Ruiner Nergigante's strike completely missed, and the ferocious expression on its face froze there. It never could have imagined that, even after things had come to this, it would still fail to hit its target.
And moreover—why did that laser just now look a bit familiar?
A sense of unease immediately rose in its heart.
However, after missing again and again, Ruiner Nergigante was already in a state of extreme rage. Before its mind could even process what was happening, its body instinctively turned toward the direction from which the laser had been fired.
"Roar!"
The roar had only just begun when its crimson eyes caught sight of that icy-blue streak of light.
Although it still appeared to be some distance away, Ruiner Nergigante, having accumulated plenty of related experience, knew very clearly that at this range, it no longer had any possibility of retreating or evading.
It could only drive its life energy, further reinforcing the thick adamantine spikes on its wings, using them as a shield and hiding its powerful body within the wings as much as possible.
This was precisely the response experience it had summarized from being kicked from time to time back when it was in the Guiding Lands.
Feeling the burning pain in his wings, yet having actually suffered no serious injury, little Loren barely stabilized his posture after losing balance. In the very next second, he saw his old father, his body transformed into a blue streak of light, perform a direct Terastal flying kick while in a fully Terastalized state.
Accompanied by a violent explosion, that terrifying Ruiner Nergigante was kicked straight down from the sky amid the blast, its body turning into a cannonball as it smashed directly into the dense Bioenergy Crystal forest below.
Only at this moment did the Terastal film covering Logan's body slowly fade away, revealing his massive form.
Through the smoke and dust, Logan quickly locked onto the figure of Ruiner Nergigante below, which was in the midst of climbing back to its feet.
Energy rapidly gathered in his mouth. After his throat flushed a deep red, a gigantic beam of light with a radius reaching two meters pierced through the smoke, descending upon Ruiner Nergigante in an instant.
As if it had anticipated this long ago, at the very moment it rose, Ruiner Nergigante once again induced the growth of a large quantity of adamantine spikes, wrapping itself up tightly from head to toe.
For Logan's appearance, although it was extremely unpleasant, it would not be particularly afraid.
Accepting its loss and forcibly taking Logan's blow head-on, feeling its body being violently torn back and forth between destruction and regeneration, Ruiner Nergigante did not hesitate in the slightest. It used the impact force of that laser to rapidly open the distance, then plunged straight into the dense Bioenergy Crystal forest. With its body still aching, it quickly tumbled into a side tunnel passage that the Strange Mask Tribe had opened up, and swiftly left the area.
As the laser breath disappeared, this Bioenergy Crystal forest was like skin that had been scalded—one trench, still retaining a crimson hue from the high heat, just like that cut open a huge gash straight through the forest.
"Wuu, wuu~~"
After calming the energy within his body, little Loren also flew over to Logan with an eager, pitiful look, a wuu-wuu sound coming from his nostrils.
Logan turned his head to look at this rebellious son—who had been treated like a ball by him when he was little, and then became rebellious after growing up—and he simply felt his anger surge up again.
His growth environment had been far too smooth. He had even done something as foolish as not concealing his own aura and entering a place where Elder Dragons gathered—an obviously stupid fool who had never been truly beaten down.
What made it even more infuriating was that this fool was his own offspring!!
Thinking of that made him even angrier!
It also seemed that Loren had realized his actions were indeed improper. Although that had not been his intention, the situation had ultimately happened like this; if he should admit his fault, then he still had to admit it.
Looking at little Loren's messy scales, and at several Radiant Crystal Butterflies that were listless and half-dead, clinging weakly to his body, that pitiful appearance still made Logan's anger subside a little.
Granted, because of a monster's nature, after little Loren turned five, the familial affection had greatly decreased, but the concept of blood ties from his previous life still made him retain the bottom line of kinship.
Therefore, when faced with the little fellow in this state, he still felt a bit of compassion.
As his wings trembled slightly, a large swarm of Radiant Crystal Butterflies disguised as scales flew out from his wings and quickly landed on little Loren. Along with the injection of a great amount of pure life energy, little Loren's mental state also recovered rapidly by quite a bit.
Only after the flapping of little Loren's wings became forceful again did Logan let out a cold snort through his nostrils, then fly toward the Terastal nest without even turning his head back.
Knowing that Logan was in the middle of being angry, little Loren timidly lowered his head, and, using the airflow vortex that Logan created 'unconsciously,' followed closely behind.
The Admiral, who had just eaten half a roasted Wingdrake in one go, was in the process of turning the remaining roasted meat into portable rations for later use.
Before he had cut off much meat, he saw Logan returning.
Only—why did the dragon following behind Logan look so familiar?
Taking a closer look—good heavens, it was little Loren, whom he had not seen for many years!
Although after several years little Loren's skeleton had fully grown out, some of his sharper edges had faded, his overall lines had become more balanced, and the muscles across his body had grown extremely robust, that one-of-a-kind appearance unique to the New World still made the Admiral recognize this little prince at first glance.
"Yo! Little Highness, what brings you here?"
Landing behind Logan, little Loren—timid like a quail—heard the voice, raised his head slightly, and saw the Admiral, wearing no protective gear at all, standing by the campfire and waving at him.
Seeing the Admiral, whose hair had already turned completely white and whose face no longer carried the youthful look of years past, little Loren did not recognize him at once.
After all, the last time they had met was five years ago during the battle against Nakarkos. At that time, little Loren had been far too young—only just at the age when he could leave the nest.
Even though an Elder Dragon's memory was extraordinary, little Loren still stared at the Admiral carefully for quite a while. Only then did he finally lock onto him in his memories—the guy who had looked like a Rajang and had actually forced him back in a contest of strength with a human's insignificant body!
"Roar, roar!"
Meeting an old acquaintance, little Loren immediately became excited. He was no longer the reckless, ignorant little Sunblaze Dragon who had been in his rebellious phase back then!
Facing the Admiral, little Loren wanted to grapple with him just like before, to see whose strength was greater now!
But before he could make any move, a low, cold snort came from the side.
The excited little Loren instantly lowered his head, once again turning into a quail and shrinking in place.
There was no helping it. Even though they were father and son, on the increasingly hierarchical Ancient Tree, the relationship between him and Logan leaned more toward that of ruler and subject. And right now, he was still in the middle of admitting his mistake!!
With Aki not by his side, he really did not dare make any unnecessary moves in front of Logan.
Sensing that the atmosphere was a bit off, the Admiral glanced at Logan, who had his eyes closed and seemed to be resting, then at little Loren, who was cowering timidly, his scales in complete disarray—clearly showing that he had just gone through a fierce battle. His eyes shifted, and he proactively held up the remaining half of the roasted Wingdrake and walked over to little Loren.
"Want to try some, Little Highness?"
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