Chapter 164: Subduing the Land Dragon Clan

Amos had overlooked a basic law of nature: every leader of a beast clan valued its position. To them, that status and glory was worth risking their lives to defend.

Roar!

Resisting the discomfort of the bloodline suppression, Kemosg opened his mouth wide, baring rows of triangular fangs, and unleashed a furious bellow at the White Dragon Lord.

The soundwaves rippled outward like a physical force, sending the forest leaves thrashing wildly.

Having vented his fury, the Land Dragon leader kicked off the ground and charged the White Dragon Lord.

His heavy body stomped across the forest floor, leaving a trail of deep footprints in his wake as the earth trembled.

Watching the charging Land Dragon leader's momentum, the White Dragon Lord took the threat seriously and rapidly chanted a spell.

A wall of ice materialized directly in the beast's path.

Kemosg lowered his head, pointing his spiraled horn forward. Carrying the sheer momentum of his charge, he slammed headfirst into the ice wall with the force of a thunderbolt.

The barrier crumbled the instant they collided.

The White Dragon Lord watched the shattering ice, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

Because behind that wall, a surprise awaited Kemosg.

Having broken through the white dragon's obstruction so easily, a hint of contempt for the White Dragon Lord rose in Kemosg's heart.

'A True Dragon is nothing more than this!'

But the moment he broke through and stepped onto the ground behind the wall, Kemosg sensed something was wrong.

'Why is it so slippery?!'

The ice wall had merely been a blind, a decoy to obscure the Land Dragon leader's vision and disrupt his judgment. Using magic, the White Dragon Lord had coated the ground behind it with a mirror-smooth sheet of ice.

If someone in the middle of a high-speed charge suddenly had the solid ground beneath their feet replaced by a frictionless surface, what would happen?

The White Dragon Lord was currently witnessing exactly that.

His first step cracked the magically reinforced ice, but Kemosg's feet immediately slipped out from under him. Losing his balance, he crashed heavily onto his belly.

His charging momentum, however, had not vanished. Like a hurled curling stone, the Land Dragon leader continued sliding across the slick ice straight toward the White Dragon Lord.

Sliding forward completely out of control, Kemosg felt a surge of indignity. Yet, the combat instincts honed from a lifetime of slaughter drove the beast to make the correct choice.

Splaying all four limbs, Kemosg viciously stabbed his sharp claws downward, trying to grip the ice and forcefully halt his skid.

But the reinforced ice was unimaginably hard. In his haste, Kemosg failed to pierce the surface, leaving nothing but a series of white gouge marks across the frozen mirror.

The Land Dragon leader slammed into a massive tree, using the trunk's resistance to finally grind to a halt just a short distance from the White Dragon Lord.

Dizzy and disoriented from the impact, Kemosg had yet to scramble to his feet before the White Dragon Lord lunged forward. Swinging his tail in a massive arc fueled by his charging momentum, Amos whipped it directly into the struggling Land Dragon leader's back.

Kemosg let out a miserable shriek. Spinning like a top, he went skidding back across the ice even faster than he had come.

After spinning off the ice sheet, colliding with several large trees, and tumbling head over heels, Kemosg finally came to a stop.

From high above, a massive patch of trees could be seen shaking violently in the dead center of the otherwise still, emerald forest.

The other Land Dragons, rushing over at the sound of the commotion, watched in horror from afar as their strongest leader was swatted away. Intending to charge in and help, they hastily slammed on the brakes.

Over twenty Land Dragons, much larger and stronger than the ordinary ones, crept a little closer. Sensing the superior pressure radiating from the white dragon, they too froze in their tracks, watching in fearful uncertainty.

Amid a cloud of dust, Kemosg struggled back to his feet, shaking his dizzy head.

Despite his pathetic tumble, he hadn't suffered any substantial injuries, entirely thanks to the absurd defensive power of his scaled armor.

Swishing his slightly numb tail, the White Dragon Lord marveled inwardly at the Land Dragon's thick hide. At the same time, his throat rolled.

Before Kemosg could react, it felt as though an invisible hand had ruthlessly squeezed his heart. A sensation of fatal peril flooded the Land Dragon leader's mind.

Ice-blue Dragon Breath crashed down on him like a tidal wave.

'If I can't block this, I'll die!'

Hovering between life and death, the Land Dragon leader's potential erupted. Dropping into a low crouch, he rooted himself to the earth and activated the ability he had acquired upon breaking through to the Legendary Rank.

Guardian of the Earth!

A peculiar energy was drawn straight from the ground, attaching itself to the Land Dragon leader's earthen-yellow scales. It looked as though a layer of coarse yellow sand had settled over his armor.

