"A Glavenus wouldn't exactly be in a rush to bring in the laundry."
Hara only realized she had voiced the quip after recalling the Glavenus's demeanor just a moment ago... but the more she thought back on it, the stranger she found it.
Because she really couldn't discern anything resembling a "demeanor" from that ferocious wyvern face, let alone an emotion as specific as anxiety.
"How did you figure that out?" Hara couldn't help but ask. "Monsters don't have rich expressions like we do."
The faces of the vast majority of wyverns lacked delicate skin; if it wasn't hard scales, it was rigid plating—and the Glavenus's face was naturally covered in heavy shell. Never mind making an expression; it wouldn't even change color if it cried.
"Hm, intuition, maybe?"
Rubbing his chin, the Commander replied.
"No time to think. Keep up, Hara!"
"Yes, sir!"
On the other side, Asterion was unaware that two people were tailing him. He had already strode boldly into the Anjanath's territory.
"ROAR!!!" (Come out!)
That was more or less the gist of it. Asterion's roar was a direct challenge: If you've got the guts, come out and face me.
"ROAR!!!"
A response came from the distance. The Anjanath didn't seem to be right nearby, but it had undoubtedly heard Asterion's provocation—how could it tolerate that?
In recent times, hunters had dubbed the Anjanath the "Thug of the Wastes." This was because the beast was not only tall, strong, and powerful, but it also had a foul temper. It was incredibly violent, intent on exterminating any creature that intruded upon its territory, whether it ran on the ground or flew in the sky.
Because of this, the hunters responsible for exploring and mining in the Wildspire Waste had been bullied by this guy endlessly. Some hunters had even died at the Anjanath's hands, rubbing salt in the wound of the already understaffed Research Commission.
Reality was not a game. In the game, the Felyne Cart could save a hunter from the jaws or claws of an enraged dragon with a hundred percent success rate, but reality... well, let's just say it all depended on luck.
If they could be saved, they were saved; if not, it was a body retrieval mission. Yet even then, the cost of the "Cart" was exorbitant. A single deployment would take nearly thirty percent of a hunter's quest reward.
But even so, no hunter could refuse the Cart's rescue services. After all, life was always more important.
With heavy footsteps, the Anjanath approached from the distance. On this rocky terrain with nothing to obscure the view, Asterion saw the big guy from a long way off—and it saw Asterion.
The Glavenus is a large Brute Wyvern, and the Anjanath is also a large Brute Wyvern.
Coincidentally, both possessed a very strong desire to attack.
"ROAR!!!" (You're the one who bullied my brother the other day, right?! I'm gonna hack you to death!!)
Grinding his sharp sword-tail, Asterion roared.
"ROAR!!" (DIE!!)
The other roar belonged to the Anjanath.
Asterion could understand what the guy was shouting. There were no complex words, only killing intent and threats—it was strange to say, but the higher a lifeform stood in the ecological hierarchy, the higher its intelligence.
This was true for the Rathian, and it was true for the Anjanath.
Yes, they were different species of wyvern, but the intent behind their roars could still be understood by one another.
For example, the mutual intimidation during a turf war, the roar warning the other not to approach, or the calls made when protecting their young.
In this sense, dragons could communicate with one another; it was a spiritual understanding and clarity.
Of course, no matter how mystical I make this sound, it doesn't change the fact that these large wyverns have to throw down when they meet.
After all, communication is one thing, but the killing still has to happen.
Otherwise, if everyone just said a few nice words and walked away, how would these hungry stomachs be filled? If you eat everything, what do I eat?
It comes back to the old saying: eat what you must, drink what you must, and don't take things to heart.
Everyone has to eat, after all.
Living up to the memory of the Tyrannosaurus Rex from the game in his past life, the Anjanath truly acted like a tyrant, charging the moment it saw Asterion.
The Charge!
This was a move known by everything from terrestrial wyverns to flying wyverns. Simply put, you rush over and try to slam the opponent to death.
