Seregios Appears and Pure Ranged Harassment

This Diablos corpse wasn't just un-rotted; it was plump. It hadn't been baked into jerky by the scorching daytime heat of the Great Ant Family Badlands. Only the blood that had flowed from its body had dried, forming dark red scabs that blended with the rock's texture, resembling a bizarre painting.

The great detective Sherlock Dragon had arrived. Xingyan was certain this Diablos had died in agony. A single scale that had fallen from the sky had snapped its spine, pinning it firmly to the rock.

Pain, massive blood loss, and instinctive struggles only hastened its death. The Diablos' claws had left white gouges in the rock—most importantly, its death had been utterly pointless.

Not a hunt to fill a belly, but simply killing for the sake of killing.

This Seregios is like the Brute Dragon; even when full, they'll actively chase down prey to kill it. It's lucky this Diablos only died from blood loss and wasn't tortured to death by the Seregios through trampling, tearing, or other methods.

Xingyan could even imagine the scene: a Seregios flying overhead spotted a Diablos running on the ground. It then unleashed a barrage of scales from the sky, killing the Diablos, and flew away without even being interested enough to come down and eat a bite.

As a dragon who cherished food, Xingyan strongly condemned the Seregios' wasteful behavior and vowed to act on behalf of heaven, to show the Seregios ruling this area a thing or two.

The corpse hadn't become desiccated, meaning this slaughter had occurred very recently. The golden scales on the rock were also very fresh, showing no signs of wear from wind and sand. Most of the Seregios traces Xingyan had found in the past were old, the scales dull, either decaying or severely worn.

All signs indicated that this area was a hunting ground for one or more Seregios. If he waited here, they would eventually appear.

Nothing could be better than this.

The scorching sun baked Xingyan's carapace until it was hot. This temperature was quite comfortable for a Dragon Slayer. Without even seeking a cool canyon to hide in, Xingyan stood boldly on a massive, protruding stone pillar—large enough for a Dragon Slayer to stand and move around on, practically a stone platform.

After years of weathering, this platform might break into a canyon, or perhaps be worn down into a barren flatland—

Or it might be pushed back underground by tectonic activity, never to see the light of day again.

Lying on this conspicuous platform, lost in thought, Xingyan wasn't going anywhere, ensuring that if a Seregios flew by, he would be able to spot it immediately.

Xingyan even took some time to scout the surroundings, leaving huge, conspicuous marks with his Sword Tail on the rock walls or ground, spitting out some molten slag, and hacking at stones, sharpening the flat surfaces and flattening the uneven ones.

The only pity was that he didn't defecate, so he couldn't mark his territory with dung, losing many means of provocation.

Alas, not being able to defecate, he was an incomplete dragon.

Xingyan sighed theatrically. Regardless, as long as the Seregios noticed his presence, he wasn't worried about them running away on the spot—in a sense, the Seregios could be considered honey badgers.

Fierce and belligerent was no joke. Especially with Xingyan, a large dragon, appearing so boldly in its territory, given the Seregios' territorial instincts, it would surely explode with rage.

Xingyan had already eaten the corpse of the poor Diablos, and by extension, the Seregios' scales. He had ample time and energy to wait for the Seregios' arrival.

The sun rose and set, and rose again—Xingyan's carapace was even slightly damp with dew, waiting to evaporate once the sun fully rose.

In terms of hunting, he possessed the patience of a Dragon Slayer.

Finally, in the distant sky, amidst the lingering dawn clouds, Xingyan suddenly caught sight of a tiny black silhouette.

Like a goose's silhouette, a pair of outstretched wings—accompanied by sharp shrieks.

Adasi, a dragon like an eagle is flying.

Xingyan had finally found his prey. The Seregios' roar was highly recognizable; after all, when it roared, it sounded less like a dragon and more like a raptor's cry.

A rooster's crow.

If you think about it, before the scholars of the Dragon Calendar Institute classified the Seregios as a Flying Dragon Species, it was always categorized under Bird Wyvern Species.

