After all, Xingyan really was a very unique, very abnormal... Glavenus, with habits and fighting styles that were utterly unlike anything else.
The silver-gray Kushala Daora perched atop the cliff gaped at the strange battle below, its eyes wide. If its metallic scales could make soft expressions, then its face would surely look surprised—perhaps even amused.
But Xingyan, who was using every ounce of his strength to wriggle around on the Rusty Steel Dragon, had no time to worry about that. Time was short, and the task was important. He couldn't afford to slack off for even a moment. If the Rusty Steel Dragon grew wary, he'd never get another chance like this to cling to its body.
It was also fortunate that the Kushala Daora's entire body was made of metal, including its tail. That steel tail was what let Xingyan hook his Sword Tail around it without the great blade at the end getting its tail chopped off in the struggle.
Even in the torrential rain, the fierce clashes between Xingyan and the Rusty Steel Dragon sent sparks flying—actual sparks, in the physical sense. Metal collided with metal, spraying golden-red sparks everywhere.
Still wriggling! Still wriggling! Xingyan was still wriggling!!
Thanks to the Glavenus's long body, after a great deal of effort, Xingyan finally managed to endure the steel spikes on the Kushala Daora's neck and reach its head.
This kind of battle was also completely unfamiliar and uncomfortable for the Rusty Steel Dragon. To shake Xingyan off its back, it even toppled over and rubbed itself against the ground, shoving sideways. It also tried to charge into the pitch-black storm with Xingyan still on its back, but Xingyan stopped these dangerous attempts with his head.
When the Rusty Steel Dragon tried to charge into the storm again, Xingyan panicked and slammed his head into its head. At the same time, he desperately braced his foreclaws against its neck and hauled backward. It was exhausting.
Dragon Control Technique!
The Rusty Steel Dragon fought desperately to resist. Its long, slender neck twisted from side to side as it tried to turn around and bite Xingyan, who was riding on its back. It had no idea that this was exactly the opportunity Xingyan was waiting for.
The Glavenus's hunting weapons weren't limited to its Sword Tail. Its sharp teeth were deadly too. Xingyan didn't like chasing after other dragons and biting them, but that didn't mean his teeth weren't up to the task.
Once again, the Rusty Steel Dragon twisted its neck around to bite Xingyan. This time, though, Xingyan didn't dodge as he had before. He gritted his teeth and let the Rusty Steel Dragon bite into his cooling shell, tearing off a huge chunk right then and there—but that was enough.
Xingyan had finally gotten the chance he wanted.
Crack.
Neck stretched forward, sharp teeth bared—Xingyan's gaping jaws clamped down on the proud horn atop the Rusty Steel Dragon's head.
It wasn't difficult at all, and the horn wasn't nearly as hard as he'd imagined. The Rusty Steel Dragon's horn was wonderfully crisp. Xingyan had thought he'd need to chew hard to break it, but in reality, he only had to bite down lightly to crush it.
He chewed it up and swallowed.
Tasty.
The Rusty Steel Dragon seemed too stunned to react to its horn being crushed so easily. Xingyan didn't hesitate. The Rusty Steel Dragon had a pair of horns, after all, and while it still hadn't made any more violent moves, he quickly reached forward and bit off the horn on the other side.
And just like that, the Rusty Steel Dragon was completely hornless.
"Rrraagh!!!"
As the saying went, what could be told in a book took long, while what couldn't be told took little time. Everything happened in less than two seconds. Xingyan ate quickly, and by the time he'd swallowed both horns, the Rusty Steel Dragon finally let out a somewhat delayed roar of pain.
The horns a Kushala Daora used to command storms weren't actually very hard—at least, not as hard as its body. Even among its metallic outer shell, they were comparatively soft, exceptionally sensitive, and delicate.
In other words, Kushala Daora's horns had feeling. They recoiled from impacts, and breaking them hurt.
And now Xingyan had bitten them clean off... Yeah, it was probably like having someone bite off the tips of your fingers, or like getting a needle stuck under your fingernail...
Just thinking about it hurt.
