The Shagaru Magala never imagined that what had seemed like a certain victory would leave it in such a pitiful state.
What was even more infuriating—part of this damage had come from its own hand!
How could it accept that?
It had never expected Logan to turn back with even stronger flames.
Nor had it imagined that a mere Chameleos could confine its dense Frenzy Virus scales into such a narrow space—so concentrated that even it hadn't dared to ignite them lightly.
At this moment, Shagaru Magala's heart seethed with turmoil. The violent instincts of the beast began to surge from deep within.
Back in its days as a Gore Magala, survival had depended entirely on patience and caution—living by one rule alone: endure and live on. That careful restraint had shaped its entire being.
But from another angle, that was nothing but suffocating repression.
After its successful molt into a Shagaru Magala, the Forbidden Grounds had held no Elder Dragon strong enough to challenge it. With its newfound strength, it could dictate the lives and deaths of all creatures within, even enslaving its former kin.
That intoxicating sense of dominance had become its greatest obsession.
And yet now—
It had been driven into such a miserable state by a creature that wasn't even an Elder Dragon.
Unforgivable. It could not and would not tolerate this!
So what if the opponent had Elder Dragon–level combat strength?
So what if it had allied with the Chameleos?
Today, it would test for itself whether one against two was truly impossible.
Shagaru Magala fixed a cold stare on Logan. Its heartbeat quickened. The scales that had been peeling swiftly from its wings slowed, while the Frenzy Virus within, stirred by the power of Frenzy, surged into its nervous system, flowing through its bloodstream. A crimson hue began to gleam in its eyes.
With a deafening roar, the dragon took to the air. The sound was like an angel from hell breaking its shackles to descend upon the mortal world. In that instant, it entered true Frenzy Form.
Dark, ominous energies coiled thickly around its body. Murky violet-black mist clung to its radiant, holy wings, producing a scene of twisted brilliance.
Corruption and sanctity. Majesty and cruelty. Two extremes fused together seamlessly upon its form, contradictory yet natural.
The terrifying pressure washed over the battlefield.
Facing a Shagaru Magala that had gone all in, Logan was not about to yield. His Pressure trait surged to the fullest, and he showed no fear.
He flapped his wings and rose steadily into the sky.
Suddenly—[Bang!]—the air cracked with a sonic boom, a shockwave bursting from Shagaru Magala's wings.
In Frenzy Form, all its abilities had sharpened. Its speed had leapt to another level. With less than a kilometer between them, it closed the distance in an instant. And as it charged, the sheer release of Frenzy power left behind a volatile viral field, saturated enough to ignite at any moment.
"Speed, is it?"
With Mind's Eye aiding him, Logan reacted the instant Shagaru Magala lunged. A sonic boom rang from his side as well. Using the updraft he had crafted himself, Logan soared higher without even flapping his wings, slipping past the Shagaru Magala's strike with ease.
The Shagaru Magala roared in unwilling fury. With a brutal twist of its massive wings, it smashed apart the turbulent air traps Logan had left behind and forced its way toward him with sheer strength.
From its maw, orbs of pitch-black energy spewed forth as though they cost nothing. Logan was not about to be outdone—he answered with volleys of Calamity Flame fireballs. The two forces clashed again and again across the sky in a relentless chase.
The Shagaru Magala longed to close the gap, to drag Logan into close combat.
But Logan wasn't a fool. A Shagaru Magala in Frenzy Form was a monster whose already formidable physique had only grown stronger. Outside of Elder Dragons built for raw melee, who in their right mind would try to brawl with it at close range?
Besides, speed was Logan's undeniable advantage. And now, with the searing bite of Calamity Flame, even the Shagaru Magala couldn't shrug off the damage. Why not kite it around like walking a dog?
Logan found it quite satisfying. The Shagaru Magala, however, clearly disagreed.
"ROAR! ROAR!" (Stop running! Fight me head-on! Weren't you so arrogant before? If you've got guts, don't run!)
That was, more or less, what the enraged howls meant in Logan's ears.
But perhaps because the Shagaru Magala had lived for ages in regions with so few other species, its insults carried no sting at all. Logan felt nothing—if anything, he wanted to laugh.
