Chapter 237 Have you ever been a dragon? Of course!

Upon hearing the Iron Dragon's offensive behavior, the six-armed snake woman Naris's vertical pupils suddenly contracted into thin slits.

She slowly stood up, her arms, which had been folded in front of her like flower petals, stretched out, her slender fingers slightly open.

Swish, swish, swish!

Six cold iron longswords broke through the swamp water, yet the surface of the water did not ripple.

The Poison Tail tribe is known for its warlocks and shamans, but its leader, the six-armed snake woman Naris, is a true warrior with a high status.

She chose the Warrior advancement branch as Sword Saint.

Sword Saint: The fusion of soul and steel, integrating life and soul into the blade, achieving oneness of man and sword, and displaying power.

The snake woman stared coldly at the iron dragon, her sword flashing, but she did not make a move rashly.

Opposite him, the scales of the Iron Dragon Sorog slightly twitched as he watched the snake woman's six arms unfold like a dance—each arm holding a sword in a completely different starting stance, yet forming a perfect offensive and defensive system.

In the tense and solemn atmosphere, the croaking of frogs deep in the swamp suddenly stopped.

"Six-armed snake-man swordsman. A unique combination of race and class."

Tie Long's voice broke the silence. He made no attempt to hide his admiration, saying, "You not only possess beauty and wisdom, but also great strength."

The snake woman's vertical pupils flashed dangerously, and the six longswords hummed simultaneously.

"This power is enough to peel off your scales one by one, completely remove your skeleton from your flesh, and finally chop you into mincemeat."

Sorog flicked his tail slightly in agreement: "I firmly believe it."

Then, he changed the subject, saying, "But my safety is irrelevant. Today I represent the entire Ironforge tribe, and even more so—"

A silver dragon scale radiating a chilling aura suddenly appeared between his claws.

"—The will of Lord Frostmark."

When the silver scale came into view, the snake woman's body stiffened for a moment, and the fear in her eyes intensified.

Buzz—!

An elderly snake-woman shaman waved his bone staff, and invisible ripples surged toward the snake woman's body, flickering briefly before disappearing.

At the same time, Tie Long discovered that he could no longer sense the snake woman's mental fluctuations.

Clearly, the snake-man elder recognized him as a mind sorcerer and cast a spell to block the Iron Dragon's telepathic connection for the snake-woman swordswoman.

However, Tie Long remained calm and composed.

After becoming a psychic, his insight into emotions improved significantly. Even without psychic perception, he could detect the snake-woman's emotional reactions simply by observing her subtle facial expressions and body language, though not as directly as psychic perception.

"Frostmark, the overlord of metal dragons in the borderlands."

The snake woman forced her gaze away from the silver scales and said, "He's a silver dragon, how could he be associated with you evil dragons?"

"Don't think we know nothing about dragons. Although we don't know how you obtained this scale, Silver Dragon Frostmark will never support you."

Upon hearing the snake woman's suspicions, Tie Long's lips curled into a meaningful smile.

"Have you ever been a dragon? You're just making things up."

He said with a hint of mockery, "The relationships between dragons are complex and never black and white. How could you outsiders possibly understand them? Your idea is just wishful thinking."

Iron Dragon stood tall and looked around, as if he were the lord of the Ten Thousand Snake Swamp.

Under the watchful eyes of the serpents, he continued, "Besides, you've already seen metal dragons in our territory, haven't you?"

The snake woman fell silent.

A few seconds later, she spoke up: "Tielong, tell me your purpose first. What brings you here?"

Sorog's expression suddenly turned serious, and his voice lowered as he said, "No matter what the process is like, no matter what price we have to pay, the Ironforge tribe will eventually become the rulers of the border region, sooner or later."

“Naris, you are not one of those foolish brutes like barbarians and orcs. You know very well that this is an unchangeable reality.”

