Translator: AnubisTL
Garos's dragon eyes narrowed slightly.
The white light pillar left a trail of vacuum in its wake, distorting even the light itself as it streaked through the air at tremendous speed.
If that hit him, it would be no joke.
This diamond giant was far more powerful than any opponent he had faced before.
To defeat it, he would need the perfect moment and the right strategy.
Garos abruptly folded his wings and twisted his body in mid-air. The light pillar grazed his wing membrane as he dodged, while he brute-force shattered the incoming rocks and fireballs with his body.
However, these evasive maneuvers inevitably slowed him down.
Whoosh!
Garos opened his mouth and unleashed a torrent of flaming dragon breath.
The dense, concentrated flames surged forward in a pillar aimed at a Young Stone Giant.
The young giant stood frozen in place, watching the dragon's breath approach with blank eyes.
The Granite Giant shoved his clansman aside and conjured a massive stone shield, positioning it in the path of the flames.
His heavy, towering body was forced backward step by step under the onslaught of the dragon breath, plowing a long trench in the ground. The stone shield visibly melted into a glassy state.
Suddenly, Garos ceased his breath.
He twisted his body and dodged the long spear hurled by the diamond giant.
Seeing that Garos had abandoned his crashing dive attack, the diamond giant chanted a low incantation, preparing to cast a heavy spell that would hinder his speed and maneuverability.
However.
Garos had anticipated this.
He flapped his wings, soaring upward to escape the spell's range.
The diamond giant's magic struck empty air, its magical energy wasted in vain.
"This juvenile dragon is no ordinary foe," the diamond giant thought, gazing at the dragon circling high above with solemnity.
It had dealt with dragonkind before, its hands stained with their blood. In its experience, dragons were creatures whose fiery tempers ran unchecked in battle. Though they could fly, few truly mastered this advantage. Once enraged, they would often abandon the skies to engage in ground combat, especially red dragons, which reveled in close-quarters combat, the thrill of blood-soaked slaughter, rather than using their speed and flight to outmaneuver their targets.
The juvenile dragon before it clearly possessed red dragon blood. Its spines, sturdy frame, and sulfurous scent all confirmed this. Yet the diamond giant's impression of it was entirely unlike that of a foolish, reckless red dragon.
Under the deep night sky, the battle raged on.
Garos fully exploited his aerial advantage. After his initial surprise attack, which killed the Young Stone Giant with a ferocious dive, he never returned to the ground.
Using ranged attacks like dragon breath and explosive scales, he maintained control of the area, unleashing a barrage of attacks on the Stone Giant Camp.
By repeatedly gathering power before launching his assaults, Garos, as the attacker, maintained the initiative. The stone giants, forced into a prolonged defense, inevitably made mistakes.
As Garos swooped down again, a Granite Giant cast a heavy spell at him.
The spell was cast not when Garos was slowing to ascend, but during his dive's acceleration—a completely mistimed strike.
Under the dual effects of an invisible force pulling him from the earth and a surging wave of qi, Garos's body tore through the night sky, nearly transforming into a straight line as he hurtled toward the Stone Giant Camp.
His wings spread like scythes.
A towering stone hut, a Granite Giant's arm, and the head of another Young Stone Giant were all cleanly severed in a single sweep.
The Diamond Giant strode forward to confront Garos, raising its arm.
Garos showed no fear, using his speed to sidestep the heavy punch and slam into the diamond giant's massive, diamond-hard chest.
Boom!
The ground buckled and cracked.
At the moment of impact, some of Garos's spines and fine scales shattered, his explosive scales bursting. The diamond giant's massive body was sent reeling backward, rolling dozens of times across the ground, crushing numerous members of its monster retinue, and collapsing several houses in its path before finally embedding itself in the outer wall of the giant camp, buried under a mound of rubble.
In a pure test of strength, Garos was no match for the diamond giant.
After all, he was too young and his life grade too low.
But after accelerating, Garos, now a blur of motion carrying immense kinetic energy, sent the diamond giant flying. Though the impact left him dizzy, his body, hardened by years of adapting to the harsh Sun Mountain, Sun Earth training, suffered no serious injury.
