Facts proved that the Scorching Heat Rathian's decision was correct!
After its breath joined in, the Savage Deviljho's miserable screams became even more intense.
However, no sign of weakness appeared!
Suddenly, a large amount of Dragon-element smoke surged out from within the breaths. Amid the collision of energies, an explosion directly blasted open.
The recoil instantly forced the Flame Rathalos couple backward, and their breaths completely ceased.
Blocking the Flame Rathalos, who wanted to charge forward, the Scorching Heat Rathian felt as though it had already been locked onto by a predator.
It was a strange feeling—for a Scorching Heat Rathian, ranked just below the Elder Dragons and one of nature's highest-tier ecological predators, to actually produce the sensation of being preyed upon.
Terrifying pressure swept through the entire lava cavern. Within the black mist, crimson eyes flickered faintly under red arcs of lightning. The Savage Deviljho, its body covered with multiple burn marks, stepped out with power-filled strides.
Its already swollen muscles expanded once more; its stretched skin resembled a balloon that might burst at a touch, with only several dark-brown lines clinging to it. Inside was raging Dragon-element energy, like scarlet muscle masses that rose and fell slightly with the Savage Deviljho's breathing.
Highly corrosive drool dripped down, and a black-and-red aura spread around it. Only the eyes of killing intent and hunger remained—greedy and ravenous, they locked firmly upon the Flame Rathalos couple before it.
At this moment, the Savage Deviljho finally revealed its truest and most powerful side.
Its brain completely dominated by hunger, it unleashed all of its strength, caring nothing for the consumption of life force—releasing an absolute combat power belonging to the Elder Dragon level!
Under the control of instinct, the Savage Deviljho, which dared to bare its fangs even at Elder Dragons, naturally possessed battle capability that rivaled—and even surpassed—ordinary Elder Dragons.
If an ordinary Deviljho was an ecological destroyer, then the Savage Deviljho was an ecological annihilator.
Without intervention from any Elder Dragon, it would often devour clean every living creature within an entire region—becoming the greatest destroyer of the biological food chain!
The muscle masses all over its body brought the Savage Deviljho absolute strength, and under the blessing of that absolute strength came equally tremendous speed.
Speed and power were often inseparable!
At that instant of eruption, the basalt beneath the Savage Deviljho's feet directly shattered, and two small geyser-like jets of magma spurted out.
At this moment, the Savage Deviljho was like a cannonball opening its bloodstained jaws, breaking through the sound barrier as, before the Flame Rathalos could react—though it saw it coming—its body failed to respond in time, and it was struck in an instant.
Under the exaggerated biting force, the Flame Rathalos felt as if its shoulder were about to snap apart.
But that was still secondary. Bitten hard by the Savage Deviljho, it was forcibly hurled out of the lava cavern and slammed into the ground.
Following the Savage Deviljho's ensuing death roll, it was thrown flying once again.
Its flame-covered scales were torn apart by the Savage Deviljho's teeth; amidst the splattering blood, the massive body crashed into a nearby basalt wall, producing a dull sound.
With large fragments of cracked basalt, it finally fell powerless to the ground.
One strike!
Just a single strike!
It sent even the Flame Rathalos, whose physique was equally powerful, into a dazed state.
This was the attack of the Savage Deviljho in its full-power state—were it an ordinary monster, just this one blow would leave it either dead or gravely maimed.
Rolling up swiftly, such a high-speed charge was something even the Savage Deviljho itself could not keep balanced, but compared to the damage it inflicted, that bit of rolling was nothing.
The Flame Rathalos scales remaining in its mouth after being bitten off were dissolved by the Savage Deviljho's highly corrosive saliva.
Spreading its legs, seizing the moment while the Flame Rathalos had not yet risen, the Savage Deviljho launched another charge.
Only this time, clusters of red-black fireballs fell, instantly covering the area around the Savage Deviljho and obscuring its vision.
Both the flames and the toxins were neutralized by the Savage Deviljho's restless Dragon-element energy.
Just as it was about to charge forward on instinct, another fireball fell in front of it. The Savage Deviljho instinctively dodged sideways—but its foot suddenly stepped into emptiness, and one of its legs sank into the magma beneath a pit.
