The hunt

King Ghidorah struggled a little at first, wriggling back and forth,

but soon grew used to the warmth and safety of Redd's arms. Its three little heads drooped, and it fell fast asleep, even its little snores carrying a sense of security.

Watching the little creature sleeping peacefully in his arms, Redd felt even more delighted.

Unlimited time, a powerful bloodline, loyal mounts-or so he thought-what could possibly be impossible?

"Hey, Aegon, let's go! Today's target is at least twenty Sandworms!"

Redd shouted down at the Red Dragon Aegon, who was still slowly adjusting his posture, flapping his wings hard just to barely get off the ground.

Aegon listened to this absurd target, then looked at Ehm moving effortlessly through the sky,

and took in Redd's almost shameless shout. His long tail twitched involuntarily, as though expressing his displeasure.

Taking flight had indeed become much harder for him. Every beat of his aging wings came with heavy panting, nowhere near as vigorous as when he had been young and strong.

He glanced helplessly at that energetic figure and ultimately chose to obey,

beating his wings with difficulty and rising clumsily into the air. He followed Ehm and Redd, beginning what was destined to be a long hunt.

When the two great dragons took to the air together, they completely claimed the skies over the Valyria Ruins.

Two streams of searing Dragonfire, one black and one red, descended like divine punishment, pouring over the earth.

Wherever that terrifying heat and destructive power passed, hard sand and stone melted, and withered vegetation instantly turned to ash,

while any life unfortunate enough to appear in that area would be reduced to nothing in an instant.

The Valyria Ruins were already desolate, and now they were shrouded in this raging Dragonfire,

where any creature daring to show itself would immediately be burned away. Not a single creature could withstand it.

Like a calm commander, Redd hovered in midair, his fingers deftly sweeping across the virtual panel floating before him as he precisely directed the two great dragons.

His gaze was as sharp as a hawk's, constantly searching every corner of the ruins for Sandworms lurking in the shadows and black mist.

The Black Dragon Ehm was extremely fast, darting constantly at low altitude like a phantom in the night,

using its presence and occasional short bursts of dragon breath to harass the Sandworms, draw their attention, and force them out of hiding.

Although the Red Dragon Aegon struggled to take flight, he was larger and could sustain his flames longer. His role was to remain a little higher in the sky,

like a mobile artillery battery, suppressing them with Dragonfire that covered a wider area, keeping after the Sandworms trying to escape while creating opportunities for Ehm to close in for surprise attacks.

Under Redd's command, the two dragons grew increasingly coordinated.

Ehm charged into battle, while Aegon provided covering fire.

This mode of coordinated combat greatly improved the efficiency of hunting Sandworms, as well as their chances of success.

Previously, when Redd had only one dragon, facing those thick-skinned, tough Sandworms with their considerable attacking power,

he had always been somewhat worried, not even daring to confront them head-on, and had relied more on attrition and harassment.

But now, things were completely different.

One dragon drew their attacks and took the blows, while the other closed in like lightning, seizing the right moment to bite down hard.

No matter how strong a Sandworm's defenses were, they could not withstand a great dragon's fangs, which could tear through steel.

Once caught in a successful bite, it was almost certainly doomed. The Dragonfire that followed only needed to do a little final cleanup.

Over a day of working together, their first few attempts were still somewhat awkward, with several failures that gave Redd a fright.

But soon, the two dragons found each other's rhythm.

Ehm knew from which angle Aegon would provide supporting fire, and Aegon learned how to suppress the enemy as much as possible during Ehm's charges without accidentally hurting his companion.

By the end, the hunt flowed smoothly: Ehm charged, the Sandworm startled, Aegon breathed fire, the Sandworm panicked, Ehm bit, and the Sandworm died.

With the two dragons hunting in coordination, their success rate reached ninety percent!

The sky gradually darkened, the sunset's lingering glow painting it orange-red and mingling with the searing light of Dragonfire.

Redd counted the Sandworms they had killed that day: twenty-seven in total.

He grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth, and clapped excitedly. "Great! Fifty-four Evolution Points in the bag!"

This efficiency far exceeded Redd's expectations.

He had originally worried that gathering ten thousand Evolution Points would take years, and had even felt anxious and uneasy over it.

But now, it seemed that with the right method and two dragons working together, a year? Perhaps even less!

The thought filled him with an unprecedented sense of ease and confidence.

"Looks like all that fretting and worrying was for nothing," Redd murmured to himself, his voice full of relief,

"Looks like having the wrong mindset really won't do. You've got to stay optimistic!"

He patted the neck of the Red Dragon Aegon beside him, who looked somewhat tired but remained imposing:

"Kid, well done! Looks like I made the right decision!"

Aegon rolled his eyes and ignored him, merely giving a low grunt in the dragon tongue and shifting his wings, roughly meaning: Quit running your mouth. My wings are about to snap from all that flapping.

But Redd was no longer in the mood to heed his complaints. His gaze had already turned toward the more distant future, and ten thousand Evolution Points no longer seemed such an unattainable number.

Half a year slipped silently away, like a trail of sand grains dried by Dragonfire.

Redd and his two dragons-the Black Dragon Ehm and the Red Dragon Aegon-had long since grown accustomed to this hunting routine of leaving early and returning late.

At dawn, when the first faint light pierced the darkness of the Valyria Ruins, Redd would take to the air with the two dragons, beginning another day of slaughter and searching.

They swept over cracked earth and flew above twisted wreckage like three unsheathed blades, adding anything that could be defined as "life" to their hunting list.

Sandworms, lizards, crocodiles, wild dogs, night hawks, and even some mutated insects-anything that entered their sight could hardly escape a baptism of Dragonfire.

Only when night fell did they drag their weary bodies back to the crude dragon lair that was nonetheless theirs. Redd would give their wounds basic treatment and feed the dragons,

then begin tallying the day's gains-Evolution Points, along with the "treasures" scattered throughout the ruins.

Over the past six months, they had been not only hunters, but scavengers as well.

The Valyria Ruins, this land that had once nurtured the glory of dragonkind and a magical civilization, now held only broken walls and rubble, yet countless secrets and relics lay buried there.

Redd and his dragons were like two tireless detectors, clawing through sand and soil and melting rock with dragon breath, searching for anything they could use.