Beneath its smooth skin, there was hardly any fat to be seen. Its body was covered in a layer of reddish-brown membrane, but at first glance, it looked almost as if it had no skin at all. The contours of its muscles and ligaments were clearly visible.
This was the Claw Dragon. It had not a single scale, feather, or piece of armor anywhere on its body. It looked like some monster that had wandered in from another movie set—yes, I'm looking at you, Licker!
That said, the Claw Dragon's teeth looked quite a bit like the Great Jagras's. Both had underbites, with teeth that jutted out past their lips. They were both extremely violent, too, though the Claw Dragon was even more like a rabid dog.
As Xingyan followed the sounds, he heard more of the Claw Dragon's racket. Grunting and slurping, it sounded just like it was eating.
At last, in a fairly spacious cavern, Xingyan finally saw the target of his trip.
The light from the glowing moss scattered throughout the cavern let Xingyan see clearly: a Claw Dragon stood atop the corpse of some monster. With its blue-and-white wings and enormous fan-shaped tail, it was unmistakably the corpse of Velkhana, the Coral Highlands' apex predator.
Well, it wasn't that surprising. The struggle for survival in an environment like the Miasma Valley was even more intense. Aside from the dragons that chose to enter the valley near the ends of their lives, the corpses of monsters that fought among themselves in the Coral Highlands above and fell into the valley were one of the main sources of food.
Since he could see a Velkhana corpse here, it meant that if he kept going, he might reach the central region of the Miasma Valley. Several of the most conspicuous Serpent King Dragon skeletons lay there. Unfortunately, Xingyan couldn't hop his way back up to the Coral Highlands like the Claw Dragon.
The Claw Dragon had already noticed Xingyan's arrival. It stood on top of Velkhana's corpse—though even with something underneath it, its current height only brought it level with Xingyan's gaze.
The honey badger might be brave, but it was small,
with tremendous explosive power.
The Velkhana corpse had been dragged here by the Claw Dragon. Xingyan had no idea whether it was a trophy from the Coral Highlands.
Normally, after eating its fill, a Claw Dragon would stash the leftover meat in its den. It could even roll the meat into balls using a special method to preserve it, making it a delicacy hunters would go out of their way to steal.
But just as it was chowing down, Xingyan appeared with heavy steps.
As Xingyan had grown larger and heavier, he'd become all but incapable of moving stealthily. Trying to sneak around now was like loudly announcing a secret plan.
The Claw Dragon's reddish-brown body flushed red, and blood dripped from its open mouth as white steam billowed out.
As the resident Glavenus expert, Xingyan knew this was the powered-up state the Claw Dragon entered only after eating meat. The official name was pretty amusing, too: "Rage State." In this state, the Claw Dragon's strength and speed increased dramatically.
In other words, it became even more like a rabid dog.
"RROOOAAARRR!!"
The Claw Dragon's roar was especially shrill. It wasn't warning Xingyan—it was about to attack.
The name "honey badger" was no exaggeration. Though it had realized Xingyan was bigger than it was, it still launched the first attack.
It sprang!
That was the only word that could accurately describe the Claw Dragon's movement. It was like a startled cat leaping into the air, but with far more strength and speed than any cat. Xingyan saw a dark red blur flash by—and the Claw Dragon leaped straight at him?!
In the cramped terrain of the cavern, Xingyan and the Claw Dragon were far too close. The instant the Claw Dragon moved, Xingyan instinctively tried a Foresight Slash—but clang!
Foresight Slash, my ass!
Xingyan slid backward and slammed straight into the rock wall behind him. There was too little room to move, and all he managed was a loud crash.
Unlike a hunter, Xingyan needed a lot more space to perform a Foresight Slash.
This was bad.
"RROOOAAARRR!!"
The Claw Dragon landed squarely on Xingyan's back and began tearing and clawing at his spine with wild abandon—and it actually got him!
Because of the heat-dissipating shell, Xingyan's back was one of the few places on his body not covered by Air Sac Carapace. Now, the Claw Dragon's savage tearing had ripped a corner off that shell!
The Claw Dragon's foreclaws would have made any pedicurist's day. Along with the usual sharp claws at the ends of its toes, three rows of naturally grown serrated teeth ran along their inner sides. They were extremely sharp, made purely for fighting.
