Logan’s daily life began to settle into quiet simplicity.
In the Ancient Tree region, where the number of carnivorous wyverns had drastically declined, food had become so abundant it was practically impossible to consume it all.
Each day passed in a leisurely rhythm—either patrolling lazily over his territory or lying down to absorb the leyline’s energy.
Bathed in such a rich, life-saturated environment, Logan’s growth was advancing at an astonishing pace. His scales, much like Aki’s, were now a deep crimson, catching flecks of silver in the sunlight—and the silver was steadily increasing in proportion.
Aside from this daily routine, Logan had also tried, on several occasions, to team up with Aki and ambush that tempered Anjanath.
But the Anjanath’s sense of smell was absurdly sharp. The moment it caught Aki’s scent—regardless of her actual location—it would immediately and decisively flee.
That massive body, nearly 20 meters long, could still escape with ease when it set its mind to it. Combined with the lower layer’s intricate terrain, all of their ambush attempts ended in failure.
The closest they came to success, it still managed to leap into the underground river and get away.
That beast was truly hard to kill!
If Aki wasn’t present, it was more than willing to brawl with Logan when he was grounded. But with Logan’s current strength, he still wasn’t capable of killing it head-on in the cramped lower regions—especially with his flight ability severely limited. The result was a frustrating stalemate.
Even so, Logan was confident. At the rate he was growing, even if that Anjanath evolved into a Fulgur Anjanath, he was sure he’d be able to defeat it in a direct confrontation in the future.
Moreover, as Logan continued to grow, a strange feeling had begun to settle in his heart—this Anjanath would somehow become a turning point for him. A catalyst for transformation.
He just didn’t understand why...
Why this particular Anjanath?
...
Time always slips by unnoticed—just like that, four years had passed.
In a wide hunting ground near the center of the Ancient Forest—
Aki sank her teeth into the forelimb of a Zinogre that had slammed down in front of her. Arcs of electricity crackled along its claws, but she twisted her head forcefully, and her immense jaw strength shattered the keratinous armor that lined its limb like a gauntlet. The sheer power behind it threw the Zinogre off balance, and it crashed heavily to the ground.
In the next instant, Aki spun sideways and lashed out with her tail. The barbed tip tore through the scales on the creature’s abdomen, eliciting a pained howl as her venom was forcefully injected into its body.
Not far away, Logan was engulfed in flames as he darted through the air in a dizzying series of mid-air maneuvers. With a sharp dive, he closed in on another Zinogre before it could react. His razor-sharp claws slashed twice in rapid succession, the searing heat ripping open the fur and cracking the charged shell on its back, leaving behind two deep gashes that continued to burn with licking flames.
At that moment, the third Zinogre finally reacted. It leapt forward, maw wide open, aiming straight for Logan’s wing.
But a purple-orange fireball came streaking in from the other side, striking its mark dead-on and blasting the beast away.
Logan glanced down and exhaled a ring of flame to drive off the Zinogre beneath him that had started to stir, then soared back into the sky.
Meanwhile, Aki launched into another cart-like charge, ramming the Zinogre that had been trying to extinguish the flames on its back by rolling around. The impact sent it flying, and she immediately turned her attention to the one she had previously hit with her fireball.
Up above, Logan became a blazing sphere once more, diving toward the poisoned Zinogre. Evading its clumsy lunge, he caught it mid-pounce and drove it hard into the ground.
The fire cloaking his body exploded at once. The Zinogre didn’t even get the chance to scream before it was reduced to a charred corpse.
Within the roaring flames, Logan was about to take off again—when a figure suddenly burst in with a piercing howl. A massive claw, wreathed in lightning, came crashing down.
At that moment, Logan was still in the vulnerable state between releasing his old strength and gathering new—he wouldn’t be able to fully evade this attack.
Fortunately, his mind’s eye had warned him just in time. Logan managed to predict the trajectory and impact point of the strike, twisting his body with great effort and angling himself so the blow wouldn't land squarely.
He shifted just enough to deflect the force, making sure the point of contact was the toughest section of his scales—minimizing the damage as much as the situation allowed.
Even if only the sharp tip of the claw had landed, the lightning-enhanced talon would still have easily pierced the scales and torn away a chunk of flesh.
Yet the result was far beyond the Zinogre’s expectations.
Its powerful claw strike barely managed to scratch the smooth scales on the Rathalos’s chest, leaving only a visible mark.
And because of Logan’s angled evasion, most of the force had landed in empty space.
