Painful Loss of the Beloved Tail and Post-Battle Review

A Rusty Steel Dragon held Xingyan's tail with its front claws, stretching its neck to bite the very end of Xingyan's sword tail, the part composed entirely of mineral secretions.

To make a long story short, Steel Dragons are Elder Dragons that primarily eat ore. To make a short story shorter.

Crunch.

Xingyan didn't even have time to struggle. He twisted his head, staring blankly at his sword tail. His prized greatsword didn't last more than a few seconds between the Steel Dragon's teeth before it was crushed.

It was indeed quite hard, but it only meant it would take a bit more effort to bite through.

Tail severed.

Xingyan never imagined that losing his tail could happen to him, a cute one-year-old dragon baby.

To avoid losing his tail, he wouldn't even easily use moves like Red-hot Transformation, which could increase his slashing attack power. In this battle, it was completely sealed away, but why did things still turn out this way?!

Pain, so much pain.

If only he had known his sword tail could be bitten off and eaten...

"Roar!!!" (I'll kill you!!!)

Pain, suffering, my hatred burns in the Great Sand Sea!

Xingyan roared in anger. The power he unleashed at that moment even sent the Rusty Steel Dragon flying, but the Rusty Steel Dragon didn't do anything with the opening. Instead, it flapped its wings and flew up. While in mid-air.

"Roar roar roar!!" (Come down! If you have the guts, come down!! See if I don't kill you!!)

Unable to fly, Xingyan could only watch from below, anxious and furious, almost jumping up and down, roaring incessantly.

Here it comes again, here it comes again! This damnable feeling!!

This feeling of a jerk dragon that uses its flight to taunt by pooping and peeing over its head!!!

Xingyan's dragon face turned green with anger.

"Roar! Roar!" (Young dragon whelp, you ate my proud horn, so I'll eat your proud tail.)

"Roar!!" (If you want revenge, I'll be waiting for you at the Miasma Gathering Place... but I won't wait too long.)

Completely ignoring the enraged Xingyan below, the Rusty Steel Dragon spoke to itself before flapping its wings and flying north out of the Great Sand Sea.

Xingyan chased after it for a few steps, running behind, but eventually stopped after jumping onto a cliff.

He didn't pursue further, just stared intently in the direction the Rusty Steel Dragon had left, watching it disappear into the dark clouds.

After a long while, Xingyan let out a low growl.

Dejection, anger, shame, pity... a complex mix of emotions intertwined. Xingyan never expected such complex emotions to arise in the interactions between dragons.

He understood the meaning of the Rusty Steel Dragon's parting words.

I'll be waiting for you in Miasma Valley, but I can't wait too long... because I'm dying.

Come find me after you've reforged your tail.

Really, really—what a petty and stubborn, proud, stinky dragon!!

Steel Dragons are petty! Steel Dragons are proud fools!!

Ptooey!!

It's like a lonely old person without children to care for, who is unwilling to die alone and in silence as they approach death, wanting to make some noise before they go, but refusing to admit it verbally—Ptooey!!

What kind of decent old person does this sort of thing!!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Xingyan wasn't a dragon who refused to admit facts. Yes, he admitted that this Rusty Steel Dragon could kill him. The gap between ordinary dragons and Elder Dragons was too vast; merely being able to briefly defeat and repel them, rather than kill them, was already worthy of historical record.

People only knew that Gold Rathians would attempt to defeat the Elder Dragon Kirin and try to seize its horn to become stronger, but they didn't know that very few Gold Rathians succeeded. Most would die in such challenges, gored to death or struck dead by lightning by the Kirin.

Moreover, even if they succeeded, the Gold Rathian that seized the horn couldn't kill the Kirin. The Kirin could simply recover and grow a new horn.

As the saying goes, the gap between dragons is often wider than that between dogs. Cruel nature doesn't care about game balance; you live if you can, and you die if you can't, getting eliminated.

It's that simple.

Xingyan, who used to rely on game memories as a reference, still held some illusions. But today, after witnessing the destructive power of the Steel Dragon, which was like a force of nature, he completely abandoned that thought.

