When the meeting ended, Logan returned to his nest—and immediately saw Aki lying inside, just back from her patrol. She rested quietly, flicking her spiked tail with lazy motions.
After these years of growth, Aki's size had slowed considerably. Compared to before the migration, her body length was now only 22 meters.
Even so, in the world of Rathian, that size was already close to the upper limit of tempered Rathian. Compared to her "maiden slenderness" when she had just reached adulthood, Aki now carried a sturdier build.
Her smooth tail gleamed with metallic, golden-tinted emerald scales, each plate polished to perfection. The spines along her shoulders and the base of her neck stood out sharply, like the ornate mantle of a noblewoman draped perfectly across her body.
Her long back rose and fell in rhythm with her calm, steady breathing.
Then, as if finding her position uncomfortable, Aki shifted slowly onto her side, curling her long tail beside her, resting in a half-turned posture.
For some reason, Logan thought she looked breathtaking in that moment—like a lady of high birth, adorned in gold and jewels, lying in her home after careful grooming, taking a peaceful afternoon rest.
Without realizing it, he softened his voice, slowed his steps, and quietly approached her side.
In an instant, his nose was filled with Aki's scent.
Perhaps sensing Logan's presence, Aki slowly opened her bright eyes. By instinct, she began to rise, intending to give him the nest she had already warmed.
But before she could, Logan suddenly opened his jaws and bit down on the base of her neck.
Teeth scraped against scales, producing a faint, rasping sound.
It was as if Aki had been struck at the very nape of fate. Startled at first and ready to resist, she suddenly froze, obediently lowering herself and letting Logan gently nibble at the scales along her neck.
Only her tail betrayed her feelings—whether out of displeasure or some other emotion, it quietly lifted, tapping against Logan again and again with soft little thumps.
Sensing the restless tail swatting lightly at him, Logan refused to be outdone. His bite grew firmer, and his own tail reached to coil around Aki's, intent on restraining its mischief.
Entangled together, their tails sometimes cast a shadow shaped like a heart.
"Wu~"
A soft, whimpering sound like a young beast slipped from Aki's mouth. Logan spread a wing over her, pressing his face close until their muzzles touched, rubbing against her tenderly.
In the small nest, the two nestled together, steeped in each other's affection.
"Two more years… it's close."
Perhaps it was because adulthood drew near, but Logan—now in his third rapid growth phase—not only surpassed Aki in size, his body length reaching nearly 23 meters, he also began to feel impulses stirring in his mind.
In the past, he had enjoyed the intimacy he shared with Aki and loved this atmosphere of closeness during their idle moments. Yet he had never felt this kind of impulse.
Now, the desire was there in his mind—but damn it, his body was still not quite ready.
Still, it wouldn't be long. Just two more years. In the blink of an eye, they would be gone.
Time passed. A few days after that meeting, the Rathalos sent as reinforcements returned—and, unbelievably, they were in the same state as the previous group.
This sent the Fire Wyvern pack into an uproar.
After all, counting the first group, that made 14 Rathalos in total—and the ones sent to reinforce had all been wyverns strong enough to dwell in the middle levels of the Ancient Tree.
Earlier it had been said that the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern group's strength was like an irregular pyramid: the families at the top and middle were few in number, while most Fire Wyvern families lived at the bottom.
Yet even so, they had still been beaten back.
That slap landed loud and clear.
This was the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern group—formed of the strongest wyverns from both the Ancient Forest and the Wildspire Waste. Even with fourteen Rathalos sent out, they had been driven off in miserable defeat.
Did the enemy have a guardian-class monster holding the line, or was there some special individual among them?
Unable to sit still, Logan and the Fire Wyverns that happened to be in their nesting grounds all took flight together, heading toward that bay.
...
"Wow! What a spectacular sight. Should we follow them?" At the hunters' camp, the Handler lowered her binoculars, excitedly calling out to her hunter partner.
"From a distance. Too close and it'll be dangerous." Even the hunter, known for his calm, couldn't suppress his own excitement in the face of such an unprecedented scene. At the Handler's cheer, he summoned two wingdrakes, each marked with Fire Wyvern scales around their necks.
With a sharp clack, the grappling hooks shot out, and the wingdrakes caught them precisely. Just like that, the two wingdrakes carried the pair of Research Commission members carefully after the Fire Wyvern pack, flying toward the same destination.
