with a delicate luster.
"Well then, the game begins."
"The rules are as usual: guess correctly and get a reward, guess wrong and receive punishment."
The red iron dragon moved a bit closer, his shadow enveloping Deborah.
"It was born in ancient times, gazes in the darkness, hides in the light. It burns to the touch, turns cold when distant. What is it?"
Deborah tilted her head, falling into thought.
"Is it... forged iron?"
She ventured a guess.
"Incorrect."
The red iron dragon took another step forward, the distance between them closing further, his breath almost brushing against Deborah's faceplate.
He said, "Think again."
The brass-silver dragon blinked, guessing several more results one after another, but Garoth rejected them all.
She looked at the red iron dragon so close at hand, her thoughts drifting somewhat, distracted, muttering softly, "I concede. What's the punishment?"
"The punishment is... answering a question of mine."
Garoth lowered his head, his snout almost touching the scales on Deborah's forehead. "Now, when you look at me, what are you thinking?"
Deborah's breath hitched for an instant.
She instinctively averted her gaze, but beneath her scales, her skin felt faintly warm.
"...Thinking about your wings. That curvature... is very suitable for riding the wind."
"Liar," Garoth said. "Your eyes tell me you're thinking of something else."
The brass-silver dragon's body shrank slightly, then she raised her eyes again, her gaze looking directly into Garoth's deep vertical pupils, where she could clearly see her own reflection.
"Then..." she countered, "you guess... what am I thinking?"
"You're thinking," the red iron dragon's voice dropped even lower, carrying a scorching heat, "what temperature my scales are under the sunlight, whether my claws would be too heavy if they pressed on your shoulder blades, and..."
He paused, his sharp claws lightly tracing the fine scale gaps on the brass-silver dragon's neck.
"...when I would draw close to you."
The brass-silver dragon trembled slightly, a soft moan escaping her throat.
She didn't deny it. Instead, she lifted her neck, exposing more vulnerable lines.
"...You always know everything."
The brass-silver dragon whispered.
"Only about you."
The red iron dragon's wings closed again, completely enveloping them both in this private space.
His snout landed on her forehead scales, following the pattern of the scales downward, lightly nibbling her jawbone and throat. Then, low panting and the faint sounds of dragon scales rubbing intertwined.
Time flowed quietly.
When this lengthy game temporarily concluded, two weeks had already passed.
On the massive warm jade platform, the brass-silver dragon lay almost completely limp, even the strength to lift a single foreclaw drained from her. Her chest rose and fell, her breathing fragmented and rapid, exuding an extreme, lazy weariness.
Opposite her, the red iron dragon remained standing tall, full of vigor, showing not a hint of fatigue.
"I've... reached my limit." Deborah's voice was faint, carrying a hint of hoarseness. "You... don't seem to have fully satisfied yourself yet."
The physical disparity between the two was too great.
Unless Garoth completely cast aside caution, risking injuring his mate to continue, it was indeed difficult for him to fully vent his energy in a single interaction.
"It's fine."
"For me, this itself is also a form of training."
Garoth said slowly.
If Zoraya were currently at the royal court, he might have continued. That Blue Dragon was more wild in this aspect, even begging for more intense treatment at the edge of her limits, viewing pain as part of the joy.
But Zoraya was not at the royal court right now.
Garoth wasn't so urgent as to specifically order her to come or fly to her location himself.
He slightly closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. His chest expanded like bellows, then slowly settled.
Garoth could feel the scorching restlessness within him hadn't completely subsided, but his formidable will was firmly suppressing it.
After a brief rest, Deborah remained in the quarters, falling into a deep sleep, while Garoth spread his wings and left the main fortress of the royal court, heading for his training grounds located among the mountains.
After landing, Garoth slightly raised his head.
Instantly, with him as the center, countless pieces of steel materialized out of thin air, of all shapes and sizes, swirling around him.
Condense!
At the red iron dragon's command, all the flying steel simultaneously froze mid-air, as if time had frozen for an instant. Then, like young swallows returning to their nest or iron filings drawn to a magnet, they all converged and adhered to Garoth's body.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang!
Dense, crisp sounds of metal impact and interlocking rang out one after another.
In the blink of an eye, a layer of heavy steel armor, perfectly fitted, encased Garoth's entire body.
From the majestic dragon horns on his head, to his long neck and robust torso, to his powerful limbs and flexible long tail, even most areas of his jaw and face were covered by a heavy faceplate with observation slits.
His already immensely imposing form, after donning this armor, exuded an even more suffocating sense of pressure.
"Steel Domain... focused on defense."
"Like human legendary beings, highly compressing and condensing domain power on the body's surface, forming an additional layer of armor."
Garoth's muttering transmitted through the faceplate sounded somewhat muffled, yet added to his majesty.
The red iron dragon swung his iron-armored tail, striking deep furrows in the ground.
