A loud tearing sound!
Garros's dragon wings, resembling giant guillotines, flapped violently.
Accompanied by the screeching sound of metal twisting and breaking, several iron cages holding the Young Dragons shattered in response. However, those special chains piercing the dragon bodies, inscribed with Alchemy Runes, clearly could not be handled in such a rough manner.
"Samantha! Solrog!"
The Red-Iron Dragon's low roar echoed across the battlefield.
His Frostburn Scales were cracked over a large area, and the surging heat within his body caused the surrounding air to distort. Two Young Dragons, who were hunting down the remaining dwarven soldiers, immediately turned around upon hearing the sound and flew over quickly, flapping their dragon wings.
"Unlock the chains and take them into the air."
Garros said.
Samantha understood immediately, precisely manipulating the chains reinforced by Alchemy to extract them from the bodies of the small dragons. Every time a section was pulled out, the Young Dragons could be heard groaning in pain.
After unlocking them.
Her thick dragon claws grabbed the Black Young Dragon and the Green Young Dragon, one in each hand, and her powerful dragon wings flapped violently, whipping up a gale as she shot straight into the sky.
The Iron Dragon Sorog used a gentler motion to pick up the Young Blue Dragon, rising into the air immediately after.
The dragons soon converged high in the sky, and the burning mining outpost on the ground had already become tiny.
Very quickly, the dragons had ascended to high altitude.
"These despicable dwarven bastards, one day I will come back personally and let them taste the Dragon Clan's vengeful fury."
The Black Dragon said through gritted teeth in a raspy voice.
Samantha snorted two sparks from her nostrils and let out a disdainful cold laugh: "Heh, little one, I'm afraid you won't have that chance, at least not to kill the dwarves here."
"Why—"
The Green Dragon had just voiced the question when he suddenly felt a terrifying heatwave coming from below, and his words came to an abrupt halt.
All the small dragons tensed their tails in unison, unable to maintain a calm expression, and looked in terror toward the direction of the mining outpost below.
In mid-air.
The Red-Iron Dragon flapped his wings, his massive, strong body suspended in the air. His Frostburn Scales, having been subjected to previous attacks and the stimulation of golden lightning, were now almost completely shattered, revealing the underlying black-red scales with battle-scarred patterns.
Sss, sss, sss!
High-temperature heatwaves erupted with the Red-Iron Dragon as the center. His scales turned red-hot like a branding iron, and the surrounding air distorted violently.
Whoosh!
He inhaled deeply, his mouth biting onto a ball of fire that shone like the sun, and immediately after, with a deafening dragon roar, he spat it out in a torrent.
Thermal Enhancement—Destruction Dragon Breath!
Boom—!
The blinding, brilliant flames landed on the ground like a divine punishment of heavenly fire thrown down by a god. The rolling, spreading flames turned the mining outpost into a sea of fire; the fleeing dwarves turned into charred remains in the inferno, and the sturdy buildings collapsed and melted in the high heat.
The earth shook and the mountains swayed; heaven and earth seemed to crumble.
Even high in the sky, the Young Dragons could clearly feel the heatwave shockwave carrying the aura of death.
They were stunned for a few seconds. When they came back to their senses, the Red-Iron Dragon's ferocious body was already in front of them. The heat on his body had not yet dissipated, and the battle-scarred patterns were glowing like flowing lava, radiating an unparalleled aura of oppression, with scorching heat rushing toward them.
"Let's go."
The Red-Iron Dragon commanded briefly.
Immediately after, the Ignas Siblings streaked across the sky, their figures quickly disappearing, leaving behind only a mining outpost burning in flames, reduced to ruins and scorched earth.
On the way back to The Borderlands.
Garros remained on guard, not letting his guard down.
When they first raided the Duchy of Raymond's mine, Advanced golems came chasing through the sky shortly after. This time, the commotion was even greater, so they could not afford to be careless.
The Blackrock Duchy's legion in the Serel Wilderness was not worth Garros's fear.
But the Federal Garrison needed extra attention.
However, until his wings swept across the wilderness sky, crossed the Estonia Great River, and arrived at The Borderlands, he had not discovered any traces of golems or powerful pursuers.
"Has the support response within the Federation become sluggish?"
