The sun's rays cascaded down like a golden waterfall, only to be sliced into countless tiny, dancing spots of light by the overlapping, lush canopy, scattering sparsely across the ground covered in decaying leaves and moss.
Meanwhile.
A massive paw, covered in thick fur but concealing sharp, hooked claws, stepped lightly onto a bright patch of light.
When that soft, wide pad made contact with the ground, it didn't make the slightest sound, as if a ghost had glided past.
And this was only the beginning.
Within this dense jungle located at the border of the Molten Iron Tribe, a group of agile and dangerous predators was advancing silently.
As the pride of lions passed through, their powerful muscles slid smoothly under their fur, suppressing instinctive roars and heavy breaths as they pushed forward in a state of perfect silence.
The leader was a giant lion with exceptionally robust limbs and muscles that bulged like blocks of granite.
Most striking of all, many key parts of its body—such as the shoulder blades, spine, and joints—were naturally covered in a layer of thick, coarse, dark-yellow rock armor that seemed connected to the earth itself.
Every step it took carried an extraordinary sense of heavy power.
A high-level magical beast—the Earth-Shattering Lion.
Unlike those mindless magical beasts that relied solely on wild instinct, it possessed Elementary intelligence similar to an Earth Tyrant Bear.
In fact, it wasn't just this squad.
At this moment, the leaders of all the lion units attacking the border of the Molten Iron Tribe were, without exception, Vicious Beast or magical beast leaders like the Earth-Shattering Lion, who possessed a certain level of intelligence and strength far exceeding their kin.
Because of this, they could effectively suppress and lead the other lion-beasts, making the entire pride behave like an elite unit.
The leading Earth-Shattering Lion suddenly halted its heavy steps and raised a front paw.
The pride behind it gradually stopped all movement, as if receiving a silent command.
The giant lion leader crouched its massive body low, its sensitive nose twitching slightly as it carefully sniffed the scents in the air.
A moment later, it raised its rock-armored head, its deep pupils seemingly piercing through the layers of foliage to lock onto a faint Molten Iron outpost a thousand meters away.
Roar...
The Earth-Shattering Lion emitted an extremely low, almost inaudible command-like roar from the depths of its throat.
The members of the pride behind it immediately pressed their bodies even lower, almost completely prone, using the cover of the bushes and terrain to move in a stealthy, ground-hugging manner, approaching their prey silently like hunters.
However, just as they had stealthily moved less than ten meters...
The leading Earth-Shattering Lion leader suddenly froze, its neck snapping around as its eyes filled with vigilance and wariness.
It abruptly turned, raising its head to stare fixedly at the low sky behind it, its entire body's muscles instantly tensing like iron as it squeezed a low growl like muffled thunder from the depths of its throat.
Although the other lion-beasts were half a beat slower, they also immediately sensed their leader's anomaly.
They all stopped in their tracks, baring their teeth in a defensive posture and looking in the same direction as the Earth-Shattering Lion.
"To be able to detect my presence... your perception is quite sharp."
Accompanied by a calm whisper, the heavy and hard black body of Iron Dragon Sorog gradually solidified into view within the pride's vision, as if emerging from ripples in water.
He had been maintaining a Mind Concealment Spell until just now.
The principle of this Spell was not simple visual invisibility, but rather directly clouding the target's perception at the mental level, causing them to subconsciously ignore his existence.
But the average Rank of these lion-beasts was quite high.
Especially the leading Earth-Shattering Lion; with its sharp perception, it had finally seen through the Iron Dragon's concealment through the minutest changes in the air currents and a trace of almost imperceptible Dragon aura.
The Iron Dragon spread his massive wings and hovered in the low sky.
Facing many alone, he nonetheless looked like the one holding all the advantages.
And in fact, he was.
Surging psionic brilliance flowed within the Iron Dragon's eyes, clearly reflecting the figures of the several lion-beasts below.
The next moment, without any chanting or movement...
—Mind Control!
In an instant, as the invisible psionic energy spread, a sudden change occurred.
Deafening roars filled with confusion and rage suddenly rang out.
A Vicious Beast giant lion located to the right of the Earth-Shattering Lion seemed to suddenly go mad, shaking its massive head violently a few times before turning its target without warning and lunging at the nearby Earth-Shattering Lion leader.
Not only that.
At almost the same time, the eyes of three Vicious Beast-type lion-beasts known for their physical strength instantly became dull and chaotic.
