In a large hunting ground on the southern side of the Ancient Tree, Logan dodged a Fire Wyvern's pounce, nimbly circled behind it, and dropped a jet of flame.
In the resulting explosion, the Fire Wyvern was blasted straight out of the sky.
Logan pursued, confronting the fallen Fire Wyvern on the ground.
Normally, when another wyvern intruded on a hunting ground, Logan wouldn't waste the effort to kill. A good thrashing was usually enough to drive them off.
But this male Fire Wyvern from the Old World was particularly stubborn. Even after being knocked down, it didn't retreat—instead, it raised its head and roared, locking eyes with Logan in defiance.
Where was this guy getting his courage from?
Logan didn't get it, and honestly, didn't care to.
If it won't listen after a beating? Then you just beat it again.
Just as he was about to ignite his body and give the stubborn thing a proper lesson, his sixth sense flared with danger.
Even with his Flame Body trait, he could clearly feel an intense heat surging up behind him.
He flapped his wings and tried to evade, but the incoming fireball exploded midair without warning.
The fire and blast slammed into Logan, tearing him from the sky.
Before the smoke could even clear, a massive stream of flames followed—accompanied by a powerful gust of wind, forming a swirling, orange-red vortex of fire that wrapped around Logan and held him tight.
And the Flame Rathalos who had done all this?
It glanced briefly at the Fire Wyvern Logan had knocked down, as if brushing aside an ant, then turned away and rapidly beat its wings, flying off in haste—like it had something urgent to attend to.
Logan was absolutely confident in his own strength.
A standard-sized Fire Wyvern, roughly 17 meters in length—under a full set of his attacks, even if it didn't die, it would definitely be rendered incapable of continuing the fight.
The male Fire Wyvern flapped its wings in a panic and hurried after him.
Logan spread his wings and cut through the smoke, his whole body wreathed in flames.
Aside from his tail being slightly scorched and disheveled from the exploding scale, he was completely unscathed.
Just as he was about to settle the score with this cowardly backstabber, he spotted the culprit speeding off into the distance—by now, it had already flown quite far away.
And his acceleration ability had just deactivated.
"…Seriously? Hit and run?"
Logan ascended, gazing up at the Flame Rathalos disappearing into the clouds, completely baffled.
Why had it interfered in his fight with that male Fire Wyvern?
And what was with that rushed, frantic retreat?
Unable to make sense of it, Logan finished the rest of his unfinished hunt and returned to his nest still full of questions.
...
"Yo, long time no see~"
Logan jumped in surprise!
Why the hell was that Rajang-looking freak standing at the entrance of his nest?
Just then, a puff of smoke wafted out from deeper inside. Logan quickly stepped inside to check.
And sure enough—
They were grilling meat again!
Only this time, the one doing the grilling wasn't the Admiral's Felyne companion, Sita.
It was Tonkotsu, whom he hadn't seen in ages!
"Boss Fire Wyvern! I'm back, meow!"
Tonkotsu greeted Logan excitedly, dragging over the carcass of a Mosswine and nudging it forward like a peace offering.
Logan glanced down at the Mosswine, then looked at Tonkotsu—
Then turned to the entrance of the nest, where the Admiral was calmly sitting, polishing an unfamiliar Fire Wyvern scale.
"…So, can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?"
...
Logan sat squatting in the nest, watching as Tonkotsu skillfully flipped the roasting meat. Aki stood quietly to the side, pretending not to care, though her eyes kept drifting to the meat.
After returning just now, he had been briefed by Tonkotsu and the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne leader, finally understanding the full situation and the reason for the Admiral's visit.
Thinking about it, it all made sense. According to the original course of events, it was indeed during the Second Fleet's tenure that the Research Commission completed its deep exploration of the Ancient Forest, only to be blocked at the massive ravine at its end.
Unable to find a way across the ravine, the Commission shifted its strategy, continuing to stabilize and expand its surveyed area within the Ancient Forest while also beginning to redirect efforts toward the Wildspire Waste.
