Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon's Might
Chapter 55 - The Big One is Coming
55: Chapter 55: The Big One is Coming
This chaptđr is updated by freeÏebnovÄl.c૊m.
55 -55: The Big One is Coming
On the first day in the desert, Leon ate Ankheg; the taste wasnât great, and he was unsatisfied.
On the second day in the desert, Leon caught a camel and feasted on it.
The taste of the camel was quite nice, and he was satisfied.
However, a single camel was not enough to satiate Leon now; he needed more food.
Looking around, there were plenty of animals and plants in this small desert oasis, but confronted with foxes the size of one of his claws, or hedgehogs even smaller, he really couldnât muster any enthusiasm.
With no other choice, Leon had to flex his neck and spread his wings to fly up in search of food.
The rumbling, thunder-like sounds attracted Leon.
He followed the sound and, upon reaching the area, saw nothing.
But as soon as he landed, he immediately noticed something unusualâthe thunderous sound was coming from beneath the sand.
Although Leon hadnât burrowed to make a nest in a long time, as soon as he raised his hand, his body moved on its own, still quite adept.
Leon discovered a large group of Sand Worms beneath the sand.
Sand Worms looked like large snakes, long and thick, with a diameter of half a meter, otherwise they could not have been captured and domesticated as mounts.
At the same time, they were covered in hard shells, and their tails bore a highly poisonous Chela Stinger for attacking.
To ordinary people, Sand Worms were formidable monsters, especially since they often moved in groups.
But for Leon, who was growing into a super-large size, they were just like big spicy sticksâtheir armor was quite hard, but by peeling the segments one by one, it came right off, and the toxic Chela Stingers couldnât even scratch his scales.
The Sand Worms couldnât do anything to Leon, but if they wanted to escape, he also had no good way to handle it, as his burrowing and escaping skills were no match for theirs.
Fortunately, Leon was facing a large group of Sand Worms, and some unlucky ones ran straight into him, eventually letting him catch one, biting its head clean off.
There was a lot of meat, and the taste was much better than that of the Ankheg.
However, the best way to eat them was to peel off their shells, akin to peeling shrimp shellsâit was edible but not very delicious.
This was Leonâs culinary review of the Sand Worms.
After arriving in the desert, Leon suddenly realized that he might have read too few setting introductions; there were a bunch of creatures he did not recognize here.
Using the fin-like wings on his sides to fly up, he saw sun-reflecting shining serpents for the first time.
No matter what, they tasted okay.
He was also unfamiliar with the dog-like creatures with scales, but anyway, they were quite flavorful.
Next to a dried-up, thorny tree, scattered bones and rusted Armor lay around.
Leon was just curious and went over to take a look, but then it suddenly moved, trying to entangle him with its withered branches.
He had no choice but to reward it with a blast of Samadhi True Fire, turning it to ash.
In the end, he got nothing to eat.
After several days of desert life, Leon learned a new trick, which was to sleep under the sand like those little lizards, hiding his entire body under the sand and only exposing a nose.
Unless someone was really close, they couldnât find him.
Then, an eroded large hole was something that Leon discovered after living in the desert for three days.
The hole was quite hidden, and it was vast inside.
It was wide enough to accommodate his huge body without needing any extra digging.
The only issue was that the height was insufficient; he could crawl without a problem, but it was impossible to stand up.
Even so, he still treated that hole as a temporary nest.
That was the fourth day of desert life.
Leon discovered a Camel Caravan and circled curiously above it.
The entire caravan was almost immediately thrown into chaos.
âWhy would a Red Dragon appear in the desert?â
âThat must be a teenage Red Dragon, right?â
âWeâre finished.â
âRun for your life.â
âIn this desert, leaving the caravan means death for anyone.â
Leon heard the desperate cries of the traders, thinking with their level of resolve, a single chant of the Soul Summoning Mantra would spell death for all.
Leon was not a robber and had intended to leave already, but someone, in their panic, clumsily shot an arrow at him.
Of course, the arrow could not possibly harm him, it wasnât even enough to tickle.
âI have not harmed you; it was you who attacked me first.â Leon landed on the ground.
âIt was not intentional.â A middle-aged man dressed like a captain emerged from the fully armed guards, âWe will compensate you, Lord Red Dragon.â
âHow do you plan to compensate me?â Leon asked.
âHalf of our goods.
We will give half of our merchandise to Lord Red Dragon as compensation,â the guard captain took a deep breath, glancing at the person who had attacked Leon.
Even if it was an arrow shot in a moment of fear, everyone must take responsibility for their actions, âRegarding the one who attacked Lord Red Dragon, you may do with him as you please.â
Leon was in a good mood today and had no intention of troubling the caravan.
He said, âHand over all your food, and Iâll let you go.â
âQuick, quick, bring all the food out.â Upon hearing the Red Dragonâs demand, the guard captain immediately set to work.
Thus, Leon indulgently consumed human food, which he hadnât done in a while, and even took a camel with him.
Besides that, he did nothing excessive.
The feeling of doing something bad was good, but it couldnât happen too often.
At most, he could demand some compensation after being attacked, like today; he could not cross that line.
Leon felt that if he kept doing bad things, he would quickly fall from grace, going from a human who had transformed into a Red Dragon, to a human assimilated by the Red Dragon, and finally into a Red Dragon with human memories.
Leon continued his life in the desert, dominating as he pleased, never considering the possibility that the land had an owner, not even in pretense.
Time flew by, and it was time again to gather the sun essence at the beginning of each month.
On this day, Leon rose early from his temporary nest and found an open space to gaze up at the sky.
He watched as the sun slowly rose behind a sand dune.
At first, when he started absorbing the essence of the Sun and Moon, he couldnât appreciate the benefits it brought him.
Now, with so many years passed, Leon could clearly feel the benefits the essence provided and wouldnât miss the brief opportunity available each month for anything.
In the past, he used to worry about the Sun God and the Moon Goddess, but nothing unusual had ever happened, and now he did not care in the slightest.
Leon was absorbed in collecting the sun essence until he noticed a massive shadow flying across the sky â a Blue Dragon was approaching.
The Blue Dragon landed before him, a size larger than him.
Considering that a Blue Dragon of the same age group would be smaller than a Red Dragon, and he was already large among Red Dragons, the fact that the Blue Dragon before him was even larger indicated that it was likely two stages older than himâŠ
This was evident at a glance.
His size might be large, with an oversized head and feet that highlighted his teenage dragon proportions, but the other had the proportions of an Adult Dragon, most likely in its youth.
Leon watched the Blue Dragon warily, its ears with folds and a massive horn atop its forehead, rows of smaller horns along its brow bone, scales of the same blue shade as the sky, polished smooth and shiny by the desert sands, with occasional sparks of static electricity bursting from beneath its skinâŠ
His muscles tensed up.
Leon realized that the Blue Dragon was also sizing him up, and he thought the newcomer was probably the so-called landlord of the desert, ready to drive him away.
He prepared for battle.
âYouâre really beautiful.â
The Blue Dragonâs voice was crisp, leaving an itching-for-a-fight Leon somewhat at a loss.