Not only did the attack fail to cause any real harm, but the incredible hardness of those scales actually sent a jolt of pain back through the Zinogre’s own claw.
The beast stared in disbelief at Logan, who was already building up a flame in his throat, his chest and neck glowing red-hot. As the Zinogre’s claws dropped to the ground, they struck the earth with a crackle of electricity, leaving a small, sparking crater.
Rathalos are supposed to be weak against lightning...
So why are his scales this hard?
Before the Zinogre could process it, a pillar of fire—tinged with purple just like Aki’s—erupted from Logan’s mouth. This was no ordinary flame, and the Zinogre’s arc-charged shell offered no defense against it.
Thunderbugs scattered from its body, frantically trying to escape the blast. With its electric defenses breaking apart, the Zinogre was overwhelmed.
A wave of heat surged outward, followed by an explosion that shook the clearing. When the smoke cleared, another charred corpse of a Zinogre lay on the scorched earth.
Trait – Charred Body: Constantly bathed in flame, the scales have fully adapted to high temperatures and undergone mutation, granting the ability to absorb fire and significantly increase their hardness.
Put simply: after absorbing fire damage, Logan’s overall defense increases.
Together, Flame Body, Flash Fire, and Charred Body formed a perfect cycle.
Flame Body had transformed Logan’s fire sac and venom glands, allowing his body to secrete a specialized fluid that could burn for extended periods. Logan could control the flow of this fluid to regulate the flames that enveloped him.
The Flash Fire trait allowed him to absorb fire to increase the temperature of his own flames, then reconvert that heat into fire-elemental energy and store it back in his fire sac.
The heightened flame temperature would then reinforce his scales even further, drastically boosting his defense.
The synergy was terrifying. Even while the Zinogre was in its supercharged state, as long as Logan adjusted his body angle properly, that thunder-infused claw strike could do no more than scratch the surface of his scales.
Logan had taken down two Zinogres. On the other side of the clearing, Aki had finished off the other two as well.
She tossed aside the Zinogre whose neck she had just snapped, clearly unimpressed. Then, the massive beast—over 20 meters long—unfurled her beautifully patterned wings and let out a deafening roar toward the sky. Her gradient orange-glowing scales shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight.
Aki was letting loose—unleashing all the irritation that had been simmering inside her for some time now.
Hearing her thunderous roar, Logan instinctively shrank his neck back a little.
It wasn’t that he was afraid or anything. The truth was… well, Aki’s recent frustration had a lot to do with him.
This year, Aki had reached 14 in wyvern years—nearly 15. In just over half a year, she would officially be an adult Rathian.
As for Logan, despite his exceptional talent and the fact that his body had grown to nearly 17 meters over the past four years, he was only 10 years old in wyvern terms. In certain respects, he was still in an immature, sealed state.
So, yeah... you get the idea.
Encountering those four Zinogres today out in the hunting grounds? Totally on purpose.
No one really knew what had happened to that former Zinogre pack leader from back then, but lately, the creatures had become active again—restless, disorganized, wandering around in scattered groups of three or five, aimless and frequently getting into fights with other monsters.
Logan suspected that the old leader hadn’t survived whatever challenge it had faced—likely dead and gone.
Without a leader and with no new one rising quickly to take its place, the Zinogres had scattered, driven from their territories and now roaming the Ancient Forest in search of new ones.
This sudden shift had once again disrupted the balance of the Ancient Tree region.
So, when Logan and Aki spotted the four Zinogres mid-hunt during their own outing, Logan didn’t hesitate. He led Aki in a dive straight into the middle of their hunt—deliberately starting a brutal, one-sided battle.
The long roar that followed sent shockwaves through the forest. Flocks of small flying birds burst from the canopy, fleeing into the distance in a flurry of wings and alarm.
Once she had vented, Aki visibly relaxed. She made her way over to Logan and nuzzled his neck affectionately, then trotted off in little steps to taste the spoils they’d claimed.
Logan let out a silent sigh of relief. Good—she’d gotten it out of her system. Otherwise, with how clingy Aki had been lately, that nuzzle might’ve lasted half the day—at least until she’d calmed herself down on her own.
It wasn’t that Aki had entered mating season and lost control. Rathians, being intelligent creatures, had no problem managing themselves.
The real issue was that she and Logan, childhood companions in every sense, had already long been living like a mated pair. Now, with Aki reaching adulthood, she was struggling to adjust to the shift—and her impatience had started bubbling to the surface. Intimate gestures were her only outlet to ease the discomfort.
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