Embers fell slowly from the sky, like a gray snow.
The dust clouds were illuminated by the light seeping in from beyond the horizon, giving them a dark red color. The sound of the pursuing horns of the legions could be heard in the distance, gradually becoming distant and blurry.
Two giant dragons hovered high in the sky between deathly silence and hustle and bustle.
One is as dark as cooling lava, and the other is as green as a deep pool of emerald.
Green Dragon Seroel After listening to Garos's words, a glimmer of understanding flashed in her eyes. She did not show any surprise, but nodded slightly.
"I was just thinking that you wouldn't let him go so easily."
Seroel continued, "That Chromium Dragon bared its fangs to you on the battlefield, and finally said harsh words before running away. With your character, how could you let a Destiny Dragon slip away from your claws? Especially when he has been severely injured, it is best to chase him and kill him. This kind of hidden danger cannot be left to ferment."
She paused and tilted her head.
Garos's head turned slightly and his eyes fell on Green Dragon.
"My purpose is not to kill him."
"What?"
Green Dragon's eyes showed surprise.
Then, she stared at Garos for several breaths. A trace of confusion first flashed in her green vertical pupils, and then turned into confusion.
"You want to capture him alive?"
she asked tentatively.
Garos nodded. "Yes, capture him alive and then tame him."
As he spoke, he turned his head slightly, his eyes penetrated the thick dust cloud and the distance in space, and took a panoramic view of the fleeing dark silver figure.
Garos smiled indifferently.
You have offended the great Red Emperor Pale Star and still want to run away?
Either be beheaded or become a dog.
Opposite me, Seroel tilted his head slightly, as if to confirm that he heard correctly.
"Capture a Destiny Dragon alive?"
"Oh, my dear Garos, you should know what this means. It is much more difficult to capture him alive than to kill him."
"I know."
Garos said, "It's hard. But it's not a must-do, just try."
"If it doesn't work, he resists too fiercely, or the cost of capture exceeds the benefits - then kill him. I will not risk my life to tame a crazy dragon."
Seroel nodded, indicating that he understood this logic.
"But why do you want to tame him?"
There was confusion on her face.
"This is not something you would do, Garos."
"You are not the kind of collector who likes to collect rare creatures. You want to collect all kinds of Dragonkin under your command to satisfy a certain hobby, nor do you need to conquer a crazy dragon to show your authority. Your authority does not need this kind of thing to prove."
"Besides, you have no emotional ties to Claude."
"Except for the fact that he bit you a few times and you almost beat him to death, this is the first time you've met each other today."
"What can he bring to you?"
Garos was silent for a few seconds.
His eyes reflected the dust in the sky, showing a thoughtful look, and at the same time he said slowly, "Because I don't want to kill too many Dragonkin."
"Especially a dragon that can reach the Destiny Rank level."
Hearing these words, Green Dragon showed a surprised expression.
She circled around Garos and looked at him carefully, looking from the top of his head to his tail, and from his tail to the top of his head, as if she was looking at someone she had never really known.
"Don't you----"
She teased, "Are you actually a Dragon Race supreme racist? If so, Garos, then you hid it very well. This is the first time I have discovered this."
"I'm not."
Garos shook his head.
"I have no natural sense of mission towards the fate of Dragon Race."
"I will not selflessly help a certain dragon just because I am of the same race, nor will I sacrifice my own interests for the overall interests of Dragon Race."
Seroel blinked. "Then why do you care?"
"Because I don't care about Dragon Race as a whole, but I care about the impact on myself."
Garos turned his head and met Green Dragon's eyes.
"Whether Dragon Race is strong or weak, whether it is glorious or in decline, for me - it has no direct stake."
"I will not fight for the glory of Dragon Race, will not sacrifice for the revival of Dragon Race, and will not take unnecessary risks for the sake of the righteousness of any ethnic group."
"However, as one of the giant dragons, the overall strength of Dragon Race is closely related to me."
"This has nothing to do with racial sentiments, it's just an objective chain reaction, whether I think about it or not, or whether I want it or not."
Garos stared at Seroel and confided his heart.
"For example, if I am powerful, my influence will radiate to Dragon Race."
"Other dragons will look up to me, imitate me, and take me as a benchmark. This influence is subtle and inevitable, just like the sun's light will illuminate the surrounding planets, regardless of whether the sun cares about the existence of those planets."
"When other races measure the power of Dragon Race, they will also include me."
