"Snake Dragons do not fear death; instead, pain and injury make them feel pleasure and madness. They are extremely fond of battle."
"There is no benefit in facing such a crazed dragon."
Upon seeing the Cliff Snake Dragon, Garros's eyes flickered. He held his breath, folded his dragon wings into a stealthy gliding posture, and hid himself behind the clouds.
Snake Dragons were notorious for not fearing death.
One could even say that these creatures pursued and yearned for death.
For example, if a Snake Dragon fought a powerful enemy and was heavily wounded, and the enemy decided to leave without delivering the killing blow out of fear of the Snake Dragon's curse—
Even though the Snake Dragon could have survived,
It would choose the most extreme method.
Suicide, using its life and Soul to curse the powerful enemy.
Even in death, it would ensure the opponent suffered.
According to the Legacy, Snake Dragons were originally a Primary Dragon Species in ancient times, with numbers no less than the Chromatic Dragons, Metallic Dragons, and Gem Dragons. However, because of this bizarre personality where they would die at the slightest provocation, their numbers gradually dwindled, and they have now become a Secondary Dragon Species.
Garros had not expected to encounter a Cliff Snake Dragon in the territory of the Grey-mane Werewolves.
This thing was too troublesome.
Its claws, teeth, and blood were all highly toxic.
If he fought it, even if he could kill it, he would have to pay a significant price.
It didn't fear death and had no concerns.
But Garros wanted to live a long life and was unwilling to risk injury, or even heavy injury, to fight a Snake Dragon.
In this wilderness, the dangers were not limited to Snake Dragons.
If he were severely injured because of it and encountered other dangers before recovering, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"And it has curses."
"Even if I can kill it, the Cliff Snake Dragon's Curse of Fire will continuously lower my fire resistance."
As a hybrid of a Red Dragon and an Iron Dragon, his fire resistance was very high, and he was directly immune to ordinary fire attacks. He didn't want the Cliff Snake Dragon's Curse of Fire to cause him to gain a fire resistance weakness for no reason.
"However, thinking about it from another perspective..."
"Could my Adaptive Evolution act upon this kind of resistance reduction caused by a curse?"
"If it can, my fire resistance might decrease a bit at first, but then it will continuously improve."
Garros calculated in his heart, weighing the pros and cons.
Because his initial fire resistance was too high, he rarely trained in this area as the gains were low and the training difficulty was high. But if he could continuously improve his fire resistance, he would certainly be willing. After all, although his fire resistance was high, it hadn't reached the level of complete immunity to fire damage; more Advanced Spell fire could still harm him.
"The risk is still too high."
"I'm not sure of the specific reaction once the curse falls on me."
A few seconds later, Garros shook his head and hid himself deeper, remaining inconspicuous.
Just now, at the first sight of the Snake Dragon, besides wariness, disgust and killing intent had surged in his heart because of the Legacy. However, since the risk outweighed the benefits, Garros suppressed his instinctive urge to attack the Snake Dragon.
Meanwhile.
The Cliff Snake Dragon crawled back into the cave.
This chance encounter seemed like it would end peacefully.
However, the Cliff Snake Dragon's forked tail suddenly paused in the air, then began to wag excitedly. Its scales rubbed together, emitting a harsh scraping sound, as it turned back around, its nose constantly sniffing.
Dragons are always attracted to one another and are quite sensitive to each other's aura.
And the Cliff Snake Dragon was sensitive to the auras of other dragons to the extreme.
At this moment, in its olfactory world, it seemed as if odor molecules had formed a bright red trail, pointing directly to a thick cloud above.
It could do more than just smell the dragon.
It could judge more information through the scent.
Red Dragon and Iron Dragon hybrid, eight-year-old Young Dragon, male, recently consumed a lot of meat, strong scent.
Body length over seven meters, covered in a layer of unremarkable blackish-grey dragon scales, exceptionally large wings, and particularly strong limbs. An ordinary Snake Dragon, though having a strong sense of smell, could not sniff out so much information.
This Snake Dragon was the same.
The body length and appearance were what it saw with its eyes.
Garros flapped his wings, cutting through the clouds and leaving a hollow trail as he flew into the distance.
From the moment the Cliff Snake Dragon suddenly stopped and turned to sniff the air, he knew he was exposed.
He had tried his best to restrain his aura, but he still couldn't withstand the Cliff Snake Dragon's olfactory radar being too keen; it had discovered his presence.
Since there was no benefit to fighting the Cliff Snake Dragon, Garros didn't want to be entangled by it. Now that he was exposed, he simply flew away.
Seeing the dragon figure burst from the clouds and soar through the night sky, the werewolves of Crescent Moon Valley were somewhat stunned, not expecting a dragon to be quietly lurking there.
Hiss—!
The Cliff Snake Dragon's blood-red pupils locked tightly onto Garros. A vibrato like a venomous snake's tongue flicking rolled from its throat, and its long tail, covered in barbs, smashed the mountain rocks.
It soared into the air like an arrow leaving a bow, possessing immense explosive power as its wingless body traveled in a straight line through the air.
Whoosh!
Leaping into the high sky, it opened its dragon maw, its chest bulging high, and spat a linear stream of molten Dragon Breath at Garros's back.
This Dragon Breath was powerfully potent, its damage not limited to the fire element.
Garros did not take it head-on. He increased his speed, swerved to avoid it, and continued to distance himself.
As his speed increased, his Explosive Scales rubbed against the air. The usually hard-to-see dark red patterns, like red-hot iron, began to glow, and the edges of the dragon scales gradually took on a searing red hue.
Garros attached Demonic Energy to the Explosive Scales and flicked his body.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
Several dragon scales shot out from his body toward the Cliff Snake Dragon. As they rubbed against the air at high speed, almost all of them turned a searing red.
The Cliff Snake Dragon charged in a straight line toward Garros, paying no heed to these dragon scales.
It turned and whipped its long body, its spiked three-forked tail accurately intercepting them.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Fireballs exploded in the sky, and raging flames covered the Cliff Snake Dragon, the light illuminating this area of the sky.
Hiss! The Cliff Snake Dragon's enraged hiss came from within the flames.
It burst out of the flames with many charred marks on its body. However, because it was also a fire-element dragon and possessed high fire resistance, the burn marks from the explosive flames were not severe.
But.
The exceptionally sharp scale fragments had embedded themselves into the weaker belly plates where it lacked scale armor. A dense stinging pain radiated from there, and trickles of poisonous blood flowed out.
The pain made the Cliff Snake Dragon even more excited.
Its body arched, and molten-like patterns emerged all over it. A hissing sound, like rising steam, came from beneath its scales. Then its body snapped forward again, its speed suddenly skyrocketing as it pierced through the clouds, rapidly closing in on Garros.
"This guy has such strong explosive power!"
"It seems I lack some explosive means."
Using the Snake Dragon as a mirror, Garros suddenly realized that his explosive power was not outstanding; his strongest strike required distance and acceleration to pull off.
Explosive-type secret techniques and skills within the dragon Legacy were things he couldn't access at his current age and Rank.
Garros did not push his speed to the limit, wanting to test the Cliff Snake Dragon's mettle. In its explosive state, the Cliff Snake Dragon gradually approached Garros.