Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 382 was just a lie; there's a second stage.

He... just died like that?
Lin Lin stared blankly at the Rathalos lying motionless on the ground. He had just filled the bottle and was about to unleash a Super Amped Spectre on Rathalos's head, but before he could even get into the starting stance, the dragon was already down.

Lin Lin pursed his lips, looking speechless.

"Date, did you stab its main artery with that sword just now?"

He had just clearly seen that it was after the date stabbed him with the sword that the male fire dragon collapsed with a thud.

Date also drew the cat sword with a blank expression, staring down at the bloodstains on the tip of the sword, equally puzzled.

"Even if that sword pierced its main artery, it shouldn't have killed it on the spot, meow..."

Date held the cat sword and gestured at the wound where she had just been stabbed, then paused and continued:
"And...it doesn't look like a major artery has been punctured, meow..."

After shaking off the bloodstains from the cat sword, the date palm climbed up the Rathalos's body and reached its spine, ready to start harvesting materials as usual.

Lin Lin put away his shield and axe, sat on the ground, and breathed heavily. He hadn't noticed it during the fierce battle, but now that he relaxed, he felt a burning sensation in his throat and trachea, a burn caused by inhaling scorching air.

Lin Lin took out a bottle of recovery medicine and drank it down, then sprinkled a small handful of life powder. Feeling the cool sensation suppress the burning pain, Lin Lin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Turning his head and seeing what Yezao was doing, Lin Lin shook his head and chuckled, "Yazao, no need to lift a finger. Just have Steak and the others carry this guy away in a bit."

Upon hearing this, Date had no choice but to put away the cat sword, and with the piece of carapace it had just pried off, it leaped down and came to Lin Lin's side.

"Big Meow..."

"Well, what happened?"

Date shook the carapace in her hand. "I found sand hiding in the crevices of that guy's carapace, meow!"

"sand?"

"There are quite a few of them, so I suspect that this fire dragon may have flown in from a place like the desert."

Lin Lin looked up at the fiery red sun, which had already hidden half of its face behind the hill. "Flying all the way from the desert to Forest Hill, this guy must be the kind of fire dragon mentioned in the quest that would travel thousands of miles to Forest Hill to find a wife. He really didn't pick the wrong hunting target."

You, instead of staying in the vast desert, insist on coming here to compete with other creatures in Senqiu. When food becomes scarce, the surrounding villages will be in danger. It's really... well, you've already dug your own grave.

Noticing that there was no more movement here and the battle was over, Steak led a group of Elu and a Melalu with a bald tail pushing a cat cart over.

"Mr. Lin Lin, you're amazing! You actually hunted down the Sky King! I have the utmost respect for you!"

After a fierce battle, Lin Lin was somewhat exhausted. He was slowly chewing on a piece of food he had brought with him when he heard this and waved his hand repeatedly:

"You're too kind, you're too kind. I still have a lot of room for improvement!"

Steak glanced at the motionless Rathalos and asked:
"Then... shall I take them and load this guy into the car, meow?"

"Well, thank you for your hard work."

"It's not hard work, it's what we should do, meow!"

After exchanging a few polite words, Steak gestured to several Ailu to pick up ropes and prepare to tie up the fire dragon's corpse.

But when it reached the Rathalos, its movements suddenly paused slightly, and it said with some surprise:

"Huh? So Rathalos's blood is actually purplish-black, meow? I've certainly learned something new today, meow..."

After letting out a sigh, it continued to approach with the rope, not feeling that anything was wrong.

Lin Lin, who was gnawing on his food, suddenly froze. What?! Dark purple blood?!

How can it be? !
During the battle, this guy's blood was bright red! How come it's purplish-black?
The purplish-black blood... After much thought, Lin Lin could only come up with one explanation.

He suddenly looked up and shouted:
"Wait! Don't go near it!"

Hearing this, Steak turned to look at Lin Lin and asked, puzzled:

"What's wrong, meow?"

However, Lin Lin simply drew his weapon and roared:

"Get away from there!"

Steak's heart skipped a beat. He turned his head back and realized that, at some point, the creature that had seemed dead had started breathing again. Moreover, a dark purple powder was emanating from its mouth and nose, so concentrated that it had even formed smoke. This made the battered and enormous dragon look like a demon that had returned from hell.

