This was an adult Anjanath, nearly eighteen meters long and weighing approximately thirty tons. Its body was covered in pink skin, with a layer of dark blue feathers extending from its back to the tip of its tail. Its appearance was almost identical to the Yutyrannus Logan remembered from his past life.
However, its strength was far beyond that of any ordinary tyrannosaur. Its skull was disproportionately large, with banana-like fangs protruding from its lower jaw. From a distance, its jaw looked like a massive shovel-bucket, possessing terrifying bite force. The muscles on its well-developed hind legs bulged, allowing it not only to run at extreme speeds but even to perform long-distance leaps.
In the real world, creatures weighing over a ton rarely possess the ability to jump, as the impact force upon landing can exceed five times their body weight—stresses an ordinary biological body simply cannot withstand. Take Tyrannosaurus rex, the former apex predator of Earth, as an example: its top running speed did not exceed thirty kilometers per hour, and it had completely lost the ability to jump.
Logan felt a bit frustrated. He had hoped to scavenge a free meal but hadn't expected to run into this guy. Getting into a life-and-death struggle with an adult Anjanath for a single meal was clearly a losing proposition, so he turned to leave.
This movement caught the Anjanath's attention. It jerked its head back, forcefully tearing the head of the Aptonoth clean off its neck. Its powerful jaws clamped down, snapping the hard skull instantly with a loud crunch, as if it were chewing on broad beans.
Blood flowed down through the gaps in its teeth as its small eyes fixed intensely on Logan and Zhu Peiniang. As a thug of the forest, it would never tolerate another predator in its territory. It would dare to challenge even a Rathalos; some young Rathians weren't even its match.
After swallowing the flesh in its mouth, the Anjanath threw its head back and let out an earth-shattering roar, declaring its sovereignty to Logan.
ROOAAAR!!!
The massive sound waves caused the surrounding air to distort like ripples in water, spreading outward like a violent gale, carrying the characteristic stench of a carnivore.
Logan felt as though his ears were about to go deaf, and his nostrils were assaulted by the foul smell. He must have picked a bad day to head out; first, he ran into a foolish Pukei-Pukei, and now a temperamental Anjanath.
The string of incidents made him flare up in anger. He couldn't help but snap, "Why are you yelling so loud? Didn't you see I was already leaving?" Unfortunately, due to the language barrier, this question was destined to go unanswered. He decided to change his way of "saying hello."
With a sudden flick of his nine-meter-long tail, three thin, feather-like scales shot out in a triangular formation. A streak of white light seemed to flash through the air. The roaring Anjanath suddenly felt a sharp pain in its chest, followed only then by the sound of a violent sonic boom.
Because intense exercise causes body temperatures to rise rapidly, the Anjanath does not grow scales over most of its body to facilitate heat dissipation; it only has a layer of pink skin covered in sweat glands. While this skin is tougher than rubber and effective against blunt force, it struggles against sharp piercing attacks.
It is like a hammer failing to break a rubber tire, while a dagger can pierce it with ease.
The feather-scales—thin as a cicada's wing and over a foot long—embedded themselves deep into the Anjanath's chest, leaving only the thin tail-fins quivering slightly.
The potent toxin on the scales quickly paralyzed the surrounding muscles and destroyed blood-clotting factors, causing blood to seep out like a leaky faucet. Furthermore, with its short forearms, it was impossible for the Anjanath to pull them out. As the monster moved, the scales would continue to shred the surrounding flesh until the area rotted and suppurated, forming a large hole before finally falling out.
Even with the tenacious vitality of creatures in this world, such a strike would leave the beast severely incapacitated, if not dead. If its healing factor was too strong, the scales might even be encased in regrowing flesh, causing agonizing pain that would haunt it for the rest of its life.
The Anjanath clearly didn't realize how vicious this move was yet, but that didn't stop it from launching a fierce counterattack. Its powerful hind legs stomped the earth, its head lowered, and its mouth gaped open. Like a giant excavator swinging its bucket, it charged head-on with menacing momentum.
For an animal, a powerful body is the most potent weapon, and a collision is the most direct form of attack. When a thirty-ton Anjanath charges at over seventy kilometers per hour, the resulting impact force is far more than a hundred tons.
Logan truly couldn't understand how the hunters of this world, weighing only one to two hundred kilograms, could stubbornly block a "Dragon Charge" with impact forces thousands of times their own weight without being sent flying.
Regardless, he didn't dare take such a violent attack head-on. With a slight push of his feet, his body dodged to the side as nimble as a cat. Upon landing, he used the momentum to spin and whip his tail like a steel cable, striking directly at the Anjanath's lower leg.
However, whether to deal with the counterattacks of prey or to protect against the dense thorns of the jungle, the lower legs were one of the few places on an Anjanath covered in scales. Along with a dull thud, the Anjanath's massive frame didn't budge an inch. It immediately lunged its head forward to bite again.
Its fangs, thicker than a human arm, were backed by terrifying bite force. If the bite landed, forget flesh and blood—even thick steel plates would be punctured.
Logan hurriedly jumped back again to dodge, while simultaneously swinging his foreclaws to deliver a heavy slap to the Anjanath's cheek. His nearly thirty-centimeter-long curved talons acted like sharp karambits; with a single pull, several jagged bloody gashes appeared on the Anjanath's face.
Yet, for a thirty-ton behemoth, this injury was perhaps no more serious than a human being scratched by a cat. On the contrary, the pain completely ignited its ferocity. Its hind legs exerted force, and it suddenly leaped.
Its heavy body was propelled nearly twenty meters into the air by this jump. Carrying the massive potential energy of the fall, it launched a ferocious stomp toward Logan's position.
Logan flicked away nimbly once more, immediately feeling the ground vibrate beneath him as a deafening boom echoed in his ears. The Anjanath's powerful legs sank deep into the earth, leaving two footprints over half a meter deep.
Such terrifying impact force would likely crush a tank instantly if it were underneath. No wonder its hind legs were covered in scales; otherwise, the flesh on the surface wouldn't be able to withstand such intense friction.
The next moment, the Anjanath violently pulled its legs from the ground, sending clumps of soil flying everywhere. With thunderous, rumbling steps, it charged at Logan once again.
To counter the Anjanath's overwhelming strength, the electrical organs within Logan's body began to operate at full capacity, stimulating the metal minerals in his cellular fluid to expand and contract. His muscles swelled rapidly. Blood flowed through his body at high speeds; looking through his parted scales, his skin appeared a vivid, bright crimson.
With this surge of power, Logan decided to meet the challenge head-on. He lunged forward with all four limbs, colliding directly with the Anjanath.
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