Death of the Great Jagras and the Brave Hunter

"A Dragon Slayer wouldn't be in a hurry to collect clothes," the Leader grumbled, only then recalling the Dragon Slayer's expression from earlier. The more she thought about it, the stranger it became.

After all, she couldn't discern any expression on that fierce draconic face, let alone a sense of urgency.

"How did you know?" Yano couldn't help but ask. "Monsters don't have the same range of expressions as us."

Most dragons lacked delicate skin; they were covered in either hard scales or tough carapaces. The Dragon Slayer's face was naturally covered in a hard carapace, making it impossible to even form an expression, let alone show emotion like worry.

"Hmm, intuition?"

The Leader said, stroking his chin.

"No time to think, follow me, Yano!"

"Yes!"

Meanwhile, Xingyan, unaware he was being followed by two people, strode into the Great Jagras's territory.

"Roar!!!" (Come out!)

That was essentially what Xingyan's roar meant: a challenge. If you're a dragon with any guts, come out and face me.

"Roar!!!"

A response echoed from afar. The Great Jagras wasn't nearby, but it had undoubtedly heard Xingyan's provocation. How could it tolerate that?

In recent times, Hunters had dubbed the Great Jagras the "Brute of the Wastes" because it wasn't just strong and physically imposing, but also ill-tempered and incredibly ferocious. It would hunt down any creature that trespassed into its territory, whether it walked on the ground or flew in the sky.

Because of this, Hunters exploring the Great Sand Sea and mining had suffered greatly at its hands. Some Hunters had even died, adding to the already insufficient numbers of the investigation team.

Reality wasn't a game. In games, the "cat car" could always rescue Hunters from the jaws or claws of an enraged dragon with a 100% success rate. But in reality... well, it was all a matter of luck.

If a Hunter could be rescued, they would be. If not, their body would be recovered. Even so, the "cat car" service was extremely expensive, charging nearly 30% of the quest reward for a single deployment.

Despite the cost, no Hunter could refuse the "cat car" rescue. After all, life was more important.

With heavy steps, the Great Jagras approached from a distance. On the open, rocky ground with no obstructions, Xingyan spotted the behemoth from afar. And it saw him too.

The Dragon Slayer was a large Bird Wyvern, and the Great Jagras was also a large Bird Wyvern.

Coincidentally, both had strong aggressive tendencies.

"Rooar rooar rooar rooar!!" (You bullied my brother the other day, didn't you! I'll kill you!!)

Xingyan roared, grinding his sharp sword tail.

"Roar!!" (Die!!)

The other roar was the Great Jagras's.

Xingyan could understand what it was shouting. There were no complex words, only killing intent and threats. It was strange, but the higher a creature's position in the food chain, the higher its intelligence.

This was true for the Female Fire Dragon, and it was true for the Great Jagras.

Yes, they were different species of dragons, but they could still understand each other's intentions when they roared.

For example, the roars used to intimidate each other when competing for territory, to warn others away, or to protect their cubs.

In this sense, dragons could communicate with each other – a kind of spiritual understanding and clarity.

Of course, no matter how mystically I describe it, it wouldn't change the fact that these large dragons had to clash when they met.

After all, communication or not, they still had to fight.

If they just spoke nicely and left, how would their hungry stomachs be filled? If you ate everything, what would I eat?

As the saying goes, eat what you can, drink what you can, and don't dwell on things.

Everyone has to eat.

Living up to its reputation as a large monster comparable to a Tyrannosaurus Rex in Xingyan's memories from his past life, the Great Jagras charged at him like a tyrant.

Dragon Charge!!

This was a move common to both land and flying dragons. Simply put, it was charging forward to try and trample the opponent to death.

The Great Jagras's Dragon Charge was even more ferocious than other dragons. It opened its massive maw, its lower jaw scraping the ground, charging at Xingyan with the momentum to crush rocks and air alike.

Broken stones and debris flew, dust kicked up, and the Great Jagras's massive body seemed like a small mountain crashing down. Honestly, this kind of Dragon Charge, with its mouth wide open and violent forward momentum, always reminded Xingyan of the Brute Dragon.

The Brute Dragon's Dragon Charge was even more violent, capable of making some timid Hunters flee in terror.

Cool, strong, and violent – truly a monster comparable to the king of dinosaurs, the Tyrannosaurus Rex. But – who are you trying to scare?

To be honest, Xingyan found the attack methods of ordinary dragons rather unsophisticated. They mostly consisted of charging, biting, tail-swiping, or clawing. Even the more imposing Elder Dragons couldn't escape these basic moves. The very bodies of dragons limited their ability to perform more agile attacks, forcing them to rely on their powerful physiques.

Elder Dragons could, however, manipulate Life Energy more freely and possessed various unique special abilities. They were called calamities because their power was so immense, as if nature itself was enraged.

Heavy rain, strong winds, lightning, floods... or perhaps a moving mountain. Ordinary life could only passively endure these natural disasters.

But those were abilities exclusive to Elder Dragons.

This was merely a Great Jagras. Did it possess such power?

Xingyan was not an Elder Dragon. He couldn't destroy an entire region's ecosystem when enraged like they could, but the Great Jagras was not an Elder Dragon either.

As large Bird Wyverns, they should have been on the same level, competing on who had a stronger body, greater strength, sharper teeth – essentially, a battle of basic stats.

However, as a Dragon Slayer, Xingyan brought an extra blade.

This blade was quite lethal.

It was like two adults fighting passionately, but one suddenly pulled out a knife; the other would naturally be stabbed and bleed out.

Not indulging the Great Jagras's foul temper at all, Xingyan didn't even dodge. He lowered his body, lifted his hips, and twisted his waist, directly swinging his heavy sword tail from the front towards the Great Jagras's mouth!

