"Is this right? Is this right? — Is this right?!!"
"No, no, no! This is completely wrong!"
It felt as though an entire mountain range had been dropped onto its back. The heavy, crushing weight forced the creature to struggle wildly, causing its metallic outer shell to let out an ear-piercing, agonizing screech. Yet, compared to the physical devastation it was enduring, the psychological shock to its mind was a hundred times more severe.
In less than a single minute, this Kushala Daora had actually begun to question its own memories. It racked its brain, desperately trying to recall the past. No matter how much it reminisced or analyzed, it was absolutely certain of one thing: fifty years ago, the monster named Asterion—who had dared to simultaneously challenge both the old Kushala Daora and itself to a life-and-death struggle—was undeniably a fully mature, adult individual.
Asterion was definitely not some juvenile still in its growth phase, nor was he some mysterious dragon whose true form had yet to unfold. With its decades of experience living in the New World, the Kushala Daora had lost count of how many big-tailed dragons it had encountered.
While the biodiverse New World was home to countless monsters that utilized their tails for combat, only this specific breed of big-tailed dragon had evolved and polished its massive tail into a heavy, blazing, and incomparably sharp Great Sword.
Such a distinct, unmistakable hallmark was something a Kushala Daora could recognize at a single glance. Besides, the events of fifty years ago held significant sentimental value for it.
So, here lay the ultimate conundrum: a monster that had clearly passed its maturity stage, whose physiological structure should have been completely set in stone, and which logically should never undergo any massive, sudden mutations in size or form... How on earth could it suddenly sprout a pair of sky-blotting, massive wings on its back after all these years?
Sprouting wings was one thing, but why had its overall body mass ballooned to such an absurd degree?
No, this is a completely different dragon altogether!
From that streamlined, arrow-like head and prominent dragon horns to those unimaginably powerful limbs, its body surface was now covered in a crystalline shell that shimmered with an eerie, mysterious luminescence. You didn't look anything like this when you fought the old Kushala Daora with everything you had! You didn't even unveil this kind of power when facing a literal life-or-death crisis!
Its rationality screamed that something was profoundly wrong, but the crushing weight on its back and that heart-stopping pressure were undeniable realities.
What truly baffled it was this utterly incomprehensible posture.
The colossal beast pinning it down was currently using its thick, elongated tail to tightly coil around and lock the Kushala Daora's own tail. It was this incredibly bizarre—even comical—action that triggered the Kushala Daora's memory completely. Back then, it had openly mocked the old Kushala Daora for being trapped by Asterion in this exact same ridiculous position!
It was all coming back. The memories flooded its mind.
Fifty years ago, it had laughed uproariously and flown away precisely because the old Kushala Daora had been caught in such an embarrassing predicament. Who would have thought that now, it was its turn?
Sanity Check: Success: -1D10. Failure: -1D20. Result: Failure.
The Kushala Daora's near-total mental shutdown and frozen disbelief didn't offend Asterion or make him angry. Instead, it sent a wave of pure, unadulterated ecstasy through him. Asterion was so incredibly satisfied that a delightful numbness crept all the way to the root of his tail.
Yes, yes! This is exactly the reaction I wanted!
"Roar! Roar!" (I've been dying to see that look on your face! That look of absolute disbelief!)
Asterion let out a boisterous, arrogant laugh that didn't sound entirely like a dragon's roar. As his laughter gradually subsided, he slightly loosened the claws that were pinning the front of the Kushala Daora's body down.
But this wasn't an act of mercy or magnanimity. Asterion had no intention of letting his old acquaintance off easy. The exact moment the Kushala Daora felt the pressure on its back ease up and flexed its muscles to break free—Asterion moved.
There was no complex technique involved. He simply opened his massive jaws and clamped down hard on the nape of the Kushala Daora's neck.
Asterion's current physique was nearly twice the size of the Kushala Daora, whereas a Kushala Daora's neck was notoriously slender. The terrifying result was that Asterion's jaws completely engulfed the elder dragon's entire neck!
Crunch!
Don't misunderstand—Asterion held back. He didn't want to accidentally punch his old friend's ticket just yet. However, the action happened so swiftly that the horrific sound of razor-sharp teeth grinding against the hardened steel shell was enough to make any monster's skin crawl.
