Bear School Astartes

The Extinct Dragon plunged from high above, using itself as a projectile weapon, a move Lann and Wende had experienced the first time they encountered it.

But this time, it’s unclear if the Extinct Dragon has become even stronger.

It fell from a significantly greater height! Thus, its power was on a completely different level!

After being shattered, huge clouds of dust, squeezed out from the rock cracks, almost instantly filled the entire arena!

The fracturing of the rock still hadn’t completely dissipated the impact, and the violent energy continued to reverberate within the earth’s layers, directly causing a small-scale earthquake!

Amid the rumbling of rocks cracking and moving, everything seemed to be shaking.

No one could hope to stand firm here.

Lann managed alright; upon sensing the familiar roar accompanying the pressure, he immediately crouched down and used the dragon scale-studded gloves from the Smaug armor to dig into a small ground fissure to anchor himself.

With Lann’s current strength and the hardness of his armor, he easily widened the small rock crack to accommodate his fingers.

The stable center of gravity and leverage point prevented Lann from being thrown into the air like a Rong Buqiu.

Nor did he make any noise.

But on the other side of the arena...

Wende reacted quickly as well.

As the sound of the Extinct Dragon’s rapid descent whooshed overhead, his exceptional experience and insight allowed him to predict what would happen next.

But he didn’t have the chance to perform the same actions as Lann.

Because his hands had been tightly gripping the activation lever of the Dragon Spear.

If he used the activation lever as a fulcrum to stabilize himself, there’s a high chance the Dragon Spear would directly fire!

When two Ancient Dragons face off, if other creatures present don’t act, it might be possible to watch an Ancient Dragon-level territorial battle.

Not to mention, the Flame King Dragon hadn’t even noticed they were present until now.

But if the Dragon Spear fires...it’s uncertain whether the Ancient Dragons will fight each other first or kill off the small fry threatening them.

So Wende immediately overcame his instinctive reaction and released his grip on the activation lever amidst the intense tremors.

This resulted in him being shaken into the air with the impact of the Extinct Dragon hitting the ground.

Only after the massive commotion of the Extinct Dragon hitting the ground subsided did he barely manage to stabilize himself.

Yet throughout this process, the sound of his armor colliding with rock was still heard.

Compared to the clash between rocks, this distinctive sound was enough to be detected by the Ancient Dragons amidst the chaos.

"Hoo~"

A strong gust of wind suddenly blew away the expanding dust cloud.

After flapping its wings before slightly retracting them onto its back, the Flame King Dragon no longer exhibited the laziness and relaxation it had while eating gunpowder.

Like an imposing lion, its blue eyes swept over the Extinct Dragon embedded in the pit before it, as well as the hunters exposed on the surrounding platforms.

It still regarded the Extinct Dragon as the highest threat level, compared to if Wende had directly pulled the Dragon Spear’s activation lever, driving the Dragon Spear into the two Ancient Dragons.

This was already considered an ideal situation.

Since their position was exposed, Wende simply stood up and no longer suppressed the aura from his Fog Nest Master armor.

Suddenly, a pressure bordering on madness emanated from a human.

"It really has gotten stronger."

With Wende stepping out to draw attention, Lann glanced at the Extinct Dragon climbing out of the pit it had created.

This Ancient Dragon, a melee-combat-maniac type, was much like when they first met.

Covered in spines, with tough black outer skin, and orange-yellow inner chest and belly.

But it’s different now.

"Boom~"

Pulling its body out of the shattered pit, the Extinct Dragon’s yellowish eyes locked onto the blue eyes of the Flame King Dragon.

The entirety of this Ancient Dragon was now black, with spikes that had a metallic, crystalline texture.

Not a single white spike remained on its body from before.

The external changes seemed to reflect the Extinct Dragon’s power growth.

Previously, when it fell from a great height onto the back of the Molten Mountain Dragon, its bones fractured by at least one-fourth.

Then it regenerated completely in less than a minute and fought against Lann, Wende, and Aiden.

But now, after falling from an even greater height, it could freely move and extract itself from the ground in the brief moment before the dust even settled.

Its self-regeneration efficiency and physical toughness...were of a completely different caliber.

"Let’s also act quickly, meow!"

Rong Buqiu, witnessing an Ancient Dragon fight for the first time, squeezed beside Lann and urged him softly.

Wende was diverting attention with the aura from his Fog Nest Master armor, cautiously shifting positions like pacing.

Moving himself away from the Dragon Spear’s activation lever.

Though Ancient Dragons possess intelligence beyond the human average, they had never seen an activation lever, nor the mechanical device linked below it.

