Crossing the true dragon realm, and you call me Little Locke?

"Think quickly! Think quickly!"

Shuoyang huddled in a corner of the tunnel, racking his brains, "Which cave-dwelling animal is best at digging burrows to find its way?"

Moles, marmots, rabbits... the images of several burrowing animals flashed through his mind one by one.

Unfortunately, the spell of shapeshifting requires the caster to have some understanding of the target being transformed.

These animals were too weak and didn't really like this kind of magic, so Shuoyang never bothered to learn about it.

Therefore, he will not change any of these animals.

So after thinking for a long time, he finally became a bat that did not live in caves, but could find its way.

Using echolocation and his keen hearing, he quickly determined the approximate direction of the exit by listening to the sound of water and air movement.

However, one of the more troublesome aspects is that bats have a very high body temperature when they are flying.

However, the ground thorn insect is very sensitive to heat.

Therefore, after determining the direction, Shuoyang seized the time and hurriedly flew outwards.

He wanted to create a time difference, betting that the ground thorn bugs wouldn't launch a full-scale hunt for his little bit of "meat".

But as it turns out, even drinking cold water can cause problems for a dragon when it's down on its luck.

Shuoyang had only flown out a short while when it ran headlong into a young ground thorn beetle that had returned empty-handed.

They met at a corner.

Shuoyang flew past the young man, flapping its wings.

They stared at each other, their eyes briefly meeting.

Then Shuoyang spread its wings wide and fled for its life.

The young ground worm, its belly empty, felt insulted as it watched the snacks fly past it.

So it immediately turned around and chased after it using all six legs.

Shuoyang, needing to find his way, had to slow down after speeding up for a while to confirm his location.

It was because of his slowness that the young thorn beetle caught up with him.

"What the hell!?"

The young ground worm with its sharp tongue and needle-like teeth inexplicably chased after them.

Shuoyang didn't have time to confirm anything. He quickly sped up again and fled for his life through the dark tunnel.

The young ground beetle followed his heat source closely.

Whenever the sun tries to slow down to check its location, it will relentlessly appear behind it.

It brandished its sharp claws and hissed.

And so he fled, pursued by it, unable to escape, until he missed the third fork in the road.

Shuoyang realized that things couldn't continue like this.

He didn't care whether it would attract more ground beetles, so he released the woodworms to cover his retreat.

"Hmph, humph! Hmph, humph!"

As soon as the dark little creature was released, it immediately set its sights on the burrowing worm that was chasing after it.

It mistook this guy for the one that had run away.

Seeing its fierce approach, the Woodworm immediately used its skill, Ignite.

In an instant, sparks flew from the young ground thorn beetle's body, flames bursting out from the cracks in its carapace and burning ever brighter.

This is a characteristic of the wood worm, cinder grass. When it is present, it causes the burning effect, which should gradually decrease with the consumption of fuel, to increase inexplicably.

In other words, as long as there are no other factors interfering.

The woodworm can keep the burning going indefinitely, until the target is completely burned away.

The excruciating pain that burned his very bones caused the young earthworm to let out a piercing scream.

It hurriedly pounded the ground, sending a distress signal to its kind through the vibrations.

In fact, it doesn't need to send this signal.

The moment the fidget worm, a high-heat, high-magic creature, appeared, the ground spike worms in the underground cavities were all startled.

Even the Earth Spike Bug Lord couldn't resist its allure.

Leading all the adult ground thorn beetles, they swarmed towards this side at high speed.

Meanwhile, on Shuoyang's side, after flying a distance under the cover of the woodworms, he was finally able to stop and confirm the route.

Fortunately, after listening and identifying the location,

He discovered that he hadn't taken the wrong path and gone back because of the young ground beetle's pursuit; on the contrary, he was getting closer and closer to the exit.

Having thoroughly confirmed his path, he simply became a Bronze Dragonborn.

As he ran outside, he shouted commands at the woodworm, "Stop fighting! Come back!"

Hearing this, the woodworm, though unwilling, was still reluctant.

But sensing the approach of a large number of creatures, it recalled the time when it was besieged.

They could only abandon the young ground worm that was already emitting a scorching aroma.

The Vine Tying skill that was about to be used was replaced with High Temperature Tempering.

It spewed fire from its long nose, and its entire body turned into a fireball as it charged toward the young thorn insect.

With a "bang," the young ground thorn beetle was blown to the ground.

The body of the scavenger dissipated with the flames and was teleported back into the Poké Ball.

The burning sensation on the young earthworm's body began to rapidly subside as it disappeared.

When the Earth Spike Bug Lord led a group of adult Earth Spike Bugs to catch up.

It had mostly recovered and, despite the pain, hurriedly reported the situation to the Earth Spike Bug Lord.

Upon hearing this, the Earth Spike Beetle Lord seemed to have guessed something. It hurriedly sensed the bat that the young Earth Spike Beetle had mentioned.

But after the return of the woodcutter worm, Shuoyang turned back into a cold-blooded giant lizard.

Therefore, the ground thorn beetles, which rely on heat to track their prey underground, find it difficult to pinpoint his location.

Seeing this, the Earth Spike Bug Lord decided to go all the way.

It led several adult ground beetles to dig on-site, creating a shortcut and digging straight towards the exit.

They wanted to cut off Shuoyang's escape route in advance and leave them trapped in the tunnel.

Furthermore, it also arranged for other adult ground beetles to conduct a comprehensive search and pursuit, to avoid being outmaneuvered by Shuoyang.

Thus, the two sides began their race.

On Shuoyang's side, although he had already determined the route out when he transformed into a bat.

But the ground thorn beetles were trying to defend against enemy invasions.

They deliberately made the passageway winding and circuitous.

So even though he had shaken off his four claws and was running for his life, he was still slower than the Spikeworm Lord who was running in a straight line.

Just when he finally saw a glimmer of light gradually brightening.

When they were just one step away from escaping.

With a loud "boom," the soil and rocks in front suddenly collapsed, completely blocking the tunnel and extinguishing the faint light.

Then, with two sharp insect legs breaking through the soil and rocks, the Earth Spike Bug Lord, along with several adult Earth Spike Bugs, burst out of the collapsed mound.

"Hiss hiss hiss!" (Found you!)

It looked at Shuoyang, who had turned into a giant lizard, and let out a high-pitched and sharp hiss.

Then it immediately opened its serrated, needle-like mouth and spat out a linear stream of acid.

Shuoyang quickly dodged, his physical transformation was not like a druid's, who had two lives.

In this situation, a single blow would be fatal or result in serious injury.

The pungent, strong acid grazed past him, hitting the stone wall beside him with a "hiss," instantly burning a hole the size of a fist.

"Hiss~ hiss, hiss hiss~ hiss!" (Dragon, you can't escape!)

The Earth Spike Bug Lord licked the tip of its teeth with its thin tongue, and a cruel smile appeared in its round eyes that resembled both fish and insect.

It had never tasted the flesh and blood of a dragon before.

Seeing its determined posture, Shuoyang revealed a chilling smile.

Because this tunnel, which is only a few steps from the exit, is already above ground level.

What Shuoyang feared most was being buried alive hundreds of meters underground, crushed to death by the terrifying weight of the earth.

Unlike ordinary shapeshifters, they are not afraid of being squeezed to death by the terrain in confined spaces when they reveal their true forms.

After all, his true form is far stronger than the soil and rocks that he can eat.

The scenario of an ordinary person being squeezed to death in a confined space is a joke when it happens to him.

So, after Shuoyang smiled at the Earth Spike Lord...

He immediately grew horns on his head and whiskers on his jaw, and his body began to expand rapidly like an inflating balloon.