Without Izo pressing him down, Leodero quickly got up and scrambled away toward Vivian, crawling and rolling on the ground.
“Are you okay...?”
Filled with humiliation, Leodero brushed right past Vivian and ran straight to the Snail-Rabbit corpse. He began devouring it greedily, without even sparing a glance at his little sister.
“This guy...”
Vivian's expression turned complex. Watching Leodero ravenously gulp down flesh and blood, she couldn't help but shout:
“Hey! You despicable food thief!!”
“Don't you dare think you can eat all the Snail-Rabbit behind my back!!!”
She hurriedly ran over to Leodero's side and shoved her head straight into the bloody hole she had been gnawing on earlier.
As Vivian ate, her eyes kept darting side-to-side toward Leodero, looking just like a male hyena in a pack on guard against its companions stealing food.
Of course, Vivian was a dragon, not a hyena.
She was merely observing Leodero's reaction. Normally, her second brother, who believed in the survival of the fittest and the supremacy of the strong, would never allow her to provoke him.
Perhaps because he had been taught a lesson by Izo, or perhaps because Leodero truly understood the lesson Izo was teaching, he surprisingly didn't flare up at Vivian's provocation.
After experiencing that "death threat" just now, Leodero had clearly changed.
But whether this change was good or bad was hard to say.
Seeing that Leodero truly showed no reaction at all, Vivian raised her head from the bloody hole and continued to test the waters:
“Hey, Leodero.”
“You didn't get so scared by Izo that you're actually terrified of him now, did you?”
Eyes burning with rage, Leodero whipped his head around, his voice harsh and low:
“Just you wait! Sooner or later, I will pay him back a thousandfold—ten-thousandfold!!”
“Sooner or later...”
Suddenly, Leodero's words came to an abrupt halt.
Catching sight of Izo walking past Vivian, he hastily lowered his head, pretending he hadn't said a word, and resumed gnawing on the Snail-Rabbit corpse.
Little did he know that his slightly trembling body gave him away; right now, he looked just like a terrified quail.
“Heh, coward.”
Watching her second brother put on this act, Vivian couldn't help but mock him further.
After shooting her a fierce glare, Leodero silently went back to devouring his meal, calculating silently in his heart.
A dragon is iron, but food is steel.
Just wait, Izo. Just wait, Vivian.
Once I eat my fill, once I become the strongest white dragon in the Northern Territory, I'll definitely give you what you deserve!!
Walking past his younger brother and sister, Izo obviously heard the conversation between Vivian and Leodero.
But he didn't beat Leodero any further, nor did he disturb the pair bonding with each other. He didn't even feel any resentment toward Leodero's words.
After all, in his impression, chromatic dragons were supposed to be like this: cunning, greedy, arrogant, and conceited.
He couldn't use the moral standards of a human from his past life to demand an evil dragon turn good.
For an evil dragon, Leodero was undeniably outstanding.
Izo actually felt somewhat gratified by Leodero's behavior just now, simply because he had learned "excellent qualities" that other white dragons lacked: enduring humiliation for a greater goal, and biding his time for revenge.
At this moment, the queen of the Snowrot Birds landed once more on Izo's dragon horn.
Together, they walked toward their grayish-white dinner, looking like a "couple" attending a banquet.
The sky gradually darkened, and bluish auroras slowly emerged across the gray canvas. Night on the icefields of the Northern Territory had fallen unnoticed.
If there were flickering candles set up around them, the atmosphere would surely be even more "romantic."
Facing the Snail-Rabbit, Izo bit off a large mouthful, fur, skin, and all. He held his head down unnaturally, without chewing.
Standing right on the Snail-Rabbit's corpse, the queen of the Snowrot Birds was just tall enough to reach Izo's mouth. She tore off slice after slice of meat from his mouth, slowly swallowing them.
Only after she had eaten her fill did Izo begin chewing, thoroughly swallowing the remaining flesh and blood into his stomach.
The Snowrot Birds had a tradition: the most powerful male bird in the flock served as king, mainly responsible for organizing the flock's attacks. Meanwhile, the largest female became the queen, responsible for controlling and coordinating the flock's population.
Furthermore, the king and queen would feed together.
Ever since their first cooperative hunt, when the flock failed to select a new king, Izo had already become their new king.
Earlier, when he launched his attack against the Snail-Rabbits, the flock had joined the assault as if a charge horn had blown, proving this very point.
Unfortunately, Izo knew none of this. He merely assumed that this largest Snowrot Bird was being lazy and didn't want to tear through the fur herself, which was why she kept snatching food straight from his mouth.
In the beginning, the queen of the Snowrot Birds harassed Izo so much while "stealing food" that he couldn't even eat normally.
Later on, Izo discovered the trick: rip off a large piece of flesh and let her eat first.
Once she was full, she naturally wouldn't bother him, allowing him to enjoy his meal in peace.
Izo obviously wouldn't fuss over such a minor matter.
After all, whether he could get a full meal still depended on them; there was no need to offend the flock of Snowrot Birds over such an insignificant issue.
Seeing that the queen of the Snowrot Birds was full, Izo stopped dawdling and buried his head into the warm underbelly of the Snail-Rabbit, devouring it with massive bites.
Beneath the giant dragon's teeth, the flesh was torn away as easily as a hot knife slicing through butter.
Bursts of flavor exploded in his mouth as the metallic tang of blood and raw meat filled his nasal cavity. Yet, to a dragon's palate, it felt rather good—delicious, even.
Right now, Izo seemed to have turned into a vacuum cleaner.
Before long, an entire Snail-Rabbit vanished, leaving not even a single bone behind.
The first one.
The second one.
The third one.
Under Izo's powerful digestion, the flesh and blood—gradually growing cold—were all converted into warm energy, nourishing his exhausted body.
Lactic acid in his muscles began to dissipate, existing muscle fibers thickened, and new muscle fibers proliferated, providing Izo with a steady stream of even greater strength.
“Burp.”
Having eaten his fill, Izo couldn't help but let out a burp.
“Ah, that feels great. The soreness is completely gone.”
“My strength has increased by a notch too, though exactly how much remains to be tested.”
“Dragons truly possess a natural gift when it comes to raw strength.
“Even for a species like silver dragons, who excel more in magic, dedicating themselves to training yields rewards far exceeding the effort put in.”
The changes inside his body made Izo sigh with emotion in his heart.
He grew increasingly eager to see how much more he could evolve once he fully digested this energy and returned to the mine cave to devour those Silver Crystals.
Across the snow-capped icefield, those twenty-four Snail-Rabbits had already been reduced to standing, bleached skeletons.
Soft and cute Snowrot Birds stood atop the skeletal frames, looking like angels and white snow alike. Together with the two dragon hatchlings, they had all found what they needed to survive and devoured every last drop.
“Wuuu—!”
With a cry from the queen of the Snowrot Birds, the massive flock of Snowrot Birds suddenly soared up into the pitch-black night sky.
Their feathers sparkled under the aurora; looking up from the ground, they looked just like a cluster of stars chasing the frost moon.
Izo and his group of dragons unhurriedly took off as well, following the Snowrot Birds toward the direction of "home."
Rate on N.U.
