Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 525 Shocking Night Raid: Leonid's Roar

Before the humans arrived at the Sighing Icefield, the wyverns had already become the main force in Dragoncliff, while also undertaking a considerable amount of auxiliary management work.

Because the true dragon race has indeed visibly weakened.

The most obvious manifestation of this is that the number of sub-dragons is still slowly increasing, while the number of true dragons has almost stagnated.

This was even with the true dragons intentionally suppressing the food supply for the whelps. In reality, both true dragons and whelps were well aware that if the reproduction rate of these hybrid offspring was not controlled, it would soon deplete the already scarce resources.

The current number is already a balance that the True Dragon Clan has intentionally controlled.

But balance is not so easy to achieve.

The true dragon race is indeed powerful; a single true dragon can defeat more than a dozen sub-dragons. However, this is based on their equally enormous energy consumption.

Upon reaching the ice plains, not only was the total amount of food insufficient, but the variety of food was also lacking. The scarcity of various nutrients forced the True Dragon Clan to fall into hibernation time and time again.

To use a perhaps imperfect analogy, the Yalong is like a steam locomotive, which can run on charcoal or coal, and when resources are scarce, it can be propelled by gathering firewood; the Zhenlong, on the other hand, is like a large aircraft, which not only needs to burn high-purity oil, but also aviation fuel, and key parts need to be regularly maintained with high-quality lubricating oil.

This is also the main reason why the dragon race's hunting operations are increasingly reliant on the sub-dragon race.

For some true dragons that do not hibernate, there is another rather troublesome task to be done—raising cubs.

The history of the dragon race's reproductive changes is also a history of blood and tears for the species.

During the period when dragons dominated the continent, they were typical viviparous creatures.

The development of a biological offspring's brain requires a continuous, stable, and high-quality supply of nutrition. Viviparity allows the mother to continuously deliver nutrients to the offspring, including dynamic supply regulation at certain critical moments, ensuring that the infant's brain can pass through a complete early developmental stage.

In other words, viviparous organisms allow for the existence of "late-maturing" infants, which gives them the potential to challenge more intelligent beings.

Whether it's the blue planet or the stars, this applies to the vast majority of recognized higher life forms.

But this doesn't come without a price.

Viviparous birth requires a very high level of parental investment from the mother, especially during pregnancy, when she bears huge survival costs and physiological risks.

During pregnancy, the mother's mobility gradually declines, leading to a significant decrease in her ability to acquire resources and defend herself. In cases of severe food shortage, the mother may even have to break down her own tissues to nourish the fetus.

At the same time, the mother not only has to provide protection for the fetus, but the fetus, as an "outsider" in the mother's body, may also be attacked by the mother's immune system. Therefore, the mother has to "downgrade" her own immune defense to avoid accidental damage, which will lead to a significant reduction in the mother's disease resistance.

All of these require providing the mother with a safe, reliable, and food-rich environment.

The dragons' individual strength, coupled with their family-like organizational structure, provided the environment necessary for this. However, everything changed when humans attacked the dragons.

Female dragons in late pregnancy, or female dragons that have just given birth and their cubs, will become the primary targets of human attacks.

To provide nutrition for his wife and children, the male dragon needs to hunt extensively. However, to protect the safety of his wife and children, the male dragon must be ready to return to the nest to rescue them at any time. Faced with a large creature that is exhausted from running around, human traps and ambushes often achieve remarkable results.

Faced with this seemingly unsolvable predicament, the dragon race was forced to adopt two solutions.

First, there is a small, close-knit community where several families support each other.

The lack of sociality among dragons is not due to their aloof nature, but rather to their physiological characteristics. Their enormous food consumption necessitates a sufficiently large hunting ground to ensure a continuous food supply without disrupting the surrounding biological cycle.

If too many dragons gather together, it will not only cause devastating damage to the surrounding ecosystem, but also force the dragon race to embark on long-distance hunting expeditions to more distant locations.

Consumption exceeding benefits is a valid scenario.

It can be said that before possessing proactive and efficient breeding or planting capabilities, large-scale biological populations are unlikely to form large-scale clustered settlements.

