Defeating the World with the Power of One Dragon!

Chapter 84: The ‘Blessing’ of the Deity

The warlord’s skill mainly lies in strengthening the soldiers under its command. It dislikes personally entering the fray to face danger, even though it is far stronger than ordinary warriors. This is understandable. Although it might be accused of cowardice, its contribution from the rear is indeed greater than direct frontline engagement.

Meanwhile, facing a group of charging gnoll warriors, the Rotclaw Priest showed a look of surprise and anger, slamming his bone staff heavily on the ground. “Those who betray the gods shall suffer eternal wounds!” Black blood seeped from his seven orifices, transforming into numerous curse marks that landed on the gnoll warriors, causing their fur and skin to peel away and one pus-filled sore after another to grow on their bodies.

However, these berserk warriors did not fear pain. Their weakness did not halt their advance. They surged forward like a tide.

The first gnoll to reach out grabbed the hem of the Rotclaw Priest’s robe and bit directly at his neck. But a Gnollguard reacted faster, seizing its neck and snapping it with a crack. More claws followed in succession, but none could break through the Gnollguards’ defense within a short time.

The two Gnollguards were originally the fiercest warriors and had undergone ritual enhancement, becoming even stronger. Upon entering battle mode, their bodies swelled, reaching a full three meters in height—taller and fiercer than the berserk gnoll warriors empowered by the warlord.

Silent and taciturn, the Gnollguards repelled wave after wave of attacking kin. Blades and sharp claws tore at their fur and flesh, leaving blood trails, but these injuries instantly healed and regenerated before the eyes. They were like two indestructible monsters, holding firm against the onslaught of berserk gnolls.

Protected by the Gnollguards, the priest retreated while fighting, waving his bone staff and rapidly chanting prayers to brew spells.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Two dragon scales spun through the air like a rain curtain, striking precisely on the Gnollguards. The resulting blazing flames blasted them apart, scattering their bodies and breaking the priest’s spell formation.

Seizing this chance, the berserk gnoll warriors swarmed forward, surrounding the priest and tearing him to shreds with chaotic blades and claws.

The frail priest had little strength to resist after losing his guards and being cornered. His desperate prayers to the gods in his final moments went unanswered and unprotected.Garoth watched this scene quietly. The deities’ perception spread across countless worlds and could not cover everything. Unless it involved a top-tier priest of great importance, they would not care too much or investigate the cause of death and the culprit. Normally, they would just casually curse and kill the priest’s killer—a low-probability event.

“I wonder what the curse of the gods feels like.”

Recently, Garoth felt his ‘Blessing of Fire’ gradually weakening. His fire resistance was increasingly dulled, and its improvement slowed down.

The reason, he believed, was that his curse resistance was also increasing, slowly rendering the curses ineffective.

He thought to himself: If he deliberately enraged the gods, hunted down their priests, and received their curses, could that somehow become a different kind of ‘blessing’?

Such a blessing would definitely be thousands of times stronger than the blessing of the Serpent Dragons.

But that was just a thought. The risk was too high. The gods’ curse might kill him outright without giving him any chance to adapt.

Suddenly, Garoth narrowed his eyes and looked to his right.

With rustling sounds, pieces of shattered limbs attracted each other and gathered into a mass.

Under Garoth’s watchful gaze, two previously blasted-apart Gnollguards stood up again.

Their bodies were covered in bloody, charred black scars and riddled with cracks like broken porcelain. Yet no matter the injuries, they were healing and stitching themselves visibly fast.

“Such strong regeneration.”

Garoth shook his entire body of dragon scales.

He was curious how many Explosive Scales it would take to completely blow up two Gnollguards, or if using the Dragon Wing Blades to chop them into minced meat, would they still regenerate?

These monsters, transformed by sacrifices to the gods, had such tenacious life force—how far did it extend?

The Gnollguards were silent, their bodies writhing like small larvae.

They turned their heads, locking eyes on the dragons that had injured them before.

They showed no fear. Their broken and regenerating bodies moved, then strode forward swiftly, running toward Garoth.

“Their hatred is attracted to me.”

Watching the two Gnollguards, Garoth did not take to the air.

