Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 421 In the Name of the Guild
"Eh?"

Upon hearing Sophia's words, Lin Lin quickly took two steps back and carefully examined Tiao Tiao's body.

"It does seem... a little bit bigger?"

Lin Lin wasn't sure if Tiaotiao had really grown up a bit suddenly, or if it was just a misperception stemming from his own subjective thoughts after hearing Sophia's words.

"Jump Jump, do you feel anything?"

"Roar?"

Tiaotiao tilted his head, what... what feeling?
It was just a little stretching, maybe just warming up and getting a little excited?
Jumping around a couple more times, carefully sensing the sensation, it seemed that apart from a more active metabolism and being closer to a combat state, there was no difference.

"It's okay, we'll know once we get back and take the measurements."

Sofia, unwilling to dwell on these issues, took the initiative to suggest something.

The large group of scholars who watched earlier weren't just there for entertainment; they had already recorded Tiao Tiao's physical data, and by measuring it again when they got back, they could naturally compare the results.

Without dwelling on the matter, Lin Lin simply peeled a few scales and shells off the Ghost Frog's body as proof of the hunt, then called Sophia to climb back onto Jumpy's back and set off to check on Ye Zi's situation.

……

Although they were supposed to split up, Lin Lin and Ye Zi weren't actually that far apart. After all, if Sophia's guess was correct, the Shadow Spider stole the stones from the Ghost Frog's nest, so their territories would definitely overlap to some extent.

The ghost frogs that Lin Lin and his group hunted were located almost underground at the deepest part of the entire underground cave, while the Shadow Spider's territory was slightly higher in elevation than the ghost frogs. If you also consider the spider webs it created in mid-air that occupied a large area of ​​space, this "slightly" elevation could be raised by another ten meters or so.

At this moment, Yoko was leading the two cats as they continued to move under the spider web.

Yes, two cats.

After spending some time together, Nial discovered that Yoko was also a very skilled hunter and did not yet have a Palico partner. So she volunteered to let Yoko take her in and teach her to become a qualified hunting cat.

This little black cat does have some talent. Although its physique is a bit weak, it can be made up for through subsequent training and nutritional adjustments. Therefore, Yoko did not refuse. For example, this hunt for the Shadow Spider was to give it some practical training.

The main reason why Date came along was that Lin Lin still had Jumpy on his side. Jumpy would basically just be watching the show anyway, so it was better for it to come and help out on Ye Zi's side. After all, Nia Lu was still inexperienced, and it was a bit worrying that she would face an opponent like the Shadow Spider on her first hunt. With Jumpy here, it could provide backup.

"It's getting hotter and hotter up ahead, meow..."

Nia licked the pads of her front paws, then turned to look at Yoko, her voice tinged with nervousness:

"Boss Meow, I feel like we're almost in lava, meow, the ground here is so hot, meow!"

Well, actually, Niaru was initially hesitant about how to address Yoko. She had heard that some companion cats address hunters as their masters, but according to her own habits, she preferred to call her Yoko-sama. After discussing it, the cat and she decided to just call her "boss" like Lin Lin and Yezao.

"Be careful, meow. According to Gemma's description, that Shadow Spider used a giant rock to block the flow of lava in order to build its nest. This means that the Shadow Spider's nest is located near the lava zone, meow. We may already be very close, meow."

These words were naturally directed at Niaru, since Yoko's experience was no less than hers, and there was no need for Date to remind her like this.

"Meow!"

As they were talking, Nia suddenly cried out in surprise, drawing the attention of Yoko and Date.

Upon closer inspection, it was seen that Nia had stepped on a sticky clump of spider silk, and no matter how hard she twisted her body, she couldn't pull her foot out.

Date was speechless. "I just warned you to be careful, and now you've stepped into a Shadow Spider's trap. Can't you stop dropping the ball so quickly?"

Despite her inner grumbling, Yezao still stepped forward, ready to lend a hand and pull the unfortunate child out of the pit.

It had only taken two steps closer when Ye Zi shouted:
"careful!"

