Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon

After taking the magic crystal core from the Wind Wolf's head, Bolan washed it by the river and put it into the backpack on his back. One Level 4 core and eight or nine Level 3 cores counted as quite a fortune. Shouldering his pack, Bolan continued onward, heading deeper into the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

Over the next month or so, Bolan fought different magical beasts every day, most of them Level 4 or Level 5. So long as low-level magical beasts did not provoke him, Bolan had no desire to slaughter them. Even so, the backpack on his back had long since become stuffed full, mostly with Level 4 cores, along with twenty or thirty Level 5 magical beast crystal cores.

As for Level 3? Please, there was no room even for Level 4 cores. Why keep Level 3 ones...

At this point, the magical beasts in the outer regions no longer posed much of a threat to Bolan. He planned to continue deeper into the mountain range.

As Bolan ventured farther in, pushing dozens of li deeper each day, the magical beasts he encountered grew increasingly powerful. That day, Bolan entered a small mountain range. After walking dozens of li without spotting a single magical beast, he realized, This is bad. I've entered the territory of high-level magical beasts. Just then, a roar came from the forest behind him.

Bolan stretched out his right hand, drawing the longsword at his waist as he readied himself. The magical beast that emerged from the woods was roughly six meters long and two meters tall.

Its entire body was covered in dark black scales, tightly packed in an orderly pattern. Every scale was about the size of a six- or seven-year-old child's palm. The dense mass of scales looked deeply unsettling; staring at them for too long made one's scalp tingle.

Most strikingly, its back was lined with sharp spikes twenty or thirty centimeters long, extending all the way from its head to the tip of its tail. Most terrifying of all were its eyes. Their pupils were dark gold, and their gaze was so cold that it sent chills through anyone who met it.

"A Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon, one of the most terrifying Level 9 dragon beasts." Fortunately, this Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon appeared to be not yet fully grown. Otherwise, Bolan's only option would have been to run.

Judging by its appearance, this Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon shouldn't be above level 8. After transforming, I can still fight it. Bolan thought to himself. Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragons naturally become Level 9 magical beasts upon reaching adulthood. This one is clearly still immature. It is among the best dark-element magical beasts, and the smallest dragon species of its level. Among creatures of the same level, it was the fastest and had the strongest defense. Its claws were also terrifyingly lethal.

Among dragon beasts of the same level, the Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon was undoubtedly one of the strongest. If it had any weakness, it was only that advancing in rank was too difficult. It was a dragon beast with virtually no weaknesses.

The Baruch Clan of their generation could be said to share an unresolved bond with Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragons. In the future, his younger brother Linley would swallow the blood and dragon crystal of a Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon alive, allowing him to transform into a Dragonblood Warrior. Not to mention that the first high-level magical beast Bolan had encountered was one of these things. He did not know whether to call himself lucky or unlucky.

At that moment, the Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon was less than fifty meters from Bolan. A cruel expression appeared on its vicious dragon face, and with an even colder gaze, it charged toward Bolan at high speed!

Suddenly, the Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon stopped. The human before it had transformed into a savage beast it had never seen before. A dragon horn protruded from his forehead, his entire body was covered in blue-green scales, and he held a longsword in his hand. This dragon-like savage beast exuded nobility and ferocity; being looked at by him felt as though one had been targeted by a prehistoric beast. Its appearance reminded it of what its parents had told it when it was still young: Dragonblood Warriors.

Bolan stared doubtfully at the Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon, which had suddenly stopped. He had already been prepared for a fierce, satisfying battle, yet it had abruptly halted, leaving him so frustrated he nearly spat blood.

"Are we fighting or not?" Bolan shouted. He knew that high-level magical beasts could understand human speech.

The Spine-backed Iron-armored Dragon shook its head in confusion, then turned and slowly paced back the way it had come.