Chapter 35 I, Garus, am truly not an evil dragon.
The scorching sun baked the hemlock hills to a charred brown, and the cracked ground steamed with distorted heat waves.
The young red dragon lay sprawled on the sand, its tongue lolling out. Embers of its dragon breath drifted from the corners of its mouth, exploding into tiny sparks in the air. Mobel was rubbing its back against the hard, rough bark of a hemlock to relieve the itch, as leaves rustled down.
Galos was staring at the earth spider that was emerging from the crack in the ground.
Its body is like a millstone, with many rock-like textures. Its eight limbs are long and sharp, covered with some black soil. On its back, there is a deliberately recessed rock carapace, inside which is a large clump of black soil.
I took a sniff of the air.
The burning sensation went straight to my nasal cavity.
Galos's eyes lit up with delight, and he rushed to the Earth Spider in one stride, his body casting a thick shadow that blocked out the sunlight and enveloped it.
"The smell of black oil!"
He looked down at the black spider trembling slightly beneath him, his gaze falling on the black soil on its back, and reached out his claws to pick it up.
Upon first purchase.
A slippery, greasy feeling arises spontaneously.
Galos squeezed it, and gradually some black oil seeped out from between its claws.
This is soil soaked in black oil—although it didn't directly bring back the black oil, it was still somewhat effective, and Garus was very satisfied with the harvest brought back by the earth spider.
but.
Why did they only bring back black soil and not black oil?
With this question in mind, Garus used his mind-reading ability to enter the mental world of the Earth Spider.
The Earth Spider's mental world is also extremely dark, similar to that of the Rock-Breaking Worm, as if it were located in a repressive and lightless underground world.
Why didn't you just bring back the black oil?
In the realm of the mind, Galos asked.
The Earth Spider responded, "Danger. Death. Fear."
Its intelligence was less than that of the Rock-Breaking Worm, and its answers were fragmented, but Galus still understood its general meaning.
“The place where black oil is stored is very dangerous and will kill it, so it dares not go near it and only digs some soil that is soaked with black oil on the periphery.”
Galos seemed to be deep in thought.
Because such a thing was expected, he wasn't particularly surprised.
The intelligent beings stationed near the black oil fields certainly wouldn't only defend against the ground and the sky, but would also have corresponding means of defense for the underground.
I carefully observed the flashback-like memory fragments of the Earth Spider.
From its perspective, Galos saw several earth spiders traversing the darkness ahead, surrounded by layers of soil that grew increasingly dark in color and richer in oil.
Suddenly.
A huge, centipede-like creature appeared.
It is made entirely of some kind of black metal, and its body is composed of dozens of steel segments linked together. Each segment is covered with dark blue energy patterns, and pairs of auxiliary limbs extend from the joints, constantly contracting and unfolding, like folding battle swords.
The moment this creature appeared, it began hunting earth spiders.
The first few earth spiders were torn to pieces in less than a minute, and it then patrolled the underground for a while without attacking the earth spiders that were some distance away.
"Some kind of alchemical golem guarding the underground? Judging from its size and performance, it's at least level 5 or 6. The Earth Spider can't fight it head-on at all."
Galos thought to himself.
Clearly, this thing is not a natural life form, but a man-made underground guard specifically designed to eliminate all kinds of organisms that approach the oil field from underground.
"Bringing back oil and soil is already quite good; at least we've made some progress."
Galos conveyed an encouraging message, urging the Earth Spider to keep up the good work.
The earth spider emitted waves of excited mental energy, its very being becoming restless, emitting a red glow: "Exchange. Promise."
You're quite impatient, kid.
But the promise I made was only valid if I brought back black oil; these oily soil samples were of lower quality.
Galos pondered for a few seconds, then exited the Earth Spider's mental world and brought over the mother spider, whom he had been feeding and caring for.
Upon seeing the female spider, the male earth spider immediately pounced on her with great excitement, its limbs flailing. The female spider, in the midst of her breeding season, did not refuse and readily accepted.
Galos watched the two spiders with curiosity.
They had no shame; in broad daylight, with dragons watching, they directly began to create the next generation.
However, their mating methods are quite different from those of many other creatures.
The male spider waved its segmented limbs, inserting its small left pedipalp into the left opening on the female spider's reproductive plate, and its right pedipalp into the right opening. At first glance, it looked like a murder, and the process was somewhat gruesome.
Just as the male spider was about to finish mating...
Galos reacted quickly, reaching out his claws to pull it off the female spider.
—If the things brought back don't meet the initial requirements, then the chance of reproduction will naturally only be half.
"Ten kilograms of oily soil, one complete breeding opportunity."
Galus expressed his demands to the aggressive, huffing male spider.
You won't become a dragon! You'd better not become a dragon!
It was being carried by Galus, its limbs flailing in protest in mid-air, but it eventually gave in and agreed, then hurriedly burrowed through the earth to extract oil for Galus.
The female spider looked bewildered and looked up at Galus.
Why chase the male spider away?
It didn't understand.
Crack. Another crack appeared in the ground, and another male spider emerged, also carrying some oily soil, excitedly seeking out Garus for his reward.
Galos grinned and beckoned it over.
Soon, one male spider after another returned with black oily soil, wanting to claim their reward.
Galos was very generous. Although what they brought back did not match the initial agreement, he still gave them half of the reward—taking it away halfway through the mission.
A group of male red-eared spiders arrived excitedly, then walked in angrily.
They buried themselves in the ground, burrowing furiously to vent their discontent, and in order to obtain a full chance to reproduce, they were even more eager to dig up the black oil soil.
“Poor spiders, Garus, you are so wicked.”
Samantha changed the subject and praised, "As expected of an excellent red iron hybrid dragon, its innate evil is beyond my reach."
In the eyes of the Red Dragon.
Bad represents excellence and glory; all red dragons aim to become the ultimate evil dragon.
In Samantha's eyes, Garus, who even oppresses and bullies spiders, is utterly wicked and beyond redemption.
"Don't slander me."
Galos argued, "I was only trying to motivate them to work harder; how could that be considered evil?"
He never considered himself an evil dragon.
Galos doesn't consider himself a benevolent dragon who likes to help the weak and punish the wicked, but he probably can't be called evil either.
Dragons are often attacked and besieged by various parties, and Garus doesn't want to be treated as a dragon.
But when Galus looked at his own appearance, he was speechless.
It combines the features of an iron dragon and a red dragon, and has undergone some evolution in appearance and posture, making it even more ferocious than the dragons commonly known.
If a powerful adventurer were to come, he certainly wouldn't listen to Garos's explanation.
A red-iron hybrid dragon born evil!
Oh ho, so you like to argue!
Go tell my Demon-Slaying Slash!
This is the most likely outcome.
“Prejudice in people’s hearts is a mountain, I, Garus, am not an evil dragon.”
With a sigh, Garus shook his head.
Since things have come to this, the only thing to do is to find a way to arm and strengthen ourselves, so that if we encounter an attack in the future, at least we will have the means to resist.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
