Chaotic Gore Magala slowly drew in its wing claws, but as if unable to control its own body, the black half of its wings kept opening and closing, even twitching slightly from the violent clash of power within.
The searing pain once again assaulted its brain. This agony, erupting from the inside out, made Chaotic Gore Magala's body seize up. Instinctively, it wrapped its wing claws around its head, a low, grief-laden roar escaping its open maw.
Such a golden opportunity—Nergigante would never let it slip away. The freshly regenerated white spikes across its body rapidly turned black. With a sweep of its wings, the dragon launched high into the air, power surging through its frame as the dark spikes swelled in unison.
With a sky-splitting roar, it dove straight toward Chaotic Gore Magala!
With the momentum of a black meteor crashing down, it carved across the sky, foreclaws bristling with spikes forming a shield, the horn on its head thrust forward as a spear. Then—an earth-shaking impact slammed into Chaotic Gore Magala's body.
The blow was devastating. Chaotic Gore Magala let out a wail, and in the next instant, the unstoppable Nergigante dragged it across the ground, scraping a long trench into the earth.
The black spikes covering its body erupted violently, shattering under the massive force, blasting outward in all directions without a single blind spot.
Amidst the storm of spikes, Chaotic Gore Magala's cries were abruptly cut short.
When Nergigante finally released its grip, panting heavily as it shook off the battered Chaotic Gore Magala, a sharp gleam of joy flared unmistakably in its eyes.
At this moment, the white half of Chaotic Gore Magala—the part that belonged to the Shagaru Magala—displayed its true defensive strength.
Even at such close range, even with such overwhelming force, the spike explosion left behind only a few fragments that barely pierced through its scales.
But the pitch-black half of the Gore Magala's body was riddled with spikes, packed densely across its form, some even having pierced clean through its wings.
Chaotic Gore Magala collapsed helplessly to the ground. In this round of Nergigante's assault, its inner conflict—Shagaru Magala's power clashing once more with Gore Magala's—had prevented it from instantly entering Frenzied Dragon form. It hadn't even mounted a defense, and so it had taken the strike in full.
The wounds covering Chaotic Gore Magala perfectly reflected the gulf between Elder Dragons and Elder-Dragon-level monsters.
Had it been the Shagaru Magala itself to endure this strike—even without defense—it would have suffered no more than moderate injuries at most.
For an Elder Dragon, with vitality so immense that light wounds were dismissed as nothing and grievous wounds as merely light, such an attack would not even strip away its combat ability.
But for Chaotic Gore Magala, this was already a mortal blow.
Nergigante clamped its foreclaws around Chaotic Gore Magala's lone horn. Staring into those golden eyes, it sank its fangs without hesitation into its neck.
In Chaotic Gore Magala's final, feeble struggle, Nergigante's other foreclaw struck down with brutal force. With a loud crack, Chaotic Gore Magala's pupils dilated rapidly, its wing claws sagging limply to the earth.
Nergigante's body trembled faintly, as though in disbelief. It pawed at the corpse twice, then lifted its massive horns to prod at the limp neck. Only after confirming the enemy was truly dead did it throw back its head and release a triumphant roar that echoed into the skies.
This was the roar of a victor—the roar of one who had just taken the most crucial step of its life!
At the corners of its eyes, something like tears seemed to glimmer. Twenty years!
It had been twenty full years since it first walked out of the Elder's Recess and began its true pursuit of Elder Dragons.
In that time, it had chased after Kirin, Kushala Daora, Teostra—even delved into the depths of the Elder's Recess to challenge the Arch-Tempered Velkhana that never bothered to hide its tracks. That attempt had nearly cost it its life.
Through all those trials, it had finally succeeded—finally slain a monster that possessed energy rivaling that of an Elder Dragon!
At last, its first true feast was secured!
Just as Nergigante steadied its breath, preparing to properly begin its meal, a vast shadow fell over it and the corpse of Chaotic Gore Magala.
Only then did Nergigante remember—there was another monster here!
Instantly, an image flickered through its mind: the Silver Fire Wyvern from the Wildspire Waste all those years ago, hoarding its prey for itself.
High above, Logan had been circling. From that altitude, though he had seen Chaotic Gore Magala take Nergigante's devastating strike head-on, the final outcome was unclear.
So he dropped lower, closing the distance to confirm whether Chaotic Gore Magala was truly dead.
But before he could get a good look, Nergigante suddenly whipped around, as though seized by some wild impulse. Its body crouched low, spikes sprouting once more across its frame, bared fangs flashing as it let out a deep, threatening snarl aimed straight at Logan.
Startled, Logan jerked back in surprise—but the shock instantly gave way to a surge of anger.
"You bastard—looking for a fight? Fine then, let's fight! See who's afraid of who!"
Whether or not he could actually win didn't matter. What mattered was never losing in spirit. That was the courage born of the Powerhouse Trait and the wings of speed that carried Logan forward!
But then Logan noticed—though Nergigante had struck a battle-ready stance, even taking two menacing steps forward as though to intimidate him, it made no further move. Instead, it seemed to be subtly shielding the corpse of Chaotic Gore Magala behind its body.
For some reason, the sight reminded Logan of a dog he had adopted in his previous life—back when they were still unfamiliar with one another.
"…You're guarding your food?"
