Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 360 Mrs. Fengshan Long Welcomes You from Afar

"BOOM!"

Ziyuan silently mouthed the words as she pulled the trigger. The next moment, a violent roar suddenly exploded, and a powerful shockwave echoed in the middle of the narrow valley, making everyone's head buzz.

Wow, that's some power... It feels almost as powerful as the Dragon Bomb...

Lin Lin smacked his lips and looked towards the area filled with smoke.

Such a massive explosion would have nearly killed even a horned dinosaur, let alone a fumarole. If it hadn't died, wouldn't it have let out a wail after being hit so hard? The fact that it's been completely silent for the past half day, except for the echoes of the explosions, undoubtedly confirms this.

Undoubtedly, the hunt was a complete success. Shion will be able to advance to three stars after returning home. The only minor issue is how gruesome the carcass of the Flood Dragon will look after such a violent explosion.
Of all the materials you have, how much of it is still usable?
A moment later, as the smoke gradually dissipated, the rather pitiful remains of the Dragon were revealed. From the change in Shion's expression, from excitement to blankness, and finally to a state of wanting to cry but having no tears, we can probably get a glimpse of the answer.

Normally, when hunting a large monster, even if some materials are damaged during the battle, as long as it's not too outrageous, after professional carcassing, the materials obtained are more than enough to craft a set of armor and a weapon. Sometimes, you can even make an extra set of armor.

However, at this moment, as Shion looked at the corpse of the Namielle whose first front claw had been blown off, her expression was extremely complicated. Given the current situation, she would be lucky if she could extract enough material to forge a weapon...

(The armor for the Lupus is really cool, but it's a pity that the skills are too weak, so there's not much use in making it. I'm not making it. Here's a picture for you all to enjoy.)

Carrying a small knife, Ziyuan carefully worked for a long time, collecting the few intact pieces of "Saurus rex carapace" and "Saurus rex skin" that she had finally found. Then, looking at the pile of bloody and mangled remains on the ground, she sighed softly.

Hopefully, these materials will allow her to make a weapon. Otherwise, after all the hard work today, if she gets nothing but a higher star level, it would be really frustrating.

That darn popping bucket, what a waste!
……

If there's any advantage to the large barrel bomb G used by Shion when she was awakening from her slumber, it's probably that it freed up a fairly spacious area on the sandboat, allowing Lin Lin and the others to sit down in a less restrictive posture.

So, should we head back now?

Lin Lin suddenly looked around, and finally looked at Zi Yuan, who was preparing to maneuver the sand barge and raise its sails.

Shion: ?
"If you're not going back, is there something else going on?"

Facing the strange looks from the three men, Lin Lin smiled mysteriously, not answering directly, but instead bringing up a seemingly unrelated topic:
"By the way, Shion, you've prepared so much stuff, did you get your pickaxe ready?"

Shion: ? ? ?
Although she was completely baffled, Shion answered honestly:
"Yes, yes, senior brother, didn't you tell me to prepare them before? I brought eight, all of them are G-grade iron pickaxes made of sparrow stone, so they won't break easily."

"Snapped!"

Lin Lin snapped his fingers. "Good. Let's not go back to the city for now."

Yoko instinctively asked, "Are we...?"

Lin Lin chuckled, "I'll take you to meet some old friends, and maybe make a little money along the way. Head in this direction!"

……

Although the vast desert may appear to be filled with endless yellow sand and the scenery may seem monotonous, beneath the same sand lies a diverse array of life forces.

For example, right now, in the boundless yellow sand, a small green dot suddenly appears. This is an oasis, although the only water source is a mud pit of no more than fifty square meters, and the surrounding vegetation is extremely sparse, mostly drought-resistant species like cacti. This sparse vegetation can't even cover the skeletons on the ground...

Despite the harsh environment, this place is a paradise for shield bugs.

The water source here always attracts monsters that have been wandering in the desert for a long time, and then they fight each other. Where there is fighting, there will be casualties, as evidenced by the skeletons on the ground that have not yet been buried by vegetation.

