Evil Red Dragon

Upon reaching the outskirts of the dark forest, a faint, sweet, fishy smell permeated the air—a toxic gas produced by the mixture of pheromones emitted by the ghost-faced spiders and decaying matter.

Because the dark forest is surrounded by mountains on three sides, toxic gases accumulate, forming a deadly miasma.

Layers of spider webs hung between the trees, encasing the skeletons of some animals, creating an eerie and terrifying scene.

"Gru, you stay at the edge of the forest and don't go in."

Alecto instructed, "Just deal with the ones who escaped."

"Yes."

The trolls were quite wary of spiders, such disgusting creatures, and upon hearing this, they immediately surrounded the entrance to the forest.

Alecto stepped into the dark forest, completely ignoring the miasma.

The moment he entered, the forest came to life.

A rustling sound came from all directions, and countless pairs of eerie green eyes lit up from the shadows.

Hundreds of ghost-faced spiders, ranging in size from washbasins to millstones, surged out from tree trunks, under fallen leaves, and behind spider webs, rushing towards him like a tide.

They move swiftly, their mouthparts opening and closing, unleashing a web of paralyzing venomous threads.

Alecto remained still, and the patterns on his skin glowed faintly.

"Earthquake Spell - Rock Spikes Forest!"

It slammed its front paws into the ground, channeling magic into them.

The ground within a 30-meter radius of him shook violently.

One after another, rock spikes burst from the ground, instantly turning the dozens of ghost-faced spiders at the forefront into meat skewers.

The surviving ghost spider was stunned by the sudden area attack, and its offensive stalled.

Alekto seized the opportunity, and with a powerful flap of his dragon wings—

"call--"

A scorching hurricane, a mixture of high temperatures and metal fragments, swept wildly forward in a fan shape.

Wherever it passed, spider webs instantly carbonized, trees were charred black, and the ghost-faced spiders were blown away, their exoskeletons rapidly broken by the high temperature and metal shavings.

The mournful screech could not be heard.

This is a large-scale magical attack that Alector recently invented.

He figured that if he combined the three elements of fire, metal, and wind and released them at the same time, he should be able to create a metal storm with a larger range than dragon breath.

After experimenting with the flying brick, he actually succeeded. It consumed less energy than dragon breath, and although its power was only equivalent to a level three spell, its range was huge, enough to clear out the small fry.

It is particularly suitable for dealing with monsters like the Ghost Spider that rely on numbers to win.

After two rounds of attacks, the swarm of ghost-faced spiders suffered heavy casualties.

At that moment, a sharp screech came from deep within the forest.

A giant spider, the size of a small elephant and with its belly covered in bizarre human face patterns, charged out menacingly, surrounded by a large group of guards.

Ghost-faced Spider Queen, Level 4.

With such a commotion, and the aura of its people still disappearing in large numbers, the Ghost-Faced Spider Queen had no choice but to come and investigate.

The Queen Spider's eight compound eyes were fixed on Alecto. Suddenly, her abdomen rose, and a spider silk with a ghostly green poisonous light shot out like a javelin.

It moved incredibly fast, arriving in front of Alecto in the blink of an eye.

Alecto turned his head slightly to the side.

The spider silk grazed the scales and struck a large tree behind them.

laugh--

The tree trunk was immediately corroded, creating a large hole and emitting blue smoke, demonstrating the potency of the poison.

Alector's pupils constricted sharply, and he immediately judged that he should not take the hit head-on!

Normally, such potent poison wouldn't be a problem for him, but he was now in the lair of the Ghost-Faced Spider, and he didn't want to gamble on whether he could become immune to the Ghost-Faced Spider Queen's poison.

The Queen Spider continuously spewed venomous silk while directing the remaining Queen Spiders to harass her from the flanks.

Alecto swatted away the approaching spiderlings while dodging the venomous webs and looking for an opportunity.

"Annoying bugs."

He seized the opportunity during one of the Ghost-Faced Spider Queen's breath attacks and suddenly lunged forward.

The Ghost-Faced Spider guards tried to stop him, but he simply shoved them aside.

When he got within 30 meters of the Ghost-Faced Spider, Alecto activated Earthquake again.

The ground beneath the Ghost-Faced Spider Queen's feet softened and collapsed instantly, causing her body to sink and hindering her movements.

It's now!

Alecto leaped into the air, dodging the several venomous threads hastily shot by the Ghost-Faced Spider Queen, and unleashed his full dragon breath!

The torrent of fire completely engulfed the Ghost-Faced Spider Queen and her surrounding guards.

When the dragon's breath subsided, only a charred skeleton and some heat-resistant spider fangs remained on the spot.

