A deep crimson figure streaked across the sky.
The wingdrakes circling above the Wildspire Waste scattered in panic. Even though the figure wasn't much larger than them, the instinctive sense of danger embedded in their genes screamed at them to flee.
On the ground, some monsters noticed the presence overhead and looked up in confusion.
Why was there a Rathalos here?
Even young wyverns that had just left their parents usually chose forests, which were more suitable for survival.
The Wildspire Waste was nothing but desert. Yellow sand filled the air.
Yet none of it obstructed Kael's vision.
He followed the river for quite some time.
Along the way, he saw migrating armored herbivores.
He saw Kelbi sprinting desperately to evade predators.
He even saw a Kulu-Ya-Ku sneaking into a herbivore nest to steal an egg.
But he still didn't see Aji anywhere.
Realizing that he had already flown far beyond her territory, Kael felt unwilling—but could only turn back.
Under normal circumstances, Aji only hunted near her domain.
On the way here, he had seen plenty of herbivores and Kelbi, yet no signs of hunting.
That meant Aji hadn't come this way today.
Continuing along the river would be pointless.
After spending some time returning to the nest, he found it unchanged—no blood, no signs of battle.
Which meant Aji hadn't returned midway either.
Kael turned around and flew out again.
This time, he planned to head toward the lake where Aji had first found him.
But just after gaining altitude, his sharp vision caught something unusual.
In the direction of the Ancient Forest, a large patch of trees was swaying violently.
That area was quite far from the nest—likely beyond Aji's territory.
Still, holding onto a sliver of hope, Kael adjusted his course and flew toward it.
Aji felt that she was having an incredibly unlucky day.
After confirming that her hatchling wouldn't wander off, she headed to her usual hunting grounds as always, planning to pick a nice, plump herbivore for lunch.
But when she arrived, she saw an Anjanath rampaging near the lake, scaring all the herbivores away.
Looking at its massive body, powerful physique, and the oppressive aura it radiated, Aji could only accept her bad luck and leave to find another hunting spot.
Then, at her second location—
She discovered that damned Pukei-Pukei had once again invaded her territory!
What made it even more infuriating was that this "wise" bird wyvern seemed to have lost its mind today.
Instead of running when it saw her, it calmly used its long tongue to gobble up nearby poison mushrooms.
When she approached to intimidate it, it even spread its wings, acting as if it wanted to fight her head-on.
Could she tolerate that?
Absolutely not.
Although she didn't know why this Pukei-Pukei—who had been slightly smaller than her before—had suddenly grown much larger, she had never been afraid of fighting this kind of creature.
Back when she was smaller, it would run away the moment it saw her.
Now that she had grown stronger, she was definitely going to kill it.
Without hesitation, Aji roared and charged forward like a green truck.
The Pukei-Pukei didn't back down either and rushed to meet her head-on.
Two living battering rams collided.
For a moment, neither could overpower the other.
In terms of raw strength, they were evenly matched.
This was completely unacceptable to Aji.
That mushroom-stealing sneak, who only dared to sneak into her territory while she was out hunting…
Was now on par with her?
It was like a nobody you'd always looked down on suddenly taking some unknown drug and tying with you.
In that moment, you'd feel like a complete fool—reduced to a joke in someone else's story.
Her blood boiled.
No matter what, she had to kill this bastard today.
She had to defend her territory.
Defend her dignity.
So the two giant beasts roared and clashed.
One had a size advantage.
The other had racial advantages.
Neither could gain the upper hand.
With their tremendous stamina, they unknowingly drifted farther and farther from their original area as they fought.
That was why Kael hadn't spotted them immediately.
When Kael finally arrived, he saw Aji facing off against a Pukei-Pukei.
Around them lay toppled trees, scorched earth, and boulders corroded by venom.
Aji was in terrible condition.
Many of her scales were cracked.
Numerous spikes on her back—once like a regal mantle—had snapped off.
Blood dripped from the large horn-like spike near her jaws.
Her poisonous tail spike was stained with purple venom.
Worst of all was her right wing.
Part of its membrane had been directly hit by venom, turning an abnormal purplish-red.
Thin streams of blood seeped out.
For Rathians, fire breath and venom were only used after intimidation failed, because they consumed massive stamina.
Clearly, this Pukei-Pukei had been so stubborn that it had pushed Aji into killing intent.
Even after suffering such injuries, she showed no intention of retreating.
The Pukei-Pukei wasn't doing well either.
Compared to Aji's battered state, its biggest injury was a penetrating wound in its abdomen, still bleeding.
Without a doubt, it had been caused by Aji's jaw spike.
But judging from its mental state, it was far better off than her.
Aji was at a disadvantage.
Neither of them noticed Kael approaching from above.
Their eyes were locked only on each other.
With their strengths so close, neither dared to be distracted.
And that gave Kael his chance.
With a powerful flap, he rose high behind the Pukei-Pukei.
He looped around and dove sharply toward it.
The moment he showed killing intent, Acceleration activated.
His diving speed increased rapidly.
By the time the Pukei-Pukei sensed something, Kael was already extremely close.
And it was too late to react.
Because right in front of it, Aji launched another charge.
Caught between front and back, the Pukei-Pukei showed the instincts of a veteran fighter.
It only glanced at Kael's size once—then ignored him completely.
It deliberately exposed its back.
In its experience, a Rathalos of Kael's size, even with dive momentum, could at most scratch it.
With such fragile bones, if they collided, Kael would die first.
At worst, it would take a bit of impact.
As for a single claw strike?
Whether it could even break the skin was questionable.
So in its eyes, the real threat was still this strange Rathian that had attacked it out of nowher