If this story were set in a certain legend about eyes, what Asterion was trying to do could be summarized in a single sentence: testing his own mettle.
He was no longer the young, fragile dragon of the past who had to hide just to survive. Instead, he had grown into a colossal entity that viewed the entire New World as his personal territory.
With both his power and pride far surpassing what they used to be, the thought of dodging didn't even cross Asterion's mind. The eight wing-bones on his back suddenly flared open, pointing rearward—BOOM!!
With just a brief burst of Bio-energy, the counter-force propelled Asterion's massive body forward, instantly tearing through the air. He left behind nothing but a shattered, shallow circular crater where he had stood, as the displaced lava began flowing back toward the bottom of the pit.
He didn't veer left or right, nor did he choose to abruptly gain altitude. At this moment, Asterion was like a heavy armor-piercing shell fresh out of the barrel, charging head-on into the oncoming thunder and fire!
CRASH!!
While the pride in his heart kept him from dodging or fighting timidly, he wasn't an idiot who would intentionally take damage to his face just to prove a point. There is a fine line between courage and recklessness.
In the final half-second before his jet-powered dash, Asterion took a deep, sudden breath and spat forward a sphere of Bio-energy. It was blue to the point of turning black, maintained under extreme hyper-pressure!
The sphere left his mouth at an incredible speed and was highly unstable. The moment it broke free from Asterion's control and came into contact with the impurity-laden, scorching-hot air outside, it immediately began to expand exponentially at a frantic pace!
In a mere 0.01 seconds, this energy sphere, which had expanded to nearly the size of a truck cabin, collided precisely with the Alatreon's downpour of cyan lightning and piercing ice shards.
BOOM!!
An instantaneous, cataclysmic explosion erupted!
This was no ordinary breath attack; it was pure, maximally compressed energy. The instant it burst open, it not only unleashed terrifying heat and corrosive force, but it was also accompanied by a powerful shockwave that ripped through nearly everything in its vicinity.
In an instant, the storm of Bio-energy exploding from the inside out brutally crushed the massive, sharp ice pillars protruding from the ground. The melting process was completely bypassed—under the horrific impact and heat, the ice blocks were instantly obliterated into pools of turbid liquid, which were then thoroughly vaporized into a stark white fog by the ensuing heat in less than half a second.
Under the onslaught of this pure torrent of energy, even the Alatreon's roaring, golden-red flames—which had blanketed the entire arena and were capable of melting solid rock—were forcibly scattered and severed, momentarily losing their luster.
The violent elemental collision produced a blinding light. This glare, combined with the massive amount of steam generated by the vaporization, completely obscured the Alatreon's vision.
But what kind of dragon was the Alatreon? He was battle-hardened and had seen it all!
Vision became trivial at a time like this. The Alatreon's acute perception told him that his young kin had not been repelled by the explosion. Instead, he was hiding right behind that billowing shroud of light and fog!
In fact, he had already charged right into his face!
A face-rush!
The jetting Bio-energy granted Asterion a level of mobility and linear explosive speed that a monster of his colossal size shouldn't naturally possess. When the shockwaves of Bio-energy that ravaged the battlefield and destroyed every protrusion on the ground snapped back and made contact with Asterion's body, they suddenly became as gentle as rippling water, sliding right past his carapace like a spring breeze.
This was the nimbleness of Bio-energy; it could not harm its true master.
It was no exaggeration to say that just like the relationship between Qurio and Gaismagorm, or Fulgurbugs and Zinogre, Bio-energy was not truly alive and possessed no independent consciousness. Yet, it could precisely execute Asterion's commands and move according to his will, acting more like a symbiotic organism coexisting with Asterion.
Heh heh, make way for the dump truck!
Asterion's immense body was like a heavy tank traveling at high speeds. He brutally broke through the glow and smoke of the explosion, instantly appearing right in front of the Alatreon. The ferocious monster, whose reverse-growing scales stood entirely on end, showed no sign of surprise. Instead, he had already lowered his center of gravity, the muscles in his four limbs tensing as he waited—CLANG!!
The mere soundwave produced by the collision generated a rapidly expanding shockwave ring within the fiery blue haze. But this was the physical defense of a Forbidden Monster, kid!
In this sudden collision, the Alatreon was barely outmatched by Asterion!
