Yet another continuous stream of black mist sprayed out; only this time, Logan keenly noticed that the breath the Savage Deviljho spewed had decreased, and even the muscles on its body, which had been incomparably crimson and bright, had grown somewhat dim.
It was obvious that the energy and stamina in this guy's body had already dropped drastically; no matter how much it squeezed its life force, without stamina to go with it, it was nothing but an empty shell.
Seizing the moment when the Savage Deviljho was single-mindedly breathing and the black mist had yet to completely envelop it—
Logan grabbed this opportunity: flames ignited at the tips of both wings, a wind vortex rose, and with a howl he directly spewed a massive volume of compressed flame.
The air quivered; the soundwave spread like ripples; silver-white scales drew tight; the Calamity Flame suddenly swelled.
An incomparably dazzling white light flashed, and in an instant it lit up the world—which had been dim under the shroud of dust—until it was crystal bright.
Even though it had lost its rationality, under the sudden stimulation of that intense light, the Savage Deviljho's body still froze unnaturally; it shut its eyes tight and interrupted its breath.
And within that blinding light, Logan dove downward, his pair of claws gleaming with a cold light.
With unstoppable force, he stomped down fiercely on the Savage Deviljho's neck.
The tremendous impact instantly crushed the Savage Deviljho's head into the ground, and from the hollow openings at the tips of Logan's claws, a large amount of flammable venom was injected into its body through the claws embedded in its muscles.
This created a numerical counter-suppression against the dragon-element energy coursing through its muscles.
At that moment, Logan felt a powerful force surge up; as the basalt beneath the other's feet shattered, the Savage Deviljho actually forced itself upright. No matter how Logan flapped his wings to apply pressure, he could not stop it.
Even with Logan's post-metamorphosis physique, combined with the doubled strength granted by the Powerhouse Trait, he actually lost in a contest of strength while holding the initiative!
Clenching his teeth, Logan felt the dragon-element power continually coiling up around his talons, and his wings shifted angle slightly.
"Pure strength alone can't hold you down—then how about adding this!!"
Exaggerated air currents burst above Logan's wings, and two powerful updrafts reacted against them.
"Get down!!"
With a resonant roar, an overwhelming pressure suddenly crashed down. The Savage Deviljho, which had been on the verge of standing fully upright, lost its balance once more; the muscle groups in its legs screamed in agony, and its joints, unable to withstand the load, were directly forced back into the ground by Logan's absolute power.
In the next second, the silver dragon lifted his head and inhaled; dense life energy mixed with fire-element energy gathered in his mouth. As the Fire Wyvern's blazing fluids were mobilized, the scales from his chest to his neck turned crimson under the heat, and blue-violet light seeped through the gaps of his spread scales.
Absolute high temperature tore through the dragon-element energy entwining him and completely engulfed the ferocious head at his feet.
A roar like a blower echoed out as torrents of Calamity Flame overflowed with unending impact.
The basalt at the center of the breath turned charred and melted.
The Savage Deviljho didn't even make a sound—first its skin, then its fangs, and finally its skull—all began to melt away under the continuous scour of the Calamity Flame.
Only when Logan began to feel short of breath did the flames slowly dissipate, leaving behind nothing but a mutilated, scar-covered, headless dragon corpse and a small pool of magma.
Standing atop the Savage Deviljho's blood-stained corpse, Logan raised his head and let out a roar.
The resounding sound echoed across the entire area.
A proper target, an exhilarating release—this not only vented Logan's pent-up fury but also soothed the increasingly irritable temper he had harbored during this period.
After a round of satisfying venting, Logan took a long breath, steadying the restless blood surging inside him.
[Drip, drip.]
Drops of still-warm rain fell, slowly snuffing out the flames still burning on the ground with a sizzle, turning into wisps of white steam that rose and shrouded the area in white mist.
This acid rain, formed with volcanic ash as condensation nuclei, gave off exactly the same smell as inside the Elder's Recess.
Logan lifted the Savage Deviljho's headless corpse, flew to the side, and tossed it into the flowing stream of magma, watching coldly as the body was swallowed by the lava.