With their leader dead, the remaining Ghost Spiders collapsed and scattered into the depths of the forest.

Alektor didn't pursue them; these low-level ghost spiders posed no threat anymore, and the trolls could deal with them slowly later.

He collected the most valuable fangs and venom sacs from the Spider Queen, and in the depths of the dark forest, he discovered five Venomous Kiss Flowers growing on a pile of rotting flesh.

This is a level three poisonous magical plant, probably prepared by the Ghost-Faced Spider Queen for her breakthrough. It's not mature yet, which is a good thing for him.

Alecto didn't care whether it was ripe or not; he simply reached out and pulled it back.

As soon as he emerged from the forest, Gru and the troll warriors surrounded him, looking at him as if he were a god.

In just half a day, the wise and mighty master led them to eliminate three threats that had been causing the tribe a great deal of trouble.

Alektor looked at the troll's awe-inspiring eyes and felt a surge of satisfaction.

This completely convinced the trolls to acknowledge him as their master; from now on, if he points east, the trolls will not dare to go west.

It was worth it for him to personally take action.

"Go in and clean up the battlefield, and bring back anything of value."

Alecto instructed, "After we've cleaned up, we'll go back."

"Yes, Master!"

The trolls got to work with great enthusiasm.

As the sun began to set, Alekto returned to the foot of Red Peak with a full load of trolls.

Another group of trolls, under Oliveira's command, also completed part of the work, initially widening the upper cave.

Oliveira was feasting on a wild boar when she saw Alecto return and gave a muffled call:

"Brother, you're back! Look, this is my haul!"

Alecto nodded and laid out his day's gains one by one.

The materials for Shadow Mushroom, Roaring Rock Tiger, parts for Ghost Spider Queen, and Poison Kiss Flower were all piled up in a corner of the cave.

He looked at Gru, who was standing respectfully to the side.

"Gru, you did a good job today."

Gru lowered his head excitedly.

"As a reward, and also as recognition of your loyalty..."

Alecto extended his claws and forced out another tiny drop of dragon blood.

"I will grant you even greater power."

Dragon blood dripped slowly onto Gru's forehead, seeping in along the red lines.

"Ughhhh!"

Gru let out a painful growl.

Its body began to change drastically. Its muscles expanded further, its bones made popping sounds, its height exceeded four meters, more red scale-like patterns appeared on its skin, and two small bumps even appeared on its forehead, as if horns were about to break through the skin.

Gru withstood the pressure, his aura steadily rising until he crossed the threshold and stood firmly at level four.

Unfortunately, this amount of dragon blood is not enough to completely transform Gru into a dragonborn; to be precise, Gru is now half-dragonborn.

But this also means that Gru only needs a transformation ritual to become a true dragonborn.

Moreover, although he was only half-dragon, Gru's strength, defense, recovery ability, and even intelligence were significantly improved.

Feeling the surging power within it, it knelt down with unbridled joy:

"Thank you for your grace, Master! Gru is willing to give you everything!"

The other trolls watched their leader's transformation with envy and longing in their eyes.

Alecto looked at Gru with satisfaction.

This is a good beginning.

"Get to know your new power well, Gru."

"I have a premonition that I am about to enter a long slumber. Starting tomorrow, move your camp to the foot of Chifeng Mountain and lead the entire team to patrol Chifeng Territory..."

"Yes, ma'am."

Oliveira suddenly interrupted, "What about me? Brother, what will I eat if you're asleep?"

Alecto glanced at Oliveira:

"I almost forgot about you! You're coming along too! We can ask Gru and the others for food, or you can make your own..."

Oliveira immediately burst into tears:

"No, brother~~~ I want to sleep too..."

Alecto shook his head in annoyance: "Whatever, just don't disturb my sleep..."

Still not entirely at ease, he instructed Gru again:

"You just need to feed this guy, and don't listen to anything else she says. Except for any enemy attacks, we'll decide everything after I wake up, understand, Gru?"

Gru nodded firmly:

"I understand, Master."

"Okay, bring all the food over here, I'm going to start eating."

Alecto threw all the Starlight Grass into his mouth and swallowed it whole, then devoured the Roaring Rock Tiger, a large number of Swamp Scale Crocodiles, and Ghost-Faced Spiders.

He ate while planning his next move.

The initial clearing of Chifeng Territory has been completed, the first batch of dependents has been acquired, and the nest is under construction.

Next, we need to delve deeper into the mineral veins, continue to enhance our strength, and at the same time, begin to be vigilant about the movements of the human world.

