The Strongest Dragon in the Era of Beast Taming

“The high temperature here alone is enough to disable trainers below fifth-order Origin Star!”

David Jones withdrew the Fire Resist Bead energy on his palm and carefully sensed the scorching and raging Arcane Force outside, making a private estimate in his heart.

Then he looked around and found that the surrounding area was full of erupting lava, with no passable roads.

“It seems that the target of this trial is under the Lava River!”

Touching the Flood Dragon wristwatch on his wrist, David Jones relied on the protection of the Fire Resist Bead and jumped into the lava that could melt gold and rocks.

The moment David Jones’s fingers touched the warm lava, a cold voice suddenly sounded.

“Fourth trial: Find the Red-faced Bristle Serpent hidden in the lava world, and perfectly peel off its hide (Note: Only after the Red-faced Bristle Serpent dies can its hide be peeled off with flames of a temperature higher than that of the Bristle Serpent’s red flames).”

As the prompt tone fell, David Jones looked around at the boundless scorching lava and immediately activated his Illusion-Piercing Eye.

“I can’t find it!” David Jones’s eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Under the interference of the vast Fire Arcane Force, the observation ability of his Illusion-Piercing Eye was significantly affected, but it was somewhat excessive that he couldn’t find even a trace of life.

” Rainbow, can you sense the Beasts nearby?”

“Yi!” (Can’t find it!)

Rainbow shook her head suspiciously.

David Jones glanced sideways at Daphne, who was currently excitedly dog-paddling on the Lava River.

Seeing David Jones’s gaze, her movements paused, and then she tilted her head to reveal an inquiring look.

“No, it’s okay. Keep playing.”

After that, he ignored Daphne, whose head was up and spouting lava from her mouth like a fountain, and looked down at the mechanical wristguard transformed from the Gluttonous Beast on his left wrist.

“Roar!”

Facing the trainer’s question, the Gluttonous Beast opened its mouth and aimed a horrifying breath mixed with Dragon, Mechanical and Darkness-Type at the Lava River.

“Rumbling!”

With a violent roar, the lake of converging lava suddenly erupted with dozens of startling lava columns.

“Stop messing around. You’re only alerting the snake in the grass and making that Red-faced Bristle Serpent hide even deeper,” David Jones patted the Gluttonous Beast’s head.

“If such a simple and crude method could find the hidden Beast, I would…”

Before David Jones could finish his sentence, the Lava River began to tremble. A horrifying shadow on the lake surface grew larger and larger, finally revealing a huge bull’s head with four red angles and a ferocious appearance.

“Roar!”

Seeing this, the Gluttonous Beast proudly puffed out its chest.

“Even that works!” David Jones blinked in surprise.

Amid the surging red glow, a beast stood at least fifteen meters tall, with its neck fur black and dull beside the dozens of sharp black bone spurs on its shoulders. With sharp, slender nails accompanied by red flames, it had front limbs similar to human arms and a monster with a bull’s head that appeared suddenly.

David Jones thought this Beast was at least fifteen meters tall because its lower half was completely hidden in the boiling, bubbling, scorching Lava River.

Then a large area of lava on the ground rose like a storm, revealing a huge sword with a red body, ten meters long, shark teeth-like serrations densely packed on the outer side of the sword, and lava on the inner side.

“Hoo!” A gust of hot wind howled past, and David Jones couldn’t help but cover his eyes with his hand.

Soon afterward, the Red-face Bristle Serpent extended its right hand to grab the giant sword that burst out from the lava, swished it, creating a fierce flame storm.

“Pet Name”: Red-face Bristle Serpent

“Pet Type”: Fire, Metal

“Species Level”: Epic Overlord

“Grade”: Class Vlower-level

“Species Skill”: Spirit Swallow, Sword Master, Bristle Serpent’s Scarlet Flame, Refined Goldsmith, Overlord Domination

“Pet Profile”: The Red-face Bristle Serpent is a skilled learner among Beasts. It uses the lava and minerals nurtured by nature to forge weapons for itself. It’s a natural Blacksmith.

Note: The Red-face Bristle Serpent learns from passing humans to acquire new skills, through a process called Spirit Swallow. Therefore, it is also known as an Evil Beast and is one of the Beasts that the Trainer Guild forbids to Contract.

David Jones’ face turned cold as he sensed countless resentful wails hidden behind the Red-face Bristle Serpent.

In the current Era of Beast Control, Trainers are roughly divided into three factions based on their beliefs.

One is the Moderate Faction, advocating harmony with the Beasts and treating them as another form of humans. Some Trainers born after the Star Calendar have joined this faction.

Another is the Radical Faction, emphasizing “non-our race, their hearts must be different,” advocating for the extermination or strict control of Beasts, treating them as cold-hearted weapons. Most of this faction’s proponents have experienced Beast invasions or Abyssal disasters.

The last one is the Balanced Faction, a combination of the Moderate and Radical Factions. With the emergence of Bond Coordination and Beastmaster Cooperation, they occupy the most mainstream thought in the Era of Beast Control, advocating harmony with gentle Beasts while eradicating Ferocious Beasts that pose a significant threat to humans.

Besides these, some unworthy rats only hide in gutters; Evil Trainers who, in pursuit of power and longevity, would pay any price, ignore human interests, and even blatantly explore forbidden realms.

David Jones always considered himself part of the Balanced Faction.

In his opinion, as long as Trainers attack Beasts for Magic Cores and resources, they should be prepared for a counterattack. This was fair but also cruel.

However, there are always exceptions, like the Red-face Bristle Serpent which enjoys devouring spirits and carries countless resentful Human blood on its hands. Even if it’s not related to the mission, David Jones would not let it go upon encountering it.

“Rainbow, give it a hard one!”

“Daphne, stop playing with the lava now, and enhance your power using Swallow Flame.”

“Gluttonous Beast, just go straight up!”

Following David Jones’ instructions, Rainbow rapidly moved through space, instantly appearing behind the Red-face Bristle Serpent.

A pair of black dragon claws emanating endless frost and capable of crushing metal and stone fiercely pierced towards the Bristle Serpent’s sword-wielding palm.

Apparently, to reduce the opponent’s combat power, Rainbow chose to launch Holy Entanglement, attacking the strongest yet weakest defense point of the Red-face Bristle Serpent.

However, with a flick of the Bristle Serpent’s wrist, the heavy sword in its hand moved in a bizarre manner, creating a series of sonic booms in mid-air and blocking Rainbow’s dragon claws first.

“Clang, clang, clang!”

As the dragon claws clashed with the sword blade, lava and ice crystals splattered everywhere. The immeasurable weight of the giant sword danced flawlessly in the Red-face Bristle Serpent’s hand, giving off a sense of agility and grace.

But with the addition of Daphne and the Gluttonous Beast, the balanced stalemate was instantly shattered.

The Red-face Bristle Serpent managed to block the attacks of Rainbow and Daphne with its sword but couldn’t prevent the Gluttonous Beast’s sudden ambush from behind, acting temporarily as the sixth attacker.

The Gluttonous Beast’s Shadowless Dragon Claw pierced through the Bristle Serpent’s head, leaving a five-meter-long wound that spewed a large amount of boiling blood.

PS: Thanks to Black Knight for the too bonus points.