Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 418 The Fall of the Earth Dragon Clan
Although Ziyuan often seems unreliable, she is, after all, the young lady of the Zijin Merchant Guild, so she is quite worry-free in these matters. After preparing the things and giving a heads-up, the rest is none of their business. They can board the ship and set off with Anxia to Moga Village.

As a girl from the desert, airships are commonplace for Ziyuan, but sailing on the sea is a very novel experience. When she practiced underwater combat with Rachel before, she only found places like lakes and rivers.

Standing on the deck, feeling the sea breeze blowing in her face, the seabirds hovering in the air, and the small fish that occasionally jumped out of the sea, all of this made Ziyuan feel quite excited. She even shouted loudly, which made Bref and Anxia look at her with a puzzled expression.

Of course, this excitement only lasted for less than a day at the beginning of the voyage. The scenery was unchanging, as if nothing would change in the future. Shion quickly went from being excited to feeling utterly hopeless.

"Anxia, ​​how much longer will we have to drift at sea?"

Ziyuan stood by the railing, her hand supporting her cheek. The salty sea breeze blew her hair into a messy state, but she was too lazy to fix it.

"It's still early. Sea ships are much slower than airships. It will take at least a month to get from Dongdoruma to Moga Village! And this is only the second day!"

"Huh? It'll take that long!"

On the vast ocean, the mournful cries of the violet drifted far and wide, eventually dissipating into the boundless waves.

……

While Ziyuan Bref and Gujia were adrift at sea, Lin Lin and his group's RV had already successfully arrived at Naguli Village.

However, when "our group" arrived at Naguli Village, everyone found that the village was quite different from what they had expected. Logically speaking, this was a village built in an underground cave inside an active volcano, and it should have been a fiery village full of red magma, relying on flowing lava for smelting and forging all year round.

But the village that is now deserted and full of dilapidated houses built of mud and stone looks very different from the Naguli Village described in the rumors.

The convoy slowly came to a stop. Lin Lin patted Tiao Tiao's head and jumped off its neck. Although he had expected this scene, he still couldn't help but feel a little nervous when he saw the figures lying or sprawled on the rocky ground that could be called a street.

The main inhabitants of Naguli Village are the Earth Dragon Clan, a race distinct from humans, dragon people, and sea people. They are hardworking, intelligent, and love labor. With these characteristics and the advantages of their geographical location, they have developed excellent forging and smelting techniques.

According to the plot they remembered, the reason they arrived to find such a desolate scene was because the ghost frogs' activities were hindering their mining of the ore, and the webs spun by the shadow spiders were blocking the flow of lava, preventing them from working or working overtime, leaving them with nothing to do.

No, what kind of chosen workers are we talking about? All we know is that the lava flow has stopped, so we can't mine or forge anything. But if you didn't know, you'd think the village was facing some kind of devastating disaster!

This wretched, dejected state... He didn't even react to Jumpy. Is he really broken?
“Brother Lin Lin, look…”

Ye Zi gently tugged at Lin Lin's wrist and lowered her voice.

The atmosphere here felt a bit strange, making her too embarrassed to speak loudly.

"Those people are good-looking... um, special?"

Lin Lin then looked at the figure lying on the ground that Ye Zi had mentioned. It looked like an old man, short and fat, like a big potato.

What Ye Zi was referring to as something special was probably the other person's physical characteristics, which were different from those of humans and dragons.

If you say it's human, its hands, which are much larger than those of a normal human, only have four fingers, a characteristic of the dragon race. But if you say it's a dragon race, its ears and calves are no different from those of a normal human. It has neither pointed elf ears nor curved claws, so it looks like a human.

"This is the Earth Dragon race, different from humans and dragons..."

Lin Lin then lowered his voice and offered an explanation.

Yoko blinked. Actually, she hadn't noticed any of this at first. Her focus was more on the other person's imaginatively tied white beard, which looked like a bull's horn sticking up high. Such a novel style was truly unprecedented.

