"Roar!" (Back off!)
The old Kushala Daora spoke up, asserting his presence like an emperor, leaving even Asterion dumbfounded.
Are you serious right now?
He didn't seem like he had come to the New World to die; rather, it felt like he was here to conquer it. Even upon seeing a three-dragon free-for-all, he didn't show the slightest intention of backing down. Instead, he arrogantly told Asterion and the other dragons to get lost.
Not to mention Asterion—even Nergigante was shocked.
"Roar!!" (I'll eat you!)
As expected of Nergigante, his sheer stubbornness was undeniable. Even after being directly double-teamed by Asterion and the Bazelgeuse brother, he didn't choose to team up with Kushala Daora to fight together at a time like this.
To Nergigante, the life-and-death pressure Asterion and his brother just put on him was actually quite similar to what he had faced from some Elder Dragons in the past. He even rather enjoyed this kind of head-on physical combat devoid of external Elder Dragon powers—this was exactly his forte.
The battle had only just begun!
There was no point in wasting words. Even though Elder Dragons possessed super-intelligence, that intellect merely told them to utilize their super-strength. Talk therapy and verbal sparring simply didn't exist in dragon society; once they met, it was all about letting their power do the talking.
The old Kushala Daora's arrogance gave Nergigante time to catch his breath. His wounds were healing rapidly, and the newly grown spikes had already taken on a pitch-black hue, hardening once again.
"Roar!!"
Nergigante looked completely wide awake now. On the contrary, he was furious. The pain of his injuries and the humiliation of nearly being defeated drove him to furiously plunge his foreclaws into the ground before him, and then he pushed! He pushed with all his might!!
Crack, crunch, crackle—boom!
Under the exertion of Nergigante's immense strength, he forcefully tore up the massive boulder in front of him and hurled it directly at Asterion!
Always Asterion!
The massive rock howled through the air toward Asterion's position, but Asterion didn't flinch in the slightest. His heavy Great Sword-like tail swept diagonally across the ground, leaving a deep gouge before slicing right into the boulder!
Cleaved in two!
The hardness of a mere rock was less than half the sharpness of Asterion's sword-tail. However, after splitting the boulder open, what appeared from behind it was a lunging Nergigante!
The beast turned his body sideways, wrapping his wings around his right side to ram his hard, thick, black spikes right into Asterion!
Boom!!
At the same time, the Bazelgeuse brother's explosions suddenly rang out. But he wasn't charging toward Nergigante, who was pushing behind the rock, but rather toward the swooping Kushala Daora!
Unable to overthink things in the heat of the moment, Asterion only knew that the hunters' plans to uncover the secret of the Elder Crossing were likely going down the drain. The Kushala Daora that had crossed the sea didn't detour around the three-dragon battle; instead, it joined the fray with an attitude of, "Who can kill me?"
Foresight Slash!!
Sinking his body and bending his knees, Asterion certainly wasn't stupid enough to take Nergigante's attack head-on. Bracing his foreclaws against the ground for leverage, his powerful hind leg muscles tensed and released like springs, letting him slide-step out of the way to the back right in the blink of an eye.
Twisting around for a counter-slash!
His razor-sharp sword-tail swung in a full arc through the air, sweeping toward the other side of Nergigante's body that wasn't covered by wings. However, Nergigante, already growing familiar with his attack patterns, raised a foreclaw and blocked it with the spikes growing on his forelimb.
He did manage to sever a few, but breaking some spikes was completely painless for Nergigante; he could casually regenerate them.
Nergigante had already figured out a strategy to deal with Asterion: absolutely never shed his spikes voluntarily, and never use his ultimate move—the Heaven's Ruin Divebomb.
Even though his spikes became extremely heavy after turning black and hard, impeding his movement and increasing his stamina drain, Nergigante had discovered that having an agile body was useless against Asterion. That guy was far more agile than he was, and could inflict grievous wounds whenever he seized an opening.
That tail!
Nergigante hated that tail to death. Only by keeping his entire body covered in hardened black spikes could he prevent this disgusting bastard's tail from effortlessly slashing his flesh.
It wasn't metal, but it made the same clanging sound of striking iron. Asterion's sword-tail striking against Nergigante's spikes could only sever a few without harming his skin and flesh. When he tried to target Nergigante's underbelly—which lacked spike protection—he found the beast was completely refusing to rear up anymore. Moves like his mighty slam or intimidating rearing posture were completely off the table.
Clang! Clang, clang! Clang!
Nergigante had essentially turned into a floor-hugger, keeping his softer underbelly pressed tightly against the ground, refusing to give Asterion any chance to stab him.