When a battle escalates to this level, ordinary physical attacks or even standard elemental breaths can hardly inflict any substantial damage on a Forbidden Monster equipped with absolute defense. The physical bodies of beings at this tier are fundamentally different from those of mortal creatures.
Even though the Alatreon's five-element energy was exceptionally pure and potent—making killing ordinary monsters as simple as crushing a chicken—it remained difficult to inflict effective damage on Asterion, who was a fellow Forbidden Monster.
The same applied to Asterion. The Alatreon's layers of inverted scales weren't just grown for looks; even the corrosive nature of Bio-energy couldn't breach the Alatreon's defenses in a short amount of time.
Precisely because of this, when two Forbidden Monsters clash, the most primitive form of close-quarters melee combat becomes the most effective way to break the deadlock.
Suppression!
The two colossal titans crashed together with absolute fury. The two dragons grappled, rolling rapidly across the ground due to momentum. The Alatreon's combat instincts were flawless; he had indeed anticipated Asterion's movements, but Asterion's speed still exceeded his imagination.
The Alatreon's understanding of Asterion was limited to that Bio-energy which catalyzed the evolution of life. Before seeing it with his own eyes, having never witnessed Asterion's combat style, he never expected this junior—whose size was actually a full ring larger than his own—to favor such an extreme speed-oriented approach.
This was somewhat unconventional. In the common knowledge of monsters, it was generally understood that only smaller monsters with lighter skeletal structures would adopt such an extreme speed build. A smaller body allows for nimbler movements and easier execution—take the Nargacuga, for example, or the Valstrax, which Asterion had plagiarized. In front of Asterion, a Valstrax would probably be only a third of his size.
On the other hand, large-scale dragons usually took the path of overwhelming everything with brute force, much like a mountain dragon like Zorah Magdaros. When facing attacks, they didn't bother dodging at all—they couldn't anyway. Besides, no monster could break their defense, and they only needed to walk forward to obliterate weaker creatures.
This slight deviation in perception caused the Alatreon's defensive posture to be forcibly broken, creating an opening. The massive kinetic energy caused the Alatreon to completely lose his physical balance, leaving him to passively roll along the ground, which presented Asterion with a golden opportunity.
Combo time, old man!
It all happened in a flash. Although he was forced to roll on the ground with the Alatreon for a few rotations, Asterion, who frequently fought in this manner, possessed far more experience in this regard than the Alatreon. Waiting for the moment his body faced upward, the wing-bones on Asterion's back flexibly adjusted their direction to face the ground—another short jet-burst!
The sudden thrust allowed Asterion to instantly break free from the confinement of the Alatreon's limbs. Caught off guard, the Alatreon didn't know how to react under the circumstances, failing to seize the opportunity to lock Asterion down and letting him distance himself instantly.
Still lying on his back on the ground, the Alatreon could only swipe a heavy claw in rage, but it missed, brushing past Asterion's foreleg. He was forced to watch Asterion instantly fly upward and away from him.
Uh... why does that description feel so weird?
Whatever. In any case, the prelude to Asterion's tempestuous assault had just begun. It was precisely during these moments of clashing physical strength that his Great Sword tail could showcase its utility. This thing was far more practical than teeth and claws.
As his body retreated, the jet nozzles on the left side of Asterion's back slid outward with a micro-adjustment, while the nozzles on the right side contracted inward. The intense variance in thrust instantly generated a powerful torque.
Leveraging this force, Asterion's heavy and elongated body spun at high speed in mid-air, a dozen meters above the ground, like an out-of-control gyroscope!
Go! The blade tail I take pride in!
The first strike! The incredibly sharp blade tail carried a piercing screech as it tore through the air, slamming heavily into the Alatreon's relatively vulnerable flank via the momentum of the massive body's rotation.
Accompanied by a grating, bone-chilling twist, when Asterion's blade tail pulled away, a shallow, grayish-white dent had been violently carved into the Alatreon's arrogant inverted scales.
Yet, Asterion's attack was by no means a hit-and-run. He was like a meat grinder dancing frantically close to the ground. As the valves of the eight wing-bones on his back continuously made jet adjustments precise to the millisecond, his entire body maintained a high-speed, irregular rotation in mid-air.
Dance of the Dragon!
Dragon Die!
