Without a second's pause, the Chrome Dragon pulled out the bone spike and charged forward again.
Still closing in with a cheetah's pounce, he avoided a head-on clash. Ferrum gripped the bone spike in reverse like a dagger and drove it into Kelaili's scales, but did not pull it out. Instead, he immediately flowed into his next movement, tumbling into a leap.
His body flipped backward through the air, and his foot claw stomped fiercely down on the Cobalt-Blue Overlord, landing squarely on the bone spike buried in flesh and driving it several inches deeper.
Kelaili let out a low growl, his scales flexing like serrated blades.
Yet Ferrum's assault flowed like drifting clouds and running water. He had already widened the distance again, leaving Kelaili's counterattack unable to hit. With the bone spike lodged in his body, Kelaili grimaced in pain.
The Cobalt-Blue Overlord pumped his muscles. Only after a long while did he force the bone spike out. When it fell to the ground, his blood had corroded it until it was as thin as a short needle, wisps of smoke curling from it.
Ferrum landed some distance away, staring at Kelaili's body as he slowly paced.
Though this distance was close, it was still safe enough. The Cobalt-Blue Overlord lacked the ability to pounce with explosive speed; as long as Ferrum kept his eye on that sledgehammer-like tail, he could accurately calculate the range of Kelaili's attacks.
As he thought, Ferrum worked the joints throughout his body.
There were thousands of bones within a Chrome Dragon's body. When necessary, those bones could be rearranged in any way.
As Ferrum strode forward at an unhurried pace, his body began to recalibrate. Some bones fused tightly together, their seams vanishing as they became a single mass of hard bone.
Other joints loosened, gaining greater and more comprehensive mobility.
If Cobalt Dragons were walking war fortresses, then Chrome Dragons were merciless dueling machines. Over millions of years of war and slaughter, these Higher Species had long evolved their respective traits to the utmost extreme.
Finally, supported by his powerful hind legs, Ferrum used only his reverse-jointed legs to brace himself, pressing his long cervical vertebrae into his back as he rose lithely upright.
"Here it comes again..."
Bido muttered to himself. Several Nickel Dragons clinging to the rubble all widened their eyes, each feeling a stabbing pain in their skulls and spines.
That posture was upright, yet slightly hunched, carrying an intensely ferocious air. It freed every limb on his body, turning each into an independent weapon.
The Chrome Dragon had used this very method to tear apart the Nickel Dragons' encirclement. Even now, it still left lingering fear in their hearts.
At the center of the field, Kelaili's pitch-black pupils narrowed as he sensed a silent danger.
This time, he chose to attack first. His heavy footsteps shattered the rocks as he charged headlong with his massive body, then rode the momentum into a smashing fall, rolling and crushing across the ground.
It was exactly how Cobalt Dragons rolled about in water. It looked comical and absurd, but this was indeed how they had always fought.
With their terrifying strength and weight, a rolling Cobalt Dragon was like a giant hammer bouncing along the ground. Any ordinary creature caught beneath such crushing force would instantly become a puddle of bloody pulp.
But against a Chrome Dragon, such movements appeared somewhat clumsy and stupid.
"If it were me, I could dodge that too."
Moqi muttered from the sidelines.
Ferrum remained expressionless. Watching the Cobalt-Blue Overlord roll toward him, he twisted his hind legs and arched backward in a spin, retreating lightly like a lynx hunting colossal prey.
He did not merely retreat to evade; he counterattacked at the same time. Pulling another bone spike from beneath his neck, he drove it into Kelaili's body once more.
As the Cobalt-Blue Overlord rolled, that bone spike vanished from sight at once, leaving only the thunderous rumble of something like a massive boulder rolling before him.
A sharp pain shot through Ferrum's clawed toes. Merely touching the rolling Cobalt Dragon had immediately wounded him again with that enormous kinetic force. Fortunately, he did not hesitate. He instantly abandoned the bone spike and darted backward once more.
Ferrum wheeled, shifted, and leapt around the enormous Cobalt Dragon, moving sideways at times and sliding low at others. Taking advantage of Kelaili's initiative, he turned the back-and-forth exchange of offense and defense into a high-speed strangling battle.
That was the domain Chrome Dragons excelled in most. Ferrum dashed, leaped, and pounced. Whenever the distance closed, he would immediately reach beneath his neck or to his shoulder blades like lightning during the gaps in the attack.
Squelch!
Squelch!
