A flying strike!
Like a rocket taking off at an angle, Asterion straightened his Great Sword-like tail and launched himself, aiming right at the Kushala Daora—but the moment he launched, Asterion felt a tinge of regret.
It was too slow.
Compared to the speed he had expected, this flying strike was simply too slow! So slow that the Kushala Daora even had time to decide whether to dodge or counterattack on the spot!
Considering the Kushala Daora's personality... Should I avoid its sharp edge?!
"Roar!!"
Wind pressure blasts! Wind pressure blasts! Wind pressure blasts!
Looking up, he was greeted by a three-shot burst. This Kushala Daora's attacking movements were exceptionally elegant. It seemed to already consider itself the king of the New World, having just taught a foolish, clumsy dragon a lesson. Although it hadn't killed the clumsy dragon yet, if it didn't take this opportunity to flee, its death was only a matter of time.
So, did the clumsy dragon flee?
"Roaaar!!" (I'm here to help you! Boss!!)
Unlike the cunning and complex-minded Asterion, the Bazelgeuse brother was truly simple-minded. Since Asterion hadn't chosen to run away, he would repeatedly throw himself back into the battlefield.
Loyalty!
But loyalty couldn't magically generate combat power. On a battlefield where the baseline was Elder Dragons, the Bazelgeuse brother could only be a hanger-on—and one who had nearly been kicked to death at that.
To be honest, if the Bazelgeuse brother could still stall the Kushala Daora, Asterion wouldn't even want to attack the Kushala right now... The right move was to swing his tail and focus all his power on finishing off the Nergigante first.
It had taken so much effort to exploit a flaw in that Nergigante turtle shell and inject all the tranquilizing fluid into its body. Given the drug resistance the Nergigante had shown earlier, wouldn't it be a pure waste to drag this out until the effects wore off?
He needed more power, even if it was just to distract it—where were the Hunters?
Suddenly cutting off his fiery propulsion, Asterion used his body weight to immediately drop downward, dodging the wind pressure blasts spat by the Kushala Daora. He quickly scanned the distance, trying to find traces of the Hunters. The Ape-Wyverns certainly couldn't deal fatal damage to an Elder Dragon, but they could definitely provide a distraction.
At a glance, Asterion spotted the Hunters' airships, and simultaneously saw the Zorah Magdaros already nearing the shore. As the water depth decreased, the Zorah Magdaros's body gradually surfaced, allowing one to clearly see its ancient appearance, with beard-like growths hanging beneath its head.
At a glance, the entire dragon looked as if it were cast from asphalt. It was truly a massive, walking mountain. The mountain of ore on its back was so high that Asterion had to crane his neck just to see the peak.
Just like Godzilla, Asterion couldn't help but compare in his mind.
Monster. That was the only word he could think of. Compared to dragons like them, Zorah Magdaros truly looked like an oversized monster.
Asterion wasn't the only one watching; even the Kushala Daora turned to gaze at this behemoth—
For some unknown reason, the Zorah Magdaros suddenly stood up. Its lower half was still submerged in the seawater, but its upper half was raised high, revealing a pair of front claws that gleamed from the water.
No wonder the Hunters classified Zorah Magdaros as a type of mountain dragon. Judging solely by its appearance, you couldn't see this guy's wings at all. Other than the extra mountain on its back, it closely resembled a Lao-Shan Lung.
Asterion didn't know what the Hunters on the airships were feeling right now, because the head of the standing Zorah Magdaros was level with their flight altitude—No! Zorah Magdaros was looking right at them!!
Following Zorah Magdaros's movement to stand upright, the flying monsters roosting on its back took to the skies in a panic, flying toward the land.
Only a monster as massively map-like as this could allow a Kushala Daora to rest upon it during the Elder Crossing. Zorah Magdaros didn't look for long; very quickly, it lowered its front body back down.
BOOM!!
When Zorah Magdaros's heavy front body crashed back into the sea, starting from where its front paws slammed the surface, a tidal wave—or rather, a tsunami-like wall of water—surged toward the land. It would likely only take a few breaths for it to crash into the area where Asterion and the others were currently located.
Zorah Magdaros didn't launch an attack; it merely continued walking toward the land. And upon seeing that Zorah Magdaros wasn't doing anything else besides simply standing up for a moment, the Kushala Daora also retracted its attention and refocused on Asterion.
