A juvenile spikebeast stood alone on the plain, panting heavily and covered in blood, seeming utterly exhausted.
Clearly, this not-yet-mature spikebeast had just survived a life-or-death struggle. Its parents were likely dead, otherwise this solitary young beast would not be here on one of the Karugu Highlands' few plains.
The tired and weary young spikebeast was searching for food, intending to replenish its energy. And at that very moment, a massive indigo figure tore through the clouds, carrying long-suppressed rage and a desperate desire to prove itself, gliding down to a position above the spikebeast youngster before instantly pouncing!
"ROAR!"
A roar, full of cathartic release, tore through the wilderness's silence.
Accompanying the roar, a blinding chain of blue-white lightning shot forth from Karta's gaping maw!
This thunderbolt, saturated with draconic aura, struck precisely on the path the spikebeast youngster tried to turn and flee along.
"BOOM!"
Dazzling electrical light exploded, the current instantly paralyzing the young spikebeast's muscles and nerves.
The spikebeast youngster let out a short, sharp, and mournful cry. Its entire body convulsed violently, unable to support itself any longer, crashing to the ground. Its limbs kicked uselessly at the scorched earth as the smell of thick smoke and seared flesh filled the air.
Karta showed not a shred of pity. His blue wings snapped shut, and he landed with the crushing force of a falling mountain, his heavy form making the very earth tremble.
His sharp claws, like the scythe of death, plunged viciously into the relatively soft side of the spikebeast's neck in the instant it was immobilized by the lightning!
"SHLUCK!"
The claws easily tore through the tough hide, embedding deep into flesh and bone.
Karta gave a fierce twist. With the sound of cracking bone, the spikebeast's struggles ceased abruptly.
After completing this, Karta's chest heaved violently, not from exhaustion, but from being filled with an unprecedented, almost dizzying sense of exhilaration.
He looked down at the lifeless young spikebeast beneath his sharp claws.
Its coarse, spiked hide was pierced by his talons, oozing dark red blood that stained the blue scales on his claw-tips.
"Ha! See that? The great Karta Underwood has completed a hunt!"
Karta couldn't help but growl out loud, though only the whistling wind answered him.
He clumsily adjusted his posture. That dive had been a bit unsteady, nearly causing him to crash headfirst into a bush. Flapping his wings to stabilize himself had kicked up a cloud of dust, making him look rather pathetic... but none of that could dilute his current sense of accomplishment.
He had succeeded!
His first completely independent, successful hunt!
He, Karta, a true Blue Dragon, had captured prey with his own power!
"Just a little spikebeast... Hmph, next time I'll catch a bigger one! Let Rebecca and Otto see! I am the future hope of the Underwood Dragon Flight."
Karta thought to himself, raising his head covered in fine blue scales, a proud rumble sounding in his throat. The previous sense of defeat and fear of Xia'er seemed considerably washed away by this small victory.
He opened his mouth, carefully using his teeth to grasp the spikebeast's relatively soft underbelly to avoid getting its spines in his tongue. He prepared to carry this trophy back to the highlands, to show Princess Valentina, to at least prove he wasn't always so utterly useless.
Karta thought to himself, absolutely thrilled and overjoyed.
Just as Karta flapped his wings, having risen only a few feet off the ground, his mind busy scheming how to casually show off, an extremely faint, yet instinctively scale-raising sense of wrongness came to him on the wind!
"Huh?!"
Chromatic Dragons had a natural instinct for malice. Karta whipped his head around, his draconic pupils instantly contracting.
From behind a hillside, amidst a jumble of rocks and low thorny bushes, dozens of pairs of eyes were staring unblinkingly at him!
Those weren't the eyes of beasts, but eyes belonging to beings remarkably similar to humans. Their owners wore heavy armor the color of the mountain stone, covered in mud and moss, with exceptionally stout and squat builds.
They were silently crouching, tightly gripping gleaming crossbows in their hands, the weapons cocked and loaded. The sharp bolts glinted with an ominous blue sheen under the gloomy sky.
Some had heavy warhammers or axes strapped to their backs.
They were as motionless as statues, only the mountain wind stirring the thick beards visible beneath their helmets and the edges of their cloaks.
Dwarves!
And fully armed, experienced dwarf soldiers at that!
Karta's heart skipped a beat. An icy chill shot up his spine straight to the top of his head. The pride from his successful hunt and his inflated confidence vanished instantly like a popped balloon.
The instinct of fear instantly overwhelmed all other thoughts.
"Whimper..."
A short, panicked whimper escaped his throat uncontrollably. Karta didn't hesitate for a second. He abandoned the prey already in his grasp, no longer caring about any trophy or the great dignity of dragonkind. Only one thought remained in his mind.
Flee!
Flee back to the highlands!
Flee to the vicinity of Valentina's palace!
Karta frantically beat his wings, his movements even clumsier than before due to panic, kicking up an even larger cloud of dust and grass clippings.
He didn't even dare look at those dwarves again. His massive body twisted and turned unsteadily in the air as he used all his strength, flying like an out-of-control blue meteor, desperately fleeing towards the direction of the Karugu Highlands.
"Fire!"
At the command, the dwarf scouts used their hand crossbows, firing fine iron bolts at Karta.
In an instant, over a dozen bolts struck Karta, making him groan in pain and fury. But he still didn't dare look back, only managing to flee in utter disarray.
However, these dwarf soldiers did not pursue.
They merely gathered before the commander of this dwarf military unit.
This was clearly a young Blue Dragon lacking life experience.
"Our scouting direction years ago was not wrong. Evil dragons do indeed live in the Karugu Highlands."
The commander of the dwarf army looked excited, his heart pounding.
He hadn't expected that, while leading troops under orders to survey mineral veins, and having killed an adult spikebeast along the way while chasing its young, he would actually encounter a Blue Dragon. This was truly a stroke of immense fortune!
Evil dragons were treasure troves from head to tail, and dwarves were natural master craftsmen, with many alchemists among them. If they could obtain a Blue Dragon's corpse, they would utilize its various organs to forge the finest treasures, enhancing the dwarves' strength!
A dwarf soldier nearby opened his mouth to ask, "General, why didn't we press the advantage and give chase? A young dragon, and judging by his hunting just now, his survival skills are poor. We likely could have killed him."
"Blue Dragons love to live in groups the most. That Blue Dragon just now was a young dragon. Behind him, there may be other evil dragons. Our most important task now is to send the message back, report it to His Majesty the King. All decisions will then be made by His Majesty's decree. We must not act rashly!"