Translator: AnubisTL
A faint, pale dawn had just begun to paint the eastern horizon, yet the deep blue-gray of night still dominated the sky.
By this point, the Ironforged Clan had destroyed the last totem pillar and nearly annihilated all resistance. Only a few trembling, surrendered prisoners remained as the clan began mopping up.
Suddenly, a dust cloud that blotted out the sky rose from the horizon.
The ground began to tremble.
It was as if an ancient giant beast was awakening.
Garos's vertical pupils narrowed slightly as he gazed down at the surface. He saw the Bloodhoof forces surging across the land like a long, blood-red dragon, kicking up a storm of dust and stones in their wake.
"They've finally arrived," he murmured.
The red-iron dragon's gaze turned icy as he locked onto the most imposing figure within the Bloodhoof ranks.
It was a massive minotaur, several times larger than even the Dragon Blood Glutton. The mammoth giant elephant he rode appeared almost like a small mount beneath him.
His muscles coiled like iron serpents, and a pair of thick, jagged horns stood upright on his head, as if poised to pierce the heavens. His pitch-black eyes were bottomless abysses, revealing no emotion. An aura of terrifying chaos and evil radiated from him, making his life grade impossible to discern.
"So it's true—a demonic ancestral regression, and with an extremely high concentration of demonic blood."
The abyss's aura, carried on the wind, struck Garos full in the face. He sensed a dangerous presence emanating from Bloodhoof Baal—a foe not to be underestimated. For an ordinary juvenile dragon, flight would be the wisest course of action.
Baal's keen senses immediately detected the gaze fixed upon him.
He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the distant clouds to lock eyes with the red-iron dragon circling high above.
In terms of sheer size, the white dragon was the largest of the three dragons soaring in the sky. Yet Baal paid it no heed; his pitch-black eyes remained fixed solely on the red-iron dragon.
This creature, impossibly strong and with every part of its body seemingly forged into a weapon, was clearly the dominant force.
Baal understood this instantly.
I've been blinded by worldly perceptions. Dragonkind isn't just arrogance and folly; there are individuals who combine wisdom with immense power.
Baal's face remained impassive, his thoughts churning silently.
From this day forward, he would never make the same mistake when facing dragons again.
Since his birth, Baal's path to power had been far from smooth. His distinct appearance and demeanor, so different from other minotaurs, had subjected him to scorn and discrimination from a young age.
He had endured countless failures.
But he had learned to draw lessons from each setback, refusing to succumb to arrogant complacency.
Each failure, so long as it didn't kill him, only made him stronger.
"This time will be no different."
The plains surrounding the main camp stretched flat and vast. Baal led the Bloodhoof forces across the land at full speed, their hooves churning up dust clouds that billowed like a dragon's breath.
Meanwhile, among the minotaur prisoners who had already thrown down their weapons and lay prostrate on the ground, one warrior felt the earth tremble. He caught the scent of his kin and his heart surged with renewed battle lust. His eyes burned crimson as he suddenly lunged to his feet, only to have his neck cleaved by an ogre's axe.
"Leave no survivors!"
The dragon lord had issued the order: victory was paramount in this war; all else was irrelevant.
With the Bloodhoof forces returning and the final battle imminent, the prisoners posed a potential threat of betrayal. Keeping them alive would only invite trouble, so they were to be eliminated entirely.
The Ironforged Clan's ranks, aside from the centaurs, consisted almost entirely of savage and brutal creatures. Even the centaurs were fierce warriors, showing no mercy to their enemies.
One by one, the monsters raised their blades and slaughtered the resisting prisoners, turning the ground into a river of blood.
In the distance, the Bloodhoof forces drew ever closer.
"Warriors of the Ironforged Clan! The battle is not yet over! Form ranks!"
The Gluttony Demon spat out a broken bull horn and roared skyward.
The Starbreaker's Hammer combat units surged into action. Towering figures clad in fine steel heavy armor advanced with earth-shaking strides, forming a wedge-shaped formation at the center of the ruins.
They interlocked like stacked bricks, instantly erecting a steel wall. Hyena-Men and kobolds, their steel will unwavering under Hodge's command, filled the gaps, fighting alongside the ogres like iron barbs jutting from the wall's battlements.
Centaurs, giant wolf knights, hyena knights, and giant lizard knights.
The Crimson Iron Cavalry, their mobility unmatched, positioned themselves on the flanks, their lances and arrows gleaming with a chilling light.
