It was alone. Not only that, the whole creature was upside down, awkwardly wedged between thick tree trunks. Its thick, rounded feet couldn't get it back onto its feet, and the enormous shell on its back kept it from making any further movements. All it could do was hope its cries would summon its kin to help.
But unfortunately, the other Carapace Dragons had already been driven away by Xingyan. They didn't dare go anywhere near the Flower Field Marshland Area now.
Xingyan wasn't the same little Glavenus with a soft tail that had just hatched anymore. These days, he was hard as nails... And unlike the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers, whose species didn't grow particularly large even as adults, Carapace Dragons weren't afraid of Kulu-Ya-Ku. But they were afraid of truly large monsters.
Even though he was still a juvenile, Xingyan was growing at an extraordinary rate and already had considerable offensive power. The Carapace Dragons didn't dare ignore his roars and threats.
All he'd done was assume an attacking stance and slice through a nearby rock, yet the Carapace Dragons that had been heading toward the cries immediately turned and ran. Avoiding danger was their highest instinctive priority.
Once again, the injured one was a Carapace Dragon.
What could he do? These herbivorous dragons were numerous and not much of a threat in a fight. Most importantly, they had plenty of meat, making them a favorite on the menus of all kinds of large carnivorous dragons.
It was certainly difficult to get a squirming Carapace Dragon into this position with Xingyan's little claws. The most important thing was not to hurt it in the process, so it would still have enough energy to keep bawling.
It was only at times like this that he really missed human arms and hands. They were so convenient for delicate work like this.
Fortunately, Xingyan had managed it in the end. He'd used his Sword Tail to help his little forelimbs, and while he'd sliced through some of the Carapace Dragon's flesh, it was now bleeding steadily. But the blood dripping into the marsh only made the trap more tempting.
Except for dragons with particularly unusual physiology, dragons generally had far better senses than humans: sharper noses, keener eyesight, and so on.
And for dragons that already had Carapace Dragons on their menus, the blood continuously dripping into the marsh water was like a clear invitation, carried from a great distance by the current.
The Mudfish Dragon had arrived.
Like a shark that had caught the scent of blood, it came toward the hidden Xingyan. He could clearly see the trail where the marsh grass and flowers had been pushed aside, as well as the dorsal fin exposed above the muddy water.
Xingyan was a little disappointed. The Mudfish Dragon didn't seem to suspect that the Carapace Dragon bawling in front of it was a trap. His painstaking preparations felt like winking at a blind man. He'd even gone to the trouble of making the whole scene look as though the Carapace Dragon had accidentally gotten itself stuck between the trees.
The Mudfish Dragon had dived beneath the marsh's muddy surface. Now, even its dorsal fin was gone. But Xingyan knew it hadn't left. This was a sign that it was about to attack.
First it would dive to the bottom of the marsh, then suddenly surge up from below and ambush its prey's unguarded, soft belly. It was basically the Mudfish Dragon's complete hunting routine—and it worked every time.
BOOM!!
Just like when it had burst through the rock Xingyan had been in, the Mudfish Dragon suddenly surged out from beneath the trees. Its gaping maw clamped down on most of the Carapace Dragon's body.
"Ugh!!!"
The Carapace Dragon's cries grew even louder, and Xingyan rose from the mud in that instant. The moment the Mudfish Dragon chose to attack from below, he knew it was finished.
HSSSS—!
Like an enormous balloon suddenly springing a leak, a thick cloud of pale blue-white mist erupted with a loud hiss, enveloping the Mudfish Dragon right where it had bitten down on the Carapace Dragon.
A Sleep Gas Frog.
Hunters would give this creature that name in the future. Its power was simple: when it sensed danger or was attacked, it forcefully sprayed out the enormous quantity of sleep gas stored inside its body, giving itself a chance to escape to safety.
Its sleep effect was so powerful—nine times over—that even an Elder Dragon would fall asleep after inhaling the gas, let alone a little dragon like the Mudfish Dragon.
