The Petty Rusty Steel Dragon and the Mid-Gate Sniper Duel!

The silver-gray Steel Dragon roared. It glanced at Xingyan, who was watching it with wary vigilance, then gazed at its own kind for a long moment. Then, to Xingyan's astonishment, the Steel Dragon actually spread its wings and took flight?!

Xingyan cautiously took half a step back, but the silver-gray Steel Dragon did not fly down.

A gentle wind wrapped around its body, lifting it into the sky and towards the depths of the New World. Soon, it disappeared into the dark clouds, its form no longer visible.

Run, it ran away??!!

Xingyan stared dumbfounded in the direction the silver-gray Steel Dragon had vanished. Why had things suddenly taken this turn?

Honestly, he had been prepared for the other Steel Dragon to join the fight after he broke the Rusty Steel Dragon's horn... but it just roared and fled.

But until it left, this Steel Dragon, which had been fighting the Rusty Steel Dragon to the death, battling from the sky to the ground, had only watched—Why were you just watching?!

If the silver-gray Steel Dragon had shown the slightest intention of joining the fight earlier, Xingyan would have unhesitatingly fled to the nearest underground cave entrance. He was already satisfied with how the battle had progressed this far.

He had vented his frustration, and he had also gotten a grasp of just how strong the Elder Dragons were in the real world. Being able to escape alive was already a good outcome.

Xingyan's greatsword was already full of nicks and chips, its edge completely ruined. Even if he could sharpen it with his mouth, the wear on the blade would still exist. If he sharpened it any further, he might actually see the Dragon Slayer's tail hidden within the sword's tail.

There's no shame in running, no shame at all. After all, if it were a native dragon living in this world, most would probably flee without even initiating a fight. And the few who dared to challenge an Elder Dragon as an ordinary dragon would find an opportunity to escape when the battle turned against them, they were injured, or the situation became unfavorable.

Survival is always the most fundamental logic of action for the vast majority of life.

With things having reached this point, Xingyan felt that his attempt to prey on an Elder Dragon had largely failed... An Elder Dragon was still an Elder Dragon. He couldn't inflict any fatal damage on this Rusty Steel Dragon—in fact, if it wanted to fly away now, he couldn't stop it.

After experiencing it firsthand, Xingyan finally understood the immense gap between ordinary dragons and Elder Dragons, a gap as vast as the sky and the earth.

Anyway, he had at least beaten up the Rusty Steel Dragon and even crunched and ate its horn, so it wasn't a total loss.

Just like a Hunter... repelling an Elder Dragon.

Even if he couldn't win, he had to try, because he would have to hunt Elder Dragons sooner or later.

Now, it seemed he needed to prepare more and find more opportunities.

The intense battle had left Xingyan feeling hungry. Since he was no match for it and had no hope of victory, it was better to cut his losses promptly. That was what Xingyan thought, but he didn't expect that when he roared and prepared to leave, the Rusty Steel Dragon would once again pounce at him!

"Roar roar roar!!" (You just want to die, don't you!)

Dodging the Rusty Steel Dragon's... slow lunge, Xingyan roared angrily. Who couldn't make threats?

"Roar ah!!!" (Come on, didn't you want to kill me?)

It wasn't his imagination; Xingyan clearly heard those words in the Rusty Steel Dragon's roar. This was also the first time he had so clearly received words spoken by another dragon.

Is this... a plea for death?!

Utterly bewildered, Xingyan even suspected he had misheard. But seeing the Rusty Steel Dragon turn back, panting heavily as it looked at him, its ancient and weary gaze, Xingyan knew he probably hadn't misheard.

This Rusty Steel Dragon was indeed seeking death.

Ancient...

Suddenly, a flash of lightning struck Xingyan's mind. He suddenly recalled all the strange aspects of this seemingly normal battle—why would a proud and peaceful dragon like a Steel Dragon fight its own kind?

Why was the Rusty Steel Dragon's body so much larger than the silver-gray Steel Dragon?

Why were the Rusty Steel Dragon's movements so slow during the fight?

Why, as an Elder Dragon, did the Rusty Steel Dragon have such poor stamina, panting even more heavily than he was?