Blood sprayed everywhere. One sharp bone spike after another was torn out from Ferrum's body at the root and densely driven into Kelaili's flesh—pinning, slicing, piercing through!
The heavy armor on Kelaili's body began exploding apart over wide areas. Every wound torn open would inevitably receive another bone spike mercilessly nailed into it by Ferrum.
The Cobalt-Blue Overlord was completely suppressed by this hunting-and-dismemberment style of fighting. His physical structure doomed him to be unable to keep up with Ferrum's agile shifts and leaps. Like a gigantic snapping turtle, he could only remain in place, constantly adjusting his center of gravity and using his scales and muscles to endure the blows.
Back when the Cobalt Dragons had hidden in Sunken Hollow and secretly analyzed the situation, they had claimed that Cobalt Dragons feared no dragon of the same age. They only feared older Chrome Dragons, because only older Chrome Dragons could move so fast that they could not react, easily tearing through their scales.
Just like Ferrum!
The battle gradually neared its end. Kelaili began to tire. Ferrum, racing at full speed, seized an opening as the power within his body gathered in full. His chest, shoulder blades, and clawed arms collapsed inward in an instant.
That was a killing art from the inherited secret techniques of Iron Dragons. Ferrum had already mastered some of its techniques for exerting force. He gripped the final bone spike, pinching it together with the five bones of his fingers to form a scorching war spear, then drove it straight at Kelaili.
Squelch!
Ferrum pressed his entire weight and momentum into that claw. From above to below, he chiseled through the Cobalt-Blue Overlord's block-like scales and drove his entire right arm straight into Kelaili's shoulder blade.
For the first time since the battle began, the massive Cobalt-Blue Overlord staggered backward, nearly unable to stand. The sounds of bones cracking burst one after another inside his body, while blood surged forth like a waterfall.
Normally, the battle should have ended at this point. Any Dragon Hatchling suffering such a piercing, grievous wound should have collapsed and conceded.
But Kelaili panted heavily, then actually raised both claws and locked Ferrum's forelimb in place. Their faces pressed close as they glared at each other, fangs bared between them.
"Got you."
Kelaili revealed a vicious expression. His voice, which had always been muffled and thick, now carried a trace of genuine ferocity. He roared low and erupted with immense strength, causing the Chrome Dragon's scaled hide to burst apart entirely.
"Ferrum, surrender!"
Kelaili warned, "Otherwise, I'll twist your forelimb off."
"Come on."
Ferrum tensed his body as well. His spine slowly twisted and tightened. "Let's compare and see whose will is stronger."
As soon as the words fell, he used his spine as an axis and spun violently, unleashing a predator's primal death roll. The tips of his clawed toes became a spiraling lance, drilling deeper into the Cobalt-Blue Overlord's body amid the piercing scrape of bones grinding together.
At the same time, every muscle in Kelaili's body twisted tight, exerting force in unison to snap off the Chrome Dragon's clawed toes along with their bones!
Both dragons let out deep, resounding roars at once.
They were both powerful pure-blooded dragons. One was the Cobalt-Blue Overlord, the other a Variant Species Chrome Dragon. Each wielded terrifying violence. Under such a savage clash, their scales and skin broke down entirely, while their bones and muscles cried out in succession and blood gushed forth like a raging torrent.
Only after quite some time was the victor finally decided.
Ferrum slowly pulled back, his right arm hanging limply at his side. Kelaili's powerful acid corrosion and scale-grinding had destroyed all the scales and flesh on his clawed hand, leaving only a snapped section of bone.
Blood dripped from the chromium-rich bone onto the ground.
But he was still standing.
On the other side, Kelaili was already seated on the ground. A huge hole had been drilled through his shoulder blade. He breathed with difficulty, having lost the ability to move.
In truth, he still had another choice. As long as he held Ferrum tightly and refused to let go, the Cobalt Dragon's unique corrosive blood would drown Ferrum and corrode him completely into a dragon skeleton.
But in that case, once Ferrum sensed the danger, he would likely slice Kelaili's heart apart directly.
This was ultimately only a clash between Dragon Hatchlings. They could not use such a strategy of mutual destruction.
"As expected of the sharpest Chrome Dragon."
Kelaili panted for a long while before he could finally speak. "You're stronger than me now."
As his words fell, another streak of light shot out from his body. But this time, it was not a scale—it was a glittering gold coin.
"Then come challenge me again next time."
Ferrum caught it with his left claw and smiled lightly. "Remember to bring gold coins."
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