Iron Dragon's Advancement Journey

Page 15

　30. A Way Out

　For most species, collapsing from exhaustion in the wilderness means death.

　Because animals that have fallen into a coma can no longer replenish the energy their bodies need, without external assistance, the extreme depletion of their physical strength will drain them of their last bit of life.

　Thanks to the mercy of the God of Dragon Hatchlings, the Guardian of Dragon Nests, the benevolent Lady Talama, Casaroz, as a dragon, a fire dragon, is still fortunate.

　Unless it's an age-related dormancy requiring a large amount of nutrients, or it runs into a region with high abundance of magic of the opposite attribute, or it foolishly runs into a magic vacuum zone, dragons, as elemental subspecies, are not so easy to starve to death. The ubiquitous magic is always enough to maintain the minimum life activities of dragons. Otherwise, how could an orphaned chromatic dragon survive by eating dirt?

　Even if a dragon's digestive system can digest inorganic matter in the soil, it only dismantles these substances and uses them as basic materials for the dragon's body. It cannot obtain the energy needed for life activities from them. Dragons do not rely on fusion for energy. Otherwise, they would not be called the most powerful species among mortals. They could be directly renamed divine abominations or godlike powers.

　Magic, an inherent attribute present in all things in Faerûn, became a substitute for dragons when they lacked sufficient energy.

　Simply by breathing, their unique organ-based blood vessels can accumulate free magic energy from the air to supply themselves, which is actually the basis for why dragons can become stronger even when they sleep.

　The Hazur Mountains and the area surrounding the Iron Dragon Sanctuary are rich in underground lava flows. In Faerûn, this means that the region has a special connection with the inner material plane, the fire elemental plane. Abundant fire elemental energy constantly flows into the material plane through this connection, pouring into the mantle and awakening one active volcano after another.

　This is a paradise for fire-type magical life forms, and the most suitable place for the growth and development of iron dragons—provided there are sufficient iron ore resources. In fact, Faerûn's magically rich areas are far more extensive than specific mineral-rich areas; certain substances are the essential nutrients for true dragon development. Therefore, most dragon species don't intentionally seek out magically rich areas corresponding to their own elemental power to nest in, but something is better than nothing…

　In short, the area surrounding the sacred site of the Atheron race, being rich in fire element, provided basic life support for the unconscious Casalos, allowing it to slowly recover its strength and injuries while unconscious, and thus gradually awaken.

　Casalos was awakened by the clanging and digging sounds. Rock is an excellent medium for conducting vibrations, and the sounds of the green dragon couple's retinue digging the cave reached the ears of the collapsed iron dragon hatchling from afar, making it sense the danger and awaken it.

　It weakly propped itself up, curled its long neck, and turned its head to examine its body in order to make a proper assessment.

　"I'm afraid he's lost two points of his physical constitution."

　The abundant fire element can provide the energy needed for its physiological activities. As it heals injuries and grows rapidly during its embryonic stage, the nutrients it needs can only be obtained from within its own body.

　Casalos found that he had grown a little, but had become much, much thinner. This wasn't due to weight loss, but pure malnutrition; after all, Miss Tungsten Dragon hadn't been feeding him all sorts of nutrients before he fell into a coma.

　The coma hadn't lasted long, probably only two or three days. The green dragon's marking spell had worn off, and the various wounds inflicted on its fragile body during its escape in its various animal forms had healed. The scales that had been scraped off by thorns and vines as feathers wouldn't grow back for the time being. Where the metallic scales weren't covering them, the mottled scars were clearly visible.

　"Lellotar the Green Dragon, is it? And Lantro, you just wait!"

　After delivering a self-consoling speech typical of a defeated villain, Casalos pressed his head back to the ground, determined the direction of the digging noise, and began his own digging.

　It's just a matter of digging speed, how could it be slower than a bunch of dog-headed snake-men or something?

