The Red Dragon Just Wants To Do As It Pleases
Chapter 62 - 61: On Purpose

Chapter 62: Chapter 61: On Purpose

A battle that everyone, including the Red Dragon Lizrite, initially thought would be a difficult fight, perhaps even a rout, thus turned into a tug-of-war. David, relying on the "blessing of the Chromatic Dragon Queen’s love that was like a tide, overflowing as a disaster," fought evenly matched. And then, by seemingly ’sculpting’ four or five hundred, perhaps even six or seven hundred, stone greatswords from the cliff face, he unleashed a barrage on the panicked young Green Dragon... formally entering the ’garbage time of the chase’ where one pursued and the other fled.

Even Nifadora, the Green Dragon who organized the day’s title defense, sighed softly as she watched the battle devolve to this state, completely devoid of the elegance and nobility she had displayed at her entrance.

But this is fine, too. Although the intensity of the battle has far exceeded my original expectations, the current progress is at least still within my control.

Besides, the stronger the opponent performs, the happier I should be, shouldn’t I!

According to the script she had devised earlier, referencing the plot from a banned book she had seen among the Elves called "The Romance History of the Elf God King"—specifically the scene where the former Elf Queen Aroshiny first encountered and seduced Corellon—the planned ending was as follows:

Next, she only needed to feign growing fatigue. While lowering her flight altitude to dodge the continuous volley of his swords of Sculpture, she would pretend to be tripped by a rolling boulder and fall to the ground. Then, with a look of frailty and panic, she would lift her delicate, captivating dragon neck. Just as she took a deep breath, preparing to unleash the Green Dragon’s ultimate move—Corrosive Breath—she would be tackled directly into the Dragon Nest by the Red Dragon David, who would have caught up from behind. He would bite her throat, stopping her breath.

At that point, she only had to act like a defeated dragon, honestly offer up the small portion of treasure she had reserved in the cave, and then allow him to lock that ridiculously thick iron chain around her neck.

And with that, it would be done!

Ever since the Elves landed and the great forest fire swept the South Foothills of the Katjana Mountains, Nifadora had been secretly monitoring the red whelp who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. She had even considered inviting him to her Green Dragon Nest as her "second-in-command." But the inherent caution of a Green Dragon made her decide to observe a little longer.

That observation, however, led to a wave of fearful realization.

Is he truly—no, should I say, is he truly befitting of being the child of the Crimson Calamity, Pafila?

Too strong, too charismatic; his future potential is immeasurable.

In that moment, Nifadora, who had just entered her youth, felt a budding idea in her heart ignite as if touched by Fire Dragon Breath, blazing to life.

As time went on and Nifadora’s secret observations continued, she noticed David was ’recruiting’ wild young dragons. Especially after discovering that the dragons who had submitted to David were all living quite comfortably, the idea in her heart grew hotter:

I must have him!

No!

I must make him have me!

The former was simple. Even then, David’s mother, Pafila, wouldn’t likely do anything to her; she’d probably just laugh heartily at her son for being so thoroughly dominated by a female dragon. After all, the tale of how the Crimson Calamity Pafila had forcibly used a hapless young Silver Dragon to vent her frustrations on the battlefield was known across two continents. Dragons, after all, are expected to be dominant; it’s not a loss of draconic dignity.

But Nifadora understood the crucial difference, especially for a Red Dragon, who held the foremost position among Chromatic Dragons.

If I really did that, I would only become a lingering shadow in his heart, one he would forever seek to escape.

Red Dragons, after all, like to take the initiative. They enjoy the thrill of the hunt, the feeling of superiority and complete control as they torment their own spoils. Every dragon has its pride, after all.

As a Green Dragon, she understood this deeply.

The more critical issue was, unlike the situation with Lady Pafila and that Silver Dragon—one having just reached adulthood, the other just youth, a natural case of dry tinder meeting fierce fire, an inevitable coming together—David Uthos, that Red Dragon, was still just a juvenile!

Even if I wanted to be assertive, there was nothing I could do!

Moreover, given the rate at which his strength was growing, Nifadora was almost certain that once David officially entered his youth, even a Red Dragon as powerful as Lady Pafila back then might not be able to handle him as easily as she had that Silver Dragon. Let alone her, who struggled with all her might just to barely reach the middle-to-upper echelons among the Chromatic Dragons.

Just as Nifadora was growing secretly anxious, her mind racing with countless foolproof ways to approach him, she was astonished one day to see David fly over her territory and give her a ’deep, affectionate gaze.’

