Chapter 94: So Skilled at Flying, He Surely Can't Fight in Close Combat; The Advantage Is Mine

The Shattered Spine Hills were shrouded in smoke and flame.

Garos tore through the ogre lines with seven rounds of bombardment, leaving hordes of ogre warriors and several knights suffering severe injuries or drained of energy, already rendered combat-ineffective.

When the dust settled.

The entire Bone-Chewing Clan had only the Gluttonous Demon Karu left standing in the center of the ruins.

This monster was studded with fragments of exploding scales from head to toe; its black-iron skin was cracked with spiderweb-like scorch marks, and its belly bulged high like a giant ball.

Garos hurled the last of the exploding scales on his person at the Gluttonous Demon.

It raised an arm to block in front of itself.

Boom-boom-boom!

Explosions erupted; the Gluttonous Demon staggered, retreating several steps backward, its scorch marks multiplied, and its arm was a mess of torn flesh and blood.

Although at a disadvantage.

the Gluttonous Demon Karu felt no fear.

It lifted its head, its gaze sweeping over Garos circling in the air, and said: "Dragon, your exploding dragon scales are exhausted, yet I still stand upon the earth."

It sneered, tauntingly saying: "If you have the guts, land on the ground and fight me in close combat; let me feel just how powerful you truly are."

"Relying solely on the advantages of flight and speed to show off, a weak dragon lacking true strength—even if you win, you cannot earn my recognition."

In the Gluttonous Demon Karu's view.

Garos was a dragon adept at speed, flight, and ranged attacks.

Such a cunning fighting style was not recognized by ogres who revered strength and loved close-quarters slaughter; even if defeated, they would not follow. Only one who could defeat it head-on with absolute power could earn its respect and awe.

"Your words reveal your stupidity."

"However, to make you realize the vast gap between us, I shall grant your wish."

Garos grinned; his scale armor, now stripped of exploding scales, shimmered with the luster of premium obsidian under the night sky, with lava-like patterns crisscrossing it, shining brightly.

He folded his wings and dove downward.

This time, when Garos descended to roughly three hundred meters above the ground, he did not turn and ascend but continued straight toward the Gluttonous Demon Karu, his outstretched wings slicing through the night.

Facing the giant dragon rushing rapidly toward him, Karu stepped forward and roared with head held high.

Beneath its black-iron-hued skin, worm-like veins bulged, and its distended muscles forcibly popped the broken scales on its body.

When Garos's dive trajectory entered the hundred-meter range, Karu suddenly opened its massive mouth.

Not to continue roaring, but to spit out a projectile compressed to its extreme limit.

Boom!

A huge sphere, formed from a massive mix of broken scales, flame, and stomach acid, erupted from Karu's mouth, carrying destructive power, and shot rapidly toward Garos at incredible speed.

This rough-looking Gluttonous Demon was agile in its combat thinking and knew how to launch a sneak attack.

It had previously shown it only wanted close combat, yet when Garos flew straight at it, it suddenly employed a ranged attack, and one of immense power at that.

Garos's expression remained unchanged.

Six crystal bones erupted with blinding dark-red flames, and he changed direction in an instant.

The mixed sphere flew past almost brushing his body, landing on the hillside slope behind him, blasting out a huge crater and causing the earth to shake and mountains to tremble.

The Gluttonous Demon began its charge toward the giant dragon.

This six-meter-tall monster left footprints the size of a bowl in the scorched earth with every step, its black-iron fists tearing through the air with the muffled thunderous crack of an explosion.

Garos did not dodge.

He lowered his altitude to approach the ground, sank his center of gravity, tightened the muscles of his right forelimb like steel cables, and met the blow with his dragon claws.

Bang!

The shockwave from the collision of two brute forces sent rocks flying within dozens of meters around them.

Karu's finger bones emitted the cracking sound of being unable to bear the load.

Its body was like it had been struck by a train; pushed back rapidly by Garos, its legs left two deep furrows in the ground.

Its arms clamped around Garos's dragon claws.

