I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 447: True Dragons Feel Uneasy

Gauss naturally wasn't intimidated by these juvenile dragons trying to bluff by invoking their backers.Did he not know who their patrons were before he came?

Seeing no reaction on Gauss's face, the few juvenile dragons exchanged glances, and a fierce glint flashed deep in their pupils.

Although they were somewhat wary of Gauss's identity, that was merely out of respect for a powerful figure. In essence, the relationship between Chromatic Dragons and Metallic Dragons was far from harmonious.

They represented two opposing branches of the dragon race, and for humans, they symbolized the good and evil factions among dragons.

While Metallic Dragons didn't intervene in the war between humans and monsters, that didn't mean they would show any mercy to Chromatic Dragons.

Their battles had never ceased, spanning several epochs.

It was only in the last few thousand years that things had somewhat eased.

From this perspective, the conflict between humans and monsters was actually the newer development.

"Attack!"

A magic wand appeared in Gauss's hand.

The other Chromatic Dragons' hearts tightened simultaneously.

"Roar!"

The reason they were so quick to prepare for battle was twofold: on one hand, Gauss had taken an offensive stance; on the other, they had recovered from their initial shock.

Although they had been intimidated at first by Gauss's identity as a Metallic Dragon, true dragons weren't foolish drakes. They quickly deduced that Gauss's strength might not be as terrifying as they had imagined. If a fully grown Silver Dragon or Gold Dragon had truly descended, they wouldn't have bothered with words.

A single burst of draconic aura, and they might have been paralyzed.

Therefore, the man before them couldn't possibly be an adult Metallic Dragon.

He was most likely a juvenile dragon similar to them or slightly older, just deeply skilled in the art of transformation.

Of course, it was possible they were wrong, but there was no helping that either.

Given the relationship between Chromatic Evil Dragons and Metallic Dragons, they didn't think the other party would let them off today without the Dragon Mother present. It wasn't like he had come to make friends with them, was it?

No matter what, striking first was never wrong.

"Kill!"

Four dragon roars erupted almost simultaneously.

Powerful soundwaves carrying draconic aura swept in all directions.

The quickest to react was actually the Black Dragon. Its gray-black, fang-filled maw opened, its abdomen swelled, and a cone-shaped, dark green acid spewed from its mouth.

The corrosive power of that strong acid was extreme; even the air seemed to be eroded by the spreading acidic mist, emitting terrible sounds.

Fortunately, Gauss reacted quickly too.

Before the Black Dragon had even launched its attack, he had already gripped the White Wand. The Dimension Door spell, which he had used hundreds of times, activated instinctively like breathing.

"Whoosh!"

His figure vanished from the spot.

"Hissss!"

The juvenile Black Dragon's acid breath shot out hundreds of meters, finally hitting the ground and carving out a fissure stretching dozens of meters long, dozens of centimeters to a meter deep.

A true dragon's breath was indeed one of its most proficient skills.

Gauss, who had flashed over a hundred meters away, glanced at the terrain damage created by the juvenile Black Dragon's breath with the corner of his eye.

Unlike the flame breath of the Red Drake Hephaestus, the Black Dragon's breath element was acidic corrosion. The Green Dragon's was toxin breath, the Blue Dragon's was lightning breath, and the White Dragon's was freezing breath.

This was also closely related to their bloodlines and habitats.

In fact, this Black Dragon was even noticeably smaller than Hephaestus, but in terms of breath power, it was still superior to Hephaestus's current flame breath.

A flicker of understanding passed through the depths of Gauss's eyes.

It seemed that besides magical talent and bloodline inheritance, there were certain gaps in other aspects between drakes and true dragons.

True dragons' breath attacks seemed more powerful.

Although Hephaestus had gained intelligence and had been rapidly growing stronger recently, it had started too late, and some shortcomings hadn't been fully addressed yet.

Gauss glanced at Hephaestus.

It looked very excited now.

Probably because it rarely encountered other Chromatic Dragons.

"That Black Dragon is yours."

"No problem."

Hephaestus flapped its wings and soared into the air, charging toward the Black Dragon.

Yes, the Black Dragon's breath was currently more powerful than Hephaestus's, but victory in battle wasn't determined by breath alone. Hephaestus's physical attributes were clearly superior to the Black Dragon's.

Physical talent was equally important for dragons.

It meant fiercer close-combat capabilities, faster flight speed, thicker hide, and stronger regeneration.

Besides breath, magic, and other skills, a large part of dragon combat came from physical brawling.

