"Gu!!"
A sharp, urgent cry rang out. Without a moment's hesitation, Logan seized the struggling Seregios leader and swung it like a giant club.
The leader crashed straight into the onrushing tempered Seregios, the impact resounding through the air. In the next instant, Logan's talons felt suddenly lighter—the leader was sent flying.
Don't mistake it for a slip of his grip. The truth was that the bladed tail of the Seregios leader, after prolonged exposure to the searing Calamity Flame on Logan's claws, had become so brittle that, upon the heavy collision, the very tip tore away—like part of a broom snapping off.
In simpler terms—it had its tail ripped clean off.
He'd played long enough, venting much of his pent-up frustration. It was time to end this.
Logan spread his wings, standing upright in midair in a way no flying creature should, vast amounts of combustible liquid seeping furiously from within them. Already a dragon of flame, his wings now burned even more fiercely—like two blazing miniature suns.
With a powerful beat, the gusts he stirred carried the ignited liquid outward, blue-violet fire spilling across the sky.
This was a technique Logan had developed using his Flame Body—capable of inflicting a wide-area burn status. The only drawback was that he could not yet fully control the wind pressure on such a scale, relying instead on sheer physical force to drive the gusts and spread the liquid far and wide.
Even so, in this situation, the fan-shaped torrent of molten Calamity Flame was more than enough to engulf all three Seregios.
An overwhelming rain of fire fell, rapidly closing off their space to move.
With no way to escape, they could only endure the burn, desperately regenerating bladed scales and flinging them away, trying to shed the flame through a constant cycle of molting and replacement.
But this was Calamity Flame—they could never rid themselves of it so easily.
Even the Seregios leader, whose swirling black miasma carried Dragon Element capable of dulling some of the Calamity Flame's sparks, found its efforts like a drop in the ocean.
If even it could not withstand the onslaught, there was no hope for the two tempered Seregios.
The firestorm raged, and one by one, the Seregios fell from the sky, collapsing onto the ground now ablaze with patches of Calamity Flame, their breaths shallow and fading.
Their bladed scales could no longer regenerate; the fire had burned through their armor, carbonized muscle, and seeped deep into their bodies. All they could do was lie there, powerless, meeting their final moments amid the flames.
The Seregios leader's pupils clouded white. In its last moments, as the fire consumed its life, it felt… relief.
It had come here seeking a way to cure the side effects of frenzy. The abundant life energy of the New World had indeed eased the symptoms, and it had begun to dream of the day it could turn frenzy into strength—but in the end, death had still found it.
"…Hm? Still conscious?"
Logan saw the Seregios leader's body twitch and thought it might still be holding on.
But in the very next instant, from the severed end of its tail, a mass of black mist—thick with life energy and nearly liquefied—began to surge out, as if it had a will of its own, attempting to fly off in a certain direction.
Unfortunately for it, the surrounding air was filled with Calamity Flame. Even if the mist's energy tier was higher, the sheer overwhelming quantity of flame burned it away completely.
In that moment, a peculiar and intensely concentrated burst of life energy spread through the air.
Logan's eyes lit up. He dove sharply, closing in before the energy could fully disperse, plunging into it and actively drawing it in.
There was no resistance at all—the condensed life energy merged effortlessly into Logan's body. Not only was there no loss, but he could clearly feel his own capacity to hold life energy had increased slightly.
That was… unbelievable.
Recalling the strange behavior of the black mist earlier, Logan formed a theory—perhaps frenzy was nothing but a hidden trap. It seemed to carry no serious drawbacks, yet in truth, it was using the parasitized creature to refine this special type of life energy.
What was called "berserk" was in fact the process of draining the host's vitality to accelerate the condensation of life energy. Along the way, giving the host just a small fraction of the refined energy could temporarily restore stamina, creating the illusion of endless endurance.
In other words, monsters that grew stronger through frenzy might simply be pawns—some unknown Elder Dragon's living stockpile.
This was exactly the sort of scheme an Elder Dragon could pull off.
"Rooaaar~~~"
Just then, the Bazelgeuse's unmistakable cry rang out again, making Logan pause in surprise. Was this thing actually planning to challenge him?
Or had it sensed the life energy and wanted a share for itself?
That didn't seem right—Bazelgeuse shouldn't have the ability to sense life energy.
In the next second, Logan's gaze sharpened. Behind the Bazelgeuse, something small and black was trailing it.
His pupils focused instinctively, and at last he saw what it was.