The back-to-back arrangement of small families is already a desperate adjustment made by the dragon clan out of sheer helplessness.

The second method is somewhat sensational: the dragons forcibly changed their birth from viviparous to oviparous.

The expert team on Blue Star had a hard time understanding how the dragons managed to make this adjustment. Moreover, according to the data, it was not a long period of evolution, but a complete transformation of the entire dragon race in just a few years.

This strategic shift has been successful to some extent.

Female dragons avoid the long period of weakness during pregnancy and no longer need to hide with their bloated bodies. They can still maintain good fighting ability while laying and incubating eggs.

Since the male can also guard and incubate the eggs, the dragon couple can take turns going out hunting, preventing either one from becoming overly exhausted.

If they encounter great danger, dragons can choose to abandon their nests instead of risking their lives for their children they cannot abandon, as they did in the past.

However, at the same time, the consequence of the oviparous system is that dragon cubs are weaker, have poorer bloodline inheritance, and require a longer period of nurturing and education after birth.

Furthermore, due to congenital deficiencies, they must receive special nutritional supplements to grow into a complete organism.

In any case, this strategic adjustment ultimately extended the life of the dragon race for a while longer.

Of course, later, the human race came up with an extremely "vicious" trick. Instead of attacking the healthy and heavily guarded true dragons, they set their sights on the wild animals in the dragon's territory.

By cutting off their food supply, the dragons were forced to continuously expand their hunting range and increase their consumption costs. In the end, the new system that the dragons maintained at a huge cost collapsed.

Today, the descendants of the true dragon race in the Icefield Dragon Nest are, in a sense, still paying the price for the oviparous system that was forcibly reversed back then.

It was under these circumstances that the Yalong clan was able to openly step onto the stage of Dragon Cliff.

Although their combat power is far inferior to that of a true dragon, it is more than enough to deal with the small fry in the sea. It's like racing a wheelchair; a minivan is enough, there's no need to use a supercar.

Ignoring the difference in ability, the dragon's thick skin, omnivorous diet, strong reproductive ability, and short growth period are all advantages.

During this period of "mutual dependence," the whelps, as the second most important creatures in the dragon's lair after the true dragons, were responsible for hunting, guarding, and fighting, and were the true dragons' most trusted assistants.

The false dragons forage at the bottom, the true dragons slumber at the top, and the sub-dragons become the backbone of maintaining the entire dragon's nest.

With a group of indifferent chairmen above and a group of obedient lackeys below, Ya Long, as the professional manager of Longya, is actually quite successful.

According to Grim, the leader of the wyverns, it might not be long before the wyvern race can shed the "wyvern" in their names and integrate into, or even replace, the status of the true dragon race.

The Yalong of yesteryear was a descendant of the True Dragon who rode the Wind Serpent. Who knows if one day in the future the Yalong will be able to ride the True Dragon instead?

But just as Grimm was filled with anticipation, the humans arrived.

They traded with the true dragons, exchanging refining materials for some old treasures, and Grimm tolerated it.

They roamed freely in and out of Dragon Cliff, and with such a lowly status, they actually lived in a cave higher than the lair of the Yalong clan. This was simply an insult to the Yalong clan!

Grimm tolerated it.

They showed no respect for the dragons and even mingled with the foolish pseudo-dragons. Their lack of respect for hierarchy was simply intolerable to the dragons.

But Grimm held back.

He always thought that everything would be alright once these humans left.

Then, the humans brought food—food rich in calories and nutrients.

Grimm couldn't hold back any longer.

He couldn't take it anymore!

If the true dragons receive sufficient supplies and the race recovers, what will become of the lesser dragons?
They will definitely be abandoned!

This is not just a matter of status, it's a matter of survival!
Grim looked up at the snow-covered dragon's nest, where most of the well-fed dragons would enter a new period of hibernation, while others would undergo a period of self-recovery.

Even the Red Dragon Chieftain, who usually never leaves the Old Cave, has returned to his lair.

This is the best opportunity, and also the last.

Before setting off, Grimm gave a final pep talk, which he did through deception.

He knew where these guys' weaknesses lay, and he knew how to provoke their volatile emotions.

"Humans are inciting the dragon race to abandon us."

