Relying on his Gale Wings Trait to calm the surrounding storm, Logan's eyes swept about continuously, searching for a certain figure.
The Kushala Daora believed that as long as it did not disrupt the ecosystem and merely released its aura, nothing would happen—but in Logan's eyes, such behavior was no different from those brainless fools.
Whether the Kushala Daora had lost its wits, or had simply failed to grasp the truth even after all its long years, he did not know.
Even if it had never encountered a Nergigante before, it must have seen Elder Dragons similar to it, right?
And yet, for some reason, after searching for quite some time, Logan still found no trace of the Nergigante. The Kushala Daora was acting so arrogantly, not even trying to conceal its aura—how could that not have drawn the Nergigante here?
At that moment, the air temperature suddenly began to drop.
Crystalline flakes drifted down from the sky, as frost settled over the dust clouds in the air and fell upon the ground with a sizzling hiss.
A gust of wind blew past, and even the Azure Rathalos, long accustomed to the environment of the Elder's Recess, felt a chill run across its scales.
Ice mist in a volcanic region!
Although the Kushala Daora could manipulate weather and conjure blizzards, in a volcanic zone it could at most bring about a bit of rain—it was impossible for the temperature to fall this drastically all at once.
Suddenly, Logan's gaze locked onto a volcanic crater.
There, the magma was surging violently, and with a faint tremor, vast plumes of black smoke burst skyward.
It was a sign of an impending eruption!
[Boom!]
With a thunderous roar, the volcano erupted.
Vast quantities of magma surged skyward, the crimson lava dyeing even the dust clouds red.
However, in the very next instant, beginning from the volcano's vent, the erupting magma rapidly turned blackish-purple from the root, and at a speed visible to the naked eye, it swiftly spread toward the top.
Before the erupting volcanic lava could disperse, it was frozen midair by the extreme cold into a stamen-like shape—like a blooming obsidian flower atop the volcano itself.
This extraordinary disturbance naturally drew the attention of many monsters.
Accompanied by a crisp cracking sound, like shattering glass, fissures began to appear at the center of that "flower."
Layer after layer of breaking sounds followed, faster and faster, more and more urgent.
At the very peak, the obsidian burst apart, countless sharp fragments scattering together with the bioenergy crystals.
The crisp sound of shattering glass transformed into ethereal, melodious notes—as upon blue ice crystals, the exquisite Ice Dragon that Freezes All unveiled the veil of icy mist, appearing slowly in rhythm with the music.
With an ethereal dragon's roar, blue ice as light as gauze began to spread outward; supercooled water flowed from her scales, forming a splendid and dazzling armor of ice upon her mineral shell.
The armor extended all the way to the head, where it took shape as massive ice horns resembling a crown.
This was the most magnificent and graceful dragon in the world—Velkhana!
Moreover, compared to ordinary Velkhana, this one was larger in body size, and the volcanic glass upon her was nearly a deep, abyssal purple.
It was known that the lower the temperature of a Velkhana's supercooled water, the deeper the hue of the solidified volcanic glass would become.
With the Velkhana's emergence, the temperature in the air dropped even further.
This made Logan feel extremely uncomfortable.
His body instinctively activated the Sunlight Trait, restoring the temperature of the area around him to its original state.
Not only Logan—other Elder Dragons hidden within the Elder's Recess also used their own methods to isolate themselves from the sudden cold.
Yet all of them, with tacit understanding, limited the scope of their influence to the areas immediately around themselves.
As warmth returned, the Azure Rathalos, gazing in reverence at Logan's back, slowly descended onto the basalt and shook its body, scattering the volcanic ash clinging to its scales.
From afar, the Kushala Daora looked toward the Velkhana. For some reason, even though the other was simply hovering there quietly—neither releasing any aura nor showing hostility—it nonetheless sensed danger.
This made the Kushala Daora somewhat uncomfortable. Already not an Elder Dragon with a gentle temperament, and coincidentally entering its molting period—its body edges beginning to show traces of rust—it developed the urge to establish its dominance.
Unlike in the Ancient Forest, this time there were no significant climatic anomalies, nor did it excessively draw upon its own powers.
Merely wrapped in swirling winds, the Kushala Daora charged forward.
As an Elder Dragon whose internal energy had reached the peak of its life, facing the Velkhana one-on-one and without invoking its power, the Kushala Daora did not believe it would lose.
Or rather, even if it did lose, it would not be too disgraceful.
With that thought in mind, the Kushala Daora unleashed its breath and rushed in.
But what met it was a flash of icy light.
This Velkhana displayed astonishing agility.
After exchanging breaths with it, she actually managed to close in upon the Kushala Daora.
