There was almost no fat visible beneath its smooth skin. The entire body was covered in a layer of brownish-red membrane, yet at first glance, it looked as if it had no skin at all, with the contours of its muscles and ligaments clearly distinguishable.
This was the Odogaron. It didn't have a single scale, feather, or shell on its body, looking like some monster that had wandered over from a neighboring movie set—yes, I'm talking about you, Licker!
Truth be told, the Odogaron's teeth were quite similar to the Anjanath's; both had severe underbites, with teeth protruding outside their lips. Their temperaments were also equally tyrannical, though the Odogaron was even more of a mad dog than the Anjanath.
As Asterion followed the sound, he heard more commotion caused by the Odogaron—snorting and slurping noises that clearly indicated it was eating.
Finally, in a reasonably spacious cave, Asterion found the target of his trip.
By the light emitted from the fluorescent moss scattered throughout the cave, Asterion clearly saw an Odogaron standing atop a monster's corpse. With blue and white wing membranes and a huge fan-shaped tail, it was unmistakably the corpse of a Legiana, the apex of the Coral Highlands.
Well, it wasn't that strange. The survival competition in an environment like the Rotten Vale was intense. Aside from the dragons nearing the end of their lifespan who chose to enter here, corpses of monsters that killed each other in the Coral Highlands above and fell down were one of the main sources of food.
Since a Legiana's corpse could be found here, it meant that continuing forward would likely lead to the central area of the Rotten Vale. The massive skeletal remains of a Dalamadur were located there. Unfortunately, Asterion couldn't platform his way up to the Coral Highlands like the Odogaron could.
This Odogaron had already spotted Asterion. It stood atop the Legiana corpse. Uh, even with something padding its height, it was only at eye level with Asterion.
Although the "Honey Badger" was brave, its size was indeed small.
However, its explosive power was extremely strong.
This Legiana corpse must have been dragged here by the Odogaron, though it was unclear if it was a trophy from the Coral Highlands.
Normally, an Odogaron would hide leftover meat in its nest after eating its fill, sometimes even rolling it into meat lumps to preserve it—a delicious ingredient hunters would specifically steal.
But just as it was furiously chowing down, Asterion appeared with heavy footsteps.
With his increased size and weight, Asterion had basically bid farewell to the concept of covert operations. The consequence of trying to sneak around was just "loudly announcing his presence."
Waves of red flushed over its originally brownish-red body surface. Not only was blood dripping from its open mouth, but white steam was also rising from it.
As an intelligence-gathering Glavenus, Asterion naturally knew this was the enhanced state the Odogaron entered after eating meat. Hmm, the official name was quite interesting: "Berserk State." In this state, the Odogaron's strength and speed would increase drastically.
That is to say, even more of a mad dog.
"ROAAAAR!!"
Roaring loudly, the Odogaron's cry was exceptionally piercing. It wasn't warning Asterion—it was about to attack.
Its reputation as the Honey Badger was well-earned. Even realizing Asterion was larger, it launched the attack first.
Ricochet!
Only this word could accurately describe the Odogaron's movement. It was like a cat suddenly jumping in fright, but with strength and speed far exceeding a cat. Asterion only saw a dark red shadow flash past—the Odogaron had jumped directly at him?!
In the restrictive terrain of the cave, the distance between Asterion and the Odogaron was too close. The moment the Odogaron moved, Asterion instinctively wanted to use a Foresight Slash—Clang!
Foresight Slash, my ass!
Sliding backward, Asterion slammed directly into the stone wall behind him. The space was too small to maneuver, resulting only in a loud crash.
Unlike a hunter, Asterion needed more space for his Foresight Slash due to his size.
This was bad.
"ROAAAAR!!"
It landed squarely on Asterion's back, frantically tearing and clawing at his spine—and it actually managed to grab hold!
Asterion's back, due to the presence of heat-dissipating plates, was one of the few places not covered by air-sac shells. And now, the Odogaron had violently torn open a corner of those plates!
