The feeding Chira suddenly stopped.
Its three heads swayed under the night sky, sniffing continuously as differently colored eyes scanned its surroundings, uneasily spreading its wings.
The Chira's sense of sll was extraordinarily sharp.
It had detected the scent of 'danger.'
At that mont, the sky suddenly darkened, just as the Chira's body had once blocked the cave lion's vision. It raised its heads and saw a majestic, towering dragon with pitch-black scales shimring with silver radiance.
"Chira, lowly hybrid."
"Kneel and grovel before !"
The Red Iron Dragon's thunderous voice bood forth.
To dragonkind, the Chira appeared deford and grotesque, devoid of any aesthetic appeal—'Ugly Hybrid' might have been a more fitting na.
Yet this particular Chira was exceptionally powerful. If tad, it could beco a formidable addition to the Molten Iron Tribe.
Garoth inherited the pragmatism of iron dragons.
He cared little for the Chira's appearance and was willing to offer it the chance to submit.
"Get out of my territory!"
The Chira spat out garbled, indistinct Draconic.
It was a semi-intelligent creature, similar to the Earth Rampage Bear—possessing so wisdom, but not much.
All three heads locked onto the Red Iron Dragon, eyes blazing with battle lust rather than fear, muscles tensed and eager for action.
With a whoosh, it beat its wings, lifting its massive body into the air.
"Instead of fleeing, it charges toward ."
"How foolish."
Garoth's dragon wings split the clouds as he dove downward, his Frostburst Scales rapidly absorbing heat through friction with the air.
The Chira's three heads shrieked in unison.
The central red dragon head gaped wide, flas surging between its jagged fangs before erupting into a searing pillar of fire from its throat.
The Red Iron Dragon didn't evade the incoming fiery breath.
BOOM!
His robust physique withstood the flas, splitting them apart as he advanced inch by inch toward the Chira.
The inferno that could lt stone and liquefy steel rely caused his scales to glow faintly red and crack slightly.
Garoth possessed exceptional fire resistance.
This level of damage was trivial.
Realizing its fiery breath was nearly ineffective, the Chira wisely ceased the futile expenditure and raised its claws, lunging at the Red Iron Dragon.
At the mont of impact—
Garoth's right wing snapped open like a bladed weapon, slicing through the air toward the Chira's red dragon head.
Sensing mortal danger, the Chira dared not take the blow head-on. The red dragon head jerked back while the lion head lunged forward, sharp fangs aiming for the wing mbrane.
Unexpectedly, Garoth's right wing deftly twisted, its spear-like tip stabbing toward the lion's head.
RIP!
Though the Chira reacted swiftly, twisting aside, the dragon wing still grazed its cheek, leaving a bone-deep gash that gushed blood.
ROAR!
The lion head released an earth-shaking bellow, mane bristling.
An invisible but tangible shockwave of sound exploded at close range, slamming into the Red Iron Dragon and montarily stunning him.
The Chira seized the opportunity, its claws slashing toward Garoth's neck.
CLANG!
Sparks flew as talons t scale spikes. Frost erupted from the shattered scales, coating the Chira's claws in ri. The broken spikes—hard and needle-sharp—embedded themselves deep into its flesh.
The Chira screeched in pain.
From this exchange, Garoth rely shook his neck slightly, with minor cracks on his Frostburst Scales being the only damage. anwhile, the Chira suffered frostbite and spike wounds.
Enraged, it followed through with another claw swipe, slamming heavily against the Red Iron Dragon's chest.
CLANG!
Sparks and spikes sprayed outward as icy energy seeped into the wounds left by the spikes, causing the fire-aligned Chira to experience piercing, cold agony.
Two claw strikes.
The Red Iron Dragon was hit—but the Chira was the one injured.
About a second later, Garoth shook off the stun.
[Level 3 Dragon Qi Activation!]
[Enhanced Claw Strike!]
