The Ancient Forest was truly vast.
Even after Kael and Aji had been flying for an entire day, the distant Ancient Tree had only grown slightly larger in their field of vision.
During the journey, they would occasionally stop to forage and drink water. From time to time, some foolish creatures would try to drive them away, only to be greeted by a brutal double-team from the male and female Rathalos.
Especially this one suicidal Brute Tigrex.
With a body length of only sixteen meters, it was directly smashed into severe injury by Aji's charge, and then Kael easily crushed its neck with a single bite.
This effortless battle made Kael finally realize what kind of monster the Brute Tigrex he had been harassing for five years truly was.
Not only was that one larger than ordinary Brute Tigrex, but its fire breath didn't even require charging.
Whenever it wanted to breathe fire, it could do so.
And it could maintain the flames for an extremely long time.
Kael had never once seen it burn its own throat.
Most importantly, after this ordinary Brute Tigrex barely managed to spit out a breath of flame—one that Kael could even absorb with his Flash Fire trait—it immediately fell into a brief state of exhaustion.
Its heat membranes retracted, and it even stood there panting.
This was a life-and-death battle.
And after using one big move, it was already drained?
Who would believe that?
Aji didn't hesitate at all.
While it was gasping for breath, she instantly turned into a gradient-green armored truck and slammed into it, sending the massive beast flying.
It lay on the ground for a long time, unable to get up.
Kael rushed over, flames wrapped around his body, and crushed its neck with a single bite.
If it had been that other Brute Tigrex, this would have been impossible.
Kael had seen that monster fight with its heat membranes spread wide, spraying fire everywhere, casually circling with him, and still maintaining its powered-up state afterward.
It could easily drive away any carnivores that dared to enter its territory.
In terms of stamina, that thing was like it had been on Demon Drugs all day.
It was either fighting or on the way to fight.
It never showed even a hint of weakness.
In terms of defense, even when Kael dove at full speed with Acceleration, Flame Body, and Huge Power stacked together, he could only knock it down and tear open a deep wound.
But that kind of injury?
It would just roll over, stand back up, and counterattack.
This one, however, couldn't even withstand a single charge from Aji.
Its neck was as fragile as a crispy snack—one bite and it snapped.
Even the skin on its neck was carbonized by the flames wrapped around Kael.
It was hard to say whether this Brute Tigrex was too weak, or if this was simply the true strength of an ordinary Brute Tigrex.
Even Aji was somewhat surprised.
In truth, it wasn't their fault.
The location of their previous nest had been exceptionally good.
There were few threats nearby, and many hunting grounds within range.
Most of the monsters they encountered were lower on the food chain.
The moment they saw Kael and Aji, they would immediately flee.
Even on the rare occasions when fights broke out, they were mostly limited to intimidation and driving off intruders.
This Brute Tigrex was so bold because it likely believed that, as a seasoned adult, it could easily deal with one sub-adult, land-specialized female Rathalos and one juvenile male Rathalos.
At worst, it could drive them out of its territory.
What it didn't expect was that it had run into a battle-hardened Rathian who had once gone head-to-head with an adult Pukei-Pukei while still under nine meters long…
Plus a fully buffed Rathalos with cheats.
That single misjudgment turned the fight into a one-sided massacre and cost it its life.
"Mm… doesn't taste good."
After tearing open the thick hide of the Brute Tigrex, Kael took a bite, chewed for a moment, then stopped.
If the meat of herbivores was A-rank—tender, juicy, and translucent—then Brute Tigrex meat was at best C-rank.
Dry, tough, like chewing on an overcooked steak from his previous life.
It tasted bad and was hard to chew.
Barely edible.
Aji also took one bite and stopped.
They were currently near a good water source.
Under normal circumstances, herbivores and Diablos-like monsters would come here to drink.
Since prey was abundant and they weren't starving, waiting a bit longer didn't matter.
Kael spread his wings and flew into the sky.
Aji walked calmly into the nearby forest and lay in ambush.
Not long after they left, a group of Jagras rushed out and began tearing into the Brute Tigrex's corpse.
Before long, the best and meatiest parts were ripped off and carried away, leaving only half a body and a skeleton behind, waiting for scavenger birds.
In about a day, there would be no trace left of this Brute Tigrex on the continent.
No creature would remember it.
Not even Kael and Aji, who had killed it.
To them, it was nothing more than a minor incident during their migration.
That night, they casually found a high spot, nestled against each other, and fell into deep sleep.
The next day, they continued their journey.
This routine repeated for five days.
On the sixth day, Kael and Aji were forced to fly higher.
The closer they got to the Ancient Tree, the taller the terrain and vegetation became.
This was completely different from his previous world.
In his old life, sunlight and soil were crucial for plants.
Around massive trees, smaller plants would struggle to grow.
But in the Ancient Forest, it was the opposite.
The closer one got to the Ancient Tree, the denser and more luxuriant the vegetation became.
All of this stemmed from the world's unique energy—leyline energy.
More precisely, the life energy carried within flowing ley lines.
The origin of life energy was unknown.
Most scholars believed it was a gift from nature.
The creatures that contained the most life energy, and best represented it, were the beings known as Elder Dragons.
The place where the Ancient Tree took root was the largest leyline node in the forest.
Leyline energy was most concentrated here.
As a result, plants flourished, and the creatures living here were far stronger.
The Rathalos population relied on their strength and numbers to occupy most of the upper regions of the Ancient Tree.
With their advantageous terrain, their hunting range was wider, and their offspring were safer.
The only drawback was that there were no rivers or streams in the upper regions.
So most Rathalos families built water reservoirs near their nests, collecting rainwater to meet their needs.
As outsider Rathalos arriving outside the breeding season, Kael and Aji would still face exclusion, even from their own kind.
If they wanted to build a nest in the Ancient Tree, they had two choices.
Either fight.
Win, take over someone else's nest, and no one would dare bother them again.
Or bow their heads and choose a new nesting site in the surrounding areas.
In the world of monsters, strength meant everything.
Sorry, everyone. My internet suddenly went down yesterday and only got fixed today. I'm working hard on writing and will definitely make up for yesterday's chapter.