That spot had originally contained a Bioenergy Crystal; under the Scorching Heat Rathian's fireball attack, it had exploded. Taking advantage of the Savage Deviljho's sight being blocked by the flames, it had deliberately used the fireballs to force its opponent to turn, thus gaining a brief recovery window for the Flame Rathalos.
The Savage Deviljho's short forelimbs could not provide support, and it could only rely on brute force to roll its body and forcibly pull out the leg that had sunk in.
However, easy to sink in, hard to pull out—for a moment, the Savage Deviljho was actually trapped.
On the other side, under the Scorching Heat Rathian's worried roar, the Flame Rathalos stood up. The numbed right wing began to regain sensation, though the shoulder, from which a chunk of flesh had been forcibly torn, nearly exposed the bone.
The intense pain caused most of the flames on the Flame Rathalos's body to extinguish.
Fortunately, its joints and muscles had not been damaged, and the adrenaline triggered by the battle helped block out most of the pain.
Only then, after slightly adapting, did the Flame Rathalos take flight once again.
"Roar!"
Basalt shattered—the basalt beneath the Savage Deviljho's feet was forcibly torn apart by its sheer brute strength.
On its left leg, which had stood too long in the magma, crimson lava streamed down; the burns on its surface meant nothing to the Savage Deviljho in its current state.
Yet gazing at the Flame Rathalos couple that had taken the chance to soar high into the air, the Savage Deviljho let out a roar of impotent rage.
Yes—it was strong, but it could not fly!
Moreover, its breath did not reach as far as that of the Rajang, nor was it as fast. Against the Flame Rathalos couple that had already flown high into the sky, it had no means at all.
Of course, the Savage Deviljho, already bereft of reason, would not think of any means either.
After confirming that it could no longer prey upon them, leaving behind a pair of scarlet eyes deeply imprinted in the hearts of the Flame Rathalos couple, the Savage Deviljho turned without hesitation and ran elsewhere.
It had caught the faint scent of blood—there was other food there.
This battle with the Flame Rathalos couple, which had ended without conclusion, caused no psychological impact upon the Savage Deviljho. It bore no grudge and felt no frustration—it was merely a failed hunt, and such a failure only meant it had to race toward the next one without wasting a second.
Such was the Savage Deviljho, left with nothing but the instincts to hunt and devour.
Watching the decisively departing back of the Savage Deviljho, the Scorching Heat Rathian, still with lingering fear, climbed higher in altitude once more. In all its past life, it had never encountered such a monster.
In this battle, it had merely been a resisting prey!
Its pride born from a high ecological standing was shattered.
At this moment, the Scorching Heat Rathian finally understood—that in this world, there existed monsters that could easily crush even itself and the Flame Rathalos together.
Even the Flame Dragons from before had faced them as a couple, and though their attributes clashed, they had still been able to fight back and forth.
One could only say that, in this moment, the country girl's naivety was completely broken.
For the Scorching Heat Rathian, in the past she had merely been a monster that, although possessing great strength and a high ecological niche, had long lived alone in a small territory and had not seen much of the world.
The greatest difference between the volcanic region of the New World and that of the Old World lay in the presence of the Bioenergy Crystal area situated within the New World's volcanic region!
It could be said that among the monsters living in the volcanic region, seventy percent would choose to dwell in the Bioenergy Crystal area.
As for monsters from other parts of the New World wishing to come to the volcanic region, apart from the Flying Wyverns, they could only reach it through the Everstream, yet the Everstream was also connected to the Bioenergy Crystal area.
As a result, despite growing to her present size, the Scorching Heat Rathian had not encountered many truly powerful monsters, and those she had ever clashed with were even fewer.
It could only be said that following the Flame Rathalos to the Bioenergy Crystal area had indeed broadened the horizons of this Scorching Heat Rathian whose vision had not been all that high.
"Roar~"
A roar tinged with pain rang by her ears, and only then did the Scorching Heat Rathian come back to her senses, looking anxiously toward the injured Flame Rathalos beside her.
The Flame Rathalos bared his teeth with a low growl, then decisively took the Scorching Heat Rathian with him and flew toward Logan's nest.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---