Chapter 229: Have You Ever Been Kicked at Light Speed?

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"Have you ever been kicked at light speed?"

"No, and I don't want to. Goodbye!"

"Too late!!!"

"That's… that's a tail!"

"It's all the same!"

The Sun Dragon, now dispersed into glimmering particles of light, reformed its body. Its 15-meter-long, sleek tail swept out a dazzling trail of golden-red light. Only after a plume of dirt and rubble exploded on a distant Sun Mountain did the delayed sonic boom tear through the air, shredding the silence.

Now, let's rewind to three minutes earlier—when the crooked-mouthed dragon roared angrily toward the sky.

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*Click.*

A faint shutter sound barely registered amidst the Sun Dragon's enraged howls. Harry's newly acquired instant camera might not have been the most appropriate tool for this moment.

The camera Harry had sent to Fleur might have been a cutting-edge, non-digital model in the Muggle world, but in the wizarding community, it was considered outdated. Outside England, magical instant cameras that could immediately produce moving photos were all the rage. These magical Polaroids didn't require special potions to develop the film—press the shutter, and voilà, you'd have a live magical photograph in hand.

Never underestimate a dragon's vision. As soon as Harry snapped a shot of the Sun Dragon's crooked-mouthed, tooth-missing, skyward-yelling blackmail material, a large shadow descended from the sky, landing heavily beside him.

Low, guttural growls followed—a language Harry couldn't comprehend. The group of Sun Dragons appeared to be murmuring amongst themselves.

After a brief discussion, one particularly massive Sun Dragon stepped forward, its towering presence looming over Harry, who was now drenched in cold sweat. The dragon extended its claw, revealing an unpolished, oval-shaped magical gemstone about 30 centimeters in diameter. The gem, freshly pried from a rock face, still bore jagged edges where it had been torn free just moments ago.

The colossal dragon shoved the gem into Harry's hands, leaving him utterly bewildered. Before Harry could make sense of what was happening, the dragon carefully pinched the small magical photograph between its claws and held it aloft.

"Roar roar roar roar roar~~~"

A deep, rumbling laughter characteristic of dragons nearly deafened Harry. The Sun Dragons took to the skies once more, flying in lazy circles above Harry. The Sunstones on their chests began to glow, and soon, beams of light wove an ultra-realistic 3D projection in the sky. The projection? None other than the crooked-mouthed, toothless Sun Dragon in all its embarrassing glory. If it were nighttime, the photo could have been titled "Crescent Fang and the Midnight Serenade." 

For the Sun Dragons living in Qizhadro, leaving their seemingly vast but actually small territory was unthinkable. As apex predators of their environment, their days were spent basking in the sun and occasionally partying under the stars. If they were ordinary beasts, this lifestyle might have seemed fine. But these were some of the most intelligent magical creatures in existence, far outclassing the dumbest humans in wit.

In their monotonous daily lives, finding amusement became a thrilling endeavor.

"Don't stop me! I could laugh for an entire year!"

The hulking Sun Dragon who had handed Harry the gemstone swayed lazily in the air, its thunderous laughter reverberating like rolling thunder.

"But that's your son!"

"Which makes it even funnier! Hahaha! Where's his mother? Let's hang this on Sun Mountain later!"

"But aren't you his mother too?"

"Oh, right! I almost forgot! Hahaha, double the fun! Now I can laugh for two years!"

Harry didn't understand the roaring laughter that sounded like a storm, but he could see the crooked-mouthed Sun Dragon in front of him enveloped in a dark aura of frustration. Its crestfallen gaze lingered on the flock of Sun Dragons casually drifting in the sky.

Then, suddenly, a pair of enraged eyes locked onto Harry.

The furious roar that followed whipped through the air like a category-17 hurricane. Thankfully, the Sun Dragon didn't suffer from bad breath—otherwise, Harry might have been out cold for a solid two minutes under such a biological assault.

It's well known that when dragons roar with their mouths wide open, they're not just moving their jaws. During a breath attack, a small blind spot forms in their line of sight.

