Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 450 Giant Dragon Egg and Venus Flytrap
This swampy poison pool may appear vast at first glance, but due to the lack of large cover, it doesn't actually take long to fly over the entire swamp.

"what is that?"

As they approached the edge of the swamp, Nia noticed something amiss.

Lin Lin followed the gaze and immediately spotted the location Nia Lu was pointing to—there was no way around it, after all, the scene was just too unusual.

It was an unimaginably huge Venus flytrap, with a single trap-like leaf nearly ten meters long, which was slowly opening and closing. Around the trap-like leaf, a group of flying beetles gathered, and each time the trap closed, it would swallow one or two flying beetles.

When the trap reopened, the swallowed flying beetle had vanished without a trace. But the other flying beetles that had gathered around seemed completely oblivious to this, continuing to circle the giant Venus flytrap's leaves.
"This thing's size is just outrageous..."

In other words, its roots are fixed here and cannot be moved. Otherwise, Lin Lin would even have reason to suspect that this thing could be listed as a hunting commission and become the first plant to be hunted down by hunters.

"Brother Lin Lin, look next to that Venus flytrap!"

Ye Zi glanced at the giant Venus flytrap with suspicion, then her gaze suddenly sharpened, and she pointed to the side next to it.

It was a huge, dark red, oval-shaped object, at least ten meters in diameter, almost blending into the surrounding rocks. From the sky, it was difficult to notice its existence at first glance.

Lin Lin took a closer look. As the hops flew and the angle of observation changed, he discovered that the oval object was not complete. It looked like only about half of it remained. From the broken part, it could be seen that the huge oval object was actually just a thin outer shell.

"This thing... it looks so much like a cat egg!"

The dates murmured to themselves.

"How could that be, meow! That thing is huge; it could easily fit Jumpy in its current size, meow!"

Nia Lu expressed disbelief.

Lin Lin seemed to suddenly realize something, and immediately turned his head to look at the colossal skeleton behind him that blotted out the sky:

"No, this might really be an egg, that guy's egg."

Everyone followed Lin Lin's gaze to the skeleton, and suddenly realized:
"Indeed, it's not surprising that such a huge creature would have such a big egg, meow."

"I just don't know if that egg hatched successfully or died halfway through, meow..."

"It must have hatched successfully, right? It's hard to imagine what else could pose a threat to such a huge creature."

Yoko glanced at the Venus flytrap again, and began to speculate:
"The owner of these skeletons was probably an ancient dragon, wasn't he? That Venus flytrap might have absorbed some of the life energy that leaked out when the dragon egg hatched, which is why it mutated into its current form..."

"Roar……"

Just as everyone was discussing the dragon egg and the Venus flytrap, Jumpy suddenly let out a low growl, warning Lin Lin.

It sensed the presence of the Mad Dragon Virus.

"Not that Black Corrosion Dragon?"

Jumpy let out another soft roar. This virus had a familiar smell, so it must have been spread from that guy, but it definitely wasn't the guy himself.

Lin Lin suddenly realized that, according to the information from Sanhua Ailu, the heavy beetle was infected with the Mad Dragon Disease and ran towards the poison pool. What Jump Jump was sensing now was most likely it.

but……

My gaze swept back and forth from left to right, but I didn't see any large creatures, and the only cover nearby...

Lin Lin immediately focused his gaze on the dark red giant egg:

"Jump, fly over there and see if it's hiding inside!"

"Roar!"

It didn't even need to jump or fly over; it simply roared back with great force, and then there was movement below.

"boom!"

A crescent-shaped pincer suddenly emerged, clamped onto the edge of the dark red eggshell crack, twisted it twice, and forcibly broke off a small piece.

Then, with a powerful flick of its tail, it hurled fragments of the eggshell as projectiles at Jumpy in mid-air.

Lin Lin's gaze was fixed on the giant egg, and he saw the little movements of the crescent moon clearly. Therefore, Jump Jump only flapped its wings slightly to avoid the sneak attack of the hidden weapon, and then swooped down from the sky to pounce on the opponent.

Lin Lin reached out and picked up the dates, while Ye Zi reached out and grabbed Nia Lu. The two of them released the flying insects at the same time, detached from Jump Jump's back, and leaped in the air, avoiding the dark purple swamp on the ground, and landed on the solid yellowish-brown soil.

Fortunately, this is the edge of the venomous swamp; otherwise, they would have had a hard time finding a place to settle down.