He swung his dragon wings leisurely, the razor-sharp wing bones gleaming coldly in the light drizzle. Raindrops that struck them were cleaved in two, then shattered into pieces.

“Stop!”

Warlord Bloodfang shouted fiercely, staring at the Gnollguards attempting to attack Garoth.

“The priest is dead. As the leader of the Redeye Clan, I order you to submit to the Dragon Lord!”

The two Gnollguards, running, suddenly toppled and knelt before Garoth, still silent and expressionless, like two sculptures.

“Dragon Lord, with the priest’s death, the Gnollguards will be loyal to the clan leader.”

“They are now also your subjects, your servants. Please spare their lives.”

Warlord Bloodfang looked at Garoth, his fierce expression instantly turning obsequious.

The speed of his face change was astonishing.

“Are you trying to tell me what to do?”

Garoth said.

“Please forgive my unintentional overstep.”

Warlord Bloodfang hurriedly responded.

Garoth looked at the kneeling Gnollguards.

The Gnollguards were more loyal to the clan leader—Warlord Bloodfang. When Bloodfang ordered them to submit to Garoth, they silently knelt. If told to attack Garoth, they would obey immediately.

This was typical: the subordinates of my subordinates are not my subordinates.

Among dragon kin, dragons mainly care about and control the heads of their subjects, not every subordinate creature. Even adult dragons with sufficient vital essence and mastery of the dragon vein transformation skill only convert the heads, turning them into dragon vein creatures with absolute loyalty.

As for the subordinates below the heads, they are better managed by their leaders, while dragons manage and command only the leaders.

Of course, the Gnollguards were an exception.

They were monsters created by the priest, lacking their own intelligence. Like puppets on strings, they were even less intelligent than wild beasts and demons, only obeying their creator’s commands. When their creator, the priest, died, they unconditionally obeyed the clan leader’s orders.

Ordinary subjects knew the Dragon Lord was their head’s superior, a stronger existence.

Even if their leader ordered disobedience, they usually lacked the courage.

For example, these gnolls. They were closer to Warlord Bloodfang, but if Bloodfang ordered them to attack Garoth right now, no gnoll would respond. After all, they were intelligent beings—though rarely thinking independently, they understood basic self-interest and would not do suicidal things.

The two Gnollguards knelt and stopped.

Spare them? Or forget it.

They were unstable factors with no reason to keep alive.

Garoth walked forward calmly and suddenly raised his dragon claw, slapping the Gnollguards.

Pfft! Pfft!

Under his terrifying and powerful force, the two Gnollguards, caught without dodge or defense, were instantly smashed into radial piles of minced flesh.

Garoth was somewhat surprised.

The minced flesh still wriggled, trying to gather back into humanoid shapes.

“Such strong life force.”

“These are only two low-level Gnollguards.”

“If it were the legendary Dragonblight, and they reached the Ancient Dragon tier, who could defeat them?”

Garoth felt wary, then breathed out his fiery dragon breath, engulfing the vaguely reassembled Gnollguards and turning them to lifeless ash—finally killing them completely.

Warlord Bloodfang watched this scene. Although he felt pain over the deaths of the two Gnollguards, he did not intervene.

Garoth ignored his advice and ruthlessly killed the Gnollguards.

This did not make Warlord Bloodfang unhappy; instead, it made him admire Garoth even more.

Look at how domineering, how strong, how mighty this Dragon Lord is... Only such a dragon deserves my loyalty and following!

Warlord Bloodfang’s tail wagged almost off.

Gnolls as a species always respect power, not virtue.

They liked the dragons’ ‘domineering CEO’ style.

If Garoth had listened to him and spared the Gnollguards, Bloodfang would have thought Garoth easy to deal with, leading to more “unintentional oversteps” in the future to test his limits.

That was their nature. Even with absolute loyalty obtained through dragon vein transformation, this could not be avoided.

Loyalty did not mean they did not desire higher status or better benefits.

Garoth’s previous life had included raising a dog, a golden-white border collie. It always liked to test its owner’s limits, unaware that all its schemes were seen through.

Gnolls were the same.

Garoth knew exactly how to intimidate these wild monster clans rooted in the wilderness.