Of course, they wouldn’t consider this as anything threatening, being just the size of a human leg and merely a wooden pole stuck in the ground, so they naturally wouldn’t pay it any mind.

In the sunken terrain at the center of the arena, the Flame King Dragon cautiously shuffled its steps.

Meanwhile, emitting a series of low roars filled with menace and intimidation.

Clusters of sparks drifted out from the corners of its mouth.

And its body, with fiery red mane, dark red scale armor, and wing membranes, flames intermittently erupted and clung to it.

The Flame King Dragon in battle mode made the entire arena even hotter.

But the Extinct Dragon clearly didn’t care.

Its ferocious, sharp claws scraped the ground, and its spines, now entirely black, easily carved cracks in the rocky surface.

The spines, wildly growing and tangled, awkwardly locked against each other due to the Extinct Dragon’s own joint-twisting movements, producing a sharp, ear-piercing sound like metal grinding against metal.

And in the eyes of the Extinct Dragon, there was only the Flame King Dragon.

It wanted to consume it.

Appetite is indeed the most deep-rooted desire in living beings.

If the Extinct Dragon were not an Ancient Dragon, possessing the energy coordinator "Ancient Dragon Jade," its appetite might torture it into a mental state akin to a Terror Tyrannosaurus.

But it is an Ancient Dragon and an Ancient Dragon Slayer that feeds on Ancient Dragons. Hence, its appetite contains less madness, but more majesty and brutality.

Through the aura emitted by his armor, Wende is temporarily ignored by the Extinct Dragon, including the quantity of his flesh.

So, merely half a minute after descending straight down from high altitude.

A suppressed low growl leaked from the Extinct Dragon’s mouth long ago.

Then its claw swiftly lifted from the ground, swinging horizontally towards the Flame King Dragon’s face.

As if intending to use the claw along with the spines on its forearm to crush the Flame King Dragon’s head!

But despite lazily indulging in the Investigation Team’s gunpowder for days, the Flame King Dragon is still an Ancient Dragon.

It nimbly leaned back its neck as the Extinct Dragon’s claw grazed past its lush red mane.

Leaving only tufts of grabbed fiery red loose hair in the air.

And the Flame King Dragon, with its neck leaned back, was releasing not just sparks but substantial flames from its mouth!

After finishing the head tilt, in the instant of descending again.

"Whoosh!"

Surging flames swept like a tidal wave toward the Extinct Dragon, already close in front.

The Flame King Dragon’s flames, unlike Smaug’s, possess no extraordinarily strong physical impact.

The characteristics of its flames mainly lie in super-high heat; in terms of impact, it was merely hundreds of kilograms of force generated by expanding the air with temperature.

At such close range, there’s no chance for the Extinct Dragon to dodge the spreading flames.

Leaving aside the spines, darkened to a metallic, crystalline texture, the skin and flesh of the Extinct Dragon instantly charred in these high-temperature flames!

Skin, flesh, oil... emitted the sound of hardening and cracking when charred, along with the aroma of protein.

Mass from the Extinct Dragon’s body rapidly turned to black smoke carried away by the flames.

Yet the Extinct Dragon never intended to dodge!

"Awo!!!"

With one fore claw pressing against its half-open wings, the Extinct Dragon charged headlong through the Flame King Dragon’s flames!

In those dim yellow reptilian eyes, there was no pain from being burned, nor fear of the flames.

Only the fierce desire to kill the Ancient Dragon before it and eat it!

"Boom!"

The collision of flame and wing membrane even erupted in a burst of roaring sound!

Given the already short distance, pushing forward one step further brought the Flame King Dragon within the Extinct Dragon’s attack range.

’Flapping’ with a sound, the Extinct Dragon, using its fore claw against its half-wings, pushed forward forcefully!

The wings, basically roasted by the Flame King Dragon’s flames, immediately emitted a ’crackling’ sound of scorched skin breaking.

Beneath the burned skin, exposed muscles still clung with blood strands.

This wing has lost its strength, but under the Extinct Dragon’s claw thrust, it still struck the Flame King Dragon’s face fiercely!

"Roar!"

The fiery lion’s breath was forcibly interrupted, instinctively issuing an enraged roar.

And on the Extinct Dragon’s wing, the layer of skin burned into carbonized remnants restored again in just a few breaths.

After the previous wing strike on the Flame King Dragon’s face, the spines on the outside of the wing left deep claw marks on its face and neck.

After all, the Extinct Dragon is a special Ancient Dragon that preys on Ancient Dragons.

It possesses far more combat experience and much stronger physical qualities than regular Ancient Dragon Species.

Abandoning the ability to manipulate natural energy and alter natural environments, it reaped combat strength for this body.

Naturally stronger than the Flame King Dragon that has slacked during this period.