"Run, meow!"

With a loud shout, the group of Ailu reacted swiftly and immediately scattered and fled.

Nia Lu originally wanted to take a rope and climb up to help, so she climbed onto the Rathalos's tail. Although she heard the warning, she couldn't see what was happening, and her reaction was a beat slow.

By the time it realized something was wrong and tried to get away, it was too late. The Rathalos, which had been motionless like a corpse, suddenly got up and let out a roar that contained endless madness.

As it stood up, its long tail lashed out, and Nia Lu, who had no time to grab on, was immediately flung away and landed heavily on the ground, rolling several times.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurts so much, meow..."

Nia rubbed her bottom in pain. Luckily, she was small and light, so the fall only caused her some pain. If it were a human, those tumbles would have broken several bones. With one paw rubbing her bottom and the other pressing on her head, the little black cat groggily got up, tilting her head back, trying to see what had just happened.

Then it saw a huge flying dragon with a dark red body, its eyes emitting an eerie blood-red light, and the black and purple smoke it exhaled seemed to envelop its body, transforming it into a ferocious demon.

Like a lightning bolt striking its mind, the scene before it seemed to resonate with the chaotic memories in its mind. Amidst a chorus of terrified screams, it seemed to see a terrifying giant shadow that looked exactly the same.

Before Nia Lu could recover from the flashback, her body suddenly felt light, and she floated several meters away.

Looking up, I saw an Ellu wearing a cool helmet brush off a small flame that had gotten on her body and was looking down at me.

"Coconut, senior coconut date..."

"What are you standing there for, meow? Run, meow! If you get caught in the attack again, I won't have time to save you again, meow!"

After saying that, Yezao didn't have time to pay attention to the silly little black cat that seemed to have a bad brain. She hurriedly rushed back to the battlefield.

"No! Don't come any closer! The farther away the better!"

Lin Lin's face was unusually pale. He looked up and met those blood-red eyes, and his hand gripping the sword unconsciously sweated.

Mad Dragon Disease! It's actually Mad Dragon Disease!

The elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled—now all four are here!

But how could this be...? Why are there monsters that have turned into berserk dragons here...?

Now that monsters that have turned into berserkers have appeared, has the Black Devouring Dragon also reappeared in the world? How long will it take for it to transform into the Heavenly Returning Dragon?
Lin Lin was naturally familiar with the Berserker Dragon Formation, as well as the Heavenly Return Dragon and the Black Eclipse Dragon. These all made their first appearance in Monster Hunter 4G, which is hailed as the best Monster Hunter storyline. The cycle of light and darkness had given him quite a shock back then.

In his memory, the Tianhuilong family did not mate like normal monsters. Instead, they spread large amounts of dust containing the Mad Dragon virus to infect other monsters. The virus multiplied continuously in the infected monsters' bodies, and when it reached a critical point, it would turn the infected monsters into madmen with unimaginable ferocity and aggression.

But that's not all. The monsters infected with the Mad Dragon Disease continue to multiply the viral concentration in their bodies. Their final fate is either to die in pain and madness, with a new Black Eclipse Dragon being born from their remains, or to unleash their potential through the virus, turning the power of the Mad Dragon into their own and becoming one of the very few individuals who reach the pinnacle of their abilities.

At this moment, looking at the Rathalos that had risen again, Lin Lin finally understood why, in the battle just now, even though neither of them had inflicted any fatal damage, the opponent had collapsed so weakly and powerlessly.

The root cause of its weakness was not their attack at all, but the invasion of life energy by the Mad Dragon virus in its body!

At this moment, after absorbing enough life energy, the concentration of the Mad Dragon Virus in the male fire dragon's body exceeded the threshold. Correspondingly, the male fire dragon's Mad Dragon Disease also entered the incubation period and the onset period.

As Lin Lin watched helplessly as the blackish-purple dust exhaled from the mouth of the Mad Dragon transformed into a male fire dragon scattered everywhere, even though he wanted to hold his breath and avoid contact with the dust, the other party would not give him that chance.

