However, an idea had sparked in Saron's mind, and he shifted his focus to the Slowing Magic. The spell was not unfamiliar to him, having once been on the receiving end of it from an Earth Bear. He'd managed to tough it out back then, but there was no denying its formidable power—gravity-related magic was always complex.

The spell model for Slowing Magic was more than twice as complicated as that for Earth Spikes, which made Saron work a bit harder.

"Slowing Magic!" he declared, casting the spell on himself. Immediately, a heavy weight seemed to press down on him.

It was bearable, at least for him. But for others of lesser strength, this spell was far from simple. The Slowing Magic was quick to activate, several times faster than Earth Spikes.

Next, Saron attempted to launch both Slowing Magic and Earth Spikes simultaneously.

Boom!

The Earth Spikes erupted from the ground once more, but this time, under Saron's deliberate control, there were significantly fewer spikes. Instead, they transformed into numerous one-meter-long spikes, triple in number, covering a twenty-meter radius—a perfect circle, matching the range of Slowing Magic.

Within this area, any enemy would surely be hit by the spikes.

"I'm a genius!" he exclaimed. He decided to name this move "Fracture," recalling a similar skill from the void creature Cho'Gath in another world he remembered.

Yet, there was still room for improvement. For instance, adding a Mud Swamp spell could further hinder his enemies' speed. Saron found a certain pleasure in creating his own unique set of skills.

While he was happily engrossed in his creative endeavors, Leo, the Lord of Kaleni City, was anything but pleased.

In the lord's mansion, Leo grimaced at the sight of the emptied treasury. To satisfy that damnable black dragon's greed, he had handed over almost all the treasures, including those intended for tribute to the King of Der.

"This cannot continue. That dragon's appetite is growing too large; she must be dealt with!" Leo's eyes hardened with resolve.

He quickly penned a letter and placed it in a golden envelope.

"Servant!"

"My lord, how may I serve you?" a guard in silver armor entered.

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"Take this letter to the capital of the Kingdom of Der, and make sure the king himself receives it," Leo commanded sternly.

"As you command!"

Watching the guard depart, Leo smirked coldly. On this continent, there were many kingdoms, and though the Kingdom of Der was not the strongest, it certainly was not one to be trifled with by a single black dragon. This time, she must be eliminated. Then, not only would the previous treasures be reclaimed, but their value would also be repaid manifold.

...

In the Dragon's Den within the Bone-Eroding Swamp.

The black Dragon Mother gazed at the newly amassed treasures, her eyes gleaming with joy.

These lowly humans still possessed riches, and next time, she would demand that they bring her thrice this amount. Otherwise, she would devour them all!

Yes, that would be the plan!

In truth, the Black Dragon Lysa had just reached adulthood, a mere 101 years old in dragon years.

Translating this into a more colloquial, conversational style of English, and adding some flavor to the expressions, we could say:

In human years, she'd be like a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl. Which of the chromatic dragons had amassed such wealth at this age? The thought alone had Black Dragon Mother rolling in her treasures with utter contentment.

Meanwhile, outside the cave, Hannah was shaking in her scales alongside Emily. After being snatched up in the Black Dragon Mother's talons and dumped outside the den, she was shaken to her core. The possibility of being captured by humans had been a terrifyingly close call.

"Hannah, you really need to watch yourself. If I hadn't risked my neck to wake up our mother from her beauty sleep, you'd have been skinned and boned by those humans by now!" Emily boasted with pride.

"Emily, thank you!" Hannah replied, still visibly shaken by the ordeal. The outside world was too frightening; she resolved to stay put until she was of age.

"That's why you should really think twice about gallivanting off with Saron!" Emily's eyes rolled playfully.

"Saron's actually been good to me, gave me loads of Earth Bear meat to munch on! Mmm, monster meat is so tasty!" Hannah licked her lips in recollection.

"What? Saron went out of his way to hunt monster meat for you?" Emily was astounded. Sibling affection wasn't common among color dragons. Not being bullied was lucky enough, let alone being cared for.

Hunting monsters was no easy task, and even if one was caught, sharing was unheard of. Plus, what was Saron's angle? Was he aiming to mate with her?

Emily glanced at the naive Hannah, feeling a mix of irritation and disbelief. Was Saron feeling frisky? But it wasn't even the season for that!

"Emily, I'm starving. I think I'm gonna go look for Saron!" Hannah blurted suddenly.

"You dolt, you were just saying you'd never leave again, weren't you?" Emily chomped down on Hannah's ear in frustration.

"But if we don't go out, what will we eat?" Hannah looked at Emily, genuinely puzzled.

"Eat, eat, eat, that's all you think about! Go eat dirt!" Emily snapped.

"Uh, you're not actually eating dirt, are you?" Hannah asked, noticing a particularly bare patch on the cave floor.

"Mind your own business. How could the future greatest Black Dragon Queen ever be caught eating dirt?!" Emily retorted disdainfully.

"Fine, I'll just go find Saron myself!" Hannah shook her head and scampered off.

Emily watched Hannah's figure disappear with a sense of exasperation. Now she couldn't even find a dragon to share her dirt-eating secret.

At that moment, Saron stood in a clearing, all four limbs planted on the ground, eyes closed, attuned to something. Suddenly, a small mound of earth appeared behind him.

"Gotcha! Been waiting for you!" Saron's tail whipped fiercely, sending a creature over three meters long sailing through the air, as if it had intentionally jumped right next to Saron's tail.

Crunch, crunch, hiss...

Turning around, Saron saw the creature that had collapsed on the ground—it was a subterranean spider. Its black carapace, eight eerie eyes, and green hairs on its legs all screamed trouble.

The spider hissed at Saron continuously. Subterranean spiders were ground-dwelling magical creatures with poisonous hairs all over their bodies and hardly any meat worth eating.

Saron had no appetite for the creature, but it needed to be dealt with; his own lair was nearby. Having such a competitor meant less food for himself.

To take it down, Saron suppressed his dragon aura and deliberately stepped into the spider's webbed trap.

"Fracture!"

As Saron's magic surged, the spider felt a weight descend upon it. As it tried to escape, numerous enchanted spikes suddenly shot out from beneath the ground, piercing through its body.

"This is not how I pictured it; I was planning on just knocking it away!" Saron mused, looking at the dying spider. With a single spit of acid, he finished it off.