Translator: AnubisTL
Garos spent the morning hunting and feasting, completely satisfying his hunger.
It's worth noting that the black oil couldn't truly fill him. The energy it provided was swift and efficient but fleeting, only temporarily suppressing his hunger. Thus, Garos still needed blood to truly nourish himself.
When truly hungry, normal food remained his primary need.
The black oil was mainly used to enhance his physical excitement during training, boost training efficiency, and recharge himself during combat, allowing him to temporarily surpass his limits.
After the hunt, Garos spent the afternoon primarily training.
This included his usual drills in defense, strength, and flight, culminating in targeted exercises using the lightning tail ring to stimulate his body and accelerate his lightning evolution.
However, the lightning tail ring was primarily an enchantment tool.
It acted as a key, unlocking the door to Garos's lightning evolution. But its subsequent stimulating effect on him proved less effective. Direct electrical attacks were far more effective than strikes delivered through the enchanted ring.
The sun blazed high in the sky, far from the rainy season.
Naturally, lightning was difficult to draw down.
Among the Bonechewer Warband, the ogre mage who wielded the chain lightning spell was Garos's best sparring partner in this regard.
As dusk approached, the sky was layered with resplendent sunset hues.
Bathed in the glow of the twilight, Garos soared through the heavens, arriving at the Cracked Spine Hills, the ogres' main base.
Karu was not here; he had led some elites on a hunting expedition.
"Morga, Snaga," Garos addressed the two-headed ogre.
"Summon the ogre mages of the Bonechewer Warband."
Morga and Snaga were its names—more precisely, the distinct names of its two heads.
The simultaneous existence of two heads granted the two-headed ogre mage the gift of dual casting, allowing it to prepare two spells at once. This made it a terrifying monster that ordinary adventurers feared.
However, this also had its drawbacks.
With two heads and two minds simultaneously controlling a single body, some trouble and inconvenience were inevitable.
"My Lord, there is something I must inform you of first," Morga, the left head, said.
Before he could continue, Snaga, the right head, cut in, "The ogre troops in the Quenching Highlands recently discovered a group of unfamiliar hyena-men."
Bang!
Morga slammed his forehead against Snaga's. "Don't steal my words!"
Seeing his chance to curry favor, Morga quickly reported to Garos while Snaga was dazed, "Those hyena-men are loyal to another dragon."
Snaga controlled his right hand, forming a fist and smashing it into Morga's eye socket. "It's an iron dragon! They serve the iron dragon!" he shouted, cutting in.
The punched Morga recovered and, unwilling to be outdone, swung his left fist at Snaga.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Two-Headed Sorcerer began fighting himself, his left and right heads flailing at each other. Soon they tumbled to the ground, rolling and wrestling while trading insults and curses about each other's ancestors.
"Enough!" Garos's voice boomed. The sorcerer immediately froze. Scrambling to his feet, he begged for Garos's forgiveness, all the while trying to blame and shift responsibility to his other head.
"Morga, tell me everything that happened in detail," Garos said, tapping his left temple.
Morga shot a proud glance at Snaga before turning to Garos with a respectful demeanor. He began his account from the beginning: "It all started with Ugo. He was the first to discover the hyena-men."
He recounted the events in a detailed and leisurely manner.
A minute later, Garos had a complete understanding of the situation.
A juvenile iron dragon had occupied Gravel Beach, north of the Quenching Highlands, and had dispatched hyena-men to scout the area. Ugo discovered one of these scouts, captured him, and had a Kora Giant Eagle carry the news back to the Cracked Spine Hills.
Since the death of the stone giant, the Kora Giant Eagles now served the Ironforged Clan, acting as excellent scouts and messengers.
"The northern regions of the Quenching Highlands are uncharted territory for me," Garos mused, his eyes narrowing as he assessed the risks posed by the juvenile iron dragon based on the information he had gathered.
Iron dragons were the leaders of the submetallic dragons. At the same age, they were only slightly weaker than red dragons, with the gap not being significant. A typical iron dragon during its juvenile phase had a life grade of roughly 7-10.
If it truly was just a juvenile iron dragon, there would be no need to fear.
The problem was, was it really just a juvenile iron dragon?
Garos remained skeptical of information he hadn't personally verified. "Ugo wasn't detailed enough. The report it had the Kora Giant Eagle relay back was too brief."
"I need to go to the Quenching Highlands myself."
The hyena-man prisoners were still at the Quenching Highlands, and he would have to pass through there anyway to investigate the situation at Gravel Beach.
"Checking the time, Nick's Caravan should be arriving soon."
"He'll bring me some message stones. Once I have them, communication between the clans will become much simpler and more efficient."
Message stones had been coveted by all factions since their creation. While widely used in civilized nations, they remained rare in the wilderness, as most monsters didn't understand the importance of communication.