　The special ability of burrowing cannot work in rock unless Casalozs grows to the Elder Dragon stage and gains a spell-like ability to turn fossils into mud, or can cast a spell to turn fossils into mud, and even then, the depth is limited. After all, mud is mud, rock is rock, and soil is soil. Fluid mud can transmit pressure in all directions without loss. If the pressure of the strata in slightly deeper places is not supported by the stress of the rock and soil structure, it will be directly transmitted by the mud and can easily crush an ancient iron dragon.

　There are quite a few restrictions on tunneling.

　Even without the ability to use the burrowing technique, Casalos can still move through the rocks much faster than the green dragon's minions by using the iron dragon's shovel-like head to dig, along with its sharp claws and wing hooks.

　Of course, given its size, the hole it dug was more than enough for snake-men, kobolds, and similar creatures to survive.

Chapter 31

　The creature stood upright alongside its companions, so as it dug, it also destroyed the stress-accumulated areas in the rock, causing the passage behind it to collapse, in order to prevent the pursuing green dragon minions from digging to the spot where it had just dug and then catching up with it.

　Every now and then, Casalos will find a suitable gap and transform into a small animal to take a shortcut.

　Having successfully escaped into the cave, Casalos felt he had essentially gotten rid of the green dragon couple.

　Next, if it finds some underground river or lava flow, it can simply sneak in and travel a short distance, and it will be able to escape completely from the control of the green dragon couple... I guess.

　While digging a cave and making way for others, Casalos left the Green Dragon couple and their servants far behind. Soon, he finally found a lava river.

　The lava was narrow and shallow, not enough for Casalos to dive in and join the others. However, the high temperature of the lava softened the surrounding glassy rocks. Digging along the lava not only saved its energy, but the abundant fire elemental magic in the lava could also replenish its magic power in time. The molten minerals carried in the scalding lava also solved its urgent need for heavy metal mineral nutrition.

　Most importantly, the lava flows downwards with extremely low internal pressure, unlike the high-pressure mantle lava flowing upwards. Therefore, if Casalos flows downstream, it is highly likely that it will enter a wide, open lava river main and then head towards the Underdark.

　The Underdark is certainly not a good place; its inhabitants are extremely dangerous and harbor immense hatred for surface creatures.

　But no matter what, it's still much better than being chased by a green dragon on the surface.

　Especially given that the surface-dwelling sub-dragons had just been wiped out by a cross-border chromatic dragon, and the survivors were nowhere to be found.

　Casalos, who possesses the innate ability to change his form, should have no problem disguising himself as some native species of the Underdark and blending in for a while...

　31. New Beginning

　The Darklands are a unique geographical region on the planet Toril.

　It probably wasn't formed naturally... but that has nothing to do with Casalos, anyway, the Underdark is there, right beneath the surface of Faerûn.

　A series of interconnected, open, and massive underground cavities provide additional channels for the high-pressure, high-temperature lava from deep underground to release pressure, allowing some of the lava flows that seep to the surface to flow downstream against gravity, like a river flowing into the earth.

　Determining whether a lava flow is heading towards the Darklands is actually quite easy. Just drill into the lava and feel the pressure inside, and you can easily tell whether it is a volcanic "artery" squeezed out by the high pressure underground waiting to erupt, or a "vein" that is released pressure in the Darklands and flows back into the earth.

　A single vein became Casalos's perfect escape route.

　Green dragons are not immune to fire damage. Even if a mature green dragon uses certain spells to temporarily resist the high temperature and the pervasive fire magic in the lava, it cannot stay in the lava for very long.

　Casalos had been digging along the lava for a very long time. The abundant fire elements and molten metal minerals in the lava drove away its physical fatigue. Its vision was always a bright red with nothing else in sight, but this gradually weighed on its spirit.

