It was a subtle, indescribable sense of security—as if, as long as that figure was there, no monster could ever truly hurt them.
To be honest, feeling a sense of safety from a monster was bizarre, especially right after they had just risked their lives fighting one.
But as the Admiral always said: the Glavenus Boss was different.
He was just... different.
Sssss—Boom!!
While the hunters and Grimalkynes were busy saving themselves, the original white flame clouds hadn't fully dissipated when, suddenly, accompanied by a sharp roar, a thick new pillar of flame crashed into the ground.
As if annoyed by the clouds obstructing his vision, a pair of thick, strangely shaped, barrel-like wings swept through the air, scattering the haze and revealing Asterion—along with the massive creature clamped in his jaws.
Asterion had brought back the carcass of the Velkhana.
This ice-wielding Elder Dragon was convenient in every sense of the word. Not only was its body temperature naturally low, but the supercooled water it released upon death acted as an automatic preservative. Even its dragon blood wouldn't flow out, meaning it wouldn't leave a mess everywhere.
Asterion planned to take the Velkhana back to eat. After years of scavenging and hunting in the wild, it was time he treated himself to a proper meal.
But before that, Asterion surveyed his surroundings. In this world covered in white snow and icy blue frost, he heard the cheers of the Grimalkynes and hunters at his arrival, but he also heard their sorrowful and frantic cries.
After a moment's thought, Asterion took a deep breath and adjusted his posture. His eight wing-bones once again pointed toward the ground. White flames erupted from the nozzles, but this time, instead of launching Asterion like a spear into the sky, they allowed him to hover slowly, maintaining a distance of about two or three meters above the ground.
A visible white light suddenly emanated from Asterion's chest. It wasn't blinding, but it looked as if a sun were lodged inside him. Even beneath the covering of his shell and blade-scales, the radiance was hard to hide, turning his normally opaque carapace translucent.
Heat.
Immense heat.
At that moment, Asterion became like a sun hanging low to the ground, radiating infinite warmth from the inside out. The snow and ice centered around him began to melt rapidly, exposing the soil, rocks, and forest floor that had been buried or frozen. Most importantly, it revealed the people and cats trapped beneath.
White steam rose quickly. The melting snow and ice turned into puddles, then streams, and within a very short time, into rivers—rivers with remarkably high water temperatures. They converged and flowed toward lower ground, thawing everything in their path.
This phenomenon made it much easier for the members of the subjugation team to save themselves and clean up the battlefield... well, mostly easier. At the very least, they could quickly locate the targets needing rescue. If the people and cats buried in the snow were lucky enough to still be alive, they could now reach the air and avoid suffocation.
Well, except for the unlucky ones who got caught in the current and swept away.
Asterion... of course, he couldn't reach the six thousand degrees Celsius of the sun's surface. He was simply "boiling water," relying on the high temperatures erupting from his thermal organs to melt the ice on this battlefield.
The result satisfied Asterion. The Velkhana could freeze this battlefield, but he could thaw it. From that perspective, he had become the kind of Elder Dragon his past self hated most—the kind that used its power to casually change the environment just to take a dump right on another dragon's face.
Don't ask; it just felt good.
After confirming the hunters and cats could handle the rest themselves, Asterion roared toward the Bazelgeuse brothers and Mirrorblade. He then bit down on the Velkhana's carcass, and with a surge of white flame clouds, he turned into a white streak, shooting into the sky before banking sharply toward the distance.
Watching Asterion's receding figure, the Bazelgeuse brothers hopped a few steps before flapping their wings to follow, though they were much slower. Mirrorblade, on the other hand, remained crouched in place, resting, looking like he didn't really want to move.
Which was fair.
"Clean up the battlefield!" Standing at the prow of the crashed ship with the Admiral's support, the Commander shouted loudly. "With the help of the Glavenus Boss, the subjugation is a success!"
