His dragon snout, covered in hard scales, opened without hesitation and bit down hard on a piece of protruding black rock that looked like petrified muscle fiber.
CRACK—!!!
A tooth-aching snap echoed across the mountain peak.
A bite force sufficient to snap refined steel erupted at this moment.
The “God’s Body,” whose hardness far exceeded ordinary ore, was actually torn off in a large chunk by him.
There was no dust from shattered rock; instead, the fracture seeped with a thick, black-gold light as viscous as mercury.
*Gulp.*
Balthazar tilted his neck back and swallowed the hard “God’s Flesh,” which contained violent energy, into his stomach.
In an instant, an indescribable sensation of dry heat exploded in his stomach.
That was not food; it was pure high-level energy, fragments of authority left over from the primordial era.
His [Metal Digestion] was working frantically now.
The dragon blood in his body roared and boiled as if ignited, and every scale emitted an excited ringing under the wash of this power.
“Delicious…”
Balthazar exhaled a breath of hot air carrying sparks, his dark red pupils trembling violently from extreme pleasure.
This taste far surpassed the treasures of the Black City and the scraps of mithril ore he had eaten before.
The massive difference was like that between fast food or convenience snacks and the highest-grade, most exquisite juicy steak and salad.
And the result of this difference was the acceleration of physical development and a comprehensive increase in attributes.
Size: 5 meters long, 2 meters high at the shoulder.
Stamina: 110/110 (+30 Upper Limit)
Mana: 135/150 (+30 Upper Limit, replenished by eating)
Strength: 18 (+3)
Agility: 8 (+3)
Endurance: 21 (+3)
Intelligence: 8 (+3)
Perception: 10 (+3)
As he devoured, the energy exploding from his stomach was like a violent torrent, washing along his spine to his limbs and bones.
This caused a dull sound of bone growth at the base of his claws, and his originally three-meter-long torso visibly bulged and widened.
The dark iron-colored scales covering his body became thicker and broader, each edge gleaming with a serrated cold light.
In particular, the spines on his back evolved from bone-like protrusions into spear-sharp black crystal material, extending all the way to the end of his now thicker and more powerful tail.
Balthazar’s dark iron-colored scales rubbed violently against the black rock, producing a piercing screech like high-frequency current passing through a steel plate.
He suddenly folded his wings, suppressing the excess, overflowing mana in his throat.
His originally dark red vertical pupils became almost pure black and deep due to the over-saturated power, and even tiny sparks of electricity overflowed from the edges of his pupils.
The pleasure of being reshaped at the cellular level caused the young dragon’s muscles to twitch and spasm.
He paced back and forth on the black platform, enduring the burning in his stomach, each heavy stomp leaving deep claw marks on the surface of the “God’s Flesh” that was harder than refined steel.
Meanwhile, in the migrating party that had already reached the foot of the black mountains, Olga was gripping the armrest of her sedan chair tightly, her knuckles turning white from excessive force.
Through that tight mental link, she could clearly feel the tsunami-like explosion of power increasing within Balthazar’s body.
At this moment, this power was continuously being transmitted to Olga’s mind through Balthazar’s thoughts.
“Whew… ha…”
The Queen gasped for breath, sweat sliding down her honey-colored neck into her ragged collar.
A twisted ecstasy flickered in her amber eyes; this sensation made her tremble more than any aphrodisiac magic.
“Yes… just like that, my Majesty. Eat him, devour him, and avenge me!”
She pulled back the sedan curtain, ignoring the bitter cold wind outside and the terrified gazes of the Kobolds, and looked up at the black shadow on the mountain peak that was continuously growing and emitting a terrifying pressure.
Her voice drifted in the wind, carrying a nearly pathological tenderness and sacrificial loyalty:
“Even if I am burned to ashes, as long as I can see them crying in those flames… everything will be worth it!”
Balthazar looked down from above.
Due to the instant increase in [Perception], he could even clearly see the tiny beads of sweat on the tip of Olga’s nose and her red lips slightly parted from over-excitement.
He suddenly flapped his wings.
This time, the powerful wind pressure directly blew away all the black mist around the platform.
“Klar… bring… your people… and get up here.”
He turned his head and issued a thunderous decree to the group of Kobolds slumped at the foot of the mountain.
“This place… is no longer… a dead land. This… is… the starting point… of my empire.”
The leader, Klar, wearing that ridiculous skull, was so intimidated by this mix of divine and draconic majesty that his eyes rolled back.
It wasn’t until several male Kobolds behind him used their hands and feet to pinch his philtrum that he woke up from the near-fainting terror.
“Yip! Yip yip! As you command… supreme… Master! Moving! Moving! The whole tribe is moving onto the Holy Mountain!”