A massive size was an advantage, but also a disadvantage. Especially in battles between two giants, close combat was a crucial factor.

Hephaestus's golden pupils were fixed tightly on the Black Dragon flapping its wings in the distance. Deep in its eyes, it was as if a blazing flame was burning.

Its eyes were filled with four words: "Thirst for Battle."

Among the Chromatic Dragons, if one had to pick the biggest battle maniac, the Red Dragon was undoubtedly the most deserving.

They weren't afraid of violence; they were afraid that the violence wasn't violent enough.

All along, the enemies Gauss had sent it to deal with were ants like Goblins, Goblin-like creatures, and mushroom creatures, so most of the time, it could hardly muster a fighting desire.

But this time, the enemy was different.

This was a True Dragon.

Even though it had gained intelligence now, the humiliation of being a Drake still plagued Hephaestus's heart.

It would probably always remember the bullying it endured after hatching from the egg alongside its true dragon siblings.

The cold treatment from those blood-related siblings and the mother that instinctively inspired its boundless longing, and finally, being expelled from the dragon's lair, left to wander homeless outside.

True Dragons were never its companions—they were its enemies!

It desperately longed to prove, by killing them, that this defective product was far superior to those fine breeds!

"Screech!"

Hephaestus's massive wings stirred up powerful winds.

Its enormous body, like a cannonball, crashed straight into the juvenile Black Dragon trying to dodge.

The two fierce juvenile dragons collided in midair.

"Thud!"

Almost instantly, Hephaestus's massive, sharp dragon claws pierced into the Black Dragon's body.

Black scales stained with crimson blood rained down from the sky.

"Roar!"

The juvenile Black Dragon let out a pained cry.

"You damned traitor!"

"Why are you working with a Metallic Dragon against us!"

The juvenile Black Dragon still couldn't understand.

The bloodline inheritance of Chromatic Dragons, besides knowledge, was imprinted with countless stereotypes, such as a love for gold coins and treasure, gluttony and sleepiness, and a hatred for Metallic Dragons.

Judging others by themselves, they simply couldn't understand why this dragon would do such a despicable and shameless thing.

Even though Chromatic Dragons were never a monolithic block, when facing Metallic Dragons, they should unite against the external threat.

"Idiot!"

Hephaestus tussled and bit with the Black Dragon in midair, a glint of mockery flashing in its eyes.

For the first time in its life, it felt that its close relatives had such low intelligence that it couldn't help but feel a strong sense of superiority.

So, this was how fun it was to toy with fools.

And the Black Dragon, cursed without context by Hephaestus, became even more furious.

It opened its mouth and bit back at Hephaestus.

As for now, what were the other three Chromatic Dragons doing?

They naturally weren't just watching the show, standing idly by while Hephaestus, the "traitor," fought their juvenile Black Dragon companion.

Right now, they had all their attention focused on Gauss, this "Metallic Dragon."

It was because of him that they hadn't recklessly gone to support the disadvantaged juvenile Black Dragon.

After all, it wouldn't die anytime soon.

As long as they dealt with this mysterious Metallic Dragon head-on, everything would turn around.

An underage Red Dragon—could it possibly beat all four of them alone?

"Hehehe!"

The two juvenile Green Dragons flew left and right to high cliff walls, crouching on them. After their abdomens suddenly swelled, green spores expanded outward as if alive. The green spores then swept toward Gauss's direction.

Meanwhile, the juvenile Blue Dragon, positioned in the front line, had also prepared its spell.

Or rather, it had been ready for a while.

It was just observing the opponent's background.

Until now, they still didn't know whether this was a Silver Dragon, a Gold Dragon, or some other type of dragon, what age group it was in, or what it specialized in.

Their own methods were clear as day, and this information gap put immense pressure on them.

The opponent had only revealed transformation magic and space magic, nothing else.

So, despite appearing to bluff and showing no fear, the spell it had prepared was actually a counter-defense measure.

In its view, a peculiar barrier seemed to rise around them, but this area-wide ability obviously couldn't last long. And this Emerald Forest was, after all, the territory of that old hag.

Although in its heart, it utterly despised Aetherass and believed that once it grew up, it would become a far more fearsome and vicious dragon than that cowardly old hag Green Dragon, who had hidden in the forest for hundreds of years, at least for now, it still acknowledged the Green Dragon Queen's strength.

Time was on their side. As long as they stalled until reinforcements arrived, this mysterious opponent would be in for a world of trouble.