　Its movements became mechanical and stiff, like a tireless machine, repeating simple digging actions over and over again, numbly moving forward step by step. Only when it was about to suffocate would it dig a small hole in a crevice in the lava flow, raise its head and gasp for breath. It was an elemental subspecies, its body composed of half matter and half elemental magic. It was a dragon that could live on soil, yet it still needed to breathe. It was hard to say whether this was ironic or not.

　Or perhaps there are deeper reasons behind this that even the dragon itself is unaware of?

　Its innate immunity to fire, the affinity between fire elemental magic and the dragon soul, the desire to survive that sustained it, the unyielding will to survive, the mental stability provided by meditation methods from the ancient dragon era, and the occasional bursts of dragon rage to release pressure—all these factors and motivations were indispensable in keeping it going.

　It had long since entered a semi-conscious state, its surface consciousness drifting hazily, enveloped by all sorts of phantoms conjured up by its brain, making it forget how far it had traveled, where it was, and what it was doing.

　Driven by those hybrid forces, the subconscious mind directs the body to dig and move forward tirelessly.

　Even in the endless lava, the fire-attribute iron dragon still felt the same way, so how could the green dragon possibly catch up?

　The good news is that after several tributaries merged, the lava flow became wide and deep enough for Casalos to travel alongside it. It hardly needs to dig anymore; it can simply use its claws and wing hooks to scrape off some semi-solidified obsidian blocks and move forward by crouching down, as if in mud. Although it is not as fast as digging, it is still several times faster than digging.

　If it encounters another tributary, it will likely be able to swim through the lava flow as if it were swimming—Iron Dragons are not naturally good swimmers, largely because their material composition is more metallic than most dragons, resulting in a higher body density, causing them to sink straight down when they enter water. Lava is much denser than water, providing greater buoyancy, which is why Casaloz floats without deliberately diving deeper.

　If you can float, can't you at least doggy paddle a few times if you can't swim?

　As it turns out, luck still hasn't completely abandoned Casalos.

　The sudden sensation of falling awakened its half-asleep, shallow consciousness.

　Casalos "opened his eyes," and his dark vision showed him being swept along by lava, cascading down into a dark and empty space like a waterfall.

　Subconsciously, it burst out of the lava waterfall, spread its wings to catch the incoming flow, slowed down to enter a gliding posture, then changed to circling and slowly descending, disappearing into the rising water mist. Only then did a series of muffled thunderous explosions vaguely emerge from the rolling water mist, distant and gloomy.

　That was the sound of lava waterfall crashing into deep water; below was probably an underground lake. Only then did the Mind Flayer realize where they were!

　Using the mist as cover, Casalos hovered around the lava falls, lowering his height to about a hundred meters above the water, and began to survey the surrounding environment.

　Lakes in dark regions, especially deep lakes, are very different from those on the surface.

　There is no vast sky here, but rather a rocky dome. Water containing carbon dioxide seeps into the cracks in the rocks and drips down from the dome, dissolving the calcium bicarbonate within, which then precipitates and solidifies. Over millions of years, stalactites, columns, and even stalagmites and walls have gradually grown from top to bottom, forming a continuous, labyrinthine structure that divides the lake's surface and creates a stable, three-dimensional "land" space, becoming the dwelling place for a large number of non-aquatic underground inhabitants.

　After circling around for a while without finding any visible traces of large animal activity, Casalos lightly landed in the shadows of a huge, fluorescent stone pillar and lay down to observe it carefully.

　Although Iron Dragons occasionally build nests underground, they are ultimately surface creatures and prefer bright places if given the choice.

　The Underdark isn't always so dark. Besides the magical light and the lava flows everywhere, there are also many naturally fluorescent things in the Underdark that can serve as sources of light. These could be some strange mineral veins, some kind of magical plant or fungal community, or some other mysterious thing that no one can understand.

　But regardless of the type, it will always attract some underground inhabitants to build settlements—which suggests that most underground inhabitants still yearn for the light... right?

　The fluorescent source discovered by Casaloz was a small to medium-sized fungal community.

