Yuno returned to the cave entrance and stared out over the ocean. The rising sea had swallowed what was once the barren and expansive Wildspire Waste.
Countless creatures cried out in despair as the water surged over their habitats. Flying monsters flapped desperately in the hurricane winds, wishing they had more wings to climb higher.
Dozens of female Rathians shrieked in pain, clutching onto as many hatchlings as their talons could hold, fleeing from their drowning nesting grounds that would soon be ocean.
The sea level continued to rise, creeping steadily up the cliffside until it devoured the lower pools near their nest.
Yuno didn't know how much higher the water would go, but they had to start preparing.
Aki took the lead, gripping one herbivore in her jaws and another in her claws as she flew toward the upper cliffside.
Yuno followed suit, grabbing two smaller herbivores and gliding up behind her.
Far off in the sky, the Kushala Daora had halted its advance. Its cold, metallic eyes were locked onto the Ancient Forest.
Its wings unfolded wide like a starry night sky, mysterious and threatening, wrapped in torrents of water, lightning coursing through the air.
And then, the storm dragon charged toward Kushala Daora, riding upon crashing waves and surging thunder.
Even aged, its shell rimmed with white, the steel dragon showed no fear. With a furious roar that tore through the gale, it conjured sky-piercing waterspouts with its spiraling cyclones.
The tempest of wind roared to life as Kushala Daora pushed its life force to the limit, charging in with no hesitation.
Yuno stood atop the cliff, letting the heavy rain beat down on him, his eyes locked on the distant battlefield without blinking.
But despite his sharp vision as a Rathalos, the torrential rain and wind rendered the clash invisible. He couldn't see anything.
Not even qualified to spectate, such was the level of this Elder Dragon battle.
The clash between Kushala Daora and Namielle raged on for a long time.
In the end, Kushala Daora withdrew. Its Elder Crossing had failed.
Namielle, as always, came and vanished like a mystery, now gone without a trace.
As their battle ended, the storm gradually faded.
Sunlight returned. The seawater retreated, revealing once more the land that had been submerged.
Nature, with its incredible resilience, would surely revive this battered terrain. Vegetation would regrow, and life would return.
And on the cliff that connected the Ancient Forest to the Waste, a colossal dragonbone ship now lay forever stranded atop the mountain.
The young dreamers and elite experts who had arrived with hope in their hearts had been battered by nature's wrath. But they didn't give up.
Instead, they regrouped, restored their confidence, and, using the Star Vessel as their base, began constructing the outpost, gathering resources and adapting to local conditions.
Yuno and Aki returned to their nest, narrowly spared by the rising sea. The cliffside nest had been nearly reached by the tide. Though some water had surged in during the storm, the inner stream carried it back out once the waters receded.
Yuno lay dazed at the high point of the nest, staring blankly, while Aki destroyed their old bedding and flew in and out, gathering fresh branches to rebuild it.
This wasn't a game.
And Elder Dragons weren't game-like bosses that breathed fire, spun around a few times, and then charged blindly at you.
The battle between Kushala Daora and Namielle had made that painfully clear.
It wasn't just a fight, it was a natural disaster on display.
Storms, lightning, waves, chaotic, elemental destruction was their language.
Ordinary monsters?
They didn't even qualify to get close, let alone fight.
Yuno hadn't been able to witness the fight directly. But he had seen a massive Diablos caught in a towering waterspout conjured by Kushala, hurled into the sky like a toy.
It had probably died instantly.
And that was just collateral damage.
Of course, maybe this particular Kushala Daora and Namielle were outliers.
Not all Elder Dragons were this powerful, perhaps.
Even regular monsters had massive differences in individual strength, Elder Dragons, surely more so.
But one truth couldn't be denied:
Any Elder Dragon capable of manipulating natural disasters sits firmly at the top of the food chain.
At that moment, Yuno felt deeply how small he truly was.
And he understood, this world's ecosystem was overwhelming.
Even a sky-sovereign like Kushala Daora could be beaten and forced to retreat by Namielle.
So long as you exist within the food chain, the system of nature will always impose its rules on you.
Perhaps only those that surpass the world entirely, transcending the ecosystem, those "forbidden" beings, are truly free.
The battle of the Elder Dragons had ended.
But life had to go on.
Because large parts of the Forest and Waste had been submerged, living space was drastically reduced. As a result, the remaining regions descended into chaos.
Herbivores scrambled for new homes. Carnivores clashed over fresh territory.
It was inevitable, another brutal survival contest.
Winners would live. Losers would become nutrients for the New World.
But none of that mattered to Yuno and Aki.
With intelligence far beyond their kin, they had already prepared.
Their stockpile of food was immense.
While other monsters tore each other apart, they simply stayed tucked away in their nest, waiting it out.
And just like that, five years passed.
Thanks to the New World's incredible self-healing ability, the devastated regions blossomed once more.
Countless creatures returned, reshaping the environment and rebalancing the ecosystem.
But now, alongside the native monsters, one new group had joined the mix,
The Research Commission.
In the sky, a nearly nine-meter-long Rathalos flew overhead.
Its crimson scales were immaculate, its frame athletic and flawlessly proportioned, muscles beneath the hide hinted at terrifying power, ready to erupt at any moment.
Razor-edged spines gleamed coldly in the sun.
Though smaller than a fully mature Elder beast, this dragon had already begun to radiate the aura of a King of the Skies.
He selected his target.
And then dove,
A fiery comet blazing down from above.
In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance.
Claws slammed into the herbivore's neck.
The moment they touched, before he even exerted force, flames erupted from the creature's hide.
Coiling fire danced across Yuno's body, incinerating anything that dared to approach.
[Flame Body: When combat begins, fire wraps around the body, burning anything it touches. Flame intensity scales with the user's own firepower.]
With a single thought, the flames were absorbed into the seams between his scales.
The heat faded with the wind.
[Ignition: Absorbs surrounding flames to enhance fire-based skills. The volume of flames that can be absorbed increases with the user's constitution.]
Both [Flame Body] and [Ignition] were traits acquired during the past five years.
Yuno had developed them thoroughly.
Now, he could actively trigger [Ignition] and even absorb his own [Flame Body] flames into it.
And [Flame Body] didn't just let him emit fire, it massively boosted his resistance to heat.
At times, Yuno even wondered if he was immune to fire entirely.
But after provoking a particularly cranky Anjanath out of boredom, he found out otherwise.
When it unleashed its full-powered flame breath, it still stung.
Well… it was hot.
That's all.
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400 P.S = 2 Extra Chapters