The Odogaron's front claws would make any pedicurist laugh with joy. Not only did it have normal jointed sharp claws, but it also had three rows of naturally growing serrations on the inside. Extremely sharp, born purely for combat.
It could give a hell of a pedicure.
Too bad Asterion couldn't reach.
He had already intimately experienced the mad dog side of the Odogaron. It howled frantically while destroying Asterion's heat-dissipating plates with its claws. It really was here to give him a trim.
But was Asterion an ordinary Glavenus? A trim? I'll give you a trim!
For a dragon like Asterion, used to fighting in the wide-open terrain of the Wildspire Waste, the cave in the Rotten Vale was certainly small and the limited space was uncomfortable. But being small had its advantages too—in a flash, Asterion jumped straight up from the ground!
There was stone right above his head. Originally, lifting his sword-tail high was already a bit difficult for Asterion, and now with an Odogaron standing on his back... undoubtedly, this jump smashed the Odogaron against the stone ceiling, turning it into a sandwich cookie.
The Odogaron wasn't stupid. The moment the impact hit, it was already sliding down Asterion's side, clawing frantically at his body as it went. But this time, it wasn't so lucky.
Connected to the heat-dissipating plates were the air-sac shells—BOOM!!!
The Odogaron's frantic scratching instantly ruptured the outermost air-sac shell. The moment it exploded, shattered shell fragments and ore shrapnel pierced into the Odogaron's body!
"ROAAAAR!!!"
It howled even more crazily from the pain. But for the Odogaron, the real danger was the blade swinging towards it right after the air-sac explosion!
Grinding against the ground behind him, Asterion's sword-tail scraped up sparks the moment it swung, lifting a heavy weight as if it were light.
It slashed directly at the Odogaron, which had fallen from his body and been blasted sideways by the explosion—SHING!!
It was the familiar sensation of his sword-tail slicing through flesh. No, it didn't feel quite like flesh; it felt like cutting into rubber, a sensation of dull resistance, but eventually, he sliced through smoothly.
"ROAAAAR!!"
The Odogaron landed and roared in anger. A brownish-red object spun through the air and hit the ground, bouncing a few times before coming to a stop.
It was the Odogaron's tail. But though called a tail, it wasn't really a tail—the Odogaron's actual tail was very short. The reason it looked so long was that it had no scales, feathers, or shell, only tough skin.
During the Odogaron's growth, this skin would either peel off and regenerate due to combat, or the keratinized skin would continuously shed backwards, eventually stacking and hardening at the tail tip. It was much like a spiked club, covered in hard protrusions, allowing the Odogaron to whip it around to strike enemies.
In a sense, the Odogaron's tail shared a core principle with Asterion's tail—the true tail wasn't that long, but a layer of hard material covering it made it appear so, becoming their weapon.
The only difference was that Asterion used mineral secretions to cover his tail, while the Odogaron used its own dead skin.
Both could regenerate after being severed given enough time.
Uh, because of this, even though Asterion had cut off the Odogaron's tail, it showed no signs of pain. Since the tail was made of keratin layers, it had no connected nerves and naturally felt no pain.
It was just angry.
But then again, when was it not angry?
For hunters, Asterion's reactive explosive shells were indeed fatal, making him a nuisance among nuisances, harder to fight than monsters that caused weapons to bounce with a single hit.
But for a dragon, as long as the shrapnel from the exploding air-sacs didn't pierce vital areas like eyes or fragile organs, given a dragon's size and physical toughness, these fragments were merely an annoyance, like a splinter in the hand.
Painful, but not fatal.
The stinging pain only incited the Odogaron's ferocity. True to the Honey Badger name, even facing a powerhouse far superior in size and strength, it met the challenge head-on with a fighting spirit that refused to yield to any dragon.
Blasted away by the shockwave, the Odogaron flailed on the ground for only a blink of an eye before scrambling up again. Even though its tail had been severed, the injury seemed to have no effect on it. Slapping the ground with all four limbs, it charged toward Asterion's throat.
