Like a comet falling from the heavens.
No, not just like one—it was a comet itself. Asterion, who had slammed violently into the ground, was not only completely unscathed, but the sharp sonic boom from his high-speed flight rippled outward in deafening waves.
"Boss... Glavenus?"
"Is it really Boss Glavenus?!"
I understand the logic, and the appearance matches up... but why is he so huge?!
In the gloomy, overcast environment, the white flames at the tips of Asterion's wing bones continued to erupt ceaselessly. The blistering heat had even scorched two massive cavities into the snow behind him, and these pits were rapidly expanding.
With Asterion at the center, the snow melted rapidly. He was like a sun hovering close to the earth; his mere presence radiated warmth to everything around him.
Whoosh!
Without a moment's hesitation, the Velkhana beat its wings and took to the skies. It wasn't flying toward Asterion, but away into the distance—it was running away!
Let alone the combatants like Mirrorblade, the Bazelgeuse brothers, the hunters, and the Grimalkynes—even the newly arrived Asterion was stunned by the Velkhana's actions. He recognized that the fleeing dragon was indeed a Velkhana. It was wounded, with clearly visible gashes on its back and a clean break at the tip of its wing.
But it was precisely because he recognized the Velkhana that Asterion found it so unbelievable. While the local monsters and hunters might not have a detailed understanding of the Velkhana's temperament and habits, Asterion—with his knowledge of Glavenus intel—remembered very clearly that the Velkhana was no good-tempered creature. And yet, it turned tail and fled the moment they met?
Am I really that scary?
He couldn't help but look down at himself, then glanced back over his shoulder, instantly understanding.
There was a universal standard that applied even among Elder Dragons: the bigger you were, the stronger you were. Creatures that weren't strong enough simply couldn't grow this big, and massive size usually equated to immense power. No piece of meat went to waste.
To put it into perspective, if you lined them up side by side, the current Asterion was nearly a full size larger than the Velkhana. It would take the mass of nearly two Velkhanas to match Asterion's volume. In this scenario, when the Velkhana looked at Asterion, it felt like a Maine Coon coming face-to-face with a lion. Well, that was just a metaphor, of course; the gap between them wasn't that extreme.
But it was more than enough to make the wounded Velkhana want to get as far away from danger as possible to save its own skin.
What's more, the Velkhana sensed an intense energy reaction radiating from this giant dragon—it was as if he had been raised soaking in pure Bio-Energy. Any dragon with that kind of energy signature was not to be trifled with.
So, it fled.
Instead of giving chase immediately, Asterion surveyed his surroundings. He saw three crashed airships half-buried in the snow, their exposed parts coated in a thick layer of ice. What made Asterion want to laugh the most was definitely Mirrorblade, who was half-buried in the snow. Half of his body was frozen solid in ice, and even his mouth was frozen shut, making it a struggle just to pry it open.
"Roar! Roar?" (Haha, why are you in such a pathetic state?)
He was sorry, but seeing Mirrorblade in such a miserable state, Asterion tried to hold it in but burst out laughing anyway.
Mirrorblade clearly got flustered by the laughter, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't open his ice-locked jaws, which only made the scene funnier.
The Bazelgeuse brothers hadn't sustained any physical wounds and were currently struggling to dig themselves out of the ice and snow. Following that shout recognizing Asterion, a steady stream of Felynes and hunters popped out from all sorts of strange places—places that looked like nothing but piles of snow just moments ago.
Asterion had flown directly back from the Elder's Recess. Like a wizard who had just learned to Apparate, if he took even two steps on the ground, he would consider it a loss. There was no way he was going to trek through the Leyline Corridor again; he was going to thoroughly enjoy the thrill of free flight.
Flying all the way to the Ancient Forest from an altitude of a thousand meters, Asterion hadn't even noticed the fierce battle raging on the ground below. The passionate and tragic "Arch-Tempered Velkhana" subjugation battle fought by Astera and the Glavenus Tribe couldn't possibly reach that high up.
After all, Asterion didn't have eyes as sharp as a Valstrax, which could easily spot prey swimming in the ocean below even from high up in the clouds... especially when flying at high speeds.
