Red Dragon Monster Hunter Template.

His eyes were already bloodshot with rage, and he couldn't help but feel ashamed of his cowardly companions. He had lived in this land for decades and had never seen such a legendary creature.

Besides, dragons are only powerful when they fly in the sky. If they dare to come down, he'll taste dragon meat today.

With this thought in mind, it raised its head, and what came into view was a giant, scarlet hand—this became the last thing it ever saw in its life.

The goblins and gnolls nearby clearly saw the red dragon descend from the sky. Several goblins and gnolls who couldn't dodge in time were trampled under his feet, their bones shattering inch by inch, turning into a pile of mud in the blink of an eye.

…………

Thor felt something sticky under his feet, as if he had stepped on something. He shook his paws in disgust and turned to look at the dumbfounded gnolls and goblins around him.

These creatures were either short, green-skinned men covered in tattered leather or cloth, or stray dogs with matted fur, filthy and smelly.

Are these the familiars that the five-colored dragons most often subdue in their youth? They're so disgusting that they make any dragon want to vomit.

The stench around him made Thor sneeze, and two fiery spurts, like tornadoes, shot out from his nostrils.

His wings spread slightly on his back, the shimmering patterns on them resembling rising flames, as he roared loudly at the goblins and gnolls around him.

"Submit! Or be destroyed! I'm giving you only three seconds!"

The deep, resonant voice echoed through the valley, startling the surrounding monsters and making them react instantly.

Some monsters turned their heads and fled without thinking; others lay prostrate on the ground.

Among the goblins, some giant goblins with eerie crimson eyes and drool dripping from their mouths, amidst the incredulous gazes of the gnolls, raised their rough wooden clubs and charged towards Thor.

Thor was filled with rage as he looked at the fleeing monsters and the giant goblin that dared to attack him.

These ungrateful creatures! Heaven knows how much determination he had to make before deciding to take these lowly beings as his followers, out of respect for the essence of spiritual power, and yet they dared to refuse his favor!

He raised his right claw and stomped it hard on the ground. A large amount of magic power in his body rushed into the ground and merged with the earth element, turning into sharp fangs that burst out of the soil and strung together the giant goblins that rushed up like candied hawthorns.

Through his slightly parted lips, one could see the blazing light emanating from Thor's throat. The next instant, a dazzling beam of light shot out, followed by a twist of his head that swept across the surrounding area.

"The time has come! All those who stand will die!!"

Chapter Seventy-Seven: Treated Like a Stray Dog on the Roadside

The heat rays, powerful enough to melt gold and penetrate stone, would have unimaginable consequences if they struck an ordinary creature with no resistance.

Their flesh was like butter sliced ​​by a hot knife, easily cut open, with severed limbs flying everywhere. The wounds were charred by the high temperature, so little blood flowed out, only filling the air with a burnt smell.

All the gnolls who dared to stand were cut in half at this moment; those goblins who were no more than a meter tall had their skulls shaved off.

Some unlucky gnolls even lost their lives because they held their heads too high, even though they knelt down.

Upon seeing this, the other gnolls were terrified and immediately prostrated themselves on the ground, burying their heads deep in the earth.

What exactly is that laser-like breath attack? When did the Red Dragon develop this attack method?

And those earth spikes that grow like fangs—shouldn't the red dragon's earth magic abilities only be manifested in powerful melee combat?

Too many questions filled the minds of these gnolls and goblins. Fear and receiving too much information in a short period of time had made them somewhat numb.

In the blink of an eye, there was no creature taller than a meter around Thor anymore, and the dead and wounded gnolls and goblins numbered almost half of the total.

He looked at the essence increase prompts that popped up below his line of sight; most of them were 0.1, and a few were 0.3 or 0.4. His total balance had returned to 34 points.

Sure enough, as long as you are strong enough, the speed at which you can acquire spiritual essence will increase exponentially.

Back when I first hatched, it would have taken me months to accumulate this much, but now, in just a few minutes, I've gained a third of the low-level monster template.

This instantly dissipated his anger. He looked around at the filthy, terrified monsters, raised his head, and let out a loud roar.

"Very well! It seems that those of you who remain are intelligent and have enough reverence for power. Raise your heads, for I now bestow upon you the honor of facing me!"

