Chapter 54: Fairy Dragon

It was clear that Garos was somewhat irritable and displeased at the moment.

Samantha shrank her head back and said no more, turning away to leave.

Garos lay down again, spreading his massive wings, letting his tail drag, squinting his eyes as he enjoyed this rare moment of quiet rest, basking silently in the sun.

Several days later.

The sun’s light dyed the sky a dark gold; fierce winds howled through jagged rocks, whipping up fine grains of sand.

Garos retracted his wings, hovering silently amid the flowing winds and drifting clouds, his dragon eyes gazing downward at the hills below.

A herd of Thunderhorn Sheep was reflected in his vision, using large surrounding boulders to rub their horns.

These creatures, resembling Stone Rams, bore curved, massive horns wrapped in crackling lightning; each time they lowered their heads to scrape the rocks, tiny arcs of electricity sparked forth.

At the center of the herd, a Thunderhorn Sheep as large as a giant elephant slowly raised its head.

Its horns were no longer the blue-white lightning of ordinary members, but a dark silver like liquid metal, covered in intricate patterns resembling lightning bolts; each time it rubbed its horns, the hard basalt cracked with a shrill hiss, spiderwebbing with charred fissures.

“Today, it’s you.”

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

His massive wings spread wide, casting a shadow that engulfed the entire herd.

Garos made no effort to conceal his aura; he dove like a crimson lightning bolt, the shriek of his wings tearing through the air announcing his arrival and startling the herd.

The ordinary Thunderhorn Sheep instinctively tried to scatter and flee.

But as their leader lifted its head, a crackling surge of electricity exploded between its horns, and the herd steadied again.

Each Thunderhorn Sheep raised its head, its horns glowing with electricity, then fired simultaneously toward the sky.

Countless silver serpents danced and wove into a net of lightning, surging upward to engulf the diving Garos.

Garos flared his wings, halting abruptly just before colliding with the net, then pivoting nearly ninety degrees—revealing a terrifying agility far beyond that of ordinary dragons.

The Thunderhorn Sheep leader growled low, its horns unleashing dense chains of lightning that ricocheted through the air, chasing Garos’s figure.

These spell-like lightning chains were not light-speed, but still moved with terrifying speed.

Garos did not rush to dive and kill the herd; as his wings beat, sparks flew, his massive, powerful body twisted and turned with agility, darting and dodging between the lightning chains.

Swift as a startled swan, graceful as a wandering dragon.

Not a single lightning chain struck him.

The Thunderhorn Sheep leader’s magical energy drained rapidly, all its attacks missing; fear and frustration welled within it. It abandoned its assault, scattering the herd to flee from the dragon’s predation, and itself bolted away on electrified hooves, moving with astonishing speed.

But how could that speed compare to Garos’s?

He dove downward, his target locked firmly on the herd’s leader.

At the exact moment the Thunderhorn Sheep leader pushed off with its hind legs, Garos’s claws seized its spine and lifted it into the sky.

So close, as the leader struggled, thick currents surged from its horns, countless silver-white lightning serpents leaping across Garos’s body, dancing over and beneath his dragon scales.

Yet Garos remained unmoved.

Aside from a slight numbness in his body, he felt no pain or burning.

Having repeatedly strengthened his tail with lightning rings by striking himself, Garos’s lightning resistance had improved; this level of damage had little effect on him.

His movements remained agile.

With a sharp crack, his claws twisted and snapped the Thunderhorn Sheep leader’s spine.

Afterward, Garos continued hunting, specifically targeting demonic beasts with spell-like abilities, using their attacks to test and train his own resistances, accumulating gains bit by bit.

The sun gradually sank westward, dipping toward the mountains.

Bathed in the radiant glow of the evening clouds, Garos returned to the Conifer Valley.

Thud! Thud!

The dull thump of heavy bodies hitting the ground echoed as Garos dropped two massive, half-dead ferocious beasts before the bear warriors he trained with.

“These are rewards for you!”

A deep voice echoed from midair, leaving the bear warriors both startled and delighted.

Garos did not require his vassals to hunt for him; after hunting and eating his fill, he would give away the extra prey he caught.

Training with him was a grueling chore.

After each session, the bear warriors were exhausted, badly injured, and their hunting efficiency plummeted.

Garos considered himself no evil dragon; he would not unduly neglect his vassals, so he granted them this blood food to help them recover faster and continue training with him.

He circled once in the sky.

Garos retracted his wings and landed before a boiling sulfur pool, then leapt inside.

Sssss. The water hissed violently upon contact with his scales, bubbling incessantly and releasing corrosive fumes; not a blade of grass grew nearby.

Garos remained calm, closing his eyes, submerging his entire body fully.

The pool was filled with metallic particles, possessing intense corrosiveness and extreme heat—but for Garos, whose scales were forged like steel and whose hide was thick and tough, it was perfect.

His burst scales gradually turned a glowing red, yet under his careful control, they did not explode.

The water flowed through the gaps in his burst scales, contacting the lower layer of armor; with a hissing corrosion, the metallic particles within the water slowly adhered to this layer, gradually tempering its strength, while Garos simply dozed off inside.

Not long after.

Garos arrived at the edge of the Conifer Valley, under cover of night; seeing no signs of other sentient beings, he began targeted training with the young dragons again.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

As the red-iron hatchlings struck repeatedly,

Wood chips flew everywhere, the tree trunks gradually pockmarked and perforated, until with a creaking groan, one tilted and fell.

Garos exhaled, sensing the young dragons’ strength had improved slightly—at least, the ache was less than last time.

“What if I try carving stone?”

He entertained a bold idea, but after careful thought, dismissed it—better to proceed gradually.

Suddenly—

As he prepared to leave,

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

Eye met eye, in an instant of locked gaze.

The hidden figure froze, halting its attempt to quietly turn and flee.

It was small, no larger than a kitten, slender and delicate, covered in dazzling, multicolored dragon scales dominated by red, blue, and purple hues; its wing membranes on either side resembled butterfly wings, glimmering faintly silver-gray in the dark.

Its appearance was peculiar—its size far too tiny.

But there was no doubt:

It was a dragon.

Fairy Dragon.

(End of Chapter)