"Those don't look like fire dragons …"
I curled my lips and said, "I've checked the dragon race's branches and classifications. Dragons are divided into five ranks: Holy Giant Dragon, Gem Dragon, Metal Dragon, Winged Dragon, and Pseudo Dragon. Pseudo Dragon is the lowest of them all. In fact, they aren't even part of the dragon race. Beiming, look at the dragons in Fire Dragon Canyon. They're all pseudo dragons. Most of them are land dragons and lizard dragons. They're not real dragons. How sad …"
Beiming Xue giggled. "Big bro is so naughty!"
Lin Yixin rolled her eyes. "Stop teasing Beiming. Tell me, what do we do now? Do we go around Fire Dragon Canyon or go through it?"
"Are you kidding me? How long will it take to go around it? Let's just go through it …"
"What if we get wiped by a pseudo dragon?"
"Fine …"
"Okay, let's go!"
… …
The Ancient Divine Dragon flew down the mountain and entered Fire Dragon Canyon in the blink of an eye.
Whoosh!
A column of lava shot out of nowhere and hit the little dragon in the stomach. My body immediately felt a little hot, but my equipment negated most of the damage. I lost 40k + HP, which wasn't too bad, but 40k + HP was a lot worse for leather or cloth armor players. Low-level leather armor players would be one-shot if they were hit by this attack, but I didn't have to worry about that. I didn't have to worry about that.
"Beiming, watch out for the eruption of lava …" I warned.
Beiming Xue spurred her Dragonlight Armored Horse and zigzagged through the lava. She said with a smile, "Don't worry, big bro. I'm good at this."
I had complete faith in Beiming Xue's mechanical skills. She was right. I was just careless, or I wouldn't have been hit.
He Yi followed closely behind me and said, "Lu Chen, judging from Cold Sword City's Icy Blade's words just now, this Fire Dragon Canyon must be a great danger that the people of Cold Sword City regard as a forbidden ground. If it's just the destructive power of this lava, I don't think it can be considered a forbidden ground, right?"
"Mn. Let's keep going. We'll find the answer."
Pure Love pursed her lips as a hint of worry appeared on her face. "Shouldn't we take a detour? The people of Cold Sword City are so afraid of us. Do we really have to face them head-on?"
I smiled, "If we can't even deal with a mere Fire Dragon Canyon, then how are we supposed to conquer the Dragon City Ruins?
Don't forget, the level of the Dragon City Ruins is at least one level higher than the Fire Dragon Canyon. Don't tell me it's not the same level? "
"Hmm, that's true!"
Not long after, an Earth Dragon wrapped in raging flames appeared in front of them. These Earth Dragons were as large as rhinoceroses or even larger. They were covered in scales and had a sharp horn on their foreheads. Their sinister heads were quite frightening as they let out low roars.
I activated Dark Pupils and the Earth Dragons' stats appeared in the party channel. At the same time, I passed the party leader title to Lin Yixin. She activated Bombshell and increased everyone's stats by 80%. This way, killing mobs would be much safer. After the 80% boost, Beiming Xue's total HP was almost 500k.
[Flaming Earth Dragon] (Demon Tier Monster) Level: 270 Attack: 27200 - 38000 Defense: 24000 Health: 150,0000 Skills: [Laceration], [Raging Flame Spike], [Wild Roar] Introduction: Flaming Earth Dragon, a pseudo-dragon that hasn't fully evolved. Flaming Earth Dragons have all the characteristics of earth dragons. They are very heavy, have powerful limbs, and have sharp teeth. Their powerful bite force can instantly break metal weapons. As the guardians of the Flaming Dragon Canyon, these earth dragons are cruel and tyrannical. The only thing they want to do is to kill all creatures that enter the canyon and eat them … …
I put Murong Mingyue on the back of Cold Nine States and urged the little dragon to swim toward the Fire Earth Dragon. I said with a smile, "Alright, come. Let's see how strong this Level 270 Fire Earth Dragon is. It's enough to make those people in Cold Sword City look like they've seen a ghost."
The girls giggled softly.
I immediately activated my Divine Dragon Armor and charged the closest Flaming Earth Dragon. My sword glowed with the light of the Cold of the Nine States as I injected Purple Frost into the Earth Dragon's head. After injecting the Earth Dragon with its Defense Reduction ability, I unleashed Burning Blade Slash and dealt three consecutive damage numbers — 246778!
“297767！”
“346763！”
The Earth Dragon's HP dropped by 50% in an instant. Beiming Xue's laughter came from behind me. "Big bro's Attack is so strong! We don't even need to attack! We can easily take down this Earth Dragon by ourselves!"
The Earth Dragon roared angrily and launched a counterattack before she could finish her sentence. It turned into a spiral cone that resembled Barrier Break and pierced through my Dragon God Shield. As expected, this bastard could pierce through my defensive shield. My arm went numb as a damage number popped up above my head — 50987!
The Earth Dragon immediately followed up with a basic attack, but it was dodged by my Battle Energy Astral Wind. The Blaze Cone was the only special attack that could ignore defensive shields, so I backed away and shouted, "Sis, Little Xin, Gretchen, don't get too close to the Earth Dragon! The Blaze Cone can pierce your shield, and it'll one-shot you if it crits!"