Karu roared, its right leg kicking the ground fiercely, while simultaneously turning and arching its back; it actually used Garos's unstoppable momentum to execute a shoulder-throw-like grappling move, intending to hurl Garos away.

However, under the massive gap in strength.

this had no effect.

The force transmitted through Garos's dragon claws exceeded the Gluttonous Demon's imagination.

It failed to throw Garos; instead, Garos raised his dragon claws and then swung them violently, sending its sturdy body soaring into the air like a rag doll.

Snap!

Garos spun his body, and his dragon tail whipped through the air, striking the Gluttonous Demon.

It was blasted away like a cannonball, rolling continuously on the ground, plowing a furrow hundreds of meters long, knocking aside ogres who hadn't had time to dodge like bowling pins along the way, before finally smashing into a thick mountain rock and coming to a stop.

Garos approached slowly and deliberately, taking steps forward.

His muscles were so strong that their distinct contours were visible even beneath his thick dragon scales.

The Gluttonous Demon thought Garos was strong in ranged attacks.

This was a mistaken judgment.

Garos was strong in close combat; for him, aerial bombardment from the sky to the ground was merely a simple method of attrition.

Day and night of training and evolution had made his strength so great that even peer red dragons could not catch up; this sturdy body was no mere ornament.

The elite warriors were already incapable of fighting again from the previous bombardment.

Garos landed on the ground, but not a single ordinary ogre around dared to approach and interfere; all scattered and retreated, leaving the arena to Garos and the Gluttonous Demon.

A shadow like an iron tower suddenly leaped from the murky smoke.

Before Garos could get close, the Gluttonous Demon roared and sprinted toward Garos with long strides; its massive, barrel-chested body gradually contracted, veins on its body bulging and glowing red, and the proportions of its entire frame became more compact and formidable.

Boom!

The dragon claw clashed head-on with the Gluttony Demon's fist.

The Gluttony Demon's arm trembled, its skin cracking; immediately, it gritted its teeth in fury and slammed its head into the dragon's skull.

Garos neither dodged nor evaded; he lowered his head and rammed forward.

Clang!

Amidst the crisp sound of metal striking metal,

the horns atop the Gluttony Demon's head scraped against Garos's faceplate, sending sparks flying, leaving only shallow marks.

Its own iron-armor-like skin was torn apart by the spikes on Garos's dragon face, and where the dragon horns passed, deep bloodstains were left directly.

A dragon's faceplate consists of tiny scales and is not particularly hard.

But this was no ordinary dragon.

Among Garos's daily exercises was one using his head, using his faceplate to collide with hard metal ores; he had long since forged a thick, hard faceplate and skin.

Face covered in blood, dizzy and disoriented.

The Gluttony Demon, struck by Garos's headbutt, staggered backward.

Garos flapped his dragon wings.

The razor-sharp wing bones, like a guillotine blade, fell upon the Gluttony Demon's chest; colliding with its black-iron-like skin, amidst flying sparks, they tore through skin and flesh, leaving a horrifying horizontal wound.

The Gluttony Demon roared in fury.

Stimulated by pain, it continued to stride forward toward Garos.

But before it could get close, the thick, long tail covered in blade-like dragon scales came straight at it.

Thwack!

The Gluttony Demon was whipped away by the tail strike, its body now covered in dense, cutting cracks.

Just as it stood up, Garos's figure vanished from its vision; it only felt the surrounding light suddenly dim, as if something had blocked the moonlight.

Wind pressure descended from the sky.

Garos circled slightly in mid-air; the Comet Wings of Heaven spewed flame streams, accelerating his dive downward, his body crashing onto the Gluttony Demon like a meteor.

Boom!

The ground collapsed into a massive pit, countless rocks and earth shattered into pieces.

The Gluttony Demon, trampled by Garos on its chest, its iron-solid body deeply embedded in the bottom of the deep pit.

After the wings evolved, even without sufficient altitude or long-distance flight to build momentum, instantaneous acceleration could greatly enhance the power of Garos's charges, wing slashes, and other attacks.

(End of this chapter)