It wasn't that he hadn't tried to look closely, but aside from thinking, Wow, look at those mountains, Wow, look at that water, and Wow, the scenery is great, he was completely unable to make out what was actually happening on the ground below.
It was only at that moment that Asterion realized there was another unsung organ that made the Valstrax's name: its eyes.
Whether it was gathering visual data on the terrain or locking onto a target from high altitude to dive-bomb an enemy, it all relied on this non-glowing organ.
And Asterion... didn't have them yet. He even dug through his library of consumed traits, only to find he didn't have any eyes that could serve as a substitute. After all, who else but a Valstrax had such a specialized need?
What actually brought Asterion's attention to the ground was the ice storm whipped up by the Velkhana's own frenzy. He couldn't see the specific details, but the massive, blinding white blanket of blizzard across the region was hard to miss.
And so—dive-bomb!
The Felynes crawling out of the snow were beyond excited. A cacophony of meows and purrs vented their panic and longing for Asterion, but because there were too many voices jumbled together, he couldn't make out a word these little furballs were saying.
Paying no heed to the hunters who were struggling to swim over through the soft, thick snow to say something, Asterion raised his head and reared his front body up. The eight wing bones on his back angled downward in unison, and the white flames that had merely been flickering from his jets suddenly erupted over a meter long.
Ch-ch-ch—Swoosh!!
The metallic sonic boom rang out once again. The humans and Felynes staring at Asterion couldn't even register what happened. One second, Asterion's massive frame was standing there; the next, the spot was completely empty.
In its place was a white streak shooting into the sky, an extension of that magical white fire. Only the fleeting initial burst was flame; the rest was actually pure white smoke.
The air was violently shoved aside from Asterion's position, a piercing sonic boom echoing in everyone's ears. Even the surrounding snow was blasted outward in a perfect shockwave ring. Everyone craned their necks to watch the white streak rapidly climb into the sky in less than a second, then shoot off in the direction where the Velkhana had disappeared.
But truth be told, Asterion's speed only broke the sound barrier in that explosive burst of takeoff. Once he was actually flying in the sky, it dropped back down; he couldn't maintain supersonic flight for long.
With his body size growing further, Asterion's weight had also increased. If he were to lay on top of an Acidic Glavenus, he would probably crush it to death. Consequently, the propulsion required for high-speed flight was much greater.
He needed an immense burst of power just to get airborne. Once in the air and coasting on inertia, it became slightly easier to fly—though his speed dropped significantly. Even so, he was still much faster than ordinary Flying Wyverns and Elder Dragons, leaving them to eat his exhaust.
Currently, his primary flight power still came from his fire organ. Until his internal heat organ was fully developed, Asterion didn't plan on using dark-attribute energy for flight.
In Asterion's mind right now, everything had to make way for the development of his internal heat organ. Let alone siphoning energy from it for his own use—that was completely out of the question. In fact, he needed to find ways to channel Leyline Energy into it as much as possible.
But even this speed was more than enough.
At the very least, it was fast enough to make the Velkhana want to call the police... Oh, wait, the New World didn't have any Elder Dragon police. Or rather, Asterion was the Elder Dragon police.
U up? Let's check those organs!
The flying Velkhana felt as if it had crashed into a massive mountain—no, it was as if a mountain had leaped up and slammed into it. Under the influence of this titanic force, the entire dragon tumbled uncontrollably through the air, before the delayed screech of the sonic boom finally reached its ears.
Struggle!
It could struggle all it wanted!
The Velkhana flapped its wings frantically, its front claws and hind legs bracing against Asterion, who was bearing down on it. Its head darted about as it opened its jaws, trying to bite a chunk of flesh out of Asterion—only to get a mouthful of exploding blade-scale shards.
Ice-blue freezing gas erupted continuously from the gaps in the Velkhana's carapace. However, perhaps due to heavy exertion in the previous battle and its massive output of Elder Dragon power to dominate the field, the Velkhana was running a bit low on stamina. Its secretion of supercooled water was visibly lacking.