Every single rotation drove the entire lethal blade tail to slice frantically at the Alatreon from all sorts of unbelievable blind spots and angles, leaving him bewildered and unable to defend himself!
Dull, heavy impacts and ear-piercing friction intertwined. Before anyone noticed, Asterion's blade tail had fully deployed. The highly explosive muscles derived from the Odogaron vibrated rapidly, causing the bladed scales at the edge of the tail to blur into a crystalline blue phantom.
His offensive power and destructive capabilities had reached their absolute peak. When this high-frequency, twitching chainsaw slashed against the Alatreon's inverted scales, the intense friction even unleashed bursts of blinding, golden-white sparks!
Jokes aside, don't mess with physics!
Horizontal slashes, vertical cleaves, diagonal sweeps, and straight thrusts—Asterion's continuous onslaught swept over the Alatreon's entire body like a tempest. Its speed was so overwhelming that the Alatreon didn't even know where to begin guarding. Bypassing the thick inverted breastplate on the Alatreon's chest, Asterion even thrust the very tip of the spike on his blade tail directly toward the Alatreon's chest!!
SNAP!
This spike picked a fight with the Alatreon's inverted scales, and... well, it lost.
The sharp tip snapped right off, and a viscous, greenish-white liquid began to slowly ooze from the fracture—the tranquilizing fluid acquired from the Garangolm.
Asterion had intended to inject the sleeping fluid while the Alatreon was off-guard, but he hadn't anticipated that this guy's scales would be far harder than he had projected.
"ROAR!!"
With the Alatreon's temperament, being pummeled black and blue by another monster naturally drove his rage to the absolute limit. He roared, the massive horns on his forehead crackling with black and red lightning. That was an incredibly high intensity of Dragon element energy—the sheer output of Dragon element unleashed at this moment alone far surpassed that of a Savage Deviljho.
The black and red lightning instantly pierced the air and struck Asterion's body. The Dragon element took effect immediately, making Asterion feel sluggish when controlling the Bio-energy that usually felt as natural to use as his own limbs, as if a wall had been placed between them.
But the one that suffered the greatest impact was, unsurprisingly, the Bio-energy itself. Although Bio-energy existed independently outside of the five conventional elements, the suppressing force of the Dragon attribute against abnormal energies was still comprehensive enough to include it.
As expected of the Alatreon. Even though it was their very first clash, driven by pure instinct, he still made the most correct response.
The flow rate of the Bio-energy jetting from the tips of his wing-bones was also affected. Even the slightest drop was enough for the sensitive Asterion to register the discomfort.
However, because the Dragon element had not yet invaded his body deeply, this discomfort was still manageable. But things couldn't be allowed to continue like this.
Seizing the brief moment Asterion's movements slowed down after the chaotic barrage of slashes, the Alatreon used all four limbs to spring forward. He instantly crossed a distance of over ten meters and pounced right in front of Asterion. The Dragon element crackling on that pair of massive, hideous horns grew increasingly intense, the black-and-red lightning turning into a cascading waterfall of light surging toward Asterion!
As if wielding two great spears, the Alatreon lowered his head and violently drove that pair of grotesquely shaped horns straight toward Asterion's chest!
His internal thermal organs weren't located there, but the flame organ—which was equally vital to Asterion—rested right in his chest.
Cursing inwardly, Asterion's thick forelimbs played a critical role at this exact moment. He clamped down hard from both sides, firmly locking the Alatreon's thrusting horns in place. The intense Dragon element surged along his forelimbs, spreading toward his head and chest!
Bones groaned and popped, and his muscles were strained to their absolute limits. The bio-crystals on Asterion's front claws had already been stripped and melted away under this level of Dragon element, turning into wisps of smoke that vanished into the air within a short span of time.
Such a potent influx of Dragon element spread across Asterion's entire body in just a few seconds. The Bio-energy being released from him was also being rapidly suppressed, gradually shrinking back into his body as if it had lost its power source—or had it?
Are you kidding me?!
Do you take me for some ordinary monster?!
Bio-energy! RELEASE!!
The feeling of the power he took pride in being temporarily suppressed also triggered Asterion's feral ferocity.
To hell with suppression; without taking quantity into account, it was all meaningless.
And quantity—the one thing the current Asterion lacked least of all was quantity.
Let me see your limit! Perpetual Motion Engine!!