Gu Yonglong's Great Victory and the Abnormal Steel Dragon

He was a Dragon Slayer, after all, and Xingyan was truly a unique, abnormal kind of creature, with habits and combat styles that set him apart.

Perched on the cliff's edge, the silver-gray Steel Dragon opened its mouth slightly, its eyes wide as it watched the strange battle unfolding below. If its metallic scales could form expressions, its current one would undoubtedly be one of astonishment—perhaps even amusement.

But Xingyan, who was currently using every ounce of his strength to wriggle on the Rusty Steel Dragon, couldn't afford to think about that. Time was short, the mission was critical, and he couldn't afford to slacken even a little. Once the Rusty Steel Dragon was on guard, he wouldn't get such a good opportunity to get close to its body again.

It was also fortunate that the Steel Dragon's entire body was composed of a metallic shell, which naturally included its tail. It was precisely this steel tail that allowed Xingyan to wrap his own sword tail around it, rather than having the large blade at the tip of his sword tail severed during this entanglement.

Even in the midst of the downpour, the fierce collisions between Xingyan and the Rusty Steel Dragon generated intense sparks—literal sparks. As metal clashed against metal, golden-red sparks flew.

Still wriggling, still wriggling! Xingyan was still wriggling!!

Thanks to the Dragon Slayer's sufficient length, after a burst of effort, Xingyan finally endured the steel thorns on the Steel Dragon's neck and got close to its head.

This kind of combat was also extremely unfamiliar and uncomfortable for the Rusty Steel Dragon. To shake Xingyan off its back, it even rolled onto its side and thrashed on the ground, or tried to charge into the dark storm with Xingyan on its back. However, Xingyan prevented these dangerous actions by using his head.

Several times when the Rusty Steel Dragon tried to charge into the storm, Xingyan, in a moment of desperation, directly used his head to smash the Steel Dragon's head, while simultaneously using his front claws to desperately pull back on the Steel Dragon's neck. It was an arduous effort.

Dragon Control Technique!

The Rusty Steel Dragon resisted desperately, its slender neck twisting left and right, trying to turn around and bite Xingyan, who was riding on its back. But it didn't know that this was exactly the opportunity Xingyan was waiting for.

A Dragon Slayer's weapons for hunting were not just their sword tails; their sharp teeth were also deadly weapons. Xingyan didn't like to chase and bite other dragons with his mouth, but that didn't mean his bite wasn't strong.

Once again, as the Rusty Steel Dragon twisted its neck to bite Xingyan, this time Xingyan didn't dodge as before. Instead, he endured being bitten by the Rusty Steel Dragon on his heat dissipation shell, tearing off a large chunk on the spot—but it was enough.

Xingyan had finally found the opportunity he wanted.

Crack.

With its neck extended and its teeth sharp—Xingyan's large mouth bit down firmly on the erect sharp horn on the Rusty Steel Dragon's extended head.

It wasn't difficult, and it wasn't as hard as he had imagined. The Rusty Steel Dragon's horn had a very crisp texture. Xingyan had initially thought he would need to chew vigorously to break it, but in reality, he only needed to exert a little force to shatter the Rusty Steel Dragon's horn.

He chewed and swallowed.

Delicious.

The Rusty Steel Dragon seemed somewhat stunned that its horn had been so easily shattered. Xingyan, however, was not one to hesitate. After all, the Rusty Steel Dragon had a pair of horns. Before the Rusty Steel Dragon could make any more drastic moves, he quickly lowered his head and bit off the other horn.

Now, the Rusty Steel Dragon had completely become a hornless dragon.

"Roar!!!"

Whether it was long or short, it all happened in less than two seconds. Xingyan ate quickly, and only after he had swallowed both dragon horns did the Rusty Steel Dragon let out a slightly delayed roar of pain.

The Steel Dragon's horns, which it used to command storms, were not actually very hard, at least not as hard as its body. Even within its metallic outer shell, they were a relatively soft, extremely sensitive, and slender part.

In other words, the Steel Dragon's horns were sentient; they would cower when impacted and would hurt when broken.

And now, Xingyan had directly shattered them... Well, it felt like having the tip of someone's finger bitten off, or having a needle stuck in their fingernail...