But after all is said and done, this Rusty Steel Dragon didn't choose to pursue him because of its dignity and pride, even though Xingyan had shattered its horn, the most prideful and important part of any Steel Dragon.

In fact, this guy even left behind words equivalent to "I'll wait for you to kill me."

What is this?

What is THIS?!

You two Steel Dragons fought each other, destroyed my home, and almost killed my Kulu-Ya-Ku brother, and now it's turned into this... Have you considered the thoughts of the innocent lives that died in this battle?

Huh?! Answer me!!

...Yes, how could Elder Dragons care about such things?

It's all part of the cycle of life anyway. The flesh of the dead nourishes the living. Compared to such trivial matters, letting the elders of their clan escape pain and giving them a glorious burial is more important.

What a certain tactician surnamed Sun said was indeed correct: without strength, you will be humiliated; you can't even decide how you die.

Twisting the remaining sword tail in front of him, Xingyan looked at the weapon he had painstakingly crafted from the mineral slag spewed by the Lava Dragon, now a useless blade. He suddenly felt like crying... but couldn't.

The Dragon Slayer sheds no tears lightly.

Well, that's just great. I'll have to find a massive amount of ore again to forge my blade.

It wasn't a total loss, though. While Xingyan grumbled inwardly about that stinky, stubborn old Rusty Steel Dragon, he scoured the battlefield, devouring the fragments of his broken tail and the Elder Dragon blood the Rusty Steel Dragon had shed.

Can't end up at a pure loss after a fight, right?

And... there's a promise waiting for me.

With one last glance in the direction the Rusty Steel Dragon had gone, Xingyan turned and walked back to his collapsed nest without looking back. He had to wait there for his Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers to return.

Just you wait, old man.

Before you die of old age, I will kill you.

Sitting on top of his ruined nest, Xingyan sat in the rain for a long time, making no move to shelter himself. He just sat there, lost in thought, not moving for ages.

Honestly, he couldn't even remember how long it had been before his Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers returned. It was probably when they sensed the absence of any intense fighting sounds or roars, and no world-ending tornadoes.

But no matter what, his Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers returned to Xingyan's side unharmed, which made him feel a little better in his sadness.

Xingyan was debriefing.

Post-battle debriefing was a good habit, but unfortunately, he didn't have any recordings to watch now.

From the moment he was reborn inside an egg until now, this was the first time Xingyan had ever seriously analyzed his strengths and weaknesses, and every decision he made during his fight with the Rusty Steel Dragon.

Regret or no regret, Xingyan had to admit that he had gotten a bit too cocky. He had relied on his knowledge of this world and acted rashly without verifying information, losing the cautiousness he had when he first arrived in this world, carefully planning before hunting.

This was a bad thing and had to be corrected. He needed to remain vigilant at all times.

As for why he had become like this, Xingyan had some idea... First, he was reborn as a handsome cover dragon, not a pathetic dragon at the bottom of the food chain like a Carapace Dragon that anyone could kick to death. At least he had the right to roar in this world.

His powerful stomach and digestive abilities also gave him an energy absorption efficiency that other dragons didn't have. He didn't need to defecate; anything he ate could be absorbed 100% and converted into his own.

This ability even allowed Xingyan to skip the young adult stage of a normal Dragon Slayer, giving him the size and strength of an ordinary adult male Dragon Slayer ahead of time. At Xingyan's age, normal Dragon Slayer cubs were just being kicked out by their mothers and forced to try living alone.

At this stage, normal Dragon Slayer cubs were a full circle smaller than they would be as adults, and their sword tails were not yet heavy and hard enough. However, their tempers were just as fierce, so it was easy to die in fights with other dragons if one wasn't careful.

And Xingyan... apart from the first month after hatching from his egg, which was quite miserable, the Carapace Dragons he once had to deal with cautiously could now be kicked to death with a single stomp. Even the Mudfish Dragon that had stolen his meal was avenged personally by him, chopped into fish pieces and devoured.

After that, he became the overlord of an area. The Great Jagras that dared to bully his brothers was also killed by him. The only difficult fight was actually against that veteran Female Fire Dragon.