In that instant, her heart skipping a beat, Nifadora joyfully knew.

He definitely has his sights set on me!

At that moment, Nifadora felt as if even the Dragon God Tiamat was secretly assisting her.

Nearly a month passed, with Nifadora waiting in a state of hopeful anxiety. When her Jackalope People reported that over two hundred High Elves, accompanied by a White Dragon, were invading her territory, Nifadora knew:

One of the crucial moments in my draconic life, one I must seize, has finally arrived!

Thus, Nifadora decisively recalled her not overly numerous but still elite retainers and temporarily dispersed them with most of her treasures. She herself remained alone in the cave containing the bulk of her hoard, awaiting his arrival—awaiting an opportunity that would showcase her value and allure while simultaneously highlighting his might and dominance.

Then, with all eyes upon him...

He will gloriously defeat me, capture me! Like a trophy from a triumphant hunt, he will drag me back to his own territory in chains!

In this way, all the needs of a Red Dragon would be satisfied.

It’s about time!

As Nifadora watched the cliff face ahead crumbling under the bombardment of a giant stone sword, just as she was about to follow her original plan to lower her flight altitude and weakly allow an oncoming boulder to trip her, she heard an extremely impatient roar from David behind her:

"Come back here, now!"

[Authority—Wrath]!

In an instant, countless splintering thoughts and towering rage exploded in Nifadora’s mind like a planar detonation; her eyes rolled back, showing the whites. The dragon’s forelimbs, exactly as she had planned, caught on an incoming stone, and her body lunged forward.

But just as she was about to take a nosedive and was on the verge of being pounced on by David, the furiously enraged Nifadora, relying entirely on the agile instincts of her Green Dragon body, spread her wings. Pushing off against the charred Dragon Nest, she twisted her flexible, captivating body a full one hundred and eighty degrees, like a gymnast from the neighboring Blue Star nation, narrowly avoiding David’s fierce pounce.

As David skimmed past her abdomen by a hair’s breadth, she kicked out fiercely with her hind legs. She struck his vulnerable belly, which he hastily tried to shield by retracting his claws and wings. Then, her tail, faintly glowing with dim magical light, instantly extended and enlarged like the sharpest whip, slicing towards David’s neck.

In that moment, his scales on end, David could only arch his back with all his might. As the green tail swept past his neck, chin, and the tip of his nose, he even smelled a scent akin to that of a dreamlike lily—refreshing to a dragon’s senses, yet lethally toxic!

The tail, having missed David, silently swept past the cliff face behind him, striking it with a low, muffled thud.

BOOM!

A red and a green figure landed with a crash, about ten meters apart.

As the ground shook, the cliff behind David, brushed by the dragon’s tail, suddenly cracked. A sizable chunk of the protruding mountain slid down the smooth, mirror-like cut face towards the valley below, collapsing. Only after a moment’s pause did it crash onto the valley floor, making the earth tremble with a resounding boom.

At that moment, everyone, including the two dragons involved, seemed frozen, as if turned to sculpture.

"I..." Nifadora, now recovered from the influence of Wrath, felt an unprecedented sense of grievance. Tears welled in her eyes as she started to explain.

David, staring with eyes clearer than ever before, turned to glance at the tail-shorn mountaintop. He touched his own neck, where his scales were still erect and cold, then glared at her and said through gritted teeth, "To think you’d stack Weapon Enlargement Technique and Sharp Fang on your tail! You damn sure are a dragon prodigy! This move... I, David, have learned it! Dear Green Dragon teacher! May we never meet again! Farewell!!!"

A final surge of [Wrath] propelled his escape.

Then, under the dazed and sorrowful gaze of the Green Dragon Nifadora, David’s wings spewed flames—a poorly combusted mixture of glandular fluid and Mana Energy that trailed black smoke. He scooped up the equally shocked and now blushing Red Dragon Lizrite, soaring into the heavens and quickly disappearing into the sea of clouds.

"I... I really didn’t mean it..." Nifadora reached a claw towards the sky. Faced with this irretrievable situation, her expression crumbled, and she looked as if she was about to burst into tears.

For some reason, even though nothing had truly happened between them yet, she, a Green Dragon, suddenly had the absurd feeling that all her passion had been fed to a Winter Wolf. Then, in a bitterly ironic twist for a creature of her color, she felt utterly jilted by that Red Dragon right before her very eyes.