"Mn!"
Lian Xin nodded and unleashed Touch of the Dragonkiss + Ice Spiral Matrix combo. The Fire Earth Dragon let out a scream of pain and collapsed to the ground. It was clear that the Earth Dragon couldn't fight back against our ferocious attacks.
"Pa da!"
The moment the Earth Dragon died, it dropped a bright red card. I picked it up and looked at it. Tsk tsk, not bad — [Fire Earth Dragon Card]: Increases user's fire-based skills' Attack by 150%. Level Requirement: 200. Duration: 120 minutes.
… …
I tossed the card to Lian Xin and smiled. "Lian Xin, you can impersonate a fire mage and increase your fire-based Magic Attack by 150%!"
Lian Xin giggled. "Mn mn, fire mages are the most violent and loving of all!"
It wasn't long before Lian Xin started using Fire Dragon Spell + Flame Explosion while we were fighting the second Burning Earth Dragon. Her spells dealt over 300k damage every now and then, and the Burning Earth Dragon's meager 1.5 million HP didn't seem like a threat to us at all.
After killing dozens of Fire Earth Dragons, Beiming Xue suddenly stopped and pointed at a giant rock in front of us. "Big bro, I can sense someone behind that rock!"
"Oh!?"
I raised my sword and dashed forward. The moment I went around the boulder, a blade of wind came at me with a whoosh. Luckily, I was wearing the Divine Dragon Armor, so I was able to change directions with incredible speed and parry the enemy's longsword. It was an NPC thief wearing black leather armor.
"Nice moves!"
The thief laughed and looked at me. "Traveler, what are you looking for in this realm filled with the aura of death?"
I looked around and saw a bonfire behind the thieves. There were a few NPCs next to the bonfire. They were dressed in rags, and they looked like they were in a sorry state. There was even a female assassin whose arm was injured and wrapped in thick bandages. She was moaning in the arms of a male warrior.
Coldness of the Nine States hung low. I smiled and countered with a question, "I'm not asking why I'm here, but what are you doing here?
You don't look like soldiers of the empire. "
The bandit chuckled and said proudly, "That's right, we aren't those idiots who work for nobles. On the contrary, we only work for ourselves. As you can see, we are members of the Raging Flames Bandit Group. Half a year ago, we came here to hunt for the Flaming Earth Dragon's horn. We've been here for half a year now."
… …
Lin Yixin walked up to me with the Seven Star Veluriyam Sword in hand. She smiled at me and said, "It looks like you guys didn't do a great job, did you? You only managed to get two Earth Dragon Fire Horns, and you looked like a pathetic mess!"
A trace of embarrassment flashed across the Thief's face. He smiled and said, "This … actually, in the first month we came here, there were about 70 people. However, we didn't expect the Earth Dragon to be so ferocious. In the first month, we lost nearly half of our members. After half a year, we finally got rid of two Earth Dragon Fire Horns. However, there were only 7 people left."
I smiled. "What do you want these Earth Dragon Fire Horns for?"
The Thief didn't hide anything, "Earth Dragon Fire Horn is a rare material used to forge fire element daggers. Three years ago, the famous Sword Grandmaster Bandit Guild's Night Flame dagger was forged from Earth Dragon Fire Horns. However, one Night Flame requires 100 Earth Dragon Fire Horns as the energy source. Therefore, our guild leader ordered us to collect 100 Earth Dragon Fire Horns within a year. However, it seems like we won't be able to complete the task. Fans of the book like to read:
I spread my hands and smiled. "That's not a problem. Look at our adventurer party. We're very strong. Maybe we can help you collect all the Earth Dragon Fire Horns."
The thief's eyes immediately lit up. "Really?"
He Yi nudged me lightly and whispered, "Aren't we going to the Ruins of the Dragon City?
Why … did we stay in the Fire Dragon Canyon … "
I explained, "We're leveling anyway, so we'll level up no matter where we go. Besides, since we're here, we might as well continue and finish the quest first. Don't worry, our quest in the Ruins of the Dragon City is SSS rank. No one can steal it …"
He Yi smiled. "Alright then!"
… …
The thief seemed to have grasped at straws. He looked at me with an almost imperceptible trace of cunning in his eyes. He said, "Brave young warrior, if you really can collect 100 Earth Dragon Fire Horns for me, I will give you a rare treasure. With it, you will become the richest and strongest person in the world!"
"Oh, what is it?" I asked with a smile.
Lin Yixin pulled me and whispered, "Idiot Little Cheat, you actually believe that?!"
I laughed inwardly. "Of course not. If this thief really had such a treasure, how could he hide here and not be able to beat an earth dragon?
He's so weak … "
"OMG, then what do you want?"
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained!"
Meanwhile, the thief carefully withdrew a piece of parchment from his pocket and said, "This is a treasure map, and it records the location of the greatest treasure in the Flaming Dragon Gorge. So long as you obtain 100 Earth Dragon Fire Horns, then I'll give you this unique treasure map as a token of my gratitude!"