Chapter 358: Three Hundred Meter Giant Dragon Remains


    The following day, the weather was clear.


    Sothoryos, somewhere in the barren canyon of the Green Hell.


    A dragon, ck as charcoal, let out a low roar and pped its wide wings as it swooped over the canyon, teasingly chasing its prey.


    Two thirty-foot green and white striped wyverns roared in panic and scurried away like headless flies. But they were no match for therger dragon in speed and size.


    Stab!


    Cannibal''s green eyes gleamed with predatory hunger as he opened his mouth and bit down on one of the wyverns. Its sharp fangs closed violently, ripping the creature apart in an instant.


    Blood spilled from the sky as Cannibal held its head high and chewed a few times before swallowing the wyvern whole. It was the size of a full-grown dragon.


    As it pped its wings again, Cannibal''s massive body cast a shadow over most of the canyon, including the other fleeing wyvern.


    "Squeak..."


    The sunlight above was blocked, and the wyvern roared in terror as a huge dragon w, ck as steel, fell mercilessly overhead.


    The wyvern''s small body was like a chicken caught in the dragon''s w. In the next second, with a sickening crunch, the entire wyvern was crushed. Its entrails flew into the air, leaving only its slender neck and wings dangling helplessly.


    It fell to the ground with a thud, reduced to a mere snack.


    ...


    Inside the canyon, before a deep cave.


    Rhaegar stood with his head tilted, silver hair cascading over his shoulders, his tight ck robe pping in the wind.


    With a swift motion, he yanked ance from the ground, blood sttering around him. At his feety a twenty-foot swamp wyvern, its spiky head punctured by thence, while the Valyrian Steel Sword—Truefyre —remained lodged in its spine.


    "That creature was tough," Rhaegar muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow. "It didn''t seem to feel any pain. It was almost impossible to bring it down without hitting its vitals."


    He pulled the Valyrian Steel Lance Dawn from his space bracelet and shook off the blood with a flourish before returning it to its ce. Thence proved more effective againstrge beasts.


    "Roar..."


    Cannibal roared,nding nearby as Rhaegar retrieved Truefyre. The hungry dragon did not wait for its rider''s signal. It stretched its neck and swallowed the wyvern''s carcass in one gulp, chewing briefly before swallowing.


    "Oh, you were really hungry!" Rhaegar chuckled, his eyes scanning the rocky canyon floor. The ground was littered with skeletons - boars, monkeys, and even natives. The three dead wyverns had been the dominant predators here.


    They showed some pack behavior, but often fought among themselves - a trait of mindless beasts.


    "Cannibal, let''s go."


    Rhaegar climbed onto the dragon''s back, securing a bulging pouch to the saddle.


    "Roar..."


    Cannibal, his mouth smeared with blood, looked back at Rhaegar, his green pupils shing with a hint of dissatisfaction.


    Ignoring the dragon''s mood, Rhaegar opened the sack and pulled out a grayish-white wyvern egg. It was about the size of a dragon''s egg, butcked the dragon''s scale-like shell.


    It was one of the wyvern eggs, two in all, taken from the deep cave. The sack also contained three light green wyvern eggs collected from the swamp the night before.


    The swamp wyverns were solitary creatures, and their rarity meant that they did noty many eggs. Rhaegar had found three clutches in the swamp, each containing three eggs. He took the freshest clutch, leaving the rest for Cannibal to devour.


    The brindled wyverns, however, were different. Almost herd animals, three of them had produced only one nest with two eggs. Rhaegar examined the gray and white eggs thoughtfully, pondering aloud, "Can these hatch on their own?"


    The brindled wyvern was a formidable creature, its adult sizeparable to a full-grown dragon. Even without fire-breathing abilities, its fangs and ws made it a destructive force. If it could be tamed...


    Rhaegar shook his head and smiled ruefully. "A beast without intelligence," he mused. "If it could be tamed, the natives would have done so long ago."


    He nced at Cannibal, who was staring hungrily at the gray and white eggs. This sparked a new idea in his mind. "If these can hatch and we can bring a batch back to Westeros, they could serve as excellent training opponents for our dragons."


    Rhaegar''s eyes brightened at the thought. Most of the family''s dragons were kept in captivity from the moment they hatched, fed on cows and sheep. In time, they lost their hunting instincts. Wyverns, fierce andrger than normal flying beasts, would be perfect opponents for young and sub-adult dragons, helping them hone their fighting skills.


    "Roar..."


    Cannibal, frustrated by theck of dragon eggs, roared and took off from the canyon, seeking its next hunting ground.


    ...


    It was nearing noon.


    Rhaegar and Cannibal had destroyed three nests of brindled wyverns and continued their search without rest. Cannibal''s green vertical pupils were cold and focused, its hunger eased somewhat. They left the Green Hell region and searched the nearby inds.


    The long-winged dragons in Green Hell had hidden too well, unwilling toe out when they sensed Cannibal''s presence. The inds, however, had arger distribution of wyvern and some rare beasts that were barely edible.


    "Roar..."


    Suddenly, Cannibal bared its fangs, sniffing the faint scent of its own kind. Its green eyes locked onto arge, mango-shaped ind.


    Rhaegar sensed the change andmanded, "Cannibal,nd!"


    "Roar..."


    Cannibal roared and dived, its massive ck body slicing through the jungle canopy of the ind. After a thorough search, it approached a low canyon covered in dense greenery.


