A Dragon against the Whole World

The night on the Black Iron Plain was as thick as unyielding tar, with two moons completely swallowed by heavy clouds, plunging the earth into a suffocating, pure blackness.

Suddenly, the deathly silence was torn apart.

On the lookout tower at the edge of the tribe, the ear-piercing alarm whistle managed only a short, shrill scream before being abruptly cut off, as if its throat were being throttled.

In its place came countless eerie scraping sounds, low growls, and shrill screeches of claws scraping against metal walls!

The curtain of darkness was abruptly illuminated.

——Not by lamps, but by pairs of eyes suddenly opening in the absolute darkness, burning with a raw desire to kill!

Yellow-green, scarlet, ghostly blue... densely packed, like will-o’-the-wisps, silently surrounding the entire Golden Tooth Tribe without a gap.

"Enemy attack! It’s the monsters from the Molten Iron Tribe!"

"Crossbows! Load the crossbows quickly!"

"Lighting! We need light!"

The screams of the goblin guards exploded in the deathly stillness, trembling uncontrollably.

The searchlights hastily flickered on, their beams sweeping futilely through the thick darkness, illuminating only a small area of the front line of the encirclement.

There were the grotesque, twisted faces of ogres, drooling through their fangs; the arched backs of gray-haired werewolves, their claw blades reflecting a cold light; the heavy iron hooves of centaurs, crushing the ground step by step.

Above in the night’s sky, huge shadows rose and fell in the darkness, then appeared.

The dragons circled in the night sky, their wings tearing apart the night’s silence with each flap, and the invisible pressure tightened around every goblin’s heart like a cold iron band.

The operators had their fingers on the trigger but dared not pull it.

Those anti-aircraft crossbows, alchemy heavy cannons... though fully loaded, dared not be fired, and the goblins piloting the mechanical golems dared not step forward across the line, retreating in the face of the advancing Molten Iron Warriors.

"It’s over... all over... the Great Workshop Master is gone now..."

An elderly goblin elder slumped to the ground, muttering to himself, his cloudy eyes full of despair.

The defeat of the Alchemy Corps, and the news of Scott’s death in the Southwestern Border Mountains, had long reached them, breaking the backbone of the Golden Tooth Tribe, leaving them no confidence.

The nature of goblins is cowardice.

When they lost their protection, when their prideful corps was crushed, although they still had alchemy machines to fight, the thought of resistance could not be mustered.

"Trash!"

"Lay down your weapons, kneel!"

The booming voices emerged from the Iron Dragon and Red Dragon’s mouths, as they surrounded the imposing Red Iron Dragon.

The goblins’ knees buckled, collapsing like harvested wheat.

But just as the tribe’s panic was about to turn into complete collapse.

From the core palace in the tribe’s center, symbolizing the authority of the Great Workshop Master, came a muffled rumble from deep within its foundation, like the heartbeat of the earth.

Buzz—bang! Buzz—bang!

The entire ground of the Golden Tooth Tribe trembled along with it, with cracks spreading like a spider web.

The outer layer of the palace’s walls peeled away, revealing a steel-cast core.

Then, to the astonished gazes of countless goblins, the palace of the Great Workshop Master came to life!

Thick steam, mixed with dazzling streams of arcane energy, violently spouted from the exhaust vents of the palace’s base.

The heavy armor plates on the surface flipped, slided, and rearranged like the scales of a giant beast.

Massive gears inside interlocked and rotated furiously, emitting deafening roars of metal, with the top structure collapsing downward and shrinking, extending robust mechanical arms on either side, while the base rose upward and morphed.

Finally.

A giant statue, like a small hill, appeared.

Galos narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Sure enough, something strange is happening."

Simultaneously, the Steel Giant stood upright, its movements possessing an inhuman weight and precision, with each joint’s extension accompanied by mechanical noises.

Its stance seemed to uphold the entire shaky sky of the Golden Tooth Tribe.

"Great... Great Workshop Master?!"

"Lord Scott! Is that you?!"

The desperate goblins clung to their last straw of hope, bursting into post-crisis cries and fervent cheers of survival.

Their fear vanished, and they all stood up again, cheering joyfully, "Great Workshop Master, slay all these monsters!"

However.

The giant made no response to the goblins’ calls.

From its eyes shot blue beams, scanning the darkness and the dragons circling the sky before settling into stillness.

[Analyzing environment... Threat assessment... Power ratio... Battle simulation... Tribe continuation probability calculation]

[Resistance: 11% success rate, tribe continuation probability approaches zero, optimal solution: submission]

Amid the goblins’ stunned, desperate, and incredulous gazes, the statue that had just reignited their hope, like the humblest servant, slowly, heavily kneeled before the Red Iron Dragon on one knee.

All its weapons were retracted, and the energy glow gradually faded, like a beast withdrawing its claws and fangs.

Immediately after, from the lowered head of the giant golem, the armor split open, and out walked a goblin who appeared to be a young adult, looking dressed as the Great Workshop Master.

"Honorable dragons, please accept the allegiance of the Golden Tooth Tribe."

"As long as you pardon the offenses of the Golden Tooth Tribe, we are willing to pay any price."

He also prostrated himself, maintaining a humble posture, but his voice carried no emotion, speaking word by word.

"So it was an alchemy construct."