Shield bugs, small beetle-like monsters with extremely hard golden shells on their backs, love carrion and dead leaves. These little creatures, which play a scavenger-like role in the ecosystem, are naturally attracted to gather here.

These seemingly weak little creatures actually have a very strong survival ability. They are very good at curling up their bodies, rolling themselves into a ball and crashing into things. Many hunters really don't want to encounter them when hunting, because these guys are really too tough when they curl up. Not only will the hunter's weapon be deflected when it hits them, but even many monsters have a hard time hurting them.

"Buzz..."

A low-frequency hum sounded, and a figure flew out from the yellow sand. Although its flight path was somewhat crooked, its destination was undoubtedly the small oasis in front of it.

Its body is yellow and green with a touch of bright red. The head has a chitinous pointed protrusion that splits in the middle, like a steel fork. Once it flies at high speed, this is its most terrifying weapon. If you are pierced by these two points, you will inevitably have a bloody hole in your body.

This is an axe beetle.

However, at this moment, its condition did not look very good, or rather, it was quite bad. There was a long, narrow wound on its abdomen, almost cutting it off completely, as if it had been clamped in the waist by something, and green fluid was seeping out drop by drop.

The surrounding shield bugs seemed to sense the approaching death, and they became excited, waving their golden claws as they crawled toward the direction where the bodily fluids were dripping.

The axe beetle landed unsteadily at the edge of the mud pit, ignoring the restless shield beetles, and began to drink, replenishing the water lost through its bodily fluids.

"Senior brother, there seems to be an oasis ahead. Are we going there?"

"It's in this direction, but not that oasis."

"Huh? Is it that far? How much further do we have to go?"

"Hmm...almost there, almost there..."

"You've said that five times already..."

Ziyuan quietly complained.

Lin Lin closed his eyes and sensed it for a moment, then awkwardly tugged at the corner of his mouth, "It's almost here, this time it's really almost here..."

Ye Zi ignored the countless times the two had repeated their conversation and looked at the small oasis ahead. Her gaze immediately froze. "Brother Lin Lin, do you see a monster up ahead?"

"Ok?"

Lin Lin looked in the direction Ye Zi pointed and was slightly taken aback.

This monster looks a little unfamiliar?
As the sandboat drew closer, the full appearance of the beetle-like monster came into view. Lin Lin pondered for a moment before finally rummaging through the corners of his memory to retrieve information about the monster.

The Axe Beetle, a subspecies of the Thorium Beetle, only appeared in the game 4G. It's an extremely obscure monster, and it was the same monster as the Steel Hammer Dragon in Capcom's 20th Anniversary Popularity Poll. No wonder I didn't have much of an impression of it and it took me a while to remember it.

"Should we take it down?"

Ye Zi asked.

Hiss... Yoko's murderous intent is still so strong...

Brave rolled his eyes. "It didn't attack us."

Lin Lin nodded in agreement, "Indeed, if we can live in peace, it's best if we don't interfere with each other."

Shion, controlling the sails, asked, "So... shall we go around it?"

"Hmm, let's keep going around in circles... wait, it seems like we don't need to anymore..."

The axe beetle had clearly noticed the approaching sand boat; its yellow compound eyes flickered slightly as it stared intently at their movements.

As it saw the sandboat approaching, it made some distance, and its tense body involuntarily relaxed slightly, but in the next moment—

"Woohoo!"

Suddenly, the sea of ​​sand behind them trembled violently. A winding ridge, hundreds of meters long, suddenly rose from the flat sand sea. Tens of thousands of tons of quicksand poured down along the ravines of the shell, forming a roaring quicksand waterfall. The airflow from the giant beast's ascent stirred up the dust, shrouding the surrounding area in a hazy yellow mist for thousands of meters.

Finally, the enormous figure emerged completely from the sea of ​​sand, its two fangs, each over sixty meters long, pointing towards the sky, and it let out a long, drawn-out roar.

The sunlight was blocked by the enormous shadow, the oasis was shrouded in shadow, the shield bugs were dumbfounded, the axe beetles were dumbfounded, Yoko, Brave, and Violet were all dumbfounded...

