Great Battle Against the Female Fire Dragon!

In the real world, so-called veteran monsters not only use their stronger bodies and special abilities to attack, but they have also mastered something that can be called skill, gained from the experience of surviving countless battles.

Being able to summarize experiences in time and apply them to the next instance is itself a manifestation of wisdom.

Furthermore, veteran monsters often possess new attack patterns, their attacks are swifter and more fluid than ordinary individuals, and they expose fewer openings when attacking.

The emergence of veteran monsters requires not only that they endure countless difficult battles and survive by luck, but also sufficient Life Energy, because only then can they heal after multiple injuries, thereby making their bodies tougher.

And in the New World, there is no shortage of Life Energy.

This means there are far more veteran monsters here than in the Old World—it truly is a place fraught with danger.

As the pride of the Flying Dragon Species and an indispensable part of every installment, the Female Fire Dragon has a standard bipedal dragon frame with wings; its forelimbs have completely evolved into wings, with a wing claw at the tip of each wing, and a row of sharp spines protruding from its sides.

Such spines cover almost the entire body of this Female Fire Dragon, from head to back, and from back to tail—especially at the tip of the tail, where the spines are particularly numerous and even venomous.

It also has a prominent spine in front of its jaw, which allows it to feed crushed food to its young.

However, many of these spines are now broken. The extent of their breakage and wear indicates it wasn't the result of just one or two battles. Large and small scars cover most of the visible areas on the Female Fire Dragon's front, especially its head, where a long scar runs across its eye.

It's covered in scars, which is why Xingyan could immediately identify this Female Fire Dragon as a veteran monster.

He suspected that the scar on the Female Fire Dragon's eye might have been left by a Dragon Slayer, because the wound was too clean, and long and thin—ordinary dragon claws or mouths couldn't inflict such a wound.

Uh, well, there's actually another piece of evidence: upon seeing him, the Female Fire Dragon immediately appeared full of rage, and Xingyan was certain he had never met it before... Besides, its reaction to the Dragon Slayer's sword-swinging motion was far too practiced.

It's a tricky opponent.

Xingyan calmed himself and waited. His opponent, as a dragon, clearly had more combat experience than him. Rushing in rashly would likely lead to a miserable death.

His advantage, compared to an ordinary young Dragon Slayer, was that he already knew the Female Fire Dragon's common attack methods and related intelligence well.

Compared to the Rathalos, although the Female Fire Dragon can fly, it is more like a ground-dwelling dragon species. Not only can it not fly for extended periods like the Rathalos, but it has also developed a pair of strong hind legs from its habit of staying on the ground.

In order to hunt on the ground, the Female Fire Dragon even evolved a set of green scales.

Compared to the Rathalos, the Female Fire Dragon's poison glands are more developed. Both its back and tail can secrete venom, which is then expelled through those dorsal and tail spines—the spines are hollow, like syringes, capable of injecting venom directly into the prey.

In the upcoming battle, he absolutely cannot be hit by this thing.

After all, even without the venom, the Female Fire Dragon's tail is like a spiky mace; being hit by it would definitely not feel good.

He doesn't plan to escape, at least not yet.

For his dream of flying, Xingyan will eventually have to confront the Fire Dragon family—because there are simply too many of them in the New World, and they are the overlords of the Ancient Forest region.

Many of them, many wings, so let's do this.

The Female Fire Dragons that come to the Great Sand Sea are even the losers from the competition for the Rathalos's mate in the Ancient Forest. Thus, they are forced to live alone in the nearby Great Sand Sea to build nests and raise their young.

This means they lack a companion Rathalos to guard and protect their nests. Once they leave the nest to hunt, their nests lose their protection, which is why egg thieves like the Kulu-Ya-Ku can easily succeed.

Honestly, when he thought of this, Xingyan felt that the Ancient Forest area might be a bit too much of a battle royale, where even veteran Female Fire Dragons that were evolving towards becoming Gold Fire Dragons were losers in the competition?

