Chapter 22: The Evil Dragon's Roar
The morning bugle woke Su Xiao from his slumber. He sat up on the bed, blanking out for half a minute before recovering.
"Bubu, what's that smell."
Su Xiao frowned as he spoke, a burnt odor wafting over.
"Woof!"
Bubu Wang ran pitifully to Su Xiao, its tail with singed fur wagging, meaning: "Master, you have to stand up for me. That dragon sprayed me, almost turning me into roast dog. It doesn't seem very smart."
"Dragon?"
Su Xiao glanced at Bubu Wang's tail. The singeing wasn't severe, just a small amount of fur burned. It shouldn't have produced such a strong burnt smell.
"Bai Ye, you're awake."
The source of the burnt smell approached—it was Kaisa, his hair singed.
"That black dragon of yours is completely uncontrollable, spewing black flames. The soldiers don't dare get close."
Hearing Kaisa's words, Su Xiao knew his previous resources hadn't been wasted. He had consumed 20% of the demonic power from the Abyssal Jar, part of the Ancient God Azathoth's heart tissue, and the black dragon blood obtained from the Black Abyss.
These were all high-intensity items. To harmonize them together, Su Xiao used the "Spring of Life" produced from his [Natural Source] as a diluting solution.
Azathoth's heart tissue was dark in nature, the black dragon blood was flame-based, and the demonic power served as the energy source. The Spring of Life mediated between them to establish a new energy system balance.
The mortality rate of such a solution invading a living creature's body was unimaginably high. That's why Su Xiao chose the wild Giant Rock Dragon. It wasn't the most powerful supernatural creature in this world—not even in the top ten—but in terms of pure vitality, the Giant Rock Dragon was undeniably number one.
When Su Xiao walked out of the tent, he heard dragon roars in the distance. Even from far away, they were deafening.
Arriving at the rear of the camp, Su Xiao's eyes met a sea of black flames. Within the black fire, a faint hint of magma's dark red could be seen—a characteristic of demonic power.
The surrounding ground was severely vitrified. Outside the flame zone, soldiers were watching. Some who had followed from Sand Capital were even holding clay bowls, eating breakfast while watching the spectacle. They had been affected by the Bloody Battle effect, their fear of death no longer as intense.
The scorching red chains clinked and clanged. These chains could no longer restrain the dragon within the black flames. It hadn't flown away mainly due to the binding of the "Ross Array Diagram."
Su Xiao stepped forward. A thick burnt smell wafted toward him. Two vertical pupils appeared within the black flames. These pupils stared at Su Xiao for a moment, then a blast of scorching black flames shot toward him.
Blue light surged in Su Xiao's eyes. The black flames spraying toward him suddenly rose, spreading nearly a hundred meters into the air before stopping.
When the black flames dissipated, large sparks fell from above, sizzling upon contact with the ground.
Clink, clink.
The red-hot chains clashed as a black dragon emerged from the black flames. Its wings spanned over twenty meters when fully spread. Compared to its original Giant Rock Dragon form, this black dragon was much smaller. It had no bloated torso; its skin was rough, light black, without scales. This was inherited from the Ancient God Azathoth's external defense, further enhanced by demonic power and its own vitality, increasing its hide's defense.
Within those vertical pupils were only madness and hysteria. The black dragon's consciousness struggled, trying to break free from Su Xiao's control.
To control this black dragon, there was only one method: Su Xiao had to personally command it. There was no other way. This creature had its own consciousness and was quite intelligent, constantly thinking of ways to escape and then do as it pleased.
Having consumed so many resources, Su Xiao naturally wouldn't let this black dragon escape. This was his war weapon—it would fight until death. Try to escape? The Ross Array Diagram was no joke.
The black dragon lowered its head. Su Xiao stepped onto its head, using it as a ladder to climb onto its back.
Whoosh, whoosh.
The black dragon flapped its wings. With a clatter, it broke free of the chains and soared into the sky.
"Roar!"
The black dragon bellowed. Standing on its back, Su Xiao frowned. Controlling this massive creature for the first time, he was inevitably a bit rusty.
Wind whistled past Su Xiao's ears. Soon, he was beneath the clouds, looking down. Everything became small. Before long, Baha flew over and landed on Su Xiao's shoulder.
"Hehe, boss, feels great flying high, right?"
"Not bad."
