Chapter 82: The Wolfheart Clan

Thousands of meters above the extreme northern ice plain, the piercing cold winds were as sharp as knives, rarely revealing any signs of life.

At such heights, the frigid air currents were enough to deter most flying creatures, only occasionally reached by a few magical beings.

Meanwhile, Garon freely flapped his wings, spiraling and diving at will.

He looked down upon the vast sea of clouds, his mood exhilaratingly uplifted.

Three years—it had been three years, and he finally possessed the strength to roam the extreme northern ice plain with ease. This super-large dragon form represented a power even greater than Garon had imagined at the beginning of his awakening.

The effect of the Dragon Soul Stone on him, a unique time dragon, was exceedingly beneficial.

The connection with the River of Time deepened further. Garon absorbed the waters of time, gaining power from time much more efficiently than before.

After mastering the new abilities he acquired during this growth phase, Garon was certain that he had obtained most of the abilities of a time dragon hatchling.

And a time dragon hatchling is a legendary creature.

Perhaps a time dragon hatchling, freshly born and less than a few weeks old, might be weaker than a standard legendary creature. But aside from those with legendary or greater strength, no being could threaten any time dragon hatchling, even just after hatching.

Moreover, Garon wasn't newly born; he had already learned quite a few spells.

This growth spurt had greatly enhanced his mental power, allowing him to delve deeper into learning high-tier spells. Once he mastered all the high-tier variations of Mordenkainen's fireball that he had researched, Garon felt confident enough to face even a legendary caster.

However, despite the significant increase in his power, Garon did not become arrogant enough to consider himself invincible.

Setting aside the existence of gods, the demon princes from hell or the abyss, the archdevils, or even the elemental lords of the elemental planes were not entities he could afford to provoke.

Garon had left the territory of the ice cliffs to gather a new group of followers.

His super-large dragon body meant he needed more, higher-quality food to satisfy his growing appetite. Garon did not like to waste his seemingly endless time on hunting.

He had set his sights on the pack of winter wolves he had previously encountered.

Master of the ice plain?

Garon wanted to see just how proud a magical creature that had earned the title of master of the ice plain could be—whether it would choose to become his follower or die resisting.

With time power now more abundant, Garon used an accelerated travel state.

His speed surpassed the speed of sound, and he streaked through the sea of clouds like a straight, silver-white line, ghostly and direct, racing towards the winter wolves' gathering place.

A true dragon's agility does not correlate directly with age and size.

Due to a multi-universe level spell targeted at dragons, the larger a true dragon, the stronger the suppression they feel from the prime material plane, often making them clumsier unless they can master many agility-enhancing spells or travel to other planes without such suppression.

Garon was also affected by the suppression of the prime material plane.

His agility in a normal state was not as good as before he slept when he was a large dragon.

However, his time manipulation abilities compensated for this. Even though the limit of his accelerated state only increased by a factor of six, it was still enough for Garon to move like the wind, with astonishingly agile motions.

Flying at high speed in the accelerated state, it took very little time for Garon to reach his destination.

The area he had last seen the winter wolves.

It wasn't a plain, but a hilly, forested ice plain covered with large trees.

Dozens of towering snow ridge pines, somewhat akin to Earth's General Sherman trees, stood tall like giants.

The raging winds of the extreme northern ice plain could not shake their trunks, only managing to sway the branches and shake off the snow from the leaves.

Garon looked down at the forest of snow ridge pines, scanning over the area and spotting many creatures that lived here.

The biodiversity in this forest was abundant.

The giant snow ridge pines blocked the wind and snow, and at their lower reaches, many other ordinary trees, such as fir and various shrubs, added rare touches of green to the white world.

It was precisely because of the snow ridge pine forest that many powerful creatures lived nearby or within the forest itself.

Ogres, northern berserk bears, trolls, minotaurs, winter wolves...

Garon, high in the sky with his extended vision, quickly locked onto his targets through the dense canopy.

Nineteen winter wolves were lying beside a snow ridge pine, licking their snow-white fur, seemingly just after finishing a hunt and now resting.

Nine adult winter wolves, each about two and a half meters long, and ten that looked like household dogs

, made up the entire pack.

Though it might seem a small number, this was quite a large pack of winter wolves.

Winter wolves, unlike ordinary wolves, typically form groups of six to nine; nineteen together were enough to sweep through this snow ridge pine forest.

Despite their size, each adult winter wolf had strength comparable to a ferocious frost tiger.

However, their instinctual senses were not as sharp as those of the frost tigers. Garon observed the pack from above, and they were oblivious to his presence.

Only the largest, resembling a robust tiger, seemed to sense something.

It looked around warily, appearing somewhat uneasy, likely reacting to Garon's gaze, but unable to pinpoint the source.

Garon's gaze shifted slightly, and he began to descend.

His landing was not fast, but his super-large dragon body still carried an indescribable presence and force, as if the cold wind and blizzard were born and rose because of him.

As Garon's wings blocked the sunlight, casting an increasingly distinct shadow on the ground, the winter wolves covered by the shadow cautiously raised their heads.

At the sight of Garon, the wolves bared their teeth and crouched low, assuming a highly tense combat stance, growling softly.

A few of the younger wolves, glowing with elemental light, boldly attempted to use spell-like abilities to attack Garon.

The pack leader, its pupils reflecting Garon's form, hesitated, then opened its fearsome maw and spoke in Common to stop the younger wolves.

"Do not act rashly; see what it wants."

Unlike the younger wolves, the pack leader, experienced and knowledgeable, mistook Garon for a powerful adult silver dragon based on his size and scale color.

In reality, Garon was much stronger than an adult silver dragon.

A few seconds later, as Garon folded his wings and his calm gaze landed on the winter wolves' territory, the pack leader slowly approached, raised its head, and spoke to Garon in a tone that was neither servile nor overbearing: "This is the territory of the Wolfheart Clan."

"Mighty silver dragon, what brings you here?"

"If you come with good intentions, the Wolfheart Clan welcomes you as a guest, but if you harbor ill intentions—"

The sentence hung in the air, unfinished.

The three-meter-long pack leader, a mere small figure in front of Garon, made its stance clear.