The volcanic crater that had collapsed and melted halfway—there, a group of Strange Mask Tribe wearing golden masks and holding golden weapons were muttering in low "wa-wa" cries as they continuously collected the pieces of metal resembling gold that Kulve Taroth had scraped off and dropped during last night's battle.
The "divine slough" left behind by the great Lady of the Golden Land could not be casually left in the outside world.
And as the true master with whom the Golden Strange Mask Tribe lived in symbiosis, the Mother Goddess of Gold, Kulve Taroth, was at this moment lying in the magma to the side, breathing fresh air, eyes closed, happily sinking into sleep.
Although last night's battle was not satisfying enough—and that big black hedgehog had not even managed to make her take off this heavy golden battle skirt to fight a match in a truly agile posture—for one who had worked diligently for several years, it still counted as a fairly satisfying bout of activity.
...
This time Logan had not been away for long, and as the pheromones declined, the Elder Dragons' activity also began to decrease accordingly. Thus when Logan returned, all the wyverns in the nest were safe and sound, completely intact, without the slightest damage.
At the same time, on the Ancient Forest coast, outside Astera, Ahtal-Ka held aloft its own shining metal model. Looking at this civilization's architecture that far surpassed what stood upon the Ancient Tree, something deep within its genes faintly trembled.
It did not know why; it only felt its forelegs itch, wanting to dismantle something.
In ancient times, before the age of civilization and technology, monsters of the Ahtal-Ka species already existed.
They then used wood and stone from nature to construct their walking fortress.
Later, with the appearance of Wyverians and humans, there appeared civilization and technology.
This made the Ahtal-Ka discover that building components processed by technology possessed strength far exceeding ordinary trees and stones.
Thus Ahtal-Ka began, by attacking human settlements, to dismantle those buildings and use those parts to replace the original parts of their walking fortress.
Later, as time went on, under the scouring of time, civilization was destroyed and rebuilt, generation after generation.
And the monsters of the Ahtal-Ka species, as time flowed, continued doing the same home-demolishing work across different civilizations.
Over the years, this instinct had even been imprinted into their genes, passed down through their bloodlines.
Of course, this referred to those female Ahtal-Ka whose potential for strength was extremely high, not those useless male Ahtal-Ka that were only at the level of ordinary monsters.
Fortunately, such an impulse was nothing to an Ahtal-Ka that had already undergone basic tempering atop the Ancient Tree and whose interests and hobbies had been elevated.
Under the light pats of Spice, who was lying atop its neck armor, it quickly recovered and, following behind the main transport force of the Jagras, walked into the base.
At this time within Astera, apart from the still-busy members of the Research Commission, the mother and child Chameleos were, as usual, wandering aimlessly throughout the base.
Suddenly, as Mother Chameleos's large eyes turned idly, she spotted that mantis-like figure.
Her whole body stiffened, mouth slightly open, eyes blinking rapidly, thinking she must have seen wrong!
"Damn it, gwa! How could that guy appear here, gwa! This base is going to be torn down, gwa!!"
Having lived in the New World for hundreds of years and being a street idler fond of gossip, although Mother Chameleos was not very familiar with other regions deep in the New World, she considered herself quite knowledgeable about both the Ancient Forest and the Wildspire Waste.
Although this Ahtal-Ka, whose emotions seemed quite stable, was far inferior in both size and the sense of danger it gave off compared to that old Ahtal-Ka that had once, right before Teostra's eyes, torn down her nest in the Wildspire Waste—
The terrifying destructive power of this species of monster was something Mother Chameleos remembered all too clearly.
She could not forget how, two hundred years ago, while wandering out of boredom into a partially exposed ruin deep within the Wildspire Waste, she had personally witnessed that Ahtal-Ka, relying on sheer brute strength, pulling apart and assembling a mechanical beast over 80 m long that resembled an enlarged version of Kulve Taroth.
With a single sweep, it had swatted the disbelieving Teostra away like a fly, and then, even while taking Teostra's explosive flames head-on, forcibly dismantled that entire ruin before calmly leaving.
Teostra's impotent rage at that time was one of the treasured scenes stored within Mother Chameleos's mind.
Alongside the iconic scene with Teostra recorded in Chameleos's mind, there was also the label that Ahtal-Ka was impossible to contend with.
In Mother Chameleos's analysis with her super-intellect, Ahtal-Ka belonged to the sort that even the super strength of Elder Dragons could not beat.
Fortunately, although Ahtal-Ka possessed boundless strength and its mechanical beast looked terrifying, it never flew, its attack range was not long enough, and compared to Elder Dragons its speed was not very fast.
So although it was a foe one could not defeat, one could still escape from it.
Therefore, two hundred years ago, Mother Chameleos's danger rating for Ahtal-Ka was relatively low.
But now it was different. She was no longer a Chameleos who built nests everywhere and wandered everywhere, but a Mother Chameleos with a proper post and a fixed territory.
Therefore, the degree of threat Ahtal-Ka posed to her was suddenly pulled up to very, very high.
"Why is this guy not staying underground in the Wildspire Waste and running over here, gwa?"
Chameleos's thoughts raced as she kept pondering whether, after Ahtal-Ka rioted, there was any good method of handling it.
The little Chameleos looked up at its old mother, then looked toward the Ahtal-Ka standing in the flowing area and seemingly very calm; its small, still-forming head keenly sensed that something was wrong.