The goblins and gnolls around them didn't dare to raise their heads. Looking at the corpses lying all around them and smelling the strong burnt smell in their nostrils, their bodies trembled like leaves.

It was terrifying! Absolutely terrifying! Many of our companions lost their lives simply because they were a fraction of a second too slow to react.

Who knows if raising your head might displease the red dragon in some way and turn you into a corpse in the blink of an eye.

Thor didn't seem to care much about this and continued to roar:

"Who's your leader? Stand up!"

The rolling sound waves echoed through the canyon, and the resulting gale-force winds made the fur on the heads of the nearby gnolls stand on end.

However, several seconds passed without Thor receiving any response. His golden vertical pupils contracted instantly, and he opened his mouth to reveal a sinister smile.

"It seems you guys haven't learned your lesson yet, daring to ignore my question. Well then, I'll kill half of you as well."

The cruel words carried an aura of destruction that seemed intent on burning everything in the world to ashes.

The gnolls and goblins kneeling around him tensed up upon hearing this. A few of the bolder ones quickly and timidly raised their heads.

"The...the boss has been killed by you."

"You were trampled to death just as you landed."

Thor looked in the direction a gnoll was pointing, and on the ground where he had been standing, there was still a pool of flesh mixed with hair and blood.

Is this the leader of this pack of gnolls? He's so weak! When he stepped on him just now, he thought it was some stupid wild dog.

Now that the gnoll leader is dead, what about the goblin leader?

Thor then turned to look at the green-skinned dwarves on the other side.

These creatures, born chaotic and evil, each have flat faces, large noses, and mouths full of tiny fangs.

Upon seeing Thor's gaze, these stinky creatures immediately began squeaking and squeaking incessantly.

"The Queen did not come."

"The Queen is still in the cave."

"It's waiting for us to bring food back."

Queen? A female goblin whose territory isn't even as big as a village dares to call herself that!

Thor exhaled two plumes of disdainful smoke from his nostrils and spoke.

"From now on, there will be no more queens."

From this moment on, everything you filthy, lowly creatures possess—including your loyalty and your lives—belongs to me. You must unconditionally obey all my commands, understand?

The gnolls and goblins around them quickly responded loudly, fearing that if they were even a little slow, they would lose their lives on the spot.

Listening to the sounds rising and falling around him, Thor felt his red dragon bloodline yearning for conquest greatly satisfied, and he couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

These gnolls and goblins, though filthy, stupid, weak, and almost useless, at least had some cleverness.

However, this could also be because they weren't quick enough; they might have already been wiped out by him.

Thor didn't care at all. Monsters in the wilderness were like weeds; as long as there was enough food, they would keep sprouting up.

His gaze swept around, and two overturned carts in the distance quickly caught his attention.

Is this what those gnolls and goblins were fighting over? Caravan goods? Animal hides and jewelry? Or ironware and spices?

Under the watchful eyes of the monsters, Thor leaped into the air, spread his wide wings, and glided for dozens of meters before landing beside two carts.

He extended a claw, its sharp, knife-like golden-red nail slicing across one of the rough cloth bags.

A crisp tearing sound rang out, and the linen fibers of the woven bag snapped, revealing hard, grayish-black wood blocks inside.

"This thing is..."

Thor squinted in confusion, then curiously picked one up and brought it to his nose to sniff.

A keen sense of smell immediately distinguished the aroma of wheat flour, bran, and salt from that sour smell.

"Black bread? How could it be black bread?"

Undeterred, he opened the other bags, finding either unpalatable grains or moldy dried meat inside.

This kind of thing is something that even a serf in a landlord's house with a little conscience would look down on, yet it has attracted these gnolls and goblins to fight over it.

Damn it! This isn't robbery, it's like they're being treated like stray dogs on the street, with people casually giving them some worthless trash to save themselves trouble.

After all, the price of hiring just a few more mercenaries would be much higher than that of these trash.

Only creatures that have lived their entire lives in the wilderness and have never seen anything good would treasure these moldy jerky and black bread.

These cunning caravans dared to use this as toll! Now that I've subdued these goblins and gnolls, I must settle the score with them again!

Once the canyon is taken over, all caravans that pass through it will have to repay all outstanding debts, with interest.