However, the Anjanath's charge appeared even more ferocious compared to other wyverns. Mouth gaping wide, its lower jaw shoveled along the ground, rushing toward Asterion with an imposing momentum that seemed ready to shatter the rocks on the ground and the very air in front of it.
Shattered rock fragments flew and dust billowed. The Anjanath's massive body crashed forward like a small mountain. Honestly, this kind of violent, open-mouthed charge always reminded Asterion of the Tigrex.
The Tigrex's charge was even more violent than this, enough to make timid hunters flee in terror on the spot.
It was cool, strong, and violent, worthy of a monster comparable to the dinosaur overlord, the T-Rex, but—who the hell are you trying to scare?
To tell the truth, in Asterion's eyes, the attack methods of ordinary wyverns were a bit unrefined. It was nothing more than rushing back and forth, biting, tail-slamming, or claw-swiping. Even those high-and-mighty Elder Dragons couldn't escape these basic moves, because a dragon's body limited its ability to perform more flexible attacks; they had to use their strong physiques to fight.
The only difference was that Elder Dragons could control bio-energy more freely. Coupled with their unique special abilities, they were called natural disasters because they possessed power that felt like nature itself raging.
Rainstorms, gales, lightning, floods... or simply a moving mountain. Ordinary lifeforms could usually only passively endure when facing these disasters.
But those were abilities exclusive to Elder Dragons.
You're merely an Anjanath; do you have that kind of skill?
Asterion wasn't an Elder Dragon; he couldn't destroy the ecology of an entire region when he got angry like they could. But the Anjanath wasn't an Elder Dragon either.
As fellow large Brute Wyverns, the two should have been on the same level, comparing whose body was stronger, whose strength was greater, and whose teeth were sharper—basically, a contest of fundamental stats.
However, being a Glavenus, Asterion had brought a knife.
And this knife was lethal.
It was like two adults engaging in a passionate fistfight, but one of them suddenly pulled out a knife. Naturally, the other guy was going to get stabbed.
Not indulging the Anjanath's bad temper in the slightest, Asterion didn't even dodge. He lowered his body, planted his hips, twisted, and whipped his heavy sword-tail directly at the Anjanath's mouth from the front!
If looked at from the side, it looked as if the Anjanath had a death wish and slammed its head right into Asterion's tail.
KLANG!!
The Anjanath had noticed Asterion's move, but it couldn't dodge in time.
The heavy blade had already swept across horizontally from the front. With a crisp snap, the four front teeth of the Anjanath's hard lower jaw were forcibly sheared off!
Meeting this resistance, Asterion's swinging blade bounced back, but this barely affected him. With a light, agile hop, he readjusted his position. The next strike was a vertical slash!
"ROAR!!!"
The Anjanath roared in fury. The injury to its proud lower jaw had hurt its self-esteem. It hadn't expected that the little thing, who used to hide far away upon seeing it—sometimes even squeezing through narrow terrain the Anjanath couldn't fit through just to escape—would actually be this good at fighting.
But the Asterion of the past was simply unwilling to waste stamina; the Anjanath possessed no evolutionary information he required.
Now, however, he was no longer that scrawny, newly hatched Glavenus from half a year ago. He was a robust, blade-wielding strongman!
Even looking at it from his Kulu-Ya-Ku brother's perspective, this fight was a bit too unfair. Or rather, the two dragons weren't on the same level at all; the battle was completely one-sided.
This Anjanath was merely an ordinary individual. It couldn't even touch Asterion. It could only rage impotently, either using its broken-toothed jaw to shovel up rocks to throw at Asterion, or opening its mouth wide to bite... Simple. It was just too simple.
It was like scoring a piece of meat with a knife. Asterion's sword-tail continuously sliced across the Anjanath's pink hide. This hide existed to help the Anjanath, which lacked sweat glands, dissipate heat more effectively, and it was very tough.
But by the same token, even if this hide was tough, its defensive power still couldn't compare to traditional scales or carapace.
In past hunts, the Anjanath could usually rely on this thick, tough hide to tank damage from other monsters, then use its extraordinary strength and attack power to crush the enemy first.
