Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 376 Mori-oka Night Talk
The eastern part is dominated by hilly terrain, while the western part is covered with dense forests and mountains, hence the name Senqiu (meaning "forest and hills").

A gentle breeze rustled through the towering broad-leaved canopy, causing the leaves to sway and occasionally reveal the silvery down on their undersides, resembling emerald waves. Sunlight streamed in through gaps in the mountain ridge, illuminating the vines and ferns hanging from the rock face and revealing the signs of grazing on them.

Lin Lin reached out, dipped his hand in the sap seeping from the broken part of the vine, rubbed it, and then brought it close to his nose to sniff.

"The marks are very fresh; they must have been left within the last six hours."

"Boss, there are footprints here, meow! Judging from the shape, it should be a herbivorous dragon, meow!"

Not far away, Yezao parted the grass, picked up a clump of soil from the footprints, and turned to call out to Lin Lin.

Having hunted in the Forest Hills before, the two of them, one human and one cat, considered that they were relatively unfamiliar with the environment here. Instead of rushing straight into the hunting grounds to cause trouble for the Rathalos, they decided to spend a few days exploring the Forest Hills first, to understand the surrounding environment and terrain before starting the hunt—after all, the time for the quest was quite generous.

At this moment, the person and the cat reached the boundary between the forest and the hills, and they gradually discovered more and more traces of herbivorous dragon activity along the way.

"It seems that herbivorous dragons gather in relatively open hilly areas, and judging from the density of these traces, their numbers are probably quite large."

Date palm looked up at the sky, where the azure sky was obscured by layers of tree canopies, appearing as fragmented patches in its field of vision.

"Strange, why don't they live in the forest?"

"There's hardly any hiding space in the hilly area, and the sky is open, so it's easy for predators to spot me."

Lin Lin pushed aside the vines hanging from the treetops in front of him, and his view suddenly opened up. Having been accustomed to the dim light of the forest, Lin Lin had to squint his eyes when he suddenly saw the bright sunlight.

"I think I know why."

After a moment of adjustment, Lin Lin pointed ahead and gestured towards the dates:
"Being in an area with a wide field of vision makes them easier for predators to spot, but correspondingly, they are also more likely to see the predators and then start to run away."

Date moved closer to Lin Lin and looked in the direction he pointed. They saw a small group of herbivorous dragons sitting or lying on the grass not far away. Some were munching on grass, while others were looking around. They looked quite relaxed and content.

However, this leisurely time did not last long. Soon, a herbivorous dragon on lookout spotted a human and a cat standing at the edge of the forest and immediately became alert. However, perhaps because the distance between them was relatively far, it only stared at them warily and did not immediately start to run away.

Date scratched her face. "But herbivorous dragons are so clumsy, who can they outrun, meow? Not to mention flying monsters like fire dragons, no matter how fast they run, they can't outrun flying meows..."

Lin Lin looked up at the sky and saw no other living creatures except for a few birds chirping as they flew by.

"Hmm...they don't actually need to outrun predators?"

Date was taken aback. If it couldn't outrun a predator, wouldn't that mean certain death? Could there be any chance of resistance from a herbivorous dragon, meow?
"They only need to run faster than their kind."

Lin Lin stretched his limbs and charged directly at the herbivorous dragons.

The herbivorous dragon that had been staring at them instantly reacted, turned around and started to run away, making cries as it ran to warn them.

Alerted by their companions, the herbivorous dragons quickly realized that danger was approaching and hurriedly got up to run away.

However, herbivorous dragons are quite clumsy creatures. It takes them several seconds to get up from lying down and start running again, which is enough time for Lin Lin to run close to them.

Lin Lin ignored the herbivorous dragons that had already started running ahead, and focused his attention on the one that was the slowest and most sluggish. It wasn't until Lin Lin rushed up to it that the creature finally got up.

With a slide tackle, Lin Lin dodged the hastily sweeping tail and glanced at the wrinkles on the herbivorous dragon's skin, making a judgment in his mind.

It's an elderly person... the meat might be a bit dry, so you'll have to be careful with the heat when grilling it...

