On the other side, "Nergigante", who had been entangled by other members of the recommendation group, felt the fight becoming more and more meaningless the longer it dragged on.
The returns were too low. After experiencing the egg of Xeno'jiiva and the residual energy of Shara Ishvalda, it had grown too lazy to even hunt ordinary monsters, focusing its full attention solely on Elder Dragons.
Moreover, after going through so much, it had also come to terms with things. The cats' repetitive provocations meant nothing to it. Compared to the deceitful, bait-and-beat tactics it had suffered from Logan, this was insignificant.
Thus, when it saw the Admiral, the two hunters, and the Felyne rushing in from the other side of the forest to provide support, it did not hesitate in the slightest. It slapped the lancer beside it away with a single strike, decisively withdrew, and left without a trace of hesitation.
Nearby, a cat who had just finished setting up a concealed trap had not even put down the shovel in its paw when it saw Nergigante's departing figure disappear into the horizon. Suddenly, it felt extremely uncomfortable about the dirt smeared across its face from digging too hastily.
The Admiral stared in disbelief at Nergigante's retreating silhouette. He had never expected that, after so many years, he would see it again.
In the heart of every top-tier hunter, there is a figure they pursue. For the Admiral, without question, it was "Nergigante"—the one he first encountered during the Second Fleet era.
Although its size had grown considerably, and the spines on its body as well as its strength had undergone significant changes, this was, after all, the Elder Dragon he had pursued for decades.
Ever since their parting during the Wildspire Waste Qurio incident, even though the Admiral had remained in the Elder's Recess for so long, he had never managed to find any trace of it. He had originally thought that their fate had ended there. Yet he had never expected to see it again in the Guiding Lands.
Although the one he had just beaten was also a Ruiner Nergigante, the meaning was entirely different.
At this moment, the Admiral's heart—steadier with age—surged once more. The hot blood that had long since faded began to boil again.
After briefly speaking with the hunters and learning the latest intelligence about "Nergigante", he left behind a single sentence: that he would continue pursuing his dream. Then, carrying his great shield, he chased in the direction "Nergigante" had flown.
Since fate had allowed them to meet again, then this time—even if he had to pursue it to the ends of the world—he would continue the chase.
Left behind at the scene were only a group of stunned hunters, along with Aiden and the Felyne, who had no idea how to explain the situation.
Although it gave him a headache, seeing the companions gathering around, Aiden still steeled himself and explained the situation from start to finish.
Upon learning they had targeted the wrong one, the hunters looked at each other, and the scene fell silent for a moment.
That night, inside the temporary camp, the hunters were still discussing and summarizing the shortcomings in today's battle. Facing the bonfire, the soot-covered Darren and the Admiral crawled in together through the entrance.
After cleaning up the battlefield, Darren still decided to go deeper into the valley below and see if he could find any trace of Ruiner Nergigante. At the very least, he needed to make sure it had truly left the area.
He just hadn't expected that, in that valley filled with effluvium, he would get lost. In the end, after turning left and right, he reached the border between the forest and the desert and ran into an unusual Brachydios.
What covered its body was not the usual green slime mold, but a far more dangerous, more ancient substance—one that contained massive amounts of Everstream energy and was, at all times, on the verge of detonating: "Flashpoint Slime"!
An explosion from this kind of slime was something even Brachydios's obsidian armor could barely withstand. A Brachydios capable of surviving by the skin of its teeth and coexisting with it was, without a doubt, the strongest and most dangerous existence among Brachydios.
Because of this, it was named Raging Brachydios by the Hunter's Guild!
And ordinary Raging Brachydios was already extremely powerful. Then just how strong would a Raging Brachydios in the Guiding Lands—this land brimming with energy—be? Would its ecological behavior undergo some extraordinary change as well?
Darren was very curious.
So, holding to the mindset of "since I'm already here," Darren tried to conduct some related investigation on it. As a result, he carelessly let it lure him into a nest within a lava environment.
He also didn't know whether this Raging Brachydios was simply not very sharp, or whether it was an out-and-out battle maniac.
After luring Darren into its nest inside the lava cavern, it actually blew the entrance down outright, then drew out all the Flashpoint Slime in the nest. With a reckless, self-destructive approach, it launched a fight to the death with Darren in that sealed environment!
If it were Darren from before he went to Hoarfrost Reach, then facing this Raging Brachydios—whose combat power rivaled an Elder Dragon, and which also had terrain advantage and had created an almost impossible-to-evade deathmatch environment—he probably really wouldn't have gotten off lightly. Even if he could deal with it, he would still have had to pay a considerable price himself.
But the current Darren was wearing the Terastal set—an armor set with extremely high resistance to abnormal statuses, and one that could also amplify weapon damage!
The explosion of the Flashpoint Slime was indeed powerful. But under the protection of the Sunblaze Dragon Terastal armor, combined with the numerous residual buffs from Mother Chameleos, he did not even consume a single potion. Under Raging Brachydios's disbelieving gaze, he achieved a perfect victory in that deathmatch.
Carrying materials from Raging Brachydios that were comparable to Elder Dragon-grade materials, he returned in triumph.
However, this also delayed his search for traces of Ruiner Nergigante. After finally reorienting himself, he made his way back in the dark.
As for the Admiral, his experience was not nearly as dramatic. He had merely run halfway before remembering that he had forgotten to bring supplies, and thus turned back.
For a period afterward, the Admiral and Darren continued tracking the two Ruiner Nergigante separately. Mother Chameleos, perhaps feeling somewhat embarrassed, remained unusually quiet during this time and did not go out causing trouble. Meanwhile, exploration of the Guiding Lands gradually expanded bit by bit.
Until one day, that Wyverian hunter once again relied on the ley line perception ability he had honed in the Everstream of the New World. Crossing through the snow-covered region, he discovered that desolate valley.
Sensing that something was wrong, he returned to camp, found Darren's team, and together they went to investigate the valley.
And there, they saw that sharp crimson figure.
Safi'jiiva!!
Merely streaking across the sky was enough to make the hunters—including Darren—feel their hearts tremble.
Throughout the barren valley lay the shed skins it had cast off. The toughness of those dead husks was such that even a hunter's knife could scarcely cut through them.
And the cracked cocoons scattered everywhere told them what kind of catastrophe this land had suffered.
"Fall back first! This thing isn't something one or two people can handle!"
Though unwilling, Darren knew that the Wyverian hunter's judgment was correct.
The pressure this red dragon exerted on him was unprecedented. Never had any Elder Dragon given him such immense pressure.
And most crucially, from its body, Darren sensed the same boundless malice toward the world that had once emanated from Xeno'jiiva.
From that alone—combined with its size and appearance—this Elder Dragon, which had never appeared in the Guild's records, absolutely had a significant connection to Xeno'jiiva.
Most likely, this creature was what Xeno'jiiva's species became after successfully completing its metamorphosis!