But Asterion was no longer the inexperienced whelp he once was. He was all too familiar with the Odogaron's fighting style and attack patterns. Therefore, the moment the Odogaron landed, Asterion twisted his body without pausing and slashed diagonally forward.
This slash landed precisely on the Odogaron charging at him again!
If time could slow down, one would clearly see Asterion's sharp sword-tail first landing on the tip of the Odogaron's front claw—the sharp nails and serrations offered no resistance before being sliced apart. The severed parts drifted in mid-air, carried by inertia.
Along with fresh blood.
Forcibly slicing off half of the Odogaron's front claw, the blade didn't stop there. It was as if the Odogaron had thrown itself onto Asterion's sword-tail. After half its claw was severed, the arcing blade tore a wide wound across its chest.
"ROAAAAR!!"
This time, it was a genuine cry of pain.
Its feet left the ground, its body felt the pain, and once it realized it couldn't win, its intelligence reoccupied the high ground.
To make a long story short, the Odogaron's two assaults and Asterion's two slashes all happened within a few seconds. When the Odogaron was slashed back to the ground this time, it didn't attack Asterion again. Instead, crying out in pain, it endured the agony and fled toward a cave on the other side.
The Rotten Vale was filled with countless holes and tunnels, paths the Odogaron knew best. It was by freely traversing these tunnels that the Odogaron could treat the Rotten Vale as its own backyard.
It was fleeing.
The Odogaron fled quickly, but Asterion was faster.
Like a droplet of water falling into a calm lake, concentric ripples spread out in an instant.
Heart of Clear Mirror, Still Water!
Iai—Slash!!
"ROAR!!"
When Asterion roared the word "Iai," the slash was already complete.
The sword-tail released from his mouth cut through the air ahead with unmatched speed. Borrowing the power of the Iai, Asterion condensed all his strength into an instantaneous burst, crossing the distance in that single moment.
One second before the Odogaron could jump into the tunnel, Asterion's sword-tail severed its neck!
The Odogaron's body instinctively continued to leap forward and successfully made it into the tunnel—but it collapsed after two steps, scalding dragon blood gushing from the severed cross-section.
Never one to waste, Asterion dragged the Odogaron's corpse down from the tunnel. He bit directly into the severed neck, inhaling the Odogaron's blood like a storm.
Delicious.
For the current Asterion, a standard Odogaron was just small fry, not an opponent requiring serious preparation. According to the lore, even a Deviljho wouldn't necessarily win easily against a Glavenus, let alone a Glavenus among Glavenus like Asterion.
Honestly, Asterion saw a reflection of himself in this Odogaron—daring to fight even against absolute powerhouses far stronger than itself. The only difference was that he had to face Elder Dragons, while the Odogaron had to face a Glavenus.
But essentially, it was the same... was it?
One fought because he had to in order to evolve to a higher level; given a choice, he wouldn't want to fight a losing battle.
The other didn't have that luxury. Fighting frantically against monsters stronger than itself brought no benefits, only injuries, disability, or death.
Glavenus, Tigrex, Deviljho, Vaal Hazak—it seemed there was no dragon the Odogaron didn't dare to challenge, even if it knew it couldn't win.
Vigorous and violent fighting spirit, insane audacity, fearless courage. The Odogaron used its full strength, even its life, to warn every strong enemy it met—I am not a dragon to be messed with.
Perhaps this was the Honey Badger's way of survival.
"Growl." (Thanks.)
Swallowing the last bite of meat, considering the hygiene of the Rotten Vale, Asterion didn't eat the rocks stained with Odogaron blood—uh, the "marinated" rocks—this time. But he ate the Odogaron's meat clean, not sparing even the bones or the severed tail dropped earlier.
It was indeed a respectable opponent. The Odogaron's only disadvantage was its size; it was a small-scale dragon.
If the Odogaron had the size of a large dragon, with increased mass and strength, then given its fighting style and aggression, today's battle would have been a bitter struggle.
Even Asterion wouldn't dare say he'd win for sure. Just imagine, an Odogaron the size of a Tigrex going berserk... simply a nightmare.
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