　These enormous mushrooms, averaging over 3 meters in height, resemble a jungle. Their blue-green fluorescence originates from the patterns on the cap's tip and the dense clusters of spores within the gills at the base. Some of the vines hanging from the mushrooms emit pale yellow flowers.

Chapter 32

　.

　Without exception, a group of underground inhabitants had already taken over the area. It was a race Casalos was very familiar with: kobolds—not the kind of kobolds with candles on their heads and ugly dog ​​heads that Casalos had seen in the Dragon Vault. But the kind of kobolds that roamed all over Faerûn, resembling lizards and having the voice of vicious dogs.

　That is, the group of guys Casalos used to mock the Cobalt Dragon.

　Regardless of their origins, kobolds have a blind worship of any subspecies of true dragons. They instinctively follow dragons and are willing to become their servants.

　For a dragon, discovering a kobold tribe while adrift is undoubtedly good news, essentially meaning gaining a foothold at the start of the game. This is provided that the kobolds haven't yet been conquered by another dragon.

　32. To be a sparrow for a time

　Good news: Casaloz did not see any other dragons among the kobold tribes... but that does not mean that the kobold tribe is dragonless.

　Which legitimate dragon lives directly in its own servant tribe? Or is it a kobold, who can summon a large group of low-ranking servants just by roaring in any wilderness?

　So Casalos decided to stay here for the time being and observe for a while before making any decisions.

　Before that, it needed to properly replenish its nutrition—after flowing through the lava for so long, although it was constantly replenished by elemental magic and minerals within the lava, it felt like someone on an IV drip in a hospital bed, only able to sustain life but not fill their stomach.

　If it were any other non-dragon species, it would probably be too hungry to move by now.

　Casalos has no idea where it is or what its environment is like. Choosing a prey is also a problem: changing forms does not grant the target form the skills and special abilities it should have. Given the current situation, it is hesitant to use its dragon form to swagger around. Choosing the wrong prey would be extremely dangerous.

　Just as it was troubled, Lady Taramar once again performed a miracle on the young dragon she was protecting.

　The fungus where the kobolds were located emitted a series of howling sounds, which, although unpleasant to hear, sounded like simplified dragon language.

　They are gathering the hunters in the tribe to prepare for a new round of hunting.

　A group of kobolds emerged from the cave, waving their arms and legs, carrying tattered weapons. They excitedly surrounded the high stone platform where the kobold sorcerer, who seemed to be their leader, was located, pushing and shoving each other in an attempt to climb up.

　The stone platform wasn't high; the kobolds in front leaped up, grabbed the edge with their claws, and could climb up with a pull-up. Unfortunately, the kobolds behind grabbed these early birds, dragged them down, and threw them to the ground to use as steps.

　The process repeated itself, and soon a human ladder of kobolds was erected, with dozens of kobolds at the back swarming up to it.

　Suddenly, a kobold struck its companion with its tattered bone spear, knocking it to the ground with a scream as it clutched its leg. This act seemed to ignite a powder keg, and a chaotic brawl erupted as the kobolds swarmed towards the stone platform. Without restraint, those kobolds who had been trampled down as steps also got up and joined the fray, creating a lively and chaotic scene.

　The battle was quickly decided. The nine kobolds, who were clearly taller and stronger and had much better weapons, finally stood on the platform. The kobold warlock shouted to stop the fighting and announced that the nine victors would be the hunters of this hunt.

　The unfortunate few who died tragically in the brawl were forgotten by everyone.

　"Aren't kobolds supposed to be very orderly? What's gotten into these guys?" Casaroz, who was watching, noticed something amiss, flapped his wings, and decided to ignore it for the time being: "Whatever, let's fill our stomachs first, hehe..."

　The kobolds' prey couldn't possibly be bottom-dwelling demon fish or anything like that. Judging from their excited and eager way of hunting, they must have a fixed hunting ground and prey groups. I'll just follow them and steal a few kills.

