Was Barioth difficult for Darren to hunt?
The answer was obvious—no, it wasn't!
The problem was that this thing was far too good at jumping around, and it also had an extremely flexible lower bound to its movements. After taking several counterattacks in the form of charged slashes, it learned its lesson.
The moment an attack failed, it would immediately leap away, then use an ice breath to block the path, giving Darren no chance to pursue.
Darren wasn't afraid of the ice breath itself. On the Blazing Wings, there were still Terastal fragments left behind from the last time Logan had enchanted them. Darren had turned those fragments into a pendant, allowing him to freely draw on their energy to trigger the Calamity Flame mode of the Blazing Wings at any time.
With this weapon in hand, he could completely use guarding to isolate Barioth's ice breath.
But—here was the key issue!
This was the bitterly cold Hoarfrost Reach!
Barioth's ice breath was amplified by the environment. Not only was it more powerful, but when it landed on the ground, it also formed large frozen zones. The freezing effect slowed Darren's movements, forcibly dragging out the length of the battle.
With all these factors combined, the hunt was dragged out for nearly an entire day!
Still, the end was in sight!
Barioth was, after all, not an Elder Dragon. Its stamina wasn't that outrageous, and the energy stored in its frost sac was limited as well. The range of its ice breath was steadily shrinking, and its attack frequency had begun to drop. Once it was completely exhausted, it would face Darren's killing blow!
That's right—Darren had originally planned to finish things with nothing more than a repulsion. But after being subjected to Barioth's relentless hit-and-run tactics, his anger had been ignited. Now, he wanted to completely finish this thing off!
As Barioth started panting heavily, Darren slung the Greatsword onto his back so he could free up both hands and use the Clutch Claw to move.
Just then, an exaggerated blast of icy breath descended from the sky, instantly freezing the caught-off-guard Barioth into an ice sculpture.
Immediately afterward, a gorgeous yet dangerous figure dropped from above. On its slender, elongated tail, a sharp ice blade condensed, and it pierced straight through the ice sculpture with lightning speed, accurately striking Barioth's heart.
In an instant, spurting blood burst out from the puncture.
Velkhana's eyes—cold as ice and devoid of emotion—stared at Barioth's corpse within the ice. This thing often took advantage of its slumber to enter its territory and hunt, and it even dared to leave markers to stake out the territory!
If not for Barioth's camouflage having a major advantage on the Hoarfrost Reach, and for its habit of hiding by day and moving by night, acting covertly, it would have been dragged out by Velkhana long ago.
Now, this outcome was acceptable enough.
With a flick of its tail, it hurled the Barioth ice sculpture down a bottomless cliff, then its eyes turned to Darren, who had taken a wary stance.
In its senses, there was no particularly strong bioenergy aura, which meant its elemental energy was very weak.
Its body was also very small, and its limbs were not thick or sturdy—clearly, it could not move quickly.
Conclusion: no threat at all!
After making that judgment based on its shallow experience, the country girl directly ignored Darren's existence. With a flap of its wings, it rose into the air, intending to return to its nest to rest for a while. Once it had adjusted itself to peak condition, it would set off to search for the final place: Origin Isle!
Witnessing Velkhana steal the kill, Darren felt a moment of frustration.
He had held it in for nearly an entire day and was just about to finish the final cleanup, only for this to happen. He didn't even know what to say.
Fortunately, he knew that Velkhana was not an enemy. When it came to Elder Dragons that were not causing trouble, the Research Commission mostly focused on ecological observation and would not court death by provoking an Elder Dragon.
After confirming Velkhana's flight direction, and after downing another bottle of hot drink to drive away the cold from his body, Darren headed back through the sudden blizzard toward the sunken-ship camp beneath Barioth's nest.
...
Rumble—!
While enjoying his meal, Logan lost his footing, and the Mosswine that was just about to reach his mouth fell straight to the ground.
After instinctively taking off into low-altitude flight, Logan realized that his earlier feeling had been correct—the Ancient Tree had actually experienced a slight earthquake!
Because his nest was located at the top of the Ancient Tree, the degree of shaking there far exceeded that of other areas.
But this was the Ancient Tree!
Within the entire Ancient Forest, it was the node where land-vein energy was most concentrated. The towering giant tree could accommodate thousands of Fire Wyverns as well as a large number of cats, effectively forming a small landmass of its own!
And yet, an earthquake had occurred!
Wasn't that a bit off?
Ignoring the rising and falling wyvern roars outside, as well as the emergency bells urgently sounded by the cats, Logan calmed the enraged Aki beside him and focused his mind to sense the condition of the land veins.
It would have been better not to sense anything—once he did, he immediately noticed something was wrong.
Too active!
The land veins were far too active!
What should have been calmly flowing land veins were now in chaotic agitation, like water sloshing around inside a shaken cup.
And at an unknown depth directly beneath the Ancient Tree, the land-vein node itself was a turning point. Under the impact of magma and the slight movement of continental plates, the enormous Ancient Tree was shaken along with it.
"That damned little brother dragon—can't he behave himself for once?"
Logan ground his teeth. There was no need to think about it—this situation had definitely been caused by Shara Ishvalda.
Here at the Ancient Tree, the ground was stabilized by the Ancient Tree's roots, so although there was some shaking, there shouldn't be any major problems.
But the Wildspire Waste and the Elder's Recess were likely another matter entirely. Volcanic eruptions, increased Elder Dragon activity—these would all be chain reactions triggered by abnormalities in the land veins.
Under such circumstances, the Research Commission finally began to notice certain clues.
However, verifying whether this conclusion was correct would require a massive amount of data, which meant hunters would need to travel to all parts of the New World.
With some elite forces already dispatched to the Hoarfrost Reach, manpower now seemed insufficient for a large-scale task of this kind.
The Admiral, who was temporarily overseeing Astera in place of the Commander, looked at the thick stack of reports piled up before him. Even someone capable of fighting Elder Dragons felt a headache coming on.
Manpower allocation, logistics and supply distribution, deciding who should be assigned to which region—these issues directly drove the rough-on-the-outside but meticulous old hunter into despair.
Reality proved that sheer strength alone was not enough to handle this kind of work. He had no idea how the Commander had endured this pressure day after day for decades, managing Astera in such perfect order.
Fortunately, the Admiral had one particular strength: self-awareness.
Conventional solutions like the Commander's were obviously beyond him—but unconventional methods? Those were no problem at all!
After arranging for the Analytics Director to temporarily take over Astera's administrative duties, and confirming that Mother Chameleos and her offspring were still in the back mountain area of Astera—ensuring sufficient combat strength within the base—the Admiral took that stack of reports and headed for the Ancient Tree.
He might not be able to handle this kind of matter himself, but he had a lot of friends!
Whether it was the higher-ups of Blazefire Village or the ancient Wyverians, he could call in help from all sides.
What's more, he also had a deep personal relationship with the Sunblaze Dragon. Beyond calling for people, he could even call for a dragon!
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