Chapter 616: The Dragon King of the North
"Goodra~"
"I'm coming, little bro."
Hearing this sound, Kazuya turned his head to look north.
A Goodra standing six meters tall strolled over slowly and pounced onto Kazuya.
Despite being covered in quite a bit of slime.
Kazuya wasn't angry.
The physical characteristics of the Goodra clan were just like this; it wasn't as if they wanted their bodies to secrete slime.
And yet they loved cuddling with others.
If he rejected them, they would be very sad.
"Goodra!"
Goodra looked up, wearing an expression begging for praise.
"Oh~ you finally took it down, huh? I thought it would take a bit longer. It seems your strength has improved quite fast."
Kazuya reached out and patted his snail shell.
This was the Goomy he had saved back then.
Now he was the patriarch of the Goodra clan.
Although his level might only be Lv. 62, with Kazuya's education, his combat power was very strong.
He wasn't much weaker than the strongest elder in the clan, a Goodra at Lv. 67.
With such strength.
Coupled with their Steel/Dragon typing.
Reclaiming the swamp was naturally not a problem.
So today.
After the Goodra clan finally retook the swamp, he hurried back to tell Kazuya.
Which meant.
The swamp now also belonged as part of the Dragon Clan's territory.
Logically speaking.
The scale of the swamp was enough to birth an Overlord.
But even though Kazuya had now become the King of the swamp, he didn't become an Overlord.
Because the Pokémon in the swamp didn't know him at all.
The swamp only recognized Goodra, believing the strongest in this territory was the Goodra clan.
Memories of that Charizard from five years ago had long been forgotten by everyone.
However.
The Goodra clan recognized Kazuya as King.
They knew very well they were merely a part of the Dragon Clan, and they had a Big Brother above them.
So no matter how much recognition they gained from the swamp, they couldn't become Overlords, or even Alphas.
Only if the Goodra clan stepped forward.
And made the entire swamp know that the true King of the swamp was Kazuya.
Could Kazuya become the Overlord of the swamp territory.
But he wouldn't let the Goodra clan do that.
His Alpha physique was already massive enough; if it got any bigger, many things would become troublesome.
Later, when he urgently needed to boost his strength in the short term.
He would then have Goodra help him become this Overlord.
For now, maintaining the Alpha mark was fine.
In fact.
He didn't even want this Alpha mark.
This mark could make him stronger, there was no doubt about that.
But it added many inconveniences to daily life.
For example, his food intake was three to five times that of his little brother, and once this body was injured or exhausted, it took much longer to fully recover.
It even had a slight impact during combat.
For instance, affecting his combat habits; a massive body wasn't good for dodging attacks.
This wasn't a good thing for Kazuya.
After all, he used to be very adept at using excessive speed to evade attacks.
But this thing couldn't be removed.
Unless he abandoned the Dragon Clan.
Which was obviously impossible.
"Flo-ette~"
Floette flew over from afar and landed on Kazuya's mouth.
"What's wrong?"
Kazuya looked down his nose at her, becoming slightly cross-eyed.
"Flo-ette."
Floette hugged her flower and pointed into the distance.
"Oh?"
Kazuya grinned slightly, his gaze shifting to the horizon.
Ever since the Charizard clan started frequently harassing them, few clans on this grassland dared to actively come looking for their Dragon Clan.
Well.
Using 'few' to describe it was still an overstatement.
It should be said.
There was only one.
The clan that Feraligatr belonged to.
But that was a matter for later.
Right now.
It was rare for a clan to come knocking proactively.
Kazuya still felt it was quite novel.
Fighting those Charizards every day, Kazuya was also getting somewhat sick of it.
How to put it.
An ordinary Charizard has a 2x resistance to Fire-type attacks.
Kazuya felt he and his little brother both had a 3x resistance now—their resistance had been raised by being blasted by that group of Charizards every day.
Occasionally, he needed a change of pace.
Currently, on this grassland, the clan with the strength to wage all-out war against their Dragon Clan.
Was only the Arcanine clan.
The Dragon Clan couldn't defeat the Arcanine clan.
But the Arcanine clan was indeed the only one qualified to fight the Dragon Clan.
Because the Arcanine clan's comprehensive strength was very strong.
The number of Elite Four-level Arcanines exceeded ten.
As for the other clans...
You couldn't say they were weak.
After all, clans like Feraligatr and Florges had Elite Four-level Alphas presiding over them, so their strength certainly wasn't poor.
But the reason they couldn't contend with the Dragon Clan.
Lay in numbers!
Five years ago, Kazuya started focusing on the clan's population.
It could be said he tried every possible means to promote population growth.
Five years had passed.
Could the population be poor?
Today, the number of Dragon Clan members was above 350, gradually approaching 400.
Was this number large?
Large.
Truly very large.
But the Dragon Clan's territory was massive, and still constantly expanding.
Even placed in the territory of the scale from five years ago.
This population of over three hundred wouldn't even come close to being crowded, let alone now.
Population growth.
Remained one of the Dragon Clan's current main quests.
As for strength.
Floette and Charizard (brother-kun) had both broken through to the Gym Leader level, even surpassing several clan patriarchs.
Especially his little brother.
Under the care of that benevolent dragon dad, he forcibly plowed his way up to Lv. 65.
In terms of level, he became the No. 3 in the Dragon Clan.
Above him.
There was only the Goodra elder, whose level was originally quite high.
And No. 3 was merely the level ranking.
Combat power ranking had to be calculated differently.
There was no major problem in brother-kun being titled [Second Only to One Dragon].
