Chapter 21: Spirit Soul

A crescent moon like a hook hung over the Gnaw Rock Tribe, stretching the shadow cast by the low hills into a twisted shape.

Garos's dragon eyes were deep and dark in the night; he crouched low, faint light shimmering on the dark red patterns across his obsidian-like dragon scales.

"Let your deaths soothe the unease in my heart."

His tail swept back, smashing a goblin warrior who had leaped up into a radiating mess of sludge; the leather armor it wore, carefully tanned and protected by alchemical runes, was like water-soaked paper, shattering at a touch.

"Damn dragons!"

Firelight and the scarred land reflected in his eyes; Broken-Tooth Gruk reacted, letting out an angry low growl.

Buzz buzz buzz!

The engine started, black oil burning rapidly and consuming itself to become energy.

Black oil—deposited over vast periods from monster bodies, a black viscous substance, is the basic energy source used in many alchemical devices, similar to petroleum but containing far greater and stronger energy.

The immense abundance of black oil, mana stones, source crystals, and other resources.

This is a major factor in the extremely high level of alchemical development on the planet Bernardo.

As the engine's humming sound rose.

A large amount of steam rose from the Giant-Arm Miner, alchemical runes carved on its steel plating lighting up one by one; its heavy body trampled the ground, charging toward the Red Iron young dragon.

If on the ground.

If on the ground surface.

Broken-Tooth Gruk, piloting the Giant-Arm Miner, was confident he could kill any young dragon.

Moreover, given a young dragon's intelligence, arrogance, and conceit, perhaps it would forget its flying advantage once the fight began and stay on the ground to battle the enemy.

"I'll tear off its wings first; by the time it wants to fly again, it will be too late!"

Broken-Tooth Gruk had already devised a battle strategy in his mind.

The Giant-Arm Miner is not a combat-type alchemical golem, but its giant arms possess formidable power to crush rocks into dust and bend steel; fighting a young dragon head-on should be no problem.

On the other side.

Groz, the shaman of the Gnawing Tribe, hunched his spine; the topmost and largest abscess, resembling a hump, burst open, and from inside, a huge black-purple spider jumped out along with nauseating fluid.

This spider had dark red compound eyes, a body of pitch-black carapace, legs covered in tiny sharp hairs, and was the size of a goblin's head.

At first glance it looked lifelike, like a physical creature, but in reality it was a spirit soul cultivated by Groz, and also this goblin shaman's main offensive method.

Spider Spirit Soul Web!

Groz cast a spell; the spider spirit soul, perched on his back, opened its mouth and spat a tough, huge, sticky, and toxic web at Garos.

On one side was the web formed by spells.

On the other side was the Giant-Arm Miner charging with fierce momentum.

Garos bent his four limbs slightly; the muscles beneath his dragon scales tightened like steel wire, then instantly erupted with formidable power; at the same time, he flapped his dragon wings.

Whoosh!

A strong wind carrying dust formed an airwave that scattered in all directions.

Before the web could fall, the Red Iron young dragon shot skyward.

Gruk, piloting the Giant-Arm Miner, looked up at the sky; besides staring blankly, he had no other option, as this alchemical golem possessed no anti-air means.

"Just like that red young dragon back then, scared away by me?"

Having scared away two young dragons in a row, Gruk felt he was incredibly powerful; perhaps even a juvenile dragon need not be feared.

"Call out for me! The mighty Gruk has driven back the great dragon again!"

This goblin roared loudly.

The other goblins, not understanding why, instinctively echoed him, praising Gruk's great bravery.

Only Groz knew this matter was not over.

"Everyone be careful! It hasn't left!"

Garos rose to high altitude, looking down with lowered eyes at the tiny goblin tribe below.

His wings beat, tearing through the air; he dove downward, the airflow contacting the feather-like fine scales on his wing membranes, producing a piercing shriek.

When the distance was about right.

Garos folded his wings into a cone shape; the dark red patterns on the surface of his scale armor glowed faintly, like flames flowing over steel.

The Red Iron young dragon, like a small black-red meteorite, descended from the sky with immense pressure, smashing toward the conspicuous Giant-Arm Miner.

Broken-Tooth Gruk felt a flicker of fear in his heart.

But this trace of fear was quickly torn apart by his recently inflated confidence.

He manipulated the Giant-Arm Miner to raise a pair of huge arms, meeting the Red Iron young dragon, while shouting excitedly: "My people, bear witness, bear witness to the mighty Gruk's dragon-slaying moment!"

One goblin after another looked at Broken-Tooth Gruk with admiring eyes.

His confident tone even infected Groz, making Groz feel that this fellow might truly be able to...

Bang!

The instant the Red Iron young dragon collided with the Giant-Arm Miner.

The ground cracked in a spiderweb pattern; the shockwave blasted all surrounding goblins away, slamming them into cliff walls or comrades' weapons, causing heavy casualties.

The eight-meter-tall alchemical golem was like a can crushed by a giant; riveted steel plates twisted and burst, black oil spraying like blood plasma.

Broken-Tooth Gruk's scream was cut off the moment it left his mouth; a broken metal pipe pierced his throat, pinning this goblin dead to the twisted control console.

The last image he saw was Garos rising from the flames and smoke.

"Dead! Run!"

One goblin, just climbing up from the ground, shouted to flee, but before he could run a few steps, his head flew high into the air; his terrified expression froze on his face, just in time to see his headless body still twitching its fingers futilely.

Garos spread his dragon wings like two giant guillotines, sweeping low over the tribe's camp.

Where the wing edges passed, goblins, tents, stone houses, weapon racks—everything was cleanly sliced open.

Whoosh!

A black shadow suddenly leaped from the side.

Garos swiped his claws horizontally, but when he struck, there was no solid tactile sensation.

The spider spirit soul jumped onto Garos's back; its fangs bit down along the gaps between Garos's dragon scales, sinking entirely into them. More accurately, it did not tear open Garos's dragon scales and flesh, but seemed to melt directly into them.

The stinging pain of the bite came.

The spider spirit soul formed by spells directly ignored his hard dragon scales and inflicted damage on him; although the damage was low, it still made Garos frown.

"Facing spell attacks, my resistance is still not high enough."

Dragonkind's magic resistance grows with age; adult dragons can ignore many spells, but young dragons' magic resistance is very limited.

"And purely physical attacks are not effective against spirits, spell souls, and the like."

Spell-like skill—Little Fireball!

Whoosh! A small fireball condensed beside Garos, struck the spider spirit soul, and blasted it into ash and dust.

The power of his claw strike was far stronger than the Little Fireball, but its effect against the spider spirit soul was inferior to the Little Fireball.

"I must also delve deep into spell-like skills; I know too few of them now."

Garos thought to himself.

He was dedicated to making himself peerless in defense, incredibly fast, with super-thick health, and hard to kill, but this did not mean Garos wanted to be a 'brute' relying entirely on a powerful physical body for melee combat.

Dragons are innate sorcerers; he would not give up this advantage.

However, adaptation and evolution in this regard are far slower than for the physical body; Garos has currently mastered only a few spell-like skills ahead of other young dragons.

(End of this chapter)