A category-17 gale couldn't shake Harry, who was braced behind a shield weighing nearly three-quarters of a ton. Cloaked in invisibility, the shield's raised position made Harry, hidden behind it, entirely invisible from the front. Using the shield's one-way transparency, Harry advanced against the fierce wind, inching ever closer to the towering Sun Dragon.

Then, with a push off the ground—he jumped!

The dragon's previously unreachable nose became the unfortunate target of a vicious, full-force shield bash.

The roar stopped abruptly. The sharp pain shooting through the Sun Dragon's snout nearly made it lose its breath. Staggering back slightly, the dragon's watering eyes caught sight of that wretched little human once again. Harry had leapt onto its nose, scrambled up its scaled face, and planted himself firmly on its neck.

"I swear to *&#@%@!!!"

The dragon spat a string of curses that Harry couldn't begin to understand.

*BANG!*

The unmistakable sound of a shield crashing into a forehead echoed again. It was a strangely satisfying noise.

"Nice head!"

Feeling thoroughly refreshed, Harry grinned. All the frustration he'd been bottling up during his Voldemort roleplay over the past ten days had been utterly swept away.

"Nice, my foot!"

A dragon claw swept toward him with a chilling metallic gleam, its massive size making it impossible to dodge. Unlike the stubby-armed Tyrannosaurus, Sun Dragons had no trouble scratching their heads. The claw, about the size of Harry himself, slashed through the air with terrifying speed.

What surprised Harry even more than the incoming attack, however, was that he had understood the dragon's growling.

*DUANG!*

The noise that followed was even louder than the shield-to-forehead smack. The Sun Dragon, in a baffling move, slapped itself on the back of the head with full force, nearly knocking itself unconscious. Its massive head buried itself in the dirt.

From above, the group of watching Sun Dragons erupted into convulsive laughter so intense it almost sent them crashing out of the sky.

"Pah! Pah! Ugh!"

The unfortunate dragon spat repeatedly, trying to rid its mouth of dirt. The soil in Qizhadro was exceptionally fertile, enriched by the decayed leaves of magical trees. This jet-black soil, rich enough to squeeze oil from, also had a distinct flavor.

After a few sneezes, the dragon wiped its face with its claws and shook its head vigorously, scanning the area for Harry.

"Why do I suddenly feel like this isn't fun anymore?" Harry muttered to himself, scratching his head while leaning on his shield. "Bullying an idiot doesn't really feel like much of an accomplishment."

"I'M NOT AN IDIOT, YOU BALD SILVERBACK GORILLA!"

The insult caused the Sun Dragon's scales to bristle in fury. It spat a giant beam of light at Harry—a blast the size of a water tank. The searing ray carved a smoldering path of molten earth through the forest.

Fortunately, Harry had already Disapparated the moment the dragon opened its mouth. His instincts were spot-on—if he'd waited for the Sunstone to light up, dodging would've been impossible. The Sunstone's beams covered a 270-degree frontal arc with nearly perfect accuracy, making it akin to a homing weapon.

"A bald silverback gorilla?"

Harry, nearly stunned by the insult, glanced down at himself. Beneath his golden magical armor, his silver-toned bodysuit glimmered faintly. He paused for a moment of silence. Then, three veins popped visibly on his forehead.

"You toothless overgrown lizard, who are you calling that?"

"I'm calling you! And for the record, I'm not toothless—I'm just changing teeth! You ignorant, bald silverback!"

"Oh, shut up, you gap-toothed freak. You're about to start drooling."

"You're the one who drools from your mouth!"

"Why would your first thought even be using your mouth? Unless… you've tried it!"

For a few seconds, the air fell completely still. Then, once again, the sky erupted in laughter, but this time, the "roars" were replaced by an intricate string of words.

"Wait a minute!" The Sun Dragon suddenly seemed to realize something, lowering its head. "You bald silverback gorilla, can you understand me now?"

"I'm not sure why," Harry replied slowly, a sinister aura suddenly enveloping him.

