Chapter 30: Spawning Gold Coins (Requesting Monthly Votes, Requesting Follows)

"This young dragon's combat experience is far less rich than mine."

Garos judged from the speed at which the Copper Dragon first pursued him that it was not very strong; even with alchemical items enhancing its speed, it remained slightly slower than himself.

After the probing just now,

he confirmed its reaction speed was insufficient and its practical combat experience limited, and he also learned the effect of the golden chain alchemical item.

This was a fledgling Copper Dragon, inexperienced in actual battle, arrogant because of its alchemical items—Garos made this assessment in his heart.

"All the alchemical items on its body are mine. Let it feel the treachery of the wilds."

Garos's eyes flashed, and he changed his mind.

Originally, he had no interest in entangling with the Copper Dragon, but after the probing, he confirmed the opponent was far weaker than he had anticipated and also possessed treasures, making the situation entirely different.

The Copper Dragon continued to pursue relentlessly.

Garos slowed his speed slightly to keep the opponent in tow, lest it fail to keep up with him.

After some time, the Red-Iron young dragon folded its wings, tore through the thick clouds, and dove downward, suddenly vanishing from the Copper Dragon's sight.

"Can't fly anymore?"

The Copper Dragon's spirit surged.

In its view, with Garos's heavy and bulky body, flight must consume a great deal of mana; now he must be exhausted, while it had alchemical items amplifying its power, waiting at ease for the enemy—now was the perfect opportunity.

Turning its direction, the Copper Dragon also dove downward, its neck scales and whiskers flying.

In the blink of an eye, it landed on the ground.

"Where did it hide?"

The Copper Dragon's gaze swept the surrounding environment and noticed the abandoned mine pit ahead.

Walking slowly closer and looking down, the Copper Dragon saw several dragon scales scattered on the ground at the bottom of the rugged, strange-rock-filled mine pit, as if accidentally rubbed off.

"Hiding in a place like this truly fits the crude taste of an evil dragon."

The Watcher's Necklace, the large golden chain around the Copper Dragon's neck, emitted a defensive light covering its entire body.

It lowered its wings, circled down to the bottom of the mine pit, narrowed its eyes slightly, and swept across the dark, gloomy mine tunnels one by one, trying to find Garos's figure.

A few short seconds later.

The black rocks beneath its feet suddenly began to tremble.

A gust of evil wind came from the largest mine tunnel by diameter.

"Evil hybrid dragon! Come on, let you taste my might!"

The cautious Copper Dragon's eyes brightened.

But very quickly, it realized something seemed wrong; the ground trembled too violently, and the commotion in the tunnel sounded like a colossal creature was moving through it.

At the same time.

A huge black shadow burst out of the mine tunnel, exposed to the sunlight.

It was an exceptionally huge Rock-Shattering Worm, its meat-grinder-like ferocious maw filled with countless sharp teeth crisscrossing, lunging toward the Copper Dragon.

It was the Rock-Shattering Worm King.

Because Garos had come here many times before to capture Rock-Shattering Worms, the Worm King was now extremely alert; at the slightest disturbance, it would spring up, and Garos knew this clearly and exploited it.

"Ah, cunning evil dragon!"

The Copper Dragon was terrified, realizing it had been trapped.

This was a trap.

It never expected that the Red-Iron young dragon, which looked stronger than even a Red Dragon, would not have a head filled with muscle like a Red Dragon.

The Copper Dragon opened its mouth immediately.

Its tongue rolled back, revealing an exquisite silver ring.

Stepping back half a pace, the Silver-Frost Ring on the Copper Dragon's tongue suddenly lit up.

Freeze!

A thick cold current erupted from the Copper Dragon's mouth, or more accurately, was born from the ring, resembling a Silver Dragon's breath, and struck head-on the super-huge Rock-Shattering Worm charging at it.

In an instant, a layer of frost covered its body.

Then, with a grating, teeth-aching crackling sound, the ice layer solidified on its carapace quickly shattered.

The Worm King continued its attack.

Taking advantage of the moment it was slowed by the effect, the Copper Dragon accelerated its flame-engulfed wings, leaping into the air without a moment's hesitation to avoid the Worm King's subsequent pursuit.

But before it could relax its mood.

A black-red dragon shadow suddenly erupted from somewhere on the ground, its wings spread wide like a giant guillotine, tearing through the air with a terrifying shriek.

The Copper Dragon's heart jumped.