Naturally, it wouldn't forget this thug who had just declared his intention to snap off its horns.
Up until now, all of the Kushala Daora's attacks had been in a playful state—it wasn't serious, nor had it struck with full force.
Exhaling irritably, Asterion felt that this Kushala Daora was somewhat baffling. Generally speaking, shouldn't monsters in the wild avoid such brutal melees from afar? Why would it actively join in??
After all, during this Elder Crossing, even the Nergigante hadn't made the migrating Elder Dragons its primary hunting targets; instead, the highest aggro was on him, Asterion.
It was completely illogical, but Asterion was genuinely stumped by the Kushala Daora.
But he still had to fight! He'd fight the Nergigante!
After hesitating for a few seconds, Asterion decided to weather the Kushala Daora's harassment and kill the Nergigante first. With the Nergigante's damage-trading fighting style, it should have been a wildly temperamental, almost irrational creature. But who could have imagined that the moment things looked bad, this guy would turn into a turtle shell, using its wings, covered in hard black spikes, to tightly shield itself? Its defense was incredibly thorough.
A shield, a shrink—heh, you couldn't even tell it had been injected with tranquilizing fluid anymore. It lay down on the ground like it was making itself right at home.
"Roar!" (Have you no shame?!)
Seeing his Great Sword-like tail forcefully scrape sparks off the black spikes, Asterion couldn't help but curse.
"Roar, roar, roar!" (You call yourself an Elder Dragon predator like this?! You trash who doesn't even dare to fight head-on!!)
Cursing incessantly, Asterion dodged the wind pressure blasts from the Kushala Daora while looking for an opportunity to deal a heavy blow to the Nergigante—he was getting a bit anxious. The tranquilized Nergigante was in its most vulnerable state. If he missed this chance, it would be gone forever!
He didn't have nearly enough stamina to waste on secreting tranquilizing fluid again.
It truly was working. The Nergigante's wings were trembling, and so was its body. Several times already, it looked like it wanted to spread its wings and rush at Asterion, but just as it moved, the powerlessness in its body and the drowsiness in its head held it back.
Turtle dragon! Dragon turtle!
Asterion cursed twice more. Used solely for defense, the Nergigante's broad wings could completely wrap around most of its body. The rest only required timely turns or wing adjustments. Even with a groggy head, the Nergigante could manage that much.
"Roaaar!!" (Let me do it!!)
Although he didn't understand why his boss was ignoring the Kushala Daora to continue attacking the Nergigante, the Bazelgeuse brother still chose to unconditionally support Asterion.
The hard shell on the Bazelgeuse's head was arguably the toughest part of its entire body. Right now, he simply buried his head into the ground, using his forelimb-like wings to protect his more vulnerable body parts from the spikes—he was going to burrow into it! Let's see if he could flip the Nergigante over!
Asterion wasn't idle either; he turned his Great Sword-like tail horizontally, using it as a crowbar to pry the Nergigante up—BANG!!
This time, it wasn't even a wind pressure blast; the Kushala Daora threw its entire body over and slammed into Asterion. Relying on its heavy weight, it wanted to pin Asterion to the ground, preventing him from getting up. But Asterion instinctively struggled violently and broke free. The two dragons rolled on the ground, twisting and fighting together, looking entirely like a territorial dispute.
"Roar!!" (Are you sick in the head?!)
Asterion truly couldn't hold back his cursing.
"Roar, roar!" (What does this have to do with you! Can you just roll away and find a quiet place to die?!)
Seeing that the Bazelgeuse brother had gotten a layer of black spikes stuck to his forehead but had managed to pry the Nergigante open to reveal a flaw, yet he couldn't capitalize on this opening to deal fatal damage because of the Kushala Daora's interference—Asterion felt his blood pressure soaring.
Killing intent surged! Skyrocketed! Went berserk!
"Roar!" (Nothing to do with me?)
Seeing Asterion frantically break off the grappling match and retreat to the side, the Kushala Daora didn't pursue him. Instead, it raised its slender neck and looked down contemptuously:
"Roar, roar!" (A dragon that preys on Elder Dragons?)
The Kushala Daora... It really understood.
It understood exactly what the conflict between Asterion and the Nergigante was about, and why these two wanted each other dead.
It could even reason out that neither of these two harbored any goodwill toward it. If these two hadn't happened to appear here at the same time today, the one being hunted and besieged would be it.
When the Kushala Daora issued this rhetorical question, Asterion knew that this guy truly understood.
