Even with Nergigante's regenerative capabilities, he dared not continuously tank Asterion's fully charged slashes.
At least in terms of raw attack power, Nergigante acknowledged this strange Wyvern who relied on its tail for offense.
Those two saw-toothed blades that had been forcefully thrust inside his body for a vigorous internal inspection could easily make the top ten list of attacks Nergigante never wanted to face again in his life. It was rare for him to encounter physical attacks of such purity.
This battle had become somewhat bizarre. In nature, it certainly happened that monsters would cooperate to deal with a stronger monster or a shared danger, but generally, this was premised on one party being strong and the other weak, so there was no need to worry about a stab in the back.
Like the crocodile and the plover. Or, to use a more local example, Gaismagorm and the Qurio. These were symbiotic relationships, so they cooperated, each contributing something.
But the battle unfolding before the Commander's eyes shattered this law. Before today, he had never imagined that two monsters, each possessing enough strength to be the ecological ruler of a region, would actually join forces against an enemy—and cooperate quite well at that!
The meaning of the Research Commission's existence was proven in this moment. The Commander struggled to find a place to hide, determined to see this investigation through to the end.
The enemy of Asterion and Bazelgeuse wasn't just Nergigante anymore. Teostra, seemingly intent on killing every provocateur in sight, had drowned the entire battlefield in flames and explosive dust. It was like an artillery bombardment; the sound of explosions hadn't ceased once since the start.
This stretch of beach and the coastal cliffs had been thoroughly transformed into a basin. The more explosions there were, the deeper the pit became. By now, the four dragons were practically fighting in the seawater that was flowing in. And the battlefield was still expanding, because none of the four dragons actually liked water all that much.
Taking the flower field swamp area where Asterion often hunted as an example: even though the territory he occupied was only a part of the greater Wildspire Waste swamp, it would still take a hunter two or three days to traverse it on foot.
Yet, from the start of the battle until now, these four dragons had destroyed an area equivalent to three or four times the size of that swamp. If the Commander didn't have a Wingdrake to carry him in flight, even if he were a variant of the Rajang Fanged Beast species, he wouldn't have been able to keep up with these monsters.
But even so, the Commander could currently only dangle from the Wingdrake's talons and spectate from very far away, just like Asterion used to do.
And at this moment, Asterion—
"Roar!" (I'm starting to like you a little, Bazelgeuse.)
Panting heavily from the high-intensity exertion, Asterion raised his upper body. He stood back-to-back with Bazelgeuse, who had also reared up with his neck held high. Asterion's sword-tail was propped diagonally on the ground, the tip still venting white steam, looking just like a giant smoking pipe.
Asterion could even feel the heat radiating from Bazelgeuse through the thick shell on his back, and he believed Bazelgeuse could feel his as well.
"Roar-ang!" (Bazelgeuse? Are you talking about me?)
It was hard to imagine that Bazelgeuse's slightly comical face, with all its features squeezed onto the front, could contort into such a bloodthirsty expression. His gaze was locked dead on Nergigante. As long as Nergigante dared to approach, he dared to explode.
"Roar!" (Who else?)
Just as Asterion spoke, Nergigante lunged again. This guy was already very experienced; he realized that to kill Bazelgeuse or Asterion, he had to separate them first so they couldn't cover each other.
He couldn't even bypass Asterion and Bazelgeuse to directly attack Teostra, because those two would take the opportunity to hit him with something vicious simultaneously—don't ask Nergigante how he knew that.
Flame Sweep!!
The veteran skills of a Glavenus had not been lost. Asterion's sword-tail swept heavily across the ground, slashing upward toward Nergigante's abdomen. Immediately after, it was blocked by the spikes on Nergigante's forelimbs, which had already regrown and were shifting toward a hardened black state.
Bazelgeuse seized the momentum and swung his club-like tail, smashing it heavily toward Teostra—that guy had been trying to ambush Asterion while his back was turned.
Press down!
Boom boom boom boom boom boom!!
Immediately, another chain of explosions rang out, and Teostra was blasted several steps back, stumbling.
"Roar-ang!" (Fighting is pretty thrilling, right?)
Pushing the two Elder Dragons back again during the clash, Bazelgeuse asked excitedly. This was the first time he had said anything to Asterion other than a challenge to fight.