"When they see Red Emperor entrenched in Atlant, establishing their own kingdom, defeating enemies one after another, and growing stronger day by day, they will think that Dragon Race is still a race that needs to be taken seriously. This recognition will affect their decision-making and the way they treat other Dragonkin."
He paused and his voice became deeper.
"The same goes for vice versa."
"If Dragon Race becomes weak, this weakness will also radiate to me, causing a lot of trouble."
"Other races will despise Dragonkin and hunt Dragonkin more fiercely."
"When Dragon Race declines as a whole, every dragon will become a target, including me. This kind of trouble will keep coming, regardless of whether I am willing to face it or not."
"When the time comes, no matter how powerful the dragon is, they will not feel invincible."
Garos doesn't care whether Dragon Race is strong or not.
But before he can care less about its impact, he needs to do his best to keep Dragon Race strong and make his living environment more relaxed.
This is the conclusion he came to after long thought.
Seroel listened quietly.
In her eyes, the initial surprise gradually faded and was replaced by thinking.
"So what you care about is not Claude itself."
She said slowly, "But what he represents as a Destiny Dragon - weight?"
"That's understandable."
Garos nodded slightly.
"There are not many Bernardo and Destiny Dragon."
"Every Destiny Dragon, no matter which camp it belongs to, whether it is good or evil, lawful or chaotic, its existence itself adds to the overall influence of Dragon Race."
"When other races calculate the strength of Dragon Race, they will include all Destiny Dragon."
"For every Destiny Dragon that is missing, the influence of this Dragon Race will be reduced by one level, and the status of Dragon Race in Bernardo will be weakened by one level."
"And this weakening will eventually be transmitted to me in some way."
"Perhaps a certain force that originally did not dare to challenge me suddenly gained confidence, or perhaps an empire that has a conflict of interest with me has less concerns when weighing."
"No matter what it is, I don't want it."
Seroel nodded with deep understanding.
"I didn't expect you to think so long term."
"To be honest, I have never thought about it from this perspective before. Maybe it's because I haven't stood at your level yet. You really need to think about this now."
"So----"
Green Dragon's tail stood up, the tip of the tail was slightly curved, and the whole dragon's temperament changed from the laziness of chatting to Hunt's concentration in front of it.
"I will go to Hunt with you and capture Destiny Dragon."
Garos looked at her. "Are you sure? His counterattack will be crazy."
The corners of Seroel's mouth slowly opened, revealing sharp fangs. "Capture a Destiny Dragon. If this is successful, it will be one of the craziest Hunts in the history of Orotara."
"How could I be absent?"
Her eyes sparkled with excitement.
"In terms of frontal combat, I am unable to defeat Destiny Dragon. This is a fact, but if I am just an auxiliary, I am fully capable, and I also have means to influence Destiny Rank without even appearing in his field of vision."
"You are responsible for breaking his claws, and I am responsible for shaking his will."
"One is in the light and the other is in the dark. He can't escape."
Garos nodded.
"Let's go," he said. "The prey is on the run, and we don't have much time to waste."
The dark black wings suddenly spread out.
The huge body under Ashen Annihilation Form soared into the sky, its wingtips cut through the air, and made a low whistling sound.
Garos galloped away in a certain direction, and the figure quickly disappeared at the edge of the dust cloud. Green Dragon followed closely behind and merged into the darkness.
The two came one behind the other, like two shooting stars streaking across the sky.
The sea breeze carries salt particles and beats them on the rocks.
Over the sea far away from the continental shelf, a dark silver shadow cut through the low-hanging clouds.
Every time Claude flaps its wings, it pulls at the wounds on its body, and semi-solidified blood seeps out from between the gaps in the dragon's scales.
cold.
Hungry.
pain.
Three feelings intertwined in his body, but Claude was used to these.
Cold is his natural companion, hunger is the Abyss that he can never satisfy, and pain is the only loyal hound that has never betrayed him in his long life.
They bit him and tortured him, but they also kept him awake.
As long as he can still feel these things, it means he is still alive.
On the skyline behind, the dark red color of the dust clouds is fading away, replaced by gradually clearing gray Blue Dragon.
He has flown away from the battlefield.
Red Emperor Pale Star, Garos·Ignas.
Claude chewed on this name in his heart.
He remembered the taste of those few bites, but what he remembered more was not the taste of the bite, but the pain.
When he was hit head-on by the opponent Dragon Breath, he was almost dead.
The burning sensation penetrated all his defenses and burned right into his bones.
