Reincarnated as a blue dragon, he collided head-on with a wizarding civilization.

Motu landed on a huge, half-submerged log in the mud and water, panting.

The relentless high-intensity pursuit and the perilous battle with Matthew had left even the blue dragon Frostborn with 28.5% dragon bloodline nearly depleted of his once abundant magical power.

The Dragon Blood Wand in the stomach sac had dimmed considerably.

On the surface of the lightning crystal core embedded in the staff head, the leaping electric arcs were almost imperceptible, and the energy net woven from mithril threads inside the staff body also showed a few slight loosenings due to overload.

The excruciating pain emanating from all parts of his body felt like countless tiny needles, constantly stimulating his nerves with every breath and every heartbeat.

The tear in the left wing membrane caused waves of sharp, throbbing pain.

The dark blue scales were covered with dried blood, slippery mud, and the bodily fluids of the monster, losing their original cold luster and becoming mottled and dirty.

Matthew followed closely behind, bursting out of the mist behind him and landing heavily in the swamp not far from Motu, splashing up a large amount of filthy mud.

He knelt on one knee, supporting his body with his deformed left paw, his chest heaving violently like a broken bellows.

Each breath was accompanied by a hissing or gurgling sound from deep within his throat, like air leaking out.

His hood had already fallen off during the previous fierce battle, and his entire face was completely exposed in the gray mist of the Darkwater Swamp.

The left half was completely covered by jagged, grayish-green, scaly growths, and the eyes were cold, reptilian vertical pupils; the right half, though still barely maintaining a human shape, had bloodshot eyes filled with madness and exhaustion.

A man and a dragon stared at each other through the murky mud and the pervasive mist.

Blue Dragon's gaze remained as cold and indifferent as a deep pool, all his thoughts and schemes hidden beneath the surface.

Matthew's flames of revenge burned fiercely, and the chaos and pain brought about by the distortion intensified the thrill of the battle.

Matthew was the first to move.

With a low growl, he suddenly stood up from the mud, dragging his deformed left arm, which was beginning to tremble uncontrollably, and charged towards Motu through the mud!

Each step was incredibly heavy, leaving deep dents in the soft, swampy ground.

Black mud splattered, making his already tattered and blood-stained robe even more filthy, indistinguishable from Motu's dragon blood and his own.

Motu did not attempt to take off and create distance.

The severe injury to his left wing temporarily robbed him of his ability to fly nimbly.

He slid steadily off the dead tree, landing on all fours with his body low and center of gravity lowered, assuming a fighting stance most conducive to ground-based power generation.

Within the stomach sac, the Dragonblood Wand released all of its last remaining magic power without reservation, injecting it into his nearly depleted magic circulation.

Between the gaps in the dark blue scales, a faint bronze luster flowed, a sign that the power of the bloodline had been squeezed to its limit and was about to break through.

Matthew rushed forward, and his deformed left claw, with its last bit of strength and madness, slashed down fiercely!

Motu twisted his body and dodged to the side.

The deformed claw grazed his shoulder and slammed hard into the huge dead tree trunk where Motu had just been standing!

"Boom—Crack!"

The hard, rotten wood, which had been soaked in the swamp for countless years, shattered instantly as if struck by a giant hammer!

Countless wood chips and fragments shot out in all directions like a torrential rain!

Motu's eyes narrowed sharply as the fragments approached, but did not close completely; his golden vertical pupils were fixed on Matthew's movements.

Almost at the same moment the wood chips exploded, Motu's thick and powerful dragon tail resembled a steel whip that had been gathering power for a long time.

It was thrown out silently from behind, striking precisely at the wrist joint of Matthew's deformed left claw!

"Snapped!"

The sharp bone spikes at the tip of the blue dragon's tail were deeply embedded in the enemy's already cracked and severely eroded distorted tissue!

The remaining active magic was injected again through the wound where the bone spur had pierced!

"Ugh—!"

Matthew let out a painful roar, and his left paw reflexively retracted sharply.

But at the same time, his right arm, which still retained its human form, swung out with astonishing speed!

He had somehow acquired a poisoned dagger that gleamed with a chilling green light, and like a venomous snake spitting its tongue, he thrust it straight at Motu's neck!

