Translator: AnubisTL
The scorching sun had baked the Hemlock Hills into a parched, brown landscape, the cracked earth radiating shimmering waves of heat.
The young red dragon lay sprawled on the gravel, tongue lolling out. Wisps of lingering dragon breath escaped the corners of its mouth, exploding into tiny sparks in the air. Mobel scratched his back against the rough, hard bark of an iron fir tree, leaves rustling down around him.
Garos stared intently at the earth spider emerging from a fissure in the ground.
Its body resembled a millstone, etched with rocky patterns. Eight long, sharp legs, stained with black soil, supported a deliberately hollowed-out carapace on its back, filled with a large lump of black earth.
Sniffing the air, a pungent, fiery sensation burned in Garos's nostrils.
His eyes lit up with excitement as he lunged forward, his massive shadow engulfing the trembling black spider beneath him.
"The scent of black oil!"
He lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the black soil carried on the spider's back. Reaching out with a clawed hand, he scooped up a handful.
The moment it touched his palm, a slick, greasy sensation flooded his senses.
Garos squeezed the soil, and droplets of black oil gradually seeped through the gaps between his claws.
This was soil saturated with black oil—not the oil itself, but still a significant achievement. Garos was highly satisfied with the earth spider's haul.
However...
Why had it only brought back oil-soaked soil and not the black oil itself?
With this question in mind, Garos used his mind sense skill to enter the earth spider's spiritual world.
The earth spider's spiritual world was equally dark, resembling the Rock-Crushing Worm's—both felt like oppressive, lightless underground realms.
"Why didn't you bring back the black oil directly?" Garos asked in the spiritual world.
The earth spider responded, "Danger. Death. Fear."
Its intelligence was even lower than the Rock-Crushing Worm's, its answers fragmented, but Garos still grasped the gist.
"The black oil deposits are too dangerous; approaching them would kill it. So it only dared to dig up oil-soaked soil from the periphery."
Garos pondered this.
He wasn't particularly surprised, as he had anticipated such a scenario.
Intelligent creatures guarding the black oilfield wouldn't just defend against surface and aerial threats; they would undoubtedly have underground defenses as well.
He carefully examined the earth spider's flickering memory fragments.
Through the earth spider's perspective, Garos saw several earth spiders burrowing through the dark underground, surrounded by increasingly dark, oil-rich soil.
Suddenly, a massive, centipede-like creature appeared.
Forged entirely from some black metal, its body consisted of dozens of articulated steel segments linked together. Each segment was etched with glowing blue energy patterns, and pairs of auxiliary limbs extended from the joints, constantly contracting and expanding like folding combat blades.
The moment this creature emerged, it began hunting the earth spiders.
Within a minute, it had torn the foremost earth spiders to shreds. After patrolling the underground for another circuit, it didn't attack the earth spiders that were keeping their distance.
Some kind of alchemy golem guarding the underground? Judging by its size and performance, it's at least a Level 5 or 6 threat. The earth spiders stand no chance in a direct confrontation, Garos thought silently.
Clearly, this was no natural lifeform but an artificially constructed underground guardian, specifically designed to eliminate any creatures approaching the oilfield from below.
Bringing back the oil-rich soil is already a decent haul. At least we've gained something, Garos transmitted encouragingly, urging the earth spiders to keep up their efforts.
The earth spider transmitted an excited mental wave, its spiritual form becoming agitated, emitting a red glow: "Exchange. Promise."
You're awfully impatient, aren't you, kid?
But the promise I made was contingent on bringing back black oil. This oily soil is of inferior quality.
Garos pondered for a few seconds before withdrawing from the earth spider's spiritual world and bringing over the female spider, whom he had been treating like royalty.
Upon seeing the female spider, the male earth spider immediately scuttled over excitedly, waving its limbs. The female spider, in her breeding season, didn't resist and readily accepted.
Garos watched the pair with curiosity.
They showed no shame, mating openly in broad daylight, even with a dragon observing. They immediately began producing the next generation.
However, their mating method was strikingly different from that of many other creatures.
The male spider waved its limbs, inserting its slender left pedipalp into the left opening of the female spider's genital plate and its right pedipalp into the right opening. At first glance, the process appeared murderous, even somewhat gruesome.
Just as the male spider was about to finish, Garos, with lightning reflexes, reached out and yanked him off the female spider.
Since the material brought back didn't meet the original requirements, you only get half the breeding opportunity.
"Ten kilograms of oil-rich earth for one full breeding opportunity," Garos declared to the male spider, who was bristling and hissing in protest.
You're not a dragon! You're not a dragon!
The spider, dangling from Garos's grasp, flailed its limbs in mid-air, but eventually relented and agreed. It then scurried back underground to gather the oil-rich earth for Garos.
The female spider tilted her head, her expression blank as she watched Garos.
Why did you chase him away? she wondered, utterly bewildered.
Crack. Another fissure split the ground, bulged upward, and a second male spider emerged, also carrying oil-rich earth. It eagerly approached Garos, expecting its reward.
Garos grinned and beckoned it closer.
Soon, one male spider after another returned with black oil-rich earth, each seeking their reward.
Garos was magnanimous. Though the quantities fell short of their initial agreement, he still granted them half the promised reward—only to snatch them away mid-breeding.
A swarm of red-hot male spiders arrived in a frenzy, only to leave in a rage.
They burrowed furiously into the earth, venting their frustration and digging even more desperately for black oil-rich earth, driven by the promise of a full breeding opportunity.
"Poor spiders," Samantha remarked, her tone shifting. "Garos, you're so cruel."
She quickly added, "But that's why you're such an excellent Red Iron Hybrid Dragon! Your innate wickedness is beyond my reach."
In the eyes of a red dragon...
Evil represents excellence, honor, and glory. All red dragons aspire to become the ultimate evil dragon.
In Samantha's eyes, Garos, who even oppressed and bullied spiders, was utterly wicked, beyond redemption.
"Don't slander me," Garos retorted. "I merely motivate them to work harder and more diligently. How can that be considered evil?"
He had never considered himself an evil dragon.
Garos didn't see himself as a benevolent dragon who helped the weak and punished the wicked, but he certainly didn't think he was evil either.
Evil dragons were frequently targeted by various factions for extermination, and Garos had no desire to be mistaken for one.
Yet when he looked at his own reflection, Garos found himself speechless.
His appearance, a fusion of iron dragon and red dragon traits with some evolutionary enhancements, was even more ferocious than the stereotypical evil dragon.
If powerful adventurers were to arrive, they would never listen to his explanations.
A Red Iron Hybrid Dragon, born evil!
Oh, look at him trying to weasel his way out of this!
Tell it to my Evil-Slaying Blade!
This was the most likely outcome.
"Prejudice in the human heart is an insurmountable mountain," Garos sighed inwardly, shaking his head. "I, Garos, am truly not an evil dragon."
Now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to arm and strengthen himself. If he ever faced extermination campaigns in the future, at least he would have the means to resist.
(End of the Chapter)
⚡ 𝟏𝟒 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐬 | 𝟖.𝟓𝐤 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 | 𝟏𝟒.𝟑𝐌 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 [𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐥.𝐜𝐨𝐦]