Terrifying.

The young Dragon Slayer was momentarily filled with terrifying fantasies about the Ancient Forest region.

Unexpectedly patient, upon sensing Xingyan's inaction, this Female Fire Dragon also suppressed its anger at its egg being stolen and waited patiently, choosing not to attack in its rage.

Xingyan thought the Female Fire Dragon was a tricky opponent, but in reality, from the Female Fire Dragon's perspective, Xingyan was also not an easy foe.

Its heavy Sword Tail, shimmering with metallic luster in the sunlight, was a mix of red and blue. Its thick armor made the entire dragon look very imposing.

The situation became a stalemate for a moment.

But it didn't matter; Xingyan had plenty of ways.

"Roar!" (Throw the egg over!)

Perhaps because they had lived together for so long, despite the inter-species communication, the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers accurately understood Xingyan's intention. It didn't run far, hiding behind a rock on the inner side of the canyon.

Upon hearing Xingyan's call, the Kulu-Ya-Ku brother, without any reluctance, directly threw the egg in its possession towards Xingyan.

Instantly, the Female Fire Dragon moved.

It leaped down from the high cliff, but its target was not its egg, but Xingyan—it suddenly spun vertically in mid-air, and within the inner side of the canyon, the Female Fire Dragon slammed its spiny tail towards Xingyan's body!

The force was so great that it created a whistling sound in the air.

CRASH!!!

"Ee-yah!!!"

"Roar!!!"

Two roars sounded almost simultaneously. One was a high-frequency vibrating shriek, sharp and filled with anger—this was the Female Fire Dragon's cry.

The other roar was deep, carrying not only anger but also pain—this was Xingyan's roar.

He was injured.

In a sense, the real world is also a turn-based game; you can only make one choice in a given unit of time, a binary choice.

When the Kulu-Ya-Ku brother threw the egg, Xingyan's choice was to attack the space between the Female Fire Dragon and the egg, twist his hips, gather strength, and swing his heavy iron tail forward of the egg.

But Xingyan never expected that a breeding-season Female Fire Dragon, one that should have been influenced by the maternal and reproductive instincts of this stage, would, at such a critical moment, watch its egg being thrown out, flying through the air, and destined to be smashed to pieces if it hit the ground.

The wrong choice was made.

The Female Fire Dragon, in that split second of lightning and fire, didn't choose to protect her Dragon Egg at all. Instead, she seized the opportunity to attack Xingyan!!

Sharp spines, driven by immense force, pierced Xingyan's carapace, staggering him to the side. Simultaneously, a deep purple venom was injected into his flesh.

His breathing grew heavy. Xingyan hastily turned his head and bit at the Female Fire Dragon. Her gaping maw indeed clamped down on the membranous wing of the Female Fire Dragon's right wing—honestly, the feeling of biting down felt almost unreal, because logically, he shouldn't have been able to bite her at this moment.

Even Xingyan himself was puzzled. With the Female Fire Dragon's combat experience, she should have retreated the instant she hit him, whether by flying upwards or returning to the cliff.

But—

These deadly choices and struggles all happened in an instant. Some accounts are long, others short. In reality, from the perspective of the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers, the two dragons simply crossed paths and then separated again in the blink of an eye.

The Female Fire Dragon was injured.

Unexpectedly injured. The Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers hadn't even understood how the Female Fire Dragon got hurt.

It wasn't Xingyan's desperate counter-bite after being hit, but she was injured the moment she attacked his offspring.

Enduring the pain of the venom entering his body, Xingyan forcefully suppressed the sensation. He quickly adjusted his position to prepare for the Female Fire Dragon's next attack—but he didn't expect that when he finally had the energy to observe the Female Fire Dragon, he found her looking quite miserable.

Besides the bite Xingyan had just taken, the wing membrane of the Female Fire Dragon's wing had several more holes, large and small, letting the air through. Three or four blue-green objects were stuck in the scales on her chest. But the worst was her right eye, which was tightly shut and still oozing a translucent liquid mixed with dragon blood.

