Logan was back.
A few days earlier, after he and Valstrax had circled the Wildspire Waste and the Ancient Forest once, they had then pushed their speed to the limit and raced all the way to the Hoarfrost Reach. During that time, his attention had been almost entirely focused on learning Valstrax's flight techniques, so he truly had little impression of just how far the distance between the Hoarfrost Reach and the New World actually was.
As a result, this single flight—at his current speed, even though he was not flying at full power—still exceeded the speed of sound, yet it nevertheless took half a day to return to the New World. From this, one could imagine that if that distance were applied to the Third Fleet's mobile research base, wouldn't it take five or six days of nonstop travel?
After arriving back in the New World, Logan first sensed the ley lines and found that the New World's ley-line energy was still stable.
Originally, after confirming his direction, he had planned to head straight for the Wildspire Waste. However, he had not flown very far when he heard a burst of familiar croaking cries.
Beating his wings and stirring up a violent gale, he halted his forward momentum. Fixing his gaze, he took a closer look.
A several-hundred-year-old, long-separated Mother Chameleos was beating up a Nergigante that clearly did not look fully grown yet!!
Was this the collapse of draconic nature, or the corruption of morality?!
Unable to stand watching any longer, Logan decisively dove down and joined the beating!
It was absolutely not because that young Nergigante, upon discovering Logan's presence, was still being frantically lashed by Mother Chameleos's tongue-whip, yet nevertheless could not control its instincts and revealed a greedy look.
With a single tail whip, the young Nergigante was sent flying like a black cannonball, smashing heavily into the seawater. As vast sprays erupted, it sank into the depths of the sea.
Logan did not hold back much with that strike, but he also did not continue the pursuit to exterminate it completely.
After all, strictly speaking, the existence of Nergigante is beneficial to the New World. As the New World's "immune system," those Elder Dragons active on the very front line of Elder Dragon conflicts—so long as they do not engage in vile behavior like the Qurio incident from previous years—
—or before the New World's own "immune system" becomes overly abundant, to the point that it might even backfire on itself—ecologically positive Elder Dragons like Logan, in general, will not pursue Nergigante to the point of total eradication.
Just like back then, when Nergigante provoked Kulve Taroth, that Kulve Taroth only defended Itself and counterattacked, and did not continue the pursuit.
Otherwise, in an environment that could be considered half of Kulve Taroth's home ground, Nergigante would probably have been dragged to death in that volcanic crater.
Of course, if the young Nergigante failed to withstand Logan's strike and died, then that could only mean It was not a qualified immune system. A useless organism like that is only wasting resources by staying alive; it would be better to let Its life energy return to the ley lines—this would also count as making Its own contribution to nature.
"Gwa!"
Mother Chameleos, who was venting the displeasure of having once been intimidated by a Nergigante onto this young Nergigante that had not yet fully grown, was startled by Logan.
A perfectly fine young Nergigante—just like that, with a whoosh—was sent flying into the sea, scaring Her into thinking an enemy had appeared. The entire dragon immediately entered a state of invisibility, with a faint medicinal mist spreading around Her body.
Only, when Logan drew back the Terastal film covering his body into his chest armor, no longer wearing that glittering appearance, Mother Chameleos instinctively wanted to croak and scold Logan for such an abrupt action.
But then She recalled Logan's current strength, and forcibly swallowed it back. Caught between anger and humiliation, She chose to seethe in humiliation.
With Logan's current special nature, merely standing there caused Terastal energy invisible to the naked eye to continuously spill out into the surroundings. Coupled with the increasingly powerful perception She had gained as her strength improved, the perfect invisibility Mother Chameleos had once adjusted based on the Ancient Tree's Terastal energy became ineffective in front of Logan once again.
In Logan's eyes, the entire dragon was like a half-transparent creature.
It was just that he could not see Mother Chameleos's gaze at this moment, and therefore did not know what the other party was thinking right now.
He had originally planned to ask about the situation over at the Great Ravine—ask whether the interception battle had succeeded, so that he would not have to make an extra trip.
But before he could even open his mouth, an instruction—far clearer than in the past—was transmitted into his mind along with the ley-line energy.
The consciousness of nature issued him an extremely urgent summons!
Destination: Elder's Recess!!
The intensity of this summons was something Logan had never felt before; even that time with Shagaru Magala had not been this urgent.
He lowered his head and looked at Mother Chameleos, who had already drawn back her medicinal mist and was flying down toward the ground below.
For Her, if She could lie down then She would absolutely not sprawl; if She could stand with her feet on solid ground then She would absolutely not fly.
Logan was well aware of Mother Chameleos's temperament, so he quickly let out a roar and asked about the situation over at the Great Ravine.
As a result, this Mother Chameleos did not know what kind of fit She was having. After letting out a croak that seemed to carry a trace of resentment to indicate that She did not know, She then rapidly flapped her small wings and, as if fleeing for her life, descended at high speed. Soon after leaving the range of Terastal energy, She completely vanished from Logan's sight.
Logan did not know what was going on with Mother Chameleos, but since he failed to obtain the information he wanted—and the consciousness of nature was urging him with great urgency—he could not be bothered to think too deeply about it. With a sweep of his wings, he once again burst forward toward the Great Ravine.
When Logan broke through the cloud layer and saw the enormous Great Ravine below, from which a dense sulfurous stench was emanating, and saw Zorah Magdaros's massive body lying there in slumber, he felt secretly delighted and at the same time understood why the consciousness of nature had issued such an urgent summons.
Zorah Magdaros had been successfully intercepted. Although it was unclear how long Its advance could be halted, once an interception had succeeded once, there would certainly be a second time.
With Zorah Magdaros's stop-and-go pace, even if It could be guided according to the consciousness of nature's plan—drawn by the Xeno'jiiva cocoon into the Everstream—it would still give the Research Commission enough time to assemble more equipment, allowing them to intercept It again, or even drive It out of the Everstream.
What was more, the hunters' identity as "maintainers of ecology" was not merely self-proclaimed; this had also received the acknowledgment of the consciousness of nature. At least at the present stage, before human technological civilization reaches the level once attained by ancient Schrade—capable of overturning the balance of nature—the role of hunters within nature is precisely that of ecological maintainers.
If hunters could intercept Zorah Magdaros within such a short time, did that not also mean that they might be able to kill Xeno'jiiva before It emerged from the cocoon and completed Its metamorphosis?
After all, from the perspective of the consciousness of nature, the ultimate objective is to kill Xeno'jiiva, not necessarily to have Zorah Magdaros self-destruct.
As long as this objective can be achieved, the consciousness of nature will naturally, among its variable plans, choose a path more conducive to the development of the New World.
Compared to allowing Zorah Magdaros to die within the Everstream and cause the New World to sink, then waiting several thousand or even tens of thousands of years for a new stable ecology to emerge, it is far better to let the New World remain in its original state and continue to develop.
Therefore, the reason why the consciousness of nature was so eager to summon Logan to the Elder's Recess now made perfect sense.
Moreover, given the prudence of the consciousness of nature, those being summoned were likely not only Logan!
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