"Senior Brother! Peak Peak Peak Mountain Dragon!"

Of the four people present, only Yoko had never seen the majestic appearance of such a super-large ancient dragon as Mineyama Ryu. However, the most nervous one was Shion, who was stammering and unable to speak clearly.

"Gudu..."

Bref nervously swallowed, looking up at the enormous ancient dragon. He never imagined that he would see this creature, which required the combined power of the entire Lokrak to barely defeat, right here at this moment.

Yoko stared at Mineyama Ryu for a moment, her mind replaying Lin Lin's words. As if she had realized something, her expression gradually turned to shock:

"Brother Lin Lin, is this what you meant by meeting an old friend?"

Lin Lin looked up at the enormous figure emerging from the sea of ​​sand, a smile involuntarily creeping onto his lips:
"Yes, she greeted us!"

Because he had once consumed the ancient dragon blood of Lady Mineyama, Lin Lin and Lady Mineyama established a strange connection. This connection was different from the "bond" materialized through the Bond Stone. It was not as intimate, but it was more direct. If one had to compare it, it might be similar to the resonance between Fire Sprout Water Bloom and Wind God Dragon Thunder God Dragon.

This resonance is greatly affected by distance. The farther apart they are, the weaker the connection becomes. Conversely, the closer they are, the clearer the resonance becomes. Since entering the Great Desert, the connection between Lin Lin and Mrs. Fengshan Long has been restored.

Gu Long's life was simple, unpretentious, and monotonous. Having just conceived a new life in her womb, Madam Fengshan Long had nothing to do all day except to cuddle with her spouse and find some food to fill her stomach in the lower reaches of the desert. She was extremely leisurely, and became unusually excited after clearly sensing Lin Lin again.

Actually, if she hadn't met Lin Lin, the loneliness that Fengshan Long's wife had been wandering alone in the desert should have been completely dispelled after finding a spouse. The two of them being together and being affectionate was much better than being lonely before. What else could she be dissatisfied with?

However, it had encountered Lin Lin and, through that mysterious and profound connection, learned that there were other things in this world besides survival and reproduction, many things it had never seen or even understood.

This ignited the curiosity of the enormous ancient dragon.

For an ancient dragon, less than a year is just the time it takes to take a nap. But since its curiosity was ignited, this short time has become so unbearable. After Lin Lin returned to Lokrak, its "harassing calls" were coming to Lin Lin's head every day. Today it was curious about what the world outside the desert was like, tomorrow it wanted to ask what the celebration it was talking about was. It was like it had turned into a hundred thousand questions. Where was the dignity of an ancient dragon?
Of course, Lin Lin didn't know that Madam Fengshan Dragon couldn't see any of the ancient dragon's majesty in him. It was simply because they had fought before and knew that humans were not as weak as they seemed. Moreover, he was the only one who could completely understand all its thoughts. Even its mate could not communicate so smoothly. In its eyes, Lin Lin was a friendly being with whom it could communicate on an equal footing.

If it weren't Lin Lin here, but some other horned dragon roared at the Peak Dragon, it would have swallowed you whole in one gulp, crunchy like chicken, and shown you the majesty of an ancient dragon.

"Okay, that's enough. You can just yell once to vent your excitement. Our little bodies can't take your yelling all the time."

Lin Lin closed his eyes slightly and transmitted his thoughts.

There was no way around it; the size difference was too great, and even if he shouted "Fengshanlong!" at the top of his lungs, he might not be able to hear him clearly.

Sure enough, Mrs. Fengshanlong quickly calmed down, lay back down on the sand, tilted her head slightly, and stared intently at the sand boat below with one eye.

"It, it's watching us..."

Ziyuan's voice trembled slightly. In this situation, if Mineyama Ryu got interested and attacked them, even the most elite hunters would be either killed or maimed!

"Huff—huff—trust Lao Lin, this is an old friend of his, he won't attack randomly..."

That's what Brave said, but his violently heaving chest betrayed his inner tension.

(End of this chapter)