Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 350 Late Night Delicacies
With all its might, the horned dragon strained its legs, enduring the relentless attacks of the three hunters, and broke free of the rocky platform, stepping into the loose yellow sand.

Ignoring the swords and spears slashing from behind, the horned dragon used its specialized claws, no longer suited for flight, and its two horns to dig rapidly into the sand. Its body sank quickly, and within a few breaths, its massive form almost completely disappeared from the ground, leaving behind large sand pits stained with blood from its severed tail.

Once it successfully dives underground, its speed of digging forward under the sand can be several times faster than it can run on the surface.

"Sorry, meow, the basement is already full!"

Without Lin Lin's reminder, Yezao, who was already prepared, threw a sonic boom grenade with all his might. Under Yezao's precise timing, the sonic boom grenade was completely detonated almost at the same time it landed on the sandpit. Only a small part of the high-frequency noise that burst out instantly dissipated through air conduction, while most of it was conducted into the ground in an instant.

Sound travels faster through solids than through gases, and the horned dragon, which had just burrowed underground, was completely buried in yellow sand. The sudden burst of noise was transmitted directly to the horned dragon's entire body, creating a 360-degree surround sound effect.

Unfortunately, in order to accurately determine the location of enemies even underground, the horned dinosaur evolved a highly developed hearing ability. In addition to serving as a shield, the folded crest on its head was used as an underground sound-collecting organ.

When its extremely sensitive hearing encountered the high-frequency, loud noise of surround sound, the horned dinosaur was suddenly stimulated, and its muscles tensed up, and its legs instinctively strained, trying to burrow out of the ground.

However, the injured leg hampered the horned dinosaur's movements. It had just unleashed its strength when the intense pain caused it to lose its strength and it did not burst out of the ground as usual. Instead, only the upper half of its body emerged, while the lower half remained buried under the yellow sand.

Dizzy and injured by the sonic boom, Diablos was too weak to get up again. Meanwhile, the three hunters had already surrounded the sand pit where it had dived, waiting for it to reappear before unleashing their prepared attack.

"Shut the hell up!"

"Kamui Iai!"

"Dragon Subduing!"

The horned dragon's vitality is truly tenacious; it is so tenacious that even after surviving a round of attacks from three people, it still has the strength to struggle and let out a wail.

Unfortunately, this tenacity had no real effect, only allowing it to endure the inhumane gang beating of the three hunters for a little longer... After another round of powerful attacks, the horned dragon finally breathed its last in despair and was never able to get up from the ground again.

To this, Lin Lin, a new rider, can only say: It seems so!
Daring to attack caravans multiple times, this was no ordinary horned dinosaur; it had to be dealt with severely! Now, this creature had finally ended its wicked life. It was said that its thigh meat and heart were rare and extremely expensive high-grade ingredients. Could it be that because it was a herbivore, it tasted particularly good? Lin Lin wasn't quite sure about this. He was a little tempted, but he resisted the urge. After all, these things could at least somewhat compensate for the economic losses suffered by the attacked caravan, right?
Well, of course, as for the materials on this guy, Lin Lin definitely wouldn't give them to them, since he still needed this guy to upgrade his Sand Armor Shield Axe.

"Ugh... I'm so tired..."

Brave plopped down on the horned dragon's corpse, looking on with a sigh.

This horned dragon was incredibly powerful, and with its heavy, hard horns, it was impossible to forcefully deflect its force like a roar. The best approach was to avoid its attacks. This fight had really exhausted him—of course, the main reason being that this was just a job, and without pay, there was no motivation.

"I said, why don't we just defeat this guy? We're going through all this trouble to kill him and we don't even get paid..."

Lin Lin took a deep breath. Although he wanted to start skinning the horned dragon right away, he was the most tired person after fighting the horned dragon for so long. After thinking about it, he sat on the horned dragon's head to rest for a while and then sharpen his knife to maintain his weapon.

