"What's going on?"
"Phew~ thank goodness, that thing finally left."
Inside the cabin-built houses, members of the Research Commission collectively let out a sigh of relief.
Outside, the Admiral and the Commander—still crouched within the defensive fortifications—exchanged glances, both somewhat at a loss.
They had seen it clearly. The Kushala Daora had clearly displayed hostility toward Astera—so why, at the last moment, had it suddenly abandoned its intent to attack and turned instead toward the forest?
Unable to figure it out for the moment, neither the Admiral nor the Commander dwelled on it further. Once they confirmed the Elder Dragon had departed, they called the others from the cabins to start clearing the snow and checking for any damage caused by the storm.
...
Deep within the Ancient Forest, in the northern region near the Ancient Tree, a dense white mist spread.
Chameleos was releasing Its Elder Dragon pressure without restraint, terrifying the surrounding monsters and driving them all fleeing from the misty area.
The moment It sensed the Elder Dragon aura of the being that had arrived in the New World, It broke all convention and deliberately revealed Its own presence—luring that being toward Itself.
This was Its task for this journey—and also Its final redemption for the mistake It had once made.
Atop the Ancient Tree, both Chameleos and Little Chameleos raised their heads from beside the large bonfire built by the cats, gazing northward.
"Gwa?"
Little Chameleos let out a weak cry, nudging its mother in puzzlement.
"A foolish one who once made a mistake, gwa. Don't you go learning from him, gwa!!"
For once, Chameleos didn't tease its rebellious offspring, but instead offered a rare, earnest warning.
After hundreds of years, apart from this wayward child before It, the only remaining descendant was that very Chameleos now releasing Its aura. Perhaps from spending so much time around Astera—or perhaps because of the mother-and-child bond shared with Little Chameleos over the years—at that moment, Chameleos felt a faint, nameless sorrow stir within Its heart.
Even the Elder Dragons that undertook the Elder Crossing faced their own trials. For those who came to the New World, there was always the possibility of life beyond death.
Only this time, the trial was unlike any before.
This was a Great Trial meant for multiple Elder Dragons!
...
Perhaps because his own existence had grown ever closer to that of an Elder Dragon, whether it was the arrival of Kushala Daora to the New World, or the surge of Elder Dragon aura erupting from the northern Ancient Tree later on, all of it was captured by Logan's senses.
"The midpoint?"
Just as that thought arose, the premonition of trial within him suddenly reached its peak in an instant!
He felt he had found his trial!
But the question was—was this trial aimed at the Elder Dragon to the north of the Ancient Tree, or the one that had just arrived in the New World—or both?
Logan couldn't figure it out.
Two days passed just like that.
Suddenly, while resting in his nest to recover his strength, Logan opened his eyes from his feigned slumber.
The once-foggy, indistinct flow of information shrouding him became instantly clear. The world consciousness that had remained calm and silent for more than two years now finally gave its answer.
He needed to repel the Elder Dragon that had crossed over in this Elder Crossing!
After such a long journey, an Elder Dragon crossing the sea would inevitably grow irritable. If allowed to unleash its authority recklessly, rampaging through the New World's regions, it would cause significant ecological damage.
What the New World required was for the Elder Dragon of the Crossing to quietly accept its impending death, contributing the life energy it had accumulated throughout its existence—at its very peak—to sustain and develop the ecosystem, not to bring destruction to it.
Moreover, with the existence of the Elder's Recess—where Elder Dragons might even break through their lifespan limits—such a test, resembling an initial display of might, often appeared in those unwilling to face death peacefully.
Exhaling a breath of scorching heat, Logan walked resolutely out of his nest.
Spreading his wings, he soared straight beyond the Ancient Tree. Amidst one dragon roar after another, the Rathalos who had received his command all left their nests, flying toward the Fire Wyvern and Cat's Seat.
Seeing a great flock of Fire Wyverns arriving, the cats were puzzled. It wasn't even mealtime—why would the Fire Wyvern boss bring all the great Fire Wyverns here? Could something have happened?
When they heard Logan's command, the cats were dumbfounded.
They were to prepare a Cat Meal for every Fire Wyvern and cat in the Ancient Tree!
And the time limit—only one day!!
