Chapter 277: Over There Lies the Divine Realm.
The beam dispersed, and the Armored Dragon raised its neck then lowered it again. As an Armored Dragon, it boasted a shell with unparalleled defense, capable of melting through rocks with its breath weapon. Whenever it unleashed its breath, all opponents would inevitably flee in defeat.
But this time, something unexpected happened.
Jié Jié shook his wings slightly, somewhat stiffly folding them back onto his back. After lightly scratching himself, he suddenly strained and pounced toward the Armored Dragon.
The Armored Dragon’s body was inherently cumbersome, lacking agility. After having just released its beam, it was even slower to react, allowing Jie Jie to leap onto its back and start smashing it with relentless punches.
Crushed lime flew up as the sharp claws grated against the stone-like shell, producing an ear-piercing sound of friction.
Compared to a Rock Dragon, the Armored Dragon lacked the piled-up rocks on its back. Its shell, with a stony texture, was arranged and stacked evenly, interspersed with short, dull spines. Its defensive capability was slightly inferior, and cracks soon appeared after a few strikes.
The Armored Dragon’s reaction came late. It stamped its legs and attempted to roll over on the spot, hoping to crush the monster on its back.
However, its body only managed to flip halfway before stopping, instead exposing its abdomen.
The chest and abdomen of the Armored Dragon were already weak points compared to its back. After using its breath weapon, the remaining warmth softened the area, leaving it bright red, almost like a glaring sign pointing out its vulnerability.
Jie Jie jumped off the Armored Dragon’s back without hesitation, directly pouncing at its exposed chest and abdomen, attempting to claw at its heart.
The relatively thin shell at the chest and abdomen was torn apart instantly, but his claws paused, unable to penetrate further for the moment.
Realizing that reaching the heart was difficult, Jie Jie chose to follow the marked weakness, slashing from the chest towards the throat with his claws, mimicking the trajectory of the heat that had passed through.
A slight sense of numbness followed, and blood sprayed out. Severely injured, the Armored Dragon flipped over and fled madly towards the north after getting up.
But it didn’t get far before collapsing due to exhaustion.
Jie Jie approached the Armored Dragon, flipped it over, and the opening in its throat was clearly visible, still bleeding.
With its strong shield and powerful spear, the Armored Dragon was nearly invincible, with almost no natural enemies.
But its clumsy body made its reactions slow and full of vulnerabilities, meaning that once its spear was broken, it lost all ability to fight back. No wonder it could be easily bitten to death by a Tyrant Dragon.
Biting down to expand the opening in the throat, the Armored Dragon experienced its first and final defeat since adulthood.
Lifting open the chest and abdomen, Jie Jie buried his head inside and began eating voraciously.
Despite its bulky form, the Armored Dragon wasn’t fat. Even though it was among the best of large monsters, it obtained energy by feeding on tiny organisms to nurture bacteria, which then decomposed the minerals it consumed to release energy to sustain its life activities.
Its body was supported by heavy shells and skeletons, with little meat. The taste and flavor were also very strange, violating what Jie Jie had experienced with many other large monsters.
Not tasty, hard and smelly—just not good.
If not eating the meat, maybe he should gnaw on its mineral shell instead.
Jie Jie transformed into a Slaying Dragon after a long absence and started eating the Armored Dragon’s shell.
He abandoned the shell after just a few bites.
The feeling of powdered lime was severe, making him suspect he was simply chewing on stones.
Looking at the numerous remains of the Armored Dragon, he gave it a rating of “tasteless to eat, a pity to discard.”
Just as he was admiring this, the ground trembled slightly, causing a small earthquake. Compared to the many earthquakes he had experienced before, this round of vibrations was mild.
Judging by the activity level of the volcano cluster in this region, crustal changes should occur frequently.
But as he continued southward, the intensity of the earthquake gradually increased, and the Lava Field began to erupt with numerous small volcanoes due to the magma.
In his energy perception, these successive earthquakes seemed off?
Recalling past earthquakes he had encountered, they all seemed related to Ancient Dragons, and natural disasters in this world often couldn’t be separated from the involvement of Ancient Dragons.
Then, which Ancient Dragon caused the volcanic activity leading to the earthquake?
One figure after another flashed through Jie Jie’s mind, but none seemed quite right.
As he thought, his energy perception began to probe downward, and he started flying further south.
Suddenly, a chill ran up his spine—not just because of the actual temperature drop, but also because the color and intensity of the energy in his perception had suddenly changed.
After the sudden change, the energy began to spread upward, seemingly conflicting with the energy that had previously dissipated?
But the former was continuously swallowing the latter, the cold creeping up from underground. Although it hadn’t completely spread to the surface, it stopped the surging magma.
Cold one moment, hot the next—under such phenomena, Jie Jie understood why the Armored Dragon was heading north when he saw it.
And the “Ancient Dragon” capable of causing such a situation?
“Grrr.”
He ascended into the high altitude and looked further south but did not see any legendary figures. Instead, he spotted a floating shadow between the mountains west of the volcano cluster, hovering motionlessly.
Approaching from the west around the south, he confirmed it was a hot air balloon. Rather than calling it a flying airship, describing it as a building would be more appropriate.
A massive telescope was set up on the exterior of this structure, extending inward. From its appearance, it seemed highly adjustable.
Next, he detoured around the south and approached stealthily, shrinking his size mid-journey to avoid being spotted. By the time he landed on the floating structure, it was already late at night, and he was still unclear whether the anomaly to the south was ongoing.
Inside this floating structure was an elderly Dragon Person scholar. The Dragon Person scholar hadn’t slept, occasionally putting their eyes to the telescope or flipping through documents.
The direction the telescope pointed was unmistakably the south side of the volcano cluster.
The interior space of the structure was small, but it was perfectly suited for the old Dragon Person.
The narrow space was filled with various documents and materials fitting for a Dragon Person scholar. A map hung on one wall, with intelligence papers pinned in various places with thumbtacks.
The Dragon Person scholar seemed to notice him but, after a glance, paid no attention, continuing to peer into the telescope with an appearance of complete absorption.
There was a lot of information on this map. Jie Jie saw the volcano cluster he had come from, along with the Flame King Dragon intelligence pinned near the volcanoes.
Though he couldn’t read the text, the drawn monster totems and arrows clearly indicated that a Flame King Dragon had left this volcanic area.
Further south of the volcano cluster, in the direction the probe mirror pointed, a red circle stood out conspicuously and dangerously.
“This is the Divine Realm; you shouldn’t fly over there.”
At some point, the Dragon Person scholar had left the telescope and approached the bird perched on the bookshelf, kindly whispering a warning.
But the chill climbed up Jie Jie’s spine again, sending shivers down his back, nearly breaking his bird form.