Black-red energy coiled around his claws as attack speed skyrocketed. Faster than lightning, his strike bypassed the Chira's defenses, plunging into its torso to tear flesh and snap bones.
The Chira howled, retaliating with a kick from its goat hooves that scraped sparks off Garoth's belly scales.
Its strength was trendous.
The Red Iron Dragon ripped out a chunk of flesh and retreated, simultaneously tensing his tail muscles. The scales along its sides clanged together, overlapping and rging into a single, glowing red blade, with a spear-like tip extending from the end.
[Level 3 Dragon Qi Activation!]
[Enhanced Tail Strike!]
Dragon Qi surged violently.
The tail whipped forth like lightning, its trajectory unpredictable, leaving fiery afterimages in its wake.
THUD!
After a split second of resistance, the massive lion head went flying, its severed neck cauterized black as charcoal—not a single drop of blood spilled.
The Chira convulsed as if struck by lightning, its remaining heads shrieking in unison.
Losing one head sent the beast into a frenzy, its eyes bloodshot with pain and rage overriding its limited intellect.
The goat head opened its mouth, emitting a bizarre, layered chant resembling so incomprehensible incantation.
Black-purple veins bulged across its body, writhing like living creatures as its form swelled—its skin stretched taut as if filled with tar. With each heartbeat, its body expanded severalfold.
Truly a wild monster lord that had dominated the southwest for years.
This Chira possessed abilities far beyond ordinary hybrids.
Now in a berserk state, its speed and strength amplified, it roared and attacked with both heads, claws, and hooves, engaging the Red Iron Dragon in close-quarters combat.
A barrage of strikes landed on Garoth, cracking his Frostburst Scales one after another.
Frigid energy billowed outward, coating the Chira in a layer of frost that shattered and reford repeatedly with its movents.
Though constantly numbed by the cold, the Red Iron Dragon's counterattacks remained swift and precise.
Every strike from his bladed limbs carved terrible wounds into the Chira, leaving it drenched in blood within monts, covered in bone-deep gashes.
anwhile, Garoth could clearly feel thermal energy accumulating within him.
"I don't need to reach maximum capacity—I can likely use this to enhance my breath attack."
The battle's intensity allowed him room to ponder.
During his first thermal buildup, it hadn't been obvious. But now, focusing inward, he detected a new organ—a jade-like disk—storing this energy.
When he concentrated, the stored heat began boiling, flowing outward.
Instantly, his Frostburst Scales cracked open on their own, glowing forge-red even without taking damage.
Like heated iron.
Blistering waves radiated from the fissures, clashing with lingering cold to produce thick steam that twisted violently in the scorching air.
The beasts of Sword Cliff trembled, collapsing in terror.
Herbivores and carnivores alike froze as if gripped by an invisible hand around their hearts.
"If I don't channel this into a breath attack, the heat dissipates rapidly like this."
Garoth burned with energy, carefully monitoring his body.
Each passing second of heat radiation reduced the stored energy, weakening his next breath attack's potential.
"To maximize this strike's power, I must release it imdiately—timing is crucial."
Across from him, the Chira's eyes cleared abruptly under overwhelming dread.
It shrieked in terror, beating its wings as it fled, dragging its mutilated body away from the Red Iron Dragon.
A fatal mistake.
Had it surrendered and pledged loyalty, it might have lived. But escape? Death was the only outco.
Garoth's gaze locked onto the retreating Chira.
He opened his maw, flas churning between his fangs before erupting into a cataclysmic crimson beam that set the sky ablaze, an unstoppable tide of destruction surging toward its target.
At full strength, the Chira might have dodged this telegraphed but devastating attack.
Now, it was engulfed by the expanding inferno. Within seconds, its struggles ceased.
Garoth exhaled slowly.
His scales gradually returned to their normal hue.
When the flas dissipated, the Chira's body was gone—reduced to ashes without a trace.
Thus perished a wild monster lord that had ruled these lands for years.
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