It was an incredibly striking visual. The other Kushala Daora, which had been swatted away like a fly by Asterion's tail at the very beginning of the encounter, had only just managed to stagger back to its feet, its head still spinning. The moment it turned around, it saw a good portion of its companion's neck disappearing into the maw of another dragon. It immediately let out a piercing, tragic shriek.
In the world of Elder Dragons, where entertainment options are severely limited, a scene like this could easily qualify as a genuine horror movie. The second Kushala Daora even felt a phantom pain in its own neck... and its legs went slightly weak.
Some monsters are born to toil, while Elder Dragons are born into absolute privilege. As long as they don't actively seek out trouble, they face virtually no survival pressure from youth to adulthood. Very few creatures ever dare to provoke them, meaning they rarely face true hardship.
They really lack proper conditioning.
"Roar!" (What do you think you're doing?!)
With its companion clearly proving to be useless, the pinned Kushala Daora felt its entire steel hide grow cold with terror as its vital spot was clamped tight. The shadow of death had never loomed so vividly or concretely over its mind.
A sharp, distinct pain radiated from its neck. The enemy's razor-sharp teeth had already pierced through its legendary steel defense. It didn't dare make any sudden, violent movements, terrified that the slightest twitch might trigger the beast's instincts to snap its jaws shut and sever its neck entirely.
By now, no matter how proud or slow on the uptake the Kushala Daora was, a bizarre realization began to dawn through its overwhelming fear: This guy... doesn't seem to want to kill me?
It was obvious. If the behemoth truly intended to kill it, it wouldn't have subjected it to such a prolonged, one-sided suppression. Even its highly capable companion had been swatted aside like an annoying insect without a shred of resistance. Faced with such an absolute disparity in power, the attacking dragon could have easily ended its life long ago, rather than slowly tormenting it or holding its neck without crushing it.
He must be out of his mind, the Kushala Daora concluded.
Asterion, however, couldn't be bothered to explain anything. His mind was operating at an hyperactive pace, thoroughly exhilarated by a novel—and frankly, deeply mischievous—idea that had just popped into his head.
Hehe, hehehe... Heh-heh-heh-heh!
Asterion's glowing blue eyes sparkled with malicious excitement. Yes, yes! I have to do this!
"Roar!" (Time to inject you with some positive energy!)
Following a mysterious declaration that no other dragon could possibly comprehend, Asterion's throat began to pulse with a brilliant, deep blue light. In an instant, a torrent of pure Xeno-energy erupted from his maw like a flamethrower, surging past his teeth and directly into the Kushala Daora's neck wounds.
Asterion's bite force was absolutely terrifying. As his jaw clamped down firmly, the Kushala Daora's legendary steel hide—a defense that drove countless other organisms to utter despair—was cleanly punctured. The dark, metallic Elder Dragon blood instantly erupted from the puncture wounds.
"ROAR!!!"
The excruciating agony of having its vital spot pierced, the burning sensation of an unknown energy flooding into its body, the sheer panic of a fatal threat, and the despair of its lifeforce draining away... This cocktail of intense emotions shattered the Kushala Daora's previous assumptions. It began to thrash violently, twisting like a fish yanked out of water.
But all its efforts were entirely futile. Facing the Elder Dragon's desperate, last-ditch struggle, Asterion simply shifted his massive upper body weight back down, slamming the creature heavily against the earth once more. The proud Elder Dragon's resistance was reduced to a pathetic, comical flailing, looking like a helpless little chick.
Before the spraying Elder Dragon blood could even hit the ground, it was instantly vaporized by the high concentration of Xeno-energy radiating from Asterion's body, dissolving into wisps of dark red, metallic mist that dissipated into the air.
Refusing to snap the Kushala Daora's neck, Asterion focused entirely on forcefully pumping his Xeno-energy into its body, allowing the alien power to ride the bloodstream and invade its entire biological system.
"Roar!! (No! Stop!)"
"Roar!!! (What are you doing to me?!!!)"
The Kushala Daora's screams completely broke character. To be fair, its choice of words was incredibly compromising—anyone listening out of context would think Asterion was doing something highly inappropriate to it. Even Asterion found himself nearly breaking character, almost bursting into laughter mid-injection.
But it was entirely understandable. To the Kushala Daora, everything unfolding was a literal living nightmare. It was being pinned down by a monstrous rival without any hope of resistance, its peripheral vision catching only the massive, glowing blue behemoth on its back, all while a substance as scalding as molten lava forced its way through its wounds and into its veins.