The next instant, a thick strand of spider silk shot out from the spider web above, aiming directly at Niaru, who was stuck in place and unable to move.

However, even faster than the spider silk was Yoko's figure.

She casually tossed down a bottle of dissipation potion, lightly tapped the ground with her long staff, and soared into the sky against the spider silk. With the assistance of the flying insects, she flew directly to the upper layer of the spider web, heading straight to cause trouble for the shadow spider's main body.

The bottle of dissipation potion she had dropped shattered with a bang, spilling its contents onto Nialu, the spider silk trap that had clung to her, and the spider silk that had just adhered to Nialu and was about to pull her into the sky.

With a very faint "hiss," the spider silk that had come into contact with the liquid quickly hardened and became brittle. Then, with just a slight effort, Nia Lu successfully broke free of the silk and regained her freedom.

What an amazing potion, meow...

I only used two ingredients, Bursting Sardines and Enhancer, and it had such amazing effects!
Nia shook herself, getting rid of the excess medicine, her eyes filled with emotion and relief.

Thank goodness for the boss cat, otherwise I might have been caught and eaten by mistake...

"Stop spacing out, meow! Yoko is already fighting with Shadow Spider, meow!"

Date gave a reminder, and then quickly ran towards a rock pillar to the side.

Unlike Yoko, which has both insect rods and flying insects for takeoff and can soar more than ten meters into the air in a flash, Yoko can only struggle to climb up this support in the current situation.

"Meow!"

Nia Lu snapped out of her daze, realizing this was her first time hunting with her boss, and she needed to be alert and not embarrass herself. She quickly followed after her, rushing to the rock pillar and climbing upwards with lightning speed. Compared to Date Palm's large size in Elru, Nia Lu was much smaller and more agile, making her climb incredibly nimble. She reached the upper spiderweb in no time, while Date Palm had only climbed two-thirds of the way up.

"Huh? The spider silk here doesn't stick at all, meow!"

Nia stepped hard on the spider web and found that, apart from the gaps between the meshes, the texture was not much different from the ground. If she had to say, it might be that it was slightly more resilient and slightly less hard.

"Because the shadow spider itself is going to move around on this, meow. If the web-laying silk is sticky, it will get tangled up on itself first, meow!"

The date palm finally climbed up, just in time to hear Nia's sigh, and was somewhat speechless.

"Besides, now's not the time to worry about that. Let's hurry up and go support Yoko-nyan!"

"I know, meow! Date-senpai, you're too long-winded, meow!"

Nia Lu only wanted to test whether she could step on the spider web. After taking two steps to confirm, she ran on all fours toward the center of the battle.

……

If Yoko were to fight this Shadow Spider one-on-one, and had prepared specific items beforehand, she could easily weave a beautiful dance with her dazzling attacks and skillful footwork, reaping the Shadow Spider's life piece by piece without suffering any harm herself.

But now that two cats are fighting together, things are a little different.

Date is alright. Even though close combat isn't its forte and its boomerang throws aren't particularly accurate, it still has the experience of fighting alongside Lin Lin Yezi for so long, so its sense of rhythm is quite good. When Yezi is targeted, it slashes with its cat sword, and when it becomes the target, it retreats and throws boomerangs to wear her down. The coordination between the human and the cat is quite good.

Conya was, after all, a complete novice cat. Even after meeting Lin Lin and learning a lot from Date and Night, the time was still too short. Such a short time was not enough to fully digest and absorb what she had learned, not to mention her thin body. More importantly, monsters like Shadow Spiders were not opponents that a novice should encounter. Even hunters in their novice days would at most fight creatures like Great Jaggi.

In Yoko and Yezakura's opinion, Niaru's fighting style could not be described as having proper strategy; it was more like a chaotic and haphazard attack.

However, none of them meant any blame. After all, it was already quite remarkable that they had the courage to take a step when they first picked up weapons and participated in the hunt, facing a giant monster hundreds of times their size. It was even more commendable that they dared to wield their weapons and attack the monster. Yezao asked herself if she had faced such an opponent on her first time entering the hunting grounds, she could not have performed much better than Niaru.