If you don't skin them alive and squeeze every last drop of oil out of them, you're not a proper red dragon.

Chapter Seventy-Eight Dragon-Slaying Fruit

Thorben had planned to raid the gnoll and goblin lairs, but the thought vanished the moment he saw what was in the burlap sacks.

Monsters like these, who spend their entire lives making a living in the wilderness, mostly don't have the concept of money in their world.

Everything they needed for survival had to be obtained through robbery, theft, and hunting; they would never think of acquiring it through trade.

Even gold, in this vast wilderness, is probably less useful than a crudely made machete.

Money can neither fill your stomach nor serve any practical purpose, while a machete can at least improve your strength to some extent.

This made Thor even wonder if he had made a mistake by taking these guys as his servants.

Perhaps I should go find some kobolds, orcs, or beastmen, or lizardmen?

After thinking it over for a while, he finally decided to leave it at that. If these guys really couldn't amount to anything in the end, he would just kill them all and bury them in the ground as fertilizer.

…………

Thor turned around, staring at his newly subdued followers with his cold, vertical pupils, and growled as he issued his first command.

"You filthy vermin, clean yourselves up now! By this time tomorrow, I want every single one of you to be here. If anyone still reeks of that disgusting stench, I'll burn them to ashes!"

The dragons' keen sense of smell made Thor really not want to get too close to these smelly things. After saying that, he suddenly flapped his wings and soared into the sky from the canyon.

Now that I've chosen this place as my territory, my primary task is to build a nest suitable for long-term residence.

While suspended in mid-air, Thor's gaze swept over the surrounding low hills, finally settling on a rather tall stone mountain not far away.

The side of the rocky mountain facing the canyon appears as if it had been sculpted by something, forming a steep rock wall with a bluish-black basalt texture.

As a red dragon, Thor's favorite nesting sites are undoubtedly active volcanoes, followed by high places that offer a panoramic view of the entire territory.

He flapped his wings and flew to the rock wall. He immediately took a deep breath, gathering all the magic power in his body into his throat. After condensing and compressing it, he shot out a blazing beam of light.

The rock wall, struck by the high-temperature heat rays, quickly turned red and softened, with crimson lava flowing down like syrup.

As Thor's head moved, the heat rays, like an oxy-fuel torch moving across a steel plate, drew a huge circle nearly ten meters long near the top of the rock wall, and continued to drill deeper.

Since waking up from his slumber, Thor felt that his magical power had increased considerably.

If it used to be like a swimming pool, now it's at least a large pond. He can unleash this kind of focused heat ray breath for dozens of seconds at a time.

But to conserve his energy, he stopped as soon as he felt a slight burning sensation in his mouth and throat. Instead, he raised his claws, which were covered in a thick layer of earth element, and smashed them repeatedly at the circle he had drawn.

Large chunks of rock fell off, gradually forming a circular cave that extended further into the steep rock face.

In just over an hour, a huge cave tens of meters deep appeared on the rock wall. What Thor had to do next was to continue to expand the internal space and dig out a huge chamber big enough for him to move around freely as a nest.

By the time dusk fell, the main structure of the nest had largely taken shape, resembling a horizontally placed flask, with numerous large, pre-reserved cylindrical supports inside.

But for a proper dragon's lair to exist, it still lacks a large amount of treasure, numerous guards, and dangerous magical traps.

There's no rush for these things; as Thor's strength grows, he'll get what he deserves.

He laid his body flat on a specially carved protruding platform in the cave, his entire body shrinking into an irregular sphere under the cover of his wings, his attention focused on the spinning wheel in his mind.

Thirty-odd points of spiritual essence, if used to extract biological panels, wouldn't significantly improve Thor's current strength.

His body is currently in a period of rapid growth. In addition to needing various flesh and blood to replenish his body, as well as energy-rich crystals, he also needs to consume a large amount of precious metal minerals because of the Rock Thief Dragon and Rock Dragon monster template.

The amount extorted from the glacier dwarves was far from enough, and it was difficult to obtain through conventional means. The only hope was to spin the wheel.

He first spent 24 points of essence to exchange for some Swallowstone, Dragon Crystal, and Radiant Dragonstone.