The dragon's scales began to glow brighter. Light streamed out from the cracks in its scales, and its chest Sunstone seemed to melt, with golden-red threads flowing through the white cracks, soon covering its entire body. The previously red-and-gold scales transformed into translucent gemstones. Through these semi-transparent scales, golden veins could be seen flowing inside, coursing with blazing magic, radiating waves of intense heat.

"—DIE!"

The pale golden beam was more powerful than the blinding white one before. The enhanced magical flow from the Sunstone exploded in a burst of energy, evaporating part of Harry's golden protective armor the moment it hit.

Magical shockwaves ripped through the space, distorting it to the point where Apparition became a dangerous risk.

A heavy tower shield intercepted the light stream, but the invisibility cloak, once fully transparent, began to reveal its silvery sheen under the intense magical bombardment. Every trace of light and heat was devoured silently by the shield, which absorbed all of the scorching energy.

Harry's legs, submerged in lava, pulled out, and he bit down on a capsule. The energy-release potion inside, mixed with a neutralizer, began to take effect, spreading a bitter liquid down his throat. The active ingredients of the potion rapidly fueled his dormant strength, causing the slow flow of energy within him to surge violently.

His once-massive frame shrank slightly, but with it came an overwhelming surge of power.

The unneutralized potion could give a wizard enough strength for three full-powered punches, but when combined with the neutralizer, it unleashed a more controlled release of energy, allowing Harry to gradually tap into that power. Yet at this moment, the diluted neutralizer could no longer contain the fury of the volcanic-like energy.

With a heavy stomp on the lava ground, Harry planted his tower shield in front of him. The high-energy photon beams bombarded the shield, heating it to a glowing red. The once-sturdy shield began to bend inward, warping into an arc.

The shield, nearly melting, broke through the golden beam of light, and the man—who should have been consumed by the photons—charged out of the blinding light storm. Harry's faint golden armor now barely clung to his body, but his right fist pulsed with a strength unlike any he'd ever felt.

"Mul—Gaar—Nos!"

The steel-gray magic of the Awakener surged violently into his fist, gathering all the fury into a single punch aimed skyward.

"Rising Dragon!"

The sound of bones breaking and gems shattering rang out simultaneously. The roaring pale golden light shattered, the overwhelming force from Harry's punch tearing through the air. His right arm exploded in a shower of blood and bone fragments, the bones—denser than steel—cracking and disintegrating under the strain.

But despite the cost, his wish had been fulfilled.

The Sun Dragon's head snapped upwards in a violent arc, its jaw nearly shattered by the impact. With gravity unable to pull it down fast enough, the massive dragon was thrown into the air, its wings useless and its mind blank. For a moment, it seemed as though the dragon had lost consciousness.

The once-laughing dragons hovering above fell silent. They may have found amusement in the battle, but this was still their kin. They could laugh at it, but no one else could. Playing around was one thing, but if someone was trying to kill their own, that crossed a line.

Harry, swallowing an Ultimate Life Potion whole, crushed the bottle in his teeth, the unbearable taste barely registered before it was washed down. The right arm that had been shattered began to heal rapidly, but slower than ever before, far from the usual speed of the magical recovery.

The shield, nearly melted away, was discarded to the side.

"Looks like we've got some new scores to settle," Harry muttered, his gaze cold.

Though he didn't know exactly why, it was clear that the Sun Dragon had aimed to kill him with its breath. This wasn't about a fight lost to a stronger opponent—it was about a direct intent to kill. Anyone who raised their hand to take his life needed to be ready for the consequences.

If the first encounter had been mere disdain, something he could have dismissed with a simple scolding, this time was different. As they said, a gentleman waits ten years for revenge, but Harry wasn't a gentleman. He wasn't the type to fight for the sake of honor or pride, but neither was he the kind to back down from a fight when pushed.

"If I don't kill it this time, then I'll just keep coming back, getting stronger with every encounter."

"You won't escape, will you?" Harry sneered.

With a slight smirk on his face, Harry rubbed the bones that had been crushed out of his muscles, casually discarding the fragments like peeling away the rough skin of a cucumber, until his right arm, now fully restored, was as smooth as before.