The intelligence of an Elder Dragon! Boy!
"Roar, roar, roar, roar." (It seems you understand... So neither of you can die first; it's best if you both die together.)
This Kushala Daora was consciously controlling the situation of the entire battlefield!
Upon realizing this, Asterion knew things were going to be difficult.
"Roaaar!!" (Die!!!)
Even though he had once drunk Asterion's blood, and had been forced by Asterion to chew on his own old carapace, the Bazelgeuse brother's intellectual growth was still somewhat slow. He couldn't understand what the Kushala Daora was saying; he only knew that he had to kill this dragon covered in spikes.
Like a wild bull! The word "retreat" simply didn't exist in the Bazelgeuse brother's head!
Unless Asterion ran first.
The Bazelgeuse's body temperature had risen to an incredibly high degree. The fierce battle forced his dragon blood into high-speed circulation, and the pain from his injuries caused his internal hormones to double in secretion, as if he had boundless strength.
Rage!
The rage of failing to kill a single dragon since the start of the battle. The rage that his boss had almost killed this spiked dragon, but had to come save him because he failed to hold off the wind dragon! The rage of failing to overturn this spiked dragon even after giving it his all—the rage of hating his own weakness!!
I didn't eat desperately, get stronger desperately, and fight desperately for this kind of bullshit!!
If I can't kill my prey, what's the point of fighting!!
For meat that is more fragrant, sweeter, and full of power!!!
He fired up!
This wasn't a metaphor for the Bazelgeuse brother's courage or combat desire—he was literally on fire!
When the Bazelgeuse brother fought with all his might, the explosive scales secreted on his body's surface were consciously catalyzed to near-detonation, showing a bright, self-illuminating fiery orange.
But at this moment, even the skin on the Bazelgeuse brother's head seemed to be emitting light outward!!
Asterion watched dumbfounded at the changes occurring on the Bazelgeuse brother's body. There were still over a dozen black spikes of varying thicknesses embedded in his forehead, still spurting blood. Yet, even though this blood was evaporated by the intense heat the moment it sprayed out, the Bazelgeuse's entire skull was glowing!!
The originally silver-gray carapace was now illuminated transparently by intense energy radiation, exhibiting a beautiful bright blue or even white color, distributed in a gradient. The Bazelgeuse brother was like a giant light bulb installed internally, transforming into a self-illuminating light source.
Especially on his head and tail—even the secreted explosive scales had acquired an eerie purple hue over their fiery orange. His entire body exuded a purple-white iridescence.
This was—a Seething Bazelgeuse?!
Asterion witnessed the Bazelgeuse brother's transformation with his own eyes, but the Bazelgeuse brother himself seemed unaware that he had evolved. He only felt an immense clarity throughout his body; physically and mentally, he felt exceptionally invigorated. He felt amazing.
When a Bazelgeuse has experienced a long passage of time, endured the tests of countless battles, and accumulated enough life energy, and when sufficiently enraged, it can unleash the latent potential in its body to become even stronger.
Generally speaking, the so-called Seething Bazelgeuse is a Bazelgeuse that maintains a constant state of rage—rather like the Hulk, haha. But this was the power the Bazelgeuse brother had now mastered: the ability to enter a Seething state while his body's scales were hyper-heated.
Namely, this state where his entire body radiated a purple-white iridescence.
"Roaaar!!!"
With a roar, the Bazelgeuse brother forcefully raised his wings to wipe away the spikes embedded in his forehead. Right now, he only wanted a thrilling fight with this spiked dragon!
Without hesitating for even a second, the Bazelgeuse brother completely ignored the spikes the Nergigante thrust at him, as well as any physical pain. He hoisted his front body up and hugged the Nergigante, which was wrapped in its wings, directly from behind!
Who cares about anything else—EXPLODE!!!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Well, isn't that nice? It seems to me that everyone in the New World is an expert at trading blows for blows.
The explosion the Bazelgeuse brother unleashed at this moment possessed power far exceeding his previous ones. The blast's flames weren't even bright fiery orange or fiery red, but an eerie blue-purple or even purple-white.
The Nergigante's wings, after all, weren't a true turtle shell. It couldn't protect every part of its body. When the Bazelgeuse brother forcefully pressed his weight upon it from behind, explosive scales ultimately fell into the gaps, meaning the explosive light and heat all poured right inside!!
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