Still…
"Where the hell is that Chameleos? Don't tell me it ran off?"
If that were the case, Logan felt like he'd been well and truly duped.
This fight was bringing him no profit whatsoever—worse, it had saddled him with the Shagaru Magala's full attention.
"Hiss!"
A blast of emerald breath suddenly cut across the Shagaru Magala's path. Its virulent toxicity was so fierce that the dragon was forced to halt in mid-charge.
"Gwaaah!" (I'm here to help, gwaaah!)
The Chameleos hadn't even bothered to turn invisible—it stood there in plain sight, raising its head proudly as though expecting praise. And before Logan, still staring dumbfounded, it unleashed yet another plume of deadly venom straight at the Shagaru Magala.
Ruined—on top of that, the Chameleos was croaking loudly right at the Shagaru Magala.
Such blatant provocation lasted less than half a second before the Shagaru Magala shifted its target.
It couldn't be helped—Logan could fly too damn well.
Even for the Shagaru Magala, Frenzy Form placed a heavy burden on both stamina and energy. After such a seemingly endless chase, it had already started to consider giving up.
But now the Chameleos had popped up, and worse, had chosen to taunt it.
Perfect. A new target!
Seeing the Shagaru Magala change focus, Logan let out a breath of relief, using the opening to recover some strength.
The Blaze trait had given him a boost in flame quality, along with far more efficient energy conversion.
With Charred Body and Flash Fire cycling together, his fire-attribute energy consumption had dropped even further, allowing him to sustain combat longer.
But the physical fatigue remained.
Maintaining constant acceleration and the Gale Wings had drained him considerably. Any moment of rest was precious.
Unfortunately, Logan put far too much faith in the Chameleos's sense of honor.
"Gwaaah!" (Help, help, help!)
In less than half a minute, the Chameleos had been beaten so badly it was forced to activate invisibility. Yet even hidden, the Shagaru Magala's Frenzy scales sensed it and smashed it right back into view.
Forced to parry attacks while crying out for Logan's support, the Chameleos looked absurd—its vigorous display completely at odds with its panicked tone.
Logan's response was to ascend high into the sky, far from the battlefield.
If he couldn't hear it, it didn't exist.
What a joke—how much recovery could half a minute bring?
Logan had seen through it now: the moment he went to help, the Chameleos would vanish, leaving him to shoulder the fight alone again.
Better to wait, recover more, and look for the right moment.
Hearing the tragic, mournful cries of Chameleos below, Logan remained utterly unmoved.
He knew well enough that for a clumsy, disaster-type Elder Dragon like Chameleos—especially one unsuited for head-on combat—going up against a Frenzied Shagaru Magala was a tall order.
But no matter what, Chameleos was still an Elder Dragon. At the very least, it possessed the defense and vitality worthy of that title.
As long as it focused solely on defense and evasion, it could hold out for a while. At most, it would just suffer some hardship.
Besides, for all its crying, Chameleos hadn't surrendered, nor had it fled. If it had truly been beaten half to death, would it still stick around?
And Shagaru Magala wasn't about to waste excess energy hunting down a creature that could vanish at any moment.
In short, Logan very deliberately chose to ignore both Shagaru Magala's heat sensing and the question of whether Chameleos could actually slip away.
Up in the sky, he began to fully activate his Regeneration, drawing on the life force within his body to accelerate recovery from the injuries he had sustained in that last explosion.
During that blast, thanks to Charred Body, his scales had hardened enough to match Elder Dragon defense—but the shockwave still rattled his organs. Before he had a chance to heal, he had been forced straight into a pursuit against a Frenzied Shagaru Magala.
That was why, now, he had to seize every moment to mend his wounds.
As for why his body still brimmed with life force while his fire attribute energy had already slipped into exhaustion—
It was because Logan, at this stage, could only be considered an Elder Dragon-level creature, not a true Elder Dragon.
He simply couldn't do what Elders could—directly converting life energy into their unique elemental power. Within his body, fire energy and life force were not interchangeable!
So far, the only trait that allowed him to draw on life energy at all was Regeneration.
Perhaps someday, when he became that being, he would finally be able to truly wield life force.
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