"The cold disaster is about to pass, meow!" Sparky stood nearby, raising a weapon and cheering. "The monsters will settle down now, meow! The good days are coming back, meow!!"
"Wooo-meow!!"
"Hell yeah!!"
"Can we finally explore in peace, meow?!"
Even though everyone was suffering from frostbite and the tears for the fallen hadn't yet been wiped away, a heartfelt joy surged through every person and cat upon hearing the Commander and Sparky.
Wasn't this why they had risked their lives to attack an invincible, powerful dragon?
For Astera and the Kingdom, for the families and tribes behind them—as long as peace and safety could be restored, every sacrifice was worth it.
"...Is it really over, meow?"
Watching the Grimalkynes jumping for joy in the distance, Sparky's whiskers twitched as he spoke in a voice so low it was barely audible.
"Who knows?" The Commander maintained the smile on his face, his lips moving while his expression remained unchanged. "Let's just celebrate for now."
That's right. Things being as they were, celebrate first!
The Velkhana had been eaten until only a skeleton remained, and soon, even this jade-like blue bone structure would be gone. Asterion hadn't let the Grimalkynes cook this Elder-level ingredient, wanting to prevent any cat from being frozen into an ice cube by touching Elder Dragon energy on such a joyous day.
The frost disaster didn't vanish instantly after the Velkhana's death. It was predictable that for a long time to come, the areas where the Velkhana had been active would still be covered in heavy ice and snow.
The good news was that without the Velkhana—the culprit behind the environmental terraforming—the climate of the Ancient Forest and Wildspire Waste would eventually return to their original warm states.
Then, the massive amount of snow would melt, plants would sprout, and creatures would migrate and breed once again...
In a rare turn of events, the Ancient Forest and Wildspire Waste might experience a flood or two. After all, all that accumulated moisture was melting at once; there was no telling where the runoff would go.
Perhaps a new lake would form somewhere in the forest? Regardless, the water in the Wildspire Waste certainly wouldn't stay on the surface; it would eventually seep into the desert sands or the underground world.
Whatever. Even if the agitated monsters hadn't settled into their territories yet, the Glavenus Tribe had long since fallen into a state of carnival-like celebration.
Even though many Grimalkyne warriors had died in the Velkhana subjugation, the grief of losing friends and family couldn't dampen the joy—simply because, after so many years, the Glavenus Boss had finally returned to his nest.
He was even ten, maybe nine times stronger than when he had left.
To the Grimalkynes of the Glavenus Tribe, this was important—vitally important. Only a powerful Glavenus Boss could protect the peace and development of the entire tribe, ensuring their loved ones wouldn't die in mass numbers just to survive. Just as the Glavenus Boss had easily killed the monster that caused the frost disaster the moment he returned.
Even though the Grimalkynes weren't allowed to get close and had to peek cautiously from tree branches and crevices, they could feel the pressure emanating from the Velkhana's corpse. Especially when Asterion tore open the Velkhana's chest, a chill so intense it felt like it could freeze one's very thoughts wafted out.
No dragon could replace the Glavenus Boss. Not even his own son.
After devouring the Velkhana carcass, Asterion lay resting in his long-vacant nest, watching the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers hop around him, recounting all the interesting things that had happened during the years he was away.
This nest was only fit for Asterion and the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers; even the Bazelgeuse brothers couldn't come in... though they wouldn't anyway. Seeing Asterion as their leader, they wouldn't dare challenge him while their own power was lacking.
Asterion's nest had been empty for years, but the Grimalkynes had kept it very clean. Campfires burned in the four corners, keeping the nest warm and dry.
"Gua! Guga guga!" (Let me tell you, that Mirrorblade kid went to fight a purple dragon covered in poison, and he got poisoned so bad he couldn't even crawl off the ground—hahahaha!)
"Ga! Gugu gugu!" (The Grimalkynes are super fun too. If you sneakily take the things they prepared, they get so scared, thinking some terrifying invisible monster is lurking around, haha!)
