When facing a monster capable of ranged attacks, jumping into mid-air should have been a fatal flaw.
After all, once an ordinary Brute Wyvern is airborne, it cannot change its position, making its trajectory easy to predict.
In the past, unless the enemy was in a state where they couldn't retaliate, Asterion would never have rashly left the ground during combat.
But things were different now. The wing-bone jet propulsion gave Asterion the ability to maneuver freely in the air, allowing him to escape the fate of being skewered by this unknown monster's bamboo attacks.
As his sword-tail clashed with the bamboo spear, Asterion suddenly noticed a detail—
Every time a mass of bamboo burst from the ground to attack, the monster would stab its tail into the earth.
Did that mean the organ this monster relied on to channel its Elder Dragon power was its tail?
This was quite different from many Elder Dragons in Asterion's memory. Creatures like Kushala Daora relied on the horns atop their heads to manipulate weather and manifest natural disasters.
If that was the case, the focus of the battle ahead was clear—sever the tail!
Having roughly adapted to this monster's fighting style, and assuming it didn't have any hidden special abilities or a second phase, Asterion felt that he and Bazelgeuse had pretty good luck. They hadn't run into an Elder Dragon with explosive combat power, and its size was within an acceptable range... at least it wasn't as massive as a mountain range.
Clang! Clang-clang! Clang!
It was hard to imagine a monster could wield a bamboo spear held in its mouth with such perfection. It gave Asterion a shock similar to seeing Zoro use the Three Sword Style for the first time. Horizontal sweeps, straight thrusts, vertical smashes—the Inagami's moves were disciplined and formidable.
Clang!!
Asterion's sword-tail, chopping toward the monster's body, was deflected once again. Upon landing, Asterion glanced at his tail, which had curved around to face him. White-hot steam hissed from the heat vents at the tip. The layer of blade scales serving as the edge had stopped spinning; the originally diamond-shaped scales were now irregular—some missing chunks, others ground down to semicircles, full of notches.
These were the marks left by the collisions with the bamboo spear during the earlier battle. As expected of bamboo specifically created by this monster to serve as a weapon, its hardness was completely unlike ordinary bamboo.
Click-clack, click-clack...
Under Asterion's conscious control, the damaged blade scales quickly shed, and new ones instantly regenerated. Once the regeneration was confirmed complete, the fresh scales began to vibrate at high frequency again, drawing a blurry line of afterimages.
Fight!
After a brief moment of recovery, Asterion took over the fight from Bazelgeuse. This was how they hunted Elder Dragons: if you come as one Elder Dragon, we are three dragons. If you come as a hundred Elder Dragons, we are still three dragons.
If this monster felt that was unfair, it could go call for backup—the more the better. Asterion was only afraid there wouldn't be enough to eat.
A bamboo spear originally thrusting toward his chest slid to the side after Asterion knocked it away with his sword-tail, ultimately only piercing a scale on his right flank and detonating the blade scales covering it.
Following the momentum, the massive sword-tail sliced along the edge of the bamboo spear toward the base, shaving off only a thin layer of bamboo skin but closing the distance to the Inagami's mouth in an instant. In that split second, the Inagami released the bamboo spear from its jaws and abruptly raised a front claw!
"Roar!!"
The shockwave was powerful enough to pulverize the dirt and small stones between the two dragons. After releasing the spear, the Inagami roared and slammed its paw down, striking the flat side of Asterion's sword-tail.
Asterion didn't dodge. The tip of his tail suddenly erupted with a jet of gas, and the deflected tail drew a semicircle in the air to slash at the Inagami once more!
But the Inagami was faster than the redirected tail. Seizing the opportunity, it lunged at Asterion, slapping a front claw directly onto Asterion's chest. At the same time, a cloud of pale blue-white gas sprayed from between its claws!
Hiss!!
"Roar!!" (Cover me!!)
Asterion's expression changed drastically—well, you couldn't really tell with a dragon face covered in scales, but his nerves undoubtedly snapped tight in that instant. He violently reversed the direction of his wing-bone jets, rapidly putting distance between himself and the Inagami, dodging the follow-up bite the beast attempted after landing the hit.