Sensing the approaching danger, Motu suddenly ducked!

"clang--!!!"

The dagger failed to pierce the neck, but instead plunged deep into the muscle above Motu's left scapula!

The blade tip collided violently with the bones reinforced by the black iron body, producing a teeth-grinding, ear-piercing scraping sound!

A sharp pain shot through him, and Motu groaned, but instead of retreating, he used the momentum of his lowered head to charge forward!

Its right forepaw, covered in dark blue scales, slammed into Matthew's face like a cannonball!

"Pfft!"

The sharp bone spikes on the back of the claws, like iron rakes for plowing the land, slashed diagonally from Matthew's left cheekbone to his right lower jaw!

The skin and flesh were rolled back, and the bone was visible!

Fresh blood mixed with fragments of broken, deformed tissue gushed out instantly!

Matthew's head was jerked back by the force of the blow, but his bloodshot right eye remained wide open and refused to close!

As if he couldn't feel the excruciating pain on his face, he used the momentum of leaning back to viciously stab Motu's abdomen with his deformed left claw, which he had just retracted and was still trembling!

Motu twists his body to the extreme!

"Sizzle—!"

The deformed claw's claw tip failed to pierce Motu's vital abdomen, but instead slashed fiercely across Motu's right ribcage down to his hip bone!

The blue scales shattered like fragile glass, revealing a huge, deep blood groove that exposed bone and torn flesh!

Scalding dragon blood gushed out like a burst dam, flowing down his legs and dripping into the mud.

The two separated again, each staggering backward.

Motu lay half-prone on the ground, its right front paw deeply embedded in the mud to support its body, panting heavily.

At this moment, the magic wand in the stomach pouch had been completely exhausted, and the lightning crystal core was completely dim.

His body began to tremble uncontrollably, a result of muscle spasms and weakness caused by the depletion of magic and severe trauma.

On the other side, Matthew was barely able to stand.

But his deformed left arm trembled even more violently than Motu's!

The erosion of the active magic finally broke through the critical point and began to seriously affect the control of nerves and muscles!

In that area that had been repeatedly given special attention, necrosis had spread from the scales to the deep muscles and even began to erode the bones!

Matthew's left arm was covered with a dense network of fine cracks, like a riverbed that had dried up in a long drought, showing signs of chapping everywhere.

The grayish-green scales attached to it kept peeling off, revealing the rotten tissue underneath that was dark red and black and constantly oozing a viscous liquid.

Matthew looked down at his almost useless left arm, then slowly raised his head to look at the blue dragon kneeling and panting not far away.

His lips twitched slightly.

What he revealed was not a smile, but a complex expression that mixed extreme pain, endless resentment, and a hint of twisted mockery.

"Your wand... is indeed... powerful."

His voice was hoarse and broken, like a broken bellows being pulled.

He paused, took a heavy breath, and stared intently at Motu with his dark yellow vertical pupils.

"But...you've reached...your limit."

Motu did not answer.

He didn't even go to see Matthew.

His entire being was focused on that cold, hard number deep within his consciousness—

nineteen.

One more head is needed.

In this deathly silent standoff, filled with bloodshed and gasps for breath—

"Splash—!!!"

The swamp water in front of them suddenly exploded without warning!

A gigantic iron-scaled crocodile, far larger than any of its kind before it and almost half the size of an adult blue dragon, appeared with towering mud waves!

Its back scales were as thick as pieces of cast iron welded together, gleaming with a cold, metallic sheen in the dim light.

His dark yellow vertical pupils were cold, cruel, and devoid of any warmth.

Judging from its size, the luster of its scales, and the fierce aura it exudes, this Ironscale Crocodile has reached the peak of the first tier.

He may even have one foot already in the second tier, making him the undisputed overlord of this area!

These strong and troublesome monsters in the first tier are not Motu's primary target for hunting.

It was the intense, almost overwhelming smell of blood and the energy fluctuations from the battle that attracted it here.

The Ironscale Crocodile's terrifying jaws, large enough to swallow half a young dragon, suddenly opened wide. Its sharp, fine fangs, as sharp as knives, gleamed coldly, and foul-smelling, turbid saliva dripped continuously from its jaws, splashing onto the wet mud and leaving damp patches.

