Could it be—the Elder Crossing?
As long as matters involved Nergigante, it was easy to think of this familiar term. Asterion couldn't help but feel a little dazed.
The Elder Crossing occurred once every ten years. If Nergigante had appeared at the southernmost tip of the Wildspire Waste because it wanted to hunt those old entities crossing the sea, it meant Asterion had been in this world for nearly ten years.
He had gone from a newly born, weak, and powerless baby Glavenus to a massive hulk—perhaps not even a Glavenus anymore, but a truly unknown monster.
As an intelligent monster who had transcended low-level instincts, Asterion would summarize his experiences and reflect on his shortcomings after every major battle. This time was no exception.
There was no doubt about it: there was only one reason why today's battle had resulted in such a heavy loss, forcing a strategic retreat. The evolutionary blueprint Asterion had sketched out for himself still had problems—major problems.
Even ordinary wyverns possessed incredibly resilient vitality. Battles often devolved into contests of who could endure more injury or pain. In a fight of that intensity, the current Asterion was a bit too delicate.
For a monster like a Glavenus, which had undergone millions of years of evolution, normal heat regulation involved rapidly venting heat through the radiator shells on its back. The distance was short, and the speed was fast. This meant that even if a Glavenus fought another monster to the last drop of blood, and even if its radiator shells were smashed, it could still vent heat directly through the dorsal pores.
However, Asterion couldn't do that. He had altered his internal heat channels. All heat was transported to the vents in his tail for discharge, granting his sword-tail the ability to use jet-like acceleration—but long pipelines meant a higher probability of being destroyed.
As soon as combat entered a primal melee phase, or if something like Nergigante's spikes penetrated Asterion's internal flesh like they did today, he faced the risk of a "chamber explosion"—a backfire.
And not a backfire in a non-lethal area like the throat, but in the internal organs—a place where a dragon could actually die. It was extremely dangerous.
Nursing his wounds, Asterion sighed silently.
A sudden mutation like his really wasn't as tough and durable as something that had survived natural selection. But he had no better solution at the moment. He could only continue to accumulate bio-energy and improve it during his next evolution.
Evolution was a process of constant trial and error.
Although this outing failed to bring back prey, Asterion's nest was not short on food. After all, his hunting frequency had always been much higher than that of a normal Glavenus. The industrious Grimalkynes had smoked all the surplus meat into jerky and stored it in the cool, ventilated cave. Now, they brought it all out for Asterion to eat.
With Asterion's recovery capabilities, it took only a little over a week to return to full health. Thanks to the Seregios's rapid regeneration ability, his regrown scales and shell immediately possessed mature defensive power, unlike other monsters whose newly grown shells were often fragile.
After confirming his combat power was restored, Asterion ordered the Grimalkynes not to leave the nest if possible before his return. He also placed the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers under strict supervision, forbidding them from running around.
The battle between those two Kushala Daora years ago had left a massive psychological shadow on Asterion. This hadn't changed even after he had devoured the corpse of the old Kushala Daora. What Asterion feared wasn't a specific Elder Dragon, but the disasters that Elder Dragons brought with them.
If Nergigante really came for the Elder Dragons, then the battle between them might cause extinction-level destruction to the creatures living in the Wildspire Waste... just like the Kushala Daora did.
Damn it! Elder Dragons!
Not wanting to return from an outing only to find the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers and his Palico victims of a disaster like last time, Asterion gave a few rare extra instructions. He told the Grimalkynes to stock up on supplies and prepare to weather the storm—err, the disaster—before he left the nest.
Call it cold or heartless, but no matter how worried he was, Asterion would not stay in the nest as a bodyguard. He always understood that the fundamental reason the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers and the Grimalkynes serving him could live a safe and stable life in the crisis-ridden Wildspire Waste was one thing—his own strength.
And now, an opportunity to continue climbing upward lay right before Asterion. How could he not take a shot at it?
The Elder Dragons of the New World were mostly elusive and hard to find, but the Elder Dragons crossing the sea from the Old World followed regular routes and were old and frail. They were easy targets to bully.
Asterion decided to compete with Nergigante for food.
