Bathed in this environment brimming with life energy, Logan let out a long, satisfied breath before slowly lowering himself to the ground.
It felt as though all the fatigue in his body had been greatly eased in that moment.
Just as he closed his eyes and let his body and mind sink into the sensation, his hearing—sharpened even further with his eyes shut—picked up faint, indistinct sounds.
It was like lying in bed in the still of the night, only to faintly hear the distant noise of someone in the same building renovating their home.
Yet when he tried to focus on it, the sound was drowned out by the constant murmur of magma.
Since it was mixed in with the natural flow of molten rock, Logan didn't give it much thought, instinctively assuming it was normal.
After absorbing the energy and easing the discomfort that had built up over the past few days, Logan left the branch of the ley line. But he didn't see Aki in her usual spot.
His first thought was that Aki had gone off to handle something, not that something had happened to her.
The entrance she often stayed near wasn't far from the ley line branch, and with Logan's hearing, if there had been any fighting, he would have heard it. That made trouble unlikely.
Still, her unusual absence put him on edge. He quickly beat his wings and flew to the entrance. Just as he was about to call out, he spotted Aki standing at a fork in the tunnel above, trembling slightly—like a startled quail.
Logan's wariness spiked instantly. He swooped to her side, about to see what was going on, when he froze as well—just like her—too afraid to move a step or make a sound.
From that fork, looking toward the far end of the passage, they could see that the tunnel—wide enough for several Fire Wyverns to fly through side-by-side—was now completely blocked by something.
Even from this distance, all Logan could see was the creature's pale cyan-white scales, each one as large as his wings.
The hard subterranean rock beneath those scales might as well have been butter; a mere graze was enough to slice through it cleanly, and with barely a sound.
Just glimpsing a portion of that body, the sheer ecological pressure it exuded was enough to make even apex monsters like Logan and Aki—who had faced Elder Dragons—remain motionless in the corner, silently waiting for it to pass.
It was impossible to imagine what kind of existence this was.
Like a serpent, it slid through the earth, and only when the last bladed tail vanished from sight did that suffocating, absolute pressure begin to fade.
Their tense muscles finally loosened. In the confined space, with a monster dozens of times their size passing right before their eyes, the oppressive weight bore down on them so hard it felt as if their very bodies were being crushed by the strain on their minds.
They stayed where they were, gulping deep breaths of air to calm their nerves.
The pressure alone was enough to make it feel like they'd just survived a battle with an apex predator.
And it was clear—if they were ever to face it head-on, whether they could even summon the courage to fight would be in doubt.
After confirming the creature had truly left, Logan spread his wings to cover Aki's still slightly trembling body. Aki pressed against him as if she had found her anchor, seeking the faint sense of safety his presence brought.
Even then, the image of that dreadful bladed tail and the pale cyan-white reverse scales kept flashing in Logan's mind, and a single name began to surface.
"Dalamadur!"
This was one of the true apex predators of the world—among the closest any creature could get to the "Forbidden" without actually being one.
In the eyes of many, it possessed power on par with the "Forbidden," despite not being counted among them.
According to the Hunter's Guild records, the smallest Serpent King Dragon ever documented measured 440 meters in length. That size alone was enough to place it at the absolute top of the ecological hierarchy—never mind its overwhelming strength.
Logan had always been certain that a Serpent King Dragon existed in the New World. Several regions of the Rotten Vale were built upon its colossal bones, remains that had permanently reshaped the landscape there.
But knowing was one thing—he had never imagined he would one day lay eyes on a living Serpent King Dragon.
The distance between them just now hadn't been short for Logan and Aki… yet for the Serpent King Dragon, rolling over would have covered far more than that.
For such a colossal Elder Dragon, simply passing by could drastically alter an ecosystem. To describe it the way people did with Elder Dragons—that the environment adapted to them—no longer felt accurate.
Its very existence was an ecosystem.
When Aki had finally calmed down, Logan turned toward the tunnel where the Serpent King Dragon had passed, ignoring her worried, low growl as he spread his wings and flew toward it.
The already vast passage had been reshaped into a massive underground tunnel over 50 meters in diameter, leading deep into the earth.
Along the way, the rock it had sliced through had long since been crushed to powder beneath its massive body.
Where the tunnel led, Logan couldn't say—but for a predator of such a level, there were only a handful of places in the New World that could possibly draw its attention.
Suppressing his curiosity, Logan wisely avoided recklessly flying deeper. He returned to the fork as if nothing had happened, and in the sight of Aki's relieved expression, left the area alongside her.
Back on the surface, the dry breath of the Wildspire Waste washed over them. Soaring under the vast open sky for a long while, Logan and Aki were finally able to relax completely.
The oppressive confines of the underground, coupled with encountering such a being, had weighed on them like a massive boulder pressing against their chests.
Logan never would have thought that—now that he himself was a "giant beast"—he could still feel the old fear of colossal creatures creeping back in.
The depth of this world was staggering—so deep that at any moment, something beyond one's wildest imaginings could emerge.
They completed a brief hunt, driving off a Glavenus and a Barroth that tried to snatch their kill, but neither of them ate much. They simply carried the meat back to their dwelling.
The shock of encountering a Serpent King Dragon in such an environment had struck them hard—it would likely take several days to fully recover.
And so, the days slipped by. After three full days, Logan finally returned to the ley line branch to draw upon its life energy once more.
Even so, while drawing on the energy, he remained highly alert—every faint stir of air or slightest sound would snap his attention to it. His current demeanor was a far cry from the way he once treated the ley line branch like a "sauna," now wary that in these deep underground reaches, some extremely dangerous monster might emerge at any moment.
...
The Commission's engineers had been at the Fire Wyvern settlement for several days now. At first, they were constantly on edge, worried that any careless action might cause a misunderstanding and provoke the Fire Wyverns into attacking them.
Gradually, they began to adapt. Under the protection of the hunters and the Grimalkynes, they surveyed many locations and finally identified a relatively hidden area well-suited for breeding.
The Mosswine were not large in size, and with the cover of trees, a few well-designed camouflaged structures would be enough to house them.
The Gajau posed no problem either. They were much like the catfish from his previous life—if not processed properly, their taste was so unappealing that even monsters would usually avoid them.
Besides, being aquatic creatures, Gajau naturally came with a degree of safety.
The real problem lay with the Aptonoth.
Unlike Astera, this settlement lacked any natural "fortifications" to keep monsters out. Without terrain that could effectively block predators, raising Aptonoth here was simply impossible.
This left the Grimalkynes and the engineers with quite the headache. For now, the plan to breed Aptonoth was shelved, while preparations for breeding Mosswine and Gajau moved ahead—using a mushroom cultivation environment for the former. The Aptonoth issue would be reconsidered once more personnel and supplies arrived.
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