Five hundred miles to the southeast lies the area of ​​human activity.

The hunters who appear at the edge of the forest will eventually discover this newly emerged dragon realm.

He needs more power, a more stable rule, and... perhaps, more dependent races?

However, food must be eaten one bite at a time, so all of this will have to wait until he wakes up.

After devouring all the food, Alecto leaned against the cluster of white crystals and slowly closed his eyes.

Night falls.

Peace has arrived at the foot of Chifeng.

The trolls lit a large bonfire in the open space to celebrate the day's victory and their leader's promotion. Although the food was simple, the atmosphere was lively.

On the rocky platform at the cave entrance, Oliveira was groaning and moaning, clutching her full stomach.

The crackling of the campfire and the trolls' rough shouts drifted in the night wind, adding a touch of life to the silent Chifeng.

Oliveira rolled over, belly up, and let out a satisfied burp that seemed to carry a spark.

She glanced into the depths of the cave, where Alecto was motionless, his breathing long and steady, clearly having fallen into a deep sleep.

"She fell asleep so quickly..."

Oliveira muttered and swept the ground with her tail again.

Although she was full, she wasn't sleepy for a while.

Her gaze shifted to the bustling troll camp below, a sly glint in her eyes.

"Hey! Gru!" she called down.

Gru, who was being toasted by his tribesmen, looked up at the sound and saw that it was his master's sister. He quickly put down the bone cup in his hand and ran to the foot of the rock platform.

"Lady Oliveira, what are your orders?"

Oliveira struck a commanding pose, though it looked somewhat comical given her size:

"My brother is asleep, but we can't let our guard down in the territory. Tomorrow morning, do as he says and take all the trolls that can fight to patrol the border again to see if any have slipped through the net."

"Yes," Gru replied respectfully.

"besides……"

Oliveira's eyes darted around: "When you're on patrol, keep an eye out for those... sparkly, shiny stones."

"Bring it back to me once you find it. I'll put in a good word for you when my brother wakes up!"

She figured that while Alekto was asleep, although she couldn't directly command the trolls to do this or that like he did, she could ask these big oafs to help her find some treasures under the guise of assisting in management and collecting resources for Alekto, right?

When I get the goods, I'll secretly keep some of the good stuff for myself...

Gru, unsuspecting, nodded vigorously: "Understood, we'll keep an eye on it!"

"Okay, go ahead."

Oliveira waved her paw, watching Gru return to the campfire, feeling quite pleased with herself.

She lay back down, resting her chin on her front paws, gazing at the starry sky.

"Chifeng Territory..."

She murmured the name to herself, and suddenly felt that following Alecto wasn't so bad.

At least she doesn't have to face unknown dangers alone like Cinsera, and she has a group of silly trolls to command, and food is never a problem.

"He can sleep so much, he can sleep for who knows how long..."

She sighed, her eyelids growing heavy.

After eating her fill, sleepiness finally overcame her. She climbed onto Alecto's broad back, curled up, covered her nose with her tail, and drifted off to sleep.

Time slipped away quietly in Chifeng.

Alector's slumber lasted longer than expected.

The essence of dragon beasts, the flesh and blood of various magical beasts, starlight grass, and the mineral energy accumulated before underwent a complex reaction within his body, propelling him towards a higher level of transformation.

Oliveira was initially able to remain vigilant, overseeing the trolls' daily patrols, hunting, and treasure hunting.

The key is finding the treasure! Do you know how hard she works for those sparkly things?

But as the days went by, Alecto showed no signs of waking up, and her lazy nature began to resurface.

Aside from occasionally flying out to catch some prey for a treat, it spends most of its time sleeping on Alecto.

Gru faithfully carried out Alector's orders before he fell asleep.

It leads three teams to patrol the territory every day, clearing out any low-level magical beasts that appear sporadically, and giving most of the hunted food to Oliveira, with a small portion used as tribal rations.

Several small-scale conflicts occurred during this period.

A wandering ogre attempted to trespass into the territory but was repelled by patrolling trolls.

Three level-four magical beasts, Moonbears, roamed the territory, having wandered from the deeper mountains. Gru led all his warriors, sacrificing three trolls to severely injure them before finally surrounding and killing them.

These battles honed the troll warriors, and Gru's half-dragon form became increasingly adapted to combat, steadily advancing his strength towards the mid-level of the fourth rank.

Oliveira was unusually proactive when the Moon Bears attacked, mainly because she was craving them...

She cooperated with Gru to spew dragon breath from the air to interfere, and finally succeeded in roasting the largest Moon Bear until it was half-cooked, and then she happily enjoyed the fattest part all to herself.