His internal organs seemed to be boiling and his blood was burning. If he hadn't swallowed a Orc with the final explosion and used the vitality of that Destiny Rank Orc to repair his damaged body, he would never have been able to escape.
As for the matter of defecting before the battle.
He has no burden about it.
It's all about mutual use.
You eat me and I eat you.
This is how the world works.
The strong eat the weak, the smart eat the stupid, no one is right or wrong, only who survives and who dies, but some ways of eating are more civilized, while his way of eating is more direct and rough.
The smell of the sea breeze becomes stronger and stronger.
It's salty, with the smell of Anabaena and Rot seaweed, and a boundless smell.
Claude looked down.
The ground under your feet has turned into a slender coastline, and beyond is the endless gray Blue Dragon water. The sea surface undulates below, with white foam rising between the leaden swells.
He didn't hesitate and dived directly.
He flew close to the sea for about half an hour, until the coastline behind him completely disappeared, and only water and sky were left in his field of vision. Then he folded his wings and plunged into the sea.
The light disappears quickly.
From the green of the shallow sea to the dark blue of the deep sea, to the pitch black where he couldn't even see his fingers, the water pressure squeezed his body from all directions, squeezing his wounds, making the pain even more severe.
Claude doesn't take it seriously.
He just took a deep breath and drank all the blood that escaped from him, not letting it be wasted.
He continued to dive.
Not long after, a crack buried in sand appeared in his perception.
It is hidden deep in the folds of the seabed Mountain Range, narrow and curved.
You can barely squeeze through the entrance, and then the interior suddenly opens up.
This is a dome-shaped cave hollowed out by sea water.
The cave wall is smooth and covered with coral skeletons that have not seen sunlight all year round. Those corals have died long ago, leaving only gray-white skeletons like dead branches sticking out from the rock wall.
Arriving at the deepest corner of the cave, Chromium Dragon finally stopped.
Here, there are several cracks extending from the dome to the side walls, like the claw marks left by a giant beast, the traces he left before.
Chromium Dragon Using Shapeshifting Spell, the body begins to shrink.
Soon, a strong and huge Dragon of Destiny disappeared.
Instead, there was a figure the size of Hatchling Dragon curled up between the rock crevices.
The color of the scales changed from dark silver to whiteish light silver, making it look weak, fragile, and even a little pitiful.
Immediately afterwards, Claude buried his head between his forelimbs.
His neck was bent to the limit, his chin pressed against his chest, his chin pressed against his forearms, his tail was curled around his body, the tip of his tail almost touched his nose, and his dragon wings were folded, covering both sides of his body like two huge leaves, covering the exposed wounds.
He remained in this strange posture and began to fall asleep.
This posture will not be recorded in any Dragonkin illustrated book.
Because no normal dragon would sleep in such a position.
Bend your neck to the extreme and tuck your limbs tightly, which will look twisted and uncomfortable.
For Dragonkin's body structure, this posture is definitely not comfortable. It may even cause breathing difficulties, poor blood circulation, and make muscles more likely to stiffen.
But Claude is used to it.
Only in this way could he fall asleep with a little peace of mind.
This posture made him feel like he was hiding, shrinking into a shell, temporarily withdrawing himself from the world.
Claude's consciousness gradually blurred.
The wound was still hurting, and his stomach was twitching, as if something was crawling inside the wound, but this was nothing compared to the most hungry feeling he had ever experienced.
In the trance, Claude's thinking began to become fragmented Shatter.
The boundary between reality and memory gradually dissolved, and he felt like he was falling, traveling upstream along the river of time, passing through the years marked by blood and fire, and returning to the Qidian of everything.
Back in that cage.
In other words, back to the only nightmare in his life.
Claude opened his eyes and saw a row of alloy fences.
Those fences were erected in front of him, one by one, and the silver-white metal surface was engraved with dense runes.
On the other side of the fence is a ground paved with stone slabs. The surface is also engraved with dense runes. A faint blue light flows in the ravines of the runes, like countless glowing insects crawling on the ground.
He lay on the ground.
The body is small.
It is small enough to curl up in the corner of the fence, its limbs are as thin as dry branches, its skin is wrapped around its bones, and its bones are covered with a thin layer of scales. Its belly is close to its backbone, and its ribs protrude one by one, and each one is clearly visible.
Claude lowered his head and could see that his abdomen was sunken.
It was so deep that it was as if someone had dug out his internal organs, leaving only a layer of skin. He could almost feel his spine through the skin on his abdomen.
Section by section, hard.
Hungry.