After its sudden appearance, it did not distinguish friend from foe; its cold, vertical pupils locked onto the closest and most active and frenzied living creature.

It was Matthew!

"roar--!"

With a deep, thunderous roar, the massive Ironscale Crocodile charged toward Matthew like a runaway dump truck.

The gaping maw lunged straight at his waist and abdomen!

Suddenly attacked, Matthew's pupils contracted sharply. He turned around hastily and used his almost useless deformed left arm as a shield in front of him!

"Clang—!!!"

The crocodile's terrifying bite force landed squarely on the deformed scales on Matthew's left arm!

A piercing metallic scraping sound rang out, and sparks flew everywhere!

Matthew was pushed so hard by the force that his feet sank deep into the mud, which instantly covered his calves!

He roared, and his still-functioning right hand gathered the last remaining gray-green magic power, slamming it hard onto the Ironscale Crocodile's relatively vulnerable eye socket!

"puff!"

The gray-green magic belonging to a high-level wizard apprentice exploded inside the crocodile's eye socket!

The iron-scaled crocodile, in pain, let out a muffled roar, its massive jaws instinctively loosening slightly.

It's now!

A dark blue afterimage, like a cheetah that had been poised for a long time, suddenly sprang up from the muddy water!

Instead of taking this opportunity to fly away and escape, they will launch a full-scale attack forward!

The target wasn't Matthew, who was rarely disturbed, but the Ironscale Crocodile, who was in pain and desperately trying to escape!

Motu squeezed out the last bit of power from his body, even ignoring the excruciating pain of his left wing being torn apart, and forcefully flapped his wings to provide a momentary burst of acceleration!

His massive dragon claws, just as they had in countless previous battles, precisely and ruthlessly gripped the Ironscale Crocodile's upper jaw, which was slightly open in pain!

"roar--!!!"

The Ironscale Crocodile is enraged!

It frantically shook its head, trying to fling away the blue dragon that dared to challenge its overlord!

Motu's body was lifted into the air, his wounds burst open, and blood spurted out, but his claws gripping the crocodile's snout were as if welded to it, not loosening even slightly!

Guided by the wand in his stomach that had almost exhausted all its power and was now only connected by a last thread, Motu poured the last bit of magic power squeezed from the depths of his blood and cells, along with all the remaining spiritual power, into his throat!

Deep in his throat, the last, and most concentrated, spark of lightning began to gather and compress wildly!

The dragon's mouth was aimed at the iron-scaled crocodile's eye socket, the only part exposed by its painful struggle that wasn't protected by thick scales.

That's the shortest path to its fragile brain!

"boom--!!!"

A bolt of lightning, condensed to its extreme and deep purple-black in color, pierced through the Ironscale Crocodile's eye socket like the gaze of death, and exploded violently inside its hard skull!

The massive body of the Ironscale Crocodile suddenly stiffened!

Lightning mixed with blood and brain matter shot out from the gap in its shattered eye socket!

Its terrifyingly large mouth opened helplessly, and finally, it crashed to the ground, plunging into the mud.

The splashing, murky waves reached several meters high, soaking Motu and Matthew who were nearby.

Almost the instant the crocodile fell to the ground, Motu's dragon claw swiftly plunged into the wound around its eye socket and ripped it out!

He grabbed a first-tier peak magic core, the size of a fist, with a deep luster and energy fluctuations far exceeding those of any previous magic cores!

Without the slightest hesitation, and without even glancing at Matthew, Motu swallowed the highest quality magic core in one gulp!

The moment the demon core entered his stomach, a vast and pure torrent of energy exploded within his body!

[Blood of Bronze] Quest Progress: (20/20)

Deep within her consciousness, Ixtal's quest panel automatically unfolded, golden text flowing like lava:

The quest "Blood of Bronze" is complete.

Reward distribution: The current monster's rank has been promoted to Tier 2.

("A body of black iron? Blood of bronze? No... wait! There's also the will of silver!")

Those fervent whispers seemed to transcend time and space, echoing deep within the soul.

Promotion, begin!