The well-trained Bazelgeuse, hearing Asterion's call, dove down from the sky. He set off a massive chain of explosions that intercepted the Inagami's pursuit.
Asterion had been caught off guard. He had guarded against a thousand possibilities but never expected this guy could spray gas from its claws. This was exactly why normal monsters didn't easily fight others of the same size class—intel was too scarce. One moment of carelessness could lead to a massive loss.
Asterion had grown accustomed to fighting recklessly with the advantage of knowing the lore; now, he was finally learning his lesson.
The pale blue-white gas spewed by the unknown monster had a corrosive effect. The bamboo it had touched earlier had withered and yellowed in a very short time.
Asterion, having retreated to a safe distance, checked his wound. The shell and scales there were clearly curling up and seemed to be cracking rapidly, but these were minor issues.
For Asterion, who could regenerate shell and blade scales quickly, shedding the contaminated parts took only a thought. In comparison, the wound torn by the monster's sharp claws was scarier—dig any deeper and it would have hit his compression air sacs.
Aside from that, the consequence of touching that blue-white gas was... sleepiness.
It really was sleeping gas!!
To be honest, this was the first time Asterion had seen a corrosive sleeping gas! What happened to the rule where taking damage wakes you up from sleep?! Does the pain of corrosion not count as pain? or was the sleep just that deep??
Asterion was truly sleepy. This physiological drowsiness wasn't something willpower could solve. Within seconds, Asterion couldn't even stand steadily. After stumbling a few steps, he collapsed directly onto the ground.
He didn't even pose comfortably like in a game; his wings sprawled out haphazardly, and his limbs stretched out like a dead dog as he fell asleep.
In Asterion's final blurry vision, he hazily saw Bazelgeuse and that strange dragon tangled in a fierce fight. Seeing that Asterion had fallen, Bazelgeuse seemed to fight with restraint and difficulty. Asterion didn't know what happened after that.
He was asleep.
Even the sound of explosions rapidly faded away. The quality of sleep was incredibly good, incredibly sweet.
As expected of an Elder Dragon, this hypnotic effect acts way faster than a Sleeptoad—
—That was the last thought in Asterion's mind.
As everyone knows, people knocked out by anesthesia don't automatically wake up just because they get hurt. The sleeping gases or liquids of monsters are roughly similar. The only difference is that taking a really heavy hit might actually wake you up, right?
Either way, Asterion's awakening was painful.
It felt like he had blacked out after drinking two liters of white liquor the night before. Asterion felt pain in every piece of meat from the inside out, aching from his head to the tip of his tail. When he inhaled, his nose was filled with the lingering smell of gunpowder smoke.
Asterion's brain was a bit chaotic. He forced his eyes open to inspect himself and saw that his scales and shell, which should have been reflecting light like a mirror, were all dull and gray. Black soot from the exploding scales had piled up in the crevices of his armor.
What was going on?
Did Bazelgeuse attack me?
His just-awakened brain was still slow to turn, but the explosions sounding in his ears and the roar of a beast filled with killing intent quickly reminded Asterion of who he was and what he was doing—My Bazelgeuse!!
He scrambled to crawl up from the ground, ignoring the soreness in his body. Asterion widened his eyes and looked toward the source of the loudest noise.
"Rooaaar!!!" (Boss! Wake up!!)
Bazelgeuse's roar was frantic.
"Rooaaar!!!" (I can't hold on! Boss!!!)
Accompanying the increasingly desperate roars, Asterion watched helplessly as a blasting scale was flung by Bazelgeuse's tail right in front of his eyes. He wanted to run immediately, but his numb leg tendons made his footing soft.
Asterion: "..."
Sizzle—BOOM!!
The black blasting scale turned red, expanded, and exploded within seconds. It covered Asterion in even more soot and dirt, but it also blasted away his last shred of drowsiness.
"Roar!!" (I'm coming to help!!)
This moment was exactly like that moment in the past.
But for Bazelgeuse, the feeling was entirely different.
"Rooaaar!!!" (You're finally awake! Boss!!)