"Roar roar!" (Not bad. But let me say this in advance: I call dibs on the meat of these two guys.)
"Roar-ang!" (If you survive.)
Bazelgeuse's answer was simple. In the time it took to exchange those two sentences, Asterion was grappling with Nergigante again—this kind of enemy, like unshakeable chewing gum, was truly disgusting. Without warning, he would risk injury just to come up and bite you.
Asterion was using his forelimbs to firmly push against Nergigante's skull, preventing the guy from gnawing off his flesh. At that moment, Teostra's flames sprayed over them, enveloping both Nergigante and Asterion.
For a prideful old Elder Dragon like Teostra, forming an alliance with other monsters was impossible. He would kill these three dragons equally.
The scorching high temperature was unbearable even for a fire-attribute dragon like Asterion. He felt as if his blade-scales and shell were melting. If Bazelgeuse hadn't charged into the fire and slapped Teostra across the face, Asterion might have actually watched his metallic blade-scales melt and drip away.
Somehow, as the fight dragged on, it had turned into a situation where Asterion and Bazelgeuse were teaming up against two Elder Dragons.
They even had to help Teostra fight Nergigante to prevent the old thing from dying too soon, but not only was Teostra ungrateful, he acted as if he had been insulted and lashed out at them violently.
"Roar!" (This won't work. Kill one of them first!)
Asterion didn't want this battle to drag on too long. He prepared to cut the knot and reduce the number of enemies by one. Bazelgeuse responded to his call. Thus, Asterion resolutely pounced toward Teostra, while Bazelgeuse pounced toward—Nergigante?!
"Roar roar! Roar roar roar!!" (No! Kill the weakest one first!!)
Asterion was so anxious he almost spoke human language. With no time to think, he fiercely changed course and pounced at Nergigante—fine, if it's Nergigante, so be it. The priority was to focus fire.
But to Asterion's surprise, the moment he pounced at Nergigante, Bazelgeuse suddenly turned and pounced at Teostra.
The whole dragon felt dizzy.
"Roar-ang!!" (Didn't you say the weakest one?!)
"Roar roar roar roar!!" (Then that's this one! This one!)
Forget it! Asterion and Bazelgeuse both turned and pounced on Teostra together.
"Roar roar roar!!" (Do you take me for a pushover?!)
Teostra's furious roar increased the power of his flames by several degrees. Asterion didn't know the exact temperature of the fire, but he couldn't withstand it for long.
The enraged Teostra suddenly erupted with shocking combat power. At this moment, he was like a god of war. Even Nergigante, who had seized the chance to jump in and try to finish off the "weakest dragon" together, got slapped hard across the mouth, leaving his head buzzing.
The seawater beneath their feet was evaporated once again. Before new seawater could flow in, the brownish-yellow rock was melted directly into magma—Old Teostra was truly angry now. Asterion remembered that magma was roughly over a thousand degrees Celsius, so flames that could rapidly melt rock into magma were probably around two or three thousand degrees?
Heh, should I avoid his edge?
Asterion was actually quite heat-resistant. After all, a normal Glavenus's flame sac could withstand temperatures of at least 1,500 degrees Celsius, not to mention his all-around mutated version.
He stopped indulging this old dragon. To be honest, Asterion had tolerated Teostra for a long time. Originally, he thought he could team up with this guy to repel Nergigante and then turn on him to kill him for a hearty meal of Elder Dragon meat. But Teostra simply refused to cooperate!
Won't cooperate, huh? If you won't cooperate, then nobody lives!
A head-on slash cut directly through the flames spewing from Teostra's mouth. The Great Sword, laden with Asterion's resentment, hacked straight into Teostra's face!
Once his mindset shifted and he stopped agonizing over the plan to team up against Nergigante first, Asterion suddenly found that things became simple.
Teostra was much easier to fight than Nergigante. at least when you stabbed a sword into Teostra's belly and pulled it out, you wouldn't watch the wound heal rapidly before your eyes. And compared to fighting Kushala Daora back then, Asterion was very resistant to heat—which meant Teostra's symbolic power as an Elder Dragon wasn't that effective against him.
"Roar!!"