But she still chimed in with one sentence:
"So this is the Earth Dragon Clan. I've never seen them before..."

As the commander stepped forward to try and negotiate, Ye Zi noticed something new and interesting, and quickly tugged at Lin Lin's hand:

"Brother Lin Lin, look over there, is that a processing workshop? It has such a unique design!"

Lin Lin turned his head and saw a huge workshop shaped like a helmeted human head, with a pair of huge bull horns... no, they should be beards tied into the shape of huge bull horns...

Turning his head to look at the old earth dragon lying on the ground, Lin Lin blinked. It really was...

Exactly the same!

"Um, hello? Is this Naguli Village, which is also known as the 'Blacksmith Village'?"

The brigade commander walked towards the old man from the Earth Dragon tribe, his tone tinged with a lack of confidence.

Could it be that they strayed from their route? After all, this place doesn't look like a place for forging at all... He was originally planning to build a ship for the guild to make the journey ahead easier!
"Yes, this is Naguli Village, and I am the village chief... but we are no longer the blacksmith village..."

When questioned, the old earth dragon with the horned beard weakly got up, but his tone was still quite listless.

"Could you tell me what exactly happened? Maybe we can help?"

The brigade commander breathed a slight sigh of relief upon hearing that he hadn't come to the wrong place, but the words "It's no longer the blacksmith village" immediately made his heart jump again.

They came here to gather information and build a large ship. If they can't build a ship now, then their trip will have been in vain.
Therefore, the brigade commander enthusiastically offered to help. Lin Lin twitched the corner of his mouth. Well, it was him who offered to help, but in the end, it was still him and Ye Zi who had to do the work. Of course, Lin Lin only complained in his heart. After all, even if it wasn't for the sake of the plot, if he encountered a village in trouble and happened to have the ability to solve it, he would definitely help.

The village chief of the Earth Dragon Clan seemed to perk up immediately, but then sighed, which puzzled Lin Lin. Logically, shouldn't the other party be quite happy and say, "Then I'll leave this monster to you to hunt"?

"Thank you for your kindness, but the monster affecting the village requires a very strong hunter to deal with it..."

The village chief of the Earth Dragon Clan suddenly paused, because he suddenly saw the huge black monster quietly standing beside Lin Lin not far away. His mind went blank for a moment, and he forgot what he was going to say.

He was completely immersed in the grief of not being able to mine or forge when he fell to the ground, and did not pay attention to the movement around him at all. It was only when the brigade commander came close to him and called him several times that he was awakened.

"If you can make such a powerful monster obey you, you might actually be able to take care of that guy..."

At this point, Lin Lin could no longer stay in the back. He patted Tiao Tiao's head, signaling it to wait a moment, and then walked forward with Ye Zi.

"Hello, village chief. I'm Lin Lin, and this is my partner, Ye Zi. We're both five-star hunters. Leave the monsters that threaten the village's operation to us! Could you please provide some relevant information?"

"Five-star hunter..."

The village chief of the Tulong tribe visibly became excited, but still hesitated a little:
"You guys aren't just stopping in the village for a short rest, are you? A couple of days ago, a group of high-ranking hunters did the same thing. They agreed to help, but then suddenly they rushed off on an airship..."

Lin Lin twitched the corner of his mouth; he roughly knew who the other person was referring to…

"Is that Julius and his group? They were dispatched by the guild to hunt down a monster, and time is of the essence, so they can't stay here. But we're different! We came to Naguri Village to ask you for help in building an airship! How can we not help solve our problem?"

The brigade commander had been listening silently at first, but when he heard the words "airship," his expression immediately changed.

Hey! Don't go overboard! Building an amphibious ship is enough for us. Going straight for an airship seems a bit extravagant, doesn't it? We don't think we're that wealthy, do we?
"Airships? No problem, leave it to us! As long as we can restore the flow of lava and mine ore again, our Naguli Village will be bursting with enthusiasm and we can get it done within half a month!"