　Even if there are unexpected situations, such as the kobold hunting party stumbling upon a landmine, Casalos will transform into a large gecko adapted to crawling in this terrain, quietly following behind the kobold hunting party, and disappearing into the distance along the winding burrow.

　After crossing five stone bridges and passing two stone pillars, they arrived at the tip of a huge, sloping stalagmite. Several kobolds each took out a vine of an unknown plant with a distinct metallic sheen from their baskets, joined them together to form a long rope, nailed one end to the stalagmite with a nail, and let the other end down.

　In this way, the dog-headed men obtained a rappell and climbed it down a height of about a hundred meters, arriving at a flat stone island that was almost level with the lake surface.

　Upon landing, the nine kobold hunters first surveyed their surroundings, then split into three pairs of six, cautiously carrying their weapons and patrolling around the stone island, making Casalos quite nervous.

　The remaining three kobolds waited in place for a while, until each of the three teams had circled one-third of the radius, basically clearing the edge of the stone island, before they turned together and headed straight for the center of the stone island.

　Casalos hung upside down on the vines, descending a little, and looked down at the dog-headed people. They walked to a spot about twenty meters away from the center of the stone island, lifted a well-camouflaged stone slab, revealing a dark hole, and crawled down one by one.

　Finally, three fish remained. They covered the stone slabs tightly, then used mud and sand to disguise the flaps as natural. Then, they carried bone harpoons to the edge of the rocky island and started spearing fish.

　If you look closely, those three kobolds, whose tiny eyes probably have dark vision, weren't looking underwater at all. They were constantly scanning their surroundings, and they didn't manage to spear a single fish for ages.

　"What is so important..."

　Despite his doubts, Casalos did not rashly reveal himself.

　After catching up with the hunting party, it closed the distance a bit. It was only through the inheritance from the Atheros that it sensed that these kobolds seemed slightly different—they possessed a faint aura of true dragons, somewhat similar to the feeling of dragon vein creatures. However, the abstract inheritance also clearly indicated that these were not kobold dragon vein sorcerers who had reverted to their ancestral ways.

　Yes, it's that feeling of atavism, but not a complete atavism.

　In summary, it's probably because the bloodline is too weak and is in a state of limbo.

　Normal kobolds wouldn't exhibit this phenomenon. Strictly speaking, regardless of whether dragons are willing to admit it or not, kobolds inherently possess dragon blood. The probability of them awakening as dragon blood sorcerers is very low, but considering the kobold population, their absolute numbers are not uncommon.

　This state of being neither fully awake nor fully awake is not nonexistent, but it is certainly not a natural phenomenon.

　In other words, this is the result of some external force.

　What external force caused the kobolds to exhibit abnormal, slight atavism? Why did the naturally lawful kobolds erupt into chaotic infighting upon learning of the hunt? And why was the hunting party acting so furtively and nervously?

　Casalos had a feeling that perhaps the secret and the answer to all of this lay hidden within the mysterious hunting grounds beneath the flat stone island.

　It wasn't in a hurry to go down and alert the enemy; instead, it silently clung to the vines, observing and waiting. The best time to act would be when the kobold returned from its hunt, and when the place was dark and quiet again.

　The series of major events has tempered its patience to the point that it is as hard as an old dragon.

　The hunting party didn't make it wait too long. Less than two hours into the Iron Dragon's biological clock, a soft but rhythmic tapping sounded from the stone island. The three kobolds on guard outside heard the sound and their faces lit up with uncontrollable excitement. They hopped back to the cover in a few steps, tapped it with their stone spears to give the signal, and then eagerly lifted the stone slab.

　"What, what is this?!"

　33. Prey?

　Casalos, clinging to the vines, stared wide-eyed when he saw the kobold hunting party crawling back to the surface from the cave.

　The six kobolds that went hunting hadn't changed much, except for a few more...

Chapter 33