Following the familiar route all the way to the southernmost point near the sea, truth be told, even Asterion didn't know exactly where he was going on this trip. The Wildspire Waste was too large, and the coastline was too broad. Trying to ambush a target relying solely on the power of one dragon was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
Fortunately, Asterion remembered clearly that ever since the First Fleet followed an Elder Dragon across the sea to discover the New World, a fleet from the Research Commission had followed behind every Elder Dragon for the last forty years.
That meant the hunters would converge sooner or later. He just needed to keep a close eye on the hunters.
The Monster Investigator, Mr. Glavenus, was online once again. The hunters of Astera once again felt that awkward sensation.
The monster the Commander called "Boss Glavenus," and officially designated as "Wisdom Blade," appeared undisguised on the slopes outside the base. But this time, it didn't seem to have a specific purpose.
The Sword Master tried to go up and say hello, asking if it had come to continue learning swordplay, but received a head shake in response. aside from that, any hunter who tried to get close received a warning from Wisdom Blade and could not approach.
Even the Commander was no exception. That guy was a bit too familiar; Asterion couldn't stand that kind of personality.
With a hundred thousand curiosities in their hearts left unanswered, the hunters could only adapt to this weird life of being observed by a dragon in reverse. At the same time, they gained a deeper understanding of the name "Wisdom Blade"—he was indeed very wise.
Hara caught a good break this time. She and several scholars spent every day on the hill opposite Asterion, observing every feature of his body with binoculars.
This stakeout with no known time limit was a bit torturous, but fortunately, the flower field and swamp zone had regained its vitality. In the intervals between stakeouts, Asterion could go hunt some wild game.
Green water plants rippled underwater once again, and dreamy purple hues lingered in the swamp, though a bit sparse. The Apceros, which had been hiding who-knows-where before, began to breed again. Although they hadn't reached the grandeur of the past where there seemed to be an endless supply to eat, there were at least several herds now.
A vibrant scene of life—though who knew if it could survive this Elder Crossing.
Hmm... Putting aside the dark thoughts in Asterion's mind for now, after a long wait, he finally saw a turn of events—not a new Elder Dragon, but traces of Nergigante.
One evening, while heading to the flower field swamp zone to forage, Asterion suddenly discovered the half-eaten corpse of an Apceros. The monster that attacked it had eaten crudely, looking as if it was in a hurry to leave. Beside and on the corpse, Asterion saw a few familiar spikes.
Given Nergigante's pursuits, eating this Apceros was probably just to fill its stomach. However, this also meant Asterion's previous guess was likely correct. After searching along the coastline, Asterion found several other places with residual Nergigante spikes. Comparing the freshness of the traces, he roughly determined the direction the guy was heading.
Every dragon had a specialty they relied on for survival. If Bazelgeuse's specialty was combat sense, then Nergigante's specialty was absolutely an "Elder Dragon Sense." If you wanted to find an Elder Dragon, following this guy couldn't be wrong.
Detective Sherlock Glavenus was online again, constantly searching for the traces left by Nergigante. Following its route forward, Asterion finally succeeded in finding Nergigante—Nergigante in combat?!
From a distance, he saw Nergigante wrapping itself in one wing and smashing into the ground from the sky. After cresting a hill, Asterion saw clearly what was happening below.
Good lord, it's absolute chaos.
About three or four hundred meters from the shore, three ships were swaying in the sea. They were obviously ships from the Old World, not only because Asterion hadn't seen these ships despite observing the hunters of Astera for so long, but also because of the patterns painted on their sails.
With orange as the base tone, the insignia looked like a ball of flame. It was completely different from the red-backed star insignia flag Asterion had always seen over the past few years. Without a doubt, this was the Second Fleet sent by the Guild to support the New World Research Commission.
However, the people of the Second Fleet looked utterly miserable right now. They were caught in the middle of a battlefield between two Elder Dragons. One was naturally the inherently evil Nergigante, and the other was entirely crimson, covered in a layer of hard, red scales.
It had a pair of crown-like horns on its head and a circle of thick red mane around its neck. It looked a bit like an oversized cat, but it was definitely far more ferocious than any cat. As it spread its wings, dark red dust swirled around it. When Nergigante got close, the dust would instantly explode. Even standing in the distance, Asterion could feel the heatwave.
