Chapter 54: Fairy Dragon

He could see that Garos seemed somewhat irritable and displeased at this moment.

Samantha shrank her head, said no more, and turned to leave.

Garos lay down again, spread his massive wings, let his dragon tail hang limp, narrowed his eyes, and enjoyed a rare moment of quiet rest, basking peacefully in the sun.

A few days later.

The sun's light dyed the sky a dark gold; wild winds howled among the jagged rocks, kicking up fine gravel.

Garos folded his wings, circled silently among the flowing winds and floating clouds, lowered his dragon eyes to gaze down, and surveyed the hill below.

A herd of Thunder-Horned Sheep reflected in his vision, using large surrounding rocks to grind their horns.

These bighorn-like creatures had massive curved horns atop their heads wreathed in leaping lightning; every time they lowered their heads to rub against the rocks, tiny arcs of electricity sparked forth.

In the center of the flock, a Thunder-Horned Sheep as large as an elephant slowly raised its head.

Its horns were no longer the blue-white lightning of ordinary members, but displayed a liquid-metal dark silver, densely covered with patterns like lightning and thunder; every time it ground its horns, the entire block of hard basalt would crack with spiderweb-like burn marks amidst a piercing sizzling sound.

"Today, it will be you."

This was Garos's first hunt after three days of rest.

His massive dragon wings spread, casting a shadow that covered the entire flock.

Garos made no attempt to conceal his aura; diving down like a crimson lightning bolt, the shriek of his wings tearing through the air announced his arrival and startled the flock.

The ordinary Thunder-Horned Sheep instinctively wanted to scatter and flee.

But as the leader raised its head, crackling electricity erupted between its horns, and the flock stabilized once more.

One by one, the Thunder-Horned Sheep raised their heads, lightning flared on their horns, and then they all shot upward toward the sky simultaneously.

Countless silver snakes danced and wove into an electric net, rising against the sky to envelop the diving Garos.

Garos spread his dragon wings; just before colliding with the electric net, he suddenly halted, then executed an almost ninety-degree turn, displaying terrifying maneuverability far beyond that of ordinary dragons.

The Thunder-Horned Sheep leader let out a low roar; dense chains of lightning exploded from its horns, bouncing through the air in pursuit of Garos's figure.

The speed of these lightning chains, condensed by spell-like skills, was not the speed of light, yet they were still incredibly swift.

Garos was not in a hurry to dive and slaughter the flock; as his wings beat and sparks flew, his powerful, massive body moved with agile twists, constantly turning and dashing, dancing between the lightning chains.

As graceful as a startled swan, as sinuous as a swimming dragon.

Not a single one of the lightning chains, renowned for their speed, managed to land on him.

The Thunder-Horned Sheep leader's mana constantly depleted, yet all its attacks missed; fear and anxiety rose in its heart, so it abandoned the attack, ordered the flock to scatter and flee to escape the dragon's hunt, while it itself, with four hooves crackling with electricity, began to run swiftly.

But how could this speed compare to Garos's?

He dove down, his gaze fixed clearly on the flock leader.

Just as the Thunder-Horned Sheep leader pushed off the ground with its hind legs, the dragon claws precisely clamped onto its spine, hauling it into the sky.

At such close range, as the Thunder-Horned Sheep leader struggled, thick currents exploded along its horns; dense silver-white electric snakes leaped onto Garos, jumping both inside and outside his dragon scales.

Yet Garos remained unmoved by this.

Apart from his body feeling slightly numb, he felt no pain or burning.

Having frequently strengthened his tail by whipping himself with lightning-tail rings, Garos's lightning resistance had improved; this level of harm caused him little effect.

His movements remained agile.

Crack! His claws snapped the Thunder-Horned Sheep leader's spine.

Afterwards, Garos continued hunting, targeting only monsters possessing spell-like skills, using their attacks to test and train his corresponding resistances, accumulating small gains into large ones.

The sun gradually tilted westward, sinking toward the mountains.

Bathed in the brilliant glow of the sunset, Garos returned to the Conifer Valley.

Boom! Boom!

The dull thud of heavy objects hitting the ground sounded; two massive, half-dead ferocious beasts were thrown down from the sky by Garos, landing before the Rage Bears who trained with him.

"These are rewards for you!"

A deep voice came from the half-sky, making the Rage Bears both surprised and delighted.

Garos not only did not require his minions to hunt food for him; after hunting and eating his fill, he would bestow the extra food he had hunted upon them.

Training with him was a hard task.

After finishing, the Rage Bears were often exhausted, their injuries not light, and their hunting efficiency greatly reduced.

Garos considered himself no evil dragon and would not treat his minions too poorly, so he bestowed these blood-meat offerings to let them recover faster, then continue training with him.

Circling once in the sky,

Garos folded his wings, descended before a boiling sulfur pool, and then jumped in.

Sizzle-sizzle-sizzle! As the pool water contacted his dragon scales, it immediately emitted a piercing sound; bubbles constantly rose around him, steaming up corrosive gas, leaving not a blade of grass growing nearby.

Garos, perfectly at ease, closed his eyes and instead submerged his entire body.

This pool water was filled with metal particles and possessed strong corrosiveness and high heat, yet for Garos, whose body was forged like steel with dragon scales and thick skin, it was just right.

The scales on his body gradually turned a searing red, but under Garos's careful control, they did not explode.

The pool water flowed through the gaps in his scales, contacting the lower layer of armor; as corrosive hissing sounds erupted, the metal particles contained in the water gradually adhered to this layer of scales, slowly tempering their strength, while Garos simply dozed off to rest inside it.

Shortly after.

Garos arrived at the edge of the Conifer Valley; under the cover of night, seeing no traces of other intelligent beings nearby, he once again began targeted training for the young dragons.

Boom-boom-boom!

With each repeated impact of the Red-Iron Young Dragon,

wood chips flew continuously; the tree trunk gradually became riddled with holes, and finally, with a creak, fell over diagonally.

Garos exhaled a breath, feeling that the young dragon's strength seemed to have improved; at the very least, the soreness felt at this moment was somewhat less than last time.

"Perhaps try chiseling stone?"

A bold idea sprang to mind, but after thinking it over carefully, he rejected it, feeling that proceeding step by step was better.

Suddenly.

Just as he was preparing to leave this place.

Garos caught a faint, rustling sound behind him, like dragon scales brushing against branches, and spun around sharply.

Big eyes met small eyes; in that instant, their gazes locked.

The figure hidden in the bushes froze, halting its attempt to quietly turn and slip away.

It was not large, resembling a kitten, with a slender, delicate body covered in a layer of brilliant, multicolored dragon scales dominated by red, blue, and purple; the wings on its sides resembled those of a butterfly, shimmering with a faint silver-gray glow in the darkness.

Its appearance was somewhat peculiar, its size far too small.

But there was no doubt.

This was a dragon.

A Fairy Dragon.

(End of this chapter)