What a satisfying pedicure.
Too bad Xingyan couldn't get one.
He'd already gotten a firsthand taste of the Claw Dragon's rabid-dog nature. It kept howling madly as it used its foreclaws to destroy Xingyan's heat-dissipating shell. It really had come to give him a back scratch.
But Xingyan wasn't just any Glavenus. A back scratch? I'll give you one!
For a dragon like Xingyan, accustomed to the wide-open terrain of the Great Sand Sea, the caverns of the Miasma Valley were cramped and uncomfortable. But a small space had its advantages, too. In the blink of an eye, Xingyan leaped straight up!
The ceiling was right above him. It had already been hard for Xingyan to raise his Sword Tail, and now the Claw Dragon was standing on his back. There was no doubt about it: Xingyan's jump crushed the Claw Dragon against the rock wall, sandwiching it between them.
The Claw Dragon wasn't stupid, either. The moment it was hit, it began sliding off Xingyan's side. As it slid down, it kept clawing frantically at his body—but this time, it wasn't so lucky.
Right next to the heat-dissipating shell was the Air Sac Carapace—BOOM!!!
The Claw Dragon's wild scratching broke through the outermost Air Sac Carapace in an instant. As it exploded, shards of shell and mineral were driven deep into the Claw Dragon's body!
"RROOOAAARRR!!!"
The pain made the Claw Dragon howl even more furiously. But what was even more dangerous for it was the slash Xingyan followed up with as the Air Sac Carapace exploded!
Scraping against the ground behind him, Xingyan's Sword Tail sent sparks flying as he swung it, making a heavy blow look effortless.
He struck straight at the Claw Dragon, which had fallen off him and been blasted sideways by the explosion—SHING!!
Xingyan felt his Sword Tail cut through flesh, just as he was used to. No, it didn't feel like flesh so much as rubber, with a certain dull resistance—but in the end, the blade sliced through smoothly.
"RROOOAAARRR!!"
The Claw Dragon landed on the ground with an angry roar. A reddish-brown object spun through the air and fell to the ground. It bounced a few times, then lay still.
It was the Claw Dragon's tail—or rather, not quite its tail. The Claw Dragon's actual tail was short. It only looked so long because it had no scales, feathers, or armor, just tough skin.
As the Claw Dragon grew, that skin either shed and regrew after battles, or its keratinized skin kept peeling backward until it collected and hardened at the end of its tail. Much like a spiked club, it was covered in numerous hard protrusions, allowing the Claw Dragon to swing it at its enemies.
In a way, the Claw Dragon's tail and Xingyan's shared the same principle: their actual tails weren't that long. A layer of hard material covered them, creating the tails outsiders saw—and turning them into weapons.
The only difference was that Xingyan's tail was coated in mineral secretions, while the Claw Dragon's was coated in its own dead skin.
Both could regrow some time after being severed.
Well, that was why the Claw Dragon showed no sign of pain even though Xingyan had just cut off its tail. The tail was made of keratin and had no nerve connections, so it couldn't feel pain.
It was simply angry.
But then again, when wasn't it angry?
To hunters, Xingyan's explosive reactive shell was lethal—a real pain in the ass, even harder to fight than a monster that deflected every strike.
But for dragons, as long as the shards from an exploding Air Sac Carapace didn't pierce a vital spot, like an eye or some other vulnerable organ, then given a dragon's size and physical toughness, the fragments were barely a nuisance. Like getting a splinter in your hand.
It hurt, but it wasn't fatal.
The sting only roused the Claw Dragon's ferocity. No wonder it was called a honey badger. Even when facing an opponent far larger and stronger than itself, it could still charge head-on with a ferocious fighting spirit that refused to yield to any dragon.
The Claw Dragon had been blasted away by the shockwave, but it spent only a blink of an eye flailing on the ground before it got back up. Even with its tail cut off, it acted as if the injury had no effect at all. It slammed all four limbs into the ground and charged at Xingyan's throat.
But Xingyan was no longer the inexperienced dragon he used to be. He knew the Claw Dragon's fighting style and attack patterns inside out. So the instant it landed, he twisted around without a moment's hesitation and slashed diagonally in front of himself.
