On the Ancient Tree, countless branches of the canopy snapped under the fierce wind.
Within Logan's nest and the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne territory, groups upon groups of cats struggled with all their strength to brace the wooden shelter structures, trying desperately to keep them from being torn apart by the storm.
Deeper inside, the scholars were still calculating in their notebooks. Compared to the panicked cats, they remained far calmer.
"At the current wind strength, as long as the attack isn't directed straight at the Ancient Tree, these structures should hold. Still, to be safer, I recommend retreating through the internal tunnels in the nest down to the lower layers of the Ancient Tree."
Through the gaps in the shelter, the scholar listened to the howling wind outside. Beyond the wooden walls, lightning flashed amid the storm; through the veil of the hurricane, bluish-purple flames exploded in the sky, piercing through the tempest and falling to the ground in blazing arcs.
Even without seeing the full scene, the scholar knew that the battlefield out there must already have been reduced to ruins.
"Every appearance of an Elder Dragon is a massive challenge to the existing ecosystem… but what is the meaning of this battle? Why are the Fire Wyverns of the Ancient Tree taking the initiative to fight an Elder Dragon? And why did the Elder Dragon come here in the first place?"
One question after another surfaced in his mind. He couldn't figure it out. Perhaps only by delving deeper into the relationship between the Elder Dragons' crossing and the New World—or after a long-term study of the Fire Wyvern groups' ecology within the Ancient Tree—could that single answer finally be found.
Outside the Ancient Tree, Logan deliberately kept the main battlefield as far away from it as possible. He wasn't sure whether the Fire Wyvern groups could handle that Chameleos—or if they could at least stall its advance.
Before facing Kushala Daora, he had worried that his current strength might not be enough to deal with such an enemy. After all, it was an Elder Dragon that had crossed the sea—its physique may have declined somewhat, but its energy reserves and combat techniques were at the absolute peak of its life. Perhaps not invincible among its rank—but at least one of the most formidable.
As the battle went on, it turned out that the difference in strength between the two sides wasn't actually that great. Aside from their disparity in vitality, they were essentially evenly matched.
But—!
Logan wasn't the kind of dragon that got weaker the longer he fought!
Blaze had yet to reach its strongest state, and his acceleration hadn't hit its limit either.
Right now, most of Logan's traits were interlinked—he was a paradoxical berserker, the type whose combat power grew the worse his condition became!
Familiar gales tugged at every part of his body from all directions. Without the slightest pause, Logan's body began to ooze large amounts of combustible liquid, and a massive explosion of burning fluid erupted from the flames of calamity, blasting open the entire hurricane zone. The residual fire was then absorbed back into him.
Before the flames were even fully taken in, Logan merged them into his fiery breath and returned the attack toward the distant Kushala Daora.
With a flap of its wings, Kushala Daora wrapped itself in a tornado—but in the next instant, it swiftly broke free. As expected, that very tornado turned into a vortex of fire, surging back toward it in reverse.
After battling for so long, both sides had finished probing each other. Each had now found ways to counter the other's usual methods of attack.
Just as Logan had forcibly scattered Kushala Daora's hurricane zone through explosive disruption, his own focused breath had been analyzed in turn—the contraction rings of wind that concentrated the attack were now being used against him, reversing the compression into dispersion.
The scattered flame breath couldn't penetrate the wind-pressure barrier surrounding Kushala Daora, wasting Logan's energy and forcing him to abandon that technique.
At the same time, his vortex acceleration had also been deliberately targeted. Many times, just as the whirlwinds began to form, they were shredded apart by turbulent airflows, greatly diminishing his burst potential.
He could only rely more heavily on the speed boost granted by his acceleration trait.
Though both had found counters to each other's techniques, the battle itself only grew fiercer.
Logan's mind-eye had completely adapted to Kushala Daora's combat pattern, now displaying its full "piercing insight." The instant Kushala Daora made a move, Logan could already discern what it intended to do and respond with the appropriate counter.