Is she... blind?!

Xingyan stared in bewildered surprise at the Female Fire Dragon, who was roaring in pain.

Why?

He hadn't made any significant counterattack just now.

What happened?

And those blue-green things... why did they look so much like the mineral secretions that covered his own carapace?

With a slightly delayed realization, Xingyan turned his head to look at the spot where the Female Fire Dragon had hit him—his carapace there was already shattered. And it wasn't just the outermost Air Sac Carapace that was broken, but even the innermost carapace, revealing a small patch of flesh.

It was a truly small patch, not even as much damage as when Xingyan tore off his own carapace to make armor for the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers. The intense pain he was feeling now wasn't due to excessive physical damage, but because of the toxins the Female Fire Dragon had injected into him through that tiny wound.

There were even a few broken spines stuck there. Dark purple venom dripped subtly from the broken edges, and the muscle in that area was stained a deep purple, indicative of poisoning.

But that wasn't the point. The point was his carapace—those Air Sac Carapaces—they were shattered too. And those things stuck in the Female Fire Dragon, no matter how you looked at them, were the things that had previously covered his Air Sac Carapace, as well as the Air Sac Carapace itself.

His mind raced, recalling the events. What had just happened wasn't easily forgotten. Xingyan finally remembered that in the instant the two dragons clashed, besides their roars, there had been an almost simultaneous explosion.

It seemed these Air Sac Carapaces had a function he didn't know about?

Interesting, but none of that matters now. What matters is that this Female Fire Dragon is already injured, even blind in one eye, and her wing membrane, used for flight, has holes.

"I have a chance."

"I can kill her!"

He thought silently, staring intently at the Female Fire Dragon. Xingyan extended his Sword Tail behind him, holding it diagonally before his eyes. The scorching magma stored in his Flame Sac erupted as a breath. Soon, the greatsword Xingyan had meticulously forged was burning red-hot, a bright, golden hue.

Just looking at it conveyed intense heat.

Red-hot Transformation.

Xingyan didn't particularly like using this move. Even though the Dragon Slayer's attack power would reach its peak when the tail blade was red-hot, it was also at this stage that the Dragon Slayer's tail would become more fragile, making it easier to sever.

Xingyan didn't want his tail severed, so this was the first time he had used this move since his birth.

The opponent before him couldn't be defeated by holding back, even if the Female Fire Dragon looked utterly miserable and blind in one eye. After all, veteran monsters could turn the impossible into the possible.

The Female Fire Dragon had already taught him a lesson, showing him what a veteran monster was, and what the intelligence of an apex predator looked like.

Indeed, unlike the Mudfish Dragon or the Sleepy Floater Dragon, which had a little intelligence but not much, the Female Fire Dragon possessed higher intelligence. She could even defy her instincts, make choices, see through his intentions, and seize the opportunity to attack.

"Gyaaaa!!!"

The Female Fire Dragon roared again. She finally regained her senses from the pain in her body and fixed her hateful gaze on Xingyan.

Her egg had already been shattered. Now, all she wanted was to avenge her offspring.

Whoosh—BOOM!!!

Without any tell-tale signs, the Female Fire Dragon instantly spat a fireball at Xingyan!

The scorching fireball streaked through the air, but faster than its explosion was a crimson flash!

It even sliced through the air. The fireball spat by the Female Fire Dragon was directly cut in half. And amidst its subsequent explosion, slicing through the mid-air was the Dragon Slayer's scorching Sword Tail!!

Slash!!!

A mere fireball breath? Xingyan shattered it with brute force!

And with his deliberate aim, this swing was directed at the Female Fire Dragon, who had fallen onto the cliff face!

This Female Fire Dragon indeed had ample experience fighting the Dragon Slayer. The moment she spat the fireball, she had already leaped back and flapped her wings to fly back into the sky, thus dodging Xingyan's swing.