Right as these yellow energy granules completely covered him, the surging ice-blue Dragon Breath arrived, drowning the Land Dragon leader entirely.

Even without soul power mixed into it, the White Dragon Lord's breath attack was not something easily withstood.

A moment later, out of concern that the overwhelming power of his Dragon Breath might actually kill the beast, the White Dragon Lord cut off the attack.

Having shown mercy, the White Dragon Lord gazed at the forest before him, which was now shrouded in white frost. Frigid air drifted through the ice-covered woods like a thick morning fog.

But the cold generated by the Dragon Breath was far deadlier than any morning mist. Within the attack's area of effect, tree trunks and blades of grass alike were encased in thick shells of ice.

And that was merely on the surface. Inside every plant, the moisture had been frozen into shards of ice, rendering them incredibly fragile. A single strong gust of wind would be enough to snap a tree dozens of meters tall and wide enough for ten men to encircle.

As the chilling aura dissipated in all directions, the spectating Land Dragons felt a biting cold and retreated even further away.

The White Dragon Lord ignored the small fry watching from the sidelines. He stared doubtfully into the white mist blanketing the forest, where no movement could be heard.

'Is he dead?'

Just as the White Dragon Lord prepared to wade into the frost and check on Kemosg's condition, a furious roar exploded from the woods.

But this roar sounded somewhat weak. It seemed the Ancestral Dragon's Dragon Breath, even applied for only a moment, had inflicted a severe amount of damage upon this Land Dragon despite his heaven-defying defenses.

A wounded beast is always the most terrifying.

The heavy thud of running footsteps echoed out. Under the Land Dragon leader's savage impact, the trees with frozen trunks snapped in half one after another. Towering timber came crashing down like dominoes.

Before the wood even hit the dirt, Kemosg vaulted madly out of the white mist, his eyes bloodshot. His jaws opened wide, strings of viscous saliva stretching between his two rows of fangs as drool dripped from his maw. He lunged straight for the White Dragon Lord.

Facing the pouncing beast, the White Dragon Lord stood ready. He condensed a massive chunk of ice in his claws and shoved it directly into the Land Dragon leader's gaping mouth.

To avoid having the fragile interior of his mouth gouged, Kemosg hurriedly clamped his jaws shut.

After crushing the solid ice, the fifteen-meter-long Land Dragon threw himself at the White Dragon Lord, brandishing his claws.

But the White Dragon Lord possessed an even more colossal frame. And according to the laws of nature, greater size meant greater strength.

Therefore, Amos showed no fear. Gathering power in his tail, he waited for the perfect moment before whipping it outward in a diagonal upward strike, aiming directly at the vulnerable belly the airborne Land Dragon leader had exposed.

The instant they made contact, the White Dragon Lord realized his miscalculation. Kemosg might not have been as large as him, but the beast's body was vastly heavier than the white dragon's.

Carrying the downward momentum of his descent, the furious Land Dragon leader ignored the burning agony in his belly and crashed down upon the White Dragon Lord.

Fortunately, his thick and powerful tail was pinned between the two dragons. The White Dragon Lord forcefully straightened his bent tail, shoving the Land Dragon leader away.

Pushed off by the massive strength of the tail, the airborne Land Dragon leader, finding no leverage, was sent flying backward.

The beast clawed frantically at the air, trying to grab hold of the White Dragon Lord's tail, but the scales there were even slicker than the sheet of ice.

His sharp claws merely scraped a shower of sparks off the tail as the Land Dragon leader tumbled backward in utter unwillingness.

It all happened so fast. The trees Kemosg had knocked over earlier hadn't even fully hit the ground by the time the Land Dragon leader was sent hurtling back through the air.

Bang!

A giant tree, wide enough for ten men to embrace, slammed down heavily on top of the Land Dragon leader. Because he was wedged beneath the middle of the trunk, the canopy's leaves thrashed violently, scattering the white mist left by the Dragon Breath.

The thick-skinned Kemosg struggled to rise, pushing against the earth with all four limbs to heave the massive tree upward.

But just as he braced himself halfway up, an unstoppable, crushing weight bore down on him, pressing him right back into the dirt.

The White Dragon Lord stood atop the fallen trunk. From his high vantage point, he stared down at the struggling Land Dragon leader pinned beneath the incredibly heavy wood.

"Kemosg, do you submit?!"

Roar!

The Land Dragon leader, his eyes red, unleashed an enraged bellow at the White Dragon Lord and thrashed even more violently.

The White Dragon Lord pressed down harder with his foot, suppressing the beast's resistance.

Feeling the stubborn pushback beneath his claws, Amos lost his patience.