Reaching the head of the herbivorous dragon, Lin Lin drew his shield and axe. Instead of swinging the blade, he swung the shield with all his might. With a loud "bang," the herbivorous dragon's fragile head was pierced through by the shield's horns, which were modeled after those of a horned dragon, as if it were made of paper. Red and white splattered all over the ground.

"Hey..."

Lin Lin swung his shield to shake off the blood and flesh that clung to it, then grimaced helplessly.

I originally wanted to give this guy a quick death so it wouldn't suffer so much, but I forgot that the shield armed with the horned dragon wasn't flat, and instead made the scene incredibly bloody. I should have just used the sword to cut it down directly...

Lin Lin's gaze swept over the blunt blade formed by four horns, and he paused for a moment. If he were to use a sword, he would most likely smash the herbivorous dragon's head to pieces...

Okay, this horned dragon armor is a bit too brutal. It's really unsightly to use it to fight small animals. Next time, I'll just use a skinning knife...

Lin Lin had only spoken halfway when he rushed out and chopped down a herbivorous dragon. Yezao, though somewhat confused, followed closely behind. Now, standing beside the dragon's carcass, and still able to see the shadows of the other herbivorous dragons that had escaped, Yezao suddenly understood:

"I see, I understand now, meow!"

"Hmm? What do you understand?"

"Boss, you just said they don't need to outrun the predators, they only need to outrun their companions. Oh, I see! As long as their companions are slow and get caught by the predators, they're actually safe!"

"Yes, yes, this child is teachable!"

"But boss, is it really necessary to hunt it down just to explain this principle?"

"Ahem, actually explaining the reason is just a minor one. The more important reason is that this is our dinner tonight... well, maybe even tomorrow morning and noon... Come on, Dates, let's get started quickly, so we don't let the smell of blood attract other monsters. I remember there are quite a lot of Blue Jumpers in Senqiu."

"Blue Jumping? What does that have to do with jumping, meow?"

"It's the Blue Velociraptor. Its relationship with Jumpy is that our Jumpy is actually a yellow Jumpy."

"I see, meow, what a unique nickname..."

……

Not far from where Lin Lin and his group were hunting herbivorous dragons was a small river. Lin Lin took the opportunity to process the food by the river, and then washed the blood off his weapons before returning to the camp with Yezao and two large bags of high-quality raw meat.

—A herbivorous dragon is at least five or six meters long. Due to their limited carrying capacity, they can only select the best parts of the herbivorous dragon to cut off, leaving most of the remaining meat behind.

But it doesn't matter, there's no such thing as waste. Nature's cleaners will soon turn that mutilated body into a pile of bones.

As night fell and twilight descended, light bugs and thunderbugs rose from the forest, merging with the starry sky. The moonlight bathed the rock walls in a cool blue hue, which was then transformed into a warm red glow by the campfire. In the distance, faint howls occasionally drifted, their rhythmic sounds clearly those of blue Velociraptors calling to their companions. Lin Lin took a sizzling, oily steak from the campfire, sprinkled it with powdered catnip he had collected during the day, and handed it to Date, whose nose was twitching and whose mouth was practically drooling.

"Thank you, Boss Meow!"

With a cheer, Yezao took the steak and began to devour it.

"What kind of relationship do we have? Why are you thanking me?"

Lin Lin smiled and continued turning the barbecue grill:
"Come to think of it, it seems like it's been a long time since we've spent time alone together like this, just sitting quietly and eating together."

The date palm, its mouth still moving, looked up at the starry sky above upon hearing this:

"Meow, the last time I was this relaxed was when we were hunting together in Lokrak, meow..."

Thinking back, ever since the first battle against the Mine Dragon, all sorts of pressures have come crashing down on me. First, Lokrak faced another huge threat, and then Yukumo Village was plagued by the Zinogre. In order to improve my strength, I went to Fire Village and trained desperately with a tense mind. As a result, I had just returned and solved the Zinogre problem when I was forced to face the Storm Dragon...

When Lanlong retreated and the pressure was relieved, he was surrounded by many companions. From Lokrak to Dongdoruma, although they were happy, they were always noisy and rarely had such a leisurely time as they were now.

"Hey, boss, what made you become a hunter, meow?"

