Chapter 46: Dragons and Steel, Exploding Scales in Combat (Today's PK with Sanjiang, Seeking Votes)

The afterglow of the sunset dyed the sky over the Ironwood Hills crimson, and Garos's scales shimmered with a dangerous light in the twilight.

Centered on him, three Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet Alchemical Golems suddenly burst from the ground from different directions; their steel bodies cast hideous shadows on the earth, emitting grating metallic screeches, and sparks flew brilliantly as their jointed limbs scraped against the rocks.

The first golem curled into a massive metal wheel, its high-frequency vibrating blade-limbs gathering as it slashed toward Garos.

The second golem opened its hideous maw, spewing a liquid resembling processed black oil that instantly ignited into raging flames in the air.

The shell of the third golem cracked open, shooting forth a dense barrage of armor-piercing steel nails like a rainstorm.

Garos took a deep breath and suddenly spread his dragon wings horizontally.

His guillotine-like dragon wings chopped down at the 'metal wheel'.

Clang-clang-clang-clang!

Countless sparks flew in all directions as the dragon wings and the blade-like jointed limbs of the Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet collided rapidly, producing a sound like clashing metal that echoed and swayed in the night.

Segment after segment of blade-limbs twisted and shattered.

The metallic outer wing bones also gained several notches.

Then, with a lift of Garos's dragon wings,

this Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet was flipped into the air, spinning and severing tree after tree of sturdy ironwood.

At the same time,

while the first Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet was being knocked away,

raging flames and a rainstorm of steel nails came straight at him.

Garos neither dodged nor avoided; he stepped forward and thrust out his chest.

The fire first fell upon him, covering and engulfing Garos, yet under the sweep of these flames, Garos instead bared his teeth in a smile; his Exploding Scales, tempered by the fire, immediately took on the color of a red-hot iron.

Clang-clang-clang!

The armor-piercing steel nails rang and clattered against Garos's body, easily shattering his Exploding Scales into fragments.

Then,

with a shake and a flick of Garos's body, countless fragments wrapped in the flames, glowing with the red-hot color of a red-hot iron, counterattacked the two Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet.

Boom-boom-boom!

The shockwave and flames from the explosions instantly engulfed the two Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet, flipping them over and leaving their bodies covered in cracks and dents.

The flames spewing from the mouths of the Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet stopped abruptly.

However,

the fire burning on Garos did not stop directly.

These flames were formed from combustible liquid processed from black oil and burned very fiercely.

Bathed in the flames, the Red-Iron Young Dragon spread its wings, flapped lightly, raised its head, and strode forward; its dragon scales glowed with the color of high-temperature red-hot iron, the surrounding air constantly distorted, and heat waves steamed upward.

Although this fire was extraordinary, it was not magical fire.

It not only failed to harm Garos, but instead boosted his Dragon Aura.

As if realizing the fire was ineffective against Garos and the ranged attack effect was merely average,

the three Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet, stabilized in posture and bearing varying degrees of injury, simultaneously transformed into metal wheels; their blade-limbs vibrated at high frequency, and in wheel form, they spun, slicing and darting toward Garos.

Whoosh!

With a sweep of his dragon wings, Garos, wrapped in flames, shot forward like a fire meteor, meeting the metal wheels head-on.

Molten lava-like bright colors shone through the gaps in the scale armor of his chest.

His pupils reflected several Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet attacking from different directions.

Garos suddenly spewed a torrent of scorching Dragon Breath.

The Dragon Breath, carrying thick and fierce impact, first swept past two Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet, blasting them away, then directly pressed down on the last Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet, pinning it firmly to the ground.

The black metal armor on its body visibly burned to a scarlet red and began to melt.

Both were fire, but Garos's Dragon Breath was far more formidable in power than the black-oil fire spewed by the Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet.

Garos advanced step by step, his Dragon Breath suppressing the Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet and melting it into a twisted mass of scrap iron, while the other two Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet, after this battle, determined they could not defeat Garos, so they decisively changed strategy, ceased to prolong the fight, and began to retreat.

Burning dragon wings tore through the night.