Asterion watched helplessly as a fierce rusher was forced by him into becoming an ultra-defensive turtle dragon. Between wanting to laugh and cry, all he could do was continuously try to break through Nergigante's defense, aiming for the spots lacking spike protection.
For instance, the backs of his limbs, or the joints where his limbs met his torso.
It was incredibly difficult, but not entirely impossible.
The techniques and training he had once learned from the Sword Master always came into play in the finest details. Even amidst this intense physical confrontation, Asterion could accurately strike his sword-tail exactly where he intended—like a dragonfly skimming the water's surface, flashing by in an instant, yet accurately leaving a gash right in Nergigante's armpit.
"Roar!!!"
As everyone knows, it hurts incredibly bad when soft flesh gets injured, so Nergigante grew even angrier. And when he got angry, Asterion got happy.
"Roar?" (You mad?)
"Roar!" (Stay mad! Hit me if you can!)
"Roar roar!" (Can you even hit me?!)
"Roar! Roar! Roar!" (Trash! Garbage! Dung!)
Roaring incessantly, Asterion essentially turned into a Kulu-Ya-Ku, completely discarding his haughty, quiet dragon persona, and instead constantly roaring and taunting Nergigante—this was also a form of talk therapy!
The kind of talk therapy specifically designed to induce a mental breakdown!
Simply being physically strong wasn't enough; a truly strong dragon needed a strong mind as well. Asterion was constantly trying to provoke Nergigante with words, trying to force the inherently ferocious and proud beast out of his turtle shell, thereby creating conditions for his own victory.
"Roar roar!" (Is that all you got? Pah!)
"Roar roar roar!" (Come out if you have the guts!)
"Roar! Roar roar roar!" (Pah! All that big talk about being an Elder Dragon eater, and this is it?)
Uh, it was basically primary-school-level trash talk. Asterion really wanted to curse more viciously, but he was afraid Nergigante wouldn't understand if he went too deep, so he had to make do.
But it was super effective. After all, dragons generally rarely communicated with other dragons, and even if they met, they wouldn't use words to converse. Therefore, this was Nergigante's first time encountering Asterion's provocations and mockery—not to mention Nergigante, even Kushala Daora, who was currently beating up the Bazelgeuse brother, couldn't help but turn its head to look.
This was also a completely new experience for the old Kushala Daora. Like, seriously, how could a dragon be so talkative? And so good at cussing dragons out?
Honestly, when the old Kushala Daora looked over, Asterion panicked a bit. He was genuinely afraid that the old Kushala Daora would team up with Nergigante because of his mockery. But he had no choice. Having clearly assessed the battlefield, he knew he couldn't let this drag on, because the Bazelgeuse brother was absolutely no match for the old Kushala Daora!
The only reason he hadn't been kicked to death by the old Kushala Daora yet was purely because of the Bazelgeuse brother's thick skin and rough flesh—so he had to break the deadlock as soon as possible!
"Roar!!!" (I'll kill you!!)
Nergigante grew even angrier.
"Roar!" (Look at you, getting mad!)
Asterion rattled off a string of rapid-fire dragon-speak.
"Roar roar roar! Roar roar!" (Mad again, but what can you do about it? Bite me to death if you have the guts! Pah! Dung!)
Nergigante's eyes had gone completely red. Having never experienced such richly layered provocation, he finally lost his mind. He raised his front paw, wanting to swat at Asterion, completely unaware that Asterion had been waiting for him to rear up!
He finally got his chance.
When Nergigante raised his foreclaws, his front body would inevitably lift up, thereby exposing his neck and chest area, which lacked a sea of spikes covering them.
Thrust!!
Twisting his body, he shed the dulled blade scales on his sword-tail. When Asterion thrust out his sword-tail this time, its sharpness was brand new, and it pierced straight toward Nergigante's chest—the exact spot Asterion was aiming for!
A blade strike must be accurate, and more importantly, ruthless!
Squelch!
The sharp tail spike thrust straight into the opening on Nergigante's chest exposed by raising his paw. Asterion completely wrung out the sleep-inducing fluid sac connected to his tail spike, injecting all of the secreted sleep-inducing fluid into Nergigante's body.
He couldn't squeeze out any more.
Secreting this kind of fluid consumed a lot of stamina and energy; shooting too much would leave him weak, which was just common sense for a dragon.
But having finally caught Nergigante's opening, Asterion wasn't going to stop there. In a flash, his thrusting sword-tail tore open a massive gash on Nergigante's chest. Asterion's sharp eyes even caught a glimpse of Nergigante's visceral diaphragm?!
Unfortunately, he couldn't go any deeper. The moment Asterion's body struck him, Nergigante roared and quickly retreated backward. It was the right choice. Even though Asterion immediately extended his sword-tail to stab deeper, the autonomous extension of the tail without the momentum of a swing was a bit too slow, and Nergigante ultimately managed to escape.