Though phrased as a question, Logan was absolutely certain. This thing was definitely guarding its food!
Once he understood Nergigante's intent, Logan couldn't explain why, but the creature's ferocious look suddenly seemed far less unpleasant to him.
With a slight beat of his wings, he launched himself backward, soaring some distance into the sky.
He lifted his chin toward the now-visibly-relieved Nergigante, gave a low growl, and then simply hovered there, watching from afar.
Nergigante gradually eased its tense stance. Staring at Logan's silver-white figure gleaming in the sunlight, it wiped away the memory of that detestable Silver Fire Wyvern.
No—this wyvern clearly had nothing to do with that prey-hoarding one.
It stared blankly at Logan for quite some time, confirming that he truly had no intention of approaching. Then it recalled how Logan's flames had burned away the black miasma spewed by Chaotic Gore Magala, allowing it the chance to finish its foe.
Otherwise, left to itself in the choking haze, Chaotic Gore Magala would have almost certainly slipped away once again.
On that point alone, its impression of Logan had improved considerably.
Turning back, Nergigante hooked its foreclaws twice through the corpse of Chaotic Gore Magala. Sneaking one more glance to confirm Logan still showed no signs of coming closer, it finally let out a deep breath of relief.
You're not such a bad wyvern after all…
With that thought, Nergigante opened its massive, blood-stained jaws and sank its teeth into Chaotic Gore Magala's neck.
From a distance, Logan watched. To be honest, ever since his past life, he had always been curious—how exactly did Nergigante, this so-called "Elder Dragon that feeds on Elder Dragons," actually consume one?
After all, in this world, the vast majority of monsters—including Elder Dragons—could only obtain energy either by absorbing the leylines' power, or, like Gaismagorm, by relying on organisms to gather refined energy from other monsters and then feed it back to the host.
But Nergigante alone could obtain not only the nutrients of flesh through eating, but also energy itself.
So now, faced with the corpse of the Chaotic Gore Magala, would Nergigante devour it piece by piece, or only take certain parts?
That question would finally be answered today. Logan even felt a trace of anticipation in his heart.
Nergigante, as though admiring a fine delicacy, stretched out its claws and flipped the corpse of the Chaotic Gore Magala over. Lowering its head, it carefully sensed the body.
Very soon, after seemingly confirming the condition of the Gore Magala's body, it used the spikes on its forearms as tools. Their sharp tips, like daggers, slipped precisely into the seams between the scales, prying them apart, ripping open the hide, and revealing the red-and-white muscles beneath.
With one bite, it tore through the flesh and neatly dug out the heart, faintly shrouded in a black aura.
Like a treasure it had long sought, Nergigante gulped it down in an instant. After savoring the taste, its eyes gleamed with greed as it stared at the Gore Magala's body. Only then did it begin its large-scale butchery.
"Spinal marrow, antennae, the brittle bone inside the horns, wing-claw roots, Sky-Piercing Scales."
One after another, Nergigante swiftly dug out the parts rich in energy and devoured them. Very soon, the massive corpse of the Chaotic Gore Magala was torn apart into scattered pieces. At last, once the marrow inside the tail was sucked completely dry—
Nergigante clamped its jaws firmly on the Gore Magala's neck, as though forcefully sucking something out.
From Logan's vantage point, it was clear—it was not blood being drained, but a dense, concentrated substance. It looked almost identical to that cluster of pure life energy he had once witnessed in the Wildspire Waste.
As this energy was greedily absorbed, the Gore Magala's scales suddenly sagged, and the already ruined corpse took on a weathered, decrepit look.
In just ten seconds, the entire dragon seemed faintly tinged with ashen grey.
At last, Nergigante released its jaws with satisfaction. It shook its head, snapped off the excess spikes that had grown on its arms, then cast one last glance at Logan.
With a tilt of its head, it used those massive horns to fling the drained corpse off the platform, watching it tumble into the mists of effluvium below. Only then did it spread its wings and take flight.
Now it needed to find a quiet, safe place to begin digesting the energy it had just consumed.
The process of converting the Gore Magala's energy into its own would involve immense loss.
Even for Nergigante, it was impossible to completely absorb such a vast amount of energy in a short time.
Thus, only by locking the energy inside its body through eating, then retreating somewhere to continue the absorption, could it minimize the losses of the process.
In addition, when it came to the spikes used for reproduction, the choice had to be made carefully. The most suitable one had to be selected.
From this meal, after the final conversion, seventy percent of the harvested energy would be allocated to the spikes, while the remaining thirty percent would go toward replenishing its own consumed energy and enhancing its strength.
Once Elder Dragons reached adulthood, the pace of growth slowed to a crawl, requiring vast stretches of time to sharpen and refine their power.
But with this harvest, Nergigante had essentially condensed twenty years of effort into a single moment.
The increase in strength equaled what an ordinary Elder Dragon would normally need nearly fifty years to attain.
As for why it did not devote all of the acquired energy to itself, waiting until it became far stronger before reproducing—
This was because, for an adult Nergigante, the drive to reproduce was etched into the deepest layer of its instincts. Every one of its actions was bound to revolve around this primal logic.
Nature demanded an immune system that embodied "death and rebirth," not a greedy, unchecked "cancer cell."
Thus, this was the "absolute limitation" of Nergigante's species.
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