The corpse of the Kestodon hadn't rotted yet; it was still plump, not yet steamed into jerky by the scorching daytime heat of the Wildspire Waste.
The only thing that had dried out was the blood that flowed from its body, which had turned into dark red scabs fused with the texture of the stone surface, resembling a grotesque painting.
Detective Glavenus Holmes was now online. Asterion was certain that this Kestodon had died in agony. A scale dropped from the sky had severed its spine directly, pinning it firmly to the rock.
Pain, massive blood loss, and the instinctive struggle only hastened its death. The Kestodon's claws had left white gouges on the rock—but most importantly, its death was exceptionally casual.
It wasn't a kill for food, but purely killing for the sake of killing.
The Seregios is a dragon just like the Tigrex; even when full, it actively chases down prey to kill. This Kestodon was actually lucky to have merely bled to death rather than being trampled or torn apart by a Seregios.
Asterion could visualize the scene: the Seregios flying overhead glanced at a Kestodon running on the ground, then dumped a barrage of scales from the sky to kill it, eventually flying off without even landing for a bite.
As a dragon who cherished food, Asterion strongly condemned this wastefulness and vowed to enforce justice, planning to teach the Seregios ruling this area a lesson.
The corpse hadn't turned to jerky, which meant the slaughter happened very recently. The golden scales on the rock were also pristine, showing no signs of sand erosion. The traces Asterion had found previously were mostly old and dusty, with scales that were either decayed or heavily worn.
All signs declared that this area was a hunting ground for one or more Seregios. As long as he waited here, they would appear sooner or later.
There couldn't be anything better than this.
The blazing sun heated Asterion's shell. This temperature was actually quite comfortable for a Glavenus. He didn't even bother looking for a cool canyon to hide in; instead, Asterion stood brazenly on a massive stone pillar protruding from the ground—it was large enough for a Glavenus to stand and move around on, so it could fully be called a stone platform.
After years of weathering, this platform might fracture into a canyon, or be ground down into a flat plain... of course, it was also possible that seismic activity would squeeze it back deep underground, never to see the light of day again.
Sprawled atop this conspicuous stone platform, lost in thought, Asterion went nowhere, ensuring that if a Seregios flew by, it would spot him immediately.
Asterion even spent some time wandering around the immediate area. He left massive, obvious marks on the rock walls and ground with his sword-tail, spat out some slag, and hacked at the stones here and there—shaving the flat parts until they were uneven, and hewing the uneven parts until they were flat.
The only pity was that he didn't defecate, so he couldn't use dung to mark his territory, missing out on a lot of taunting methods.
Sigh, can't poop. Truly an incomplete dragon.
Asterion feigned a sigh. Regardless, once the Seregios noticed his existence, he wasn't worried about the dragon running away—in a sense, the Seregios was the Honey Badger of the wyvern world.
Its ferocity and belligerence were no joke. Especially since Asterion, a large monster, had appeared so brazenly in its territory; given the Seregios's territorial instincts, it would absolutely explode with rage.
Asterion had already eaten the corpse of the poor Kestodon and, incidentally, the Seregios scales. He had ample time and energy to await the Seregios's arrival.
The sun rose, set, and rose again... There was even dew clinging to Asterion's shell, waiting for the full rise of the sun to evaporate it away.
When it came to hunting, he possessed a patience that would shock a dragon.
Finally, in the distant sky, amidst the lingering morning glow, Asterion caught sight of a tiny shadow.
Like the silhouette of a wild goose, a pair of wings spread open—accompanied by sharp, whistling screeches.
Ah, buddy, the eagle-like dragon is flying.
Asterion had finally waited out his prey. The Seregios's roar is extremely recognizable; after all, when this guy roars, it sounds less like a dragon and more like a bird of prey screeching.
A chicken scream.
It has to be said, before the scholars of the Wycademy confirmed the Seregios as a Flying Wyvern, it had always been classified as a Bird Wyvern.
Tears. The Bird Wyverns lost a top general.
