Chapter 170 - 119: Death of the Sub-dragon
In the underground cavern, the giant dragon’s corpse had completely disintegrated.
After digesting half of the energy it had consumed, the lesser dragon finally noticed the dragon-kin creatures’ gluttonous feast. Realizing the giant dragon’s corpse was about to be completely devoured, it immediately joined in.
None of the creatures stopped to wonder why the giant dragon’s corpse was being consumed so quickly. Their limited minds were only focused on snatching a bite.
As the giant dragon’s corpse fully broke apart, the Corpse Insects within were exposed to the horde of dragon-kin creatures.
A war erupted between the dragon-kin creatures and the Corpse Insects over the remaining dragon flesh.
Both the dragon-kin creatures and the Corpse Insects had mutated and evolved from the energy of the giant dragon’s corpse. Both sides possessed tough dragon Scale Armor, sharp teeth, and razor-sharp claws.
In close combat, they were evenly matched, locked in a desperate struggle.
Hearing the commotion, massive hordes of dragon-kin creatures swarmed into the cavern from every tunnel, packing each passage so tightly that nothing could get through.
Inside the cavern, the dragon-kin creatures and the Corpse Insects were locked in a stalemate.
The dragon-kin creatures that managed to remain in the cavern’s center were mostly elites that had evolved several times. A breath attack was their basic skill, and they spat out clouds of cold mist, freezing the Corpse Insects into ice sculptures.
These Corpse Insects were dual-type Undead/Ice creatures. Simply freezing them and rendering them immobile was not enough to kill them.
If the freezing effect wasn’t continuously applied, or if the ice sculptures weren’t shattered, the Corpse Insects would quickly break free on their own, rendering the dragon-kin’s breath attacks useless.
To kill the Corpse Insects for good, many dragon-kin creatures chose to shatter the ice sculptures up close, hoping to crush the insects inside.
However, this also gave the Corpse Insects an opportunity to get close. They would hide near their frozen comrades.
They ambushed the attacking dragon-kin creatures, their claws and fangs laced with a potent corpse poison that was highly lethal to the living.
With both sides being evenly matched in offense and defense, after multiple exchanges, some Corpse Insects would inevitably break through the dragon-kin’s defenses and infect their targets with the corpse poison. Any dragon-kin creature infected with this poison would die shortly after.
The dead dragon-kin creatures, in turn, would release even more death qi into the surrounding environment.
As the death qi grew denser, the Corpse Insects’ attributes were enhanced, and their corpse poison became even more virulent.
More Corpse Insects were born amidst the dense death qi. Although the dragon-kin creatures were also numerous, the narrow tunnels limited the number that could enter the cavern per second. The endless stream of Corpse Insects gradually drove the dragon-kin away from the core area around the dragon’s corpse.
When the swarm of Corpse Insects expanded to where the lesser dragon was, they fearlessly launched an attack, also trying to snatch the dragon flesh it was guarding.
The lesser dragon had intended to ignore these small insects, but their attempt to steal its food instantly enraged it.
With a single Frost Breath, all the Corpse Insects were frozen solid.
The temperature of the lesser dragon’s breath was so low that even the ice-aligned Corpse Insects couldn’t withstand it. Their bodies underwent immediate necrosis, turning to ash as dense death qi scattered from within them.
Seeing that all the Corpse Insects were dead, the lesser dragon turned back to its meal. There was no longer time for a leisurely digestion; it had to consume as much of the giant dragon’s body as possible. If it ate too slowly, the flesh would lose all its potency.
In the very center of the cavern, the dense death qi coalesced, forming a black fog so thick that nothing could be seen through it.
A series of rustling sounds came from within the fog. After a moment, another swarm of Corpse Insects crawled out. This time, they skirted the area where the lesser dragon was and focused all their attacks on the ordinary dragon-kin creatures.
Eventually, not a single dragon-kin creature remained in the cavern. They had all been driven back into the tunnels, and the cavern itself was filled with a gray mist of death qi.
Aside from the Corpse Insects, the only other creature left in the entire cavern was the lesser dragon, which had claimed a patch of territory and was feasting voraciously.
A low hum echoed from the center, and the Corpse Insects once again launched an assault on the lesser dragon.
A cold glint flashed in the lesser dragon’s eyes. It pushed off hard with its four limbs, and with a great leap, it landed in the center of the area shrouded by the black fog.
A blast of Frost Breath pierced through the black fog, revealing a colossal Insect Mother within. The Insect Mother was constantly laying eggs, surrounded by many elite Corpse Insect Guardians that were helping to move the eggs.
Faced with the lesser dragon’s fatal blow, the surrounding Corpse Insects instantly went berserk. They scrambled over one another to attack the lesser dragon, while the ones near the Insect Mother threw themselves in front of the Frost Breath, using their bodies to block it.
The lesser dragon glanced at the insects with contempt, swatted them away with a single claw, and continued to aim its breath at the Insect Mother.
Seeing that it couldn’t dodge, the Insect Mother detached its egg sac with a SNAP! It spread its wings and flew up, just as the lesser dragon’s Frost Breath froze the egg sac solid and shattered it to pieces.
"HISS... SCREECH..."
The Insect Mother let out a low, guttural roar. The surrounding death qi converged on it, forming into a volley of Death Qi Needles that shot toward the lesser dragon.
The lesser dragon raised an Ice Shield, blocking and deflecting every single Death Qi Needle.
The deflected Death Qi Needles shot out in all directions. Any creature they struck, whether Corpse Insect or dragon-kin, melted into a pool of purulent blood, dying instantly.
While maintaining the shield, the lesser dragon continued to relentlessly blast the Insect Mother with its breath.
The Insect Mother moved with incredible speed, nimbly dodging the blasts.