    The canyon was adjacent to a short peak. Observing closely, Rhaegar felt a distinct warmth—it seemed to be an active volcano that had been dormant for years.


    "A volcano," Rhaegar murmured.


    Since the eruption of the Fourteen mes in Ancient Valyria, the only known active volcano was Dragonmont on Dragonstone Ind. The underground magma beneath the Isle of Faces was sluggishly developing, barely qualifying as a miniature volcano. Other volcandscapes were exceedingly rare.


    Sensing his rider''s anticipation, Cannibal circled the dormant volcano andnded above the canyon.


    Rhaegar examined the area closely. The volcano was densely covered with green nts, and many birds had nested there, indicating it hadn''t erupted for decades.


    "Roar--"


    A thunderous roar echoed as Cannibal was suddenly stimted by something. Green Dragonfire umted in the depths of its throat.


    Rhaegar''s eyes widened in shock as he looked around.


    Before himy the remains of a colossal dragon.


    The skeleton was pitch ck, crowned with a dense array of horns. A pair of grayish horns extended more than a dozen meters from its head. The canyon, a few hundred meters long and a few dozen meters wide, nestled deep in the forest, was filled with the giant dragon''s remains. Its wing bones jutted out, drooping into the clearing on both sides, spreading hundreds of meters away.


    "Cannibal, get closer," Rhaegar ordered.


    After the initial shock, Rhaegar''s breathing steadied, though his mind raced. Inparison to Cannibal, the dragon remains were about three timesrger. From the enormous dragon head to the thick tail, Rhaegar estimated the dragon had been over three hundred meters long in life, with a wingspan of over six hundred meters.


    "Seven hells! Is this really a dragon?" Rhaegar muttered, waves of terror rising within him.


    Throughout the Targaryen House''s history, thergest dragon had been Balerion the ck Dread. Even at over 200 years old, Balerion, who wasrger than the current Vhagar, did not reach two hundred meters in length.


    Balerion, from the most prosperous noble bloodline of ancient Valyria, was among the top dragons of the 40 Dragonlord families. Yet, the remains before Rhaegar were easily over three hundred meters. The sheer size left him momentarily unable to process the shock.


    "Cannibal, put me down!" Rhaegar ordered, taking several deep breaths to steady himself.


    He had to examine the giant dragon''s remains up close. For one, he wanted to trigger the Explorer’s System. A dragon bigger than Balerion deserved to be considered a relic. Moreover, he was incredulous at the sheer size of this dragon and needed to see it firsthand to believe it.


    Determining the dragon''s age might provide clues as to when it died. If it was more than 200 years old, it must have hatched before the Doom. Given its extraordinary size, it was unlikely to have gone unnoticed by the Dragonlord families. Even if it was a wild dragon, its existence seemed too important to remain hidden.


    “Roar...”


    Cannibal hesitated, sniffing the air and lowering its head as if searching for something. After a moment, a look of doubt flickered in its green eyes, and its tense body gradually rxed. It seemed to have discovered something that eased its vignce.


    “Roar...”


    With a dull roar, Cannibal pped its wings and flew towards the canyon,nding in an open space near the dragon’s skull.


    “Cannibal, stay alert,” Rhaegar instructed as he slid off the dragon’s back, rushing toward the giant remains.


    The dense vegetation of the canyon intertwined with the dragon''s bones, creating an absurd yet beautiful contrast of life and death. As he drew closer, Rhaegar was struck by the enormity of the skeleton.


    The dragon’s skull was asrge as a small castle, with fangs thicker than his waist. The sheer scale was staggering.


    “A miracle...” Rhaegar muttered, reaching out to touch one of the thick dragon teeth.


    Crack-


    The anticipated beep from his Explorer System didn’te. Instead, the crunching sound of bone breaking filled the air.


    Rhaegar froze, pressing on the dragon tooth with more force.


    Thud.


    The massive tooth, once securely attached to the lower jaw, broke free and fell heavily to the grass.


    Rhaegar''s mouth opened slightly, half in shock. He crouched down and examined the junction where the tooth hade loose. It wasn''t weathered or broken; it just came loose.


    A sh of insight struck Rhaegar, and he eximed, "A three-hundred-meter dragon still has its horns?"


    Typically, as dragons aged, their bones and muscles grew, pushing out non-essential structures like horn crowns, dragon horns, and sometimes even scales. Vhagar, at 170 years old, had lost its once-majestic horns, leaving only fine, new ones. This dragon''s horns were intact, and its jaw and neck muscles were ck, hanging loosely.


    Rhaegar''s eyes flickered with uncertainty. He quickly retreated from the dragon’s skull and shouted, "Cannibal!"


    "Roar!"


    Cannibal responded instantly, its massive body turning sharply. With a powerful sweep of its thick, pitch-ck tail, it struck the giant dragon’s skull.


    Boom!


    The impact sent the skull flying, separating it from the spine and smashing it into the canyon wall. In an instant, the skull shattered into pieces, fangs snapping at the roots, and the giant dragon horns snapping off and disintegrating into a pile of bone fragments.


    tter...


    As the bones scattered, Rhaegar’s eyes grew cold with disappointment. "True dragons bones are supposed to be almost indestructible."


    Dragon bones are renowned for their strength, capable of withstanding magma and enduring centuries of weathering while maintaining steel-like hardness. Something was very wrong with these remains.