Teostra.
A Teostra that had crossed the sea.
These two guys, who could both fly, were fighting unscrupulously in the sky above the coastal waters. Blazing fire fell like rain from the sky, and constant explosions shook the entire sea, causing waves to surge. Even though the three hunter ships had their sails fully unfurled trying to escape, the turbulent waters prevented them from leaving quickly.
Like a blade of grass swaying in the wind.
Sherlock Glavenus had already deduced what happened before his arrival. Nergigante had descended from the sky to ambush Teostra, and the fleet following behind Teostra suffered the collateral damage. With Asterion's eyesight, he could even see that the hulls of two ships were pierced with spikes.
Nergigante really attacked indiscriminately.
Smacking his lips, Asterion—he could only watch.
Err, who told those guys to be out at sea right now?
With Asterion's weight, if he dared to enter the sea, his body would sink straight to the bottom. Guaranteed death.
Now he was truly inferior to Groudon. Even if Groudon couldn't fly, it could at least instantly create land in the ocean to walk on. Asterion could only "see" from the shore.
But it wasn't a big problem. Asterion believed these two guys would come ashore sooner or later. After all, neither Nergigante nor Teostra were dragons that specialized in aerial combat, and Teostra preferred living in high-temperature volcanic areas.
Sure enough, under Asterion's eager gaze, the tumbling figures of the two guys in the sky got closer and closer to the shore. At the same time, Asterion heard a shout. Looking up, he saw several hunters hanging from ropes attached to the claws of Wingdrakes, swaying as they flew over the sea toward the three ships.
Great, now even the hunters can fly.
Life is hard; Glavenus sighs.
But when did those guys tame Wingdrakes? While chopping wood in the Ancient Forest?
The burly man hanging under the claws of the leading Wingdrake was clearly the Commander. His Palico, Dot, was hanging onto his ankle. It was a wonder how that Wingdrake managed to carry both of them.
Upon receiving guidance from the Commander and his group, the three ships immediately turned their rudders and moved closer, though they moved slowly due to the churning seawater.
The Commander's shout also attracted Nergigante's attention. That guy actually kicked Teostra away in mid-air and pounced toward the little bugs hanging from the Wingdrakes!
"Roar!!"
In this critical moment, the Commander suddenly swung his leg up, flinging Dot upward, and then yanked the rope with all his might, jumping out—straight toward the Nergigante flying right at them!!
Draw weapon!
The Commander's weapon was a massive Switch Axe. It took only a second to pull it from his back and transform it into axe mode, and in the next second, the Commander performed a forceful rising slash!!
Clang!
Well, Asterion in the distance couldn't hear the sound, but he dubbed it for the Commander in his brain, marveling at his courage—at least if it were Asterion himself, back in his weak human body, he wouldn't dare jump out to cross blades with a Nergigante like that.
Like a fly swatted away by a flyswatter, the Commander was smashed into the sea at several times the speed he had jumped out from under the Wingdrake, splashing up a huge wave.
As for Nergigante... its diving motion only paused slightly. There was no other impact.
But it didn't matter. The Commander had bought some time, more or less. The other hunters who came to support, as well as the hunters on the ships, finally began to attack. Heavy Bowguns fired various elemental ammo, drawing lines of different colors across the sky. It was intense.
Nergigante's spikes clattered as they were hit, but expecting hunters to deal significant damage to it was a bit impossible. Fortunately, there was still Teostra. Don't let the fact that he was a dying old timer fool you; Teostra's movements were deadly precise.
Even while flying in the air, he accurately slammed into Nergigante's body—Boom! Boom! Boom!!
The red dust that always lingered around Teostra's mane and forelegs exploded in an instant.
Wait, why do you guys all use the same technique?
Watching the show from afar, Asterion was a bit speechless. From Bazelgeuse to Teostra, these monsters seemed to fight with the same core logic. It was nothing more than Bazelgeuse having stronger explosive impact force, while Teostra's explosions had higher fire damage.
Essentially, there was no difference.
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