"Are you really going to let that human go?"
Samantha asked.
Garros put the map away, looked in the direction the Rogue had fled, then withdrew his gaze and said, "Do I look like a Dragonkin who breaks his word? Since I said I'd allow her to escape my territory, I will give her the chance."
Since Garros had spoken.
Samantha stopped asking questions and went to clear the battlefield, picking through everything and leaving no corner untouched, collecting the adventurers' equipment—some intact, some damaged, and some completely destroyed.
"My dear brother, can I have these Alchemy items?"
She scooped up the equipment with her front claws and asked expectantly.
In Garros's eyes, the adventurers' equipment and Alchemy items were quite low-level, or at least not worth mentioning compared to the few pieces he had on him.
But he didn't agree immediately; instead, he asked, "What do you want to do with them?"
Samantha said excitedly, "Dismantle them, melt them down. I want to try using them as Materials to forge Alchemy items suitable for us Dragonkin."
With her current Alchemy level, the probability of failure was very high.
But regardless of the outcome, she could benefit greatly from the process.
Garros flicked his tail and said, "Refurbish your 'Alchemy Workshop' first. I'll leave this equipment to you. You can use them to forge items, but the task of refining black oil must continue; you cannot fall behind."
Samantha's eyes lit up.
"Ah, my dear brother, I will definitely succeed in forging Alchemy items."
"Just wait to be proud of me!"
Her final tone wasn't like the way Dragonkin of the same age communicated; rather, it was similar to how one spoke to an elder.
In fact, having Garros appear and turn the tide once again when she was powerless had given Samantha a sense of security that even the Iron Dragon Mother couldn't provide—after all, one never encountered danger in the Iron Dragon Mother's territory.
In her heart, she had gone from helpless submission at the beginning...
...to developing a psychological dependence on Garros now.
Ultimately, Samantha was only a six-year-old young dragon. Although she had her dragon heritage, her mind was still very immature, and her level of maturity was far from comparable to Garros's.
She viewed Garros as someone to depend on, a goal worth learning from and chasing after.
Whoosh!
Garros flapped his wings, and a wild wind kicked up the surrounding dust, withered branches, and broken leaves.
"Where are you going?"
Samantha, who was busy rebuilding her 'Alchemy Workshop'—which was just a crude stone-slab shack—asked.
"To deal with the Rogue."
Garros said.
"Eh? Didn't you say you'd let her go?"
Samantha was somewhat confused.
"Wrong. What I said was, let her leave the territory."
Garros corrected her.
Let her go? You've got to be joking.
Adventurers were the kind of creatures that, if not killed off all at once, would keep coming back in endless waves to crusade against you unless you abandoned your territory. Moreover, there were many powerful ones among them. Letting a Rogue leave alive was the same as putting himself in danger, and Garros would not allow such a thing to happen.
From the very beginning, he had no intention of letting the Rogue go.
As for why he let her run for a while first, it wasn't to tease her or for amusement; it was mainly to see if there were any other backup adventurers lurking outside.
The possibility was low.
After all, for something like hunting Dragonkin, they should have all gone in together to ensure nothing went wrong.
But what if?
It was never wrong to be a little careful.
Until he possessed enough power, Garros was extremely cautious to ensure his life and safety. Nine out of ten young dragons who weren't cautious ended up buried in the wilderness.
He beat his wings and soared into the sky, merging with the night.
"As expected of my brother, he's thoroughly evil. I'm still too green; I need to learn from Garros."
Samantha sighed inwardly and then continued to refurbish her tiny Alchemy Workshop.
On the other side.
The bright moonlight poured down from the sky, plating the wilderness in a layer of silver light.
The Rogue's breathing was ragged. Because she had shed her leather armor and all her Alchemy items, she was almost naked, her body covered in small bloody cuts from sharp leaves or jagged stones. She had already fled to the outskirts of the Hemlock Hills.
Given her current situation.
With no companions, no equipment, and being injured and weak, even if she left the Hemlock Hills, it would still be incredibly difficult to leave the wilderness safely afterward. It could even be said to be a one-in-ten chance of survival.
