Pursuit

Gurgle!

Her stomach protested again.

Hunger made Samantha's stomach twist and cramp, leaving her in extreme discomfort.

With a whimper, she lowered her head and took a bite of the foul, wet mud. She missed the days under Iron Dragon Mother's protection more and more. Even if Garos had bullied and pushed her around every day, it had still been better than this uncertain existence of eating dirt to stave off hunger.

"Should I go ask Garos to take me in?"

Samantha suddenly recalled what Garos had said before he left.

Though she was unwilling to admit it, she knew Garos was smarter and stronger than her. He should be living much better.

"Even if I have to obey all of Garos's commands, that would be fine. I never liked thinking anyway."

Samantha no longer wanted to wander from place to place.

However, she could not let go of the pride and arrogance in her heart.

"No, I can't. I'm a Red Dragon, destined to stand at the pinnacle of the world. How can I be defeated by the Wilderness so easily? I can't let Garos look down on me!"

Samantha gritted her teeth, rose from the mud, and cast the thought of following Garos to the back of her mind.

"I'm too hungry. I need food—real food, not mud or bark."

Samantha drew a deep breath and trudged through the curtain of rain.

Iron Fir Hills.

The rain had passed, and the sky had cleared. The air was once again filled with scorching heat. Damp vapor rose from the coniferous forest, gathering into iridescent shallow pools in the lowlands. Broken fir trunks lay strewn across the mud, amber resin seeping from their fractured surfaces.

Garos lay sprawled atop a massive boulder on a hillside.

Golden Gleam sunlight fell over him, coating his scales in a radiant sheen.

He spread his wings and enjoyed the comfortable warmth of the sunlight on his body, his eyes lazily narrowed as he did not want to move.

Given Garos's diligence and self-discipline, he rarely took such breaks. But he also understood the importance of balancing work and rest, and that too much was as bad as too little. While pursuing evolution and greater strength, he would give himself opportunities to relax during his free time.

The previous torrential rain had lasted an entire week.

During that time,

because the Wilderness remained dry year-round and rain was rare, Garos treasured the hard-won rainy days. He bathed in wind and rain while repeatedly using the Dark Gold Tail Ring to train himself. Whenever its energy ran out, he immediately recharged it with lightning before resuming his training. This cycle repeated over and over, though he never forgot the dangers of the Wilderness. He rested in between to preserve his stamina and prevent himself from becoming too exhausted.

After being battered by the downpour and tempered by lightning,

over the past few days, Garos had whipped away every Buffer Scale on his body. New ones had not yet grown in, exposing a layer of black-red scales covered in cracks and dents—pitted, mottled, and disorderly, as though he had gone through a fierce battle.

As for the results,

aside from his lightning resistance increasing by an unknown amount, Garos could also feel a faint tingling sensation, like a current passing through him, in the muscles beneath his scales and skin.

This was also a sign that he was gradually undergoing Adaptive Evolution.

Basking in the sun, Garos's tail dangled over the edge of the rock and swayed lightly. He shifted onto his side, letting the sunlight reach his belly.

Even when noon arrived and the sunlight became its fiercest and most scorching,

Garos still did not set out to hunt.

He decided to give himself a day off and sent Mobel to hunt for food.

"I'll nap a little longer."

Garos yawned, closed his eyes, and continued basking in the sun, drowsily drifting toward sleep.

Suddenly.

His nostrils twitched, as if he had caught a scent, and he opened his black dragon eyes.

—A scent familiar to Garos drifted through the air.

The Red Iron Dragonet pushed himself upright and raised his head to look into the distance.

At the same time.

Samantha stumbled across the wet, muddy ground of the Wilderness. Her already crippled right wing had gained more wounds, with several poison-tipped feathered arrows lodged in it.

As she ran, she flapped her dragon wings, trying to take flight.

But after several attempts, her ruined wings and weakened body could not support her in the sky. She could only keep running across the ground.

Behind her, dozens of Goblin Wolf Cavalry pursued relentlessly.

The paws of gray Giant Wolves splashed through the mud as they raced forward with swift strides, steadily closing the distance between them.

Samantha gritted her dragon teeth and looked toward the hills ahead, where dense Iron Firs grew. A trace of hope appeared in her eyes.

"Almost there. I'm almost there."

"I hope Garos is still here. I hope he can forgive my ignorance and savagery."

Even if she had to become Garos's follower, lower her proud head, and obey this elder brother completely, Samantha accepted it.

After suffering so much hardship, she had finally realized deeply

that dignity could not keep her alive in the Wilderness. She had been far too naive before.

In truth, both Iron Dragon Mother and the Dragon Inheritance had mentioned that it was not easy for Hatchling Dragons to survive alone. They needed to be extremely cautious and careful. Yet arrogance and conceit were born alongside the Dragon Vein, and Hatchling Dragons who had never weathered hardship always believed they could conquer the world with ease.

However.

There were things that Dragon Mother and inherited knowledge could not teach.

But cruel reality could.

On the first day the torrential rain began, Samantha had already considered following Garos. But at the time, pride still lingered in her heart, and she had refused to admit defeat to the Wilderness.

Battered by violent wind and rain,

Samantha tried to hunt, hoping to replenish her strength with food and recover from her injuries.

But things went against her wishes.

Every creature capable of surviving in the Wilderness, whether intelligent beings or wild beasts, had its own rules for survival. With Samantha's poor hunting skills and weakened body, every hunt ended in failure.

If dragonkind were not so remarkably resilient,

another creature put through such torment would already have been half-dead.

After gnawing on bark and mud for several more meals, Samantha finally recognized her own limitations and decided to follow her powerful, wise elder brother.

Unfortunately.

The Goblin tribe Samantha had encountered at the beginning had kept searching for and pursuing her, intending to turn the Red Dragonet into alchemical materials. After tracking her for some time, a group of Goblin Wolf Cavalry discovered her trail, followed it, and gradually caught sight of the Hatchling Dragon.

"The distance is sufficient. Archers, prepare!"

Among the Goblin cavalry riding gray Giant Wolves, several pulled their ironwood longbows to their full-moon limit. Their bowstrings were nocked with arrows engraved with tiny runes and coated in poison.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three feathered arrows tore through the air with piercing shrieks, shooting toward Samantha.

Her ears twitched as she sensed danger from behind, and Samantha rolled away in a panic.

Two arrows missed and struck the wet ground, burying themselves completely from their heads to their tails. The other lodged in Samantha's hind leg. Its armor-piercing arrowhead pierced through her dragon scales, while the metal shaft trembled faintly with a soft metallic hum.

The pain of being struck was only secondary.

What was worse was the poison it carried, which began to corrode and spread.

Samantha was simply too weak now.

At her peak, such a small amount of poison would not have affected her at all.

Samantha felt the last of her strength gradually leaving her. Her steps became slower and slower, her body as heavy as a mountain. The Iron Fir Hills before her eyes, so close at hand, now seemed as distant as the horizon.

If she were given another chance,

Samantha would definitely cling tightly to her elder brother's thigh and never let go, rather than stupidly trying to prove herself by surviving alone.