There was no doubt that it was furious. If its rage could become tangible, the Rusty Steel Dragon could have burned Xingyan to dragon ash with nothing but its anger.
Unfortunately, this wasn't the Astral Plane. Rage had no effect on the physical world.
But the intense pain really did awaken the Rusty Steel Dragon's physical potential, making it struggle even harder. This time, fueled by that sudden burst of strength, it finally managed to throw Xingyan off its back.
The dragon soared through the air. Xingyan crashed heavily onto the ground some distance away, but it didn't matter.
He scrambled to his feet at once and held his Sword Tail horizontally in front of himself in a defensive stance before watching the two Kushala Daora.
Things were looking up. The Rusty Steel Dragon was indeed furious, but anger wouldn't help it. The pitch-black storm that seemed to cover the entire Great Sand Sea—or at least this whole region, where the outside world had been impossible to see—was beginning to dissipate.
With the other silver-gray Kushala Daora no longer actively controlling the winds around them, the violent black tornadoes that had gathered together were like balloons springing a leak. They'd lost control and their confinement, so they scattered freely in every direction.
The wild winds swept away the raindrops and standing water, and they also blew away the dark clouds overhead. Even the days-long downpour finally let up, dwindling away. Sunlight from high above faintly filtered through gaps in the clouds, letting Xingyan see the sun again after so long.
Glavenus Intelligence had once again proved correct. After both horns were destroyed, the Rusty Steel Dragon had clearly lost the ability to freely control the winds around it.
Among all the possibilities, Xingyan had made the right choice. If he'd let this Rusty Steel Dragon continue wielding the storm until it swallowed the whole battlefield, he couldn't imagine any way he'd survive.
Now that the awful storm had completely dispersed, the Rusty Steel Dragon was utterly enraged, but to Xingyan, it seemed weaker instead.
At least now he had a chance to fight back instead of dying helplessly in a natural disaster. He even had a chance to escape.
"Rrraagh!!!"
Roaring repeatedly, the pain of its shattered horns drove the Rusty Steel Dragon into a frenzy. It charged at Xingyan in a fury, but Xingyan had no intention of fighting it hand-to-hand again, and dodged out of the way.
If he hadn't needed to get close just now to break through the storm the Rusty Steel Dragon used to protect itself and smash its horns, Xingyan would never have chosen to fight another dragon in a head-on brawl, relying purely on physical strength to decide the winner.
That sort of fight didn't suit his dragon-life philosophy at all.
Clang!!
The crisp sound of metal clashing rang out—not just once, but in a continuous, unbroken series, like someone hammering metal.
In a way, that was exactly what was happening. Xingyan was the blacksmith. He'd been hammering his own Sword Tail before, but now he was hammering a Rusty Steel Dragon instead.
You could call that an upgrade.
Everything was going just as Xingyan had predicted. After he bit the Rusty Steel Dragon's horns off and temporarily deprived it of its ability to control the storm outside, its fighting style shifted from wielding winds powerful enough to blow even a Glavenus away to relying on its physical strength in close combat.
It really was weaker. At least in a fight of this kind, Xingyan could fight back again. He no longer had to worry about being swept away by a tornado, as he had in the storm, and he could actually attack.
But Xingyan gradually realized there was another problem. He might not be completely helpless anymore, but if all he did was hammer away at it, he didn't seem likely to kill the Rusty Steel Dragon.
A Kushala Daora's wings and body were made of layers of metal plates overlapping one another. This structure let the huge boulder of a dragon—its entire body covered in metal harder than steel—spread its wings freely and move nimbly.
With the storm gone and the wind beginning to part the dark clouds overhead, Xingyan could clearly see every wound he'd inflicted on the Rusty Steel Dragon since the fight began, thanks to the few stray shafts of sunlight.
There were only two deep ones. One was near the base of the Rusty Steel Dragon's neck, close to where its wing attached. The other was on its broad steel wing membrane... if that thing could really be called a membrane.
Of course, there were also the horns he'd bitten off.
Apart from that, there were marks of all sizes. Most were shallow and hadn't even managed to cause any damage. Only two or three were deep, but even those hadn't penetrated the Rusty Steel Dragon's flesh and bone.
