Beneath the Red Dragon

Chapter 179: Chapter 73: Greenfield Forest

Hoo, the flowing wind in the sky was stirred into subtle air swirls by the massive wings of the Red Dragon, forcing the thick branches wrapped in ancient vines in the forest to bow down.

The Red Dragon landed amid the fierce wind on the short mountain in the forest, then sniffed around, discovering no other scents or traces of invasion and destruction, before folding its wings and crossing the mountain peak.

The Red Dragon clutched its four claws on the rocky wall of the short mountain, pulling aside the dense vine leaves covering the cliff, revealing a wide and deep cave, and then dived inside.

Kaidelos, that’s the name of this Red Dragon, has now survived the most dangerous and highest mortality rate juvenile stage of the Five-Color Dragons, entering the second highest mortality rate youth stage in dragon life.

The former is due to weakness; although Giant Dragons are naturally superior to most other species of creatures, the juvenile Five-Color Dragons, with coordinated elite adventurers equipped with fine weapons, can still easily overturn the Five-Color Dragons.

Even some powerful extraordinary magical beasts can take ordinary juvenile Five-Color Dragons as prey, and the dragon power of a juvenile dragon can’t scare off those wild monsters.

The youth stage, on the other hand, is due to recklessness; in this leap-strength stage for Giant Dragons, many Five-Color Dragons reaching youth stage experience a surge in size accompanied by vastly increased confidence and greed, along with the strong aggression characteristic of Five-Color Dragons.

On the continent of Aikania, many dragon-slaying tragedies have Five-Color Dragons in their youth stage as the main characters. According to incomplete statistics from some bored human mages, only about one-fifth of each generation’s Five-Color Dragons survive their youth stage.

Among this one-fifth, those who like to hide in swamps like the Black Dragons and those who cluster together in deserts like the Blue Dragons occupy a large portion, plus those Green Dragons who prefer to stay in their forest acting as twisted gardeners also take up a part.

The mortality rate is highest for Red Dragons and White Dragons, far exceeding the ratio of the other three Dragon Species.

The reason for the Red Dragon’s death is obvious; Red Dragons, who love being robbers, invade several human towns and then are overturned by the swarming teams of dragon slayers and adventurers, becoming traded goods in markets and collectibles in people’s treasure vaults before even seeing the princess.

White Dragons, though they hide in the ice-covered wastelands of glacial areas, like to dig and reside in the remote corners of glaciers, their life seems overly humble.

There are always countless dragon hunter teams and adventurers causing trouble for them, pulling them from their slumbering caves and then slaughtering the White Dragons like pigs.

Such Giant Dragons not only fail to earn respect from other True Dragons but are also met with contempt from other species.

Kaidelos, this Red Dragon, after being kicked out of his nest in his youth by his dragon mother, traveled far past the grasslands to the icy glacier area, snow-covered year-round.

He persuaded a female young White Dragon using his own reasoning and enslaved the White Dragon, enjoying her prey and body every day, living a good life for a while.

If not for the glacier’s climate being unsuitable for Red Dragon growth, causing negative effects, Kaidelos would have stayed in the glacier and made a nest there.

”Tsk tsk,” Kaidelos the Red Dragon showed a lewd smile that only dragons can understand, smacking his lips as his just-survived-from-youth eighteen-meter-plus body swayed, clearly reminiscing about some pleasant memories.

”Too bad for that obedient White Dragon doggy, shouldn’t have eaten her to replenish after my sleep,” Kaidelos muttered to himself, with ivory fangs still holding fragments of flesh from his recent hunt.

A solitary Giant Dragon always has various quirks; Kaidelos the Red Dragon liking to talk to himself indicates he’s relatively mentally healthy as a dragon.

”But there’s more than one female in that Dragon Group, Lord Kaidelos can’t wait to taste their wonderful flavors!” The Red Dragon’s deep red pupils revealed a strong desire for possession.

Wandering solitary dragons are always more cautious than those living in Dragon Groups; Red Dragon Kaidelos, during his years of solitary wandering, has also developed this habit.

Whenever he establishes a nest somewhere, he doesn’t stay for more than three to five years. If it exceeds three to five years, the scent of the Red Dragon will leave a strong mark in that place, easily tracked.

However, Kaidelos has already been nesting here for six years; the Red Dragon should have abandoned his nest and left, but having entered the youth stage changed his mind—he believes his strong power can already make him the lord of this place.

He wants to establish a Monster Kingdom of his own, enslave all creatures he sees, oppress all slaves, and vent his beastly desires on all females; this is the thought of most Red Dragons, and Kaidelos is no exception.

But before Kaidelos could start his path of conquest, his territory already welcomed the invasion of other Giant Dragons.

Belonging to Karon’s Dragon Group territory, it has expanded too quickly over two years. In previous years, as Kaidelos was still in his youth stage, he kept a low profile and didn’t border with the Dragon Group territory, so neither side noticed each other’s presence.