Su Xiao looked down at the camp below.
"Woo-woof~"
Bubu Wang looked up pitifully. Such a fun thing, and it had been a step too slow.
After circling in the air a few times, Su Xiao guided the black dragon to land at the camp. The newly recruited soldiers gasped and retreated. This dragon that spewed black flames was something they had never seen before.
One of the black dragon's wings slanted down. Su Xiao walked down from the wing. Bubu Wang ran over, meaning it wanted to take a few laps.
"You can try controlling it too."
Hearing this, Bubu Wang trotted happily to the black dragon's head. Su Xiao released his control over the dragon.
"Woo-woof~ woo-ah~ woo-woof!"
After three evil dog roars, Bubu Wang successfully caught the black dragon's attention. The black dragon looked down at Bubu Wang for a moment before realizing this little thing was provoking it.
"Roar!!"
A gaping maw opened before Bubu Wang. Layers of air ripples spread backward, lifting the lip flesh on both sides of Bubu Wang's mouth. It covered its ears with its paws.
"Huff!"
The black dragon snorted two streams of hot breath, then coiled up and lay prostrate on the ground. It was waiting—waiting for that terrifying human to be far enough away that it might have a chance to escape.
Su Xiao checked the black dragon's information. The data was as follows:
Name: Black Dragon · Medis
Category 1: Vertebrate · Phylum, Ancient Dragon · Order, Black Dragon · Family, Supernatural · Species.
Category 2: War Creature.
Health: 100%
Ancient Dragon Power (Demonic Power + Divine Power · Ancient + Dragon Species): 52600/52600 points
Strength: 170 (True Attribute)
Agility: 160 (True Attribute)
Stamina: 181 (True Attribute)
Intelligence: 142
Charm: 1
Skill 1, Ancient Dragon (Passive, LV.75): Health +97000 points, immune to all external control effects, fire and dark damage reduced by 50%.
Skill 2, Black Dragon Hide (Passive, Lv.70): Physical defense +260 points, physical defense rank +2 (armor-type defense judgment), maximum health cap increased by 30%.
Skill 3, Dragon God Body · Ancient (Passive, Lv.62): Nullifies attacks below a certain intensity, reduces slashing and piercing damage by 20%.
Skill 4, Living Devourer (Passive, Lv.65): After Black Dragon · Medis devours other creatures, it can recover 0~7000 health points. Recovery amount depends on the devoured enemy's strength.
Tip: If enemies are devoured consecutively, Black Dragon · Medis's consciousness will become increasingly ferocious and difficult to control.
Skill 5, Black Flame (Active, Lv.65): Black Dragon · Medis spews black flames directly forward. If an enemy is within the black flames, they will suffer 3570 points of flame burn damage + 219 points of true damage per second.
Tip: This skill has no cooldown, consuming 1000 points of Ancient Dragon Power per second.
Tip: When using Black Flame to burn buildings, forests, or ice, the damage intensity increases by 3.7~4.5 times.
Skill 6, Sky Dominator (Passive, Lv.57): Black Dragon · Medis's flight speed increased by 42%. Due to its war creature characteristics, it exerts a pressure on same-rank sky creatures.
Skill 7, Dragon Flame Soul (Passive, Lv.69): Due to being bound, this ability has been sealed.
Tip: Due to war creature characteristics, it cannot be bound by summoning contracts. The probability of becoming a permanent summon is extremely low (below 0.159%).
...
Closing Black Dragon · Medis's attributes, Su Xiao was very satisfied with this war machine. This black dragon had peculiar traits. Don't be fooled by its high attributes and numerous ability boosts—if it fought one-on-one against a strong opponent, it was far inferior to the Archbishop, the Alien King, and others encountered before.
But in war, Black Dragon · Medis's destructive power surpassed both the Archbishop and the Alien King. This was the characteristic of war creatures: sacrificing one-on-one combat ability in exchange for superior survivability and one or two large-scale area-of-effect abilities.
As for whether he could turn this black dragon into a permanent summon, Su Xiao didn't care at all. He had modified this dragon for war. Consider this: could so many types of high-intensity energy really be withstood by a single supernatural creature? Of course not. Without the binding of the "Ross Array Diagram," this black dragon would die on the spot. The "Ross Array Diagram" was the core.
Su Xiao looked toward the distant oasis. Everything was ready. It was time to attack Segona City.