The fighting situation in the northern part of the forest was not something Logan was worried about. Back then, even Blackveil Vaal Hazak, which had once spread miasma across the entire forest, had been repelled by Teostra.
So how could the current Blackveil Vaal Hazak, which had only appeared in the forest not long ago and whose miasma spores had not even had time to spread for very long—leaving its reserve energy severely insufficient—possibly be a match for the Fire Wyvern pack led by Aki?
Even ordinary Radiant Fire Wyverns could ignite flames across their bodies to serve as the first line of defense against miasma intrusion—let alone Aki, who possessed Terastal energy as a second layer of defense.
Therefore, this appearance of Blackveil Vaal Hazak was, for the current Logan, nothing more than a minor matter that did not warrant much attention at all.
What was more, the arrival of an uninvited guest directly drew Logan's gaze away.
High in the sky, both the winged feet and the joints where the wings connected to the body were stained an ominous red. The entire dragon was shrouded in frenzied dragon energy, and because of its high-speed flight, it left behind a long trail of red afterimage, causing everything around it to fade into dimness.
The Valstrax that Logan had once knocked off a cliff in the icy plains, sending it plunging into the abyss, had survived by sheer luck. Afterward, it managed to escape Velkhana's pursuit and successfully reached a section of the Everstream beneath the icefields.
There, although the concentration of ley energy could not compare to that of the New World, its unique geographical position made it easier for the dragon to convert that energy into dragon energy.
Having endured the tedious years and withstood the scorching heat rising from the Everstream, it ultimately, after Zorah Magdaros and Xeno'jiiva died one after the other, successfully used the washing impact of that vast Everstream energy to break through its original limits in one fell swoop and become a Tempered Elder Dragon!
And because of the area's unique geographical environment, together with its more powerful energy organs after metamorphosis, it in one fell swoop took in and converted an immense amount of dragon energy, bringing itself into an even stronger dragon-energy form.
Although, under the influence of the Dragon Element energy within that dragon energy, the Tempered Valstrax became even more violent.
But!
What made it most unwilling to accept was that it had actually lost, in the speed it prided itself on, to an unknown young Elder Dragon.
This unwillingness made it, after becoming stronger, not even go looking for trouble with Velkhana, which had taken advantage of its severe injuries to pursue and hunt it. Instead, without the slightest hesitation, it came straight for the New World—determined to find traces of Logan and wash away its humiliation!
It had to be said: after Valstrax became a Tempered Elder Dragon, and with that abundant dragon energy overflowing to the brim, it carried quite the air of a "mysterious red light." The entire dragon's flight speed was also much faster than before. Whether it was the hardness of its scales, the increase in its stamina, or even the efficiency with which it used the special organs in its body to convert air into dragon energy—everything was far stronger than before.
Therefore, not long after Logan sensed the other's presence, Valstrax's silhouette appeared in his field of vision.
Watching the Tempered Valstrax charging in with overwhelming momentum, the Terastal membrane over Logan's body slowly spread to cover him from head to toe.
With a resounding dragon roar, he shot straight into the sky. After his body traced an arc through the air, he chased after the Tempered Valstrax, trailing a long plume of flame from his tail.
Amid the startled cries of the cats, the two streaks of light vanished into the distance in an instant. Exaggerated wind pressure swept across the forest canopy, directly pressing down and collapsing the treetops along the way.
It had to be said that this Tempered Valstrax, which had clearly come prepared, possessed a speed that was truly outrageous. In his normal state, Logan—even after using flames converted through Terastal energy as turbocharged thrust, coupled with electrical currents stimulating his muscles and activating his wing muscles to further enhance the Gale Wings trait—when facing the dragon-energy state of the Tempered Valstrax, could actually do no more than barely keep up.
The distance between them, after the Tempered Valstrax further released the restrictions on its dragon energy, was widening at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Seeing this result, the Tempered Valstrax let out excited warbling sounds. The dragon-energy jet vents on its wings roared thunderously, and the entire dragon spun repeatedly in the air as if in mockery, continuously leaving behind heavy wake turbulence in front of Logan in order to achieve the goal of "humiliating" him.
With the corner of its eye observing Logan's state—unable to maintain complete stability under the interference of the powerful air currents, and watching Logan's stifled appearance as he "desperately" squeezed his own energy, attempting to increase speed by adding more turbines—the Tempered Valstrax felt a wave of sheer satisfaction surge through its heart.
This kind of pleasure was not inferior in the slightest to running over to the Guiding Lands out of boredom, kicking Ruiner Nergigante once, and then watching it eat his exhaust in helpless, furious rage!
At this moment, it was simply excited beyond measure!!
Amid that surge of smug satisfaction, the Tempered Valstrax's speed continued to climb higher and higher. The air resistance it faced was even approaching the limit that its outer shell could withstand.
Regarding this, the Tempered Valstrax still felt a hint of regret.
Although its current speed had already completely surpassed Logan's—so much so that it could freely generate wake turbulence to interfere with his flight—the gap between their speeds was still not large enough to allow it to act entirely without restraint. Otherwise, this time it would not merely be a contest of flight speed; it would have let Logan experience the true power of a genuine "Twinkle Tackle"!
Behind the Tempered Valstrax, Logan—his eyes covered by a nictitating membrane to prevent wind pressure from damaging his pupils—was, on one hand, making a deliberate show of "awkwardly" struggling as if being disrupted by the opponent's wake turbulence, while on the other hand, quietly observing every movement of the Tempered Valstrax.
That's right. In his current state, Logan truly could not match the present Valstrax in terms of speed, and could only watch helplessly as it flaunted its might right in front of him.
But that was only in his normal state!
After confirming that the Valstrax's speed had already soared to its limit, and as he watched it once again boldly spin its body and sweep past in front of him to generate interfering air currents—
Logan abruptly shed that "awkward" appearance. In an instant, he smoothed out the chaotic airflow ahead of him, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly to reveal a cruel smile.
The next second, his heart began to pound rapidly. Crimson energy swept across his entire body, dyeing the originally ice-blue Terastal energy. The Terastal crystals across the dragon's body surged explosively, and the efficiency of energy output broke through its limit in an instant. Exaggerated turbine jets erupted with a roar even more violent than the dragon-energy vents of Valstrax.
The entire dragon was engulfed in dense red light. Because of the extreme speed, even the air was distorted, and sunlight grew incomparably dim within that crimson radiance.
The dragon's speed skyrocketed. Before Valstrax's eyes could even split with shock, the overtake was completed in just a single second.
Scorching crimson Terastal energy streaked across the sky. The long-lasting ribbon of afterglow enveloped Valstrax completely—no matter how it roared and pushed its speed higher, it could not shake off Logan's exhaust!
Watching Logan ahead—who, after overtaking, actually controlled his speed on purpose, keeping the distance between them at precisely the range where Valstrax would continue to be affected—the Tempered Valstrax let out an unwilling roar, its voice filled with humiliation and bitter rage!
Unfortunately, at this moment their speeds were far beyond the speed of sound. Those roars could be heard by no one but Valstrax itself.
But even if he had heard them, Logan would not have cared.
Mysterious red light? Who didn't have it!
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