Because of Aki's confident roar, that instinctive sense of separation faded greatly.
Next, in this harsh land of bioenergy crystals, Logan would begin to act according to his original plan.
Without excessive interference, he would ensure the safety of Aki and the others—allowing them, in this place overflowing with life energy, to take yet another step forward.
These past few days, Aki and her group had stood guard by his side; now, it was time for Logan to return that favor.
Since this area had been subjected to the long, scorching baptism of his Calamity Flame during the process of his metamorphosis, it could no longer serve as a dwelling place. And now that Logan had advanced, the next nesting ground should naturally be chosen in a location more suitable for Aki and the others to live.
Spreading his wings wide, Logan stirred up an ascending air current among his gleaming scales and flew toward the basalt zone.
...
At the border between the Ancient Tree area and the outer region of the Ancient Forest, a Wyverian girl wearing an alchemically crafted emerald-green cloak carefully avoided the groups of Jagras patrolling their territory as she searched through the area.
At last, she pushed aside a clump of ferns nearly 2 m tall, cut through the entwining vines, and climbed onto a massive boulder.
Finally, behind the boulder, she saw a cave entrance hidden among weeds and vines.
"Is it here?"
The Wyverian girl cautiously approached the mouth of the cave. She found no traces of any creatures crawling nearby, and the vines hanging over the entrance had grown thick and dense—it looked like a place no living being had set foot in for a long time.
Letting out a slow breath, she took out the small knife she carried with her and cut through the vines, revealing an entrance large enough for a person to enter.
She drew out a light source and, moving quietly on tiptoe, squeezed inside.
It was not a large cave. With the aid of the light in her hand, the Wyverian girl could clearly see everything within it at a glance.
Forest Geckos clustered around the faintly glowing moss scattered across the walls. Startled by the light, they scurried away in panic. From clumps of mushrooms growing in the cave's corners hung one Bitterbug after another.
Deeper within, a narrow underground stream emitted a faint, murmuring sound as it curved along the cave's edge.
Jumping down a step, following the increasingly distinct sensation guiding her, the Wyverian girl approached the stream and looked toward a gray shard already covered in moss.
With a light tap of her finger, the fragment broke apart at once. From the crack, it was clear this was a piece of eggshell left behind by some kind of monster.
Setting down the light, she took a small shovel from the pouch at her side. With her curiosity burning bright, the Wyverian girl began digging—scoop after scoop—along the spot where the eggshell fragment had been.
Time passed little by little as she dug deeper and deeper, until at last, a pit nearly half a meter deep had taken shape.
[Crack!]
A crisp sound rang out—the shovel met strong resistance, as if she had struck something solid.
Upon hearing that sound, the Wyverian girl's face finally revealed an expression of delight.
She slowed her movements and scraped away the soil along the edge.
Before long, as she reached out her hand, she lifted from the dirt a massive gem more than twenty centimeters in diameter—its core silver, its exterior encased in an icy-blue crystalline shell.
"An external-world product?"
Exposed to the air, the gem emitted a faint glow. Silver particles suffused with an icy-blue light floated through the air, and even those without any ability to sense energy could easily perceive the extraordinary power contained within this gem simply by witnessing its current manifestation.
The Wyverian girl slowly closed her eyes, as if listening to something.
"Desire, perfection, truth~"
After holding the gem for quite some time, the Wyverian girl opened her eyes again. The silver particles within the icy-blue radiance surrounding the gem merged into her skin, and the three fiery-red scales on her forehead—ordinarily resembling mere ornaments—gleamed faintly with a silvery metallic sheen, beginning to show signs of crystallization.
"I see—it's meant to be given to its true master? The final piece of the flawed puzzle!"
As one of the rare Wyverians attuned to bioenergy among the New World tribes, the girl's sensitivity to energy was exceptionally acute. Naturally, she also perceived the effects that this gem had on her body.
Yet almost instinctively, the Wyverian girl did not resist this transformation.
Casting one last glance around the dim cavern, she carefully wrapped the gem together with that fragment of eggshell inside a net pouch woven of spider silk, then tucked it into her backpack.
She once again put on her alchemical disguise cloak and crawled out of the cave.
Nimbly climbing up a nearby tall tree, she reached the top and looked toward the distance—toward that Ancient Tree towering high as though it pierced into the sky.
...
Few ordinary flying monsters roamed the Elder's Recess. First, most Flying Wyverns were ill-suited to the harsh environment of volcanic magma zones.
Second, any flying creature in this land would stand out too much—easily drawing the attention of Elder Dragons or certain exceedingly powerful Flying Wyverns.
