Chapter 42: Fantasy, Greed

"Are you really going to let that human go?"

Samantha asked.

Garos put away the map, looked toward the direction the Rogue had fled, then withdrew his gaze and said, "Do I look like a dragon of broken promises? Since I said I would allow her to escape my territory, I will give her a chance."

Since Garos had said so,

Samantha asked no more, then went to clear the battlefield, picking and choosing, missing no corner, gathering the adventurers' equipment, whether intact, slightly damaged, or completely destroyed.

"My dear brother, can these alchemical items be mine?"

It held the equipment in its front paws and asked with pleading eyes.

The adventurers' equipment and alchemical props were relatively low-level in Garos's eyes; at the very least, they were nothing compared to the few items on his own person.

But he did not agree directly, instead asking, "What do you intend to do with them?"

Samantha said excitedly, "Dismantle them, melt them. I want to try using them as materials to forge alchemical props suitable for us dragons."

With her current level of alchemy, the probability of failure was high.

But regardless of the outcome, she could benefit greatly from the process.

Garos flicked his tail and said, "Repair your 'Alchemical Workshop'. I'll leave these items to you. You may use them to forge props, but the task of refining Black Oil must continue; do not let it slip."

Samantha's eyes lit up.

"Ah, my dear brother, I will definitely succeed in forging alchemical props."

"Wait and be proud of me!"

Her final tone was not like the way dragons of her age group communicated; rather, it resembled speech directed at an elder.

In fact, once again when she was unable to cope, Garos appeared, turned the tide, and gave Samantha far too much security—security that even the Iron Dragon Mother had not been able to provide—in the Iron Dragon Mother's territory, there was simply no danger to encounter.

Her heart had gone from helpless submission at the very beginning

to developing a psychological dependence on Garos now.

Ultimately, Samantha was nothing more than a six-year-old young dragon; though she possessed the Dragon's Inheritance, her mind was still immature, and her level of maturity was far from comparable to Garos's.

She viewed Garos as the object of her dependence, a goal worthy of learning from and chasing.

Whoosh!

Garos beat his wings, and a gale whipped up the surrounding dust and withered branches and leaves.

"Where are you going?"

Samantha, who was burying her head in rebuilding the 'Alchemical Workshop', that is, the crude rock-slab shed, asked.

"To deal with the Rogue."

Garos said.

"Eh? Didn't you say you were going to let her go?"

Samantha was somewhat puzzled.

"Wrong. I said I would let her leave the territory."

Garos corrected.

Let her go? Don't be ridiculous.

Adventurers were a species that, if not wiped out clean in one go, would continue to raid them endlessly later on unless one abandoned the territory oneself. Moreover, there were many strong ones among the adventurers; letting the Rogue leave alive was to invite danger upon oneself, and Garos would not allow such a thing to happen.

From the very beginning, he had never intended to let the Rogue go.

As for why he let her run a distance first, it was not to toy with her or for amusement; it was mainly to see if there were any other reinforcements, any adventurers lying in wait outside.

The possibility was not high.

After all, hunting dragons was something they should have done all together at once to ensure absolute safety.

But what if?

It never hurt to be cautious.

Before possessing sufficient strength, to guarantee his own safety, Garos was extremely cautious; young dragons who were not cautious were, nine times out of ten, buried by the wilderness.

He flapped his wings, shot into the sky, and merged with the night.

"No wonder I am Samantha's brother; truly utterly evil. I am still too immature; I need to learn from Garos."

Samantha sighed in her heart, then continued repairing her little alchemical workshop.

On the other side.

The bright moonlight poured down from the sky, gilding the wilderness with a layer of silver light.

The Rogue breathed heavily; having shed her leather armor and a set of alchemical props, she was almost naked, her body covered in small bloodied wounds formed by sharp branches or stone edges, and she had already fled to the outskirts of the Hemlock Hills.

Given her current condition,

with no companions, no equipment, and injured and weak, even after leaving the Hemlock Hills, it would still be incredibly difficult to leave the wilderness safely; one could even say it was a matter of life or death.

But there was still a glimmer of hope.