The Red-Iron Dragon circled above The Borderlands, looking back toward the wilderness direction thoughtfully.
Since the fall of the Saint King, although the various nations still maintained a superficial peace, they harbored their own secret agendas, with undercurrents surging. They were silently accumulating power, waiting for the right moment to erupt. At such a time, even if the Blackrock Duchy's garrison requested aid immediately, it would be difficult to get a quick and effective response.
In fact, it was not just the Blackrock Duchy.
As for the stations of various nations in the Serel Wilderness, the strong kingdom stations were fine, but the weaker Duchy stations had recently been catching fire everywhere, with the frequency of attacks by powerful Vicious Beasts, monster lords, and the like gradually increasing.
Never underestimate the intelligence of the wilderness monsters.
Some monsters didn't know about the situation in the south, but they had keenly sensed an unusual smell, so they stopped hiding and enduring, slowly extending their claws and fangs to test the reaction of the Federal Garrison. The sluggishness of the Federal Garrison only made the monsters more ferocious and emboldened.
If this trend continues.
It won't be long before the wilderness creatures, suppressed for hundreds of years, will completely bare their fangs and seize territory and resources from the hands of the Federation.
The sound of wing membranes cutting through the air gradually faded.
Sensing that the large dragons had obviously relaxed after entering The Borderlands, the Green Young Dragon rolled his eyes and opened his mouth cautiously, asking tentatively: "Powerful kin, thank you for saving our lives."
Until now.
The Young Dragons still did not know the true purpose of Garros and the others, not knowing whether they had been saved, or if they had just escaped the imprisonment of the dwarves only to fall into an even more dangerous situation.
"Although our strength is meager, we will definitely find a way to repay you. As long as it is something we can do, please feel free to command us."
The Green Dragon's tone was humble and sincere, quietly using his innate Spell-like Ability for negotiation.
Unfortunately, the gap between the two sides was too large, and his negotiation influence was completely nullified.
"We want your lives." Samantha suddenly grinned, revealing her white fangs, and said playfully.
The small dragons immediately stiffened all over, their scales standing on end.
The Iron Dragon Sorog added at the right time: "To be precise, we want you to keep your lives and pledge loyalty to us."
Samantha was arrogant and continued: "Listen, you wet-behind-the-ears brats, your lives belong to us now. Any objections?"
Although she had not comprehended Niche Theory and had no conscious awareness of avoiding higher niches, she was very skilled and self-taught in the matter of insulting and bullying other Dragonkin from a position of superiority.
The reason why the White Dragon Tereshi was able to 'have a sudden enlightenment' was largely due to Samantha's 'guidance'.
"A very reasonable request."
A smile was squeezed onto the Green Dragon's face, while the Black Dragon remained silent.
Meanwhile, the Young Blue Dragon, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly asked: "Did you meet Cahill?"
These dragons had a clear goal; while destroying and wrecking the dwarven outpost, they came almost directly to rescue them, and then decisively disengaged from the battle to leave the wilderness.
Calming down, it was not hard to think that their target was actually not the dwarves, but them, who had been captured by the dwarves.
They had been captured for a very short time.
Such a fast rescue must either be because they were lucky and encountered some unexpected situation, or it was related to the Red Dragon Cahill who had escaped.
The Iron Dragon's eyes flashed, and he looked down at the Young Blue Dragon he was carrying.
"Name?"
"Heriam."
The Young Blue Dragon whispered.
Solrog only asked for his name and then said no more, not explaining whether they had come because of the Red Dragon Cahill, and Heriam did not continue to ask, remaining silent.
But the Black Dragon clearly didn't have such good patience: "Where are you taking us?"
While speaking, she twisted restlessly in Samantha's claws.
"Black-skinned brat, shut up!" Samantha tightened her claws impatiently, almost squeezing the Black Dragon until she passed out.
She couldn't be bothered to explain too much; anyway, they would understand naturally once they arrived at Dragon Valley, so she would just take them there first.
The other Green Dragon being carried also wanted to ask a question, but after seeing his companion's miserable state, he wisely shut his mouth.
The bright sun rose on the distant horizon, gradually illuminating the gray-blue sky. In the lingering night, the dragons flew toward the deeper parts of The Borderlands.