Of course, the idea that it could work on an Elder Dragon was just how it worked in the game. As for the real world... Xingyan could only say that remained to be tested.
It was a nice thought. What if it worked?
The trap Xingyan had set wasn't complicated. In fact, it was downright crude. At its heart, it was nothing more than a Sleep Gas Frog.
Perhaps because they carried so much sleep gas inside them, these frogs weren't fond of moving around. Unless they had to, they would stay quietly in a safe place. Only when they got hungry would they use their gas to hunt.
He'd originally wanted to use a Paralysis Gas Frog, but compared to the Sleep Gas Frog, it was a bit too active.
He'd simply used his beautiful Sword Tail as a... well, a tray?
In any case, Xingyan had carefully scooped up the ground the Sleep Gas Frog was sitting on and moved it little by little toward the trap. He hadn't dared make any big movements or take any risks along the way.
He didn't want to fall asleep out here in the wild with no warning. That would be no different from waiting to die.
Just like the Mudfish Dragon now.
"Roar, roar, roaaaar!" (Ha! Hahaha! Hahahahahaha!)
"Roar, roar, roar!" (At last, you're in my hands!!)
The Mudfish Dragon was sleeping so peacefully that not even an excited Glavenus roaring beside it could wake it. Bubbles kept coming out of its nostrils.
Xingyan circled the sleeping Mudfish Dragon. Only at such close range could he really appreciate the difference in size between himself and his enemy. Glavenus were the longest of the Beast Dragon Species, yet this Mudfish Dragon was still more than twice his size.
Not daring to waste any more time, Xingyan took a quick look at the sleeping Mudfish Dragon, searching for the weakest point on its body.
The Sleep Gas wouldn't work as elegantly as it did in the game, where it could calm a raging dragon out of nowhere and let it find a comfortable position to sleep in.
If Xingyan had to describe it, he'd say that in the real world, the Sleep Gas Frog's effect was more like a hard punch to the head, knocking a dragon unconscious and leaving it completely out of it.
So when the Mudfish Dragon fell, there was no way it could assume the safe, relaxed position it usually slept in inside its nest. Instead, it had exposed its belly completely.
It didn't have the hard, deep-black fish scales—or, rather, dragon scales—of its back. But that didn't mean its belly was soft. Rows of horizontal ridges made it tough, and it was covered in countless small, densely packed scales. It wasn't so much hard as tough.
But compared to the scales on the Mudfish Dragon's back and sides, it was still a weak point.
And Xingyan was aiming for that weak point!
After choosing a good angle to make sure his Tail Bite Great Spin would hit the Mudfish Dragon's belly as hard as possible, Xingyan bit down on the tip of his tail once more.
He gathered his strength!
Iaijutsu!!
Heaven and Earth Unrivaled Great Spin!!!
When he felt all his strength gathered into one point, Xingyan unleashed a devastating slash!
His bright-red Sword Tail, coated in a layer of hard mineral, tore through the air between him and the Mudfish Dragon. In the blink of an eye, it struck the pale belly.
Then it missed.
Xingyan only realized there was a problem after landing and looking back at the results.
To put it simply, he wasn't some swordsman skilled in swordsmanship. In his previous life, he'd been better at sitting in front of a computer and typing. So it wasn't hard to accept that an attack where he turned his whole body into a blade and swung himself could go wide.
The angle of his rotation, how high or low his body was when he took aim, the sway of his tail as it unfurled, the softness of the ground beneath his feet... There were plenty of possible causes.
But the result was that Xingyan's plan to cut a huge gash from the Mudfish Dragon's belly near its tail all the way up had failed.
His slash had gone from a straight line to a diagonal one. It had still landed near the Mudfish Dragon's tail, but as the wound extended toward its chest, it veered upward, eventually slicing open a large patch of flesh on its right chest, covered in deep-black scales.