As a monster that had detached from the regional food chain and formed a loop of its own, the energy from prey hunted and devoured by the Savage Deviljho could only be burned up by that outrageous metabolism.
Even in death, what remained was just a heap of scrap meat with almost no energy left, its nutritional value exhausted by Dragon-element energy.
This guy had relied purely on endless appetite to accomplish species extinction that even Elder Dragons could only achieve by relying on authority.
Having found a punching bag to brawl with and feeling refreshed, Logan planned to return to his nest for a good rest.
He had just taken off when he saw a big black hedgehog with wings wobble past in the distance.
Just as Logan's muscles tensed and he readied himself for another fight, the Nergigante only let out a distant 'roar'—as if saying hello—then drooped its limbs and tail and flew off listlessly.
This greatly surprised Logan. In his impression, wasn't the Nergigante supposed to be exceedingly ferocious, the type to charge at Elder Dragons the moment it saw them like a reckless brute? How could it be so dejected?
It couldn't have been beaten up by that Kushala Daora, right?
He rejected the thought as soon as it arose. As someone who had repelled that Kushala Daora head-on, Logan knew very well that while its strength was great, its declining physical condition was real.
Although Logan had only had a brief clash with Nergigante in the Wildspire Waste, judging from the Nergigante he had seen in the Coral Highlands, that Kushala Daora absolutely could not beat it.
So, what had happened?
While Logan was puzzled, the passing Nergigante sniffed, its small eyes sneaking a glance at Logan. Through that special sensing ability, it could perceive the incomparably vast life energy within Logan.
It really smelled good!
But the moment it thought about how it had just arrived nearby, seen Logan's displayed flight speed, and that fast and agile ranged breath attack, it felt mentally exhausted.
All this time, Nergigante had been chasing the Kushala Daora that had been driven off by the Arch-Tempered Velkhana.
They had clashed only once, and after Nergigante injured the Kushala Daora, it found that the latter had adopted evasive tactics.
As the Lord of Storms, although Kushala Daora appeared bulky, in reality, those metallic shells were made of lightweight steel, and under skillful manipulation of air currents, it could maintain extremely high flight speed for long durations.
With an absolute advantage in speed and long-range storm attacks, it had forcibly dragged Nergigante around like walking a dog, for such a long time.
In the end, it was only after Kushala Daora found a suitable hiding place and used the concealment of a rising sea tornado that it finally shook Nergigante off completely.
After spending so much time playing that chase across the sea, once the Kushala Daora's trail completely vanished, the inner drive that had kept Nergigante in relentless pursuit suddenly dissipated. Upon returning to the Elder's Recess, it discovered that, due to the "song," nearly all the Elder Dragons had already left.
It had barely managed to sense the commotion of Logan's battle here, only to witness Logan's flight speed not inferior to that of Kushala Daora.
Dead memories once again attacked it.
In the short term, the truly weary Nergigante, who had no desire to be led around again, could only endure its mental fatigue and decide to leave the Elder's Recess to try its luck elsewhere.
Thus, the image of a dejected Nergigante appeared before Logan's eyes.
Once he confirmed that the big black hedgehog had truly departed, the suppressed energy within Logan finally subsided again.
Although he didn't know whether Nergigante had undergone some change in disposition or had truly lost hostility toward him, in any case, it was best not to be targeted by that thing.
High atop the basalt, Aki stared toward the direction where the commotion had long since ceased, quietly waiting for that familiar figure to appear on the horizon—just as she had once done at the Ancient Tree.
Beside her, the Flame Rathalos had already left to undertake today's hunting mission together with the Scorching Heat Rathian.
Meanwhile, the Scorching Heat Rathian was sneaking glances at Aki, then looking into the distance.
It was desperate to know the outcome of this battle.
The Savage Deviljho had indeed left quite a shadow in its heart. Although it knew that Logan, its newly acknowledged leader, was very strong, that was still the very creature who had effortlessly crushed both it and the Flame Rathalos together. If Logan had lost, then in the not-yet-fully-submissive mind of the Scorching Heat Rathian, his image would surely have diminished somewhat.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---