Chapter 80: Blood Explosion! A New Evolutionary Direction

For several consecutive days, torrential rain had shrouded the wilderness, but its ferocious momentum finally began to subside.

The heavy curtain of rain that once connected heaven and earth had now turned into fine silver threads, falling with a pattering sound, striking the mountain rocks and vegetation; deep within the moist soil, seeds that had lain dormant for ages greedily sucked up the water, accumulating energy for sprouting and growth.

By now, three days had passed since the encounter with the Copper Red Dragon.

At that time, after Garos had left words like "I will return," the Copper Red Dragon turned and departed, and Garos made no move to stop it.

In his eyes,

this Copper Red Dragon was like a gift pack that would deliver wealth and equipment whenever it happened to show up, and it looked quite pleasant to him.

As for the words spoken by the Copper Red Dragon about defeating him,

Garos took them lightly.

The nature of dragonkind lay right there; the Copper Red Dragon might, in the short term, rise up due to its failure, wanting to hone its claws and fangs just as Garos did, to strengthen itself, but to accumulate and persist day after day for years was an arduous task.

Moreover,

as long as it could not make up its mind to discard the Life-Saving Art on its body,

it would always remain separated from "danger" by a layer of veil, unable to receive true training from the wilderness.

If it were Garos,

he certainly!

could not make that decision either.

He was far too envious of the Life-Saving Scales given to offspring by metallic dragon parents; unfortunately, his origins doomed him to an unsafe and unstable development, forcing him to keep company with danger.

From the horn ring taken from the Copper Red Dragon, Garos also understood its effect.

It contained a strengthening spell—Blood Explosion.

This spell could boost all of one's attribute states for a short time, but it carried side effects; after use, the body would become weak, and if the enemy could not be defeated while in the Blood Explosion state, the subsequent weakness would plunge one into a dangerous situation.

However, for Garos,

this was something better than the alchemical items he had snatched before.

He tried it once and found that the Blood Explosion spell directly affected his own physical state.

During the spell's duration, his dragon blood almost boiled within his body, surging and flowing, his heart pumping wildly like an engine.

This meant that if the Blood Explosion Horn Ring was used frequently enough, Garos's body might gradually adapt and evolve a structure capable of Blood Explosion directly, without needing alchemical items.

The physical talents Garos evolved himself would suit him better, and their effect would absolutely surpass that of alchemical items.

Alchemical items would sooner or later be phased out.

But his physical talents would not; they would grow stronger alongside him.

Garos also gained some realization, gradually becoming aware of the correct way to use alchemical items on himself—using alchemical items for stimulation and guidance, as the key to unlocking his own evolution.

For a moment,

Garos even looked forward to meeting the Copper Red Dragon again, hoping to obtain other alchemical items similar to the Blood Explosion Horn Ring from it.

At the same time,

as he finished exploring the usage of the Blood Explosion Horn Ring and the rain weakened, Garos made the decision in his heart to integrate the Scaled Earth Shattering Dao Beast Clans.

Crescent Moon Valley.

The werewolves of the Howling Moon Clan, each employing their own methods, besieged the Red Iron Dragon.

Their sharp claws and fangs struck the Red Iron Dragon's body, sending out sparks that flickered in the rain.

The old shaman waved the Oakwood Art staff, summoning a totem of wind.

Fierce wind blades transformed into a storm, driving away the rain and sweeping over the Red Iron Dragon; countless sparks flew with a clanging sound, as if cutting through an indestructible iron anvil.

And as time passed,

after more than ten minutes,

the high-intensity "battle" had nearly exhausted the stamina of the groups of young and strong werewolves; the old shaman was also panting, feeling the figure of the werewolf ancestors appear and disappear before his eyes, as if calling out to him.

This siege was not a betrayal.

On the contrary, it was a method that catered to the Dragon Lord's needs, bringing him pleasure.

This also made the werewolves realize what kind of terrifying creature the Dragon Lord they followed and pledged loyalty to truly was; within that juvenile dragon-like body lay power and defense stronger than those of a young dragon, hiding unparalleled potential.

"Dragon Lord, your scales are as thick as the earth."