On the other hand, Xingyan had chopped away a lot of the rust on its body. Unlike the hard body beneath, this layer of rust on the Rusty Steel Dragon's surface had grown soft, so repeated slashes had shaved a great deal of it off.
Clang!!!
Another crisp metallic clash rang out. Xingyan used the force of his swing to shift his weight onto the Rusty Steel Dragon, then pushed off and leapt to the side, evading its heavy pounce and the air cannon that followed.
What a tough old bird. Or rather, what a tough old dragon. Xingyan had never encountered anything like this before, and he'd never fought for so long, either.
The Rusty Steel Dragon relied entirely on its hard body in battle. It only dodged when Xingyan aimed at some of its weaker spots, such as its head or eyes. The rest of the time, it simply took the hits.
Xingyan had thought he was already a dragon without any dragonly virtues. Now he realized there could be one even more unreasonable than him. He couldn't even use his usual tactics to make the Rusty Steel Dragon bleed.
That was because there was no blood in the outermost part of a Kushala Daora's body—the steel shell. Even if he left a deep gouge, it wouldn't do any good.
"Roar!!!"
The roar was to squeeze every last bit of strength from his body. Xingyan swung at the Rusty Steel Dragon's head again, but his blow landed on its back. In this intense clash of brute strength, he hadn't dared to use Red-hot Transformation on his Sword Tail, so at least he could preserve its strength and hardness and keep it from snapping on impact.
Even so, after his strike failed and he pulled his Sword Tail back, Xingyan glanced at it from the corner of his eye. The blade, which should have been sleek, sharp, and smooth, was now full of dents and notches.
The countless chips and inward-curling edges had ruined its sharpness. For a moment, Xingyan even thought that if he were a Hammer instead of a Glavenus, he might be better off dealing blunt damage.
He reached forward and clamped his badly damaged Sword Tail in his mouth, then spewed lava from his fire sac. He was sharpening his blade. Even after he finished, it would still have a few large chips in it, but it should at least look a little better.
At least it wouldn't look so battered that it might snap at any moment.
Panting heavily, Xingyan felt the weariness of their long battle. The Rusty Steel Dragon looked even worse than he did. After that last blow, both dragons backed away and stood still, catching their breath.
Xingyan even saw white drool trickling from the Rusty Steel Dragon's mouth. Its panting was even more exaggerated than his, and it looked like it was about to collapse from exhaustion. What was going on? Was this all the stamina an Ancient Dragon Species had?
By this point in the fight, Xingyan had long since reverted to his usual wild flailing—or, rather, wild slashing. He'd already forgotten the techniques he'd stolen from the hunters. After all, he'd just come up with them himself; he'd never had any proper lessons or training, and they didn't even suit a Glavenus's body.
They weren't systematic, and he didn't even know if they were right. So as the fight went on, he'd returned to those simple horizontal slashes, vertical slashes, and straight thrusts.
Panting heavily, Xingyan looked rather miserable. Unlike the Kushala Daora, he wasn't covered in a hard metal shell. During the fight, part of his cooling shell had even been torn away. White steam now poured straight from his back, and dragon blood trickled down his body.
His wary gaze flicked between the Rusty Steel Dragon and the silver-gray Kushala Daora. Xingyan had never forgotten that he wasn't facing just one Kushala Daora, but two—even if the silver-gray one hadn't joined the battle between him and the Rusty Steel Dragon from the start.
"Rrraagh!!"
Perhaps it had noticed Xingyan's wary gaze. Perhaps it had reacted to the Rusty Steel Dragon's roar.
At any rate, the silver-gray Kushala Daora suddenly changed its crouched pose and stood up from the cliff. It spread its beautiful wings, which looked like an enormous silver-gray shield glittering in the light.
It was only then that Xingyan suddenly noticed how much smaller this silver-gray Kushala Daora was than the Rusty Steel Dragon—by a whole size. If the two Kushala Daora crouched together, one would look almost like the other's father.
"Rrraagh!!!"
It could fly?!
Before you continue