"Watch your wording. This isn't an attack; it's self-defense. At most, we went a little too far and accidentally killed this guy—of course, this has absolutely nothing to do with me needing materials from the Diablos."

Bref glanced at Lin Lin, his lips twitching involuntarily. This guy really knows how to exploit loopholes.

Well, at least it wasn't a complete waste of time; it's good that the material from this guy can be put to use.

"Um... Brother Lin Lin?"

Ye Zi, holding her dragon bone staff, suddenly spoke somewhat awkwardly.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Yoko couldn't help but look down at the dragon bone staff in her hand, recalling the battle that had just taken place.

Although the horned dragon was covered in wounds, most of them were inflicted by Lin Lin and Bref. Despite her all-out attack, the dragon bone staff was somewhat of a hindrance in terms of both material and sharpness. Ordinary light attacks could hardly penetrate the horned dragon's defenses; only the dragon attribute energy contained within the staff could have any effect on it.

Now it seems... she really does need to upgrade her weapons...

The materials from this horned dragon are quite good; it would be a very good choice to craft a new Insect Glaive.

But Lin Lin had just said that he needed materials from the horned dragon, which made it difficult for her to say what she wanted to say.

Under Lin Lin's repeated questioning, Ye Zi finally stammered out her thoughts, hesitatingly and indirectly revealing her intentions.

Lin Lin: ...

"What do you mean? Is this all there is to it? The three of us took it down together, and we all got our share of the materials! Besides, I only need its materials to upgrade my weapon, not much. Judging from its size, it's more than enough for a full set of armor, let alone an Insect Glaive."

Brave waved his hand, "No need, I don't need this guy's material. You two can share it, don't worry about mine."

"How can that be?" "Why not? Since you said I have a copy of this material, I have the right to decide how to handle it. My decision is to give it to you two. Any problems?"

Lin Lin opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn't utter a rebuttal. He simply patted his shoulder:

"Thanks, brother."

"Whoosh, whoosh..."

Suddenly, a rhythmic panting sound approached. The three instinctively became alert and turned to the direction from which the sound came. They saw a sharply styled figure carrying a long-handled flute running towards them. The yellow and blue armor blended perfectly with the brown-yellow theme color of the sand plain.

The one carrying the hunting horn who came running over was none other than Rickres, a high-ranking seven-star hunter who was traveling with the group.

The burly man slung the hunting flute back behind him, pressed his helmet to cover his bald head, glanced at the huge dragon carcass lying on the ground, and looked at the three of them again with a hint of approval in his eyes.

Hey, these little guys actually succeeded!

Kevin's apprentice is really talented, it's making him a little jealous... How old is he? Judging from his appearance, he shouldn't be more than twenty-two, right? When he was in his early twenties, he was still outwitting Yang Kuku, while this guy had already successfully hunted a Desert Tyrant Diablos, achieving something most hunters could never reach in their entire lives.

And this katana user and the insect glaive user, although they weren't the main force in the battle just now, they didn't hold back at all, and their performance in the battle was completely in line with the level expected of a star... Damn it, are geniuses mass-produced now?
Well... yes, aside from the part where Lin Lin fought the horned dragon alone at the beginning, Rickres actually witnessed most of the subsequent battle where the three of them joined forces to attack the horned dragon.

Lin Lin initially lured the horned dragon away not far, no more than a kilometer from where the caravan was attacked. Although he couldn't run as fast as the Fang Hound, he successfully arrived at the scene shortly after Ye Zi and Bref.

However, he didn't join the battle immediately; instead, he quietly started playing OMO from the sidelines.

It wasn't because of his physical condition; it was simply because he saw that this small team had successfully grasped the rhythm of the battle and had excellent teamwork. If he were to directly join the battle, it might disrupt their rhythm, so he felt there was no need for him to intervene.

With him lurking nearby, it would be perfectly timely to intervene and rescue them should any unexpected situation arise—as a high-ranking flute master, supporting teammates is a must, and he was fully confident in protecting the three of them.