Flame Domain for magic suppression, Steel Domain for defense.
These were the two main development directions he had currently thought of after some consideration.
As for self-amplification... domain amplification mainly relied on the environmental effects formed after the domain was deployed. Its specific amplification effects were far inferior to any of Garoth's states.
"However, the defensive effect of this steel armor is actually not as good as my own dragon scales."
"My dragon scales have grown with me since birth, tempered through countless trials. In comparison, the domain has undergone too little destruction."
Garoth thought to himself, recalling his former double-layered scales.
"My Dragon Pearl, while it can restore my state, often cannot immediately heal damaged scales."
"And in intense combat, when my own scales suffer severe damage, and the enemy thinks my defense has greatly decreased, allowing for a fatal strike, I can then manifest the steel armor, temporarily restoring my defense."
"It's equivalent to an extra layer of armor whose timing of creation I can control myself."
This would undoubtedly give the enemy a surprise.
Moreover, his years of training the domain had borne fruit. His adaptive evolution trait could also act upon the domain, though the current effect seemed inferior to his own body. This meant his domain also had potential for evolution in the future.
Use Flame Domain to suppress magic, forcing enemies to compete with him on raw attributes.
Use Steel Domain for defense, making enemies feel hope only to be plunged into despair.
This combination left Garoth fairly satisfied.
Next, just as the red iron dragon focused on testing other properties of the steel armor, a dazzling golden light streaked across the sky from afar.
The golden light executed an elegant circling maneuver, slowing down.
Finally, it landed lightly on an open area not far from Garoth. As its wings folded, the resulting air pressure scattered rolling stones on the ground.
The newcomer was a Gold Dragon.
She stretched her long, graceful neck. Every scale seemed forged from the purest molten gold, flowing with a warm, noble luster under the sunlight.
It was none other than one of Garoth's Metal Dragon companions, Gold Dragon Nasha.
She looked at Garoth's new getup with great interest.
"Look, look, what new toy is our Red Emperor playing with? This pile of iron... looks quite intimidating."
Hearing this, Garoth turned around, the armor clanking with a dull sound.
"Perfect timing, Nasha. I'm testing this steel armor and need an opponent. Care to spar?"
"Oh? Of course."
The Gold Dragon's eyes lit up.
She slightly lowered her forebody, adopting a preparatory pouncing posture, muscles tensing beneath her golden scales. "But don't feel bad if I break your new toy."
Before her words faded, Nasha's hind legs powerfully pushed off the ground, her wings flapping for acceleration. The entire dragon transformed into a streaking golden lightning bolt, fiercely pouncing towards Garoth.
Her dragon claws, wrapped in sharp light, slammed hard onto the steel armor.
CLANG!!!
An incredibly ear-piercing metallic impact roar exploded, the sound waves reverberating repeatedly among the mountains.
However, forget dents or shattering; not even a single scratch was left on the armor's surface.
Nasha, failing with her first strike, used the momentum to soar into the air, her tail smashing down like a war hammer, but the result was the same as before.
In the following moments, the Gold Dragon unleashed various attacks.
Claws, fangs, wing strikes... all her attacks, even enhanced with different elemental combinations, seemed to strike an indestructible domain.
"What in the world is this thing?!"
Nasha finally stopped her futile assault, somewhat annoyed as she shook her still-numbed tail, her vertical pupils fixed tightly on the utterly unmoving armor. "Why can't I break it at all?!"
Garoth's voice came through the faceplate, saying, "It's formed from my domain power."
"Domain?" Nasha was first stunned, then a sense of humiliated anger at being toyed with quickly replaced her confusion.
"Hey! You inherently evil red iron dragon! You did this on purpose, didn't you?!"
She raised her voice, indignant. "You know perfectly well I'm not at the legendary realm yet! How could I possibly break through a true domain defense?! You're just messing with me!"
Only then did Garoth realize.
Accustomed to battling legendary-level opponents, he had momentarily forgotten that Nasha hadn't yet crossed that threshold.
"My apologies," he said honestly, trying to ease the atmosphere. "It was my oversight. I forgot you haven't reached legendary yet."
This explanation only made things worse. Once spoken, Nasha grew even more furious.
"Damn it! You really are making fun of me!" The Gold Dragon ground her sharp fangs, producing a grating sound.
"Garoth! Take off that cumbersome iron shell of yours! I refuse to believe I can't leave a single mark on your own scales!" She issued a new challenge, shifting her target to Garoth's own natural defense.
The red iron dragon chuckled lowly. "Fine."
Layer by layer, the iron armor peeled away like a receding tide, then dissipated into the air, revealing his originally dark red, profound scales.
The Gold Dragon didn't hesitate for a moment, pouncing again!
This time, her attacks finally landed solidly on Garoth's dragon scales.
Claws slashed his shoulder; teeth gnawed at his neck; her tail whipped his spine...
