Logan quickly collected his thoughts—the misunderstanding no longer mattered.
Since the battle had already begun, even if he knew it was all a mistake, he could only—and had to—see it through.
In the world of monsters, how much reason was there to speak of, anyway?
What's more, up to this point, only one-third of the Fire Wyverns had emerged from the thick fog. Though Logan was merely their leader and not their caretaker, such an abnormal rate of loss still ignited a constant fury in his heart.
The only reason he hadn't immediately attacked the Chameleos was because of the Kushala Daora's presence.
Among Elder Dragons, even the Nergigante couldn't handle a two-on-one.
Likewise, though the Chameleos's strike hadn't fully landed—it had merely grazed the Kushala Daora and disrupted its control over its authority—it was only that much.
Even without its elemental power, an Elder Dragon was still an Elder Dragon. Its inherent combat ability remained.
Moreover, with the Fire Wyvern's earlier interception and now Logan's menacing aura, the Chameleos sensed hostility. Unwilling to fall into a two-on-one predicament, it stayed hidden, constantly shifting positions, attempting to break free from the lock of both Logan and the Kushala Daora.
As for whether it could take advantage of the battered condition of Logan and the Kushala Daora—
Such a thought never crossed the Chameleos's mind. For Elder Dragons, these wounds were only enough to stir a desire to withdraw, not to significantly weaken their fighting strength.
As for the Kushala Daora—it had already developed the intent to retreat. Though angered by the Chameleos's ambush, being besieged by two Elder Dragons didn't trouble it too deeply.
Two Elder Dragons were not enough to completely seal off its withdrawal. Having regained its composure mid-battle, it was now the calmest of the three.
In the sky, the three Elder Dragons formed a loose triangle, faintly opposing and wary of one another.
Meanwhile, on the ground beneath the Ancient Tree, the white mist rolled and thickened, growing ever denser.
The remaining third of the Fire Wyverns, under Aki's command, reluctantly flew up into the canopy layer, hoping the dense branches above might shield them from the shockwaves of the battle between the three Elder Dragons.
The interception had failed—the coming clash was no longer something they had the right to join.
The battle seemed about to reignite.
The first to lose patience was the Chameleos.
Without its poisonous mists to disrupt the enemy's senses, it could not achieve perfect invisibility. Accustomed to relying on that ability, the Chameleos grew restless after being locked onto by two Elder Dragons; no matter how many times it shifted positions, they found it with precision every time.
Droplets of purple blood continued to drip from the Kushala Daora's wounds. Unlike with ordinary monsters, this wasn't a sign of complete poisoning—it was the Kushala Daora consciously metabolizing the toxins within its body.
Thus, to prevent the Kushala Daora from regaining control over the wind, the cornered Chameleos decisively launched its attack.
Its transparent form flashed amid the distortion, and a jet of toxic breath surged forth.
At the same time, a blazing silhouette of blue-violet flame streaked across the air with an explosive roar, trailing a long tail of fire. Having perfectly predicted the Kushala Daora's evasive route, Logan unleashed a torrent of Calamity Flame straight down.
The poisonous mist and the Calamity Flame intersected, enclosing the Kushala Daora completely.
Yet in the very next instant, air pressure gathered between the Kushala Daora's wings—
With a metallic crack of sonic force, the silver-white figure of the Elder Dragon pierced through both breaths and soared out between them.
As an Elder Dragon that commands the wind, using air currents to accelerate itself was a basic maneuver for the Kushala Daora.
However, at this moment, the energy within its body was obstructed, preventing it from forming a full hurricane field—otherwise, its speed would have been even greater.
That it had been chosen as the target by these two young ones came as no surprise to the Kushala Daora.
After all, in terms of condition, it was the weakest one present.
It weaved up and down, narrowly evading one breath attack after another.
Logan continued his pursuit through the flames. With the absence of the Kushala Daora's ever-present hurricanes, his Gale Wings could finally function again. Yet at such high speeds, over short distances he could only move in straight lines, unable to perfectly control his trajectory—giving the Kushala Daora the chance to predict and evade.
After several minutes of intense pursuit, Logan sensed something amiss: the Chameleos's attacks had stopped.
No—rather, he and the Kushala Daora had already flown beyond the Chameleos's attack range, forcing it to halt its assault.
Watching the two figures chasing each other across the sky, the Chameleos silently raised a veil of white mist, concealing itself within it.
Its flying speed wasn't exactly slow, but that was only in comparison to ordinary aerial creatures. Against those two who could both manipulate air currents, its speed was truly nothing worth mentioning.
What's more, it couldn't quite understand why, after the battle had reignited, the Kushala Daora's full focus seemed to be on evasion—a clear sign of intent to retreat—while Logan still refused to relent, chasing it this far.
Did he truly think he could kill the Kushala Daora through such means?
Having reached adulthood and possessing increasingly immense vitality within its body, the Chameleos knew well that under normal circumstances, unless there was a significant disparity in strength between both sides—and unless the pursuer carried out a precise hunt lasting several months, landing meaningful injuries every time without allowing much recovery—
Only then was it possible to kill another Elder Dragon.
To complete a kill in one go—unless Logan and the Kushala Daora already stood on entirely different ecological tiers—was impossible.
As expected, after another bout of fierce entanglement, Logan attempted to drive the Kushala Daora back into the Chameleos's attack range. But as the Kushala Daora's deliberate metabolism finally expelled the last traces of poison from its system—
It endured one of Logan's breath attacks head-on, and once more unleashed its hurricanes.
In an instant, black storms once again swept across the sky. Logan's speed slowed as the hurricanes tangled around him.
Before he could react, a metallic roar burst from above. The Kushala Daora's body twisted violently, raising a massive tornado. Just when Logan thought it intended to unleash a full-scale strike—
The Elder Dragon instead used the centrifugal force of the cyclone to shatter the sound barrier, transforming into a streak of light that shot toward the depths of the New World.
All that remained behind was a torrential downpour and a chaotic gale, designed solely to hinder Logan's pursuit.
The Kushala Daora's Elder Dragon aura also faded with its departure. Having deliberately suppressed its presence, it now felt no different from an ordinary monster—no other Elder Dragon could locate it by sensing its aura.
Sunlight broke through once again, dispersing the dark clouds and halting the rapidly dropping temperature.
The Kushala Daora's retreat brought Logan back to clarity.
Yet as he gazed down at the thick white mist beneath the Ancient Tree—still spreading and expanding—the fatigue in both his body and mind relentlessly reminded him of his current condition.
The pain in his wings and across his body spoke clearly of the intensity of his battle with the Kushala Daora.
But the thought of losing so many Mutant Fire Wyverns made a nameless fury surge through him again.
In Logan's estimation, even if the Fire Wyverns had failed to intercept the Chameleos—
even if the three sides had clashed near the Ancient Tree—the Fire Wyvern group's losses should not have exceeded half.
After all, for a newly emerged species, losing more than half its number essentially meant extinction in the natural world.
Carrying that anger, the Calamity Flame around Logan's body blazed upward once more.
He would summon the surviving Fire Wyverns—
and launch a new battle against the Chameleos!
Meanwhile, within the white mist, a dense yellow fog began spreading over the northern area of the Ancient Tree.
With a helpless croak, the yellow haze replaced the white mist entirely.
Within the yellow fog, the body of a fallen Rathalos twitched faintly on the ground, its life or death uncertain.
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