"Guga guga gua ga!" (The ships of those Wyverian-types are so huge! Every once in a while, they bring all sorts of weird stuff. I'm really curious what their home base looks like!)
The "bird-things" have grown up too...
Asterion couldn't help but feel emotional. The Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers seemed to have an endless supply of stories. Their experiences over the years were quite rich—from the Glavenus Tribe to the research base at Astera, they had even messed with the monsters in the surrounding territories. They were the definition of "doing whatever they wanted."
But the most obvious and critical change was the intelligence of the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers. Before, they couldn't even speak clearly, only uttering fragmented words. Now, they could express their thoughts clearly and logically.
They could even form full sentences, which made Asterion incredibly proud—it was like seeing his children grow up.
"Guga?" (Kid, you won't leave again this time, right?)
Asterion's expression froze.
Wait, who's the "kid" here?
Though they had become smarter and their minds clearer, the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers still insisted that Asterion was their "chick." Even though the Kulu-Ya-Ku stood before Asterion now, sticking his bird-head up so high that the feathers on top only barely reached Asterion's chest—the Kulu-Ya-Ku was still convinced this massive mountain of a dragon was his baby.
Well, it didn't really matter. The question of "Who's the daddy?" among males is often full of variables; it changes with time and circumstances, sometimes one is on top, sometimes the other.
By comparison, even though the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers looked somewhat small in front of Asterion, Asterion could see that they had grown—physically.
The most direct evidence was that in the past, the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers could walk through the nest's entrance with their heads held high. Today, when they entered, they had to duck their necks to avoid hitting the top frame.
Ignoring the difference in muscle mass, in terms of height and body length alone, the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers were now roughly the same size as Asterion back when he was a standard Glavenus.
Even without a normal Kulu-Ya-Ku to compare them to, Asterion knew his brothers had become a "Special Species"... though their overall appearance was still that of a normal Kulu-Ya-Ku. What should he call them?
A "Giant Kulu-Ya-Ku"?
Sounds a bit weird.
"Roar." (I won't leave.)
Asterion's low growl made the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers even happier. Smart as they were, in their eyes, as long as they didn't have to worry about food or safety, being with their "chick" was the happiest thing in the world.
Immediately, the Kulu-Ya-Ku's mouth became like a dam with the gates wide open, babbling incessantly. He listed a long string of strange things he wanted to take Asterion to see or eat. Asterion showed no signs of impatience, lying peacefully on the ground, quietly listening to the stories.
It was a good feeling, giving Asterion a long-awaited sense of mental tranquility.
However, he might have to disappoint the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers. Although he had no plans for another expedition or hunt in the short term, Asterion wouldn't be able to accompany them to those "interesting places" to play or gorge on food.
The day after returning to the Glavenus Tribe, Asterion began the work of digging downward without pause. He started gnawing directly from the base of the giant tree where his nest was located, chewing through everything from dense, thick roots to pitch-black soil and hard rock.
This was a massive project. According to Asterion's plan, he would dig a large tunnel from here to the Leyline Corridor. This tunnel had to be spacious enough to accommodate his current massive size... it would take at least a few weeks.
This led to a frustrating discovery for Mirrorblade when the entire Velkhana subjugation team finally returned: his old man was nowhere to be found again. All he could see was a dark, massive hole next to the base of the giant tree. Walking a few steps inside, he could hear the endless sound of gnawing and rustling.
An angry Mirrorblade had wanted to give his old man a good kick after being apart for so many years, but the result was him getting kicked out of the tunnel by Asterion after just a few exchanges. He could only crouch by the hole with a grumpy dragon face, brooding.
Asterion was putting in all this effort to chew out a tunnel naturally to send a signal to Kulve Taroth. The sooner this step was taken, the better.
After all, who could refuse a "Gilded Land" appearing right under their home?
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