"Roar!!!"
Standing up on the stone platform, Asterion stretched his body, which was stiff from maintaining the same pose for so long, and let out a roar.
Provocation! A challenge to battle!
"Guaaaa!!!"
The Seregios in the sky had undoubtedly discovered Asterion. Its screech became clearer—a sharp, high-frequency call that really didn't sound much like a dragon's roar.
The word "cry" would be more accurate.
Closer. It was getting closer. The Seregios's attack stance was completely different from a Rathalos or Astalos. It was like a giant eagle; as it approached Asterion's position, it suddenly tucked its wings tight against its body, shooting toward Asterion like an arrow!
Asterion wouldn't choose to tank this gravity-assisted move. He had absolutely no intention of trading blows with a Spinning Tail against the Seregios. Asterion's gaze was locked dead on the diving Seregios—three hundred meters! Two hundred meters! One hundred meters!
Jump!!!
Just a moment before impact, the Seregios suddenly flipped its wings, pulling its head—which was originally at the lowest point—up high, replacing it with a pair of suddenly extended talons!
Two claws front and back, forming an X-shaped zygodactyl structure. Hard, strong, and capable of locking onto prey with a death grip.
It's not a tumbler pigeon; buddy, that's an eagle-style attack!
It was truly just like a bird, especially the way it dove from high altitude and used its talons to grab and trample prey near the ground.
Given the sharpness of the Seregios's talons, Asterion didn't doubt for a second that those four pointed claws could easily pierce into the body of prey with weak defenses, locking them down so they couldn't escape.
That is, provided the strike actually caught the prey.
As an Intelligence Glavenus, the most terrifying thing about Asterion, at least so far, was the intelligence he possessed regarding other monsters—this allowed him to play to his strengths and avoid weaknesses during combat, unlike inexperienced monsters who had to learn the hard way after taking a beating.
Asterion was already well aware of the Seregios's general attack patterns. Therefore, when the Seregios dove from the sky, he was already prepared.
The Glavenus's powerful leg muscles burst with astonishing force in an instant. Just as the Seregios flipped its body near the ground to reveal its legs, Asterion lunged toward the other side of the stone platform.
Boom!!
Gravity plus acceleration. The Seregios's talons forcefully shoveled off a layer of stone where Asterion had just been standing, leaving several exceptionally clear gouges.
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack!
In Asterion's gaze, from tail to back, from wings to head, the Seregios's scales vibrated like a precision machine. Like ripples raised by a wave, they surged from bottom to top, striking against each other to create a crisp metallic clatter.
Unlike the Rathian, the Seregios's skeleton is closer to quadrupedal Flying Wyverns like the Tigrex and Nargacuga, but it didn't choose to crawl low to the ground like them. Instead, it embraced the sky, maintaining an upright upper body even when walking.
As its golden wings spread, the rows of golden scales on the wing membranes were clearly visible. Each wing membrane also housed three wing bones, but even more conspicuous was the massive, blade-like single horn on the Seregios's head. The area around its eyes featured red scales like Kratos's war paint, exposing its murderous intent.
Those scales, currently emitting a dense and crisp trembling sound to intimidate Asterion, were the origin of the name Seregios (Thousand Blade Dragon). This dragon is a rare monster covered entirely in "reverse scales."
Normally, dragon scales cover the body from head to tail, but the Seregios is different. Their scales grow from tail to head, stacking layer upon layer forward, and they flare up when the dragon is angry or attacking.
Head, back, tail, wings.
Uh, just like right now... looking like a dried autumn pinecone, layer upon distinct layer.
Although the Seregios lacked some prestige in the game, Asterion didn't doubt the sharpness of this guy's scales for a second—thin, sharp, and they regenerated extremely fast.
When a Seregios shoots its own scales as weapons at an enemy, it can regenerate new scales in a very short time.
It was actually a bit like a hidden weapon master from a martial arts novel.
To be honest, the Seregios was the type of opponent Asterion didn't really like, simply because this guy could treat its scales like throwing knives.