He said calmly, “Alliance with Dawn and Ironblood, fight us to the death, and then suffer heavy losses, be crippled and defeated, or choose to submit to the Ironforge tribe in advance. In this way, after the war ends, you will still enjoy a superior status in the border area.”

Tielong offered two options.

"What guarantees do you have?" the snake woman retorted sharply, saying, "Won't we be used as cannon fodder after we surrender? Such empty promises are meaningless. The Poison Tail Tribe will never bow down to you just because of a few nice words."

Hearing these resolute words, Tie Long roughly understood the snake woman's attitude and thoughts.

He flicked his tail and then said, “I see admirable courage in you snake people, which is truly worthy of respect. But courage cannot change reality, and the Ironforge tribe will soon demonstrate enough power to make you change your minds.”

The six-armed snake woman coiled on the throne and said, "Then I will wait and see, but at least at this stage, don't even think about gaining the loyalty of the Poison Tail Tribe. We have our own code of conduct and judgment."

Tie Long laughed and said, "It will take a long time, but I am very patient and will not rush things."

The snake woman considered her words carefully before deciding to reveal more information: "To tell you the truth, before you arrived, envoys from the Dawn and Ironblood tribes had already come here, trying to persuade us to form an alliance to fight against your Molten Iron tribe."

She squinted, carefully observing Tie Long's reaction.

"This was within my expectations."

Iron Dragon's reaction was surprisingly calm.

"However, you probably didn't agree to their proposal."

The iron dragon's composure and calmness surprised the snake woman—it was completely different from her perception of dragons as irritable and easily angered, and even made her begin to doubt some of her preconceived notions.

You're only half right.

She frankly admitted, "We had indeed decided to accept the alliance invitation, but the Frostscale you brought has made me waver."

"We have decided to adopt a delaying tactic, neither explicitly agreeing to their alliance request nor allying with or submitting to your Ironforge tribe. As long as the war does not spread to our territory, the Poisontail tribe will remain absolutely neutral."

After further discussions and confirmation of more specific details, Iron Dragon Sorog finally left the Serpent Swamp.

Although he failed to gain the direct allegiance of the Poison Tail tribe, he had achieved his main objective.

—Successfully undermined the Poison Tail tribe's resolve to ally with other tribes, pushing them into a neutral position.

"Chief, do you really believe that Silver Dragon Frostmark is secretly supporting the Ironforge?"

An old shaman with a wrinkled face couldn't help but ask after Tielong left.

Naris gazed in the direction Iron Dragon had left and slowly shook her head: "This question is completely unimportant."

"If the human and orc alliance defeats the Ironforge, they will suffer heavy casualties, and we can reap the benefits. Conversely, if the Ironforge wins a Pyrrhic victory, we will also have the opportunity to take advantage of their weakness."

"As for the Silver Dragon Frost Mark..."

Her snake tail swayed gently, her eyes gleaming with shrewdness: "Given his usual style, even if he intervenes, he won't destroy us directly. At most, he'll issue a warning first. And if the Ironforge tribe displays overwhelming strength, it won't be too late to swear allegiance then. In any case, our Poison Tail tribe will have room to retreat unscathed."

In the southwest of the border region, the setting sun in Dragon Valley dyes the rock walls blood red.

Galos slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, and the thunderous roar in his chest gradually subsided, marking the end of today's Dragon Heart tempering.

The dew that had condensed on the rock wall was shaken off by the aftershock, and waves of heat emanated from the gaps in the red iron dragon's slightly opening scales.

Just then, a familiar throbbing came from the depths of his bloodline—the sensation of the blood ties being triggered.

"The attitude of the Poison Tail Tribe has been ascertained."

Sorog's voice came through: "These swamp reptiles are far more cunning than human orcs, and they're planning to sit back and watch the tigers fight."

Despite her excellent disguise, the six-armed snake woman could not escape the mind sorcerer's notice.

He recounted in detail his conversation with the Poison Tail tribe and the snake people's reactions.

"It makes sense; I would have done the same if I were in that situation."

