Translator: AnubisTL
Quenching Highlands, Ogre Camp.
As midnight passed and the dark sky began to lighten, a pale, fish-belly white hue appeared on the horizon. Karu arrived with the elite forces of the Bonechewer Warband.
"Karu," Garos commanded calmly, "take the Bonechewer Warband and march north. Subdue that iron dragon and fight for me."
"My lord," Karu rumbled, his voice thick with the remnants of meat and bone, "the Bonechewer Ogres will crush your enemies and gnaw their bones to dust."
Garos chuckled. "No need for such brutality. Your mission is to capture the iron dragon alive and bring it before me."
"You won't join the fight?" Karu asked, his brow furrowing.
"No. This is a test for the Bonechewer Warband, and an opportunity for you to prove yourself as a legion lord."
Karu nodded heavily.
The Dragon Blood Glutton hefted his massive, gleaming wolf-toothed club and rallied the ogres, preparing them for the march.
The main body of the wolf-toothed club was cast from metal, its surface studded with diamond-like, glittering spikes.
These spikes were polished from fragments of the diamond giant's remains, making them exceptionally hard and sharp. With Karu's strength, a strike from this weapon could pierce Garos's defenses.
A closer inspection of the ogres' weapons revealed more.
Not just Karu's.
The axes, warhammers, and other weapons wielded by the burly ogre chieftains also carried a faint, shimmering glow.
After defeating the diamond giant, Garos awarded one of its arms as a prize to the Bonechewer Warband, distributing smaller fragments to other battle groups.
Most of these fragments were used to forge weapons.
Led by Karu, with Ugo and the two-headed sorcerer as his deputies, the Bonechewer Warband quickly consolidated. Taking several hyena-man captives as guides, they set out for Gravel Beach.
Garos flew high above, following behind.
Gravel Beach.
Young Iron Dragon Solgorn, residing in his dragon nest at the bottom of the river, felt a faint sense of unease.
The hyena-man scouts had all remained in the Quenching Highlands, failing to return at the expected time. With no news of their whereabouts, it was suspected that something had gone wrong.
Solgorn flicked his tail, narrowing his eyes beneath the dragonhide.
"The Crimson Comet that landed on the Highlands a few days ago must be unusual."
His keen intuition sensed that something had changed in the Quenching Highlands, though he couldn't determine what it was.
"Should I investigate the giant camp myself?"
"No, that's too dangerous. A king shouldn't put himself at risk. If my presence is exposed and the giants come seeking vengeance, I won't be able to defend Gravel Beach. All the territory I've worked to build over the years would be lost."
The iron dragon's gaze suddenly sharpened.
"The problem is, I've likely already been exposed."
"We can't expect the hyena-men to keep this secret under threat of death."
Now, Solgorn faced two choices:
One was to remain, hoping the giants hadn't discovered his presence and continue coexisting with the stone giants as neighbors.
The other was to immediately relocate, waiting until he grew stronger before returning to exact his revenge.
Solgorn's heart was torn between these options.
Solgorn was ambitious, harboring grand aspirations of establishing a dragon empire. Though he possessed the arrogance and self-importance of dragonkind, he also knew how to learn from his mistakes. Years of wilderness survival had taught him to restrain his claws and fangs.
To achieve his ambitions, he would temporarily retreat from overwhelming dangers.
After hesitating for two or three seconds, Solgorn's gaze hardened. He prepared to lead his chosen on a migration.
Being driven back by the stone giant before even engaging in battle felt like a humiliation.
In truth, Solgorn felt the humiliation deeply, but it didn't drive him to a suicidal confrontation. Instead, he buried the shame deep within himself, transforming it into fuel for self-improvement.
"Damn you, stone giants!"
"The great Iron King will return sooner or later to crush you all!"
With these thoughts, he gathered his meager belongings, climbed out of the riverbed cave, and summoned the hyena-man and kobold leaders of the Steel Clan.
These familiars had once belonged to different clans.
After securing their loyalty, Solgorn, drawing upon the teachings of the Monarch Theory, had them abolish their clan divisions and unify under the Steel Clan.
After unifying under the Steel Clan, these humble and insignificant creatures felt a newfound hope blossoming in their hearts, making them more proactive than ever before.
Solgorn frequently studied the principles of Monarch Theory, deeply admiring the iron dragon ancestor who had penned it. He looked to this ancestor as a role model, hoping to one day establish an empire ruled by iron dragons.
"Whether I ascend to the mountain's peak or fall into the deep valley, both will teach me invaluable lessons!"
Solgorn mused on this ancestral aphorism from Monarch Theory as he watched his familiars gradually gather before him.
Suddenly, a faint tremor ran through the ground.
The hyena-men and kobolds remained oblivious, but the iron dragon sensed it.
Its gaze sharpened as it turned south.
A horde of ogres, their heavy footsteps shaking the earth, charged across the land with clear intent. Their sheer numbers, superior equipment, and imposing physique made them utterly unmatched by Solgorn's hyena-men and kobolds.
Worst of all, they were charging directly toward his position, their target unmistakable.
"Chosen of the stone giants?!"
"They arrived so quickly."
Ogres often serve giants. The moment Solgorn saw them, he used the knowledge from his inheritance to deduce that they were a subordinate legion from a giant camp.
He glanced nervously at the land behind him, then breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, the stone giants hadn't come.
Even so, these ogre legions were no simple threat.
As the ogre legions surged forward like a black tide, Solgorn immediately realized that a direct confrontation would be suicidal. The ogres' massive size and straightforward charge made them dangerously fast. If they weren't stopped, they would soon catch up, and his familiars would be annihilated.
He quickly surveyed the surroundings: a swift river, soft riverbanks, and dense reed beds. A simple ambush plan took shape in his mind.
Solgorn circled overhead, urging the hyena-men to cross the river quickly. Meanwhile, he ordered the kobolds to use their digging talents to excavate hidden pit traps in the shallow riverbed.
Soon, the ogre vanguard arrived and began crossing the river in pursuit.
Their massive bodies, heavy and unwieldy, sank deep into the pits they stepped on, severely hindering their movement. The ogres who tried to cross the river directly were also slowed down by the swift current.
Suddenly, the reeds on the opposite bank parted.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Hyena-man rogues fired poisoned arrows, forcing the ogres to defend themselves in waist-deep water, turning them into living targets.
Under the surface, some skilled kobold warriors, adept at swimming, lurked and used specially crafted bone hooks to tug at the ogres' leg armor.
While the ogres were harassed by the hyena-men's poisoned arrows, the kobolds focused on attacking their knee joints. Three ogres collapsed with injured joints, swept downstream by the current toward the jagged rock district.
The young iron dragon also swooped down.
A ball of electric sparks gathered in its mouth, preparing to unleash electric fire dragon breath on the ogres.
Boom!
A colossal figure shot into the air like a cannonball.
Solgorn's heart leaped. He flapped his wings, soaring upward to evade the attack, and clearly saw the figure's appearance.
It was a Gluttony Demon, its height rivaling that of a giant, its body covered in traits of a dragon blood creature. A strong aura of a red dragon emanated from it, and in its hand, it carried a massive wolf-toothed club, its surface shimmering with faint light.
(End of the Chapter)
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