Garos Really Isn't an Evil Dragon

The Blazing Sun baked the Iron Fir Hills a scorched brown, while distorted heat waves rose from the cracked ground.

The red Hatchling Dragon sprawled across the gravel with its tongue hanging out. Embers from its Dragon Breath drifted from the corners of its mouth and burst into tiny sparks in the air. Mobel was rubbing his back against the hard, rough bark of an Iron Fir to relieve an itch, making leaves rustle down.

Garos stared at the Earth Spider that had crawled out from a crack in the ground before him.

Its body was like a millstone, covered in rock-like patterns. Its eight jointed limbs were long and sharp, stained with soil soaked black.

On its back was a deliberately sunken stone carapace holding several large clumps of black soil.

He sniffed the air.

A fiery sensation shot straight up his nostrils.

Delight flashed in Garos's eyes as he strode toward the Earth Spider. His massive body blocked out the sunlight, casting a dense shadow over it.

"The smell of Black Oil!"

He lowered his head to look at the black spider trembling faintly beneath him. His gaze fell on the black soil it carried, and he reached out with a claw to pick it up.

The moment it touched his claw—

A slick, greasy feeling spread through it.

Garos squeezed it, and Black Oil gradually seeped from between his claws.

This was soil saturated with Black Oil. It had not brought back Black Oil directly, but it was still a result. Garos was quite pleased with the Earth Spider's haul.

However.

Why had it only brought back Black Oil Soil instead of Black Oil itself?

With that question in mind, Garos used Mind Link to enter the Earth Spider's mental world.

The Earth Spider's mental world was equally dark. Like the Rock-Crushing Worm's, it seemed to be located in a bleak, oppressive Underworld.

"Why didn't you bring back Black Oil directly?"

Garos asked within the mental world.

The Earth Spider replied, "Danger. Die. Afraid."

Its intelligence was even lower than the Rock-Crushing Worm's, and its answer came in broken fragments, but Garos still understood the general meaning.

"The place where the Black Oil is stored is extremely dangerous. It will kill it, so it does not dare approach. It only dug up some soil soaked in Black Oil from the outskirts."

Garos fell into thought.

Since this was within his expectations, he was not particularly surprised.

The intelligent creatures stationed near the Black Oilfield would certainly not only guard against threats from the ground and sky. They would have corresponding defenses underground as well.

He carefully examined the Earth Spider's flashback-like memories.

Through its eyes, Garos saw several Earth Spiders moving through the darkness underground. The surrounding layers of soil grew darker and darker, their oil content steadily increasing.

Then, without warning—

A gigantic centipede-like creature appeared.

Its entire body seemed forged from some kind of black metal, composed of dozens of steel segments linked together. Each segment bore dim blue energy patterns.

Pairs of auxiliary limbs extended from its joints, constantly contracting and unfolding like folding war blades.

The instant it appeared, it began hunting the Earth Spiders.

In less than a minute, it tore the foremost Earth Spiders to pieces. It then patrolled the underground area once, but did not attack the Earth Spiders that had kept a certain distance away.

Some kind of Alchemy Golem guarding the underground? Judging by its size and performance, it is at least level five or six. The Earth Spiders have no chance against it head-on.

Clearly, this was not a natural life-form but an underground guard made by someone to clear out all kinds of creatures approaching the oilfield from below.

"Bringing back Oil Soil is already not bad. At least you found something."

Garos conveyed encouragement, telling the Earth Spider to keep up the good work.

The Earth Spider sent back an excited mental ripple. Even its will-body became restless, glowing red. "Exchange. Promise."

You little brat, you're pretty impatient.

But the agreement he had made was that it had to bring back Black Oil. This Oil Soil was still a notch below that.

Garos pondered for a few seconds, then withdrew from the Earth Spider's mental world and brought over the female spider he had been feeding well.

The moment the male Earth Spider saw her, it excitedly paddled its limbs and lunged over. The female spider, in her breeding period, did not refuse and gladly accepted.

Garos watched the two spiders curiously.

They had no sense of shame. In broad daylight, with a dragon watching, they immediately began making the next generation.

However, their mating method was completely different from that of many creatures.

The male spider waved its limbs, inserting its tiny left pedipalp into the left opening on the female's genital plate and its right limb into the right opening.

At first glance, it looked like murder. The process was somewhat ferocious.

Just as the male spider was about to finish—

Garos moved with lightning speed, stretched out a claw, and yanked it off the female spider in one swift motion.

—What it had brought back had not met the original requirement, so it naturally only got half an opportunity to reproduce.

"Ten kilograms of Oil Soil for one complete opportunity to reproduce."

Garos conveyed his demand to the male spider, which was baring its fangs and waving its limbs in fury.

You're no dragon! You're not a dragon at all!

Dangling from Garos's claw, it flailed its limbs in midair in protest. In the end, however, it yielded and agreed, then hurriedly drilled through the ground to gather Oil Soil for Garos.

The female spider looked utterly confused and raised her head to look at Garos.

Why had he driven the male away?

She had no idea what was going on.

Crack. Another patch of ground split and bulged upward, and another male spider emerged. It had also brought back some Oil Soil and eagerly came to Garos for its reward.

Garos grinned and beckoned it over.

Soon after, one male spider after another returned with Black Oil Soil, seeking their rewards.

Garos was very generous. Although what they brought back did not match the original agreement, he still gave them half their reward—by dragging them away midway through the deed.

A group of flushed male spiders arrived excitedly and left in a rage.

They desperately burrowed through the ground to vent their dissatisfaction, and to earn a complete opportunity to reproduce, they became even more eager to dig for Black Oil Soil.

"Poor spiders. Garos, you're terrible."

Samantha abruptly changed her tone and praised him, "As expected of an outstanding Red-Iron Hybrid Dragon. Your innate level of evil is beyond my reach."

In the eyes of Red Dragons—

Being bad represented excellence. It represented glory. Every Red Dragon aspired to become the ultimate evil dragon.

To Samantha, Garos's oppression and bullying of even spiders meant he was simply rotten to the core, hopelessly bad.

"Don't slander me."

Garos argued, "I'm only spurring them on so they'll work more diligently. How can that be called evil?"

He had never considered himself an evil dragon.

Garos did not think he was a good dragon who enjoyed helping the weak and punishing evil, but he should not count as evil either, right?

Evil dragons were often targeted and besieged by all sides. Garos had no desire to be treated as an evil dragon.

Yet when he looked at his own appearance, Garos had nothing to say.

His form, combining an Iron Dragon and a Red Dragon and altered through several evolutions, was even more ferocious than the evil dragons of common perception.

If a powerful adventurer came along, they definitely would not listen to Garos's explanation.

[A Red-Iron Hybrid Dragon born evil!]

[Oh? And it likes making excuses!]

[Explain it to my Evil-Banishing Slash!]

That was the outcome nine times out of ten.

Prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain. I, Garos, really am not an evil dragon.

With a sigh in his heart, Garos shook his head.

Since things had come to this, he could only find ways to arm and strengthen himself. If he encountered a crusade in the future, he would at least have the means to resist.