"Such a slow speed!"
Although this was the Nergigante's first time facing an opponent like this, Shara Ishvalda's current performance—aside from its defensive power—seemed somewhat unworthy of the disturbances it had caused.
Don't be fooled by what looked like an earth-shaking, savage charge aimed straight at it. In the eyes of any Elder Dragon, that kind of speed was nothing more than a living target.
Without the slightest hesitation, Nergigante spiraled upward to evade Shara Ishvalda's straightforward charge. Its entire body then transformed into a spiky, hedgehog-like top, all the spines across its body hardening as it spun, before it shot straight toward the tip of Shara Ishvalda's wing.
"Roar!!"
Unbridled Hatred!
It could be regarded as a super-enhanced version of a standard Nergigante's ultimate move, Ruinous Spike Spiral: Sky. By gathering all of its power in midair, it launched itself at extreme speed with a do-or-die momentum, and then, through the sheer force of the impact, blasted out every diamond-hard spike on its body, dealing terrifying damage with a rending effect.
Shara Ishvalda—who had just taken a blast of icy breath from an Arch-Tempered Velkhana without even flinching—let out a low growl under this strike from Ruiner Nergigante. Its massive body sank slightly, and the wing that had been hit began to tremble violently. Large amounts of rock debris rained down, and many protruding stone formations were shattered to pieces by that single blow.
Compared to the damage caused by that blow, what formed a striking contrast was that the shattered diamond-hard spikes—normally utterly disgusting for a conventional Elder Dragon to deal with—now merely sank deep beneath the rock strata, seemingly failing to even make a ripple.
After Ruiner Nergigante broke away from the strike, the bioenergy in its body—still exceedingly abundant even after swallowing that Safi'jiiva egg—surged rapidly, allowing the broken diamond-hard spikes to regrow in the very next second.
Its two thick front limbs trembled slightly. It had not expected that the shell on Shara Ishvalda's body—looking no different from ordinary mountain rock—could be this hard, as if an entire mountain range had been forcibly squeezed and compressed onto its body through absolute brute strength.
It looked fragile, but in truth it was terrifyingly hard!
Ruiner Nergigante's counterattack was a signal. The Velkhana that had been observing likewise entered the battle.
One large and one small Velkhana poured all their strength into the air, spraying all kinds of breath attacks toward Shara Ishvalda. Those sharp ice blades carved streak after streak across Shara Ishvalda's rocky exterior. Across its surface, the volcanic-glass armor was overlaid with a frost armor formed from supercooled water condensing into ice—enough to withstand Shara Ishvalda's occasional air-shock counterattacks.
Ruiner Nergigante, meanwhile, was like a lurking sneak, constantly looking for chances to strike at weak points such as the base of Shara Ishvalda's wings and the joints of its wings.
For a time, three Elder Dragons actually pinned Shara Ishvalda down completely—so much so that it could not even mount a counterattack.
And just as the situation looked "extremely favorable," Logan finally arrived.
When he saw Shara Ishvalda's miserable state, there was not the slightest sense of joy. Instead, his heart sank. In the end, he could only be glad that he had arrived in time—any later, and those three would probably all have been forced out of the fight. At that point, it would have been him alone facing Shara Ishvalda in a fully intact state!
In the sky, the Arch-Tempered Velkhana grew increasingly irritable as the battle dragged on. It clearly remembered Shara Ishvalda's true form from the past. Now, as their attacks continued, the rock-wrapped armor covering Shara Ishvalda's body was steadily peeling away. That outline, that posture, was gradually transforming toward the appearance it once had when it relied on the Rotten Vale, recklessly stirred tectonic plate movements, and created a new continent!
Moreover, years of combat experience told it that Shara Ishvalda's seemingly "feeble" state was likely an act. It was deliberately welcoming their attacks!
Logan's arrival drew the attention of the Elder Dragons present. The young Velkhana, which hated any interference during battle, even instinctively spat out a burst of icy breath toward him.
Ruiner Nergigante and the Arch-Tempered Velkhana both looked over in shock at the Velkhana that was spewing breath while roaring, their eyes filled with disbelief.
This one was finished—daring to attack even a disaster-level Elder Dragon in its prime!
Tsk, tsk, tsk!
What it did not realize was that Velkhana would regret it in the very next second.
It had already recognized that this suddenly arrived, unwelcome intruder was the very same Elder Dragon that, back in the New World, had raised the continent's temperatures under the influence of its power and lived atop the Ancient Tree.
It was only that the breath had already been released, and it was far too late for it to be retracted.
They saw the Terastal membrane on Logan's body suddenly transform into blue-violet flames. He neither dodged nor used breath to cancel it out—instead, he simply endured the attack head-on, wreathed in flame.
A large amount of white mist billowed upward. After Velkhana hurriedly cut off its own breath in panic, it saw Logan fly out of the mist completely unscathed, his gaze icy cold.
After giving a cold glance at the Velkhana that clearly knew it had done something wrong and now looked extremely embarrassed, Logan hovered in front of Shara Ishvalda and "met its gaze."
Or rather, Logan was looking at it, while the other side was merely facing Logan through perception.
Having remained underground for countless years, Shara Ishvalda—aside from being able to open its mouth—had every part of its body wrapped in rock binding, with its eyes closed as well. This was also why Ruiner Nergigante had felt that its movements were slow.
With its eyes closed, relying entirely on perception and on feedback received while passively taking blows to carry out counterattacks, how could it possibly be fast?
Of course, this was only one minor factor. The rock-binding state on Shara Ishvalda's body was not protection for it, but a restraint!
It was a shackle bestowed by nature itself, and also the masterpiece that confined it to this solitary island!
Sensing Logan's arrival, Shara Ishvalda fell silent in an instant.
Whether it was Velkhana or Ruiner Nergigante, in its view they were merely minor obstacles, incapable of posing any real threat to it.
But Logan!
This unfamiliar Elder Dragon that carried the aura of the same ecological niche—an anomalous existence wielding a kind of "power" that did not belong to this world—made it genuinely feel threatened!
Having lived for endless ages, Shara Ishvalda knew all too well how dazzlingly these powers from beyond the world could manifest within this world. In ancient times, they had even grown so strong that they drew down "forbidden" forces that wiped out entire civilizations.
The might of the forbidden was something it found deeply intoxicating. Yet despite possessing power on the level of "creation," it was still merely one among the countless beings of this world—something that could be replaced.
Therefore, it sought transcendence!
Inspired by the reproductive method of the Safi'jiiva that had come from beyond the sky, it intended to gather all the energy of the New World's land—land it had taken pride in since ancient times—and transform it into a world meant to sustain only itself.
And through this method, it would steal the authority of the world, complete its final sublimation, and become a forbidden existence capable of negotiating with the world—standing on equal footing with it!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As Shara Ishvalda's emotions surged, its massive body began to tremble violently, and rocks started to rain down in a frenzy.
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