Finally came the Annihilation's Eye, composed of tribal sorcerers, shamans, and spellcasters. Positioned at the rear, their numbers were few but their importance paramount, ready to unleash a variety of spells at a moment's notice.
The Bloodhoof forces and the Ironforged Legion charged toward each other.
Like two colossal ferocious beasts, they closed the distance with thunderous steps, colliding in a clash of steel and fury.
Baal led the charge.
Leaping from the back of his mammoth giant elephant, he plummeted to the ground.
His hooves struck the earth, unleashing a palpable ring of qi that slammed into the ogre heavy armor formation like a meteor strike. The three most massive ogres were sent flying backward, their armor caved in, crushing an entire rank of Hyena-Men behind them.
"Kill!"
Karu roared, smashing aside several minotaur warriors as he charged toward Baal like a cannonball, his diamond-studded wolf-toothed club sweeping in a wide arc.
Baal stood unarmed, his hands empty.
His ear twitched, and he spun around, throwing a punch.
The lightning-fast blow landed on the Gluttony Demon's chest before the wolf-toothed club could strike.
A force like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing down.
Karu's scales shattered, his chest caved in, and his massive body was hurled several meters into the air like a rag doll, carving a long trench into the ground as he skidded backward.
White Dragon Treacy roared, her wings beating powerfully as she swooped down toward Chieftain Bloodhoof.
"Ancestral spirits, grant me strength!"
The White Mane Shaman pounded his chest, his hooves stomping the earth. His frail, hunched frame swelled like an inflating balloon, muscles bulging as he transformed in an instant from a frail old man into a twelve-meter-tall minotaur giant, his body covered in intricate tattoos and totems.
Before White Dragon Treacy could reach Chieftain Bloodhoof...
The minotaur giant hurled earth and stone with the force of cannonballs, slamming into the white dragon before engaging her in brutal combat.
The opposing legions clashed like gears in a bloody meat grinder.
War cries, roars, and the clang of weapons against armor echoed across the battlefield, reverberating beneath the sky.
Elvie soared through the air, unleashing a barrage of exploding magic arrow at the minotaurs.
But before her arrows could reach their targets, they were intercepted by rising earth and stone barriers. The resulting explosions sent shards of rock flying like shrapnel, indiscriminately sweeping across both minotaurs and Ironforged retinue.
Several lifelike great eagle spirits, summoned by minotaur shaman, spread their ten-meter wingspans and swooped through the air, diving to attack the hybrid centaurs.
A dragon-blood werewolf, claws flashing, engaged in a fierce duel with a minotaur warchief wielding a heavy greatsword.
The mage corps on both sides unleashed a torrent of spells, enhancing their own units while weakening or directly attacking the enemy. Beams of magical energy, cursed sigils, and elemental flames crisscrossed the battlefield in a chaotic storm.
The assembled Ironforged Legion proved formidable. The Bloodhoof forces boasted numerous powerful warriors and shaman sorcerers, perhaps even more than their opponents.
The Ironforged Legion's bosses were quickly entangled in combat.
Baal's presence was particularly overwhelming.
He was unstoppable, mercilessly crushing any enemy who dared stand in his path.
Seeing this, Red Dragon Samantha's wisdom regained the upper hand.
Instead of approaching Baal directly, she turned her attention to other minotaur bosses, relieving the pressure on the Ironforged Legion.
Baal wasn't invincible. Wyvern claws had left several deep gashes on his body.
Yet with each deep breath, drawing in some energy from the battlefield, these wounds healed instantly, and his qi seemed to grow stronger.
"He can grow stronger in battle... or perhaps he's absorbing the energy of death?"
"No wonder the Bloodhoof Clan has been on a relentless path of expansion and conquest since he took power."
The legion of servants couldn't exhaust Baal; instead, they only fueled his fury. Realizing this, Garos knew it was time for him to intervene.
Baal shattered the troll before him into a bloody mist, then suddenly froze, his head snapping up.
The red-iron dragon transformed into a crimson meteor, plummeting toward the earth. The piercing shriek of his wing blades slicing through the air drowned out all the sounds of battle as he locked onto Chieftain Bloodhoof, using his entire body as a weapon in a devastating collision.
(End of the Chapter)
------------------------------------------------------
🧩 What happens next?
Read [DRAGON] on CinderTL 🔥 (just search it on Google!)
📖 Free chapters → up to [Ch216] (no sign-up needed!)
🔓 Become a member → unlock up to [Ch314] 🚀
📢 Read [ALL ATTRIBUTE MAGE] on CinderTL. It's a very fun and bingeable series. Check it out now!
------------------------------------------------------