Dreaming of shooting Asterion to death with scales was pure fantasy, but the problem lay with his carapace—his Airbag Carapace couldn't counter this move; it would only be wasted by the scales the Seregios shot out.
At such a distance, even if the Airbag Carapace exploded, it couldn't hurt the Seregios at all.
Purely getting freeloaded on.
Having analyzed the advantages and disadvantages clearly, Asterion had absolutely no intention of fighting a pitched battle with the Seregios here. The goal of attracting it had been achieved anyway.
"Roar!!" (Kill you!)
Letting out a threatening roar, just as the Seregios angrily raised its head—leaving the Seregios dumbfounded on the spot—Asterion turned around and ran without hesitation.
Huh?
This Seregios had seen a Glavenus before. It knew this type of dragon with a massive lump of ore on its tail that relied on said tail to attack. It had seen them, and fought them.
Therefore, it was very familiar with the personality of this species. Its warlike nature was no different from its own—so what the hell was this U-turn?!
It took a few seconds of confusion for the Seregios to realize it should give chase. It roared in anger, then flapped its wings to take flight once more.
And in those few seconds while the Seregios doubted its draconic life, Asterion had already legged it a considerable distance.
He wasn't worried at all about whether the Seregios would chase him. If it didn't chase, it wouldn't be a Seregios.
Whoosh! Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-whoosh!
The sound of countless sharp objects cutting through the air overlapped. Asterion found the right moment to glance back and saw the guy hanging in the sky behind him, suddenly snapping its wings forward to shoot out who knows how many golden Blade Scales!
Ding! Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!
It was like rain, except the rain was knives. Several Blade Scales grazed past Asterion with whistling wind sounds, nailing into the rock like spikes.
And also—Boom!!!
Grass! (Damn it!)
Asterion wanted to curse. Don't scratch my armor!!
Yes, those two nearly simultaneous explosions were the sound of Asterion's Airbag Carapace detonating. Under the puncture of several Blade Scales, it would have been against the laws of nature for them not to explode.
The only fortunate point was that under the influence of the shockwaves kicked up by the first few Airbag Carapaces exploding, the flight paths of some Blade Scales meant to stick into Asterion were blown askew, falling onto nearby rocks and avoiding further loss.
His teeth were about to shatter from clenching. The pain wasn't physical, but psychological—the pain of the wallet!
The Airbag Carapace, this transitional evolutionary feature, had repeatedly exposed its shortcomings. Once the timing allowed later, or he found new materials suitable for evolution, Asterion vowed he would absolutely swap out this expensive and limited carapace!
Specific applications are never as convenient as all-purpose ones.
But right now... Asterion, fight and retreat!
Feigning helplessness against the flying Seregios—er, okay, not feigning; Asterion really didn't have much of a way to deal with a Seregios flying in the sky. He kept turning back to spit magma fireballs at the Seregios, but with the speed of the magma fireballs, hitting the Seregios was practically impossible.
So, Asterion maintained his fleeing posture, trailing a Seregios constantly shooting Blade Scales behind him, along with magma fireballs that missed their target and exploded on the ground.
Closer. He was getting closer to Asterion's pre-set battlefield—his trap.
It had been a long time, but the Intelligence Glavenus had set a trap once again.
You like flying, right?
You like shooting me with Blade Scales from the sky, right?
Just wait!
Running among the scattered rocks, Asterion cursed unhappily. This dragon that could fly and attack from range was simply too shameless—too despicable!!
How can you be so selfish?!
The real world didn't need to consider gameplay balance. This Seregios was acting like a lunatic, with absolutely no intention of landing to exchange blows with Asterion. It just hung in the sky, incessantly shooting Blade Scales at him.
The sudden explosions from this strange Glavenus had also startled it. This was a situation the Seregios had never encountered when fighting other Glavenus in the past, so for the sake of caution, it had no intention of getting close to Asterion immediately.
Shoot! Just you keep shooting! (Gritting teeth)
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