"Boss! It's so great that you're okay, meow!"
Bunbun's small body was being held by a cat from the resource gathering team. After confirming the direction, the resource gathering team cat, whose outfit looked very much like a ninja's, pulled the cords on the wings on its back and, after circling and gliding a few times, finally landed steadily not far from Little Loren.
As soon as it touched down, Bunbun, with snot and tears all over his little face, ran and hopped over to Little Loren on his four short legs. Seeing the disheveled scales on Little Loren's body that had been damaged by Nakarkos's electric currents, as well as the listless Radiant Crystal Butterflies on him, he quickly pulled out healing medicine from the big backpack on his back.
With nimble paws, he mixed up a large healing medicine suitable for Little Loren's injuries based on what he could see, and then woke up the Giant Vigorwasp that had been sleeping inside the backpack.
As the Giant Vigorwasp carrying the medicine Bunbun had prepared drifted and wobbled its way to a spot above Little Loren's head, Little Loren blew out a flying needle to pierce the nectar sac.
The medicine inside burst open with a boom and fell over Little Loren like mist. After receiving the specially prepared medicine, Little Loren's stamina and the wounds on his body began to heal slowly at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Seeing Little Loren comfortably close his eyes, Bunbun finally let out a long breath of relief.
"Little Bunbun's Vigorwasp support technique has improved again. Truly worthy of being Tonkotsu's child."
Watching Bunbun's movements, the Admiral spoke with a smile.
"No way, meow~ I'm still nowhere near Father, meow~" Bunbun twisted his body, cupping his furry cheeks with both paws, shyly swaying his tail. Then, realizing what he was doing, he hurried to mix up a new batch of medicine and sent a recovery Giant Vigorwasp shot to the Admiral as well.
As for Aki, he did not dare.
After all, when Bunbun had been little, out of curiosity he had once tried to approach Little Loren, who at the time still could not leave the dragon nest, and he had been fiercely scolded by Aki, who had been in a sensitive state. From then on, Aki's image had left a deep shadow in this little cat's heart.
What was more, after Aki's round of tidying herself up, she now did not look even the slightest bit injured or overly exhausted.
...
In the jungle marsh, the Tempered Chameleos had gotten quite a scare!
Nakarkos's Dragon-element breath had flown straight over its head.
If it had not been keeping itself in that flattened, belly-down posture the whole time, that blow just now would probably have been enough to put it in serious trouble.
Even though it was clearly in a swamp where the temperature was not high, at this moment the Tempered Chameleos still felt as if the scales on its head were still in the high heat of Dragon-element energy.
"Roar~"
Logan rose slowly to his feet, and the Radiant Crystal Butterflies dancing around him, like soldiers receiving an order, returned to his wings in an orderly fashion. His azure eyes looked deeply toward where the Tempered Chameleos was, then he kicked off with both legs, whipping up a gale as he flew in Aki's direction.
The Tempered Chameleos, whose whole body went cold under Logan's glare, blinked innocently, feeling the scales on its back turn cold.
Had its position been found?
The Tempered Chameleos was absolutely sure that, just now when Logan had left, he had really glared at it once.
It was not the kind of thing where you could only pin down a general area, but a case of truly and clearly finding where it was and even locking onto it.
'So is it that this world has changed too fast, or that I'm really just no good?'
At this moment, the Tempered Chameleos fell into deep self-doubt.
It had only been slacking off in the Guiding Lands for just a few decades, so how had the Ancient Forest already become somewhere it did not recognize?
After all, it had once been the top tyrant of the Ancient Forest, an existence that had defeated several adult Chameleos, taken first place, and formed a pair with Mother Chameleos. It believed that even within the Chameleos species, it could be considered one of the highly gifted ones.
But it had only been slacking off for a few decades~
First, within these mere few decades, Mother Chameleos had carried out a special change to the extremely stable physique of Elder Dragons, becoming a special individual it could not understand and surpassing it in one go.
Next, a Lord of the Ancient Tree had appeared, establishing a civilization whose main body consisted of Fire Wyverns, and the strength of that civilization was even rather outrageous!
And now, even its perfect invisibility had been cracked!
Crisis! A huge crisis!
The Tempered Chameleos suddenly felt that it really could not stay in the Ancient Forest any longer! Although it was unwilling, having never once entered Astera, once it sensed this feeling of crisis, the Tempered Chameleos decided that it had to leave at once and return to the Guiding Lands.
Otherwise it might be forcibly dragged by the will of nature into dangerous matters again! This New World, which was growing more and more dangerous, was not a place it could stay in for even one more minute!
With that thought in mind, after watching Logan disappear from its field of vision, the Tempered Chameleos quickly scraped together from nearby the healing medicines it had occasionally stolen over these years from the pouches of passing Research Commission hunters, stuffed them under the scales on its chest, flapped its small wings, and hurried away in the opposite direction from Logan.
...
By the lakeside, as Logan landed, Aki's aloof posture instantly melted. She pressed her neck against Logan's as he touched down; only after confirming that neither of them was hurt did the tension in her eyes finally ease.
As for Little Loren—so long as he wasn't dead, that was enough.
Logan folded his wings and surveyed the surroundings. By checking the environmental destruction, he confirmed that the recent fight had indeed matched what he had sensed. He also made an estimation of Nakarkos's current condition, and only then did he walk toward Little Loren, who was lying quietly to the side.
Faced with Logan's serious gaze, Little Loren felt unwilling, yet his heart tightened.
Even setting aside the fact that he was Logan's child, simply by following the rules of the New World Fire Wyverns and successfully settling in the Ancient Tree, he was already a member of the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern group.
Logan's earlier order had been: during the validity period of the command, the Ancient Tree Fire Wyverns must act as a group.
And Little Loren, having left the hunting party without permission and followed the Admiral here, had already violated Logan's command.
If Bunbun had not begged Tonkotsu to find Logan, and if Logan had not rushed over with Aki upon learning of this, then with Little Loren's performance just now, he would likely have long since become Nakarkos's newest specimen.
Whether publicly or privately, Little Loren was the one at fault.
With intelligence and mental maturity no less than an ordinary human, Little Loren naturally understood his mistake. So at this moment, while facing Logan, he was like a child who had done wrong—folding his wings, lowering his body, and waiting for Logan's punishment.
However, after waiting for quite a long time, Logan made no movement. If not for the occasional sound of his breathing drifting into his ears, Little Loren might have thought Logan had left.
"Roar~"
A low roar tinged with approval came from above his head.
Little Loren widened his eyes in disbelief as he looked at Logan. He had originally thought he would suffer a combined beating from both parents, but instead he received Logan's approval.
An indescribable emotion surged uncontrollably from deep within his heart.
A child chasing after his father's shadow had received his father's recognition for the first time. It was a feeling Little Loren had always longed for, yet had never obtained.
At this moment, Little Loren suddenly felt that the sunlight was truly comfortable.
Just as he was immersed in this feeling, Logan's gaze sharpened, and with a single tail swing, he struck Little Loren's body, sending him flying several meters before he crashed heavily into the deep pit formed earlier during Aki's battle.
The aura forged through years of a "king's" life, combined with Pressure, swept downward, covering Little Loren as he lay on his side in the pit.
The father's approval had already been given; what followed was the punishment for a clansman who violated orders!
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