But honestly, that Female Fire Dragon was just a loser who had lost her fighting spirit. She sounded like a fierce dragon evolving towards a Gold Fire Dragon, but in reality, her evolutionary path had only just begun, with only a touch of gold on the edges of her wing membranes.

Coupled with the fact that the Female Fire Dragon relied on her rich combat experience and used her old methods against other Dragon Slayers to deal with Xingyan, she was severely tricked. Who would have thought that a normal tail-whip attack would cause the enemy to suddenly explode?

She was bombarded with explosions, and shrapnel even flew into her eyes. It was unimaginably horrific.

Real combat wasn't just a simple comparison of stats; otherwise, Hunters wouldn't need to take risks hunting. They could just die on sight.

Time, celestial phenomena, terrain, emotions, preparation, unknown information... The outcome of real combat was often affected by various unexpected factors. A moment's carelessness could lead to disaster.

It was like charging the dam with six sets and getting ambushed around the corner by a G18. In terms of paper combat power, the Gold Egg M14 was definitely stronger, but you could still end up drooling due to careless positioning.

Xingyan couldn't remember the last time he had gone out hunting cautiously, not daring to linger outside for even a second, and scurrying back to his nest as quickly as possible after eating his fill, not staying out an extra moment.

As for setting traps to hunt... that was a skill he hadn't used in a long time.

But now, from birth until now, Xingyan had experienced the power of an Elder Dragon for the first time.

It could only be said that the path from an ordinary dragon to an Elder Dragon was indeed difficult, a long and arduous journey.

That damned joke was still chasing him. If he didn't become an Elder Dragon, Xingyan couldn't hunt Elder Dragons. And if he couldn't hunt Elder Dragons, he couldn't become an Elder Dragon – a vicious cycle.

Thinking of this, Xingyan couldn't help but sigh deeply.

"Roar..." (Sorry, I couldn't kill that stinky dragon that almost killed you, nor could I make it realize its mistake.)

Xingyan's roar was somewhat low.

"Gua gua!"

His Kulu-Ya-Ku brother, however, didn't seem to care about his near-death experience at all. He looked a little sad upon seeing their nest piled with rocks, but not overly so. What truly agitated him and made him jump around excitedly was seeing the severed tail lying beside Xingyan.

"Gugu—Gagagagagaga!!!"

To his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother, who lacked extensive dragon knowledge, he didn't know that a Dragon Slayer's sword tail was composed of flesh and blood, covered by mineral secretions.

Therefore, in its limited understanding, the current situation was that its cub's tail had been broken off by a dragon!

How terrifying! How dangerous!

Just imagining the pain of its own tail breaking with its bird brain, his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother felt like the sky had fallen.

It circled Xingyan rapidly, its bird legs pattering in the rain, carefully searching for any injuries on its cub.

The tip of the tail was broken. The whole dragon looked thinner. The outer layer of blue-green scales was gone, revealing another layer of bright red scales underneath. Because it had never been exposed to the air, this layer of scales, close to Xingyan's flesh, didn't look like the dark red of other Dragon Slayers.

But the most severe injury on its body seemed to be Xingyan's back armor. The heat-dissipating shell, which had originally bulged like a volcano, was now mostly gone. His Kulu-Ya-Ku brother could even see the pink muscle underneath trembling with Xingyan's breathing. Fresh red dragon blood was continuously flowing out from the gaps in the scales and dripping down.

His Kulu-Ya-Ku brother was about to faint.

It screeched, covering its bird head with its front claws, its mind in chaos. It wanted to quickly find some herbs to apply to its cub, but Xingyan stopped it.

Xingyan knew his own injuries. He knew that the damage he had sustained only looked severe. The same injuries would be very serious for a small dragon like his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother, but given the robustness and size of a Dragon Slayer's body, such wounds would heal naturally with just some eating and sleeping.

"Roar!" (I hate flying dragons.)

Xingyan grumbled in a low voice, one of his forelegs wrapped around his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother.

"Gwaa gwaa!" (Then I hate them! I hate them too!)

"Roar." (I hate Elder Dragons even more.)

"Gwaa? Gwaa gwaa!" (What's an Elder Dragon? Is it the guy who bit you like this? Then I hate it too!!)