Red Dragon Samantha’s eyes glimmered with a hint of a detection spell, then she blinked, with a look of realization.

She smacked her lips with interest and said thoughtfully, "Galos, the leader of the Golden Tooth Tribe is probably long dead. This Great Workshop Master is a construct he left behind using alchemy."

"Your insight is unparalleled."

The Great Workshop Master said.

Galos looked down at the Great Workshop Master with a calm demeanor and said, "I need to know more."

"As you wish."

The goblin began speaking, narrating the tale of its own creation.

When Great Workshop Master Scott reached the end of his life, he chose to seclude himself in his palace.

Unfortunately, due to the barren resources and sparse knowledge heritage of the Border Area, and having spent almost all of his clear-minded years researching golems and developing the tribe, even with extraordinary talent, he could not find a way to extend his life in the limited time he had left.

On his deathbed, the Great Workshop Master chose alchemy ascension.

He used alchemy to merge his soul with the palace, transforming it into an intelligent golem.

The goblins gradually understood.

The alchemist they revered, who had led the clan from obscurity to prominence, had long been dead.

This was just the cold legacy Scott left behind, an alchemy intelligence existing for "continuance," with no honor, no anger, no resentment, only rational intelligence and logic.

"Alchemy intelligence... your performance in the war makes me doubt your claims."

The Red Iron Dragon said.

Regarding the war with the Golden Tooth Tribe, he initially thought it would take much longer.

However, the goblins’ act of establishing bases on the Fertile Plain, despite the potential risks, directly led to their demise.

"Don’t give me gold; teach me the flame that turns stone into gold."

The Great Workshop Master said, "It was the motto of my previous life and the original aspiration of my creation. My purpose is not to fight but to guide and cultivate alchemists, so that the Golden Tooth Tribe can endure and thrive without relying on me."

He was not adept at warfare.

In the strategies against the Molten Iron Tribe, he mainly relied on reports from the goblin elders to summarize a suitable decision as much as possible.

Galos generally understood the situation.

No wonder the Golden Tooth Tribe could have so many alchemists; the reason lay here.

"Let me see your intelligence core."

Red Dragon Samantha said.

As an alchemist, she knew that all intelligent golems had a core for integration and information processing, used to form ’thoughts.’

The Great Workshop Master did not hesitate.

The armor on the back of the golem’s neck opened, revealing an octahedral structure with an alchemy rune-covered core. Red Dragon Samantha examined it carefully and said to Galos, "Such a delicate structure... it’s truly an intelligent golem, very valuable to us."

She had seen the Great Workshop Master spar with Galos, completely overpowering other young dragons in strength.

Red Dragon Samantha was even more intrigued by alchemy.

In her view, if mere goblins could achieve such mastery, then she, with her nobility, could certainly achieve even greater feats.

Indeed, she was not interested in alchemy ascension to turn herself into intelligence; she focused on creating various equipment with alchemy and enhancing herself with runes.

"Unexpected gains."

"Perhaps, after the Molten Iron Tribe, there will also be no shortage of alchemists."

Galos looked at the Great Workshop Master with an appreciative gaze, also sweeping over the desolate tribe.

"Your wisdom will add fuel to the flame of Molten Iron’s forge, and your fate shall be defined by the shadow of Dragon Wings."

He said.

No bargaining, no pretense.

This was an unquestionable judgment from the victor.

"Thank you for your mercy."

The giant golem, the true form of the Great Workshop Master, gradually transformed back into a palace, sitting quietly on the ground, while the goblin appearance’s construct was his more convenient ’avatar.’

"All goblins of the Golden Tooth Tribe, cease resistance, and submit to the Master of Molten Iron."

The Great Workshop Master said.

There was really no need to say more; when they realized the Great Workshop Master was only a construct and not ’legendary,’ nearly all the goblins knelt down again, silently praying in their hearts for the dragon to accept the Golden Tooth Tribe’s allegiance so they could survive.

There were also a few exceptions.

They cursed the intelligent golem for deceiving them, dishonoring the Golden Tooth Tribe, unwilling to submit, but before the monsters could act, they were crushed by the Great Workshop Master’s alchemy machines.

Afterward.

A part of the elite war force stationed in the Black Iron Plain.

As time passed, one after another, the bases and resource points that formerly belonged to the Golden Tooth Tribe were swiftly taken over, the Molten Iron Tribe’s territory gradually expanding toward the southern part of the Border Area. Those fast-breeding jackal-wolf folk and kobolds, which would be unsustainable if left unrestrained, finally found their place.

Meanwhile, as the Molten Iron Tribe thrived and developed intensely.

In the northwest of the Border Area, Red Maple Valley.

"Deborah has been in the Border Area all this time."

A man with silver-white hair, so handsome it was flawless, furrowed his brow and said, "She told me she left the Border Area to go adventuring, but the truth is different."

"Being in the Border Area yet not returning to Red Maple Valley, pretending to be adventuring outside."

The human form of Adri, known as [Frost Mark], was puzzled and displeased: "What exactly is Deborah up to?"

On the body of the Red Silver Dragon, there was a tracking mark secretly placed by Adri, so he was always aware of the Red Silver Dragon’s whereabouts.

Thinking back to the previous communication when Deborah was evasive, using adventurous excuses, the Silver Dragon thought, she must be hiding something from him.

There’s a need to go and see the situation.