Red Iron Dragon said, "Once we crush Dawn and Ironblood, these snake people will kneel down."

The leaders of the four tribes in the border area were originally of similar skill levels, basically at the level of alchemy giants, with little difference in their abilities.

If you were to face three of them at the same time, and they had some special methods and worked together, the situation would become very troublesome.

However, if he were to fight only two opponents, the Red Iron Dragon's thorns would become slightly hot from the fighting spirit, and the martial dragon's energy would surge rapidly within his body.

"By the way, I've taken a liking to the leader of the Poison Tail tribe."

Tie Long suddenly said.

Galos nodded slightly and said, "The six-armed snake woman has an extraordinary bloodline and is powerful, which suits your taste. It's normal for you to like her, but don't let her delay our great cause."

Tie Long bluntly stated, "How can lustful desires compare to the grand vision in our hearts?"

“I am not a foolish white scale. I can control my desires and thoughts. If the snake woman ultimately chooses to be our enemy, I will kill her without hesitation.”

These words were deep and resonant, resolute and unwavering.

For Tielong, nothing is more important than his burning ambition to establish a dragon kingdom. Besides, he has no feelings for the snake woman, only a little desire for her, and Tielong will not let this cloud his judgment.

Garros was relatively confident in Iron Dragon Sorog and said no more.

After a moment's thought, Hong Tielong asked:

"Sorrog, tell me, how should this war be conducted? What are your thoughts?"

After a few seconds of calm, Iron Dragon Thorog's methodical and orderly voice slowly came through: "Assuming that humans and orcs have fully united, their advantage lies in the fact that they have more middle and upper-level leaders and elite soldiers than we do, and they have greater tactical flexibility, allowing them to fight on multiple fronts."

"Our current situation is that we have a sufficient number of gnolls and kobolds at the lowest level, and we are not afraid of losses. Our top combat strength surpasses theirs, but we lack a sufficient number of middle and upper-level leaders. The golems produced by the alchemy workshop can compensate for some of the losses, but it is still not enough."

The war had just ended, and the goblins' alchemical golems were mostly destroyed, with less than one in ten remaining.

Although the Alchemy Workshop operated day and night under Samantha's leadership and with the assistance of the Grand Master, the number of newly produced War Golems was far from enough to fill the gap left by the war.

"We have occupied the entire south and have many strongholds, but it is still too early and we are short of manpower. The southeastern territory has not been fully digested and it is difficult to defend it comprehensively."

“.”

Time passed slowly, and Sorog first analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of each other.

He used his mind-controlling skills, and now his thinking was sharp and quick, allowing him to analyze the situation of both sides thoroughly in no time.

Finally, Sorog paused and concluded, "I suggest adopting a strategy of 'top-level decapitation' and 'bottom-level attrition' simultaneously to compensate for the weakness of insufficient middle-level personnel."

Galos nodded and praised, "Hmm, that's about what I thought."

After a pause, Red Iron Dragon's smile faded, and he said seriously, "War is imminent. We don't have time to slowly digest the fruits of victory and consolidate our territory. The combined forces of humans and orcs could attack at any moment."

"Prepare for war. Send orders to the leaders of the families in all the major strongholds, and tell them to prepare for war."

Immediately afterwards, a series of instructions were transmitted to the leaders through communication devices.

The war between the Ironforge and the Goldtooth tribe has not been over for long. The tribes are still immersed in the afterglow of victory, and they roar and howl in anticipation of the upcoming war. They are full of fighting spirit and high morale.

They knew very well:

After this battle, the flags of the Ironforge tribe will be planted all over the border area.

And these creatures, no matter how lowly their original race, will all enjoy this honor and become the rulers of the borderlands if they follow the great Crimson Wing Lord's Molten Iron Clan.

At that time.

Even the lowest-ranking servants working on the assembly line would surely feel proud knowing that the Iron Smelting Tribe has taken control of the border region.

(End of this chapter)