"When Karu returns, have him bring the ogre elite to the Quenching Highlands."
After issuing his orders to the Two-Headed Sorcerer, Garos flapped his dragon wings and soared into the sky, his figure vanishing into the twilight glow.
Watching Garos depart, the left head, Morga, snorted disdainfully. "Foolish Snaga," he sneered. "I am far more cunning than you, and far more favored by the dragon lord."
The right head, Snaga, remained silent, responding with a punch.
The two-headed ogre mage began fighting himself again. The surrounding ogres showed no reaction, clearly accustomed to such displays.
Soon after, the twilight faded, and night fell.
As the moon began to rise, Garos arrived at the Quenching Highlands and landed in the ogre camp.
Ugo was directing ogres to construct a dragon-kind statue from the remains of a giant.
Upon seeing Garos, Ugo immediately knelt on one knee and said in a gravelly voice, "My Lord, the radiance of your scales surpasses even the bright moon."
This flattery had taken Ugo over ten days and nights of racking his brain to devise. He had been waiting for Karu's absence to present it to Garos and win the dragon's favor.
Though he had lost to Karu in the sacred feast, Ugo remained resentful, coveting Karu's position as legion lord and his current status as a Dragon Blood Glutton.
Yet he lacked the strength to challenge Karu directly.
So, Ugo had to suppress his ambitions, hoping to achieve a "cornering overtake" by ingratiating himself with Garos and gaining his favor.
"Rise."
Garos looked at the statue.
Ogre artistry was rudimentary, and the statue was merely a rough outline—crude and primitive. Yet through the powerful limbs and the massive, elongated wings, one could vaguely discern Garos's likeness.
"This is a statue being built in your honor," Ugo said in his gruff voice. "I've heard that humans erect statues for their great leaders. And you, noble and mighty Lord of the Crimson Wings, are the sole and absolute greatness in my heart. I couldn't help myself. I couldn't wait to request permission from the legion lord to build this statue for you, so I could gaze upon your glory day and night."
Garos studied the ogre closely.
This hulking brute harbored secret ambitions.
It might think its intentions were well-hidden, but to Garos, every detail was as clear as day—the vast difference in intelligence between ogres and dragonkind.
"Hmm, not bad. I like it," Garos replied.
He chose not to expose Ugo's scheme, tacitly approving of the ogre's actions.
The real trouble would arise if all the ogres of the Bonechewer Warband united under Karu's banner and remained completely loyal to him.
Having undergone the dragon blood transformation, Karu was absolutely loyal to Garos and would never betray him. However, this didn't mean Karu lacked his own agenda. He might still seek greater benefits for himself or slack off and avoid doing his job properly.
Garos couldn't personally crack the whip forever.
In such a situation, a potential rival could motivate Karu to work more diligently for him.
This was all knowledge from the Monarch Theory within the Iron Dragon Legacy.
"Bring me the hyena-man prisoner. I will interrogate him myself," Garos commanded.
Ugo nodded, then hoisted a hyena-man scout by the neck and brought him before Garos.
"He's the leader of the hyena-man scouts," Ugo said, kicking the disoriented hyena-man Haken to his knees before Garos.
The dragon's breath was close, and Haken snapped to his senses, his body trembling.
He stole a glance at Garos, noting that the Lord of the Crimson Wings was far more imposing and powerful-looking than the Iron King they served. This dragon radiated an overwhelming sense of strength.
"Now, I ask, and you answer," Garos said.
"Great Dragon, I will hide nothing from you," Haken replied, his expression fawning.
The subsequent questioning wasn't so much an interrogation as a conversation. The hyena-man answered every question immediately and without reservation.
Gradually, Garos gathered more information.
For example, the juvenile iron dragon of Gravel Beach commanded only two clans: the hyena-men and the kobolds. If the goblins were included, it would nearly complete the "Three Divine Beasts" typically found under the command of young and weak dragonkind.
This confirmed that the iron dragon was indeed a juvenile, posing no significant threat to Garos.
Among this information, one detail particularly caught Garos's attention.
"The title 'Iron King'... it sounds vaguely familiar."
His eyes flickered as memories surfaced in his mind.
Garos! My weak little brother, I'll tell you a secret: hybrid dragons never survive adolescence unless you swear allegiance to the great Iron King.
Garos! My foolish little brother, do you desire wealth? Power? Kneel before the great Iron King, and all your wishes shall be granted.
Garos! My ugly, short, and weak little brother, you'll never amount to anything. Abandon the protection of the dragon mother and follow the great Iron King. Together, we brothers will conquer the wilderness under my leadership—the title of King of the Wilds will be within our grasp.
Similar phrases surged through Garos's memory, all originating from the same dragon:
Solgorn Ignis.
(End of the Chapter)
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