Monster Hunter: This Dragon's Built Different

Chapter 497: The Utterly Rational Safi’jiiva, On Guard

At this moment, the canyon was not covered in magma as the Research Commission had speculated. In terms of destructive power, Desolate Land indeed far surpassed Sunlight in its damage to the ecosystem—after all, it was a Trait powerful enough to completely expel even the water-element energy from the air.

However, at the same time, Logan’s control over this Trait was far superior to Sunlight. After his body’s energy structure had been reshaped by the world, its compatibility with Desolate Land had reached a terrifying degree. Thus, within the Secluded Valley, although flames surged skyward and flickered everywhere—burning in intermittent bursts of light and shadow—the damage to the ground was not that severe. At most, there were patches of charring and areas of crystallization.

Within the firelight, two enormous masses of red and blue radiance clashed in a frenzied struggle. Each collision generated energy fluctuations that far exceeded biological limits, and the escaping ripples even carved a long wave of fiery heat through the air.

The sheer spectacle alone already rivaled the ultimate attacks of certain "ordinary Elder Dragons."

Not to mention that this was the commotion produced while two fantastical organisms were compressing their energy—reducing external leakage in order to make their attacks more penetrative and aggressive.

The foundational layer of the Terastal field successfully linked with the Everstream, lowering Logan’s energy expenditure in sustaining the Terastal field. At the same time, from within what should have been a depleted Everstream, a trace of energy surged up from deeper beneath the earth, allowing the Everstream to temporarily restore a measure of its energy supply.

This energy, originating from the earth’s core, traveled along the Everstream into the Terastal field, where it was rapidly converted into new Terastal energy required by Logan, and then fed back into his body.

The amount replenished was not large, yet it was just enough to cover Logan’s combat consumption. Thus, even though the energy reserves within his body were only at half capacity, he forcefully maintained the bearing of being at full power.

By contrast, having lost the life force replenishment from the Everstream, Safi’jiiva was steadily weakened in such a battle. As one side waxed and the other waned, the balance of the fight increasingly tilted toward Logan.

Another Precipice Blades—but although Safi’jiiva’s genes held no information on how to deal with a lifeform like Logan, as the battle dragged on, he finally relied on the powerful computational ability of his brain to figure out Logan’s fighting style. For the moves Logan used most often in combat, he had also developed corresponding countermeasures.

They were not perfect counters by any means, but at the very least, attacks including Logan’s Precipice Blades could no longer inflict the same level of damage as at the beginning.

Something like an energy barrier blocked the first wave of Precipice Blades’ impact. While Safi’jiiva adjusted his position, it also bought him enough time to set up an opposing energy surge, using it to reduce the damage from Precipice Blades’ energy burst in its final stage.

Seeing that Precipice Blades merely pierced through the opponent’s wing—causing only a brief tearing of the membrane—and failed to achieve the expected effect, Logan did not feel any regret. Instead, he took advantage of the moment when the other side’s wing was torn, and while it was still struggling to adjust its positioning in midair—briefly distracted—

The entire dragon pushed his speed to the limit, making a super leap that shot him to Safi’jiiva’s side.

Dazzling Terastal energy flickered across the wing membrane. Extreme brilliance instantly turned the entire valley into a white world. Even with Safi’jiiva’s resistance, faced with a flash of this magnitude, he could not help but feel a wave of dizziness.

Logan, meanwhile, kept his eyes tightly shut. Relying on his initial calculations, he bit down—without vision—on a certain spot on Safi’jiiva’s neck. Under an exaggerated bite force, his sharp fangs instantly pierced through the opponent’s scales and sank brutally into flesh.

In an instant, searing, high-concentration bioenergy poured into his throat like sulfuric acid.

Accompanied by rapid swallowing, supported by the extremely active energy within his body and a digestion ability beyond that of living creatures, he quickly digested all of this liquid—indistinguishable as either blood or bioenergy.

Safi’jiiva’s scream rang out beside his ears. With his eyes closed, the world reflected by Mind’s Eye was incomparably "clear," letting him see Safi’jiiva’s panicked reaction under this sudden assault. His wing-claws precisely intercepted the opponent’s two forelimbs.

While grappling, he also greedily devoured Safi’jiiva’s flesh and blood.

Logan had never, for even a moment, been as beastlike as he was now!

Rip—!

Seeing that he could not break free by brute force, and feeling his energy-laden blood being crazily swallowed through the ruptured blood vessels—while the spot Logan had bitten happened to be his "vital point," so that twisting his neck could not let him bite back—

Safi’jiiva decisively made a mad decision!

He directly exerted force in the opposite direction with his neck, forcibly allowing Logan to tear off a large chunk of flesh. Then, with a single breath attack, he blasted Logan back, and the two dragons once again pulled apart to create distance.

Logan swallowed the chunk of flesh in his mouth that emitted a blue fluorescent glow. His charred wings rapidly healed under the effect of Regeneration. His scarlet eyes stared at Safi’jiiva, who was still spurting blood incessantly—his wound so deep that the bone in his neck was visible. In Logan’s gaze, there was nothing but desire and greed for the energy of flesh and blood.

Even the trachea had been damaged. Large amounts of blood sprayed outward like a massive water cannon. Such an injury, even for an "ordinary Elder Dragon," could be called fatal.

But for Safi’jiiva, this level of injury was still within acceptable limits—at least better than being drained alive by Logan.

At this moment, amid intense combat and under threat to his life, Safi’jiiva fully entered a state of energy activation. If, in his normal state, Safi’jiiva was closer to a biological organism, then now his lifeform was closer to the energy-body state of his Xeno’jiiva phase.

Regardless of energy expenditure, the gruesome wound on his neck rapidly stopped bleeding and began to heal. Although there was no time to fully refill the lost muscle, at the very least it no longer affected the subsequent battle.

Two resounding dragon roars rang out once more. After each used the brief interval to adjust their condition, they launched into a new round of combat.

However, during this renewed clash, Logan sensed a trace of something wrong—Safi’jiiva was too calm now.

So calm that he did not seem like a creature that had just suffered an almost permanently damaging wound. And in battle, he had reduced the frequency of his defenses, instead becoming more inclined to trade injury for injury with Logan.

This was not right.

Even though the emptiness of energy allowed his wildness to gain the upper hand, the rationality deep within Logan still made him wary.

The sun set, and the moon rose above the branches.

Yet within the Secluded Valley, it remained bright as day.

From an external vantage point alone, the two forbidden beings who had fought inside for an entire day still appeared to maintain their optimal state, each seemingly still at their peak.

But if one could withstand the absolute heat and the life energy dense enough to suffocate living beings, and observe at close range, one would discover—

Whether Safi’jiiva or Logan, both bore numerous wounds upon their bodies. And often, before those wounds could heal, new ones were added.

This battle had undoubtedly reached its most perilous stage.