Although Metallic Dragons were somewhat stronger than Chromatic Dragons, the comparison ultimately came down to age and skill.

It was certain that the Green Dragon Queen was the stronger one, and by a large margin. Otherwise, this opponent wouldn't have chosen to show up only in the gap right after the Green Dragon Queen had left the forest.

If Gauss knew what the juvenile Blue Dragon was thinking, he would probably be amazed by its lightning-fast judgment.

Aside from misjudging his identity, most of its observations, analysis, and strategies were correct.

Gauss indeed needed to finish this quickly.

So...

Gauss decided not to hold anything back.

In private, he had actually tried out his full-strength state—the stacked form where the purple-quality racial talent Dragon Breed and Second-Stage Ghostification were both activated simultaneously.

In real combat, he hadn't used this in a long time because its effects were too extreme. In normal battles, there was no need to activate both states; one was enough. Forcibly stacking them was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito, and it added unnecessary risk of physical damage.

On the other hand, this technique still required some practice.

Especially now that both talents had advanced from blue quality to purple quality. It wouldn't do to wait until a crisis was upon him and then use it without knowing anything about its effects.

Gauss wasn't that overconfident.

So, in places where no one could see, he had secretly tested it.

The intensity of both states activated simultaneously was absolutely terrifying.

If Gauss, currently at Professional Level 8, normally possessed combat power equivalent to a weaker Level 12, then activating either enhancement state would push his strength to a stronger Level 12.

But what about the dual Dragon-Ghost enhancement?

Although Gauss had never formally fought against a Level 13 professional and had no basis to estimate the strength of someone at that level, in his mind, that frenzied power should have allowed him to break through the Level 12 bottleneck and reach Level 13 combat capability.

Don't underestimate this single level gap.

Starting from the Transcendent rank, i.e., Level 11 and above, almost every level had a very noticeable difference in strength.

This could also be seen from the time required.

The higher the level, the harder it was to break through. It could often take over a decade, decades, or even a century to break through one level. Even then, compared to those who never progressed, it was considered incredibly lucky.

But what about the early levels of various professions? Advancing one level every few years was common.

And there was an easily overlooked fact: Could the time of geniuses who reached Transcendent and above be compared to the time of ordinary low-level adventurers?

Obviously not, right?

So, this time gap reflected not just a difference of several times or dozens of times, but possibly hundreds or even thousands of times.

Through his private tests, Gauss had also roughly figured out the upper limit, duration, and how long the Dragon-Ghost Union could be maintained while still retaining sufficient mobility.

Knowing this was crucial.

In the vast majority of cases, he could never allow himself to fight to exhaustion and collapse; that would just be gambling his survival on others and on blind luck.

Therefore, before setting out on this trip, Gauss had already decided.

He absolutely couldn't let the Dragon-Ghost Union state be depleted to its limit. If the goal couldn't be achieved within the safe time, he must immediately leave without hesitation.

Of course, if he could accomplish the set objective within the specified time, that would be the ideal scenario.

The green spores continued to spread rapidly toward Gauss, and the other three dragons remained very cautious in their attitude toward him.

But just as the spore poison mist was about to reach Gauss, he, who had been maintaining a brief state of silence, suddenly opened his eyes wide.

In those pupils slowly turning burnished-gold, a pair of frenzied black-and-white qi drifted out from the corners of his phoenix-shaped eyes, like two condensed, tangible black-and-white flames flowing out from the sides of his eye sockets.

His body also began to change rapidly.

"Crack, crack, crack!"

Under the uneasy gazes of the three dragons, Gauss's body underwent a mutation.

"Is he going to revert to dragon form?"

"Are you a Silver Dragon? Or a Gold Dragon?"

The Blue Dragon in the distance took a deep breath, a glimmer shining in its eyes.

But contrary to their expectations, Gauss's physique did indeed change.

But it didn't transform into a dragon as they had imagined. In the distance, standing in the void was a two-meter-plus humanoid figure.

Coiling around its surface was a power they were incredibly familiar with—the bloodline of a dragon.

This confirmed their original speculation, but besides that, the other party also had a strange power on him that could contend with the dragon bloodline.

That ominous power sent a chill through the hearts of the three dragons instinctively.

An ancient, violent aura erupted unrestrainedly from the other party's body, instantly slamming back the draconic aura released by the three dragons.

That small stature exuded a domineering, sovereign-like presence.

"What..."

"What kind of monster is this?"

The true dragons felt uneasy.