Once again, Yoko rushed in front of the Shadow Spider and kicked it in one of its eight blue eyes. She flipped over and successfully distracted the Shadow Spider, preventing it from attacking the little black cat beside its legs.

The battle gradually descended into chaos, but Yoko was not in a hurry. Instead, she deliberately slowed down her offensive, calmly dodging the Shadow Spider's attacks while explaining the key points of the battle to Nial.

When should you launch a preemptive attack, when should you dodge, when should you unleash your full power, when should you leave some room for maneuver in your attack, and how should you choose the direction to dodge...?

These things are usually too abstract to be understood, but now that they are in actual combat, they suddenly have a concrete form. Nia felt herself absorbing this knowledge rapidly, little by little, and stopped acting so recklessly. She focused on attacking, and in her dodging and weaving, she was beginning to show some discipline.

Niaru's talent is truly remarkable...

Yoko dodged the Shadow Spider's claw attack with a backflip, and her swirling insect club left a small but noticeable wound on its forepaw, which enraged the Shadow Spider even more.

It suddenly stopped moving and instead let out a loud hiss.

This sudden, unusual movement startled Yoko and the others, who immediately became more vigilant.

Any hunter with a bit of experience knows that if a monster suddenly makes an illogical move during a fierce battle, don't assume it's just acting crazy; it's definitely preparing some kind of deadly weapon you don't recognize.

Just like when a dog-like dragon leader pauses in battle and lets out a long howl, it's calling for its minions; just like when a Zinogre suddenly stops fighting and stands still with a low growl, it's summoning Thunderbugs to enter its super-charged state; just like when a Rathalos with a mate chooses to call for its mate to gang up on it when things go wrong...

—Although Niaru had no experience with this, she wasn't stupid. Seeing Yoko and Date's reactions, she knew she had to be careful.

Sure enough, to their vigilance, the spider web beneath their feet suddenly began to tremble slightly, as if something was constantly approaching them.

Nia, with her sharp eyes, quickly pointed ahead:
"Look over there, meow! A huge swarm of spiders is coming this way, meow!"

A large group of spiders?

Ye Zi took a deep breath, looked closely, and her expression immediately turned somewhat unpleasant.

It wasn't that the situation had suddenly taken a turn for the worse or was particularly serious or dangerous; it was mainly that the sheer number of spiders almost triggered her trypophobia.

Even if the hunter isn't afraid of these giant insects, he'll still feel nauseous!
"These must be the young cats of the Shadow Spider!"

As a large, dark swarm of spiders, like a tidal wave, crawled along the web, seemingly oblivious to the constantly hissing shadow spider, and directly surrounded their location, Date couldn't help but shudder.

"There are too many, meow. If we were submerged in them, even with protective gear, we'd probably be eaten to bits, meow..."

"This guy, didn't he just build his nest not long ago? How come there are already so many larvae..."

Ye Zi gritted her teeth, but no longer hesitated, "Let's retreat for now."

Although she was confident that she could dominate the swarm of spiders with her Horned King Insect Club, and that if she kept swinging her circular slashes, these things might not be able to get close to her, and if necessary she could take off and escape, Nia Lu and Date could not. Moreover, their armor was not as fully enclosed as Lin Lin's. As long as their flesh was exposed, they would definitely be bitten by these spiders and left bleeding profusely.

Another point is that, according to the guild's rules, hunting young beasts is not usually allowed. Although the current number of these young Shadow Spiders is outrageous, Yoko is still a little unsure. What if she kills these things and gets summoned for questioning by the guild knights?
"Sophia, what should we do?"

From the sky, on Tiaotiao's back, Lin Lin also witnessed this chilling scene.

Sophia adjusted her glasses, gazing at the Shadow Spider standing amidst the spider swarm below, and said in a deep voice:
"In the name of the guild, we hereby authorize the extermination of the Shadow Spider swarm!"

(End of this chapter)