"That's one big hedgehog!"
So it was Nergigante! No wonder the Bazelgeuse looked like it had seen a ghost and bolted in a panic.
Without a moment's hesitation, Logan quickly drew back his Sunlight trait, shifting his appearance to resemble a slightly unusual Silver Rathalos rather than some Elder Dragon wearing a Silver Rathalos' skin.
A Silver Rathalos was one thing—while powerful, its reserves of life energy were far below that of an Elder Dragon. Even a Nergigante wouldn't bother provoking one without reason.
But an Elder Dragon disguised as a Silver Rathalos was an entirely different matter. This was a creature bold enough to target even a Zorah Magdaros. If it came across an unknown Elder Dragon, whether or not it could win, it would certainly mark it as prey first and ask questions later.
And once Nergigante had locked on, well—just look at Teostra. There'd be no peace from that point on. Logan had no desire to spend his days with a walking engine of destruction as his shadow.
He focused on speed, rapidly absorbing the mass of special life energy.
It wasn't long before the Nergigante—with those massive, demon-like horns crowning its head—arrived on the battlefield. It hesitated for a moment upon seeing the scorched earth still burning with Calamity Flame.
Then it immediately sensed the dense, special life energy—and spotted Logan, rapidly drawing it in.
The Nergigante found it strange. While nearby, it had suddenly noticed an unnatural shift in the environment, along with faint traces of an unknown Elder Dragon's aura. That was enough for it to drop its meal and rush over.
Yet there was no Elder Dragon in sight—only a Silver Rathalos actively absorbing life energy.
And not just any life energy—this was the highly refined kind, the sort usually found only within an Elder Dragon's rare gems. There wasn't much of it, but in total, it could match several months' worth of regular monster hunting without the need to bring down an Elder Dragon.
"ROOOAAAR!!"
With a roar, the Nergigante's body erupted in a surge of spines as it dove.
Logan couldn't understand the words, but from the tone, it seemed like the Nergigante was telling him to stop absorbing.
Heh.
Not only did Logan ignore it, he spread his wings wide and drew in the energy even faster. By the time the Nergigante reached him, he had already finished—draining every last drop of the life energy.
Upon seeing this, the Nergigante's eyes widened. It hadn't expected that, even after its show of intimidation, this Silver Fire Wyvern not only refused to back down in the slightest, but actually drained every last drop right in front of its face.
Too much—this was really too much!
Even though it hadn't initially planned to fight the Silver Fire Wyvern, at that moment the Nergigante couldn't hold back. With its black, spine-covered palm, it used the momentum from its dive to slam hard at Logan.
[Bang!]
Full-throttle flame takeoff from a standstill!
A highly practical launch technique—capable of both blocking an incoming attack and accelerating one's own ascent—one of Logan's absolute favorites.
Its strike hit nothing but air. The explosion of cataclysmic flames rattled the spines along the Nergigante's arm and wings, cracking them apart. The intense heat of the fire element then shattered the already fractured spines completely.
Caught off guard, the Nergigante's massive frame was actually forced back several steps by the blast's shockwave.
But a second later, new spines burst forth under the effect of its regenerative shell. For a creature with such extreme self-healing, that level of damage was practically nothing.
The Nergigante lifted its head to glare at Logan. Logan, however, had no intention of fighting—his status effect's countdown was glaringly obvious on the panel, and besides, this was a Nergigante. Once it locked onto you, there was no shaking it off.
"Roar!"
The Nergigante bellowed, its hind legs driving powerfully as it surged toward Logan at high speed.
Without hesitation, Logan instinctively widened the gap, drawing the fight into a dogfight.
Against one of the rare melee-type Elder Dragons, unless you had the overwhelming strength to crush it outright, only a fool would engage in close quarters.
Thus, in mere moments, black and white figures wove through the skies in a high-speed chase. Clusters of scorching cataclysmic flames spewed forth—some dodged by the Nergigante, others blocked outright. Old spines hadn't even fully shattered before new ones sprouted again.
At times, when avoiding each other was impossible, they clashed briefly.
The result? Logan took a few heavy swats from that monstrous strength, while the Nergigante, in turn, was badly irritated by the searing burn left by the cataclysmic flames.
Those stubborn, adhesive flames were nearly impossible to extinguish, forcing it to deliberately shed its spines with its regeneration just to get rid of them.
For areas without a regenerative shell, it could only scrape them off with its claws or simply endure them until its regeneration handled the damage.
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