Amidst Teostra's pained roar, Bazelgeuse's simple yet exceptionally powerful attack arrived. Suppressive bombing, just suppressive bombing! The shrapnel from the exploding scales even breached Teostra's scales, blasting him into a bloody mess.
As for Asterion—he had already opened his mouth and bitten down, forcibly tearing off a piece of Teostra's wing membrane. Very tough, very chewy.
Since it's come to this, let's eat first.
"Roar!!!"
Completely unprepared for the situation to turn so disadvantageous so suddenly, Teostra raged again and again. Under the siege of three powerful large monsters, he had fallen into an absolute disadvantage—a state not far from death.
Shaking his head, countless explosive powders scattered from between Teostra's mane and shell crevices. There was no time to let the powder drift away from his body; Teostra had to detonate them immediately!
Boom boom boom boom boom boom!!
The light, heat, and shockwaves released by the explosion somewhat knocked back the three dragons. As Asterion landed, he couldn't help but glance at Nergigante—that guy really only lived to eat. Even after fighting so bloodily and fiercely with Asterion just moments ago, he held no grudge... or at least temporarily held no grudge, willing to set aside hatred to fight hand-in-hand for food.
Only what ends up in the mouth is real.
Teostra's body surface was now covered in a layer of pale yellow flames burning nearly white, draping over the shell of his entire body like armor of fire.
This oppressive heat made Asterion squint his eyes—the old guy was probably about to go all out.
Fulfilling his earlier words: live with all your might while you are still alive.
And now, it was the moment for Teostra to put his life on the line.
Boom!!
He violently spat out a fireball. Unlike before, when this fireball hit the ground and exploded, it strangely didn't dissipate immediately. Instead, it remained on the surface rock, melting the stone.
Clumped explosive dust? Or perhaps aged shell fragments?
Teostra must have mixed something into the fireball to allow the flames to continue burning without the support of his body. Asterion had plenty of experience with this.
This meant that in the upcoming battle, he could not be hit directly by the flames spewed from Teostra's mouth. When the old guy started fighting for his life, the temperature of his flames slightly exceeded Asterion's tolerance range.
A Glavenus, after all, is not a dragon that primarily attacks with fire elements. This fact hadn't changed, even for the current Asterion.
Teostra's Last Dance.
The dance was magnificent, the dance was... tragic.
Asterion really couldn't praise the old thing too much. Even if he risked his old life to release a Supernova again and ruthlessly ravage the Wildspire Waste one more time, it was useless. Neither Asterion, nor Bazelgeuse, nor Nergigante would die to a move with such a long wind-up.
When Teostra curled up his body, when Asterion and Nergigante turned and ran toward the distance without a second thought—even digging holes to hide—Bazelgeuse knew he had to run, no matter how low his IQ was.
An Elder Dragon like Teostra naturally knew the flaws of his ultimate move. But through eons of evolution, they still retained the Supernova. This implied one thing—run all you want, if you can get away.
Super vast, super broad, super lethal.
Unlike when he released this move mid-air a few hundred meters off the coast earlier—where the seawater absorbed most of the power—the explosion still affected the land deep within the Wildspire Waste, countless kilometers away from the epicenter. Rocks melted, trees and shrubs ignited. Who knew how many lives would perish in this disaster?
But now, Teostra was releasing this move on land. The rock wouldn't evaporate quickly or concave downward like seawater. Instead, using the ground as a foundation, it would spread outward. billowing heat waves, expanding flames, unprecedented high temperatures...
Fully extracting the life energy within his body, Teostra held nothing back, bringing down punishment upon the challengers with the posture of an enraged Emperor!
Boom!!
When Teostra began to curl his body, Asterion started running. On the way, he even called out to the Commander, who was dangling far away under the Wingdrake's claws, though he didn't know if the Commander could understand his meaning to find a place to survive on his own.
After running a sufficient distance, Asterion dug into the ground at top speed, his mouth and sword-tail working together until his body was completely buried underground.
Then came the massive explosion, the likes of which he had never seen since he was born. Even hiding underground, Asterion could clearly feel the surging heat wave and the heat that melted the rock. But for Asterion, mere magma was just an extra snack.
The "ceiling" above his head was melting and dripping down. He slurped it all up in a few mouthfuls.
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