The Second Rank

Outside the abandoned mine.

Hidorivi approached slowly with a cold expression, glancing at the Chrome Dragon before him.

He was somewhat surprised. He had seen Xilong's fighting techniques clearly from the sidelines.

From slipping past an opponent to strike with his claws, to darting and shifting, Xilong had subdued Leijieduolei twice in an extremely short span of time. Each time had been clean and decisive, and there had been no smugness after victory. That meant he had been certain of winning from the start.

How could a Chrome Dragon be so certain of victory when facing an Iron Dragon?

"Your claws are excellent. They can tear through an Iron Dragon's scales."

Hidorivi said, "Sharp claws and fangs, agile movements, an understanding of combat and the ability to adapt—whether Heavy-Metal Dragon or Lesser Dragon, you have the right to challenge us. Leijieduolei's defeat to you this time was nothing shameful."

"I came for you today," Xilong said.

"Do you need to rest? Or are you ready already?"

Hidorivi spoke proudly, his eyes fixed on Xilong's claws.

"Come!"

The instant Xilong's words fell, the two Heavy-Metal Dragons moved at once.

Steel-gray and black-iron gleams intertwined beneath the blazing sun, producing sharp cracks like clashing metal.

Hidorivi was not particularly fast. He had already seen through Xilong's techniques: nothing more than seizing the gaps in an enemy's attacks, borrowing force to turn it back on them, forcing mistakes, and finally winning by locking onto vital points.

So long as one's control over one's body was precise enough, and one could release and restrain strength freely, one would not easily step into the Chrome Dragon's trap.

Xilong was blasted back by the ferocious force and forced to retreat again and again. Hidorivi was no weakling. He was the second-strongest among the Dragon Hatchlings. Even after long training, Xilong still could not surpass this Iron Dragon in raw strength.

Hidorivi narrowed his eyes. The moment the Chrome Dragon was knocked back, he immediately seized an opening and pursued swiftly, swiping down with an unstoppable momentum as the wind wailed beneath his claws.

Unwilling to face his monstrous strength head-on, the Chrome Dragon swept backward once more.

Seeing this, the Iron Dragons all gave low chuckles. That was Hidorivi's tried-and-true strike. It looked domineering and irresistible, but in truth, he had not used his full strength at all.

He withdrew the move in midair. His claw strike did not fall. Instead, his bright red eyes locked tightly onto the direction in which the Chrome Dragon had dodged. Then, without warning, he lunged forward, reaching directly for the Chrome Dragon's landing point.

Using that claw strike, Hidorivi completely altered the rhythm of the battle and seized the initiative firmly in his hands.

Many Iron Dragons had fallen to this move. Once they dodged, he would attack their landing point in advance, leaving them no time even to counterattack.

In the Iron Dragons' eyes, the only way to break it was to do as Jelierion did: neither dodge nor evade, but meet Hidorivi head-on.

But Jelierion dared to do that because he was powerful enough, confident he could overwhelm Hidorivi in strength.

Among the other Heavy-Metal Dragons and Lesser Dragons, who dared stand proudly without retreating before an Iron Dragon's claw strike? Even the Cobalt Dragon, famed as a heavy shield, probably could not do it.

In the flash of a spark, Hidorivi had already pounced toward the Chrome Dragon's landing point. The two were separated by no more than milliseconds, one ahead and one behind. There was absolutely no time to dodge again.

The Iron Dragons all believed Hidorivi had already won.

But only Xilong's foreclaws touched the ground.

He seemed to have anticipated Hidorivi's pursuit. Borrowing the momentum that remained from his dodge, he drove his iron-pincer claws into the ground. Using his foreclaws as the center, he relied on the tremendous strength of his waist and abdomen to pull his entire body into the air.

The Chrome Dragon's body whirled with a howl, tracing a huge arc like a savage flail sweeping across the field.

That heavy tail, covered in steel-gray scales, struck Hidorivi's face with the force of a thousand tons.

With a heavy boom, the two-meter-long Iron Dragon, as heavy as rock itself, was actually sent sprawling, smashed onto the ground sideways.

"Roar!"

Moqi roared in encouragement, so thrilled he nearly jumped up, drawing sidelong glances from many Dragon Hatchlings.

At some point, many Heavy-Metal Dragons had gathered around the field. There were Cobalt Dragons, Tungsten Dragons, and Nickel Dragons, while some Lesser Dragons hid farther away to watch.

