Translator: AnubisTL
Garos stood at the highest point of Hemlock Hills, his gaze sweeping across the landscape like a razor's edge.
The tunnels where earth spiders usually scurried back and forth lay eerily silent, not a single spider in sight.
This was highly unusual.
Driven by their innate reproductive instincts, earth spiders never vanished without reason, nor would they collectively disobey orders.
Garos pawed at the empty black oil tank, his mind heavy with contemplation.
For the past few months, the small oilfield the earth spiders had been visiting daily belonged to the Blackrock Principality, a dwarven nation within the Lothurn Federation.
A Blackrock Legion garrison was stationed at the oilfield, which Garos had observed from afar.
Overall, it was far smaller than the Carmel Black Oilfield of the Kingdom of Lothurn, which he had glimpsed briefly before. Yet it was not to be underestimated.
The heavy infantry alone numbered over two thousand, and since they were tasked with guarding the oilfield in the perilous wilderness, every soldier was an elite warrior. They wore full-body heavy armor reinforced with runes and wielded battleaxes, large shields, and other high-quality equipment.
The rock armor war ram heavy cavalry numbered over two hundred.
Garos had witnessed their battlefield drills. As the heavy cavalry charged, they kicked up clouds of dust, their iron hooves causing the ground to tremble and groan. Their sheer power and military discipline far surpassed that of the Goblin Wolf Riders he had encountered before.
Each dwarven heavy cavalryman wore superior full-body armor forged from rune steel, wielding a several-meter-long lance and a curved tower shield.
There were also lightly armored scout cavalry patrolling the outermost perimeter of the oilfield. These riders were equipped with powerful crossbows, grappling hooks, poison smoke grenades, and other specialized gear. Their blue-maned steeds were demonic beasts, moving with the swiftness of the wind.
As for the rarer spellcasters, Garos hadn't seen them directly, but he knew they were present.
Yet even these forces weren't the Blackrock Legion's true strength.
The core of the Blackrock Legion lay in its war machines and alchemy golems.
Each massive, rock-solid alchemy golem stood motionless, radiating an oppressive aura that warned all living beings to keep their distance.
In short, compared to this formidable, well-organized force, Garos was outnumbered and outmatched, currently unable to confront them directly.
If a young dragon were discovered and its location exposed, the Blackrock Legion stationed near the oilfield would not hesitate to dispatch soldiers to hunt it down, seizing an unexpected windfall of resources.
The dwarven race boasted a vast number of alchemists, and their demand for top-tier alchemical materials was immense.
Every part of a dragon's body—scales, flesh, bones, claws, and teeth—was a superb material. By imprisoning and raising young dragons, continuously harvesting their resources, they could secure a steady supply of high-quality alchemical ingredients.
"Over the past few months, the earth spiders have brought in a considerable amount of oil soil, though it's only from the periphery. Still, if anyone attentive were to notice, they'd sense something amiss," Garos mused, flicking his tail to send a few pebbles flying.
Just then, the earth spider's usual tunnel entrance cracked open and bulged upward, as if some subterranean creature were burrowing toward the surface.
"The earth spiders are back? No, something's wrong!"
An earth spider crawled out of the tunnel, but before it could take more than a few steps, an invisible shockwave swept past. The soft organs beneath its carapace were damaged, and its body suddenly went limp, collapsing to the ground.
Garos's gaze narrowed as he saw a flat, triangular head emerge from the ground.
Immediately afterward, the massive, elongated body fully surfaced.
Its cold, metallic shell gleamed with a hard, black luster. The slender body, composed of dozens of interconnected steel segments, resembled a folded war blade, with articulated limbs extending from the joints, constantly contracting and expanding.
It was unmistakably the alchemy golem Garos had glimpsed in the earth spider's memories, the guardian of the underground oilfield.
Measuring 8.2 meters in length and 1.5 meters in diameter, it resembled a colossal, armored centipede.
The Earth-Rending Centipede.
A subterranean, anti-permeation alchemy golem, also designed for combat.
Smeared with the earth spider's green blood, the Earth-Rending Centipede first effortlessly tore the remaining earth spider into shreds. Then, it raised its triangular head, its two metallic antennae swaying rhythmically as it surveyed its surroundings, as if assessing and scrutinizing the environment.
Crack! Crack!
The ground buckled and split open once more.
Two more Earth-Rending Centipedes emerged, their bodies identical in length and trunk diameter, as if cast from the same mold.
"The loss of oil soil over the past five months has drawn their attention," Garos realized. "Originally just alchemy golems guarding the black oil, they killed the earth spiders and followed the underground tunnels here."
Seeing them confirmed Garos's suspicions.
This day was inevitable, he thought.
Discovery had been only a matter of time. Garos had long anticipated this, using his daily flight training to survey the surrounding terrain from high above, watching for any approaching forces that might ambush him.
At the same moment, red lights flashed on the heads of the three Earth-Rending Centipedes, as if sensing something. They simultaneously raised their heads, their gaze locking onto the red iron young dragon perched high in the Hemlock Hills.
Samantha, the red young dragon closer to them, was completely ignored.
The reason was simple: the centipedes had detected a far more dangerous energy signature emanating from Garos, marking him as the primary threat, while Samantha posed no cause for alarm.
"They've found me."
Garos's instincts sharpened, but he felt no panic. Scanning the horizon from his vantage point, he saw no sign of the Blackrock Legion.
"Since things have come to this, let's test the strength of these alchemy golems."
These Earth-Rending Centipedes were clearly different from the Giant-Arm Miners.
Their cold, metallic bodies radiated a dangerous chill. At first glance, they resembled weapons rather than mining tools like the Giant-Arm Miners.
"Samantha, Mobel, stay back and don't interfere."
Hearing Garos's command, Samantha, though eager to join the fight, obeyed. She spread her wings and soared into the sky, circling high above the ground. Mobel, the Earthstorm Bear, took cover behind an iron fir tree.
Simultaneously, Garos leaped from the crest of the hill, plummeting downward at breakneck speed as he charged toward the three Earth-Rending Centipedes.
As countless branches and trunks were severed, the fine scales on his wing membranes rubbed together, sending sparks flying like a hazy, fire-woven cloak.
Facing the red iron young dragon's lightning-fast assault, the Earth-Rending Centipede's blade-like limbs snapped open, vibrating at a high frequency. Instead of meeting the dragon's awe-inspiring charge head-on, the centipede plunged into the earth, its body writhing as it vanished underground.
Boom!
Garos crashed down, creating a massive crater. Shrapnel-like debris scattered like bullets, and dust billowed outward in the shockwave.
With a gentle flap of his dragon wings, Garos dispersed the swirling dust. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the surroundings, but the Earth-Rending Centipede was nowhere to be seen.
They've escaped.
No.
They haven't escaped.
Garos sensed a faint, steadily intensifying tremor beneath the ground. The Earth-Rending Centipedes had burrowed underground not to flee, but to evade his initial, overwhelming attack.
Combat-oriented alchemy golems like these had no "retreat before battle" protocol in their programming.
(End of the Chapter)