Golden Dragon: Six Thousand Years of Empire-Chapter 974 - 534: Sovereign Demon Dragon (Part 2)

However, this growth quickly came to a halt, because it had finished eating its own eggshell. Unsatisfied, the little creature turned its head and began searching the forest for suitable prey, soon finding one.

It was a grayish-white egg, its shell the exact same color as the one it just devoured, or perhaps identical.

At that very moment, as the little creature locked onto its target, the egg seemed to sense an external threat and stimulation, quickly shaking as a small horned head burst through the egg and emerged.

But before it could see the world clearly, a figure darted towards it at lightning speed, with a somewhat young yet densely serrated fanged mouth, viciously biting towards its neck.

A life-and-death struggle erupted in an instant, between two lizard-like beings identical in form, differing only slightly in the scales and skin, as they commenced their battle.

The outcome was unsurprising; leveraging the advantage of being born and fed first, the initially born rock lizard killed its slightly younger kin before starting to tear at its body, filling its now-empty stomach.

With the abundant supply of blood and flesh, the changes that had ceased in the rock lizard began to reappear, as more dense stone-like scales grew.

Not only that, its body began to grow slowly; its limbs and torso became more robust while its stance became more coordinated.

Yet, even so, this rock lizard who had devoured its own kind was unsatisfied, greedily searching for the next target, then a rock lizard more robust than itself crashed through the bushes appeared in front of it.

Without hesitation, the two lizards quickly engaged in battle, and unsurprisingly, in the absence of any other influencing factors, the size difference was insurmountable.

Thus, the one fortunate enough to devour an unborn kin met defeat this time, having to leave behind half its tail and escape in disarray.

The victorious rock lizard did not pursue, but patiently chewed and swallowed the half tail, bones and all, while the fleeing lizard soon encountered other kin.

This time, it wasn't so lucky, failing to escape, it was divided and devoured by two counterparts, leaving not a trace, just like the kin it had consumed.

Such encounters were ubiquitous for rock lizards in this vibrant forest, where the brutal law of the jungle was vividly enacted.

Yet, compared to the normal material world, the battles and ferocity here were magnified a hundredfold, and most peculiarly, within this forest, there existed no species besides these rock lizards; predator and prey were of the same race.

Search, hunt, grow, evolve—born in this forest, the lizards needed to endlessly repeat these processes, continuously eliminating and devouring their own to fuel their evolution and strength.

Amidst mutual killings and eliminations, lizards reduced to a certain number underwent similar changes as they bore rock-hewn scales that began to merge into larger black and gray scales, with carapace structures emerging.

These lizards could now be called giant lizards, averaging over five meters in length, while those falling below that size were most unfortunate.

Falling behind makes one fall ever further behind; even with the same foundation, starting slightly late would leave one far behind, akin to the lizards born after their kind who would be consumed as food. Following the first transformative evolution, those unable to keep up were swiftly hunted down by giant lizards, who subsequently resumed their combat.

The battles among giant lizards were far more intense than when they were mere lizards, as these giants, seemingly insatiable, had leaps in size, defense, and destructive power.

Amidst battles and evolution, the scales on giant lizards deepened in color, their shells thickened, and their defenses became exceedingly exaggerated, while the claws and teeth of giant lizards sharpened, and they acquired new weapons beyond mere claw and tooth.

Breathe～

Flame, thick as black oil, descended, igniting the giant lizard coated by it, prompting an angry yet agonizing roar. Under such fiery grilling, even its steel-like shell became fragile, easily torn by its opponent.

Yet as the battle persisted, the scarred giant lizard astonishingly managed to hold on temporarily. The ever-regenerating scales surprisingly developed initial resistance to the extraordinarily corrosive fire.

Adaptive Evolution

It could adjust its bodily structure within a small range at any time to better react to battlefield and environmental changes.

No, even with the evolved strongly fire-resistant scales, ultimately, this giant lizard was killed and devoured by another with mastery of breathing, leaving not a trace.

After swallowing its kin, this giant lizard successfully broke through to a body length of ten meters, and concurrently, unusual changes became evident. Two massive bulges on its back seemed to be nurturing something.

With increasingly thick scales and a body as tough as diamond, the giant lizards, possessing strong survival abilities, evolved and mutated in various ways.

But when the first one with wings took flight, fully transforming into a dragon, the direction of giant lizard evolution quickly unified.

The rationale was simple: fail to grow wings, and one would only become prey.

Thus, a second round of evolution transpired with clear traits, and all winged, armored giant lizards soared into the sky.

Moreover, during this evolution round, the intelligence of the giant lizards advanced dramatically, gaining many inheritances in their minds.

This group, now not to be referred to as lizards but dragons, no longer fought alone but began to form alliances, establishing organized structures with clear hierarchies.

As superior leaders, dragons quickly distinguished themselves in size and strength over subordinates, while as compensation for being supported, they needed to protect these lower dragons.

Some dragons consumed their kind and abandoned their subordinates but often ended up hunted by other organized dragons, facing a dire end with no remains.

In such competitive and elimination processes, leader dragons understood the responsibility towards their subordinates, uniting more dragons to destroy rival forces became their sole pursuit.

Thus, through hundreds of days and nights of evolution, only one force remained in this vibrant Dark Forest, led by a Monarch Dragon commanding twenty-seven dragons.

At this point, even with no visible rivals and competition, the dragon, exuding a king's majesty, refrained from attacking its followers and subordinates.

Because it had developed full emotions, and crucially, its current intelligence and inherited knowledge allowed it to ascertain that this region was prepared for its birth.

"Does my birth please you, Supreme Sovereign?"

With three large horns on its head, surrounded by numerous smaller ones forming a crown, scattered jet-black Dragon Scales, with white phosphorus on the belly and golden scales accenting certain corners, it resembled a Monarch donned in heavy armor, ready for battle, raising its head to gaze at the sky.