Like burrowing parasites, the energy pushed and gnawed its way forward. This brutal invasion inflicted an unprecedented level of agony upon the Kushala Daora, a fate truly worse than death.
Starting from its neck, the terrifying torrent of heat didn't just pool in one place. Driven by its racing heartbeat, the energy expanded across its entire body with feral, chaotic speed, racing into every single corner of its anatomy.
It could clearly feel this power surging through its heart, flooding its internal organs, and saturating its limbs. Even the very tip of its slender tail, pinned firmly under Asterion's foot, began to tingle with an indescribable, agonizingly prickling numbness.
What terrified the Kushala Daora the most was that as this burning energy spread, it could feel its proud steel hide—forged and polished through countless years of harsh wind and weather—undergoing an inexplicable mutation. It sounded as if something internal was snapping, producing a continuous series of faint, crisp popping sounds.
Yet, the truly bizarre part came next. When it tried to marshal its remaining strength through its profound terror to carefully sense its physical condition, it discovered something shocking. Although the connection points between its mutating steel hide and its flesh still pulsed with agonizing pain, the energy density and sheer resilience of its armor were better than they had ever been! It was significantly tougher than it had been even during its absolute prime!
The Elder Dragon was left completely bewildered.
Sigh, ignorant little dragon. You have no idea how kind-hearted Asterion truly is.
Asterion wasn't some sadistic demon who took pleasure in torturing and killing. Fair is fair—there was no blood feud between him and this Kushala Daora that required a fight to the death.
During that tempest decades ago, if this younger Kushala Daora hadn't simply enjoyed the spectacle and flown away, but had instead put on the arrogant airs of an Elder Dragon and insisted on punishing a non-Elder Dragon who dared to challenge their supreme authority, Asterion would have lost a layer of skin even if he managed to survive.
Had that happened, the subsequent events wouldn't have unfolded. Asterion wouldn't have made a pact with the old Kushala Daora, nor would he have traveled thousands of miles to the Rotten Vale... Well, then again, maybe he still would have?
After all, he always needed to seek out fresh flesh and bones to bridge the evolutionary gap between an ordinary monster and an Elder Dragon. The Rotten Vale, filled with countless monster carcasses, was always the most logical destination.
Therefore, Asterion's current behavior wasn't a vendetta; it was merely a little prank. He was venting some of his old frustration over being forced to relocate his nest back then, alongside his annoyance at his Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers being threatened. At the same time, it served as a lesson to this incredibly haughty fellow. Who were you looking down on back then?
Truth be told, with the imminent ecological remodeling Asterion was about to unleash upon the New World, the environment was bound to undergo severe, violent upheavals. The era of universal Darwinian competition was about to begin. By giving this Kushala Daora a head start, Asterion was actually throwing it a massive lifeline, giving it a distinct evolutionary edge in the coming era.
The guy practically owed him a thank-you note!
There was nothing more to say—time to dose the Kushala Daora!
Or rather, time for a forced Xeno-infusion!
Over the past few years, Asterion had been lurking within the Ancient Forest, using the Leyline corridors to covertly disperse Xeno-energy throughout the entire New World. Like a diligent farmer, he had been continuously planting bio-crystals within the subterranean networks, hoping these crystals would steadily convert external life energy to replicate and multiply, ultimately transforming the ecosystem from the bottom up.
However, doing it this way was agonizingly slow... at least in Asterion's eyes. As of now, the corruption had only spread across the Ancient Forest and the western fringes of the neighboring Wildspire Waste.
At most, it had lightly tainted parts of the Rotten Vale—which acted as the crucible of the life cycle—and the Coral Highlands situated right above it, an area highly sensitive to any environmental shifts in the New World. Even so, the saturation was minimal. Not to mention the Elder's Recess; the countless existing life-energy crystals there were incredibly resistant to contamination.
Because of this, the native monsters of the Elder's Recess had been enjoying a peaceful existence, spared from being dragged into the violently shifting environment. They knew absolutely nothing about the terrifying lethality of this energy—until today, when Asterion streaked down from the heavens like a meteor, immediately seeking out a Leyline node to aggressively inject his Xeno-energy.
"Roar, roar! Roar, roar, roar!" (Foolish Kushala Daora... If you wish to slay me, then harbor your resentment! Cling to your hatred! And crawl forward in your pathetic, ugly existence!)