Spirit Essence

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, while dark-red patterns glimmered faintly across his obsidian-like scales.

"I'll soothe the unease in my heart with your deaths."

With a sweep of his tail, he smashed the Goblin Warrior leaping at him from behind into a spray of pulp. The carefully tanned leather armor it wore, protected by Alchemy Runes, crumpled at a touch like water-soaked paper.

"Damn dragon!"

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

Bzzzz!

The engine started up, and Black Oil burned rapidly, converting into energy.

Black Oil was a black, viscous substance formed from the remains of magical creatures over long periods of accumulation. It served as the foundational fuel for many alchemical tools. Similar to petroleum, it contained far greater and more potent energy.

Resources such as Black Oil, Magic Energy Stones, and Source Crystals were extraordinarily abundant.

This was an important reason why alchemy had developed to such a high level on Bernardo Planet.

As the engine's hum rang out,

vast amounts of steam rose from the Giant-Arm Miner. One by one, the Alchemy Runes carved into its steel plating lit up. Its heavy body trampled across the ground as it charged toward the Red Iron Dragonet.

If they 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 bitter end.

"I'll Rend its wings first. By the time it wants to fly back into the sky, it'll be too late!"

Broken-Tooth Goruk had already planned out his battle strategy.

The Giant-Arm Miner was not a combat-type Alchemy Golem, but its massive arms possessed enough brute force to smash rocks into powder and bend steel. It should have no trouble fighting a Hatchling Dragon head-on.

Elsewhere,

Groz, the Shaman of the Gnawbite Tribe, hunched his back. The uppermost and largest boil, like a camel's hump, burst open. Amid disgusting fluids, an enormous blackish-purple spider leaped out.

The spider had dark-red compound eyes, a jet-black carapace, and legs covered in fine spines. Its body was as large as a goblin's head.

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

Spider Spirit Web!

Groz cast his spell. The Spider Spirit crouched on his back, opened its jaws, and spat a huge, resilient web at Garos, sticky and venomous.

On one side was the web formed by magic.

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

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

Whoosh!

A gale swept up dust, scattering it in waves.

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

Goruk, piloting the Giant-Arm Miner, looked up at the heavens. Other than staring helplessly, there was nothing he could do. This Alchemy Golem had no means of attacking airborne targets.

"Did I scare it away, just like that red Hatchling Dragon before?"

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

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

The goblin shouted loudly.

The other goblins, unaware of what was happening, instinctively joined in, praising Goruk's strength and bravery.

Only Groz knew that this was not over yet.

"Stay alert! It hasn't left!"

Garos ascended high into the air and gazed down at the tiny goblin tribe below.

His wings tore through the air as he dived downward. Air currents struck the feather-like fine scales along his wing membranes, producing a piercing shriek.

When he was close enough,

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

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

A thread of fear arose in Broken-Tooth Goruk's heart.

But that trace of fear was quickly torn apart by the inflated confidence he had gained recently.

He controlled the Giant-Arm Miner, raising its pair of enormous arms to meet the Red Iron Dragonet. At the same time, he shouted excitedly, "Tribesmen, bear witness! Witness the moment mighty Goruk slays a dragon!"

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

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

Boom!

The Red Iron Dragonet collided with the Giant-Arm Miner.

The ground cracked in a spiderweb pattern. The shockwave sent every goblin nearby flying, smashing them against cliff walls or their companions' weapons, leaving heavy casualties.

The eight-meter-tall Alchemy Golem looked like a tin can crushed beneath a Giant's foot. Its riveted steel plates twisted and split apart, while Black Oil sprayed out like blood.

Broken-Tooth Goruk's scream stopped as soon as it began. A broken metal pipe pierced his throat, pinning the goblin dead to the warped control platform.

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

"He's dead! Run!"

A goblin had just climbed to its feet and cried out 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 enormous guillotine blades and swept low across the tribal camp.

Wherever the edges of his wings passed, goblins, tents, stone houses, and weapon racks were all cleanly sliced apart.

Whoosh!

A black shadow suddenly leaped at him from the side.

Garos swept his claw across it, but felt no solid contact when he struck.

The Spider Spirit landed on Garos's back. Its fangs bit down through a gap between his scales and sank all the way in. More precisely, they did not tear through his scales and flesh at all, but seemed to melt directly into them.

A stinging pain spread from the bite.

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

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

A dragon's magic resistance increased with age. Adult dragons could ignore many spells, but Hatchling Dragons possessed very limited magical resistance.

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

Spell-like Ability—Lesser Fireball!

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

The power of his claw strike was far greater than that of Lesser Fireball, yet it had been 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 hardy, difficult to kill. But that did not mean Garos wanted to be a reckless brute who relied solely on his powerful body in close combat.

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

It was simply that Adaptive Evolution in this area was far slower than evolution of the body. At present, Garos had only mastered a few more Spell-like Abilities than other Hatchling Dragons.