If viewed from the side, it looked as if the Great Jagras had impulsively headbutted Xingyan's sword tail.

CLANG!!

The Great Jagras had noticed Xingyan's movement, but it couldn't dodge anymore.

The heavy blade swung horizontally from the front. With a crisp sound, the foremost four teeth of the Great Jagras's tough lower jaw were cleanly severed!

With this resistance, Xingyan's swing recoiled, but it had virtually no effect on him. With a light hop, he readjusted his position. The next strike was a vertical slash!

"ROAR!!!"

The Great Jagras roared in fury. The injury to its proud lower jaw had slightly wounded its pride. It hadn't expected the small creature that used to flee from its sight, sometimes even taking circuitous routes through impassable terrain to avoid it, to be so formidable.

But the Xingyan of the past had merely not wanted to waste energy. The Great Jagras possessed no evolutionary information he needed.

And he was no longer the scrawny, newly hatched Dragon Slayer from half a year ago. He was now a robust, blade-wielding powerhouse!

Even from the perspective of the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers, this fight was somewhat unfair. Or rather, the two combatants weren't even on the same level; the battle was completely one-sided.

This Great Jagras was just an ordinary individual. It couldn't even touch Xingyan, only rage impotently. It either used its broken jaw to scoop up rocks and throw them at Xingyan or opened its mouth to try and bite him... Pathetic, utterly pathetic.

It was as if Xingyan were filleting an ingredient. His sword tail continuously sliced through the Great Jagras's pink fur that covered its entire body—fur that helped the toothless Great Jagras dissipate heat better, and was very tough.

But similarly, even though this fur was very tough, its defense couldn't compare to traditional scales or shells.

In past hunts, Great Jagras often relied on this thick, tough hide to tank damage from other monsters, then used its extraordinary strength and attack power to defeat enemies first.

The monsters that opposed the Great Jagras often lacked sufficiently lethal attacks. At most, they could tear off a piece of flesh or leave deep claw or bite marks on its fur, but they could never inflict enough fatal damage.

But Xingyan was different.

The finely forged greatsword allowed him to easily slash through the Great Jagras's fur. The greatsword, forged from various minerals, was also heavy enough that Xingyan's every strike made the Great Jagras, which wanted to approach him with leaps, abandon the idea of trading blows.

Because before it could trade a blow, it knew it would be killed first.

Ultimately, the Great Jagras couldn't be on the same level as a Dragon Slayer.

Even when it activated the flame sac in its throat due to the fierce battle and anger, spewing out scorching flames, it still couldn't reach Xingyan.

The Dragon Slayer's sword tail was simply too long, long enough for Xingyan to swing his greatsword and kill the creature from a safe distance.

"A one-sided slaughter." Putting down his binoculars, Yano, standing on a high, safe stone platform, summarized the battle between the two monsters. "It's like it's playing; ordinary monsters are no match for it."

"It seems that clever little one has grown up too..." The Leader said with some complex emotions, "It's only been half a year, why has it grown so fast? This is already the size of a young Dragon Slayer, isn't it?"

"More than that," Yano shook her head slightly. "A normal Dragon Slayer is about twenty-four meters long, with a tail over fourteen meters, accounting for more than half its body length."

"Twenty-four meters?" The Leader visually estimated. "In terms of size alone, it's already comparable to an adult Dragon Slayer."

"But according to the Scholars' observations, this Dragon Slayer is actually newly born, equivalent to a baby just over a year old," Yano said, laughing at herself. "This is not how a baby should look."

"Did you see the carapace on its flank? It seems to have two layers, and it looks like it was recently injured," the Leader suddenly pointed to Xingyan's side. "I was observing it when it passed by us earlier. Dragon Slayers should only have one layer of carapace, right?"

"That's right, I noticed that too. This is why the Scholars believe this Dragon Slayer might be a variant monster, different from the original species," Yano continued. "Although there have been no records of it attacking Hunters yet, no one dares to approach it. They can only observe from afar... so this is just a guess."

"Hmm... I thought they would try to communicate with it? After all, this Dragon Slayer seems quite friendly," the Leader asked.

"Some Scholars tried feeding it a carapace dragon, but the delivered meat was kicked away. It probably only eats prey it catches itself?"

"Quite proud, interesting," the Leader couldn't help but laugh. "I quite like it. It seems that little one not only survived in this cruel nature but is thriving."

"This is not the time to be happy, Leader," Yano said helplessly. "I also believe this Dragon Slayer... let's continue to call it a Dragon Slayer for now. Anyway, I believe it has significant research value, but its territory is too close to the base."

"I understand," the Leader nodded firmly. "Leave it to me. I'll communicate with it properly!"

"Wait, what are you trying to do?" Yano suddenly became nervous. "Don't do anything rash, Leader!"

"This is not rash, Yano!" The Leader laughed heartily. "I've heard what the Scholars said. It's hard to define this Dragon Slayer's attitude, but precisely because of that, I need to get closer to it!"

"Some things will never be answered if you don't bravely take the first step—don't forget why we set sail!"

With that, he glanced at the battlefield in the distance, where the sun was gradually setting, and then jumped off the stone.

"Leader..."

Seeing the Leader slowly crouching down towards the Dragon Slayer below, Yano murmured softly.

Screech--hiss--

With another slick sound of flesh being torn, the Great Jagras finally exhausted its last bit of strength and fell to the ground with a weak cry.

It was dead.

Xingyan didn't feel any relief or relaxation from fighting a strong enemy. To be honest, this Great Jagras put far less pressure on him than that veteran Female Fire Dragon.

Too immature, this Great Jagras.