His footsteps staggered once again, but what made Asterion's pupils shrink was that even though he had injected more sleep fluid this time than the last, the symptoms Nergigante displayed seemed milder than before?!!
Does his drug resistance build up this fast?!
Unsure whether it was because Elder Dragons were special or Nergigante in particular was special, Asterion only knew he had to seize this opportunity!
Strike while he's weak and take his life!
"Roar!!" (Boss, save me!!)
Before Asterion could land even two slashes on the staggering Nergigante, he heard a wail—the Bazelgeuse brother couldn't hold out any longer.
An old Kushala Daora.
An elderly Arch-Tempered Kushala Daora.
Anyone who knew anything understood the weight of that. The Bazelgeuse brother managing to hold out this long was already him performing at absolute peak capacity, while the old Kushala Daora hadn't even gotten completely serious yet.
Asterion fell into a dilemma for a moment. He glanced at the staggering Nergigante. Knowing he had been hit by that trick again, the beast simply adopted a completely defensive posture.
He wrapped his broad, thick wings around himself facing Asterion, with all his pitch-black, hardened spikes pointed outward. It seemed he had made up his mind: unless the abnormal status effects on his body completely wore off, he absolutely wouldn't take the initiative to attack again.
Turtle dragon!!
Asterion cursed inwardly. Ten years ago, he would have merely laughed as Bazelgeuse bought time for him, not lifting a finger to save him, and might have even gorged on his corpse once he died.
But that was ten years ago. Ten years later, Asterion could no longer sit idly by and watch the Bazelgeuse brother get kicked to death. This had nothing to do with the fact that the Bazelgeuse brother was shouldering the responsibility of hunting Elder Dragons for him and had actually found one.
Even if you raised a dog for this many years, you'd develop feelings for it, let alone a dog that constantly called you "Boss"—this was brotherhood!
Damn Kushala Daora, you just have to look for trouble, don't you!
He watched as Kushala Daora reared its head back and spat out a wind pressure blast that smashed into the Bazelgeuse brother, while the Bazelgeuse brother charged headlong at Kushala Daora like a stubborn bull. The blast scales from his head to his tail were all glowing a fiery red, yet he was forcefully pushed back by the protective tempest whipped up by Kushala Daora's beating wings, unable to get anywhere near.
Boom boom boom!!
The Bazelgeuse brother completely failed to charge right up to Kushala Daora to engage in close-quarters physical combat. The blast scales he pushed to the absolute brink of detonation also completely failed to impact Kushala Daora's body before exploding. The shockwaves and smoke produced by the explosions were entirely blocked by the wind barrier, blown away before they could even obscure its vision.
To be fair, the wind-controlling capabilities this Kushala Daora displayed were indeed much stronger than the old Kushala Daora in Asterion's memories.
"Roar!!" (Don't charge in recklessly! Break his horns first!)
Asterion roared a reminder at the Bazelgeuse brother, who had been blown away and left seeing stars. Asterion had plenty of experience on how to fight a Kushala Daora: as long as you could break the horns on its head, it would temporarily lose its ability to manipulate the surrounding storms.
The good news was that the Bazelgeuse brother understood Asterion's plan.
The bad news was that Kushala Daora also understood Asterion's plan.
Hiss—Bang!!
Kushala Daora was seen opening its mouth and taking a deep breath before firing a lead-gray wind pressure blast straight at Asterion! The hundred-meter distance was covered in a flash, blasting forcefully into the spot—where Asterion had just been standing.
Kushala Daora wasn't the only one who could shoot projectiles. When Asterion noticed that the Bazelgeuse brother was being beaten back step by step and could no longer stall Kushala Daora, he had already divided his attention to keep an eye on Kushala Daora's movements, preventing himself from taking a massive hit from a sudden sneak attack.
Right after shouting that warning, Asterion immediately adjusted the angle of his wing bones and propelled himself away from his original spot. Sure enough, Kushala Daora, enraged by his reminder, launched an attack at him without hesitation.
Everything was going exactly as Asterion expected!
Judging solely by Kushala Daora's overbearing demeanor upon its initial entrance, one could guess that this guy had rarely lost in its entire life. Even upon sensing the aura of Nergigante—a fellow Elder Dragon—it showed no signs of cowardice... which made sense, considering Nergigante was getting beaten up pretty badly. It was only natural that Kushala Daora looked down on him.
Swoosh!!
With a double-stage burst of propulsion, Asterion's mid-air body altered its trajectory out of thin air before even touching the ground. Without warning and defying all predictable paths, he practically carved a right angle through the sky—charging straight for Kushala Daora!
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