Hidorivi shook his head and rose to his feet, spitting out a mouthful of filthy blood. He did not know how many teeth had shattered. His struck jawbone was visibly cracked, and violent pain surged over him.

He was somewhat stunned.

That blow was no less powerful than one of Jelierion's fierce strikes, yet his opponent was clearly only a Chrome Dragon. He did not know how Xilong had swung such tremendous force.

Xilong slowly drew back his tail.

One should not underestimate a dragon's tail. As a dragon's fifth limb, if used properly, it could gather the strength of the entire body and unleash force far beyond claws and fangs. Even a Dragon Hatchling could shatter rock and batter steel.

Hidorivi's eyes flickered, and his expression turned savage.

In his eyes, Xilong was no longer a challenger, but an opponent he had to face with everything he had. This opponent's style was completely different from that of the Iron Dragons—flexible and ever-changing, fierce and dangerous.

This was the first time he had personally experienced the sharpness of a Chrome Dragon, rather than merely reading hollow descriptions in the Dragon Legacy.

Hidorivi felt his heartbeat accelerate, his blood boiling hot throughout his body. Blazing battle intent teased at his nerves, making him unable to resist the urge to roar aloud.

"Roar!"

Hidorivi threw back his head and roared, the sound like a sledgehammer smashing against an iron anvil.

Xilong steadied himself, his scales reflecting a cold gleam beneath the scorching sun. He did not blindly pursue. Though that strike had badly wounded Hidorivi, it had also left his tail stiff and aching. It truly felt as if he had struck steel.

I need to start preparing. Once the ability's duration ends, I'll carry out a second Consume Gold, Absorb Iron.

He thought silently.

A fierce wind howled as a massive body dragged a black afterimage behind it.

It was a savage charge forged from strength and body weight, without the slightest flashy technique. Hidorivi turned his entire weight into a roaring war chariot and rammed straight at Xilong.

Since he could not match the Chrome Dragon in agility, then he would return to the essence of an Iron Dragon and use absolute strength to crush his opponent together with all those delicate techniques!

The watching Tungsten Dragons and Nickel Dragons all shrank their necks, seemingly intimidated by Hidorivi's mountain-toppling, sea-overturning advance, and instinctively retreated.

But Xilong met the charge head-on.

The two darted, leaped, and pounced across the vast field, displaying a level far beyond ordinary Dragon Hatchling brawls.

With strength that made one's tongue click in amazement, Hidorivi forcibly fought against enormous momentum and inertia. Each time, he exploded into motion and stopped just as abruptly, charging wildly about outside the abandoned mine.

His scales and bones creaked and groaned with teeth-aching misery, but Hidorivi paid it no mind as he pursued the Chrome Dragon in a roaring sprint.

Faced with savage biting and grappling at high speed, Xilong adopted another method.

He lunged at Hidorivi and sprinted at full speed, but at the instant before collision, his right wing tucked tightly in while his left wing burst open like an enraged battle flag.

The air moaned and whined. Massive air resistance forcibly dragged at his left side, sending the Chrome Dragon's body into an exaggerated arcing drift.

Xilong slid with the momentum, sweeping sideways close to the ground. He brushed past Hidorivi's fangs and delivered a powerful bite in return.

Across twelve full exchanges, Hidorivi landed only one genuine hit on his opponent. In that one strike, he broke the Chrome Dragon's right wing.

Yet the injuries his opponent left on him were more numerous and far worse.

Each time, the Chrome Dragon struck like a blade, repeatedly carving through his shoulder blades. The attacks were so precise and sharp that even layers of iron scales could not protect him. Savage muscles and sinews spilled outward, wounds deep enough to expose bone, blood pouring like a stream.

Hidorivi breathed deeply, his eyes burning savagely like fire. At the moment Xilong's fangs descended, a complete opening for attack appeared as well.

He decided to end this battle.

The Iron Dragon's hind legs sank heavily into the gravelly ground, pressing down his entire weight.

This was a killing move from the Dragon Legacy. Hidorivi had never used it on any other Dragon Hatchling before. Only Jelierion had trained with him, helping him correct the outline of the move and the techniques for exerting force.

After practicing bitterly time and time again, Hidorivi believed he could finally unleash it in battle. He had that confidence.

Xilong's bite fell, his fangs piercing skin as shattered scales and blood sprayed out.

But when he glanced around, what he saw was Hidorivi's face, serious to the point of reverence.

His battle instincts sounded a warning, and the Chrome Dragon immediately sensed danger.