It opened its mouth and spat out a stream of orange-red gel-like acid, which expanded into a spiderweb shape in mid-air, raining down over Garos.

A torrent of Flame Dragon Breath surged from Garos's mouth, igniting the Copper Dragon's acid breath and destroying its corrosiveness and stickiness.

Whoosh!

The strong wind whipped up by the flapping dragon wings caught the flames, trailing and swaying behind like a cape.

Garos, carrying an unstoppable, powerful momentum, rushed straight toward the Copper Dragon.

His breath hitched slightly; facing Garos directly, the Copper Dragon finally realized it had made a mistake. This evil dragon was far stronger than it had imagined, and not only that, it was also treacherous and cunning, surely destined to become a super evil dragon in the future.

In front of its body, the Watcher's Necklace condensed an even thicker light curtain.

The Copper Dragon prepared to meet the enemy.

Garos raised his right wing, and his body suddenly darted diagonally.

With mana infused into his wings, his speed exploded.

—Normally, when Garos flew, he relied entirely on his wings, which had been long tempered and evolved, rather than using mana amplification to fly like other dragons.

His body traced an arc through the air.

Garos almost instantly circled behind the Copper-Red Dragon.

The muscle fibers in his tail tightened and coiled one by one like steel wires; the Lightning Tail Rings hidden in the gaps of his dragon scales lit up, forming countless arcs of electricity resembling small snakes that clung to his tail. Crackling and popping, electric currents simultaneously stimulated his muscles, causing them to unleash even greater power.

It was not like the Copper-Red Dragon, which directly exposed two pieces of equipment.

When Garos was idle, the Tail Rings remained hidden within the cracks of his dragon scales, never brought out to show off.

Adopting a posture similar to a front flip.

The Red-Iron Young Dragon, its tail crackling with lightning, traced a light trail like a full moon and slammed hard onto the back of the Copper-Red Dragon.

Crack!

The light curtain suddenly shattered into fragments.

The light on the Warden's Necklace went out at once, having exhausted the energy stored within it beforehand.

The weakened tail strike landed on the scales of the Copper-Red Dragon's back; countless sharp dragon scales, each resembling a blade, scraped densely across it, cutting the dragon scales to pieces, yet still leaving a huge, gruesome trail of torn flesh and blood.

The Copper-Red Dragon let out a cry of pain and twisted its head to turn around.

It opened its dragon maw; the Silver-Frost Ring on its tongue lit up again, and a chill rapidly spread.

Dealing with a hybrid of Red Dragon and Iron Dragon.

Using the cold current impact formed by the Silver-Frost Ring could cause double damage, which was the Copper-Red Dragon's reliance.

However.

Anything already exposed could not be considered a trump card.

Garos had long been prepared; before the Copper-Red Dragon could exhale the cold current, he thrust his head forward, striking the Copper-Red Dragon's chin with a dull thud.

The Copper-Red Dragon was forced to shut its mouth, unable to counterattack immediately.

Whoosh!

At close range, Garos exhaled a huge cloud of white gas, enveloping the Copper-Red Dragon.

This was another type of breath belonging to the Iron Dragon bloodline—Hypnotic Dragon Breath.

Any creature hit by the Hypnotic Breath would, if its willpower check failed, enter a state resembling sleepwalking, answering every question asked.

A sufficiently ancient and powerful Iron Dragon could even directly hypnotize enemies into acting like puppets on strings to do its bidding.

Flame Dragon Breath, Lightning-Fire Dragon Breath, Hypnotic Dragon Breath.

These were the three types of Dragon Breath Garos possessed.

Hit squarely in the face by the Hypnotic Breath, the Copper-Red Dragon's vision blurred, and it felt drowsy; yet, being older, its spirit had grown more resilient, so it was not hypnotized instantly.

Garos slapped the Copper-Red Dragon's neck with one dragon claw.

Rattle-rattle-rattle.

Many glittering things flew out.

—These were gems and gold coins; some dragons liked to hide them close to their bodies within the inner layer of the neck scales.

Garos curled his dragon wings, catching all the gems and gold coins that had burst out, then struck a few more times to scoop up even more gems and gold coins.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Copper-Red Dragon had not yet recovered its senses.

Garos reached out with his claw and snatched the Copper-Red Dragon's large gold necklace; immediately following, with lightning speed, he used his claw tips to pry off the Wing Rings, pried open its mouth, straightened its tongue, and removed the ring.

(End of this chapter)