However, the strength of Garoth's scales actually surpassed that of the domain.
These attacks landing on Garoth's scales felt strangely gentle.
Rather than attacks, they felt more like slightly forceful contact, gentle as a feather's tickle.
He suffered no harm. Instead, with these physical contacts, the heat he had just suppressed earlier, not yet fully gone, surged up again.
"Nasha," the red iron dragon's voice was a shade deeper than before, "stop."
The Gold Dragon, in the midst of her fierce assault, seemed to sense the subtle change in atmosphere.
But she didn't stop. Only, the rhythm and manner of her attacks began to undergo a subtle shift.
Her claw strikes traced the lines of muscle along Garoth's spine; her fang-tearing turned into faint, suggestive nibbles, accompanied by warm breath exhaled into the gaps between his scales; her long tail began to coil around him, seemingly unintentionally yet purposefully.
Her long, agile golden form almost pressed against the red iron dragon.
The red iron dragon's heat intensified further.
He repeated, "I said, you should stop."
"What? Scared?"
The Gold Dragon not only didn't stop but escalated.
She chuckled lightly, her tail tip brushing the scales under Garoth's jaw. "Weren't you quite impressive just now? Let me see the Red Emperor's true capabilities."
Garoth's breathing gradually grew heavier, his vertical pupils narrowing.
He warned, "Gold Dragon, be careful of playing with fire."
Nasha turned a deaf ear, her movements growing increasingly unrestrained, her entire body almost clinging to him.
In truth, the desires of adult dragons were as fierce as molten lava. Especially for those Metal Dragons whose natures leaned towards order, who restrained themselves year after year with various rules and disciplines. Once the lock on their hearts was pried open even a crack, the suppressed desires could sometimes be harder to control than those of many evil dragons, burning even more violently when ignited.
Moreover, few dragons possessed willpower as strong as steel like Garoth's.
And even he couldn't completely eliminate the influence of desire.
When the Gold Dragon tried to coil her tail around the red iron dragon's hind leg, he roared out.
"Enough!"
Garoth abruptly turned, countering with speed and strength far surpassing the Gold Dragon's. His sharp claws seized Nasha's shoulders, pinning her entire body to the ground. The solid ground cracked under the force.
His wings spread like curtains, completely enveloping the Gold Dragon in shadow.
Nasha let out a gasp of surprise, but not fear. Instead, her eyes sparkled with excitement.
Whoosh!
A soft magical radiance lit up between Garoth's tightly gripping claws.
That was the light of Transformation.
The Gold Dragon pinned to the ground abruptly shrank in size.
Garoth felt emptiness under his claws.
A nimble, agile figure slipped like a fish through the gaps between his claws, leaping up lightly and landing steadily on the back of one of his thick forelimbs.
It was a tall, humanoid woman.
A dazzling golden ponytail was tied at the back of her head, her hair still flowing with a faint glow under the dragon's shadow.
Her skin was a healthy wheat color, smooth and taut, clad in a simple yet exquisitely crafted golden skirt armor.
The skirt armor only covered vital areas.
Her long, straight legs, brimming with a sense of power, were almost completely exposed. In the faint light seeping through the gaps in the red iron dragon's wings, they shimmered with a dazzlingly fine luster and smooth lines.
Her features held both heroic spirit and nobility. Currently, she slightly lifted her chin, looking directly up at Garoth's massive draconic head.
This was Nasha's human form, resembling a valiant female knight.
"Lewd evil dragon!"
"What do you want to do to me? Go ahead, try!"
She straightened her back, her voice crisp and clear. "I, a noble and righteous Gold Dragon, will never yield to you!"
Garoth didn't answer.
Nasha's response was another burst of light.
Intense light stabbed forth, almost impossible to look at directly.
When the light receded, the red iron dragon, originally like a mountain range, had vanished. In his place stood a figure as imposing as an iron tower.
His muscles were taut and bulging, as if cast from steel.
His features were deep-set, with a high nose bridge and a firm jawline. His physique was wild yet full of beauty. Black-red hair cascaded over his shoulders, and from within his hair, a pair of majestic dragon horns pointed skyward, like a demon king descended to the world.
This was Garoth's human form, retaining some draconic characteristics.
He offered no extra words or preamble. Directly stepping forward, his strong arm, like a steel band, reached out, encircled Nasha's waist, and effortlessly lifted her entire person onto his broad shoulder.
Nasha only had time to let out a low gasp.
BOOM!!!
Garoth, carrying her, directly crashed into a nearby steep mountain peak.
The mountain rock shattered and collapsed before his formidable physique. The figures of the two were instantly swallowed by the cascading rubble and billowing dust.
But this was only the beginning.
The mountain began to shake violently. Cracks appeared on its surface, fissures extending as if two giant beasts were wrestling and tearing inside, the commotion immense.
PS: There will be another chapter in a while.