The icy blade spines on her tail let out an ear-piercing slicing sound, forcing the Kushala Daora to whip up a gale and retreat explosively.
On its hard metallic wings appeared a striking slash mark, rimmed with a thick layer of frost.
Before it could counterattack, from the sky, massive and sharp ice blocks—each four to five meters wide—fell from high above, striking the Kushala Daora, which had failed to summon winds in time to scatter them. Another coating of frost formed upon its body.
The Velkhana's assault was not as fierce or frantic as the Kushala Daora's. She moved like a hunter who had arranged every step in advance—each strike leading seamlessly into the next.
Without using its power, the Kushala Daora was gradually drawn into the Velkhana's rhythm of battle. There were no particularly violent collisions, nor any moves that could devastate the surrounding ecosystem—
Yet the Kushala Daora kept falling further and further behind. By the end, it could only launch the occasional counterattack; the rest of the time, it was either dodging or being struck.
Despite having lived through countless years and battles, the Kushala Daora, in this fight against the Velkhana, appeared no different from a fledgling, inexperienced dragon.
Though in a certain sense, this Kushala Daora could indeed be considered a rookie before the Velkhana.
After all, that Velkhana was an Arch-Tempered Velkhana.
The volcanic glass armor of an ordinary Velkhana was blue with a purplish hue, whereas only an Arch-Tempered Velkhana possessed volcanic glass armor that was entirely purple with a metallic sheen.
Tempered individuals, whether Elder Dragons or ordinary monsters, were not rare in the New World, and their strength improvements were generally expressed through heightened abilities.
However, the Arch-Tempered was a type of individual who, upon reaching the limit of its lifespan, successfully sought life within death, breaking through that limit and obtaining not only further enhancements to all bodily parameters but also a renewed, extended lifespan.
Although this improvement was still insufficient for the Monster to ascend another step in its ecological niche, there was no doubt that every Arch-Tempered Monster was an exceedingly troublesome existence.
Thus, a one-sided beating—marked by an overwhelming gap in experience and energy output efficiency—unfolded in the skies above the Elder's Recess.
From one of the highest basalt ridges, another aged Kushala Daora from the First Fleet era watched its kin being mercilessly battered. Its heart remained utterly calm, showing no ripple of emotion—only a trace of envy in its gaze as it stared fixedly at the Arch-Tempered Velkhana.
Every Elder Dragon that had crossed over, except for the Teostra from the Second Fleet era whose purpose was reproduction, had the same ultimate goal—to break through the limit of lifespan.
If they failed, then in their final year, their only options were to leap into the volcano or walk through the Everstream, descending into the Rotten Vale to await eternal slumber.
After enduring the one-sided beating for a long time, the Kushala Daora nearly lost control several times, almost unleashing its authority over the storm. Fortunately, as it had only just begun molting and had not yet reached the stage of becoming a Rusted Kushala Daora, it somehow managed to suppress its urge.
When its wings were once again frozen solid by the extreme-cold breath, the Kushala Daora finally reached its limit. In anger and humiliation, it chose to swallow its pride!
Raising a pitch-black tornado to cut off the Arch-Tempered Velkhana's line of sight, it scattered the frost upon its body and, without looking back, flew straight toward the sea.
As for the Arch-Tempered Velkhana, it chose not to pursue. After all, this battle had only erupted because it had been disturbed while "changing clothes," and it was merely venting its irritation.
Beating the opponent up was enough; after all, even an Arch-Tempered could not easily kill an Elder Dragon—not even an aged one.
What's more, for the Elder Dragons that lived within the Elder's Recess, every aged Elder Dragon was an existence of immense importance.
After all, upon the death of an aged Elder Dragon, the life energy within its body became one of the components of the bioenergy crystal.
However, though the Arch-Tempered Velkhana did not intend to pursue, there would always be some monster unwilling to let go of such an obvious target.
After confirming that the Arch-Tempered Velkhana had withdrawn its aura and truly spared the Kushala Daora, a massive black hedgehog burst forth from among the crystal clusters, taking flight without hesitation and chasing in the direction the Kushala Daora had fled.
To this, the Elder Dragons of the Elder's Recess were no longer surprised. Whether it could win or not, or whether the hunt would succeed or fail, this Nergigante would always choose to rush forward and bite a few times first.
Over these years, which Elder Dragon that had crossed over to this land hadn't been chased by Nergigante?
Fortunately, this creature, after engaging and discovering that it could not win—or that the gain was not worth the effort—would, most of the time, simply ignore its target and go in search of a new one. This habit allowed many Elder Dragons whose lifespans had only a few decades remaining to attempt in peace to break through their lifespan limits.
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