Even though it had become an extremely extreme and aggressive madman under the influence of the Rathalos Disease, this male Rathalos still remembered that it was this human who had just beaten it so badly. Now, it only wanted to tear this human to pieces or roast him into charcoal.

Under the relentless attacks of the Rathalos, it was impossible for him not to breathe. If he dared to hold his breath now, he would soon become weak from lack of oxygen, thus revealing an opening and turning into a corpse.

Lin Lin could only watch helplessly as the fine blackish-purple dust entered his nasal cavity with his breath, while he had no choice but to either dodge and weave or raise his shield to withstand the Rathalos's mad dog-like attacks.

Seeing that contracting the Mad Dragon Disease was inevitable, Lin Lin had no choice but to steel his heart and continue to focus on fighting the giant flying dragon in front of him, attacking desperately, attacking, and attacking again!
In the game, the way to deal with the Dragon Madness is to keep attacking the monster. Once you have enough action points, you can overcome the Dragon Madness and increase your critical hit rate.

However you look at it, that's just a reward effect brought about by the game mechanics. In reality, whether such a frantic mobilization of energy to launch an attack would successfully overcome the virus or cause it to spread throughout the body due to the accelerated blood flow is still unknown.

Lin Lin had no other choice but to attack.

The reason he didn't let the dates get close was because he wasn't sure.

In the game, only hunters can get infected with the Dragon Disease, while Palicoes cannot. But in reality, who can say for sure? What if the rules of the game don't apply?
Just in case, Lin Lin insisted on keeping the date away and facing the giant beast alone.

It has to be said that the monsters infected with the Mad Dragon Disease are all like the Black Wolf Bird, fighting madmen with an unusually high desire to attack. They don't care at all that such excessive attacks will damage their bodies, and they are simply squeezing out their life force to exchange for the fighting power at this moment.

It's fortunate that Lin Lin had added a large hole to its wings during the previous battle, completely crippling its ability to fly. The fire dragon on the ground couldn't even unleash half of its combat power. Otherwise, Lin Lin really didn't know if he could have handled the fire dragon's current frenzied attacks.

With a gliding step, Lin Lin circled around to the side of the Rathalos, tossing the exploding fireball behind him. He then raised his hand and flung the Wirebug, sending himself into the air.

When the Rathalos realized that its fireball breath had missed its target, it turned around without hesitation and lashed out at Lin Lin with its tail.

Watching the long tail whiz past him, Lin Lin gritted his teeth, mustered all his strength, and swung his shield and axe downwards.

"Give! Me! Die!"

The giant axe swung down, originally aiming for the Rathalos's head, but because of its turning motion, the axe blade missed its intended target and instead struck its wing bone, which was folded to its side—yes, still that right wing with a large hole in it.

"Boom boom boom!"

Golden fountains erupted from the ground, relentlessly pounding Rathalos's body and wings. After being hit twice by its aerial super-explosive attack, a cracking sound rang out, and half of Rathalos's right wing was completely severed. The crazed creature lost its balance and collapsed to the ground, its purplish blood gushing out like a fountain, staining a large patch of grass black.

Unleashing a powerful attack, Lin Lin landed and disassembled his sword and shield. Looking at the pitiful state of the raging fire dragon, he felt a warm current surging through his body, bringing an indescribable sense of comfort. It was as if his body had become lighter, and he could wield his sword and shield more easily.

Feeling that familiar warmth, Lin Lin knew he had made the right bet; he had successfully overcome the Mad Dragon Disease... at least for now.

'By launching a full-force attack to activate the body, driving life energy to circulate at high speed, thereby revitalizing bodily functions and enhancing immunity to metabolize the virus...'

Lin Lin didn't know if his speculation was correct; he only knew that with his body feeling lighter, he had more energy to fight the raging fire dragon.

Besides unimaginable ferocity, the Mad Dragon Disease also has significant negative effects on monsters. As the Mad Dragon Virus continuously devours their life force, their physical strength and self-healing abilities are severely weakened. In other words, they are much more fragile than normal monsters.

At this moment, after successfully defeating the Mad Dragon transformed into a male fire dragon once again, the already weakened creature finally collapsed to the ground after struggling to get up several times without success, letting out a final, unwilling whimper.

(End of this chapter)