This atmosphere seemed perfect for a heart-to-heart talk, and Yezao unconsciously asked the question that had been bothering her.

Why become a hunter?

Lin Lin paused for a moment, then fell into thought.

Why is that? I'm looking for the reason too...

After a moment of silence, Lin Lin slowly spoke:
"Well, at first, I would say I felt uneasy. In such a dangerous world, only by becoming a hunter and mastering the power to fight monsters can I feel at ease."

"But I heard you say, boss, that you became good friends with Xiong Er before you became a hunter, meow? Isn't Xiong Er strong enough, meow?"

"Haha, back then, Xiong Er was just as weak as me. And no matter how strong Xiong Er was, its power wasn't mine. There would always be a time when it couldn't protect me..."

Lin Lin smiled and continued:
"But that was only the reason I wanted to become a hunter at first. What has kept me on the path of a hunter is my passion."

"Passion?"

"Yes, this is the kind of life I love."

"Engage in thrilling battles with dangerous monsters, admire the dazzling dance of lightning worms by the stream, feel the vastness of the desert with its towering ice, witness wonders unimaginable to ordinary people in the frozen world, and even pick up a couple of little monsters to take home and raise on a whim."

"Compared to the dull, routine of studying and working, and then being exploited and oppressed, where even the smallest act of kindness becomes part of some bloodsucking earring, this kind of life is so much more interesting."

Date listened quietly to Lin Lin's story, her ears twitching slightly.

It didn't quite understand. What was wrong with following the established path of studying and then working? It had grown up in Lokrak and met many of its fellow orcs who couldn't make it in the wild and moved to the city, but it had rarely seen anyone who would come to the city to become a hunter and seek thrills because they were tired of urban life...

Hmm, only Shion can be considered one?
"And what about you, Dates? I remember you came to my door in the middle of the night and knocked, wanting to become a hunting cat. What were you thinking?"

"Meow..."

Date Palm scratched its whiskers sheepishly, "Actually, I wasn't thinking too much at the time, meow. I just felt so awful that I was helpless and could only watch anxiously when my father was in danger..."

"Back then, I felt that once I became a Hunter, nothing could stop me, meow. But after actually following you, Boss, I realized how vast the world really is. Ordinary monsters, dragons, colossal Elder Dragons, and even super natural disasters that can destroy everything... There are many things that even a Hunter is powerless to change..."

Lin Lin asked curiously:
"And now? What are you thinking now?"

"Now meow..."

The date palm placed its cleanly gnawed bones on the ground, its eyes lowered, as if deep in thought:
"Ordinary hunters deal with ordinary monsters, elite hunters can defeat wyverns, high-ranking hunters can deal with moving natural disasters, and the more powerful a hunter is, the fewer things they are powerless to do."

"The same goes for hunting cats, meow. I want to reduce the things we are powerless to do, and I want to have the ability to protect the people I care about from harm, meow!"

"So that's what you think..."

Lin Lin smiled and extended his palm:
"Then, shall we work together to become stronger?"

Date licked its paw pads, cleaning off the grease, before placing its paw on Lin Lin's palm:

"Let's cheer each other on, meow!"

"Alright! Let's start getting stronger by hunting wyverns. I've scouted out the terrain today, so let's start looking for hunting targets tomorrow!"

"Now, in order to have the energy to act tomorrow, we should rest."

……

The night in the forest is quiet; most of the monsters that were noisy during the day have gone into hiding. The only sounds are the soft breathing of a person and a cat. Yet, the night in the forest is also noisy: the howling of blue Velocidrome calling to its companions, the fluttering of wings of light bugs as they fly to mate, the crackling of burning firewood, and the subtle rustling sounds of certain creatures moving stealthily.

Hmm? Why does that sound so close?

Lin Lin listened carefully for a moment, then suddenly opened his eyes.

However, he didn't make any noise immediately. Instead, he quietly rolled off his bed in the camp and reached out to grab the horned dragon armor placed beside the bed.

Concentrating all his attention on listening to the location of the subtle sound as it moved, Lin Lin's gaze finally locked onto a direction. If he remembered correctly, that should be the location of his storage box where he kept supplies and various items he had collected that day.

"Who's there? Come out!"

(End of this chapter)