The Red-Iron Young Dragon pursued the Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet on the right at extreme speed; before it could burrow underground, it suddenly turned sideways and whipped its tail.

Sizzle-sizzle-sizzle!

The tail ring lit up, arcs of electricity leaped along the dragon's tail, enhancing lightning damage and stimulating muscle strength.

The howling wind and the crackling of leaping electricity mingled together; Garos's dragon tail was as fast as lightning, striking this Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet with precision, smashing its shell into severe dents and cracks, while silver-snake-like arcs of electricity, penetrating everywhere, invaded its interior, leaping constantly inside and out.

Zzzzt-zzzzt!

This Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet, relatively intact overall, convulsed and fell, emitting acrid black smoke from its joints.

Boom! The Red Young Dragon descended from the sky, crashing into the ground and smashing out a deep, concave pit.

Samantha staggered to her feet, dizzy and disoriented, feeling only vertigo.

She had imitated Garos by attacking the third Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet with a descent from the sky, but her speed was insufficient; she failed to stop it from burrowing underground, and she herself felt sore all over due to the recoil.

Without the day-after-day training Garos possessed, without his formidable body,

this method of attacking ground targets by high-speed body collision was not suitable for normal young dragons.

After the third Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet burrowed underground, it immediately fled.

Garos did not pursue, as he had not mastered skills like underground traversal; moreover, relentless pursuit held little meaning, for the appearance of these golems here meant the location was likely already exposed; even if he left one behind, the Black Rock Dwarves could still lock onto the Ironwood Hills through underground tunnels, merely delaying things a bit longer.

"Divine Might of the Dragon Lord! Your power fills me with awe and submission!"

"These steel beasts are no match before you! It is truly my honor to become your retainer."

The battle ended; the Earth-Raging Bear Mobel approached Garos and offered rainbow flattery.

Garos paid it no heed, quietly calculating in his heart and organizing the battle information.

"These three alchemical golems have no concrete life level; they cannot be scouted, yet each is more formidable than an ordinary level-8 ferocious beast, capable of coordination and adapting strategies to different situations."

"The alchemical golems of the Goblin Tribe are, compared to them, nothing but crudely made, fragile toys."

"If they had not used their flame attacks against me, this battle would likely have taken even longer to end."

These combat alchemical golems were indeed formidable.

Garos did not know the specific model of the Earth-Splitting Hundred-Feet, but judging by its size and apparent precision, it should be inferior to the alchemical golems stationed on the ground.

"Ah, my Alchemy Workshop!"

Samantha shouted, stomping her feet in anger.

During the recent battle, her Alchemy Workshop had once again been caught in the crossfire and utterly destroyed, and this was not the crude rock-shed version from the beginning, but one that had undergone five months of continuous repairs.

"Where the hell did these wretched things come from? I'll chase them down and slaughter them all!"

She said, furious and frantic.

Garos did not stop her; instead, he encouraged her: "They belong to a garrison unit stationed at an oil field under the Black Rock Duchy. I'll give you the location so you can have your wish."

Me?

Upon hearing this, Samantha's rage instantly subsided. She was joking; she still remembered how she had nearly been shot down and was a single step away from death after merely glancing from high above.

Although the two locations were not the same, the place she had been attacked back then was a mining outpost.

But wherever regular troops are stationed, it is not a place to provoke lightly.

"A dragon must not be too reckless. I'll think it over and let them live a little longer."

Samantha gave a sheepish smile, then changed the subject, saying, "I'll go rebuild the Alchemy Workshop first."

"No."

Garos shook his head, his gaze sweeping over the vegetation and soil of the Iron Fir Hills, then declared decisively, "We can no longer stay here. We must change our territory."

The resources of the Iron Fir Hills were already mediocre; recently, the water sources had been gradually drying up, the number of creatures inhabiting the surroundings was dwindling, and every time Garos went to drink or hunt, he had to fly a long distance, so the idea of relocating had already taken root in his heart.

Now, sensing the danger from the Black Rock Dwarves, it was the perfect moment for him to make the final decision to abandon this place.

And this also meant that the peaceful life of the past few months was coming to an end.

(End of this chapter)