Evolving by devouring from a young dragon

He carefully sensed the two light sources. The dark red one represented the Salamander King's heat source. Although it was very stable, Alduin still noticed a slight change.

Its magic is waning.

And that golden heat source is constantly intensifying.

Having sensed this, Auduin understood.

As expected, the Great Shaman's totem power was indeed related to the embers of the volcano, and could draw out the ember magic power from the Salamander King's body.

The Salamander King also found out.

Its breath grew weaker and weaker, its tail swept slower and slower, its claws gripped shallower and shallower, its strength was being drained, its body was becoming weaker, and its speed was decreasing.

It will lose.

The Great Shaman's shield of light lit up again, and instead of retreating, he took a step forward.

The bone staff swept across and smashed into the Salamander King's head, causing the Salamander King to stagger and take a step back.

The Great Shaman pressed forward, while the Salamander King retreated. Its tail lashed out, but could no longer move; its claws clawed, but could not reach; its mouth opened, but could no longer gather its breath.

The great shaman won.

Alduin tapped the rock lightly with the tip of his tail. If he could just hold out for another quarter of an hour, the Salamander King's embers would be drained, leaving him an empty shell, a powerless, weak, and helpless piece of trash.

Then the great shaman smashed its head with his staff and returned to Ash Highlands. The bone waited in vain at the Bone Hills, but it didn't matter.

However, the Salamander King did not let that moment come.

It didn't retreat. It stood there, enduring the great shaman's blow with his staff. The scales on its head burst open, blood splattered all over the ground, and then it turned and ran away.

It ran away, heading east along the lava river.

The great shaman did not pursue them.

First, he couldn't catch up; second, Chief Ironbone was already waiting for it at the source.

Alduin narrowed his eyes slightly; his sonic perception could no longer detect the fire lizard.

However, he had already guessed the outcome.

They will win, Iron Will.

The Salamander King had most of its embers drained and was severely injured. Running east would be walking into a trap. Iron Bones was well-rested and waiting. Eleven people blocking one road was enough.

However, it has nothing to do with him.

Auduin withdrew his gaze, spread his wings, glided from the edge of the wind-eroded Gobi Desert into the mist, and flew back to the decaying swamp.

He didn't need to watch anymore.

The Great Shaman's heat source returned to normal, and he reverted to being the hunched old orc.

The Salamander King has escaped, and Ironbone is waiting in the Bone Hills; everything is proceeding according to plan.

All he had to do was wait for the Salamander King to die, and then take his 20% of the profits.

Even if they lose, the Salamander King will be severely injured, and I can go and pick up the pieces.

perfect.

He flew back to the obsidian platform, lay down, rested his chin on his front paws, and half-closed his vertical pupils.

The sound wave perception spread out again, covering the entire decaying swamp.

The kobolds were digging in the mines with clanging and clattering sounds, while the lizardmen patrolled the swamps. Everything was the same as it had been three days ago, as if nothing had happened.

But Alduin knew that the war had already begun, and that the orcs were fighting desperately deep beneath the Ash Highlands and in the depths of the Bone Hills.

Time passed little by little.

In the direction of Ash Highlands, the golden pillar of light had completely disappeared. The crater had returned to calm, with only the occasional bubbling lava still emitting heat.

The wind blew from the west, carrying the smell of sulfur, the scorching heat of magma, and a hint of—Alduin's vertical pupils suddenly opened a crack.

He smelled it.

It's not Ash Highlands, it's a swamp.

North of the swamp, near the direction of the Bone Hills, something is burning—not an ordinary fire, but embers.

Auduin stopped tapping with the tip of his tail.

His sonic perception swept in that direction; it was blurry and chaotic, but he could sense that a heat source was moving.

Not the orc chieftain, not those ten men, but the bigger, hotter, darker red salamander king.

Auduin narrowed his eyes.

Although it's unclear why the Salamander King is here, this is his territory.

Moreover, judging from the Salamander King's route, it seems to be heading towards the Ash Highlands, and it appears to be crossing the edge of his territory.

The kobolds' mining sites are nearby, and the lizardmen's patrol routes also pass through that area. If the Salamander King passes through there, those weak minions won't even have a chance to escape.

He wasn't worried about the kobolds and lizardmen; those things were worthless once they were dead.

However, he was curious as to why the Salamander King would go to Ash Highlands.

Alduin rose from the obsidian platform, his dark golden wings unfurling as he flew toward that spot.

If you want to pass through his territory, you either have to pay a toll or you die.

But after flying for a short while, he stopped, his eyes gleaming as if he were weighing something.

Finally, a slight smile appeared on his lips as he folded his wings and turned to fly towards Ash Highlands.

Letting the Salamander go over seems to yield greater rewards.

He prefers to watch the two sides fight each other and then reap the benefits rather than seek immediate gains.

……

Alduin flew over the decaying swamp and arrived above the Ash Highlands, his dark golden figure disappearing into the night.

He stared coldly down below.

The ground started to shake.

It's not in the direction of Ash Highlands, it's in the direction of the Swamp.

It was very light and very far away, but Auduin, lying high in the air, could feel it.

His sonic perception swept across the area; it was blurry and chaotic, but he could sense that the dark red heat source was emerging from the swamp's depths.

The Salamander King has arrived.

It crawled out of the ground, its body covered in lava, and crashed onto the scree slope. Its left hind leg was dragging, its right eye was blind, and its body was covered in wounds and blood.

It raised its head and looked westward.

To the west, on the Ash Highlands, in the crater of a volcano, that golden flame took a deep breath and then raced in that direction.

Alduin watched it pass through his territory and then charge straight toward Ash Highlands.

Alduin watched it run across the valley, watched the old orcs grab their bone blades and stand in front of the child, and watched the Salamander King roar as it charged toward them.

The sounds of fighting, screams, and the cracking of bone blades below mingled together as the Emberfang Orcs were crushed like ants by the dying Salamander King.

It dragged its crippled leg, its blind right eye oozing pus and blood. Each attack was a desperate attempt to take the enemy down with it, yet it grew weaker and weaker. Its flesh, stripped of most of its embers, was already on the verge of collapse. This was merely a final burst of energy before it collapsed.

The high shaman seemed to have exhausted his strength and could only stand far away, his face filled with grief.

It is getting closer and closer to the crater.

Auduin's tail tip swayed slightly.

almost.

With the orcs nearly wiped out and the Salamander King on his last legs, it would be effortless to seize both their value at this moment.

He did not hesitate at all.

With a sudden flap of its dark golden wings, it swooped down from the sky like a bolt of lightning tearing through the night!