Uh, though it wouldn't have mattered even if the Velkhana secreted more. It could clearly feel that it was freezing the behemoth it was in contact with, but in the next second, it was slammed violently onto the ground.
Crash! Crunch! Boom!
Countless trees were snapped along the way. Even the thick snow did little to cushion the Velkhana from the agony of the impact. Right now, it felt as though it was caught between two mountains, and these two mountains were closing in on it with colossal force.
"ROAR!!!"
Roaring in agony, the Velkhana tried to struggle to its feet. Yet its strength was no match for Asterion's. No matter how hard it pushed with its limbs, it couldn't shove Asterion off its body. To make matters worse, the repeated impacts and the crash-landing left it aching from its head down to its internal organs.
And Asterion... was thoroughly enjoying this feeling.
Wait, how did I get to the point where I can single-handedly suppress an Elder Dragon in a frontal assault without realizing it?
And a flagship Elder Dragon at that... even if this Elder Dragon was currently in a state of post-battle fatigue.
But this was a straight-up frontal crush. He didn't even need to use Elder Dragon power; relying solely on his own weight and size, he pinned the Velkhana beneath him. No matter how much it struggled, it couldn't break free.
Uh—why does that sound so weird?
"Roar?" (Any last words?)
Even as his chest, front limbs, and even neck were gradually coated in thick ice, Asterion showed no panic. In fact, the ice the Velkhana frantically used in self-defense only added to Asterion's weight, pinning the beast down even tighter.
Asterion inquired leisurely, but the Velkhana didn't offer a calm or coherent response. Its shouts were all jumbled cries of "I'll kill you!", "Impossible!", "Let me go!", and "I want to go back!"
Completely unfazed, Asterion's internal glow intensified, particularly across his chest and back. The accumulating ice began to recede, melting into water that dripped down onto the Velkhana's body, only to freeze again into sharp, thick icicles as it got close to the icy dragon.
Asterion lowered his head and clamped his jaws precisely around the Velkhana's thrashing neck.
Crack.
Looking at that massive silhouette shooting into the sky... Er, a "massive silhouette" was just something people imagined in their minds. For the hunters and Grimalkynes, all they could see was a white cloud of flame enveloping Boss Glavenus, which then stretched infinitely outward.
"That speed... Did Boss Glavenus finally reach adulthood?"
Lowering the hands covering his ears, the Commander patted away the ice shards and snow blown into his face, unable to help but sigh with emotion.
His voice was a bit weak as he chipped away at the ice freezing his waist and abdomen with a short sword. However, the ice was exceptionally hard; no matter how hard he tried, he could barely make a dent.
The biting cold turned the aging man's lips pale, with an unnatural flush coloring his face.
Though the freezing winds and icy fog had been dispelled by Asterion's arrival, the Commander's breath still came out in white puffs as he spoke, and even moving his lips was a stiff chore.
"—Pfft-hah!" A head popped out from a snowdrift as the Admiral gulped down mouthfuls of air. The shockwave Asterion generated on takeoff had churned the snow in rolling waves, ultimately burying him too.
"No matter how long the growth period is, he should be reaching his peak this time, right?" The Admiral's muscles were frozen a strange shade of red. Yet, this primate-like Rajang of a man nonchalantly swam through the snow, quickly reaching the Commander's side to help chip the solid ice off his old partner.
Groups like this were scattered across the battlefield right now—Grimalkynes helping humans, humans helping Grimalkynes. Those who had recovered their breath were frantically trying to tear openings in the crashed airships to check if any humans or Felynes inside had survived.
Further off, in the lower snowy regions ravaged by avalanches, many Grimalkynes and humans were trudging laboriously toward them, shouting as they advanced.
"Who knows?" Even though he could no longer feel his legs, the Commander spoke nonchalantly and with relief. "At least Boss Glavenus can truly fly now, instead of always falling from the sky... Hah!"
A strange, wondrous atmosphere was spreading across the battlefield. With Asterion's spectacular entrance as the turning point, everything seemed to shift.
The tragic sense of "do-or-die" sacrifice seemed to melt away, and every surviving hunter and Grimalkyne couldn't help but feel a weight lift from their shoulders.
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