This approach had continued all the way until the arrival of the Fifth Fleet, which finally gave the Commission enough manpower to push deeper into the New World.
But now, with the Fire Wyvern tribe of the Ancient Tree as an ally, the Commission was no longer content with slow and cautious progress. After decades of effort, they hadn't even fully explored the forest.
So they chose to deepen their cooperation with the Fire Wyverns and accelerate the pace of their investigations.
What Logan hadn't expected, though, was that it would be the Admiral himself who came over in person.
As Tonkotsu grilled the meat, it chattered away to Logan about everything it had seen while staying with the Research Commission.
Logan also finally understood why, during his last visit to trade for healing potions, the Admiral had been all bandaged up and leaning on a crutch.
"Oh right, Boss-nya! The Admiral also wanted me to ask if you know anything about that Elder Dragon covered in spikes!"
Mid-sentence, Tonkotsu suddenly seemed to remember the task it had been entrusted with.
The Fire Wyvern Grimalkynes had no records of that unknown Elder Dragon, so the only hope was to try their luck with Logan.
Faced with Tonkotsu's question, Logan hesitated for a moment. But in the end, under Tonkotsu's expectant gaze, he gave a brief explanation.
"That's the Dragon of Extinction and Rebirth. It feeds on Elder Dragons—extremely dangerous."
Tonkotsu translated Logan's words. The Admiral's eyes lit up as he carefully tucked away the Fire Wyvern scale in his hand, then hurriedly asked, "Where can we find it?"
When Tonkotsu translated that question, several question marks practically popped up over Logan's head.
Do you even hear yourself?
How would I know where to find it?
The Elder's Recess might be a possible place to track the Nergigante—but come on, that's the Elder's Recess! A place swarming with Elder Dragons, rare variants, and powerful monsters.
And that's assuming the current Commission could even manage to get there. Even if, by some miracle, they fought tooth and nail and successfully crossed the Rotten Vale's underlayers and reached the Elder's Recess…
Then what? You think you're not just going there to become monster feed?
"He is an Elder Dragon that hunts other Elder Dragons. To find him, follow the trail of other Elder Dragons."
To save face, Logan chose to end the topic with a sentence that sounded profound but meant basically nothing.
Even though it was only a few vague words, the Admiral seemed satisfied. At the very least, it gave him a direction—better than aimlessly wandering.
...
This group of Fire Wyvern Grimalkynes, having returned from their time with the Commission, had helped ease the pressure on the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern tribe, which had been struggling to maintain patrols due to a shortage of paws.
After learning some information about the Nergigante, the Admiral finally felt reassured and began earnestly negotiating with the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne chief and the tribe's sage Grimalkyne on deeper matters of cooperation.
These discussions included things like how to use and craft certain tools, how to maintain equipment, and how to train combat members.
This time, the Research Commission came with genuine sincerity. They treated the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern tribe the same way they would treat the Felyne tribes of the Old World—offering up anything that might be useful, holding nothing back.
It could be said that with these new cooperation projects, the civilization of the Ancient Tree Fire Wyverns would see a leap forward. And as their symbiotic kin, the Fire Wyvern population of the Ancient Tree stood to gain from it as well.
...
Time passed gradually.
During this period, Logan learned from the Grimalkynes who reported to him daily that more and more Fire Wyverns nesting in the Ancient Tree—especially those at the lower edges of the canopy—were returning injured, many of them suffering severe fire damage.
Because they had to avoid hunting grounds in the middle and upper canopy where other Fire Wyverns dominated, these ones often flew farther out, toward the fringes of the Ancient Tree's territory, to hunt.
By all logic, any Fire Wyvern strong enough to nest in the Ancient Tree was a solid powerhouse by forest standards.
And hunting wasn't the same as fighting for territory. Under normal circumstances, even if they got hurt, it wouldn't be this serious.
So the moment Logan learned they'd suffered fire damage, the first thing that came to his mind was that underhanded Fire Wyvern that had ambushed him.
That searing, aggressive flame—he still remembered it vividly.
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