That slash landed squarely on the Claw Dragon as it charged at him again!
If time had slowed, one could have clearly seen Xingyan's sharp Sword Tail strike the tips of the Claw Dragon's foreclaws first. Its sharp claws and serrated edges offered no resistance at all before being cut apart. The severed pieces sailed through the air with the momentum of the attack.
And so did the blood.
The slash sliced off half the Claw Dragon's forepaw, but it didn't stop there. It was as though the Claw Dragon had charged straight into Xingyan's Sword Tail. After half its forepaw was cut off, the arcing blade tore a wide gash across its chest.
"RROOOAAARRR!!"
This time, it was a genuine cry of pain.
Its feet left the ground. Its body hurt. It finally realized it couldn't win, and its clever brain took over again.
Whether a story was long or short depended on how much there was to tell. The Claw Dragon's two charges and Xingyan's two slashes had all happened within a few seconds. When Xingyan's Sword Tail knocked the Claw Dragon back to the ground, it didn't charge him again. Crying out in pain, it forced itself to endure the agony and fled toward another cavern.
The Miasma Valley was riddled with large and small holes and passages. These were roads the Claw Dragon knew best. It was its ability to dart freely through them that let it treat the valley like its own backyard.
It was trying to run.
The Claw Dragon fled fast, but Xingyan was faster.
Like a drop of water falling into a still lake, ripples spread outward in layer upon layer of circles.
Mirror Water Heart!
Iai—HEAVE!
By the time Xingyan roared the word "Iai," his iai slash was already complete.
His Sword Tail shot from his mouth and pierced the air ahead at an unmatched speed. Drawing on the power of the iai slash, Xingyan concentrated all his strength into a single instant and crossed the distance between them.
One second before the Claw Dragon leaped into the passage, Xingyan's Sword Tail severed the back of its neck!
The Claw Dragon's body still leaped forward on instinct, carrying it into the passage—but it collapsed after only a couple of steps, its severed neck pouring out hot dragon blood.
Xingyan didn't waste anything. He dragged the Claw Dragon's corpse down from the passage and bit straight into the severed neck, gulping down its blood.
Delicious.
For Xingyan now, an ordinary Claw Dragon like this was small fry, not an opponent that required him to be on his guard. According to the lore, even Deviljho wasn't guaranteed an easy victory against Glavenus, let alone someone like Xingyan, a Glavenus among Glavenus.
Honestly, looking at this Claw Dragon, Xingyan felt as if he were seeing another version of himself. It had dared to fight an absolute powerhouse far stronger than itself. The difference was that he had to face Elder Dragons, while the Claw Dragon had to face Glavenus.
But at their core, they were the same... weren't they?
One fought because it had no choice but to battle in order to evolve to a higher level. Given the choice, it wouldn't want to fight a single uphill battle.
The other had no such luxury. Even if it fought stronger monsters with reckless abandon, it gained nothing from it. Instead, it would end up covered in injuries and might even die.
Glavenus, Brute Dragon, Deviljho, Kirin—as if there wasn't a dragon the Claw Dragon wouldn't challenge, even when it knew it couldn't win.
Its fierce and unrelenting fighting spirit, its wild courage, its fearless bravery—the Claw Dragon gave everything it had, even its life, to warn every powerful enemy it met: A dragon like me is not to be trifled with.
Maybe that was the honey badger's way of surviving.
"Growl." (Thanks.)
After eating the last bite of meat, Xingyan considered the unsanitary conditions in the Miasma Valley and decided not to swallow the blood-spattered stones on the ground this time. Well, they were marinated now. But he ate every bit of the Claw Dragon's meat, even its bones and the tail that had fallen off earlier.
It truly was an opponent worthy of respect. The Claw Dragon's only disadvantage was its small size—it was a small dragon.
If only it had been as big as a large dragon, with all the strength that size would bring. With its fighting style and hunger for battle, today's fight would definitely have been a tough one.
Even Xingyan couldn't say he'd win for sure. Just imagine a Claw Dragon the size of a Brute Dragon going berserk... A nightmare.
(Comparison image; the full image wouldn't fit because of restrictions.)
Before you continue