But there was a glimmer of hope after all.
"Damn it, damn Evil Dragon!"
"Do you think I'll die in the wilderness, so you think I'm insignificant?"
The Rogue clenched her fists so hard her nails almost sank into her flesh, her heart full of resentment.
"I will, I will definitely escape the wilderness, and then I'll return with even more powerful companions to make you pay a heavy price for your arrogance!"
Two young dragons.
A Red Young Dragon, and an even more powerful hybrid young dragon.
For adventurers, this was a massive temptation that was impossible to refuse. As long as she could leave the wilderness and spread the news, adventurers willing to form dragon-hunting parties would come one after another.
Ignoring her physical exhaustion, the Rogue ran forward with her head down.
She needed to put some distance between her and the Hemlock Hills first.
As time passed, the Rogue leaned against a slope to catch her breath, looking back toward the Hemlock Hills. That dragon hadn't chased her; he hadn't appeared. It seemed he really had let her go.
Crunch.
The sound of claws stepping on gravel suddenly rang out nearby.
The Rogue's nerves instantly tensed, and she peeked out to look.
In her vision, a pack of Needle-Haired Wolves, sniffing the scent of blood in the air, slowly approached from different directions. Their target was clearly the Rogue.
The scent of fresh blood made the Needle-Haired Wolves excited.
From the Rogue, they smelled weakness, so they didn't test her further and directly pounced to kill.
The Rogue was already in a weakened state and had no equipment or items.
Facing the wolf pack's attack, she died within a minute, filled with unwillingness and rage, becoming food for the wolves.
—Better to have died at the hands of a Dragonkin; at least it would have been more honorable and quick.
This was her final thought before death.
At the same time, Garros circled high in the sky, silently watching what was happening below.
"No other adventurers present."
He had quietly followed the Rogue for a while. Finding no one to meet her, he was about to make the kill himself when he noticed a wolf pack had found her trail. So, he held back and watched as the Rogue died in the mouths of the wolves.
Soon, not even a single bone was left on the ground.
The wolf pack also vanished, heading elsewhere.
This was the norm of the wilderness, and the norm of countless worlds—the weak are consumed entirely, their lives hanging by a thread.
With no more concerns, Garros returned to the Hemlock Hills and once again took out the map to look at it under the moonlight.
Following the route on the map, the circled area looked more and more familiar. After thinking carefully for a few more minutes, it dawned on him.
"The place marked here is the Abandoned Mine where the Rock-Crushing Worm colony is located."
Abandoned Mines in the Serel Wilderness were as numerous as the stars in the sky. When he first heard the Rogue say the Dungeon was located under some Abandoned Mine, he hadn't thought much of it. Now, he was a bit surprised.
This was indeed quite a coincidence.
But on second thought, Garros felt it was within the realm of reason.
"The Worm King possesses an extraordinary Mental Skill that can directly dominate the lives of other Rock-Crushing Worms. That's not a skill a normal Worm King should have."
Garros was lost in thought.
"Could it be that it was influenced by a Legendary Alchemy item and thus evolved Mental Skills?"
At the thought of this, even with Garros's Heart-Nature, it was hard to suppress his greed. He wanted to throw caution to the wind and go investigate immediately to obtain the Legendary Alchemy item.
And then.
He would no longer need to be cautious. He could step up to the Peak of dragon life and, with his own strength, crush all creatures that dared call him an Evil Dragon.
Dominate the whole world!
Do whatever he wanted!
Live until the end of time!
"Stop, stop, stop!"
"Garros, stop your unrealistic fantasies!"
Whew! Whew! Whew!
The Red-Iron Young Dragon shook his head violently, then took several deep breaths in and out, repeating the cycle to calm his restless emotions. He looked at Samantha again, using an ordinary young dragon like her as a negative warning, reminding himself that he must never fall into the common ailments of Evil Dragons, or he would end up with the same fate.
Greed—this was a major factor, second only to arrogance and conceit, that easily led Dragonkin into danger.