Because it was close to death.

Dying of old age, its lifespan was nearing its end.

This was clearly an elderly Steel Dragon that had crossed over from the Old World!

Xingyan suddenly saw through everything. If he thought about it from this perspective, all the previously puzzling aspects made sense.

The Rusty Steel Dragon wasn't actually brown because it was in a molting phase, but because it was too old—a dying dragon.

The Life Energy contained within its body had become sluggish, no longer as vibrant as it once was. Its nerve endings were no longer sensitive, and it was gradually losing control of its body. Even its once-proud, hard metallic body felt like an alien object, carrying a heavy steel shell every day.

In the end, while waiting for the final moments of its life to arrive, it watched its body age and rust day by day—starting from the outermost metallic shell, this rust deepened.

But this time, there would be no new steel shell beneath the rust.

Xingyan's gaze fell upon the extremities of the Rusty Steel Dragon's body—the bones on either side of its wings, the wingtips, and its tail.

In these areas, he saw that the metallic shell could no longer even be called a metallic shell, but something closer in color and texture to bone.

Steel Dragons spent their lives repeating the process of molting and growing. The Rusty Steel Dragon was merely a stage in their life cycle, and in this cycle, their age would continuously increase. But this did not mean that a Steel Dragon's steel hide could regenerate indefinitely.

As they aged, the body extremities with less attached tissue would slowly begin to ossify. At this point, the steel hide would no longer regenerate, and when this ossification covered the entire exterior, the Steel Dragon's lifespan would come to a complete end.

Ossification, the corrosion of the former shell. When the Steel Dragon died, only a steel skeleton would remain in its place, and the Life Energy accumulated throughout its life would dissipate, returning to nature.

During the previous fierce battle, Xingyan had not noticed these subtle marks at all, and these ossified traces were also concealed by the rust on the Rusty Steel Dragon's body, making them not very obvious, to be honest.

Xingyan now understood completely. The young silver-gray Steel Dragon and this Rusty Steel Dragon were not truly fighting. Instead, the younger one was trying to spare the elder from the pain of living in such a state, in its own way.

It was trying to preserve the dignity of the dying Elder Dragon.

The pain and torment caused by its corroded body were enough to make the Steel Dragon extremely irritable and aggressive. Not to mention that the rust on this Rusty Steel Dragon's body was particularly deep due to the lack of a new hide to block it.

It was a pain that felt like knives cutting every cell in its body, and the most terrifying part was that this pain was extending from the surface of its body towards the interior, a torment to both body and spirit.

For the Rusty Steel Dragon, it was as if some monster was devouring it bit by bit, from its surface to its very core. The entire process was long and filled with agony, enough to drive a dragon mad.

No wonder when he had slashed down earlier, he was able to shave off such a thick layer of rust and scabs from the Rusty Steel Dragon's body. No wonder the Rusty Steel Dragon had looked so relaxed and comfortable at the time.

In a sense, Xingyan's attack had indeed helped the Rusty Steel Dragon, at least temporarily alleviating some of its suffering from the corrosion.

The reason the silver-gray Steel Dragon left at this moment was likely because it could not bear to witness a senior of its clan meet such a tragic end.

This was the Rusty Steel Dragon's own choice.

As expected of an Elder Dragon species, its intelligence was extremely high. Compared to ordinary dragons, it possessed higher-level emotions like sympathy and compassion.

Feeling a twinge of emotion, Xingyan gazed at the Rusty Steel Dragon. The pain and anger from its shattered horn seemed to have subsided, leaving only exhaustion.

"Roar..." (So, you chose to let me send you on your way?)

Xingyan asked with a low growl.

"Roar!" (Send me on my way? Don't joke!)

Despite his movements betraying his fatigue, the Rusty Steel Dragon haughtily raised its neck.

"Roar Roar!!" (I will only die in battle! Little one, can you understand?!)

The Elder Dragon responded to the words of the ordinary dragon. In the past, given the pride of the Elder Dragon species, they would never have responded to the roars of ordinary dragons.

