Xingyan's Clever Consecutive Scheme, Seregios Falls for the Trap

The terrain nearby had long been scouted, and Xingyan had chosen a suitable battlefield for himself.

Running, his strong legs kicked up clouds of dust as he moved, Xingyan constantly changed direction, dodging the blade scales Seregios shot from the sky behind him with erratic, unpredictable turns.

This was Xingyan's first time seeing a Seregios in the real world, so he didn't know if this attack pattern, where it shot from high up without closing in, was typical for Seregios's hunting methods. After all, if one were to calculate its combat power, Seregios's claws were weapons no less formidable than its blade scales, and it was accustomed to attacking with them.

Hmm, it was a shame that besides the initial attack, Xingyan hadn't seen this habit from this Seregios—

Had it suffered a loss before? Or was it experienced?

While running, Xingyan pondered in his mind. If his guess was correct, it would mean this Seregios had crossed paths with a Dragon Slayer before, and possibly even killed one—a veteran Seregios?

Interesting.

The enemy's strength didn't make Xingyan feel fear; quite the opposite. The more powerful this Seregios was, the happier Xingyan became, because power meant this individual was an outstanding specimen even among Seregios.

Having lived long and possessing great strength meant this Seregios had more prominent evolutionary traits than its kin. If hunting such a Seregios could satisfy his need for evolutionary information, Xingyan wouldn't have to go through the arduous process of finding another Seregios.

It would save a lot of trouble.

Xingyan's face was ashen, Xingyan's movements were clumsy, Xingyan was hit again, Xingyan fought and retreated, Xingyan was in a dilemma, Xingyan had no escape—Xingyan plunged into the canyon!!

It was as if someone had cleaved the earth with an axe; this great canyon was formed by two massive rock masses colliding and pressing against each other under the influence of Ley Line Energy.

Tall enough, deep enough, wide enough—at least Xingyan could perform a Tail Bite Great Spin in here without any problem.

The Seregios flying in the sky naturally noticed Xingyan's escape route. As a Flying Dragon Species, a Flying Dragon Species with exceptionally rich combat experience, it naturally understood how its flight capabilities would be affected in terrain like a canyon.

But—for Seregios, this was not an issue at all.

It just wanted to fight! It wanted to kill this fleeing dragon! Knowing the strength of a Dragon Slayer, defeating another Dragon Slayer and taking the life of a powerful enemy was an exceptionally delightful and beautiful prospect for the dragon.

Fighting, exhilarating!

Without even a shred of hesitation, the Seregios tucked its wings close to its body, and the entire dragon shot downwards like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Even fighting in the canyon, it felt no fear. Seregios possessed the strongest burst power and coordination among all Flying Dragon Species. Even though it didn't have special abilities to control the wind, it understood how to use wind or updrafts physically to adjust its posture and launch attacks in aerial combat.

Compared to Seregios, a Female Fire Dragon flew like a fledgling bird just out of the nest; even touching it was a luxury.

Dive! Spin! Blade Scale Barrage!!

The Seregios, having just dived into the canyon, shot countless sharp blade scales forward in a spectacular fashion.

Boom!!

It exploded, several Air Sac Carapaces detonated as a result, but Xingyan couldn't even care about the damage now; he took the brunt of the incoming blade scales.

Now was not the time to mourn the Air Sac Carapaces. Its massive Sword Tail, even during this violent movement, maintained its position pointing towards Xingyan's left side, as Xingyan ran along the left side of the canyon.

He was cutting.

Even after entering the canyon, this Seregios remained airborne. It had no intention of engaging in close-quarters combat with the Dragon Slayer, preferring to bleed it out with blade scales.

Uh, in a sense, it and Xingyan were kindred spirits.

But being in mid-air meant it lacked ground-level vision. Looking down from the Seregios's perspective, it could only see that the scenery within the canyon was mostly the same: rocks or yellow-green low-lying vegetation. There were no clear boundaries between the ground where the Dragon Slayer was running and the rock walls on either side; it all seemed like one entity.