They turned traitor in unison, frantically pouncing on their former comrades; the previous formation collapsed instantly, and the scene fell into chaos.
A layer of solid, bright-yellow earth-element spiritual light lit up around the Earth-Shattering Lion leader, who simultaneously displayed an agility that belied its heavy build, kicking off with its hind legs to leap back nearly ten meters.
Surrounded by the spiritual light, the earth's gravity acting upon it seemed to be significantly weakened at this moment.
Its movements became exceptionally swift and light, allowing it to evade the frantic pounces of its companions.
Clang! Clang!
Claws like steel daggers suddenly sprang from its wide paws and dug deep into the ground.
The Earth-Shattering Lion raised its head and let out a furious roar, its massive maw opening wide.
A highly condensed dark-yellow ray radiating tearing and oscillating fluctuations—the Earth-Shattering Ray—shot straight toward the Iron Dragon in the low sky, aimed at his head.
This ray was enough to easily pierce through mountain rock and tear through steel.
Iron Dragon Sorog reacted even faster; with just a slight vibration of his wings, his massive body shifted elegantly to the side as if weightless, avoiding the ray's direct path.
Seeing that the Spell-like ability ray was difficult to hit the target, the Earth-Shattering Lion leader decisively changed its strategy.
The muscles in its hind legs bulged and swelled as if exploding, and the thick rock armor around its body seemed to come alive, surging and layering to become even thicker and harder.
Immediately afterward, it actually used the powerful reaction force of its kick to boldly lunge at the Iron Dragon in the low sky, its raised claws tearing through the air with a piercing whistle.
Bang!!!!!!!
However, what met it was a massive dragon claw that did not back down and struck second but arrived first.
Accompanied by the loud sound of countless rocks exploding and flying and an extremely dull impact, the Earth-Shattering Lion was sent flying back several times faster than it had come, like a baseball hit with full force, slamming heavily onto the ground.
Its seemingly indestructible rock armor was now covered in spiderweb-like cracks, with many parts directly shattered and peeling off.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
At almost the same time, two other extremely quick-reacting lion-beasts took advantage of the tiny gap where the Iron Dragon had just completed a strike and his old strength had just been spent, lunging from both sides simultaneously. Their fangs and claws were already inches away from the Iron Dragon's wing membranes and flanks.
Flowing Action!
Iron Dragon Sorog's movements suddenly accelerated, as if breaking free from the shackles of time.
His massive dragon claws traced blurred afterimages in the air, launching a new round of strikes with almost no pause.
Swift and precise slaps fell one after another, slamming the two lion-beasts attempting the sneak attack into the ground like swatting flies, the sound of snapping bones clearly audible.
To compensate for the relative weakness of a Psion in close-quarters combat, Iron Dragon Sorog had also cultivated the Hundred Battle Dragon path.
Although his Hundred Battle Dragon Rank was not yet high, he had already mastered several basic but highly practical melee skills.
The Iron Dragon's wings flapped violently, and his hardened dragon body, gleaming with a cold metallic luster, instantly erupted with incredible speed. Like a heavy tank charging across the ground, he directly slammed into the other lion-beasts attempting to surround him, shattering their bones and sending them tumbling away with wails of pain.
On the other side, the Earth-Shattering Lion leader struggled to climb out of the crater.
It stared fixedly at the Iron Dragon hovering in the low sky and suddenly raised a front paw wrapped in dense, earthy-yellow elemental energy, stomping it onto the ground.
Buzz—!!!
In an instant, Earth Spikes—highly reinforced by Magical Power, sharp as spears, and hard as steel—erupted from the ground without warning, sweeping toward Iron Dragon Sorog with incredible speed and covering a vast area.
Sorog's massive body displayed startling flexibility.
His wings vibrated as he rapidly changed direction in mid-air, dodging the vast majority of the Earth Spikes.
Only a few extremely tricky Earth Spikes hit his body, but they shattered into countless stone fragments against his dragon scales, which were hardened like adamantine, leaving only a few shallow white indentations.
At the same time, the Earth-Shattering Lion casting the Spell below seemed to be struck head-on by an invisible attack; the rock armor at its chest suddenly caved inward, and it let out a muffled groan of pain, once again flying backward while spitting blood.
Mind Spell—Damage Transfer.
The moment the Iron Dragon was attacked, he used this Spell to forcibly transfer a portion of the damage he was supposed to take onto the Caster, the Earth-Shattering Lion.
