Chapter 171: Gold-Fang's Skirmish
Chapter 171: Gold-Fang’s Skirmish
Northern Storm Highlands, Shifa Nai Hills.
A procession of over a thousand kobolds trudged slowly along the hills, resembling a trail of ants from a distance. They were part of the Ember Kingdom’s kobold transport corps.
“Move faster! Get the gold to its destination! Lord Langpu personally ordered this!”
Crack!
Gold-Fang lashed the ground with a whip, barking orders at the kobolds near the mine entrance.
As vassals stationed in the Storm Highlands, the kobolds continued their work mining and transporting gold. Day and night, they hauled gold nuggets from the mines, performing diligently. The incentive? High performers might receive the coveted Dragonblood Elixir, transforming them into the legendary winged kobolds—Urd.
With the deepening effects of the Dragonblood blessings, Gold-Fang had gained the ability to bestow draconic lineage, creating his own Dragonblood kobolds.
Gold-Fang’s current appearance was increasingly draconic. Though still walking on two legs, his body now stretched over four meters long. His head resembled that of a wyrmling, complete with spiny ridges along his back. However, his iconic gold tooth now appeared disproportionately small due to his expanded size.
Spotting a kobold stumbling and falling, Gold-Fang roared in frustration.
“Roar!”
“Get moving, you brats! Don’t you want wings?”
Gold-Fang’s roar no longer resembled a dog’s bark but carried the primal resonance of a young dragon.
The kobold scrambled back to its feet, hurriedly gathering the spilled gold, grumbling under its breath.
“Tch, just lucky, acting all high and mighty.”
“He’s just an Urd. I’ll be one too someday.”
This kobold, known as Black-Tooth, earned his name from his yellowed, blackened teeth. Kobolds loved naming each other based on such quirks.
Despite his complaints, Black-Tooth quickly reloaded his basket with ore and sprinted to catch up with the group.
“Wait for me—!”
But the group had already marched far ahead, leaving Black-Tooth struggling to keep pace.
A strange, icy wind swept in from behind, sending shivers through the cold-averse kobold.
“Hissss…”
“By the great red dragon, why is it this cold?”
The chill grew sharper, rushing at him from behind and slowing his movements. A thin layer of frost formed on his scales.
Just as Black-Tooth opened his mouth to cry for help, a massive shadow loomed over him.
He slowly looked up, his grotesque face twisting in abject terror.
“Th-this is…”
A frost giant, over six meters tall, loomed over him. Wearing a horned helmet and crude armor made of beast hides and bones, the giant grinned menacingly, gripping a battle axe.
The frost giant sneered.
“Ugly little creature.”
“Crushing you will feel great.”
Black-Tooth tried to run, but the cold had stiffened his movements. He looked up in horror as the giant’s boot, clad in beast hide, grew larger in his vision.
“Squish!”
A sickening crunch of flesh and bone followed. Black-Tooth was reduced to a bloodied smear beneath the frost giant’s foot.
The giant casually wiped his boot on the ground, grumbling, “This place is crawling with these little pests. Nothing worth looting on them.”
Behind him stood forty other frost giants—scouts sent by Chief Kasa to survey the Storm Highlands.
“Temma, don’t forget the chief’s orders.”
“Stop wasting time on these insignificant weaklings.”
The speaker was the leader of the scout team, a frost giant distinct from the rest.
Taller than his peers, he wore armor pieced together from scales and carried a bone-crafted pickaxe. A tusk pendant hung on his chest.
Frost giants often scavenged from their kills, using hides, bones, and weapons to craft gear. They repurposed shields into armor and blades into spears. For them, the greatest trophies came from dragon-slaying campaigns—dragon-scale armor and dragon-bone weapons, which adorned this leader as well.
His name was Baya Eternal Frost, brother of Chief Kasa and captain of the frost giant hunting party. He had once taken part in a white dragon slaying.
“Temma” gestured forward and said, “Captain Baya, these kobolds aren’t insignificant. Look ahead—it’s a convoy.”
“We can interrogate them for information about the area. After all, it’s been decades since our last major incursion south.”
Baya nodded coldly. “You’re right. Let’s… crush them.”
The howling wind carried the sound of marching as the ground shook beneath them.
Mounted on tundra drakes, several frost giants charged forward like moving mountains, crushing hundreds of kobolds.
Baya led the charge, swinging his massive pickaxe to slay dozens in a single strike. The kobolds, barely reaching his knees, were laughably insignificant in his presence.
“Enemy attack!”
“What are those?”
“Damn it, frost giants!”
“The frost giants are invading! The Frost Disaster is here!”
The kobolds yelped and howled, scattering in all directions.
Despite their inherent draconic bloodline and bravado, the kobolds’ courage only extended to fighting human militia. Against the overwhelming power of frost giants, resistance was futile.
Amid the chaos, Gold-Fang took to the skies, flapping his wings. Though clearly terrified, he tried to rally the kobolds:
“Hold the line, brats!”
“They’re just oversized humans!”
“You only need to hold until reinforcements arrive!”
Baya’s attention was drawn by the voice. He looked skyward, his ice-blue eyes narrowing with excitement.
“Is that… a wyrmling?”
The frost giant licked his lips.
Mistaking Gold-Fang for a deformed dragon, Baya grew thrilled.
“An unexpected treasure. Dragon blood must taste incredible—probably different from white dragon blood.”
“You’ll make the perfect trophy!”
Baya dismounted his tundra drake, picking up a rock and hurling it skyward.
“Whoosh!”
The stone arced through the air but missed as Gold-Fang dodged.
However, Baya wasted no time. With a powerful leap, he soared over ten meters into the air, using his pickaxe to yank the winged kobold down.
“Dragon, I’ll skin you alive!”
The frost giant roared with exhilaration, gripping one of Gold-Fang’s wings.
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