However, if one stood on the ground, from Xingyan's perspective, a huge cavity would be clearly visible at the base of the rock wall on the left side of the canyon!!

Xingyan—uh, he gnawed it out with his mouth.

The Dragon Slayer is having trouble, don't ask too many questions.

Cough! Cough! Aside from the rocks at the canyon entrance, Xingyan only gnawed up to a height roughly equivalent to his own, about six meters, and then gnawed about twenty meters into the depth of the rock wall on the left side, leaving only rough stone pillars every few meters along the edge for support.

Originally, Xingyan just wanted to eat some ore to regenerate the Air Sac Carapaces consumed in Miasma Valley and find a cool place to rest. But as he ate, he had a sudden inspiration: why not create a trap?

A massive trap, capable of affecting large dragons.

Even dragons that truly fed on rocks and minerals couldn't compare to Xingyan when it came to eating stones—because the amount of stone they could consume at once was limited, and they needed to digest it.

But Xingyan was different; he could eat continuously, as if he had a bottomless pit inside him, no matter how much he filled it, it was never full.

As long as he didn't find the repetitive labor boring and had patience—fortunately, Xingyan always had patience when it came to hunting.

Through his persistent efforts, and at the cost of two sets of teeth wearing down and regenerating, Xingyan had forcefully gnawed out a long, hollowed-out space at the base of the rock wall on the left side of the canyon—this was the trap he envisioned, like an oversized birdcage.

He also ate quite a bit of ore in the process, replenishing some of his Air Sac Carapaces, though he didn't continue along the ore veins.

And just now, from the moment he entered the canyon, Xingyan had extended his Sword Tail and hacked at the stone pillars left along the edge of the rock wall.

Xingyan didn't know how heavy this massive rock formation protruding from the ground was, but he knew it was enough weight to easily crush a dragon.

After losing the stone pillars that had been left along the edge as support, the protruding part of this rock formation collapsed under its own weight—the cavity that appeared at the base caused the entire thing to tilt and collapse. Xingyan could even hear the crunching sound of the rock breaking!

Slowly, yet so heavily, unstoppable, and as the fracture deepened, the speed of the rockfall also accelerated.

At first, it was just the earth trembling, dust flying, and various animals fleeing; no dragon paid it any mind.

But then, the earth was overturned.

It was just a description, but when the tall, protruding rock formation on the left side of the canyon collapsed entirely to the right, in the Seregios's eyes, it was as if the entire earth had flipped over and was crushing down on it.

"Guaaaahhh!!"

For the first time, it let out a terrified roar. The Seregios was so startled it lost its balance, having to flap its wings rapidly to regain stability. It sharply turned, wanting to rush out of this collapsing canyon as fast as possible. The thought was good, and correct, but would Xingyan give it that chance?

He had been waiting for this moment. The sandstorm, kicked up by the collapsing cliff face, filled the canyon with an apocalyptic scene. Yet, it seemed to have no effect on Xingyan. He wasn't afraid; instead, he watched the figure in the sky with excitement!

Jump!!

He'd said it many times before: the Dragon Slayer possessed a pair of powerfully muscled legs. Xingyan's legs had even been reinforced with the thigh muscle characteristics of a Great Jagras, a dragon known for its jumping prowess.

With both traits combined, Xingyan was able to perform an extremely perilous maneuver. He leaped, landing on a protruding section of the canyon's right wall. He then sprang back, this time to the collapsing cliff face on the left, and then leaped again!!

The air seemed to freeze. No, time itself seemed to freeze at that moment, everything slowing down.

With one final push off the rock face, Xingyan leaped towards the Seregios, which was adjusting its stance to escape into the open sky. He spun his body and swung his Sword Tail!

Slash!!!

Clang-rip-crack!!

That was the sound of the sharp Sword Tail slicing through the Seregios's scales! The sound of flesh being torn open and blood gushing out!! The sound of its hard dragon bones being chipped away, bit by bit!!!