After silently tagging the seemingly ordinary Ahtal-Ka as one not to be provoked, it quietly retreated, shielding its own old mother behind itself.
...
On the already completed meeting dais, after the Commander heard the report that the Admiral had brought back another new "monster friend," and that over at the Ancient Tree something seemed to have gone wrong and they owed this new friend a huge debt, he exchanged a wry smile with the Huntsman beside him.
They were very happy that the Admiral could get along with large monsters; after all, this had an extremely positive promoting effect on ecological research in the New World.
But as for being in debt, it was very much a headache.
After all, it could not be guaranteed that every monster's mood would be as stable as the Sunblaze Dragon's, which led to them having to rack their brains to prepare the payments for these monsters' debts, making Astera, where supplies were already scarce, even worse off.
"Ah-hahaha, yo, Carlos, Huntsman, long time no see. Your mental state doesn't seem so good."
Just then, the Admiral came up with his usual hearty smile, putting an arm around Carlos's shoulders and joking with this friend.
The Commander wore a wry smile and shook his head without speaking. He glanced sidelong at the nonchalant Admiral and sighed: "Tell me about that 'new friend' and the matter of the debt."
When he finished speaking, the Admiral also gave a helpless smile and quickly offered an explanation.
"Even the Sunblaze Dragon treats it kindly—this is the powerful monster named 'Ahtal-Ka' in the report you and Falcon filed 2 years ago?"
The Commander rubbed his brow.
Although he had not seen Ahtal-Ka, he still had a rather deep impression of this monster.
After all, in many of the connection cables for facilities in Astera now, a large amount of Ahtal-Ka silk was mixed in. Although these silk threads were traded from the Ancient Tree, how could one not pay attention to a monster that could produce silk comparable to alchemical materials?
Moreover, the Admiral had now specially emphasized the attitudes of the cats at the Ancient Tree and the Sunblaze Dragon toward Ahtal-Ka. Indirectly, this meant the Research Commission's evaluation of Ahtal-Ka had to change again.
"The Dragonator. Our scholars and craftsmen still haven't completely figured it out to this day, and the Second Fleet Master has worked hard on the material ratios for so long, yet progress is still very slow. You even dared to promise it away—aren't you afraid Ahtal-Ka will feel deceived, fly into a shame-filled rage, and go berserk in the base?"
The Commander always felt very exhausted, having run into such an Admiral.
Don't be fooled by the 'decision-maker' title hanging from the Commander; within the Research Commission, the Admiral was the true leader.
And stuck with such a boss, he really was quite tired sometimes.
"Hey, it's fine. I already mentioned delayed delivery in advance. Ahtal-Ka's level of intelligence seems very high; it also understood what I said and expressed agreement—as long as we first deliver those 10 metal pillars, it will be fine."
The Admiral, in turn, patted the Commander's shoulder as if to console him and continued: "Besides, even if Ahtal-Ka really does go mad, this is inside the base. We have so many elite hunters; even if its strength really exceeds our expectations, there shouldn't be much of a problem. And anyway, don't we still have a fallback?"
"Gwa!!" (I can't do it, gwa!!)
The sudden croak startled everyone present.
Then they saw a distortion in the air, and the yellow-and-purple figure of Mother Chameleos actually appeared right there in the meeting area.
Before the Commander and the others could feel delighted, thinking that Chameleos had finally chosen to show itself openly before them, they saw Mother Chameleos shaking its head frantically, croaking again and again as if refuting something.
Seeing this, the Commander pondered carefully for a moment before speaking uncertainly: "You mean, if that Ahtal-Ka goes berserk, you won't intervene?"
At these words, Mother Chameleos both nodded and shook its head.
At that moment, it somewhat regretted not having raised a cat within Astera capable of translating its words.
Watching the Chameleos nodding and shaking its head again, the Commander also found himself unsure for a time.
"I understand! You mean—you can't intervene?"
That was the Admiral suddenly cutting in—having spent years in the Ancient Tree and dealt with countless Fire Wyverns, he had plenty of experience with language barriers.
When he saw Chameleos slowly nod, the Admiral looked into Mother Chameleos's large eyes and seemed to discern something within them.
So he carefully asked, "You can't beat it?"
"Gwa!"
Chameleos's body stiffened, and its voice caught halfway through.
Although it felt somewhat embarrassed, Mother Chameleos, being a great child who had lived for several hundred years, neither lied nor stooped to deceit in such matters. Merely feeling ashamed, it offered no further explanation, and under the widened eyes of the Admiral and the others, vanished in invisibility.
"This…"
Those at the meeting looked at one another in dismay. At that moment, the Admiral somewhat regretted having brought Ahtal-Ka into Astera without any precautionary measures.
A monster that even Chameleos was unwilling to show itself against and openly admitted it could not defeat—no matter how many elite hunters the base had, or how many defensive devices there were, how great would the cost be to repel, or even slay, an opponent that an Elder Dragon itself could not overcome?
"Things being as they are, Admiral, for now you'd better try to communicate with Ahtal-Ka as much as possible and do your best to calm it down. I'll have the forge prioritize the casting of those metal pillars. As for defensive measures—Master, I'll leave that to you."
Hearing this, the Admiral and the Huntsman both nodded solemnly, and the Commander slowly let out a long breath.
"Let's hope this new 'monster friend' really does become a 'friend.'"
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