Aside from his little brother.
The strength of the other patriarchs had also increased.
The Lv. 62 Goodra had already been mentioned.
Cyclizar, Rampardos, and Kommo-o were Lv. 60, Lv. 63, and Lv. 64 respectively.
Within the clan, it wasn't just them who reached the Gym Leader level; some individual Pokémon also made rapid progress.
For example, the intellectual Rampardos.
His level was also Lv. 60.
The one with the smallest overall level increase was naturally the Bastiodon clan.
They often stayed in the Dragon Clan's heartland.
They didn't like fighting, and there weren't many fights for them anyway. At most, they could only rely on internal training to improve, so their progress was slow.
The Bastiodon patriarch was still only Lv. 60 to this day.
These.
Were the capital for Kazuya's immense confidence in the Dragon Clan.
Strong.
No need for false modesty.
Today's Dragon Clan is the King of the Northern Grassland.
For other Alpha clans to crush the Dragon Clan, they would need at least two or three clans to join forces.
And this was under the condition that [the Pokémon living in the safe zone would not step in to help the Dragon Clan defend their home].
Therefore.
Kazuya was also quite curious.
Which clan was so reckless as to proactively come knocking on the Dragon Clan's door?
A quarter of an hour later.
When he saw the approaching clan.
Kazuya knew he had misunderstood.
It was the Ludicolo clan.
Those giant pineapples standing nearly ten meters tall truly drew attention.
Ludicolo is also a peace-loving clan.
They wouldn't proactively provoke other clans; they just wanted to sing and dance happily every day.
So.
Kazuya was certain.
This clan wasn't here to fight.
Moreover...
The Ludicolo clan looked absolutely pitiful.
Many cute little Lotad couldn't even walk anymore, and the lily pads on their heads were chipped.
This clan had clearly been attacked.
Seeing this.
Kazuya had a rough guess in his heart regarding the Ludicolo clan's arrival.
Bringing a clan proactively to someone's door.
Usually meant one of two things.
Either to fight.
Or to seek asylum.
Over these five years, the number of clans that had sought asylum with the Dragon Clan was not small.
Of course.
The Dragon Clan was largely the cause of the problem.
Kazuya having the Rampardos frequently challenge surrounding clans.
In itself carried no malicious intent.
It was purely for sparring.
But the other Pokémon wouldn't see it that way.
They would be terrified.
Some clans, out of fear, gave up their territories and migrated south.
Another portion didn't want to be harassed, and after witnessing the Dragon Clan's might, developed the idea of joining the safe zone.
With the first precedent.
Came the second.
And then it formed a new trend.
So over these five years, almost the entire northern grassland had become the Dragon Clan's territory.
Had the number of Pokémon living in the northern grassland decreased?
Of course not.
It had even increased.
Herbivorous or Bug-type Pokémon mostly gathered in the northern grassland.
If carnivorous Pokémon wanted to survive here.
They had to work for the Dragon Clan.
Patrolling, standing guard, farming, herding; only by working could they obtain food.
There were even many solitary Pokémon living in the forests at the foot of the volcano who traveled thousands of miles to live in the safe zone.
One that left a deep impression on Kazuya was an Infernape.
Powerful strength.
Mid-tier Elite Four.
But she was advanced in age and lacked grand ambitions; she merely wanted to find a peaceful place to retire and spend the rest of her days.
Now she was holed up in a corner of the northern grassland.
This old monkey didn't sleep very well.
Floette proactively used Sleep Powder to help her fall asleep.
So she had a good relationship with Floette.
Occasionally, she would also appear in the black flower border zone to help maintain the growth of the black flowers or similar tasks.
She could be considered a hidden trump card of the Dragon Clan.
"Ludi!"
The Ludicolo patriarch stepped forward and bowed to Kazuya.
She respectfully addressed Kazuya as the [Dragon King].
She had heard that the Pokémon within the safe zone called him this, and even the Pokémon in the southern grassland referred to him as the Dragon King of the North.
The Dragon Clan's own people could call him [Big Brother].
"Here to seek asylum?"
"Ludi! Ludi..."
Ludicolo hurriedly nodded, and then, very chatty and acting quite familiar, began recounting her clan's ordeal.
They lived in the coastal section of the northern grassland.
Most of the grassland that bordered the sea was in the central and southern parts.
There was only a small piece of coastal area in the north, which their Ludicolo clan occupied.
They had only been in this place for half a year.
At first, they thought they had struck a great bargain—such a nice place and no one was fighting for it.
Later they understood.
This wasn't some treasured land of good Feng Shui at all.
[Isolated and Helpless].
The coastal clans in the south helped each other, so they wouldn't be bullied by the Pokémon living in the sea.
And then...
Those Pokémon would come and bully the solitary Ludicolo clan.
In just half a year.
The frequency of attacks they suffered was higher than the number of times the Kazuya brothers were beaten by Charizards.
Originally numbering seventy or eighty.
Now they had been beaten down to just over thirty.
If it weren't for their relatively decent strength.
They probably would have been wiped out.
After suffering another attack yesterday.
The Ludicolo clan truly couldn't hold on anymore, fleeing overnight with the clan towards the Dragon Clan, which had a good reputation.
They didn't want to fight.
They just wanted to sing and dance.
Moreover, they mostly ate aquatic plants, fish, and shrimp daily.
They believed they should be able to live very happily in the safe zone.
~~~
Get early access to 30+ advanced chapters on Patreon!
https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
~~~
Every 5 new reviews = 1 extra chapters
Every 150 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter