Calm to the point of coldness, Asterion waited quietly. Even when a few blade scales shot by the Seregios coincidentally flew into the cave where he was hiding, he made no movement.
In this semi-enclosed space created by the dragon, the dust kicked up by the collapsing rock layers refused to settle. The whole world seemed to have turned brownish-yellow, and with every breath, a large amount of grit was inhaled into the nasal cavity.
Especially in this turbid environment, there was a dragon going mad from excessive fright, thrashing about blindly. It flapped its wings, churning the already muddy air into even greater chaos.
The Seregios was already terrified to the extreme. In this environment with near-zero visibility, it suspected that a monster could burst out to attack it from any direction—head to toe, front to back. Especially that crazy Glavenus!!
Yes, in the Seregios's heart, that Glavenus—who didn't seize the time to escape even when facing an apocalyptic collapse, but instead took the opportunity to attack it—was the true psychopath.
The most terrifying thing was that it now had to fight a mad dragon in this cramped space where it couldn't fly, with terrible visibility! Who knew if it would suddenly pop out from some godforsaken place and slash it again!!
A dragon horror story.
And Asterion... naturally, he wouldn't let his Seregios brother down.
A guaranteed ambush.
He hadn't worked so hard to create this situation just to have an honorable exhibition match with the Seregios. He was aiming to kill the opponent completely in one go—leaving absolutely no possibility of escape.
Dealing with this kind of guy who has wings and flies extremely well requires preparation in advance. These guys really will just flap their wings and flee if the situation looks bad. They certainly won't stop flying just to accommodate Asterion's gaming experience and land on the ground to trade blows with his charges.
This Seregios had already clearly demonstrated its fighting style earlier. It wanted to hang in the air and ruthlessly let Asterion's blood flow using its blade scales, having absolutely no intention of engaging in close-quarters combat with a Glavenus.
If it can fly but doesn't, isn't that wasting its advantage?
Not to mention that Seregios are naturally adept at flight.
Battles between ordinary monsters are often just for turf wars, for more food, or to satisfy their fighting desires. Once the enemy dragon is defeated and chooses to flee, the victor usually won't choose to chase them to the bitter end.
But Asterion was different. He wasn't fighting for territory; he coveted the two chunks of meat on his opponent's body.
This meant that when Asterion identified a target and began the hunt, he couldn't just aim to defeat the opponent; he had to prepare measures to prevent the enemy from escaping in advance—just like that Tempered Rathian that had escaped halfway through.
Fighting desperately for half the day only to end up with not a single bite—Asterion never wanted to experience that again in this lifetime.
Uh, it seems he already had... Cough, cough! Anyway! Never mind that for now!
Asterion had prepared a birdcage matching the Seregios's size, a crude but effective trap.
The collapsed rock layers had become an unbreakable sky, while the ground was right beneath their feet. The current location of the two dragons was fully a hundred meters away from the only exit.
In Asterion's eyes, the Seregios at this moment was already a piece of meat waiting to be butchered.
Listen, it's tired.
Even with a dragon's heart and lungs, constantly breathing this turbid air filled with smoke and dust would have an impact. Especially since the Seregios was exerting itself heavily, making its breathing more rapid than in a calm state. Even hiding in this cave, Asterion could hear the Seregios's heavy breathing—huff, huff.
The Glavenus's eyesight allowed Asterion to use the faint light penetrating the murky air to see the layers of scales nailed to the ground outside the cave entrance. Under the Seregios's relentless, berserk shooting, these blade scales, sharper than knives, practically covered the entire nearby area.
These terrifying little gadgets would even burst upon hitting a target or being hit, causing secondary damage with shockwaves and flying scale fragments. It was somewhat similar to the way Asterion's air sac carapace caused damage.
Yes, the Seregios's blade scales were indeed renewable consumables. In a battle, it could quickly regenerate a second and third batch after shooting the first to meet combat needs, but this did not mean that the regeneration of these blade scales was cost-free.
Regenerating these blade scales would constantly consume the Seregios's stamina, as well as the nutrition it had accumulated through eating, and even its life energy.
To be honest, this Seregios's regeneration ability could already be considered excellent. Just as every individual human has their own talents, this Seregios belonged to an individual in the species that specialized in blade scale shooting.
Therefore, aside from the initial attack where it ambushed Asterion and identified his species, this Seregios had been attacking entirely with its blade scales.
This was a good thing. The reason Asterion targeted a monster like the Seregios was precisely because of this regeneration ability and its blade scales—a Seregios with outstanding ability in this area might even shorten the process of him accumulating evolutionary trait information.
The Seregios's roars were becoming tinged with exhaustion. The frequency of its attacks on the surrounding environment was also decreasing, and the interval between each wave of blade scales was gradually lengthening...
The reality of not being attacked for so long, combined with the fatigue after its rampage, gradually brought reason back to the dragon's brain. And Asterion finally moved.
The broad sword-tail extended from the cave and swept across the blade scales nailed to the rocks, immediately causing a series of crackling explosions. But at least it cleared a space for Asterion to stand, so his crotch wouldn't be blown to smithereens by various "fragmentation mines" the moment he stepped out.
Er, even if his crotch wasn't blown up, having his ankles blown up wouldn't do either.
The Seregios finally got the response it wanted—the sound of explosions.
The explosion sound that had previously appeared on that strange Glavenus, right after it had just shot a wave of blade scales.
The narrow terrain certainly limited the Seregios's possibility of escape, but it also made it impossible for Asterion to dodge the Seregios's attacks. The explosion of his air sac carapace was inevitable, but at this moment, Asterion wouldn't feel the slightest bit of heartache.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Glavenus's heavy body made every step Asterion took exceptionally loud. Judging by the sound alone, it sounded like some monster from ancient times was rapidly approaching. These dense and heavy footsteps sounded even more massive in this semi-enclosed environment.
BOOM!! BOOM!!
Asterion deliberately shifted his posture to let the remaining air sac carapace on his flank meet the blade scales. The exploding air sacs deflected the incoming scales until the moment the two huge monsters collided—BANG!!
This was the most primal combat, and the craziest battle. Two monsters fought to the death in this dim, lightless environment, but it was absolutely not fair!!
Asterion hadn't racked his brain to create a fair battlefield. That sharp and heavy sword-tail abruptly pierced through the Seregios's chest and abdomen!!
"Gwaaaaaaah!!!"
Pain, intense pain!
This agony tore apart the Seregios's mind and took away its vitality. It was like an inflated balloon suddenly punctured with a small hole; everything inside the balloon was escaping through that void.
Blood, strength, life force—the vigorous vitality bestowed upon the Seregios by its powerful draconic physique allowed it to maintain a struggle even while impaled by Asterion.
But its struggles were visibly shifting towards a weaker level.
The Seregios used the wing that wasn't being trampled under Asterion's foot to ceaselessly beat against Asterion's body. The sharp blade scales even sliced open the carapace on Asterion's leg, and the Glavenus's scorching dragon blood began to spray out.
But such a minor injury couldn't stop Asterion's movements in the slightest. He unhesitatingly pulled out his sword-tail that had impaled the Seregios, leaving two massive holes in the monster's body.
Friends who are often shot by arrows surely know that once hit by an arrow, one must absolutely not rashly pull the arrowhead out. Otherwise, one will face massive blood loss and further rupturing of the internal wound.
Don't pull it, and you might not die. Pull it, and you'll definitely die on the spot.
And now, Asterion had pulled out the sword-tail that had impaled the Seregios.
The gushing dragon blood whetted his appetite. Asterion could even smell the sweet aroma of internal organs.
Gulp.
He swallowed a mouthful of saliva.
Asterion had prepared for this hunt for too long. Now, he was hungry.
Constantly lifting his massive leg to trample the Seregios's body, Asterion crushed it underfoot. The Seregios probably never imagined that one day it would die under such trampling, just as it had countless times in the past trampled weak creatures with its talons.
Finally, even the incessantly beating wing stopped moving—the Seregios was dead.
No deep thoughts, no spiritual ascension. Asterion directly bit onto the Seregios's neck and dragged it all the way from inside the long tunnel to the outside world.
When the sun's rays once again warmed his body and brightened the world, Asterion impatiently began to devour the Seregios's corpse.
Warm. Fragrant.
Starting with the internal organs.
He could be considered a veteran gourmand now. No matter what dragon he ate, Asterion's favorite was still these fresh internal organs. Mixed with the fat accumulated by the creature, every bite was full of life energy. Simply perfect.
It couldn't be compared to the rotting, stinking organs of a creature that had been dead for a while, infested with microbes.
His head covered in fresh blood, Asterion thrust his head directly into the Seregios's massive body and ate voraciously. First the organs, then the fatty parts of the body, then the muscles, bones—and especially the Seregios's blade scales. One of Asterion's goals in painstakingly hunting the Seregios was precisely them.
Crunchy and crisp. Good texture.
Eating his way from back to front, even the Seregios's dragon bones were crushed and swallowed by Asterion. This place looked like a slaughterhouse, with dragon blood and crushed meat and bone scattered everywhere. Asterion wouldn't waste the earth soaked in Seregios blood under his feet either; he would swallow it all later.
A dragon that doesn't waste food is a good dragon.
Licking his way up the Seregios's spine and cleaning off the blade scales, Asterion was about to open the treasure chest—the Seregios's head.
After every hunt, this was the part that excited Asterion the most.
When a dragon lives long enough, is strong enough, and accumulates enough life energy, a crystallization of life energy will form inside its body. This is the Dragon King, or the Gem.
The condensation of a Gem allows a dragon to control the life energy within its body more clearly and smoothly. The Gem also enhances every dragon's special abilities, making it even more powerful... if it has special abilities.
If it doesn't possess special abilities, the Gem will make the dragon's physical body stronger. In short, it is a comprehensive, multi-layered enhancement.
It must be stated that the birth of a Gem also requires a certain amount of luck. It's not that those Tempered Monsters who have lived long enough and are strong enough will inevitably produce a Gem; this thing is also related to individual talent.
A powerful dragon doesn't necessarily have a Gem in its body, but dragons with a Gem in their bodies are often very powerful, or special in some aspect.
Asterion felt that this Seregios was quite special because of its super-strong regeneration ability. Firing blade scales was like raining—just splashing water.
According to Asterion's experience, every dragon and every individual situation is different. The Gem appears either in the dragon's heart or in the skull. He had already checked the Seregios's body while eating just now, and there was no Gem in the heart.
By the way, Dr. Asterion had also carefully examined the patient Seregios's surface scales, but regrettably, he did not find a Seregios Dissenter.
So, whether this hunt would return with a full load, and whether a miracle would occur, depended on how well this treasure chest opened.
He bit through the Seregios's skull, and just like a Kulu-Ya-Ku brother slurping an egg yolk, Asterion slurped up the Seregios's brain matter.
"Roar-ptooey!"
His nimble tongue tasted a foreign object, and Asterion hurriedly spat the hard lump out of his mouth!
A Gem?!
There really is one!!!
It wasn't transparent; instead, it reflected the dazzling sunlight like a mirror. Asterion saw himself on its surface, distorted into a strange shape by the spherical mirror.
Seregios Lens.
That would be the name in the game.
Oh, perhaps it should be called [Seregios Lens]. Adding heavy brackets distinctly raised its status.
A precious jewel occasionally generated within a Seregios's body. It is said to be a perfect sphere that can reflect things invisible to humans.
A real, existing Gem! Complete! Massive!
A true Gem!!!
"ROAR!!!"
One couldn't blame Asterion for roaring in excitement; this was truly the first time he had seen a proper Gem since coming to this world. The monsters he preyed on before either had no Gem, or had those irregular, tiny little things that looked like broken kidney stone residue, completely lacking the grandeur a Gem should have.
He definitely ate well today. Afraid that some accident might happen if he delayed, Asterion didn't even dare waste time observing the Gem carefully. He hurriedly swallowed the Seregios Lens, along with the stones beneath it, all in one go.
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