Free Web NovelChapter 458: Chapter 342: Dragon Hunt, Cat and Mouse Game (Part 2)
The Iron Dragon Solrog reacted even faster, its massive body gliding elegantly to the side with just a slight flutter of its wings, as if it weighed nothing, avoiding the direct trajectory of the beam.
The Magic-like Skill Beam struggled to hit its target, and the Earth-Splitting Lion leader decisively changed tactics.
Its hind leg muscles bulged like explosions, causing the thick rock armor around its body to ripple and overlap as if coming to life, becoming increasingly heavy and hard.
Then, leveraging the powerful counterforce of its back legs, it boldly pounced towards the low-flying Iron Dragon, its raised claws tearing through the air with a piercing screech.
Boom!!!!!!!!!
However, what met it was an unwavering, advanced giant Dragon Claw.
Amidst a thunderous crash and the sound of countless rocks shattering and splattering, the Earth-Splitting Lion was flung back at several times its original speed, like a baseball being struck with full force, slamming heavily into the ground.
The seemingly indestructible rock armor encasing its body was now riddled with web-like cracks, with many areas directly shattered and peeled away.
Swish! Swish!
Almost simultaneously, two other quick-reacting Lion Beasts took advantage of the subtle pause right after the Iron Dragon’s strike, when its old force had just subsided, pouncing simultaneously from both sides, their fangs and claws nearly grazing the Iron Dragon’s wing membrane and flank.
Movements like a tide!
The movements of Iron Dragon Solrog abruptly accelerated, as if breaking the constraints of time.
The massive Dragon Claws traced blurred afterimages in the air, launching a new wave of strikes almost without pause.
With swift and precise slaps crashing down in succession, the two Lion Beasts attempting a sneak attack were brutally swatted to the ground like flies, the sound of breaking bones clearly audible.
To compensate for the relative weakness of the Mind Mage in close combat, the Iron Dragon Solrog also trained along the Hundred Battle Dragon path.
Although its Hundred Battle Dragon Level was not high, it had already mastered several basic but highly practical close combat skills.
The Iron Dragon’s wings suddenly flapped, its hardened dragon body gleaming with a cold metallic sheen, bursting into rapid speed like a heavily armored tank charging just above the ground, ramming into several other approaching Lion Beasts, breaking their bones, and sending them howling and rolling away.
Meanwhile, the Earth-Splitting Lion leader struggled to rise from a pit.
Staring intently at the Iron Dragon hovering low in the sky, it abruptly raised a forepaw wreathed in dense, earth-yellow elemental energy, stomping it onto the ground.
Buzz——!!!
In an instant, spikes, sharpened like spears and hard as steel, highly reinforced with magic energy, erupted from the ground without warning, sweeping toward Iron Dragon Solrog at an astonishing speed, covering a vast area.
Solrog’s massive body exhibited astonishing agility.
Its wings vibrated, rapidly changing direction in the air, dodging the majority of the spikes.
Only a few particularly tricky spikes hit its body, but they shattered into countless pieces on its hardened Dragon Scales, similar to orichalcum, leaving only a few shallow concave white marks.
Meanwhile, below, the spell-casting Earth-Splitting Lion seemed to be struck head-on by an invisible attack, its rocky armor collapsing inward on its chest with a painful grunt, and it spurted a fresh spray of blood, sending it flying backward again.
Mind Magic—Damage Transfer.
In the moment of being attacked, the Iron Dragon forcibly transferred a portion of the damage that would normally be borne by itself onto the spell-casting Earth-Splitting Lion.
Regarding the proportion of damage transferred, the Earth-Splitting Lion actually endured far less than the Iron Dragon itself.
But the disparity in physical toughness between the two was too vast; what was a mere tickle for the Iron Dragon was a heavy blow to the Earth-Splitting Lion.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Roar!!!!
Amidst a series of resounding impacts, sounds of shattering bones, and screams of pain and anger, this woodland continuously trembled, dust billowed, and fragments of rock and broken branches flew everywhere.
The battle, with the gap in strength insurmountably vast, did not last long.
In less than ten minutes of time.
The remaining Lion Beasts finally could not suppress their internal fear, beginning to whimper in panic, disregarding their leader’s roaring commands, scattering in all directions in retreat.
Iron Dragon Solrog hovered high, coldly surveying the surroundings.
Centered around it, the chaotic ground had nine severely injured, incapacitated Lion Beasts lying in a disorderly fashion.
Then, the Iron Dragon suddenly flapped its wings, its figure sharply rising, soaring into the sky.
In its view was the leader of the Earth-Splitting Lions, fleeing through the dense forest.
The next moment, it dived down like a falcon locking onto its prey.
Boom!!!
A precise and ferocious diving impact sent the strongest individual of this squad, the leader of the Earth-Splitting Lions, flying once more, breaking several large trees before rolling to a stop.
The Earth-Splitting Lion struggled to rise, but its battered and scale-damaged body could no longer support it.
Eventually, it could only collapse powerlessly to the ground, emitting painful breaths.
Bam!
The heavy body of the Iron Dragon landed beside it, an unforgiving claw clamping down on the Earth-Splitting Lion’s massive head, the sharp talons piercing the fur, leaving deep grooves oozing blood.
"Worm, submit or die."
Solrog’s voice resonated directly within the Earth-Splitting Lion’s mind.
Under the indifferent gaze of the Iron Dragon, the initial struggles and defiant roars of the Earth-Splitting Lion gradually weakened, eventually dissolving into low whimpers full of fear and submission, choosing to surrender.
The few surviving injured Lion Beasts desperately fleeing in various directions didn’t get far either.
They soon collided with the elite forces of the Molten Iron Tribe, who, having received the signal, had already been steadily tightening the noose from the perimeter, subdued them after futile resistance, first injuring them severely, and finally capturing them all with special steel cables and nets.