He opened his mouth, trying to make a sound.
But only a hoarse air flow came out of his throat. He hadn't drank water for a long time, and his vocal cords were dry and cracked.
"It's already the thirteenth year."
A voice sounded.
The leather boots made a crisp sound when they stepped on the stone floor. Then, a pair of feet wearing leather boots appeared outside the fence.
Claude raised his head.
What he saw was the face of Elf.
She has fair skin, pointed ears, blond hair tied into a ponytail, and her eyes are a light amber color, without any malice or emotion.
"What a miraculous creature."
Elf said, with a kind of admiration in his tone.
"I haven't died without eating or drinking for more than ten years, and it seems that I haven't reached the limit yet."
Elf said, took out a notebook from his waist, opened it, and recorded something on it with a slender pen.
At the same time, the runes on the fence lit up, and an arc of electricity shot out and hit Claude's body.
He twitched.
The electric current passed through his muscles, causing those already atrophied fibers to shrink involuntarily. His limbs bounced on the ground, like a fish thrown ashore, and then fell back to their original positions.
It's not because he doesn't feel pain.
It was because he no longer had the strength to react any more. His body was too weak and he could only bear the pain silently. He had no extra strength to struggle and roar.
Elf is recording something in his notebook.
Then there was another arc.
Then comes fire.
Then comes freezing.
Finally there is the knife.
Claude is pinned.
His limbs were locked by metal rings and pulled in four directions. His body was straightened and his abdomen was completely exposed. He could feel his abdomen being cut open, the blade cutting from his chest to his abdomen, and the skin opening to both sides.
But he had no other reaction.
He just assumed a numb posture, with his eyes half-opened and his pupils dilated, looking at the rune lamp on the ceiling.
He didn't know how long he had been cut open.
Maybe it's a few minutes, maybe it's a few hours, time has no meaning in that cage.
A few days later.
A series of experiments come to an end.
The sound of footsteps gradually faded away, until finally it disappeared completely, then there was the sound of the door closing, and then silence.
Claude was lying in the cage. His eyes were half-open and his pupils were dilated, like a corpse that was not completely dead. His consciousness was wandering between wakefulness and coma.
Sometimes he could feel the passage of time, sometimes he couldn't.
But he remembers being hungry.
Hungry all the time.
Hunger didn't kill him, but it caused unbearable pain.
The stomach was like a crumpled paper ball, and every movement would cause a sharp pain, as if something was tearing at his stomach wall. The pain spread from the stomach to the entire abdomen, then to the limbs, and finally converged to the top of the head, making his whole body scream.
But the pain is not the most uncomfortable thing.
The most uncomfortable thing is the feeling of emptiness.
It's like something has been taken away from the inside of the body, leaving a hole that can never be filled.
He tried eating his own skin.
He rolled the shreds of skin that fell off the wound and were scorched by the arc into his mouth, chewed them up, and swallowed them.
He can't feel them.
They are too small.
He tried drinking his own bodily fluids.
He licked and collected the clear, sticky fluid that oozed from the frostbitten hind legs. It was highly salty, bitter, and had a metallic taste.
This would at least keep his throat moist and keep his tongue from completely sticking to the roof of his mouth.
He tried eating his own feces.
Very little, dry and tasteless.
The days passed day by day.
Claude no longer counts time.
He lost the concept of time.
When he is awake, he will stare at the darkness outside the cage with his eyes open for several days in a daze.
The darkness seemed alive, slowly squirming and changing shape under his gaze, sometimes turning into some strange faces, sometimes turning into some twisted shadows.
He would also suddenly fall asleep.
When he woke up, he found that there were new wounds on his body, but he didn't feel anything at all. He didn't know when he was used as an experimental subject again. He actually felt like he was dead.
Only occasionally, his stomach would move.
Then, a spasm of pain would briefly pull him out of his half-dead state and make him realize he was alive again.
Just like that, the eighteenth year has come.
The change happened on an ordinary morning.
Claude felt a huge impact coming from above his head.
The ground shook, the dust on the ceiling fell rustlingly, then there was the sound of burning flames, and then silence.
A very long silence.
Claude lay in the cage and waited for a long time.
One day, two days, three days - he wasn't sure.
His sense of time is completely broken.
Then, the door that would open every once in a while never opened again, and the sound of footsteps never appeared again.
The rune lights in the laboratory gradually dimmed.
Magic Array lacks maintenance, and the energy is lost faster than it is replenished. The weak blue light becomes dimmer day by day, and then one day, it all goes out.