The cut went down to the bone.
The result was nothing like when he'd killed those Bite Fish with one slash. For the first time, Xingyan realized that his technique had this kind of flaw.
But training and refining his technique could wait. Right now, the most important thing was the huge creature that had woken up in pain.
The Mudfish Dragon roared furiously, its black eyes seeming to redden from the pain.
Xingyan's slash had gone deep enough that when the Mudfish Dragon instinctively lashed its tail in anger, a long section of its fish guts... or rather, dragon guts, spilled out, blackened with mud.
The smell of meat.
The first thing Xingyan noticed wasn't even the danger. It was the savory scent of fresh flesh wafting from the wound.
In his eyes, the Mudfish Dragon was practically a walking energy bar. Xingyan could almost bite into that chewy Life Energy.
Almost—he was even miming chewing on air.
Like chewing gum.
"ROARRR!!!!"
That wasn't Xingyan roaring. It was the Mudfish Dragon. After waking, the enormous monster lunged at Xingyan without pausing for even a moment. If that hit, it would leave Xingyan's head spinning.
But a plain old shoulder charge like that couldn't hit Xingyan. He'd memorized the Mudfish Dragon's usual attacks through countless *ding*s, and he was wary of moves that might show up in the real world but never appear in the game.
In dragon terms, all he had to do was keep his distance.
Hundreds of episodes of wildlife documentaries had taught Xingyan that injured beasts were the most dangerous. What's more, as a Glavenus who was good at gathering information, he understood perfectly well that he had the advantage right now.
Yes, the Mudfish Dragon hadn't been cut open and killed on the spot by his Tail Bite Great Spin. But a wound that had its guts hanging out meant it was at least seriously injured.
A few more wild charges, and the Mudfish Dragon would tear its own guts into lumps of flesh, to say nothing of the blood gushing from its wound in great spurts. Its strength was rapidly draining away with it.
Xingyan leaped nimbly out of the way. The Mudfish Dragon couldn't keep up with his powerful legs. And while his body was still small, small also meant quick and agile.
It missed its target; it couldn't spit on its target...
As though it knew its life was coming to an end, the Mudfish Dragon charged Xingyan frantically, driven by pain. And it wasn't his imagination—Xingyan could clearly see greed in its eyes.
That was right. This creature was craving Xingyan's Life Energy and flesh too. If it ate him, it could get enough energy to heal its wounds... Whether it actually managed to recover or not, it could at least try.
That was good enough.
Xingyan felt his blood rushing faster than usual. He was excited. The instincts of a Glavenus thrilled at this kind of battle, and they made him calmer, colder.
It really was good.
You wanted to eat me, and I wanted to eat you. That was the cruel, simple law between dragons.
At least below the Elder Dragons... And even Elder Dragons couldn't escape this cycle.
The victor grew stronger; the loser became fertilizer. We were all part of nature.
Xingyan leaped backward again, but this time he wasn't just dodging. His polished, gleaming Sword Tail, nearly bright enough to serve as a mirror, sliced past the Mudfish Dragon's right side as he twisted in midair and took a small sidestep.
CRACK, CRACK!
A string of crisp slicing sounds rang out. The Mudfish Dragon's right dorsal fin and enormous pectoral fin barely slowed Xingyan's strike before being cleanly sliced off.
My blade's sharp too.
"ROARRR!!!"
The Mudfish Dragon roared again, but unlike before, this time its roar carried an unmistakable hint of weakness.
Its body staggered. Losing a dorsal fin wasn't a big deal, but Xingyan had sliced off a huge chunk of its pectoral fin on the right side. That was a little more serious.
Strictly speaking, the two enormous pectoral fins on either side were the Mudfish Dragon's vestigial forelimbs... or perhaps its evolved forelimbs?
In any case, after losing one pectoral fin, its balance was clearly affected.
On top of the blood it was losing and the weakness welling up inside it, it had already started thinking about running away.
Before you continue