Xingyan could understand the Steel Dragon's words and clearly grasp its meaning—yes, die in battle!

This was why the young Steel Dragon had fought so fiercely with the Rusty Steel Dragon. Even though it knew its kin meant well and that it was indeed suffering, the Steel Dragon still refused to accept death to escape its pain.

This was the pride of the Elder Dragon species. No! It should be said this was the pride of dragons!!

Because Xingyan felt the same way. In the same situation, he would rather fight to the death!

Upon hearing the Rusty Steel Dragon's roar, Xingyan's heart surged with excitement—My god! This is exactly me!

"Roar!!" (Then come!)

No further words were needed. After a brief rest, Xingyan's stamina had quickly recovered somewhat. He roared and then bit his sword-tail in his mouth.

To show respect, he would face the Rusty Steel Dragon with his most powerful move.

He crouched, twisted his hips, and gathered his strength. Xingyan's entire body bent and tensed like a shrimp. The force he exerted was so great that even though he was biting his sword-tail with all his might, it was still slowly pulling away from his teeth.

On the other side, the Rusty Steel Dragon saw Xingyan clearly preparing a powerful move. It did not dodge or counter-attack. Instead, it raised its head with apparent satisfaction. It opened its mouth, and the strong wind pressure generated by its internal organs began to form into wind bullets in its mouth. It was also gathering its strength.

Not with its body, but with the power of an Elder Dragon, it would strike back.

The gathering rain clouds had, at some unknown time, spread back. The few rays of sunlight piercing through the dark clouds had vanished. As the first raindrop fell once more, suddenly, Xingyan moved.

Heaven and Earth—Unrivaled Great Spin!!!

Releasing all the power he had accumulated at this moment, Xingyan vanished from his spot like a streak of red and green light, leaving only crushed stones on the ground.

Piercing through the air, a hundred meters were crossed in an instant!

BOOM!

The moment Xingyan moved, the Rusty Steel Dragon also unleashed the wind pressure bullet it had accumulated in its mouth. The air before it even seemed to fracture, no, it was as if the space there was no longer air that could be easily penetrated, but a transparent wall.

It was an impact capable of shattering and crushing rocks. The condensed mass of wind even took on a distorted, semi-transparent shape in reality, but Xingyan could no longer see any of this.

He only knew he had aimed forward. He only knew that in this instant, he had stretched his body like a shrimp, releasing all his accumulated kinetic energy—this was the blow that would decide the outcome of this battle!!

Everything happened in an instant, faster than the thunder rumbling from the storm clouds above, and swifter than the lightning that flashed across the sky.

The red and green streak tore through the blue-white mass of wind. The violent whirlwind exploded the moment it was cut, as if some colossal cannon was firing. But what followed was a deafening clang, a sound of metal colliding far clearer than any before!

"Roar!!!"

The Rusty Steel Dragon roared in pain. This was the inevitable result of choosing not to dodge and taking Xingyan's attack head-on—the blade had deeply embedded itself in its chest!

And unlike all the wounds it had sustained before, this single strike, infused with Xingyan's full strength, carved a deep wound into the Rusty Steel Dragon's chest.

It was no longer just a deep gash, for from the wound, a deep crimson Elder Dragon blood flowed outward.

"Roar!!!" (You made me bleed!!)

But this was far from over. The pain and the wound stimulated the Rusty Steel Dragon, driving it into a frenzy. It roared loudly, using its weight and strength to forcibly embrace Xingyan, who was trying to leap back to a safe position after landing the blow.

As the Rusty Steel Dragon's incredibly heavy body pressed down, Xingyan felt as if a collapsing mountain had fallen upon him. He struggled desperately, only to discover in horror that as the Rusty Steel Dragon pinned him with its body, it endured the sparks flying from its neck and head as Xingyan's sword-tail slashed them, all while it used its forelimbs to grasp his tail.

"Roar Roar! Roar!!" (This one is for you!!)

"Roar!!!" (What are you doing!!)

Roaring and struggling, if Xingyan had just a few more seconds, he could have broken free from the Rusty Steel Dragon's grip. It was like a mountain, but not a real one. However, it seemed it was already too late.