In terms of the proportion of transferred damage, what the Earth-Shattering Lion endured was actually far less than what the Iron Dragon himself took.
However, the difference in physical strength between the two sides was simply too great. For the Iron Dragon, it was merely an itchy impact, but for the Earth-Shattering Lion, it was a heavy blow.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Roar!!!!
Amidst the rising and falling sounds of dull impacts, shattering bones, and roars filled with pain and fury, this patch of woodland trembled continuously, dust filled the air, and gravel and broken branches flew everywhere.
The vastly disparate battle did not last long.
Less than ten minutes later.
The remaining lion-beasts finally could not suppress the fear in their hearts. They began to emit panicked whimpers and, ignoring the roaring commands of their leader, scattered and fled in panic.
The Iron Dragon Sorog floated in the air, looking around coldly.
With him as the center, nine lion-beasts lay scattered across the messy ground, heavily injured and having lost their fighting capacity.
Immediately after, the Iron Dragon suddenly flapped his wings, his figure abruptly rising as he soared into the sky.
Reflected in his vision was the Earth-Shattering Lion leader fleeing through the dense forest.
The next moment, like a falcon locking onto its prey, he suddenly dove down.
Boom!!!
A precise and violent diving impact sent the strongest individual in the squad, the Earth-Shattering Lion leader, flying again. It crashed through several large trees before rolling to a stop on the ground.
The Earth-Shattering Lion struggled to stand up, but its body, covered in wounds and with its rock armor completely shattered, could no longer support itself.
Ultimately, it could only collapse powerlessly on the ground, emitting painful gasps.
Thud!
The Iron Dragon's heavy body landed beside it. A sharp claw mercilessly grabbed the Earth-Shattering Lion's massive head, the sharp tips piercing the fur and leaving deep gashes oozing with blood.
"Reptile, submit or die."
Sorog's voice echoed directly within the Earth-Shattering Lion's mind.
Under the Iron Dragon's indifferent gaze, the Earth-Shattering Lion's initial struggle and unwilling roars gradually weakened, finally turning into a low whimper full of fear and submission, choosing to yield.
The other injured lion-beasts that were lucky enough not to die and were desperately fleeing in different directions did not manage to run very far either.
They soon ran into the elite troops of the Molten Iron Tribe, who had already received the signal and were steadily closing the encirclement from the perimeter. After a bout of futile resistance, they were first beaten into heavy injuries and finally captured one after another with specially made steel cables and nets.
The Dragons were not hunting alone.
While they locked onto the lion group's position from high altitude, they would command the nearest Molten Iron Dependents to encircle them from the outside, then personally launch a thunderous strike. Coordinating with the Dependents' encirclement, they aimed to catch the entire pride in one net, letting no one escape.
Similar scenes were playing out simultaneously in different areas of the border battlefront.
Wearing thick, pitch-black armor and appearing increasingly formidable and massive, the Red Dragon Samantha excitedly lashed her dragon tail, which was covered in spiked armor.
Clang!
Following her movement, the sharp, blade-edged armor plates on her tail precisely interlocked and locked tight, instantly transforming into a giant blade-like structure. With a whistle that tore through the air, it slashed against the Mammoth Lion's crossed giant tusks, which were famous for being indestructible.
Crack—!!!
Accompanied by a tooth-aching sound of breaking, that pair of giant tusks, symbols of strength and sturdiness, snapped at the sound.
"Hahaha! Come on! Again!"
"Lowly reptiles! What kind of existence do you think you are making an enemy of?!"
Samantha laughed wildly.
Her own powerful Red Dragon strength, combined with the all-around enhancement and protection brought by the alchemical armor, made her at this moment like a dragon-shaped alchemical golem born for battle, rampaging through the lion group to her heart's content.
Every claw strike, every tail lash, and every charge carried the power to crush everything in its path.
The originally fierce lion group was beaten into disarray, their morale collapsed, and they could only flee howling with their tails between their legs.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
In the bright sky, an extremely abrupt dark cloud, churning with thunderous light, hung low. Within it, electric snakes danced wildly, and thunder rolled, as thick lightning bolts repeatedly struck the earth like the whips of a Heavenly God!
Blue Dragon Heliam floated elegantly at the very center of the thundercloud storm.
He didn't even need to land; he simply flapped his wings, which were inlaid with lightning patterns, with composure, finely wielding the lightning across the sky.
The violent lightning seemed to have eyes, covering the lion group below.
