Spirit

A crescent moon hung like a hook above the Gnawrock Tribe, stretching the shadows cast by the low hills into twisted shapes.

Garos's dragon eyes were deep and dark in the night. He lowered his body, the dark red patterns on his obsidian-like scales glimmering faintly.

"Your deaths will soothe the unease in my heart."

With a sweep of his tail, he smashed a Goblin Warrior leaping from behind into splattered mush. Its carefully tanned leather armor, protected by Alchemy Runes, crumpled like water-soaked paper at the slightest touch.

"Damn Dragonkin!"

Firelight and the ravaged territory reflected in his eyes as Broken-Tooth Goruk came to his senses and let out an angry growl.

Bzzzz!

The engine started, rapidly burning through Black Oil and converting it into energy.

Black Oil—formed from the long-term accumulation of monster remains—was a black, viscous substance. It was the basic energy source for many alchemical tools, similar to petroleum but containing far greater and more potent energy.

The immense abundance of resources such as Black Oil, Magic Energy Stones, and Source Crystals

was an important reason Bernardo Planet's alchemical development had reached such extraordinary heights.

As the engine's hum rose,

vast amounts of steam billowed from the Giant-Arm Miner. One Alchemy Rune after another etched into its steel plating lit up as its heavy body stomped across the ground and charged at the Red Iron Dragonet.

If it were on the ground.

If they were fighting on the ground,

Broken-Tooth Goruk, piloting the Giant-Arm Miner, was confident he could kill any Hatchling Dragon.

And with a Hatchling Dragon's intelligence, arrogance, and conceit, perhaps it would forget its advantage in flight once battle began and remain on the ground to fight its enemy to the death.

"I'll rend its wings first. By the time it wants to fly again, it'll be too late!"

Broken-Tooth Goruk had already devised his battle strategy.

The Giant-Arm Miner was not a combat-type Alchemy Golem, but its enormous arms possessed enough brute force to pulverize rocks and bend steel. Fighting a Hatchling Dragon head-on should not have been a problem.

Elsewhere,

Groz, the Shaman of the Gnawbite Tribe, hunched his back. The uppermost and largest pustule, shaped like a camel's hump, burst open, and a huge blackish-purple spider leaped out amid disgusting fluid.

The spider had dark red compound eyes, a pitch-black carapace, and legs covered in tiny bristles. Its body was the size of a goblin's head.

At first glance, it looked lifelike, like a living physical creature. In truth, it was a spirit cultivated by Groz, as well as the goblin shaman's primary means of attack.

Spider Spirit Web!

Groz cast his spell. The Spider Spirit crouched upon his back, opened its jaws, and spat a huge, tough web at Garos, sticky and laden with venom.

On one side was the web formed by magic.

On the other was the fiercely charging Giant-Arm Miner.

Garos bent his limbs slightly, the muscles beneath his scales tightening like steel wires before erupting with tremendous force. At the same time, he beat his wings.

Whoosh!

A violent gust swept dust into dispersing waves of air.

Before the web could fall, the Red Iron Dragonet shot into the sky.

Goruk, piloting the Giant-Arm Miner, raised his head toward the sky. Other than staring helplessly, he had no options. This Alchemy Golem possessed no anti-air capabilities.

"Just like that red Hatchling Dragon from before, did it run away because I scared it?"

Having driven off two Hatchling Dragons in succession, Goruk felt absurdly powerful. Perhaps he no longer needed to fear even an Adolescent Dragon.

"Cheer for me! Mighty Goruk has driven back a dragon once more!"

The goblin roared.

The other goblins, not understanding what was happening, instinctively joined in, praising Goruk's strength and bravery.

Only Groz knew that this was not over.

"Be careful! It hasn't left yet!"

Garos climbed high into the sky and looked down upon the tiny Goblin Tribe below.

His wings tore through the air as he dived downward. Airflow brushed against the feather-like fine scales on his wing membranes, producing a shrill scream.

When he was close enough,

Garos folded his wings into a cone. The dark red patterns on his scales glowed faintly, like flames flowing across steel.

The Red Iron Dragonet descended like a small black-red meteor, carrying immense pressure as he crashed toward the conspicuous Giant-Arm Miner.

Broken-Tooth Goruk felt a trace of fear.

But that flicker of fear was quickly torn apart by his recently inflated confidence.

He controlled the Giant-Arm Miner to raise both enormous arms toward the Red Iron Dragonet and shouted excitedly, "My kin, bear witness! Witness mighty Goruk's dragon-slaying moment!"

Goblin after goblin looked at Broken-Tooth Goruk with worshipful eyes.

Even Groz was affected by his confident tone, making him feel that perhaps this fellow truly could do it.

Boom!

The instant the Red Iron Dragonet collided with the Giant-Arm Miner,

the ground cracked in a spiderweb pattern. The shockwave hurled every nearby goblin away, sending them crashing into cliff faces or their companions' weapons, leaving heavy casualties.

The eight-meter-tall Alchemy Golem crumpled like a can flattened beneath a Giant's foot. Its riveted steel plates warped and shattered, and Black Oil sprayed out like blood.

Broken-Tooth Goruk's scream was cut short just as it left his mouth. A broken metal pipe pierced his throat, pinning the goblin dead to the twisted control platform.

The last thing he saw was Garos rising from the flames and smoke.

"He's dead! Run!"

A goblin had just crawled up from the ground and screamed for everyone to flee, but before it could take more than a few steps, its head flew high into the air. Terror froze on its face as it happened to see its headless body still futilely twitching its fingers.

Garos spread his dragon wings like two massive guillotine blades and swept low over the tribal camp.

Wherever the edges of his wings passed, goblins, tents, stone houses, weapon racks—everything was sliced cleanly apart.

Whoosh!

A black shadow suddenly leaped at him from the side.

Garos swept out with his claw, but when it struck, he felt no solid body at all.

The Spider Spirit leaped onto Garos's back. Its fangs bit down through the gaps between his scales and sank entirely in. More precisely, they did not tear through his scales and flesh, but seemed to melt directly into him.

A stabbing pain came from the bite.

The magically formed Spider Spirit directly ignored his hard dragon scales and injured him. Though the damage was slight, it still made Garos frown.

"My resistance against magical attacks is still too low."

A Dragonkin's magical resistance grew with age. Adult Dragons could ignore many spells, but Hatchling Dragons possessed very limited magical resistance.

"Moreover, purely physical attacks don't work well against spirits, magical essences, and the like."

Spell-like Ability—Lesser Fireball!

Whoosh! A tiny fireball formed beside Garos and struck the Spider Spirit, blasting it into nothingness.

The power of his claw strike was far greater than Lesser Fireball's, yet it was less effective against the Spider Spirit.

"I need to explore Spell-like Abilities more deeply too. I know far too few right now."

Garos thought.

He was committed to making himself peerlessly durable, incredibly fast, and exceptionally tough, difficult to kill—but that did not mean Garos wanted to be some reckless brute who relied entirely on close combat with a powerful body.

Dragonkin were innate sorcerers. He would not abandon that advantage.

It was simply that Adaptive Evolution in this aspect was far slower than physical evolution. For now, Garos had merely mastered a few more Spell-like Abilities ahead of other Hatchling Dragons.