Just thinking about it sent shivers of pain.

Undoubtedly enraged, if anger could manifest physically, the current Rusty Steel Dragon could have burned Xingyan to dragon-slag with its fury alone.

But unfortunately, this was not the subspace; anger had no effect on the real world.

However, the intense pain did stimulate the Rusty Steel Dragon's physical potential, making its struggles even stronger. This time, with this sudden burst of strength, the Rusty Steel Dragon finally managed to shake Xingyan off its body.

The flying dragon in the air, Xingyan, landed heavily on the ground far away, but it didn't matter.

Getting up from the ground at the first opportunity, Xingyan held his sword tail horizontally in front of him in a defensive posture before beginning to observe the movements of the two Steel Dragons.

The situation was improving. The Rusty Steel Dragon was indeed furious, but anger was useless. The dark storm that seemed to cover the entire Great Sand Sea, at least in this area, was beginning to dissipate.

Without the other silver-gray Steel Dragon actively controlling the surrounding wind, the violent, condensed black tornadoes were like deflating balloons, losing their control and restraint, and thus scattering in all directions without hindrance.

The fierce, scattering winds blew away raindrops and puddles, and more importantly, blew away the dark clouds in the sky. Even the continuous rain of several days stopped at this moment, becoming thin. Sunlight from the highest point faintly pierced through the gaps in the clouds, allowing Xingyan to see the long-lost sunlight.

The intelligence Dragon Slayer had once again proven himself correct. After its pair of horns were destroyed, the Rusty Steel Dragon had clearly lost its ability to freely control the external wind.

Among the many possibilities, Xingyan made the most correct choice. If he had allowed this Rusty Steel Dragon to continue to drown the entire area with storms, he couldn't imagine any way to survive.

And now, as the disgusting storm completely dissipated, although the Rusty Steel Dragon was in a state of complete rage, in Xingyan's eyes, it had actually become weaker.

At least he now had a chance to fight back, rather than dying unable to resist in a natural disaster, and he also had a chance to escape.

"Roar!!!"

Roaring continuously, the pain from its shattered horns drove the Rusty Steel Dragon into a frenzy. It charged at Xingyan in a rage, but Xingyan, who had no intention of engaging in close-quarters combat with it again, easily dodged.

If he hadn't absolutely needed to engage in close-quarters combat to break through the storm protecting the Rusty Steel Dragon and shatter its horns, Xingyan would never have intended to fight other dragons in a brawl, relying purely on physical strength to decide the victor.

Such combat did not align with his dragon aesthetic at all.

Clang!!

A crisp metallic collision, and not just one, but a continuous, unbroken sound—like blacksmithing.

In a sense, it was no different from blacksmithing. Xingyan was the blacksmith, but while he had previously forged his own sword tail, he was now forging a Rusty Steel Dragon.

It could be considered an upgrade.

Everything was proceeding as Xingyan had predicted. After shattering the Rusty Steel Dragon's horns and temporarily disabling its ability to control the external storm, the Rusty Steel Dragon's combat style shifted from manipulating the storm that could have blown the Dragon Slayer away to close-quarters combat relying on physical strength.

It had indeed weakened. At least in this level of combat, Xingyan had regained the ability to fight back, no longer being unable to even attack and having to worry about being swept away by tornadoes, as he had been in the storm.

But Xingyan gradually realized another problem: while he wouldn't die without a fight now, he still couldn't kill the Rusty Steel Dragon by blacksmithing like this, could he?

The Steel Dragon's wings and body were constructed from layers of metallic material stacked together. This structure allowed the Steel Dragon, a massive clump of ore covered in a metallic shell harder than steel, to freely extend its wings and move with agility.

Now that the storm had passed and the lingering wind had blown away the dark clouds in the sky, Xingyan could clearly see all the wounds he had inflicted on the Rusty Steel Dragon from the beginning of the fight until now, illuminated by the faint sunlight filtering through.

The deepest wounds were only two. One was near the Rusty Steel Dragon's neck, close to the base of its wing, and the other was on its broad, steel-like wing membrane... if it could even be called a wing membrane.

Of course, there were also its shattered horns.

