Perhaps sensing the fate that awaited it, the dragon egg trembled slightly. Wave after wave of life energy tinged with malice seeped faintly outward from within the shell.
However, not all Red Dragon eggs could reach the level of Xeno'jiiva, the so-called "King of Elder Dragons." Nor was every egg capable of easily accumulating sufficient energy to reach the point of hatching.
Or rather, like the egg now lying before Nergigante, most Red Dragon eggs met their end this way—because, for one reason or another, their exact location was perceived by the world itself, turning them into various monsters' "fortunate encounters" long before they could ever hatch.
This instinctive malice did possess an extremely strong deterrent effect. But at this moment, Nergigante was already dominated by greed after having steeled itself mentally. Let alone an egg merely emitting malice—even if it were to hatch on the spot, it would still be unable to stop Him from devouring it!
With brute force, He smashed open the shell, tore apart the binding web, and swallowed in great gulps the liquefied life energy within, along with a tiny, embryo-like mass.
With a sufficient replenishment of life energy, Nergigante finally suppressed that instinctive urge to reproduce once again. Instead, He allowed His muscles, regenerative shell, and other bodily structures to freely absorb the energy, replenishing what had long been depleted and lacking.
After so many years—having endured countless battles against ordinary Elder Dragons, and having repeatedly served as a main combat force in the hunts of dangerous Elder Dragons—His physical body had long since been honed to a remarkably high level.
After also enduring a beating from Yama Tsukami, being heavily wounded by Kulve Taroth, and then the battle with Logan that nearly killed Him, His regenerative ability could be said to have been pushed to its limit. Those spines of His had long since possessed the potential for further metamorphosis.
And this time, this replenishment of vast and pure energy filled in what He had always lacked.
On His regenerative shell, spine after spine bulged up—and then, under the stimulation of life energy, rapidly turned black and hardened.
But it did not end there. As the black spines were continuously infused with life energy, they gradually began to take on a metallic sheen, as though a faint layer of silvery gray had been plated over the black spines.
His regenerative shell became even thicker; the black grew even deeper. Set off against the adamantine spines that were beginning to rise into a metallic color, the entire dragon appeared even more dangerous.
Even if it was only a Red Dragon egg that had not yet reached the conditions for hatching, it still could not be digested so quickly—much less when, this time, the energy was being applied to Himself rather than reproduction. Even Nergigante needed sufficient time to sort out His own energy, thereby strengthening Himself in an all-around way.
At this moment, every additional measure of preparation meant an additional chance of survival in the battles to come.
...
Guiding Lands, within the lava region.
The Tempered Teostra that had always been responsible for regulating the lava region's ecology snorted irritably, its eyes fixed dead on a lava cave nearby that continuously sent out cold wind, its gaze filled with helplessness and grievance.
Soon, accompanied by a surge of the earth's veins, large amounts of magma began to erupt. In the very next instant, however, it solidified at a speed visible to the naked eye under extreme cold, instantly turning into pillar after pillar of obsidian. The entire cavern was as if a black obsidian chrysanthemum had bloomed, creating a different kind of scenery within this dull and monotonous environment.
In response, the Tempered Teostra could only roll its eyes wordlessly and quietly shift itself a bit farther away.
A series of crisp sounds of glass colliding and shattering rang out continuously from within the cavern. Soon after, accompanied by dense, frigid white mist surging outward and colliding with the scorching ambient temperature outside the cave with a sizzling sound, a gorgeous figure, blue tinged with purple, gracefully paced out from within the cavern.
With a slight motion, fragments of purple volcanic glass fell to the ground one after another.
This noble witch glanced at the "little fellow" guarding not far from the cavern. Under the other's vigilant gaze, She flapped Her wings without looking back and flew up into the sky amid falling snowflakes.
Arch-Tempered Velkhana!
Logan had once encountered Her in the Elder's Recess. She was also the individual who had slain the Black Flame King, a former pillar of the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern, and left behind an icy tail blade that remained unmelted even within the scorching heat of the Elder's Recess—an existence that had broken through the limits of life.
As a being whose time alive in the New World was unknown, Her age might not rival that of Shara Ishvalda, yet She could still be considered a witness to the New World's growth into its present form. She had experienced the New World's former era of civilization and had even met Shara Ishvalda in the past.
She knew very clearly Her own mission, and also understood why it was precisely She who had successfully broken through the limits of life, gained a far longer lifespan, and obtained power that surpassed the limits of Her species.
Everything came at a price, and some debts had reached the time to be repaid!
Without the slightest hesitation, She once again flew toward that icy, snowbound land She had not set foot in for many years.
It was obvious that this time, the degree of importance the "boss of nature" placed on Shara Ishvalda was not as high as it had been for Xeno'jiiva. There had been no early mobilization of multiple Disaster-level Elder Dragons to advance ahead of time to Origin Isle.
That said, the sense of targeting was extremely clear—it was aimed directly at the opponent's weaknesses.
Only, whether it was Velkhana or Nergigante, at present there was still a lack of an entity capable of breaking through the massive rock armor that, due to remaining underground for many years and being subjected to long-term compression and stacking by soil and stone under immense pressure, had formed over the dragon's surface—an armor that produced the state known as being wrapped in rock.
...
On the Ancient Tree, one Fire Wyvern after another began to return in succession.
Just as anticipated earlier, all of the missions this time were merely simple ones.
In the absence of Elder Dragon interference, the combination of Fire Wyverns and hunter squads was more than sufficient to easily handle the majority of complex situations.
And the hunters of the Fifth Fleet were also experiencing, for the first time, the convenience of cooperating with Fire Wyverns occupying a high ecological niche.
Perhaps in order to more comfortably justify receiving their subsequent rewards, during the investigation process, any large monsters that might potentially interfere with the progress of the hunter squads' investigations were driven away in advance by the Fire Wyverns in the sky.
If their ecological niches were similar, the Fire Wyverns would even proactively pull the hunters along, take turns beating up the opponent, and then drive it out of that location.
For hunters, what they feared most in the wild was suddenly encountering various large monsters. Monsters with natural camouflage and familiarity with the surrounding environment often appeared without warning and launched attacks.
This meant that hunters had to remain constantly on guard during investigations, sometimes even needing to multitask—observing their surroundings while also squeezing in time to conduct the necessary investigative work.
This placed tremendous pressure on both their physical stamina and mental focus.
With the assistance of Fire Wyverns, however, there was no need to worry at all. A powerful helper capable of providing aerial support at any time, and an airborne reconnaissance platform able to detect enemies from great distances in advance, directly turned investigations into easy mode for the hunters.
After all, people with masochistic tendencies were always a minority. This kind of relaxed way of carrying out missions was truly addictive.
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