Tears welling up, the Bird Wyvern Species lost a great general.

"Roar!!!"

Standing up from the stone platform, Xingyan stretched his body, stiff from maintaining the same posture for a long time, and roared.

Provocation! A challenge!

"Guaaah!!!"

The Seregios in the sky had undoubtedly spotted Xingyan. Its roar grew clearer, a sharp, high-pitched shriek—not much like a dragon's roar.

The word "screech" would be more fitting.

Closer, closer still. The Seregios' attack posture was completely different from that of a Fire Dragon or Zinogre. It was like a giant eagle. As it approached Xingyan's location, it abruptly tucked its wings to its sides and shot towards Xingyan like an arrow!

Xingyan wouldn't choose to face this dive-bombing attack head-on. He had no intention of fighting the Seregios with a Tail Bite Great Spin. Xingyan's gaze was locked onto the Seregios diving down—three hundred meters! Two hundred meters! One hundred meters!

Jump!!!

Just before crashing into the ground, the Seregios suddenly flapped its wings, pulling its head, which was at the lowest point of its body, upwards. In its place, a pair of talons suddenly extended!!

Each foot had two sharp claws, front and back, a zygodactyl structure, hard and strong enough to firmly grip prey.

It wasn't a tumbling pigeon; Adasi's eagle-like attack!

It was truly like a bird, especially the part where it dives from high altitude and then uses its talons to grab and trample prey near the ground.

Given the sharpness of the Seregios' talons, Xingyan had no doubt that these four sharp claws could easily pierce the bodies of prey with weak defenses, gripping them firmly so they couldn't escape.

That is, if the attack actually caught its prey.

As an informed Dragon Slayer, at least so far, Xingyan's most terrifying asset was the information he possessed about other monsters—this allowed him to leverage his strengths and avoid his weaknesses in combat, unlike inexperienced monsters who only learned after suffering a loss.

Xingyan was already well aware of the Seregios' general attack patterns. Therefore, when the Seregios swooped down from the sky, he was already prepared.

The Dragon Slayer's powerfully muscled legs instantly unleashed astonishing strength. As the Seregios suddenly flipped and revealed its legs at a height close to the ground, Xingyan also leaped sharply towards the other side of the stone platform.

Boom!!

With the force of gravity, the Seregios' talons actually gouged off a layer of stone from the spot where Xingyan had just been standing, leaving several exceptionally clear indentations.

Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack!

Under Xingyan's gaze, the Seregios's scales vibrated like a precision machine, from its tail to its back, from its wings to its head. Ripples, like waves crashing, surged upwards, colliding with each other in a crisp, metallic clatter.

Unlike the Female Fire Dragon, the Seregios's skeleton was closer to that of quadrupedal flying wyverns like the Brute Dragon and Nargacuga. However, instead of crouching and crawling like the Brute Dragon or Nargacuga, it embraced the sky, maintaining an upright posture even when walking.

As its golden wings spread, the dense, golden scales on the wing membranes were clearly visible. Each wing had three wing bones, but more striking was the blade-like, massive horn on the Seregios's head. The areas around its eyes were adorned with red scales, reminiscent of war paint, exuding a palpable killing intent.

These scales, emitting dense and crisp vibrations to intimidate Xingyan, were the origin of the Seregios's name. This type of dragon was an extremely rare monster covered entirely in reverse scales.

Normally, dragon scales are arranged to cover from head to tail, but not for the Seregios. Their scales grew from tail to head, stacking layer upon layer. When enraged or attacking, they would lift upwards.

Head, back, tail, wings.

Ugh, just like now—like dried pinecones in autumn, layer upon layer, clearly distinct.

Although the Seregios might have been somewhat lacking in presence in the game, Xingyan had no doubt about the sharpness of its scales—thin, sharp, and incredibly fast to regenerate.

After the Seregios shot its scales at an enemy as a weapon, it could regenerate new ones in a very short period.

It's a bit like a master of hidden weapons in a wuxia novel.

