That's right!
As the very source of the Frenzy Virus, the Gore Magala itself could also enter a Frenzied state. The difference was that its Frenzy was controllable, while for other creatures it was not.
The antennae on its head shifted from black to purple, rising upright like normal dragon horns, and its perception spiked sharply.
Its wings forced open despite the pain, scattering vast amounts of Frenzy-laced scale dust, which billowed outward as thick purple mists.
Once Frenzied, its overall strength surged dramatically, enough to elevate its ecological rank by an entire level!
But unfortunately—
It was still only a juvenile that had shed its skin once. Even after its boost, its strength barely reached the police-force class.
If it were one of those Gore Magala that had shed five or six times and reached maturity, then upon entering Frenzy it could wield the destructive power and threat level of a standard Elder Dragon, at least for a short while.
What's more, it was already badly wounded.
Logan didn't even need to give the order.
The male Fire Wyverns immediately took to the skies.
The females remained grounded, beginning to charge up.
"Not good, run!"
The Admiral, seeing this formation, bellowed at once. With one hand he scooped up the bewildered Tonkotsu, sprinting back at full speed. Falcon, sensing the danger as well, leapt onto his Canyne and followed without a glance behind.
"Awoo!!"
A long, piercing howl resounded. Fire-elemental energy in the air spiked, the temperature soaring in an instant, as though this forest had become a drought-scorched wasteland.
Dozens of male Fire Wyverns unleashed their charged breaths, pouring them down without a single blind spot toward the Gore Magala.
On the ground, the female Fire Wyverns spewed explosive fireballs like there was no tomorrow.
The entire forest turned into a boundless sea of fire.
Those towering Ancient Trees that had barely withstood earlier blasts now crumbled from their roots, their branches reduced to ash in the flames.
One colossal trunk snapped with a thunderous crack. Before it even hit the ground, it silently disintegrated within the inferno.
A heatwave roared skyward from the flames, even staining the clouds above crimson.
After diving away, the Admiral crouched low, shield raised, covering the man, cat, and dog huddled behind him.
With over a hundred Fire Wyverns flooding the area with flame, not even he could hope to survive—not against all-directional breaths. He could block the front, but never the rear.
Logan hovered in the air, wings spread wide. The chaotic currents born of the raging blaze beneath were smoothed away with ease, not hindering his flight in the slightest.
His sharp gaze, brimming with killing intent, locked firmly onto the Gore Magala at the center of the flames. Even Frenzied, it desperately stoked its scale dust, clawing for the faintest chance at survival.
Without a shred of hesitation, Logan's body ignited, and he dove headlong into the fiery "ocean."
In an instant—
The sea of fire seemed drawn in, forming a massive vortex centered on Logan and the Gore Magala.
The turbulent winds, like lambs subdued, spun obediently with the whirling motion.
The vortex grew ever fiercer, and in moments, a tornado of fire surged upward, as though piercing through heaven and earth.
Within the blaze, a silver-white sun suddenly burst into view.
The gleaming scales reflected dazzling light. The tornado of fire seemed like a pathway crafted solely for him, absorbed completely into his vast wingspan.
After two years, Logan once again entered the "Sunlight" state.
But unlike the pitiful five minutes from before, this time his Sunlight state carried a countdown suffix—24 full hours!
Menacing barbed spikes glinted coldly. Compared to his past form, not only had his wings grown larger, his spikes more numerous, and his physique more robust and perfected, but even the corners of his cheeks and mouth had sprouted two short, metallic, silver-white spines.
Through Mind's Eye, Logan carefully observed the Gore Magala below. Its body, nearly roasted through, still clung faintly to life. Left alone, it would likely perish completely within mere seconds.
But—
This was the Gore Magala!
A juvenile of a monster that symbolized "virus" itself. Logan could not guarantee whether its corpse might also spread the Frenzy Virus. Out of caution, he decided to be thorough.
He drew in a deep breath. Blue-violet flames began to gather, his chest to throat glowing bright red. This was heat surpassing the vast majority of flames in existence, a scorching blaze that should never exist within a normal living being.
The Fire Wyverns all retreated. Even the aftershocks of such a flame were not something they dared test.
[Whoosh—]
Like a blowtorch, his charged breath shot downward as his wings beat furiously. By deliberately controlling the surrounding airflow into a circular current, he compressed the breath, both focusing the fire and increasing its power, while at the same time limiting collateral damage to the environment.
The breath struck the Gore Magala's body dead-on. The Fire Wyverns could only watch as its form warped and collapsed under the concentrated blaze.
The spread of heat and fire across the ground was contained within a tight range, yet the extreme temperature still ignited the already withered vegetation around.
From a distance, the Admiral gazed at Logan's figure, comparing it to the image of the Silver Rathalos once etched into his memory. At last, he reached a conclusion.
"Fire Wyvern Boss—and you still claim you're not an Elder Dragon!!"
Falcon, meanwhile, stared blankly at the silhouette fanning its wings, spewing out blue-violet breath. Those silver-white scales, like the most resplendent treasures in the world, shone brilliantly under sunlight and firelight, radiant and sacred.
"So beautiful… Is this the unknown Elder Dragon capable of ruling over the Fire Wyvern swarm?"
This beauty was not merely that of beholding something visually magnificent—it was the beauty born of nature's strange ecology, and the beauty that came from dominance of ecological rank and sheer might.
At this moment, Falcon finally understood the mindset of those who madly pursued Elder Dragons, who worshipped them as gods, even building temples in their honor.
He admitted it—at this moment, he was utterly awed by the figure Logan displayed.
"If only… if only I could have a single scale, or anything at all—then this life… would be without regret."
Tonkotsu twitched his nose, staring curiously at the dazed Falcon. It was as if he smelled one of his own kind. But why?
That breath lasted a full half a minute, until even Logan's throat ached from the strain, before finally ceasing.
The ground where the Gore Magala had been was now a bubbling, molten pool of magma. The charred, fragile remains of its body bobbed up and down on the surface.
Logan couldn't help but marvel at the Gore Magala's resilience. To this degree, and yet its form still faintly resembled a dragon's. He had thought it would be reduced to ash outright.
It seemed his flames still weren't hot enough.
Yet with that one breath, the gloom that had weighed on him for days was completely dispelled.
He spread his wings, basking in the sunlight in this state.
The air temperature in the area began to fall, stabilizing at about 38 °C.
Ever since his body had fully matured and the duration of Sunlight extended to twenty-four hours, he had discovered he could exert some control over the trait, adjusting the temperature within the range of his radiance.
At full release, he could drive the temperature in the affected region up to 60 °C. At such heat, neither animals nor plants could endure for long.
This was the natural-disaster aspect of the trait.
But when fully suppressed, he could maintain it at around 35 °C—an ideal temperature for the mid-layer vegetation of the Ancient Forest. It also raised the lower, shadowed layers of the forest just enough to suit the growth of mushrooms.
This was the natural aspect of the trait.
Thus, once Logan awakened the Sunlight trait, whether he became a disaster or a force of nature depended solely on his will.
In the sky above, with the sudden heat ebbing away, dark clouds began to gather, rolling thunder echoing across the heavens.
Logan glanced at the Fire Wyverns roaring in excitement. With a thunderous roar of his own, he led the swarm. Maintaining this radiant form, he set out at the head of their mighty return.
The flames still burning across the region, and that roiling magma pool, would soon be quenched by the downpour to come.
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