The chieftain of the Earth Dragon Clan readily agreed, giving the brigade commander no chance to correct or object. Seeing this, the brigade commander could only cast a helpless glance at Lin Lin, who responded with a thumbs-up.

In the original storyline, the Phantom Troupe first built a ship in Naguri Village and prepared to set off to find Sinard Village. However, they encountered the Black Dragon shortly after setting sail, and the ship ran aground near an island called "Warm Ocean Island" which was inhabited entirely by Elru. In the end, they learned from the village chief that Sinard Village was located high in the mountains and could only be reached by airship. They had no choice but to return to Naguri Village to refit the airship.

Lin Lin has already fought the Black Corrosion Dragon twice, and the top team is chasing after it in an airship to kill it. Moreover, he has Jumpy by his side. Even if they really encounter each other at sea, Lin Lin is confident that he can protect the group and ensure their safety. It is impossible for them to be stranded on Warm Ocean Island due to a shipwreck.

If they were to follow the original route of building ships first and then converting them into airships, they would probably waste a lot of time at sea. It would be better to get it done in one step, convert it into an airship, and fly directly to Xinard Village.

No need to thank me, Commander, it's all I should do.

The brigade commander had no idea that Lin Lin's words contained so many hidden thoughts. Seeing Lin Lin giving him a thumbs up, he was completely oblivious and could only helplessly cover his face and sigh.

My little treasure trove...

"Well then, let me briefly explain the situation!"

The village chief of the Tulong tribe didn't pay attention to the subtle exchange between Lin Lin and the group leader. When he realized that there was a chance to solve the village's predicament, he immediately perked up and excitedly pulled them aside to begin his story.

"Although we still don't know exactly what caused the lava flow to stop, at least one thing is certain: the area where we usually mine ore has been occupied by a ghost frog!"

"Although I'm just a craftsman and quite familiar with processing materials, I'm not so sure about the strength and danger level of monsters. Do you have experience dealing with this kind of monster? Are you confident you can handle it?"

"A ghost frog? That's incredibly experienced!"

This wasn't said by Lin Lin, but by Ye Zi, who had been watching Lin Lin speak eloquently with a smile.

She wasn't just making things up. Although she had never hunted an amphibian monster like a ghost frog before, when it came to familiarity with ghost frogs... come on, she was from Flame Village! She used to often tease the baby ghost frog that Guild Master Hoyono Minoru kept!
I've only ever seen the juveniles before, but now I finally have a chance to see what the adult ghost frog looks like. Is it still as cute as it was when it was a baby?
Lin Lin glanced back at Ye Zi, and roughly guessed what she was thinking. A slight smile curved his lips.
"Indeed, Ghost Frogs are generally rated three to four stars in terms of danger, which we can handle perfectly well."

"Haha, then I'll leave it to you! You are the great heroes of our village!"

"Dad!"

Just as the village chief of the Earth Dragon Clan was so excited that he started dancing around, a very energetic girl's voice suddenly came from not far away. He turned his head to look.

She was a petite girl dressed in the same bright yellow blacksmith's outfit as the village chief, probably less than 160 centimeters tall. She wore a blue hairband on her forehead, and her long, light golden hair was curled into waves at the ends. There were some faint freckles around her nose, but these freckles did not detract from her beauty; on the contrary, they added to her lively and fiery temperament.

The village chief of the Tulong tribe seemed to be a doting father to his daughter; just hearing the girl's voice added a touch of pride to his tone.

"Ha, this is our daughter, Gemma. What do you think? Isn't she full of energy?"

"You big idiot! Dad, something terrible has happened! We've found the reason why the lava flow has stopped!"

Upon hearing that it was an important and serious matter, the Tulong village chief forgot to praise his precious daughter and hurriedly asked, "Tell me quickly, what exactly happened?"

(End of this chapter)