Lin Lin and the other two did not disappoint him, and they executed the horned dragon on the spot. Only then did he feel relieved. He picked up the thunder drum [Tiger Bell] and pretended to have just arrived, appearing in front of the three of them.

"Senior Rickles?"

Lin Lin asked tentatively, a little worried that if this senior heard what he had said to Brave earlier, would he be severely reprimanded and then subjected to some kind of punishment like confinement?
That would be really bad...

However, Rickres' reaction reassured Lin Lin. "Good, good, well done! For monsters that wantonly attack caravans and seriously threaten the safety of the people, we should strike hard!"

"While we hunters maintain ecological harmony, the fundamental purpose of maintaining the ecology is to protect human survival. When the two conflict, ensuring human survival is the most important thing. Your approach is perfectly correct!"

Lin Lin and Bref couldn't help but exchange a glance, feeling that this senior hunter-flute player didn't seem to be someone who particularly valued rules.

"Haha, have you rested enough? If you have, then let's hurry up and finish the stripping work!"

With that, Rickres drew his scabbing knife, took a few steps forward, and stood before the horned dragon's corpse:

"Luckily, a lot of cargo was damaged at the convoy, which freed up enough space to store materials. We can be more careful and strip every part of this guy that we can!"

……

The night sky in the desert is always quite clear. When you lie on the ground, you always feel that the starry sky is right in front of you, as if you could reach out and grab the entire starry sky into your palm.

"It's so beautiful. No matter how many times I see it, I can't help but be fascinated by the starry sky here."

Lin Lin stretched one hand out to the sky, making a grasping motion, while in the other hand he held a string of fragrant "charcoal-grilled horned dragon thigh meat," sprinkled with a little salt, thick chili powder, and some other miscellaneous desert-specific spices, making this already delicious ingredient even more regionally distinctive.

It was now the fifth day since the caravan was attacked by the Diablos. Perhaps the Diablos had exhausted all the bad luck of the group, because the rest of the journey went incredibly smoothly. The biggest threat they encountered along the way was just a few oblivious Rocket-eating Hardened Dragons—and their fate, of course, was to become their meal. Although the group mostly had to eat hard-to-swallow dry rations to keep moving, no one would refuse meat that was offered to them.

Once tonight is over and the sun rises tomorrow, they will officially leave the sand plains and fully enter the Lokra Desert. At that time, Lin Lin and his group will officially part ways with the caravan. To save time, they will switch to sand boats that are fast in the sea of ​​sand, while the caravan will switch to camel caravans that are more suitable for transporting goods in the desert.

Tonight is the last night before parting ways. Therefore, to thank the hunters for their escort along the way, the leader of the caravan specially took out the horned dragon meat that Lin Lin and the others had given them to make up for their losses, along with some of the precious spices from the transported goods, and made a dinner. The skewer of roasted meat in Lin Lin's hand was a skewer he casually picked up after the dinner.

Hmm... I hope they have a safe journey after parting ways; they're all such kind and simple people...

Lin Lin took another bite of horned dinosaur thigh meat. The meat had just been taken off the campfire, and there was still a slight sizzling sound on the surface of the meat. Golden fat rolled down the crispy skin and dripped onto the tip of his tongue. A meaty aroma mixed with the cool and sweet taste of cactus bloomed on his taste buds.

Lin Lin's Adam's apple bobbed. Even though he had already eaten quite a bit, he was still somewhat impatient to swallow the piece of meat in his mouth. However, his instinct to enjoy the delicious food made him subconsciously want to chew slowly and savor the hot juices for a while longer so that he could enjoy them a little longer.

It must be said that ceratops meat truly lives up to its reputation as a top-tier ingredient. It has a perfect balance of lean and fat, with the fat being rich but not greasy, and it even has a fragrance that is similar to cactus juice. The lean meat has clear texture, with each strand distinct, and it is quite chewy. Well, if you want to eat it, you often have to pay a considerable price, either money or a big battle.

(End of this chapter)