Beyond that were various other marks, most of them shallow and unable to even cause damage. Only two or three were deep, but they still hadn't penetrated the Rusty Steel Dragon's bone and flesh.

However, a lot of its rust had been scraped off by Xingyan. Unlike its still-hard body underneath, the layer of rust on its surface had softened due to oxidation. Consequently, it had been shaved off in large quantities by the continuous slashes.

CLANG!!!

With another crisp metallic impact, Xingyan used the force of his swing to press his weight onto the Rusty Steel Dragon, using it to propel himself sideways and dodge the creature's heavy pounce and the subsequent air cannon.

A tough old hide, a stubborn dragon. This was the first time Xingyan had encountered such a situation, and the first time he had fought for so long.

This Rusty Steel Dragon was fighting purely with its hardened body. It only dodged when Xingyan aimed for more vulnerable spots like its head or eyes; otherwise, it simply took the attacks head-on.

Xingyan thought he was already a dragon without honor, but now he realized there were even more unreasonable beings out there. He couldn't even use his usual tactics to bleed the Rusty Steel Dragon.

This was because the Rusty Steel Dragon's outer body, its steel shell, contained no blood. Even leaving a deep gash would be useless.

"ROAR!!!"

A roar to expel the strength within him, Xingyan's next slash towards the Rusty Steel Dragon's head landed on its back. In this high-intensity, head-on battle, Xingyan hadn't dared to heat his Sword Tail; this way, at least the Sword Tail's strength and hardness were maintained, preventing it from breaking during collisions.

Even so, after the failed strike and pulling back his Sword Tail, Xingyan glanced at it from the corner of his eye and saw that the blade of his Sword Tail, which should have been streamlined, sharp, and smooth, was now pitted and uneven.

With nicks and chips and a blade that curled inward, its sharpness was unbearable to look at... For a moment, Xingyan even felt that if he were a Hammer Dragon instead of a Dragon Slayer, dealing blunt damage might have been more effective.

Bringing his damaged Sword Tail forward and biting it in his mouth, Xingyan spat lava from his Flame Sac—he was sharpening his blade. Even after sharpening, the blade would still have several large chips despite losing its edge, but it would look better than before.

At least it wouldn't look like it was full of holes and about to break at any moment.

Panting heavily, Xingyan felt the fatigue from the prolonged battle. The Rusty Steel Dragon opposite him seemed even worse off. After this exchange, both dragons retreated and stood in their respective spots to rest.

Xingyan even saw white saliva dripping from the Rusty Steel Dragon's mouth. Its panting was more exaggerated than his, looking utterly exhausted—what was going on? Was this the stamina of an Elder Dragon?

As the battle reached this point, Xingyan had long since reverted to a "turtle shell" style of fighting... or rather, a "turtle slash" style. The techniques he had learned from Hunters were long forgotten. Ultimately, these were things he had figured out on his own, without systematic study or training, and they didn't suit the body structure of a Dragon Slayer.

Unsystematic, and he didn't even know if they were correct, so as the fight dragged on, he returned to simple hacking, slashing, and thrusting.

Gasping for air, Xingyan looked somewhat pathetic at the moment. Compared to the Steel Dragon, he didn't have a hard metallic shell. In the previous battle, even part of his heat-dissipating shell had been torn off. Now, white steam could be seen escaping directly from his back, and dragon blood was flowing.

His gaze warily swept between the Rusty Steel Dragon and the silver-gray Steel Dragon. Xingyan never forgot that he was facing not one Steel Dragon, but two—even though the silver-gray Steel Dragon hadn't joined the battle between him and the Rusty Steel Dragon from the start.

"ROAR!!"

Perhaps sensing Xingyan's wary gaze? Or perhaps because of the Rusty Steel Dragon's roar?

In any case, the silver-gray Steel Dragon suddenly changed its crouched posture and stood up from the cliff. It spread its beautiful wings, like a massive silver-gray shield, shimmering in the light.

It was precisely this movement that made Xingyan realize that this silver-gray Steel Dragon was much smaller than the Rusty Steel Dragon—a whole size smaller. If the two Steel Dragons were to crouch together, one would look like the other's father.

"ROAR!!"

It flew up?!