As time passed, those lion-like Vicious Beasts and magical creatures were charred black and smoking from the electricity, their manes standing on end, their limbs twitching violently as they fell to the ground, losing their ability to move.
Rumble!!!
On another side, the young and vigorous Red Dragon Kahir chose the most direct method.
She didn't bother to dodge, letting the sharp teeth and claws of the lion group fall upon her body, which was covered in thick scales.
Pain ignited her fury like fuel, and the boiling rage in turn catalyzed even greater strength.
The lion group soon discovered they were not besieging prey, but were facing an erupting volcano, being unilaterally suppressed and beaten by her!
And when her accumulated rage gradually vented through her frantic attacks and her mind cleared.
The surrounding area was already covered with heavily injured lion-beasts with broken bones, left only with their gasping breaths, or corpses that had lost their lives.
Meanwhile.
Galos's gaze swept across the entire battlefield, quickly locking onto an elite force that was the most numerous and had the highest average life Rank, which could be called the trump card of the lion group.
He circled half a turn high in the sky, adjusted his direction, and then, like a falling star, crashed down in front of the lion group.
Boom!
The terrifying shockwave and earth tremor generated at the moment of landing alone threw the entire elite lion group's formation into chaos. More than twenty lion-beasts were knocked off balance, their eyes instantly filled with alarm and fear.
Whoosh—!
The Red Iron Dragon unfolded his massive wings, which seemed capable of blotting out the sun. The resulting gale blew away the pervasive dust and smoke, revealing his majestic, formidable, and highly oppressive body.
With him as the center, a Dragon Pressure as condensed as a physical substance radiated outward like a tsunami, unending and vast.
The lion group was pressed until they could barely breathe, their limbs trembling slightly.
"Reptiles, come. Use your sharp teeth and claws, and do your best to please me."
The Red Iron Dragon lowered his head, looking down at the lion group, and spoke calmly.
Roar!!!
The leader, an exceptionally sturdy Vicious Beast who seemed to be a mutated individual, crouched low, bared its fangs, and assumed a combat stance for a desperate fight, letting out a fierce roar at Galos.
However, in the very next second.
This fierce lion made a move that was unexpected even to Galos.
It suddenly turned around, exploding with speed to its limit, and like an arrow leaving a bow, it fled frantically in the direction away from the Red Iron Dragon.
The retreat was incredibly decisive, without the slightest hesitation.
That determined stance just now was entirely a disguise to deceive the opponent.
At the same time, the other surviving members of the lion group instantly scattered, fleeing for their lives in all directions.
When facing Galos, they couldn't even muster the slightest courage to resist. From the beginning, their goal was to escape, and they fled with absolute decisiveness and speed.
"How do you know you can't win without trying? Maybe I should restrain my Dragon Pressure a bit more next time."
The Red Iron Dragon shook his head, and then his body instantly disappeared from the spot.
Even though this lion group scattered and fled at the first moment, in the face of an absolute gap, all struggles were merely futile and could not change the final outcome.
In the time that followed, the Dragon Group's hunting of the lion group continued efficiently.
After quickly dealing with a lion group squad, the Dragons would leave the tasks of cleaning up the aftermath and binding the captives to the Molten Iron troops arriving later, while they themselves would not stay, flapping their wings to soar into the clouds.
Relying on their advantage of dominating the sky, they quickly locked onto the next target area and then repeated the previous strike pattern.
Precise positioning, lightning strikes, Dependents encircling...
Under the thrashing from the Dragon Group in the sky, the lion group squads that had previously held the initiative and were 'blooming in multiple spots' across the vast territory of the Molten Iron Tribe turned from hunters into panicked prey in the blink of an eye.
They were beaten until they fled like scurrying rats, in a state of utter wretchedness.
With the Dragons entering the fray, the situation was completely reversed.
Then, in less than a full day, the vast majority of the lion-beasts that had invaded the Molten Iron Tribe's territory were captured. A few whose resistance was exceptionally fierce and were difficult to take alive were killed on the spot. Only a very few individuals with great luck or exceptional cunning managed to break through the gradually tightening encirclement and fled back toward the Lion King's territory with heavy injuries.
The Lion King's first tentative offensive against the Molten Iron Tribe ended in a complete and utter failure.
"Now, it's our turn."
As night gradually deepened, the Dragon Group soared and circled in the starry night sky.
"Assemble the legion, pursue the victory, and march toward Echo Rift Valley!"
Galos looked toward the direction of the Lion King's territory from afar and issued a new command.