And the dragons that fought the Anjanath often lacked sufficiently lethal attack methods. At most, they would bite off a chunk or two of the Anjanath's flesh, or leave some deep claw marks or bite wounds on its hide, but they could never create a large enough fatal wound.
But Asterion was different.
His carefully honed, razor-sharp Great Sword allowed him to slice through the Anjanath's hide with ease. The Great Sword, forged from various minerals, was also heavy enough that every strike forced the Anjanath—which wanted to use its jumping ability to close the distance—to abandon the idea of trading injuries.
Because it knew that before it could trade a wound, it would absolutely be hacked to death first.
In the end, the Anjanath simply couldn't compete on the same level as the Glavenus.
Even after its throat flame sac activated due to the intense battle and rage, spewing scorching fire... it was the same story. It simply couldn't touch Asterion.
The Glavenus's sword-tail was just too long, long enough for Asterion to swing his Great Sword from a safe distance and hack this guy to death.
"A one-sided slaughter." Hara lowered her binoculars. Standing on the safety of the high rock platform, she summarized the battle between dragons. "He's playing with it. An ordinary monster is no match for him."
"It seems that clever little guy from back then has grown up... Haha, it's only been half a year. Why did he grow so fast?" The Commander said with mixed emotions, "That's already the size of a sub-adult Glavenus, isn't it?"
"More than that," Hara said, shaking her head slightly. "A normal Glavenus has a body length of about twenty-four meters, and the tail alone is over fourteen meters, taking up half the body length."
"Twenty-four meters?" The Commander estimated visually. "In terms of size alone, he's barely different from an adult Glavenus."
"But according to the scholars' observations, this Glavenus was actually born not long ago. He's equivalent to a one-year-old baby." Hara laughed as she spoke. "That is not what a baby should look like."
"Did you see the shell on the side of his body? It seems to have two layers, and it looks like it was injured recently," the Commander said, suddenly pointing at Asterion's flank. "I was observing him when he passed in front of us just now. A Glavenus should only have one layer of shell, right?"
"Correct, I noticed that too. That's why scholars believe this Glavenus is likely a Deviant, different from the original species," Hara continued. "Although there are no records of it attacking hunters yet, no one dares to approach it. We can only observe from a distance... so this is just speculation."
"Hmm... I thought they would try to communicate with him? After all, this Glavenus acts quite friendly," the Commander asked.
"Some scholars tried feeding him Apceros, but he kicked the meat away. He probably only eats prey he hunts himself?"
"A proud fellow, huh? Interesting." The Commander couldn't help but laugh. "I actually quite like him. It seems that little guy not only survived in this cruel nature but is living very well."
"This isn't the time to be happy, Commander," Hara said somewhat helplessly. "I also think this Glavenus—let's just continue calling him a Glavenus for now—anyway, I also think he has great value for research and observation, but his territory is far too close to Astera."
"I understand." The Commander nodded firmly. "Leave it to me. I'll have a good talk with him!"
"Wait, what are you planning to do?" Hara immediately tensed up. "Don't be reckless, Commander!"
"This isn't recklessness, Hara!" The Commander laughed heartily. "I heard what the scholars said. This Glavenus's attitude is indeed hard to define, but that is exactly why I need to get closer to him!"
"There are some answers you'll never get unless you bravely take the first step—don't forget why we boarded that ship!"
With that, casting a glance at the battlefield in the distance where the curtain was already falling, the Commander jumped directly off the rock.
"Commander..."
Seeing the Commander below, hunching his waist and slowly approaching the Glavenus, Hara murmured softly.
Schwing... Hiss...
With another slick sound of flesh being sliced open, the Anjanath finally exhausted its last shred of stamina and collapsed to the ground with a weak groan.
It was dead.
Asterion didn't even feel the sense of relief or relaxation that usually followed a fight with a strong enemy. To be honest, the pressure this Anjanath gave him was far less than that of the Tempered Rathian.
It was too green, this Anjanath.
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