"Enough!"

Holding nothing back, the White Dragon Lord clamped his foot down with all his might, pinning the Land Dragon leader so tightly to the ground that he couldn't move an inch.

Kemosg watched in horror as a spectral blue light began to gather in the White Dragon Lord's maw. The terrifying energy made his heart tremble in fear.

'If that blast of Dragon Breath earlier had possessed this much power, I would already be a corpse.'

Driven by a desperate thirst for survival, Kemosg marshaled every ounce of his strength to try and escape.

But beneath the previous Dragon Breath, the Land Dragon leader had actually sustained severe elemental damage. In the heated frenzy of combat, he simply hadn't noticed the toll it took.

Now, however, Kemosg felt a bone-deep ache wrack his entire body, drastically impeding his physical strength.

Reflected in the Land Dragon leader's terrified eyes, the fatal, ice-blue Dragon Breath erupted from the White Dragon Lord's mouth.

Kemosg closed his eyes in absolute despair.

A moment later, Kemosg realized he was still conscious. He opened his eyes in surprise, only to see the Dragon Breath blasting into the ground right above his head.

Before long, the White Dragon Lord ceased his breath attack. Bending his long, slender neck, he lowered his head to hover right over the Land Dragon leader. His voice was utterly devoid of emotion.

"Submit, or die!"

If the Land Dragon leader still refused to yield, the White Dragon Lord would definitely show no more mercy.

There was absolutely zero benefit to allowing an unrestrained beast overlord possessing Legendary Rank power to remain within his territory.

The White Dragon Lord's voice snapped Kemosg out of his daze. The fury in his heart had been thoroughly doused by the terror of death.

Feeling an abrupt emptiness in his chest, the Land Dragon leader let his head drop flush against the earth. His voice came out low and defeated.

"You win. You are the new leader."

Gazing down at the resigned beast who had entirely given up the fight, the White Dragon Lord pulled out a Dragon Tooth carved with a profound magic Array and pressed it flush against the center of Kemosg's brow.

The Vassal Contract took hold. The ice-blue insignia of the Dragon Tooth sank into Kemosg's forehead and vanished without a trace.

Having officially become the White Dragon Lord's newest vassal, the Land Dragon leader shrugged off the enormous tree pinning him down and clambered to his feet. Keeping his head bowed, he stood submissively before the White Dragon Lord.

The White Dragon Lord swept his gaze across the ruined battlefield. Meeting his eyes, the onlooking Land Dragons lowered their heads one after another to show their submission.

"Kemosg, how many members does the Land Dragon Clan currently have?"

Hearing this, Kemosg furrowed his brow in distress.

"Leader, I've never counted."

The White Dragon Lord cast him a sidelong glance. A leader who didn't even know how many subordinates he commanded was an absolute failure.

But thinking about it carefully, this was actually quite normal. The living habits of Land Dragons were very similar to those of a lion pride.

As the leader, Kemosg enjoyed the offerings of his clan while bearing the duty of driving away powerful enemies and defending their territory. As for exactly how many members were in the clan? Sorry, if he had the free time to care about that, he might as well take a nap.

Having figured it out, the White Dragon Lord spoke.

"Take me to your dens."

"Yes!"

Beneath the towering canopy of the ancient forest, the Land Dragon leader led the way with the White Dragon Lord following right behind him. Trailing the white dragon was a long procession of ordinary Land Dragons.

A short while later, guided by Kemosg, the White Dragon Lord arrived at the Land Dragons' gathering grounds.

Deep in the sun-blotting thicket, enormous burrows were scattered among the trees.

Kemosg let out a peculiar, resonant roar.

Land Dragons crawled out of the underground dens one by one. They varied in size—the smallest were only two or three meters long, while the largest were nearing adulthood. It seemed everyone left behind at camp was still underage.

Unafraid as newborns, these adolescent Land Dragons sized up the White Dragon Lord with blatant curiosity. But one harsh glare from Kemosg frightened them into hastily bowing their heads.

Kemosg then issued that same distinct roar toward the adult Land Dragons bringing up the rear.

The adults stepped forward in unison, taking their places in front of the younger generation.

Every last Land Dragon stood packed tightly together before the White Dragon Lord.

Kemosg tilted his head to glance at the White Dragon Lord. Seeing him nod in approval, Kemosg turned back to face the gathered dragons, big and small.

"Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!" (Meaning: The True Dragon has defeated me and become our new leader...)

Once Kemosg finished his address, the Land Dragons threw their heads back and bellowed into the sky.

The thundering roars of the Land Dragons echoed through the lush forest, congratulating the birth of their new leader in their own draconic way.