The next second, Hidorivi moved. His broad chest suddenly contracted. The muscle groups in his chest and abdomen, shoulder blades, back, and wing roots all collapsed inward in an instant.

He raised a forearm at Xilong and drove that claw straight out.

"Screech—"

A piercing metallic explosion suddenly rang out beyond the abandoned mine.

That dark, heavy claw was too vicious, too fast. It erupted in a straight line over an extremely short distance, like a solid cannonball violently fired from point-blank range.

Xilong had no time to react. Relying purely on battle instinct, he tensed his entire body, released his fangs, and violently flung his head backward.

Hidorivi's claw tips shot past Xilong's face and failed to hit.

Yet that straight thrust of a claw had opened completely, and its speed was so great that it raised a violent vacuum wind pressure. Though it was clearly no spell, the turbulent airflow pressed against Xilong like magic, forcing him toward Hidorivi's claws!

Xilong felt a sudden weight behind him. The unexpected wind pressure pressed tightly against his back. The force was not especially powerful, but amid a white-hot struggle, any tiny variable could be fatal.

At the same time, Hidorivi's outstretched giant claw followed the momentum of its thrust and twisted back through the air with extreme crispness.

His five spread clawed toes curled inward viciously. Thick knucklebones locked one after another from the excessive force, like five sharp wedges cast from pig iron. Together with the pressure of the wind, they sought to pin Xilong in place and pierce straight through him!

Dangerous and unfathomable.

Xilong's body had long since tensed. In that hair's-breadth moment, he neither bent down to throw himself aside nor crouched to leap. He merely locked every one of his already tensed clawed toes and dug them into the hard rock beneath his feet with merciless force.

"Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack..."

Within milliseconds, crisp metallic friction exploded continuously from his knucklebones. Xilong pressed the terrifying mass of his nearly one-ton body entirely onto the ten knucklebones gripping the rock.

It was as though he stood on a vertical cliff face, with a ten-thousand-foot abyss below him.

Because of the extreme congestion of blood, strain, and friction, his clawed toes changed from steel-gray to a faintly glowing dark red.

There was no time to observe further details, because Hidorivi's giant claw had arrived. At the instant the wind pressure closed in, the knucklebones Xilong had locked into the ground erupted in rebound!

"Bang—"

The rock beneath the Chrome Dragon shattered, and large chunks of stone scattered like shotgun pellets. Xilong made no dodging motion at all, yet shifted sideways without warning, withdrawing from Hidorivi's attack range.

This displacement was not produced by pushing off the ground at all. Instead, it used the explosive thrust of rebounding joints to achieve a short-range movement without warning.

There was no visible rise or fall of his body, leaving Hidorivi completely unprepared.

The Iron Dragon's sure-to-hit grab fell entirely into empty air. Having lost its target, his five clawed toes slammed viciously together, bursting with a piercing clang of metal on metal. Actual sparks flew.

Xilong shot backward, several scorching sparks flashing past his eyes.

He panted heavily, realizing how terrifying that strike had been.

Hidorivi panted heavily as well.

Even as an Iron Dragon, he was still only a Dragon Hatchling. He simply could not bear the enormous burden that the killing move placed on his body.

Combined with continuous blood loss and exhausted stamina, Hidorivi could no longer hold on. His limbs trembled, and he collapsed weakly to his knees.

One stood; one fell.

"You won."

Even beneath the gazes of the dragons, Hidorivi did not cling to the matter. He admitted his defeat cleanly and decisively.

The surroundings fell into dead silence. Whether Heavy-Metal Dragons or Lesser Dragons, all had been intimidated by their savage clash and could not utter a single word.

Compared to such cold, brutal combat, the Dragon Hatchlings' earlier fights seemed like play.

"Awooo! The Chrome Dragon won! Did you all see that? Xilong won! He defeated Leijieduolei and Hidorivi! He's the second among the dragon pack now! He's stronger than every one of you dragons! Ha ha, ha ha!"

Only Moqi bounced left and right in place, his tail whipping wildly as he cheered loudly in excitement, announcing the battle's result to every Heavy-Metal Dragon.

Xilong walked a few steps closer and looked at Hidorivi. "That move of yours was good. What is it called?"

"Wedge Form."

Hidorivi's face remained expressionless. "My physique is too weak, and my strength insufficient. If it were Jelierion instead, you would not have had a chance to dodge."

"It truly is a dangerous move."

Xilong nodded seriously to show that he believed him. "Can you teach it to me?"