Translator: AnubisTL
The night sky was dyed as black as ink.
Garos and the cliff serpent dragon weaved through the dark clouds like two bolts of lightning tearing through the night.
As they closed the distance, the cliff serpent dragon struck first. Its slender body lashed out like a whip, the forked tip of its tail burning with a venomous, dark green flame.
Garos froze momentarily, his wings rising high.
The fine scales on his dragon wings rubbed together, showering sparks as the razor-sharp edges glowed crimson. Then, pivoting on the tip of his left wing, he executed a sudden, sweeping rotation, shifting his angle like a guillotine blade. His dragon wings surged forward, slashing at the cliff serpent dragon.
Faced with this sweeping dragon wing strike, the cliff serpent dragon refused to yield.
It twisted its body, its thick tail lashing out at Garos's wings.
Clang! Rip!
First came the metallic clash, a crisp clang like blades colliding. Then came the sound of sharp edges tearing through tough dragon scales and flesh.
Garos's rotating dragon wing strike, after meeting brief resistance, severed one of the cliff serpent dragon's three forked tails. Viscous blood from the creature splattered across his wings.
"I'm going to devour you!"
The cliff serpent dragon roared in pain, muttering unintelligible draconic words as it lunged forward with its foreclaw, aiming a savage blow at Garos.
Garos shifted slightly, bracing his back—covered in dense explosive scales—to meet the attack head-on.
Boom! The massive claw struck Garos's dragon scales with tremendous force. The scales shattered, absorbing the kinetic energy of the impact and converting it into thermal energy, which erupted in a blinding burst of flames.
Caught off guard, the cliff serpent dragon was sent flying backward.
"This creature is weak in direct combat."
Suddenly, a searing pain shot through Garos's dragon wings.
It felt like countless tiny rasps grinding against his flesh, like venomous snakes burrowing into his body—an agony beyond description.
"But this poison... it's as potent as the legends claim."
Even with Garos's legendary tolerance for pain, he grimaced.
The viscous blood of the cliff serpent dragon clung to his wings, refusing to be shaken off by the gale. Instead, it adhered to the scales, staining the points of contact a dark, inky green.
The serpent dragon's fangs, claws, and blood were all highly venomous.
Its blood, in particular, contained the most concentrated toxins.
Garos's poison resistance was limited, and his wings gradually began to numb from the venom.
The cliff serpent dragon charged again.
Its injuries were far more severe than Garos's, but its blood-red eyes burned with madness and excitement, as if it would drag Garos down with it even in death, a relentless, crazed determination.
A mad dragon couldn't be reasoned with.
Fighting it to the death would bring no benefit.
On the contrary, engaging it in measured combat would actually benefit Garos.
Keep it around, Garos thought. As long as it stays in Crescent Moon Valley, it'll come here to provoke me from time to time. I can gradually increase my poison resistance with its venom. Let's end it here for tonight. My poison resistance is still low, and absorbing too much venom at once could be dangerous.
With a powerful flap of his dragon wings, Garos accelerated to his maximum speed, creating distance between them.
The cliff serpent dragon's scales hissed as superheated gases vented from beneath them, propelling it forward in a burst of speed to pursue Garos. But as Garos began to fly at full speed, each flap of his massive wings generated gale-force winds that even the dragon's burst of speed couldn't match. The gap between them steadily widened.
It couldn't keep up, and blood continued to gush from its severed tail.
The energy-draining burst of speed had exhausted its reserves, bringing the chase to an end.
The cliff serpent dragon reluctantly halted, able to see only sparks of light from Garos's flapping wings. Within moments, even these sparks vanished.
It roared in frustration, turning back toward the graymane werewolf tribe.
"Food! I want fresh, living food!"
In Crescent Moon Valley, the cliff serpent dragon descended upon the werewolf territory, demanding more food from the tribe.
"We've already provided all the live prey for today," the werewolf priest said, a hint of nervousness in his voice as he forced himself to remain calm. "Now we only have dead or dried meat left, but there's plenty to satisfy your hunger."
The cliff serpent dragon roared, "I want living things! Living things!"
It craved the brutal act of tearing apart living prey to satisfy its boiling bloodlust and vent its rage at being wounded by Garos, whom it had failed to capture.
"If you won't give it to me, I'll take it myself!"
The cliff serpent dragon lunged forward, seizing an adult werewolf in its jaws.
But this wasn't enough. It wanted more.
"Enough, Rogus! Return to your lair!"
The old werewolf stood before the cliff serpent dragon, his eyes blazing with fury. He gripped his oak staff tightly with both hands, and behind him materialized a massive, wolf-like spiritual phantom.
The cliff serpent dragon circled the old werewolf, but refrained from attacking.
Clutching the still-screaming adult werewolf in its jaws, the cliff serpent dragon coiled back to its mountain cave.
The old werewolf's imposing aura dissipated, his figure becoming even more hunched.
"I should never have brought back that dragon egg, never hatched it, never nurtured it to maturity," he lamented, his heart heavy with regret.
This cliff serpent dragon was a 16-year-old juvenile dragon, a ferocious beast personally raised by the old werewolf.
Years ago, during an exploration, the old werewolf had discovered an egg in a bone-strewn cave. He brought it back to the territory, where it hatched into the cliff serpent dragon.
Living in the wilderness, the werewolf tribe lacked extensive knowledge of dragonkind.
They didn't realize this was a cliff serpent dragon, inherently vicious and bloodthirsty. They simply saw it as a strange snake, recognizing its potential and believing they could tame it from infancy to become the tribe's guardian beast.
However.
Cliff serpent dragons, while savage and cruel, also possessed intelligence.
In its youth, the dragon suppressed its ferocity, growing stronger under the werewolf tribe's care. It even slaughtered some of their enemies.
However, as it grew stronger, it shed its restraint. In its rage, it devoured even werewolves without hesitation. Only the old werewolf who had raised it from infancy, relying on the bond of familiarity he had cultivated through shamanic skills, could barely restrain it—but even this influence was waning with each passing day.
"Elder, it's becoming increasingly uncontrollable. The cost of maintaining it is too high."
"It was wounded in a battle against an unknown dragonkind. We should seize this opportunity to gather our warriors and kill it."
The current werewolf chieftain approached the shaman, gazing up at the dark cave walls as he spoke in a deep voice.
The shaman, the oldest and most revered elder of the tribe, held the highest authority.
"Surrounding and killing Rogus is too dangerous," the old werewolf shaman said after a moment's thought. "The losses would be devastating, potentially crippling our tribe and leading to its extinction in the wilderness."
The werewolf chieftain pressed, "Elder, we must decide quickly."
"If the cost of killing it is too great, we'll have no choice but to abandon Crescent Moon Valley and relocate elsewhere."
"No matter what, we can't share this territory with it any longer. Who knows when it might go berserk and devour us all?"
The old shaman nodded, his voice weary. "I understand. Trust me, I will never allow our tribe to meet such a desperate end."
The werewolf chieftain nodded, saying no more. He glanced at the cave a few more times before turning to reassure his frightened tribesmen.
Their emotions couldn't be allowed to fluctuate too wildly.
Otherwise, they might transform into giant wolf beasts and never revert to their human forms.
Meanwhile, the old shaman gazed up at the tranquil night sky. Suddenly, the shadow of a dragon that had previously streaked across the sky flashed through his mind.
The cliff serpent dragon had eagerly pursued it, only to return in a furious rage, its tail missing a segment.
It had clearly suffered a humiliating defeat.
Perhaps we could harness the power of dragonkind? the old shaman mused.
(End of the Chapter)
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