Russell, the werewolf chieftain who revered strength, was subdued by the hybrid dragon; he knelt on one knee and said.

Garos spread his wings in the drizzle, noticing that many claw marks had appeared on his outer dragon scales.

The Burst Scales evolved from Buffer Scales and offered excellent resistance against attacks caused by collisions and blunt force, but their performance was rather ordinary when cut by sharp weapons.

As for the black-red scales beneath the Burst Scales,

they possessed no functions like buffering or rebounding.

They were simply and purely "solid."

Like steel poured and cast, yet harder than real steel, utterly indestructible.

When a werewolf scratched through the gaps in the Burst Scales with its claws, the claws themselves broke upon striking this layer of scales, yet failed to leave any tear marks.

It could be foreseen

what a spectacular psychological reaction a creature unfamiliar with Garos would have if, after great hardship finally exhausting all his Burst Scales, it discovered that beneath the Burst Scales lay another layer of indestructible scales.

Immediately,

Garos had the other werewolves disperse, keeping only the shaman, who possessed the highest wisdom and rich experience.

She was the eldest of the Howling Moon Clan, Venerable and respected, and the true leader, thoroughly familiar with all matters large and small within the clan; in comparison, the werewolf chieftain Russell was somewhat young, and his role in the Howling Moon Clan was more like that of a "general" leading the clan members in battle.

Garos asked, "How have the gains been in the Scaled Earth Shattering Dao these past few days?"

Nick's caravan would still need about half a month to return.

Garos would not wait idly; he had the werewolves of the Howling Moon Clan continue to lie in ambush on the Scaled Earth Shattering Dao, selecting suitable targets to establish trade channels with southern civilizations.

The old shaman lowered his head, his aged body prostrating itself on the ground to express his apology.

"I am sorry to disappoint you. Apart from the very first caravan at the beginning, the clansmen responsible for the Scaled Earth Rift Road found nothing."

It said.

"Stand up and speak. What happened?"

Garos said.

It could not be that because robbing caravans offered a novice bonus, after the smooth success of Nick's caravan, there were no other gains.

The old shaman stood up again, his fur covered in much mud and water, yet he did not brush it away.

Through reading the clan's ancient texts, he knew that the vast majority of dragons were capricious; although Garos appeared relatively amiable and unlike an evil dragon, the old shaman felt that making oneself appear humble before a dragon could never be wrong.

The mud and water on his body were not filth.

It was loyalty, it was awe, it was humility.

Under Garos's calm gaze, the old shaman explained in a low voice: "A few days ago, due to torrential rain and terrible weather, no merchant caravans passed through the Scaled Earth Rift Road."

"When the rain subsided, the Red Eye Clan and the Torn Claw Clan also ambushed the Scaled Earth Rift Road, robbing passing caravans."

"They occupied road locations superior to ours and always got there before us."

The clans encamped around the trade routes were actually not very close to the roads; after all, if they were too close, they might be dealt with along with the dangerous beasts and demons by the Thousand Snake Mark Guard responsible for cleaning up such threats in the Lothren Federation.

Each time they went to raid, they spent a long time on the round trip and had to guard against attacks from dangerous beasts and demons.

At that time, there were also intelligent beings in the wilderness.

After a long period of exploration, several clans skirted the territories of powerful dangerous beasts and demons, avoiding numerous obstacles, and gradually formed their own fixed routes and occupied road sections.

The Howling Moon Clan's section was not good; it was relatively far back.

A caravan would pass through the Scaled Earth Rift Road, safely crossing the previous few sections, before arriving at the Howling Moon Clan's section.

Normally, the monsters did not frequently go to the trade roads.

On one hand, the Scaled Earth Rift Road was merely a side path, and not many caravans passed through; most ambushes were simply a waste of time, yielding nothing.

On the other hand, appearing too frequently on the trade roads to raid would draw the attention of the caravans, or even the guard forces, leading to punitive expeditions.

Therefore.

Although the werewolves' section was not good, caravans could still pass through other sections and arrive at their territory; however, the numbers were small, and after removing those caravans with strong guards, the remaining suitable targets were even fewer.

(End of this chapter)