Though the clash of energies was fierce, under the influence of the mind-eye it almost carried a faint sense of turn-based rhythm.
Still, Kushala Daora was a true Elder Dragon that had crossed the sea. Even the occasional flaw in its techniques demanded that Logan pay a certain price to exploit them successfully.
The result was that both sides began to accumulate various injuries. Yet compared to Logan, the flow of energy within Kushala Daora was finally beginning to show signs of disruption.
While Logan grew more exhilarated the longer he fought—his flames burning ever stronger, tearing through the storms at increasing speed—Kushala Daora had already pushed its energy manipulation to the very limit.
Its body still brimmed with energy, but the output channels were only so large—there was nothing it could do!
Under the combined influence of heat and violent wind, the entire climate of the New World began to twist into bizarre extremes that night. In some regions, torrential rain fell; in others, the air grew scorching hot. The alternating waves of cold and heat left countless creatures in deep discomfort.
…
To the west of the Ancient Tree region, Spice clung tightly to the armored neck of the moving Ahtal-Ka, shouting anxiously as they raced through the forest.
"Big Sister Mantis! Faster, meow! Hurry up!"
Waves of alternating hot and cold air pressure slammed against them one after another, but the Ahtal-Ka had long since become immune to Spice's constant urging.
After all, it was an Ahtal-Ka without wings!
Dragging its mobile fortress through the forest like this—this was already the fastest it could go!
Behind it, on the growing structure of the mobile fortress, several resource-gathering cats clung tightly to the gaps between the plates to keep themselves from being thrown off.
The clash between Logan and Kushala Daora was so massive that even the cats assisting the Ahtal-Ka in processing unearthed ancient components within the Ancient Ruins Basin had noticed the disturbance.
Over the past two years, the bond between this resource-gathering team of cats and the Ahtal-Ka had grown increasingly deep. The cats still hadn't learned the Ahtal-Ka's language, but the Ahtal-Ka had, instead, learned theirs first.
Under Spice's repeated pleading—and his promises that there would definitely be plenty of rewards afterward, including help from the Ancient Tree's smelting workshop to refine those unearthed ancient components a second time—the Ahtal-Ka finally agreed to leave its nest and head toward the Ancient Tree.
The only problem was, it really was just a flightless mantis—its speed could only go so fast.
...
To the north of the Ancient Tree, Fire Wyverns under Aki's command continuously spewed flames, dividing and isolating the fog-shrouded region.
The scene was reminiscent of what had happened more than ten years ago.
Hovering in the sky, the Chameleos covered in lacerations watched the Fire Wyverns struggle below, its mind assaulted by unpleasant memories.
After all these years, the Fire Wyverns had indeed made remarkable progress. With the addition of the Flame Rathalos, even the Chameleos could feel a trace of threat.
But that was all!
It too had made ample progress over these years, and its patience with the Fire Wyverns blocking its path was wearing thin!
Though it didn't understand why—since it had come to deal with the outsider who had set foot in the New World—these Fire Wyverns, who should have been on its side, were instead trying to stop it, it didn't particularly mind teaching them a lesson before fighting Kushala Daora!
The dense fog that had been separated now thickened once again—so quickly that even after the Fire Wyverns burned away a portion of the toxic haze, it was immediately replenished.
A whip-like tongue suddenly lashed out, striking down a Fire Wyvern that hadn't reacted in time, sending it plummeting from the sky.
The poisonous mist transformed into a massive gaping maw, surging toward the Fire Wyvern groups under Chameleos's control.
And so, a battle born of misunderstanding began—one side believing the other sought revenge, while the other thought it was being deliberately obstructed.
Facing the rushing toxic fog, flames blazed to life upon the Fire Wyverns' wings. Grouped in units of several, they charged fearlessly into the thick mists under Aki's command.
Regions of intense fire-attribute energy burst within the fog; tongues of flame roared skyward, determined to force the Chameleos hiding within to reveal itself.
As time passed, both battlefields reached their peak.
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