He lifted his head and looked at the Sun Dragon group, which was beginning to exude dangerous energy. His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Just need to blow off some steam," a booming voice echoed from the sky. "You kids, always playing rough—don't look at me with those dangerous eyes."

Harry swore he saw a Sun Dragon grin at him. Its twenty-five-meter frame wasn't large by dragon standards, but it radiated an oppressive pressure that made the air thick with fear.

"Well then, time for a beating." With someone backing him up, Harry was feeling a lot more confident. After all, there's no need to stubbornly insist on a dead end—sometimes, a change in approach was necessary.

With parental consent to discipline the dragons, Harry tore open a pouch of high-energy nutritional supplements and injected himself with several doses. The feeling was as if his cells were angrily protesting, and his muscles involuntarily twitched—something beyond his control.

Snape's potions were still potent, and Harry knew better than to hope for an easy time with their taste. He gritted his teeth and forced a bottle of strength-enhancing potion, with just a drop of delayed-release agent, down his throat. The second dose would cause a violent energy backlash when it wore off, but the earlier nutrient injections were meant to prepare him for that inevitable fallout.

A thirty-second countdown ticked in his mind.

"Your mom sent me to beat you, got that, little toothless kid?"

The dragon, still dazed from the punch, was yanked by its horn and sent into a shoulder throw. It crashed into the ground, creating a massive crater. In a moment of sheer physical exertion that almost rivaled Hagrid's strength, Harry had done something he never thought he could.

The pure violence of the act stirred something deep inside him, though he knew all too well that this was just a fleeting illusion brought on by the potion.

The Sun Dragon, once knocked unconscious, suddenly went berserk, thrashing wildly. The blasted, bald silverback gorilla was back, holding its horn and standing on its head. Each punch was harder to bear than the last, causing more damage than the initial blow that had knocked it out.

The Sunstone on its chest, now half-melted, completely vanished, and its gem-like body was now coated in a faint golden hue.

Suddenly, with the roar of wind, Harry realized he was being lifted into the air. This wasn't fast flight—it was more like an instantaneous teleportation, as if the Sun Dragons were using something akin to Apparition. He vividly remembered the first time he'd seen it, when the dragons, supposed to be high in the sky, appeared suddenly around him—there was no rushing flight, but a teleportation-like movement.

However, the dragon beneath him seemed to have fallen short in distance—only about three hundred meters was its limit.

With the ground disappearing beneath him, the Sun Dragon scattered into a burst of photon-like light, turning into a glowing mist of faint golden color. A strained voice emerged from within.

"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"

"No, and I don't want to. Goodbye!"

"Too late!!!"

Within the golden mist, a long dragon tail materialized, leaving a trail of golden-red streaks in the air. Harry couldn't help but yell.

"That's its tail?!"

"It's all the same!"

Something moving faster than the speed of sound slammed into the Sun Mountain, creating an explosion of rock and dust as a massive cloud rose.

Though it wasn't light-speed, the tail swipe, surpassing any known speed limit, packed an unimaginable amount of force.

The photon-like Sun Dragon regained its body, and its Sunstone, once brilliant, now seemed dull and lifeless. Using that level of power came at a great cost for such a small dragon.

"I'm here to beat you, just like your mom told me, little one."

A smug voice suddenly echoed in the Sun Dragon's ears.

"If it really had been light-speed, I might have been done for," it weakly muttered.

"Too bad! In my eyes, you're too slow!"

The Sun Dragon wasn't a brawler—its strength wasn't rooted in physical combat, and like any untrained mage, its clumsy movements were full of openings. Its tail flicked too widely, turning what should have been a swift and flawless strike into a vulnerable attack.

"Ever been hit by the speed of sound?"

Harry, an expert in rapid Apparition, wasted no time. Once out of the unstable space caused by the light waves, his Apparition flickered back into action, moving freely.

"Stop! I yield—"

"Too late!!! Take this punch!"

"That's a foot!"

"It's all the same!"

(End of Chapter)