The Gore Magala that had been summoned by command temporarily hid themselves, while the Shagaru Magala sped swiftly toward the direction of the Chameleos.
At this moment, the Chameleos was happily spreading its poisonous mist, even toying with the idea of making a game out of it—here a puff, there a puff. For a while, the Coral Highlands looked like a fireworks display, clusters blooming here and there. From above, the sight carried a faint hint of comedy.
...
Since that day when he had watched Nergigante's battle while idly eating melon seeds, Logan had searched the Coral Highlands for many days. Counting carefully, it had been nearly a month since he left the Ancient Tree. He had no idea what might have happened there—whether signs of a Frenzy Virus outbreak had already begun.
Had Aki run into trouble? Was she waiting in the nest for him every day?
The thought left him vaguely restless.
What irritated him even more was that ever since the death of the Chaotic Gore Magala, the Gore Magala had vanished without a trace. For several days in a row, he hadn't seen a single one. It even made him suspect whether the Coral Highlands' Gore Magala had all been wiped out.
On top of that, the Frenzy Virus seemed to have grown stronger. For the past two days, the flames on his body had never once gone out. Even when sleeping at night, he had to find a spot that wouldn't catch fire. More and more monsters were falling to Frenzy Virus, and the infection rate among higher-tier species had risen drastically.
It was a very ominous sign. The Coral Highlands at this moment gave Logan the feeling of a storm brewing, of winds filling the tower before disaster struck.
Once more he banked sideways, flying through the gap between two plateaus. Suddenly, his vision went white as he broke into a dense fog.
"Fog in the Coral Highlands?"
The terrain here was high, with strong updrafts. Fog normally shouldn't appear in the upper layers.
What's more, the instant he entered the thick fog, he distinctly felt his internal fire energy begin to drain at a slightly faster rate. This white fog was clearly not normal!
If it had been water vapor, Logan might have thought of a Namielle—but this was obviously not that.
Added to the faint sense of familiarity…
"Chameleos? Could it be the same one from before?"
At first, Logan was startled. Then his heart sank.
If it was that very same Chameleos, he no longer feared it. In fact, if the chance came, he wouldn't mind trading blows once more.
He was no longer that helpless young wyvern with no way to deal with poisonous mist!
His wings flared violently with fire, and his whole body shot skyward.
Wherever he passed, both the white fog and the black scales were burned away by searing flames.
Breaking out of the fog's range, Logan looked down from the sky.
The next moment, the serious look in his eyes froze in surprise.
"What the hell is this…?"
Below, the patches of white fog clustered here and there like giant white mushrooms sprouting from the plateau. What was even stranger—they had somehow compressed the purple-scaled zone into a perfect nine-square grid.
Just then, off in the distance, another "white mushroom" began to grow, swelling larger and larger.
Curious, Logan angled his wings, preparing to fly toward it.
The Frenzy Virus scales that had long shrouded the Coral Highlands suddenly began to churn. In the next instant, the vast black scales, like a ravenous beast, devoured the newly risen "white mushroom" in its entirety.
The entire expanse of black scales radiated an oppressive force that pressed heavily upon Logan.
It felt like the abyss itself—like the very heart of darkness!
Compared to this black mist, even the zone once spread by the Chaotic Gore Magala's scales seemed pale and unimpressive.
There was no mistaking it—the one capable of stirring Frenzy Virus on such a scale could only be one being.
"So, it really is a Shagaru Magala? Why hasn't it returned to its Forbidden Grounds? What is it doing lingering here in the New World? Is it truly not afraid of being besieged by other Elder Dragons?"
Battles between Elder Dragons were rarely decisive in a one-on-one fight. Even Nergigante could only wear its prey down through relentless pursuit, preventing recovery of injuries until the hunt was complete—and even then, the chance of failure was high.
Two-on-one, even three-on-one, and escape was still possible—though at a heavy cost.
After all, what Elder Dragon lacked some means of survival?
But if surrounded by several others at once, unless one possessed overwhelming, unmatched strength—and no natural counters among them—then the only outcome was death.
And given Shagaru Magala's unique nature, coupled with the fact that the New World was currently in the midst of an Elder Dragon outbreak, the conditions for multiple Elder Dragons to converge upon it were already in place.
"But why is Shagaru Magala fighting with Chameleos?"
Unless driven by necessity, or by an incursion into territory, Elder Dragons rarely fought among themselves.
Just then, the Frenzy Virus scales shrouded in white mist thickened once again, spreading outward toward the edges. At the same time, the white mist abruptly reappeared, forcing its way through the black haze with stubborn resilience.
It expanded like a platter carried along by the spreading Frenzy Virus.
White mist and black mist intertwined, clashing and eroding one another.
Though the white mist occupied only the lower third of the battlefield, the black fog above it could not fully smother it. Between them, a sharp, unmistakable boundary line was drawn.
Seeing the black mist of Frenzy Virus and the white mist of Chameleos rapidly spreading across the plateau below, countless creatures panicked and fled in all directions. Logan thought for a moment, then ignited his entire body in flame and flew toward the spot where the white mist had first begun to rise.
The moment he entered the black mist, the Frenzy Virus scales seemed drawn to him, swarming forward in endless waves—only to be completely repelled by his flames.
Feeling the fire energy within his flame sacs beginning to drain at a faster rate, Logan beat his wings, stirring up strong currents of air. By cutting through the fog with wind, he both reduced his energy consumption and accelerated his flight.
Before long, Logan reached the very center of the dense haze.
Here, black and white energy intertwined, as if forming a realm of chaos.
And within that chaos, a pair of radiant platinum wings darted back and forth.
Sphere after sphere of pure energy rained down upon a single point, detonating in powerful explosions.
Unlike the Chaotic Gore Magala, which used such blasts to spread Frenzy Virus, the Shagaru Magala's energy spheres existed solely to annihilate its foe. Though both took the form of orbs, the destructive force contained within these was on an entirely different level.
In the face of Shagaru Magala's relentless assault, the silhouette of Chameleos flickered in and out of view. Its heavy limbs stumbled clumsily as it tried to evade, spitting streams of venomous breath in counterattack—yet Shagaru Magala evaded them with ease.
For a time, Chameleos looked utterly wretched.
It was obvious that in this battlefield where black and white mist clashed, Shagaru Magala had completely locked onto it. With no ability to turn invisible, outmatched in ranged attacks, its poison mist suppressed by the Frenzy Virus, only close combat remained.
But with a body far less agile than most Elder Dragons, how could it possibly contend against Shagaru Magala—four-legged, with an additional pair of powerful wing claws?
"Family, who can understand me? I came out on a trip and ended up getting beaten senseless by a dragon!"
Chameleos nearly burst into tears. As it frantically considered how to escape—whether it should leap into the Rotten Vale below and use the miasma to slip away—its swiveling eyes suddenly caught sight of Logan, tearing through the black mist and appearing on the scene.
Its eyes lit up instantly!
Chameleos never expected to run into such a "familiar old dragon" here!
Though that dragon had never seen it before, it itself had seen the other.
With Logan's strength—enough to make even Chameleos feel threatened—if they joined forces, then it wouldn't have to keep running anymore!
Sure enough, heaven never disappoints a diligent dragon!
It hadn't been for nothing, rushing all the way from its Astera stronghold only to end up beaten along the way.
If the two of them attacked together, even if they couldn't necessarily defeat this unknown dragon, holding it at a stalemate wouldn't be a problem. At that point, even if they retreated, this troublemaker wouldn't dare risk chasing them down.
That was simply perfect!
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