To be honest, the Seregios was the kind of opponent Xingyan didn't particularly like, precisely because it could shoot its own scales like throwing knives.

Relying on shooting scales to kill Xingyan was pure fantasy, but the problem was that Xingyan's carapace—the Air Sac Carapace—couldn't deal with such attacks. It would only be needlessly worn down by the scales the Seregios fired.

From such a distance, even if the Air Sac Carapace exploded, it wouldn't be able to harm the Seregios much.

Purely getting taken advantage of.

Having thoroughly analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of both sides, Xingyan had no intention of fighting the Seregios to the death here. After all, the purpose of luring the Seregios had been achieved.

"Roar!!" (I will kill you!)

With a threatening roar, Xingyan turned and fled without hesitation as the Seregios angrily raised its head, leaving the Seregios stunned.

Huh?

This Seregios had seen a Dragon Slayer before—a dragon that relied on the large mass on its tail to attack. It had seen and even fought one.

Therefore, it was very familiar with the personality of dragons like Xingyan, whose combativeness was no different from its own—so what was this sudden turn and run?!

After a few moments of bewilderment, the Seregios realized it should give chase. It roared in anger, then flapped its wings and took to the sky once more.

And during those few seconds of existential confusion, Xingyan had already put a considerable distance between them.

He wasn't worried at all about whether the Seregios would catch up. If it didn't, it wouldn't be a Seregios.

Whoosh! Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!!

An indistinguishable number of sharp objects tearing through the air overlapped. Xingyan seized the moment to glance back at the Seregios, only to find it hanging in the sky behind him, its wings snapping shut and launching an unknown number of golden blade scales!

Clang! Clang-clang-clang-clang!

It was like rain, but instead of water, it was blades. Several blade scales whizzed past Xingyan with a whistling sound, embedding themselves into the rocks like nails.

And—BOOM!!!

Damn it!

Xingyan couldn't help but curse! Don't scratch my carapace!!

Yes, the two explosions that sounded almost simultaneously were the explosions of Xingyan's Air Sac Carapace. Under the piercing of several blade scales, it would have been unnatural for them not to explode.

The only fortunate thing was that the wind and waves stirred up by the initial few exploding Air Sac Carapaces had deflected the trajectory of some of the blade scales that were meant for Xingyan, causing them to fall onto nearby rocks. This prevented further damage.

His dragon teeth were grinding in heartache. This pain wasn't physical, but emotional—heartache!

The Air Sac Carapace, a transitional evolutionary trait, had repeatedly exposed its shortcomings. Once the time was right, or when he found new suitable evolutionary materials, Xingyan swore he would replace this expensive and limiting carapace!

What was convenient in specific situations wasn't convenient in all situations.

But for now—Xingyan would fight and retreat!

Pretending to be helpless against the Seregios flying in the sky—well, it wasn't pretending, Xingyan truly was helpless against the flying Seregios. He continuously turned back to spew lava fireballs at the Seregios, but with the speed of lava fireballs, it was highly unlikely they could injure the Seregios.

Thus, Xingyan maintained his evasive posture, with the Seregios constantly firing blade scales behind him, and the lava fireballs that missed their target and exploded on the ground.

Closer, ever closer, to the battlefield Xingyan had preset—his trap.

After a long time, the intelligence-gathering Dragon Slayer had set a trap once more.

Likes flying, huh?

Likes shooting me with blade scales from the sky, huh?

Just you wait!

Running through the rocky terrain, Xingyan grumbled in annoyance. Dragons that could fly and attack from a distance were simply shameless and despicable!!

Why are you so selfish?!

The real world didn't require consideration for game mechanics at all. This Seregios was acting like it was insane, with no intention of landing and trading blows with Xingyan. It just hung in the sky, continuously firing blade scales at Xingyan.

The explosions that suddenly appeared on this strange Dragon Slayer had startled it as well. This was something the Seregios had never encountered when fighting other Dragon Slayers before. Therefore, out of caution, it had no intention of approaching Xingyan immediately.

Shoot! Shoot more! (gritting teeth)