In the dark.
Claude I don't know how long I have been waiting.
He just lay there and listened to his own heartbeat.
But the hunger didn't go away.
After falling into a coma and regaining consciousness, I don't know how I managed to bite off those chains.
Maybe it's because the chain itself has rusted, maybe it's because the enchantment on the chain has lost its effectiveness, maybe it's just because his fangs are still sharp enough.
By the way, his fangs are naturally sharp, even more powerful than Chromium Dragon of the same race.
This is also the only part of him that has not completely degenerated due to hunger.
And when Claude climbed out of the dungeon, he found himself deep in a dense jungle.
The moonlight shines through the gaps between the leaves, casting mottled silvery white spots on the ground. The air is filled with the smell of humus and night flowers, and the calls of nocturnal birds can be heard from the distant tree crown.
Free.
The thought passed through his mind.
What then?
Claude's body did not give his brain time to think about this problem.
He instinctively lowered his head, opened his mouth, and began to bite the ground.
Soil, grass roots, fallen leaves of Rot, tubers of unknown plants.
A small piece of sharp stone embedded in the soil scratched his tongue, and his mouth was filled with a mixed taste of soil and Bloodshed.
But he didn't stop.
He couldn't stop.
The gnawing feeling in his stomach turned into complete tearing at this moment, as if a hungry beast that had been dormant for many years finally broke free, screamed inside his body, pulled at his stomach wall with its claws, and tore at his intestines with its teeth.
Eat!
Eat anything!
Eat everything you can fit in your mouth!
Fill your stomach, plug up the hole, and give the damn hunger a break, even if it's just for a while!
Claude doesn't remember much about what happened next.
All he knew was that he kept eating.
Time passes day by day.
He ate dirt, tree roots, moss, small animals, bugs, snakes, birds... His body grew at an almost crazy speed, and his originally shrunken body swelled as if it had been blown away.
He gradually gained a body fit for his age.
No longer the skinny little thing, he grew bigger and stronger, becoming an individual even stronger than other dragons of the same age.
But he still felt hungry.
Always feel hungry.
Only when he opens his mouth, bites the prey, and feels the flesh tearing between his fangs, and the warm blood pouring into his throat, does the empty hunger temporarily subside.
Just for a moment.
Then it will come back, stronger than before.
In this way, frequent predation brings more fights.
More battles bring more injuries. More injuries make him more irritable and hungry. Being more irritable and hungry makes him lose control more easily. Being more out of control makes him involved in conflicts more frequently. More conflicts make him stronger. Being stronger makes him believe that violence is the only way to solve problems.
Vicious cycle.
A narrow escape from death.
Claude can't count how many times he has been seriously injured and how many times he almost died.
But every time, he survived.
When he finally gained a foothold and occupied his own place in Bernardo's Dragonkin ecological niche, he was no longer the little dragon lying in the cage waiting to die.
He is Deep Frost Tyrant.
Ancient Chromium Dragon, Claude.
A powerful Evil Dragon that scares most living creatures.
But he never got what he really wanted.
He just wanted to be truly full for once.
Just once.
In a deep dream.
Claude lived through his life of wandering, hunger and fighting again, dreaming that he climbed to the top of the food chain step by step.
At the end, he dreamed that he was severely injured by Red Emperor Pale Star.
I dreamed that I was huddled in a deep, dark crevice on the sea floor. My wounds hurt, my stomach was empty, and my whole body was cold.
Dreams gradually overlap with reality.
At this moment, the dark sea water was suddenly illuminated.
The light was dark red, with a scorching temperature, passing through layers of water pressure, dyeing the entire cave the color of lava.
Half asleep and half awake, Claude half opened his eyes.
His perception saw a familiar figure.
Red Emperor Pale Star.
The powerful dragon that had just severely wounded him was suspended in the deep water, and its burning eyes were staring at him through the turbulent water.
A pair of huge claws of the dragon were raised high.
There is an extremely concentrated Dragon Aura Bomb between the two claws, like a sun about to explode, its dark red light illuminates the surrounding seawater.
Regarding this.
Hatchling Dragon just looked at the sun with disdain.
Drowsily, half asleep and half awake, he changed from lying on his side to lying on his back, with his belly facing up and his limbs spread out, like a dead fish drying its belly.
I admit that you are so powerful that you even chased me into my dream, but no matter how powerful you are, you can still hurt me in my dream?
Come and enjoy yourself.
Only a cowardly dragon would choose to dodge.