The instant Chameleos turned invisible, Ya Ji took advantage of the Poison Mist not yet spreading and swiftly spat a fireball at it.
Unfortunately, the fireball had been launched too hastily, and Chameleos dodged it.
As the White Mist appeared once more, Luo Yun continuously observed Chameleos's movements through Mind's Eye while urging Ya Ji to leave quickly.
Unwilling to give up, Ya Ji spread her wings. The wind pressure slowed the spread of the Poison Mist, and she shot into the sky.
Flames covered Luo Yun's body once again. His blood congealed in the intense heat, turning to powder and falling away.
He beat his wings warily, lifting his body from the ground to hover at low altitude.
That explosion earlier had truly been a pity. At the final moment, Chameleos had judged the point of impact. At that speed, Luo Yun had no time to adjust his direction again and could only crash down headfirst.
As a result, Chameleos had successfully escaped the center of the blast and had not taken the full force of the attack. Otherwise, its injuries would have been far more than mere surface wounds.
Chameleos constantly shifted positions within the mist, but at this distance, every one of its movements was clearly perceived by Luo Yun.
The flames accumulated through Fire Attraction had nearly been exhausted by that strike. What Luo Yun needed to do now was increase the destruction of the surrounding environment, lure Chameleos into attacking on its own, and create the illusion that they were locked in a bitter battle.
Thus, after nimbly dodging the probing venom Chameleos spat out, Luo Yun quickly circled around it. As though blindly feeling his way around, he would occasionally breathe fire toward Chameleos's surroundings or knock over smaller trees with a charge.
This unusual behavior left Chameleos somewhat confused, though it also made it more vigilant in secret.
At one moment, Luo Yun seemed to have a problem while turning. Chameleos sharply seized that instant, spreading its wings as the dense fog around it instantly thinned considerably.
At that same moment, Luo Yun received a warning from Mind's Eye, followed by a bone-chilling sensation.
He was currently turning in midair. It was already too late to climb or descend.
In his desperation, Luo Yun directly folded one wing. His body's balance was instantly broken, his turning angle shifted violently, and his entire dragon body tumbled down in an erratic fall.
This abnormal evasive maneuver, made in advance, forcibly altered Luo Yun's trajectory and caused the stream of green toxic breath to miss.
The breath pierced through the forest opposite him. Trees whose trunks had once been thick and sturdy were directly corroded through the middle, leaving hollow channels that emitted waves of bizarre white smoke reeking of decay.
Luo Yun crashed down like an out-of-control airplane. After rolling across the ground and smashing several pits into it, he skidded onward, dragging out a long trail before a tree finally stopped him.
The tree was ignited by the flames on Luo Yun's body. Enduring the intense pain throughout his body, he opened his eyes and looked toward Chameleos. Before he could fully stand, Chameleos extended its long tongue like a nimble whip and lashed it toward him.
At that moment, Chameleos's tongue whipped at incredible speed. Amid sharp cracking sounds, layer after layer of afterimages interwove into a vast net that completely covered Luo Yun.
A scene that looked as though it belonged only in anime or video games had actually appeared in reality!
"I can't dodge it!"
The tongue-whip was too fast, and its attacks came too densely. Even with the enhancement of Speed Boost, Luo Yun had not yet fully regained his footing and had no way to evade!
With no other choice, Luo Yun could only rely on Mind's Eye and protect the vulnerable parts of his body as best he could, using his spikes, the protruding parts of his scales, and the hard exoskeleton along his back to meet the blows head-on.
The surrounding trees and rocks were all caught in the tongue-whip's range, some shattered and some split apart.
Every strike that landed on his body inflicted a searing pain on Luo Yun, like torture!
Spikes snapped, scales shattered, and his exoskeleton cracked.
In the past five years, Luo Yun had never suffered such grave injuries!
But all of this was worth it!!
Knowing some of Chameleos's attack methods, Luo Yun had included this tongue-whip in his calculations. What exceeded his expectations was that Chameleos's tongue-whip displayed far greater combat power in reality than it had in the game.
It further worsened his injuries.
Although he had achieved his objective, his injuries were more severe than he had anticipated!
However, Chameleos was not having an easy time either. Its tongue was covered in flames that could not easily be extinguished!
The intense burning made its tongue ache unbearably.
The tongue-whip could no longer be maintained.
It continuously rubbed its tongue against nearby branches, dragging it across the ground and leaving trail after trail behind.
Yet the damned flames simply refused to go out!
It did not even dare recklessly retract its tongue, fearing that it would injure the inside of its body.
Chameleos had never seen such troublesome, sticky flames. Its tongue was both a weapon and one of its weaknesses!
Even though an Elder Dragon possessed formidable vitality, this kind of sustained damage was not fatal, but it was agonizing!
For a time, Chameleos could no longer spare any attention for Luo Yun and began searching everywhere for a water source.
Without its deliberate control, the Poison Mist began to thin.
According to the original plan, Luo Yun should have endured his injuries and pursued Chameleos further, creating an even greater commotion.
But his injuries had exceeded expectations and could no longer support the plan.
Luo Yun watched Chameleos's retreating figure, no longer concealed, and felt deeply unwilling, yet helpless.
Boom!
Boom! Boom!
Fireballs exploded around Chameleos one after another. Eager to leave, Chameleos had no choice but to dodge the fireballs raining down from the sky.
The flames still burning on its tongue meant that even if it turned invisible, it could not hide its whereabouts. Within the gradually thinning White Mist, it stood out conspicuously.
Luo Yun looked up. Through the White Mist, he could see Rathalos after Rathalos circling overhead. They took turns gathering flames and breathing them down at Chameleos.
These were the Rathalos that lived around the Ancient Tree!
They had not followed that Black Flame Dragon away. Instead, after hearing the disturbance, they had rushed over at once.
Without the Poison Mist to conceal it, Chameleos, with its body exposed, no longer held such overwhelming deterrence over these kings of the sky.
Especially when they saw Chameleos looking as miserable as an ordinary monster, desperately trying to extinguish the flames on its tongue, their fear of this Elder Dragon dropped again and again.
In the end, led by Ya Ji, the Rathalos that had long been tormented by that oppressive feeling finally rebounded after hitting rock bottom.
They transformed their fear into rage and took the initiative to attack Chameleos.
Even ordinary monsters possessed the courage to attack higher-ranking creatures!
The Brachydios from the plan never appeared. Instead, the Rathalos tribe, which Luo Yun had never included in his plans, produced an unexpected effect.
Especially those Veteran Fire Dragons. Once they had a clear target, their flames became Chameleos's greatest threat!
Before you continue