Not only the cats—even the Fire Wyverns were astonished. Even if it were a clan war, it didn't require this level of mobilization, did it?
At the Fire Wyvern and Cat's Seat, Logan stood atop the highest cliff, overlooking the Fire Wyverns hovering all around him. He didn't know how many of them would survive after this trial.
Indeed, this trial was not only for Logan himself—it also targeted the entire mutated Fire Wyvern group of the Ancient Tree.
However, unlike Logan, the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern group had only one mission—survive!
Don't think that's an easy task.
Twenty years ago, when the battle between Namielle and Kushala Daora swept across half of the Wildspire Waste and the outer regions of the Ancient Forest, countless monsters that failed to escape in time perished in the aftermath.
The unleashed authority of an Elder Dragon—even its residual waves—was not something ordinary monsters could withstand.
When Elder Dragons restrained themselves for the sake of the ecosystem, not daring to release their full power, even an ordinary Fire Wyvern could still rush forward and breathe a few blasts of fire.
However, when an Elder Dragon no longer restrains its own power and releases it without restraint, even high-tier monsters would only barely be qualified to face it.
What's more, this time, the battle wasn't between two Elder Dragons—but three!
Yet after the Ancient Tree's Fire Wyvern group changed its survival model, undergoing positive mutation under the influence of the Symbiosis Trait and living peacefully for so many years, they no longer had the right to flee.
The Grimalkynes were the same. The difference was that, should the Fire Wyvern group fail this trial, their current ecosystem would swiftly collapse. The new master of the Ancient Tree would not be as gentle as the present Fire Wyvern group.
With Logan's command issued, the cats immediately went all out—basket after basket of enormous Fire Wyvern Cat Meals were carried before the wyverns.
The Fire Wyverns returning from hunts and patrols, upon receiving the order, hurried to the canteen and joined the line for food.
The commotion of the Fire Wyverns and cats also alarmed the scholars at the Research Base. Upon learning that something major would soon occur in the Ancient Tree region, they refused the cats' offer to escort them away and instead joined in constructing the cats' shelter works.
Even though they still had a full day to evacuate, none of the scholars chose to leave.
Night fell. The night was lightless, the sky thick with dark clouds.
A fierce wind carried freezing rain that lashed against scales.
The air temperature plummeted, and the entire Ancient Tree region was shrouded in an incomparably oppressive atmosphere.
Throughout the Ancient Tree region, apart from the Fire Wyvern group and a few creatures unable to escape, every monster with even slightly keen senses fled outward from the area. Even natural enemies, when colliding along their escape paths, showed not the slightest intention to fight, merging into the herds and quickly fleeing far from the Ancient Tree.
At the great platform atop the Ancient Tree, only Logan, Aki, the Flame Rathalos, and the Tempered Azure Rathalos remained.
Amidst the howling gales, lightning flashed and thunder rolled within the surging clouds. The rain transformed into a blizzard, sweeping across the entire Ancient Tree region, covering nearly half of the Ancient Forest.
In the flashes of lightning that came and went, that steel-forged silhouette stood tall above the clouds.
In the cold, Aki and the others spread their wings, igniting blazing flames that turned the falling snow into steam that billowed outward.
In Aki's proud gaze, Logan roared skyward.
The boiling Elder Dragon blood within him surged. Empowered by ancient vitality, he fully drew upon the life energy stored within the dragon crystal, fusing it with the fire-attribute energy in the Flame Sac—compressing—then detonating it!
As Logan reached the clouds, streams of draconic energy flickered across his scales. Endless blue-violet flames burst through the gaps between his scales from the flame glands spread throughout his body.
Boundless light and heat poured forth from those silvery-white scales.
For an instant, the heavens and earth seemed to return to daylight. The blizzard that had engulfed half the Ancient Forest abruptly ceased; the air warmed once more, leaving only scattered drops of rain.
The master of the storm appeared provoked. A metallic, resonant dragon roar echoed across the entire Ancient Tree.
Above the clouds, two Elder Dragons faced each other across several kilometers. Their endless Elder Dragon auras intertwined and clashed, as though the world itself were split in two—one half blazing beneath dazzling sunlight, the other engulfed in a pitch-black, howling hurricane.
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