Grim spread his wings, the tips scraping against the cave walls, making a crackling sound.

"They are currying favor with the true dragons and winning over the false dragons in order to replace our sub-dragon race in the dragon's nest!"

"They provide food for the true dragons, and our dragon race becomes worthless. In fact, we ourselves will become food for humans!"

“Those despicable fellows once treated ‘dragon meat’ as a delicacy!”

A low hiss echoed from the group of wyverns below. A large wyvern raised its head high and let out a hoarse roar from its throat.

"Kill them!"

This quickly provoked a response from the wyverns, who swayed and rubbed against each other, beginning a chorus of roars. Grimm spread his wings again, the flapping producing a sharp whistling sound that drowned out the noise in the cave hall.

The dragon leader's voice was exceptionally loud, and his entire body was covered in spiked armor.

"Kill those guys and get Dragon's Nest back on track!"

"Dragon's Nest, it's the dragon's nest!"

"No dissent shall be tolerated!"

The wyverns frantically flapped their wings, and the wild air currents blew the snow on the mountain into the air. Amidst this white snow, one wyvern after another stepped out of their nests and flew towards the old caves high above.

There is no moon tonight; it is dark, as thick as a pool of ink.

Most of the members of the Han Hai delegation were busy in the old Tibetan caves.

They only slept lightly for a few hours each day, devoting almost all their energy to collecting information on the dragon race.

To save time, even when they are exhausted, they refuse to go back to the tent to rest. They usually just grab the sleeping bag next to them, crawl inside, set an alarm, and rest for twenty or thirty minutes.

At this moment, at the entrance of the cave, Captain Leonid sat cross-legged on the snow, yawning somewhat boredly, occasionally glancing at the book in his hand.

Leonid is learning Xiawen, but he is learning very slowly.

I only know a dozen or so characters so far, averaging one or two characters per month.

The tiger chieftain was not fond of studying, let alone such a complex writing and language system.

But you have to learn it, because this is the script of the gods, the script used by the lord, and the script used by His Highness Liushuang!

Unfortunately, this book is like a lullaby; it makes me feel tired as soon as I pick it up and sleepy as soon as I look at it.

As I looked at my eyes, my eyelids started to droop, and eventually, I couldn't keep them open anymore.

Leonid's head drooped little by little, and the moment his nose touched the page, he jolted awake and straightened his head again.

The tiger chieftain couldn't help but shake his head, muttering a curse in orc language, before turning his gaze back to the book.

"What's the pronunciation of this word again?"

Just then, he heard a faint sound coming from the wind.

Leonid's ears immediately perked up.

Prior to this, he had been repeatedly instructed by the Supreme Command to be on high alert in the near future.

The Tiger Clan is one of the most acutely hearing races among the Orcs. On such a quiet night on the icy plains, Leonid could even hear the sound of snow falling from several kilometers away.

But now, he was hearing a voice that should absolutely not be there.

Because it was located in the heart of the dragon territory, out of respect for the dragons, the Han Hai delegation did not deploy monitoring equipment or automatic weapons outside the cave; all the limited light and medium weapons were deployed inside the cave.

However, it is also because it is the heartland of the dragons, surrounded by restricted areas designated by the dragons. Apart from a limited number of true dragons occasionally taking a look, no other creatures, including sub-dragons, are allowed to approach.

But now, Leonid could clearly hear the sound of wings cutting through the air.

And it's not just one or two, but a dozen or even dozens!

Before he could even think, a tremendous sense of crisis crept up his spine and into the head of the tiger guard captain. Leonid's pupils suddenly contracted, his fur stood on end, and he leaped out of the cave, letting out a powerful roar into the night sky.

"Who's there? Don't come any closer!"

His roar echoed across the icy plains during the polar night, instantly alerting the delegation's guards.

The next second, the soldiers who were still helping to move or secure the equipment rushed towards the cave entrance.

The first wyvern swooped down from the darkness, its two thick hind claws reaching for Leonid in mid-air, the hooks at its tips gleaming eerily in the darkness.

Clearly, the dragon race had no intention of wasting words with the human race; they were going to fight to the death right from the start.

"Enemy attack—!!!"