Just like now!
In the basalt region, Aki was engaged in battle with a tempered Uragaan.
Although Uragaan occupied only the lowest ecological niche within the Elder's Recess, one must remember—this was the Elder's Recess! The ecosystem here included even Elder Dragons in its balance.
Monsters here, even of the same species, were far stronger than those elsewhere—let alone one that had survived long enough to become a tempered specimen.
It was no exaggeration to say that this tempered Uragaan would be considered an absolute apex predator in any ordinary volcanic zone.
Yet at this very moment, in a clash of strength against Aki, this monster was actually knocked over by Aki's violent charge.
A Brute Wyvern had lost in a contest of power against a Flying Wyvern!
Forcing her way through the Tempered Uragaan's exploding Explosive Rocks, Aki charged through the obstruction head-on and struck the just-rising Tempered Uragaan with a fierce tail whip.
With another injection of potent venom, the Tempered Uragaan could endure no longer.
It shook its head, driving Aki back with its sturdy jaw. Curling its body as it prepared to retreat, the heavy blood loss caused by the anticoagulant toxin had already rendered its body unbearably weak.
Its mind hazed; its body tilted and, without awareness, it flung itself out of its rolling motion—slamming heavily against a basalt wall.
Its once-powerful legs kicked reflexively; in its blurred vision, the final scene was only a massive fireball wreathed in faint blue-violet flames.
[Boom!]
The sound of the fiery explosion startled the nearby foraging monsters, while also drawing the attention of a native creature of the Elder's Recess.
"Roooaaar~~"
It came—flying in with its signature resonant roar!
Though Bazelgeuse in the Elder's Recess was not as unrestrained as those in other regions of the New World, by sensing the scale of battle it could still discern whether a fight was one it could afford to meddle in.
And so, having sensed the battle between Aki and the Tempered Uragaan, the Bazelgeuse glided down from a basalt height—fluid seeping from the gaps between its scales to form crimson explosive scales, ready to ignite at any moment.
However, this Bazelgeuse had only perceived the fight between Aki and the Tempered Uragaan. It failed to notice that within the crimson clouds above, a silver giant dragon had also set its gaze upon it.
[Bang!]
A faint sonic boom resounded, bursting open a ring of clouds.
A silver-white giant dragon shimmered with flowing light, abruptly intercepting the Bazelgeuse in midair.
Blue-violet Calamity Flames ignited across its entire body, twining relentlessly around the Bazelgeuse as it attacked.
Even with its incredibly thick scales and the flame resistance honed from years of living in the Elder's Recess, it still could not withstand such absolute heat.
The panicked Bazelgeuse had no time to turn away—it could only clash in close combat with Logan as the two plunged downward through the air.
Yet under the onslaught of the Calamity Flames burning upon Logan's body, it took only two exchanges before Logan seized its wings and slammed it viciously into the basalt below.
"Roar!!"
The Bazelgeuse let out a cry of agony. Supported by its powerful muscles, it forcibly propped its body upright. Overcome with fear and rage, it unhesitatingly chose to enter its Superheated State.
The explosive glands within its body accelerated their activation, excreting vast amounts of volatile fluid that soaked its heavy scales, turning the entire dragon a brilliant fiery red.
Once the activation of its explosive glands reached full intensity, and the power of its explosive scales was further enhanced, it would briefly possess combat strength on par with an Elder Dragon!
However, having experienced this stage himself, how could Logan possibly allow the Bazelgeuse such an opportunity?
A torrent of blue-violet flame breath, wrapped in a converging air current, surged downward—its terrifying heat instantly sweeping over the Bazelgeuse's entire body, hot enough to remelt basalt into magma.
The extraordinary temperature tore through the Bazelgeuse's outer scale defenses, forcibly igniting its explosive scales just as it was about to enter its Superheated State.
A deafening detonation thundered through the entire Elder's Recess. Riding the blast wave of this miniature nuclear explosion, Logan was hurled upward into the sky.
Fragments of basalt scattered in all directions.
The hollow basalt tunnel collapsed with a roar, and nearby volcanoes, destabilized by the explosion, erupted anew. Streams of magma spilled in every direction, driving the monsters living nearby to flee in panic in search of shelter.
While handling the corpse of the Tempered Uragaan, Aki felt the tremors from beneath her feet. Lifting her head warily, she scanned her surroundings in puzzlement.
Finding nothing unusual, she bit down on a large piece of Uragaan meat—firm and carrying a faint sour stench—then spread her wings and flew toward the upper ridge of the towering basalt cliffs.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---