On the sea cliffs, Lagiacrus were devouring mouthfuls of fish they had caught. Ever since they had driven off the piscine wyverns and Rathalos, this bay had become their territory.
Apart from some aquatic beasts and a few Great Crabs picking at leftovers, no predator dared hunt here. The Lagiacrus lived in comfort.
One white Lagiacrus had claimed the best spot, lifting its head to survey its surroundings. Not a single Lagiacrus dared approach within 10 meters of it.
...
The White Lagiacrus, a subspecies of the sea wyvern, was covered in white and pale blue quartz armor. Aside from the shell, its body shape was nearly identical to the original species.
However, its body length had reached an astonishing 31 meters—a true colossal beast. Compared to it, the ordinary Lagiacrus beside it looked like underdeveloped runts.
As a subspecies of the sea wyvern, its ecological niche was on the same tier as the Azure Rathalos, yet in terms of strength, the White Lagiacrus possessed even greater power. Without relying on any external force, it could unleash voltages more terrifying than the supercharged state of a Zinogre.
Its stronger physique and far more violent temperament made it drastically more dangerous than a normal Lagiacrus. Its highly active muscles and specialized discharge cells also allowed it to fight on land with combat capabilities in no way inferior to those in the water.
Indeed, this monster was actually an amphibious creature. It breathed with lungs, and the protrusions on its back weren't spines at all, but hollow structures that housed its discharge cells, forming what was known as its dorsal electric shell.
When the White Lagiacrus tensed its muscles, the discharge cells activated. Through the dorsal shell, which was far more conductive than that of the normal species, it could unleash a lightning-clad mode similar to the Zinogre's supercharged state.
But in truth, the amount of electricity it could amass was far greater than that of a supercharged Zinogre. So great, in fact, that the lightning could even harm itself. To prevent this and to gain a more durable armor, quartz—an insulator—was integrated into its carapace. This was the reason the Ivory Lagiacrus's shell appeared predominantly white.
And to protect its vulnerable head, large amounts of quartz fused into the scales there, hardening them. This made the Ivory Lagiacrus, already lacking in clear weak points, even more difficult to deal with.
...
From atop the cliff, Logan slowly descended, his gaze fixed on the group of carefree Lagiacrus below.
He had to admit—the food in the New World was good. Even the Lagiacrus here were larger than usual.
A quick count put their number at around twenty—not too many.
So he couldn't quite understand. Even with an Ivory Lagiacrus leading them, how had those Rathalos ended up beaten so badly?
There was no denying the Lagiacrus were strong, but first of all, they weren't particularly agile on land. Second, they couldn't fly. And their discharge range wasn't all that great either. Put simply, neither the Lagiacrus nor even the Ivory Lagiacrus had long-range electrical attacks. At best, they could manage mid-range current discharges.
Therefore, as long as the Rathalos didn't dive into close or mid-range combat—or even better, avoided fighting altogether—splitting a few to draw attention and then swooping down at high speed to snatch prey and fly off… what could the Lagiacrus do besides glare helplessly or toss out a few symbolic bolts of lightning?
Just look at the big sea fish floating on the surface, stunned by the Lagiacrus's electricity. Catching such fixed targets, already stripped of mobility, couldn't be all that difficult, could it?
Logan studied the group of Rathalos landing right behind him. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't figure out how they had ended up in such a sorry state.
"Roar~"
One of the Rathalos, still carrying injuries, let out a low growl. Its slit pupils, filled with fury, glared at the Lagiacrus group below the cliff before finally locking onto Logan with eyes burning with fighting spirit.
Alright, no need for words—Logan immediately understood why they had returned beaten and bloodied.
Logan's focus was survival and hunting. The Rathalos, on the other hand, only thought about conquest and battle.
Just this handful of Rathalos, charging headlong into a pack of Lagiacrus led by an Ivory Lagiacrus, and they didn't even have a numbers advantage. With the pitifully small amount of combustible dust in those flame sacs of theirs, Logan could easily imagine how the fight had gone—by the end, they must have resorted to stubborn low-altitude flights, engaging in close combat.
That was, after all, the usual combat pattern of the Fire Wyverns.
In such circumstances, even flight advantage was meaningless. Beatings were still inevitable.
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