His dragon wings unfurled.
Before the swarming demonic beasts could surround him, Garos soared into the air, leaving the ground battlefield behind.
The diamond giant rose from the rubble, its chest bearing a deep indentation and cracks. But as nearby earth and stone coalesced, the wounds rapidly sealed.
Its defense was formidable, and it could continuously repair itself by absorbing the surrounding earth and stone.
Even standing still, it would take a long time to kill.
In his current state, Garos had no effective way to deal with the diamond giant.
The diamond giant was equally helpless against Garos.
Garos's speed was too great, and his stamina seemed inexhaustible. He maintained a terrifying pace and explosive power without showing any signs of fatigue or weakness, nor any obvious openings.
Both sides found each other to be formidable opponents.
It can't kill me, but the others are in grave danger.
The diamond giant's gaze swept over the other giants as these thoughts ran through its mind.
The Granite Giant was pressing the young giant's head back onto its body, using earth elemental energy to seal the wound and help it stand up again.
Stone giants were not flesh-and-blood creatures.
A decapitation was not a fatal injury to them.
Yet the near-death experience left the Young Stone Giant trembling slightly, its heart filled with both rage and fear toward the giant dragon in the sky.
The younger giants, equally terrified, huddled behind the Granite Giant, trembling.
I can't keep fighting it in the camp.
Every strike it makes damages the camp, and I have to protect my kin, so I can't fight freely.
With this thought, the diamond giant raised its head and began to insult and provoke Garos.
"You half-breed bastard!"
Its roar shook the mountains as it bellowed, "You only dare stay in the sky, afraid to even approach the ground, you coward! You're not even as brave as these pathetic rock lizards!"
"You fear me! You fear me tearing apart your dragon wings, ripping out your scales, and skinning you alive!"
"No red dragon has ever been as timid and cowardly as you! You have no honor of dragonkind, and you shame me!"
First, it hurled insults to draw Garos's hatred.
The diamond giant noticed a flicker of anger on the juvenile dragon's face.
Heh, still just a juvenile dragon. Though his temperament is more composed than other dragons, he can't resist the bait. He can't endure such provocation.
Considering Garos's greater composure, this taunt might not be enough to truly enrage him.
The diamond giant casually broke off a finger and tossed it into the air. "Come on, you cowardly half-breed lizard! This scrap is enough to be a family heirloom for your beggar's nest. Don't you dragons just love shiny trash?"
It suppressed the light radiating from its body, focusing it on its left chest.
A brilliant glow emerged from its heart.
Pure, radiant, and brilliant.
It shone like a miniature white sun.
That was the heart of the diamond giant—a supreme magical diamond nurtured within the stone giant's body for centuries.
"A true treasure! You scum aren't even worthy to touch it!"
After its insult, the diamond giant used the dragonkind's greed as bait.
Garos's eyes flickered as he stared at the diamond giant, his dragon face carefully showing a mix of fury and avarice.
"I will tear open your stony flesh with my claws and claim your heart," he growled.
"Heh, come and get it if you dare."
The diamond giant bent its knees slightly, then leaped away from the Stone Giant Camp, striding toward the highlands behind it.
The Stone Giant Camp was situated on a plateau.
The gently sloping, relatively flat terrain offered few obstacles, allowing the giant to run at a steady pace as it gradually distanced itself from the camp.
Garos, seemingly provoked and enticed by the treasure, abandoned his attack on the giant camp.
An almost imperceptible smirk curved the red-iron dragon's lips.
Finally... it's fallen for the trap!
He whispered with delight, soaring through the sky on his wings to pursue the diamond giant.
(End of the Chapter)
--------------------------------------------------------------
📖Read (𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗚𝗢𝗡) on the Site till Ch186. (78 Chapters Ahead)
💡Read upto Ch124 for ABSOLUTELY 𝙁𝙍𝙀𝙀! ℕ𝕠 𝕃𝕠𝕘𝕚𝕟
📚15 Novels | 9.6k+ Chapters | 15.9M+ Words [Search CinderTL on 𝕲𝖔𝖔𝖌𝖑𝖊]
--------------------------------------------------------------