It wasn't an illusion; Bazelgeuse's voice sounded like he was about to cry. He really looked too miserable.
His wings were reduced to mere skeletons; the wing membranes between the bones had been shredded into unconnected strips of flesh, dripping with blood. When he flapped them, only the bare bones were visible.
Even the armor covering his body hadn't survived. Some places were pitted and dented, while others simply displayed horrifying bloody holes.
It was obvious that Bazelgeuse was completely tapped out. He had been beaten badly. If nothing unexpected happened, it wouldn't be long before Bazelgeuse was torn into meat chunks and swallowed.
"Roar! Roar roar roar!!" (Thanks, brother! Thanks for protecting me! I'll avenge you right now!!)
Asterion was genuinely touched. He hadn't expected Bazelgeuse to defend him to the death until he woke up. To think such "leave no man behind" loyalty actually existed between casual brothers.
True brothers are hard to find!!
"Roar roar!!" (I wanted to run but couldn't! He smashed my wings!!)
Uh, so it wasn't a defense to the death, but a forced last stand?
Asterion held back the large Wyvern Tears that were about to flow. Bazelgeuse's words were a little too honest.
But no matter what, the fact remained that Bazelgeuse had saved his life. If not for his desperate struggle, the sleeping Asterion would likely have been killed and eaten by this monster long ago.
So, he was still moved!!
Rolling the muscles that were numb from the sleeping gas, Asterion re-entered the battlefield—charged with fury.
It was no exaggeration to say that this hunt was one of the few life-or-death moments Asterion had faced since transmigrating. He had almost been completely screwed over by this monster.
Usually, in nature, only weak creatures ill-suited for combat evolved special abilities like sleep or paralysis to protect themselves. Take the Sleeptoad, for example: when attacked, it releases a sleeping gas strong enough to make large monsters fall asleep instantly, allowing it to escape while the enemy dozes off unharmed.
But for you—an Elder Dragon with already powerful combat capabilities—to use sleeping gas is just too despicable!!
Drugging the enemy to sleep and then attacking their vitals? Asterion thought he was the only one capable of doing something like that!
Slash!!
That silly Bazelgeuse had no concept of a sneak attack, and naturally didn't know that his joyous roar had cost Asterion the chance to ambush the monster. But it didn't matter. They were two dragons!
Siege!!
In the ensuing battle, Asterion refused to step into close range again. He relied solely on his body length advantage to attack the monster from afar with his sword-tail, swearing not to inhale another mouthful of sleeping gas.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
The Glavenus tail-sword technique danced with the sound of wind and thunder. After several Spirit Roundslashes, Asterion's sword-tail was covered in a faint red glow. He didn't even need to change blade scales anymore; the scales, infused with life energy, became hard enough to withstand repeated collisions with the bamboo spear.
Clang! Boom! Clang!
As the saying goes, two fists can't fight four hands. No matter how skilled the Inagami's spear technique was, or how much hard bamboo its tail could generate by stabbing into the ground, it had revealed all its tricks. Under the siege of Asterion and Bazelgeuse, it gradually fell to a disadvantage—the two brothers only needed to avoid its few threatening moves.
As the wounds on its body multiplied, the Inagami seemed to don a layer of gray armor. Asterion gradually realized what this gray shell was. When the monster was injured, it secreted a gray liquid from its wounds.
This liquid hardened rapidly upon exposure to air, eventually forming an exceptionally tough outer shell.
The solidified shell even extended along the two ribbon-like manes on the monster's back, resembling wings, allowing it to glide briefly in mid-air. However, its movements became much more... sluggish.
Yes, not agile, but sluggish. The gray shell significantly increased the Inagami's weight, causing it to fail to keep up with the blades Asterion saw coming multiple times.
But the Inagami seemed unable to control the secretion of this gray liquid, even though it realized that its reduced speed made it impossible to dodge Asterion's slashes.
The high-frequency vibrating saw-blade, accompanied by heavy, powerful chops, landed on the Inagami. The red-hot blade drew layers of red shadows in the air. While tearing apart the Inagami's shell and scales, it also tore through its flesh.
Inagami, your time has come!
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