"Guaaaahhhhhhh!!!"

Roaring in sudden pain, the Seregios couldn't fathom why the massive stone pillar forming one side of the canyon had collapsed so abruptly. It couldn't understand why the collapse happened precisely when the Dragon Slayer it was chasing had entered the canyon, nor why the Dragon Slayer hadn't seized the opportunity to escape during the natural disaster but instead turned back to attack it!

Because this wasn't a natural disaster; it was a dragon calamity!

A dragon calamity orchestrated by Xingyan!

The heavy, broad, and sharp Sword Tail deeply embedded itself into the Seregios's left hindquarters. The weight, the impact, and the excruciating pain caused it to lose the balance needed to fly upwards. Instead, it plummeted downwards like a bird with a broken wing.

"Guaaaahhhhh!!"

Roaring in terror and fear, the Seregios didn't want to die. Precisely because it didn't want to die, it flapped its wings frantically, trying to regain flight. It wanted even more to escape the oncoming rock face that was descending with unstoppable force, threatening to bury it deep within the earth!

BOOM!!!

It collapsed.

The rock layer on the left, protruding from the ground, completely caved in. Viewed from high up outside, it looked like an enormous coffin lid slamming down onto another similarly protruding rock layer on the right.

As for the hollow Xingyan had dug out at the bottom, it was now completely filled with bent and broken rocks.

The billowing dust and smoke engulfed the air like an ocean, reducing visibility to almost zero. This wasn't just due to the kicked-up sand and dust; the collapsed rock layer had completely covered the canyon's former ceiling, blocking out the sun.

Only at the canyon's entrance could a faint glimmer of light be seen. But from this distance, the light couldn't penetrate the murky air, only a blurry, brownish-yellow glow was visible.

"Guaaaahhhhh!!"

The Seregios roared as if driven mad, and it truly was on the verge of madness. Why, amidst such a world-ending catastrophe, did the Dragon Slayer show no intention of escaping, but instead attacked it?

That lunatic!!

The pain in its backside stimulated the Seregios's fighting spirit. It had also lost its vision in the dim, murky air. Coupled with the fear of being crushed to death by the earth, the Seregios furiously attacked everything around it.

It kicked with its claws and flung its blade scales in all directions. After an unknown duration of this frenzied assault, it finally realized, belatedly, that it was still alive.

The collapsed rock layer was propped up by the other protruding rock layer, and it was still alive, trapped in a space resembling a triangular prism.

As for Xingyan... after slashing the Seregios out of the sky with that one blow, he had turned and fled without looking back to a pre-dug hollow he had prepared in the right canyon wall, hiding safely.

Compared to the Seregios, which was oblivious to the source of the cataclysmic commotion, Xingyan, who had orchestrated the entire event, had already estimated the extent to which the left rock layer would collapse. He hadn't just dug blindly.

However, the Seregios's panic was unnecessary. The canyon hadn't fractured enough for it to collapse completely and cover the entire canyon, even if Xingyan had dug deeper and hollowed out the bottom of the left rock layer further.

And as Xingyan had predicted, the collapsed rock layer on the left eventually rested on the protruding rock layer on the right, leaving a large gap within the canyon.

Still, just in case, Xingyan had prepared a fallback when setting up the trap: the cave he was currently hiding in.

If the entire canyon were to be filled with broken rocks, he would tunnel his way up from here. At that point, he wouldn't even need to consider how to kill the Seregios; he would simply dig out and consume the Seregios that had been crushed and buried by the rocks.

However, considering the oxygen levels in a confined space and various unforeseen circumstances, it was best to avoid that step if possible.

And, the Seregios-chan might lose too many nutrients.

Xingyan waited.

He waited for the Seregios, driven mad by fear and shock into attacking everything around it, to exhaust its strength. He waited until it felt weary, until reason returned to its mind, and it was forced to cease its meaningless attacks.

That would be his moment to strike.