Leonid charged forward without flinching. His body, less than four meters long, looked like a childish toy in front of the thirty-meter-long dragon. But this was, after all, the genuine "Thunder Roar" chieftain.

With his feet carving two deep furrows in the snow, Leonid, like a cannonball, crashed head-on into the swooping dragon.

The dragon vanguard clearly hadn't expected this "little thing" to dare charge head-on. In their fighting instincts, without the use of magic, size meant everything; this should have been a complete and utter crushing defeat.

It's like an elephant trampling a mouse, or a python swallowing a rabbit.

A light, magical glow shone forth, rapidly spreading along the runes on the armor, like glowing veins coursing through the entire body.

The Tiger Clan Chief is quite powerful, and as the captain of the delegation's guard, his equipment, which combines black technology from both worlds, is enough to fully demonstrate the power of a pay-to-win warrior.

The two engaged in a direct clash of fists against claws.

"Snap—"

A crisp sound of bone cracking rang out in the night sky.

Leonid is fine; it's Yalong who's injured.

The middle toe bone of the dragon's claw broke instantly, the massive knuckle curling backward in a horrifying arc, white bone fragments piercing the hard skin, followed by a mournful howl from the dragon.

If someone bends your finger backwards and the bone comes out, tell me if it hurts.

The dragon couldn't even keep up, its entire body lost its balance, its wings flapped wildly a few times, it rolled several times on its side, and crashed heavily onto the cliff.

The accumulated snow collapsed, sending pebbles flying.

Leonid pounced on him like a shadow, closing in on him. With a sudden burst of power from his waist and abdomen, he leaped high into the air with a deafening roar, stomping his foot into the dragon's eye.

Although Yalong closed his eyes at the last moment, the thin eyelids could not withstand the enormous impact. The force burst the large eyeball, and blood gushed out from the gap in the eyelids, splattering the tiger chieftain's legs and body.

Leonid gripped the dragon horn with his backhand, steadied himself, looked up at the dark sky, and let out a high-pitched tiger roar.

"roll!"

However, the dragons did not heed the advice.

In the sky, huge black shadows swooped down frantically.

The two dragons, one on the left and one on the right, attacked Leonid from both sides like an open iron pincer. The dragon that had just been half-blinded by the tiger chieftain was now enraged and used its wings as weapons to swat at Leonid.

Leonid dodged, but the dragon's wingtip slammed into his face, instantly leaving more than a dozen large and small wounds. However, the creature was far more tenacious than Leonid had expected, letting out a muffled roar and charging at him relentlessly once again.

The shockwave from the raging snowstorm exploded again, and the three dragons collided, but Leonid was inevitably hit as well.

A dragon's tail, like a steel whip, lashed out from Leonid's blind spot. The once-majestic Leonid was sent flying, rolling dozens of meters across the snow, leaving a gruesome trail of blood.

It's unclear how much of it was his own and how much came from Yalong.

The dragons in the sky continued to descend in droves.

In this battle, Grim mobilized almost all of its combat-capable wyverns, more than two hundred and fifty enormous creatures, who rushed towards the old camp from all directions.

Under such overwhelming force, the tiger clan guards of the Vast Ocean suffered heavy casualties in an instant.

Two guards who rushed forward to cover Leonid were struck by the massive claws of several wyverns, crashing into the rock face with the clear sound of bones shattering. Another warrior, attempting to flank from the side, was struck by a dragon's wing and flung away like a kite with a broken string, disappearing into the darkness below the cliff.

The saying goes, "Dragons fight tigers," but in the world of stars, the real tiger ultimately cannot defeat the sub-dragon.

"Withdraw!"

At the critical moment, the battle-hardened Knight Commander Ronan shouted a command.

As high-ranking members of the team whose combat strength and equipment were second only to Leonid, he and Angus used their powerful and unrestrained attacks to forcefully create a small safe zone at the cave entrance, forming a temporary defensive line with their bodies.

The longsword drew a silvery-white arc in the darkness, bringing with it sprays of dark blood.

"Withdraw and hold the entrance. The entrance has limited space, and they won't be able to break through!"

"Go back!"

(End of this chapter)