"Damn it, damn it, you evil dragon!"

"Do you think I will die in the wilderness, so you think I am irrelevant?"

The Rogue clenched her fists tightly, her fingernails almost digging into her flesh, her heart filled with resolve.

"I will, I will definitely escape the wilderness, then return with stronger companions and make you pay a terrible price for your arrogance!"

Two young dragons.

One red young dragon, and an even more powerful hybrid young dragon.

For the adventurers, this was an irresistible, enormous temptation; as long as she could leave the wilderness and spread the news, adventurers willing to team up to hunt dragons would come one after another.

Ignoring her body's exhaustion, the Rogue buried her head and ran wildly.

First, get far away from these Hemlock Hills.

And as time passed, the Rogue leaned against a slope, panting and resting, looking back toward the direction of the Hemlock Hills. That dragon had not pursued, had not appeared; it seemed as if it had truly let her go.

Crack.

The sound of a claw stepping on gravel suddenly rang out nearby.

The Ranger's spirit instantly tensed; she stretched her neck to look.

In her field of vision, a pack of Needle-Haired Wolves, sniffing the scent of blood in the air, slowly approached from different directions, their gaze fixed squarely on the Ranger.

The scent of blood excited the Needle-Haired Wolves.

On the Ranger, they smelled weakness; thus, without further probing, they lunged directly to slaughter her.

The Ranger was already in a weakened state, and she had lost her equipment and items.

Now, facing the wolf pack's attack, she died in less than a minute, filled with regret and anger, becoming food for the wolves.

—It would have been better to die at the hands of a Dragon; at least that would have been more glorious, more satisfying.

This was her final thought before death.

At the same time, Garos circled high in the sky, silently watching the events unfolding below.

"No other adventurers are present."

He had quietly followed the Ranger for a while, found no one coming to her aid, and was just about to strike the killing blow when he noticed a wolf pack had discovered the Ranger's tracks; so he held back, watching the Ranger die at the jaws of the pack.

Very quickly, not even a single bone remained on the ground.

The wolf pack vanished as well, heading elsewhere.

This is the norm of the wilderness, and the norm of countless worlds—the weak are eaten clean, living from one day to the next with no security.

With no more worries behind him, Garos returned to the Hemlock Hills and once again took out the map to examine it under the moonlight.

Following the route on the map, the marked location looked increasingly familiar to him; after thinking carefully for a few more minutes, he suddenly realized the truth.

"The place marked here is the abandoned mine where the Rock-Crushing Worm swarm resides."

Abandoned mines on the Sael Wilds are as numerous as the stars in the sky, countless in number; when he first heard the Ranger say the dungeon was located beneath some abandoned mine, he hadn't thought much of it, but now he felt somewhat surprised.

This was indeed a bit of a coincidence.

But then Garos thought again and felt it made sense after all.

"The Worm King possesses an extraordinary mental skill, able to directly control the life and death of other Rock-Crushing Worms; this is not a skill a normal Worm King should have."

Garos pondered thoughtfully.

"Could it be that it was influenced by a Legendary Alchemy Item, thus evolving a psychic skill?"

Thinking of this, even with Garos's temperament, he found it hard to suppress his greed, wanting to rush off immediately without hesitation to investigate and obtain the Legendary Alchemy Item.

Immediately after.

He would no longer need to be cautious and careful, gradually ascending to the peak of dragon life; instead, he would use the power of a single dragon to overthrow every creature daring to call itself an Evil Dragon.

Dominate the entire world!

Do as he pleased!

Live until the end of time!

"Stop, stop, stop!"

"Garos, quickly stop your unrealistic fantasies!"

Hah! Hah! Hah!

The Red Iron Young Dragon shook its head violently, then took several deep breaths in and out, cycling repeatedly, calming its agitated emotions through deep breathing; then it looked at Samantha, using itself as a normal young dragon and a negative warning to remind itself that it must never commit the common sins of Evil Dragons, or it would end up in the same fate.

Greed—this is a major factor, second only to arrogance and conceit, that easily leads dragons into danger.

(End of Chapter)