Monsters infected with the Mad Dragon Disease usually become insane and aggressive, losing almost all of their already limited rationality. This heavy beetle didn't bother to distinguish whether the Black Erosion Dragon in front of it was the same monster it had sworn an enmity with before. With a roar, it charged towards Jumpy like a heavy tank.

"Don't let it land yet, lure it to normal ground before you shoot!"

Lin Lin couldn't help but remind him that the terrain of this poisonous swamp was too restrictive. If someone accidentally got poisoned, even a large monster wouldn't fare well. If possible, it would be best to prevent Jump from getting poisoned.

Jump was quite obedient. Upon hearing this, it did not confront the heavy beetle head-on. Instead, it used its ability to fly to lure the heavy beetle into launching surprise attacks, gradually moving it away from the poison pool.

Lin Lin and the others couldn't get involved for the time being, so they could only stand aside and observe the heavy beetle. And as they observed it, they actually noticed something was wrong.

"Brother Lin Lin, this beetle seems to be poisoned?"

"Oh right, meow. I remember that heavy beetles aren't very resistant to toxins either, meow! But why would this guy run into this place full of poison, meow?"

"Perhaps he went insane after contracting mad dragon disease?"

"I think it's possible too, meow!"

This heavy beetle clearly lacked the ability of the previous Thousand-Blade Dragon to overcome the virus and reach its limit. After being infected with the Mad Dragon Disease, it was being eroded every day, not to mention venturing into this venomous swamp on its own. In just two or three days, it had become extremely weak. When Jumper finally lured it onto land, no longer dodging but activating its Mad Dragon form to confront it head-on, the weakened empress could no longer act aggressively and was directly suppressed in the head-on collision.

However, the beetle is covered in heavy armor. Its four thick legs protect its abdomen completely, and its pair of front claws guard its head like a solid shield, making it incredibly defensive. Although Jumpy can overpower it, it can't inflict any significant damage on it in the short term.

"Brother Lin Lin, shouldn't we go for it?"

Yoko drew her Insect Glaive, and Niallu, though slightly nervous, quickly followed suit by drawing her own cat sword—while the blacksmith was forging the Shadow Spider Insect Glaive for Yoko, he also used the leftover scraps to forge a Shadow Spider Cat-Pointed Blade for Niallu.

Lin Lin glanced at the battlefield. Although Tiao Tiao was already steadily suppressing the opponent, it seemed unlikely that he could kill him anytime soon. So he nodded.

"Okay, let's go!"

He charged towards the Heavy Beetle, clenching and unclenching his fists, but ultimately abandoned his plan to beat it up with his bare hands like he had done with the Peach-haired Beast King. Instead, he obediently drew his Shield Axe, Zisu, and took advantage of the moment when Jumpy slapped the beetle, leaving it wide open. He then rushed forward and slashed across its eyes, which had turned bright red due to the Mad Dragon Disease, sending a spray of purplish-red blood flying.

Ye Zi followed closely behind. This time, instead of choosing her usual aerial combat, she did the same as Lin Lin and chose to burrow under the belly of the heavy beetle.

There are two reasons. First, I saw it from the sky before. Its back shell is very thick and difficult to break through, while its belly flesh is much softer. Second, I took into account the presence of Jumper. With Jumper participating in the battle, I flying around in mid-air might become a hindrance.

Date followed closely behind Yoko and crawled into the belly of the heavy beetle, waving its cat sword at it. Nia took a deep breath and mustered her courage to follow.

When its soft abdomen was attacked, the heavy beetle instinctively tried to release foul-smelling pheromones from its vents to attack its enemy. But how could Jump give it that chance? Jump slapped it twice, making it stagger again. Although its attack was not very effective against the heavy armor, Jump was strong. Each slap stunned the beetle, constantly interrupting its movements and making it suffer.

Since it failed to drive away the hunters who had burrowed under its belly in the first instance, its fate was already sealed.

"laugh--"

Yoko's Insect Glaive pierced the soft carapace on the abdomen of the Heavy Beetle, with half of its blade embedded inside. Lin Lin sheathed his Shield Axe, took a step forward, and together with Yoko, they grasped the Insect Glaive.

The two exchanged a glance, then exerted their strength simultaneously, pushing the vertical horned dragon staff forward in a powerful charge. The blade, embedded in its carapace, sliced ​​open its abdomen.

"hiss--"

This was undoubtedly a fatal blow to the heavy beetle. Stimulated by the excruciating pain, it unleashed tremendous strength at its physical limit in an instant, managing to break free from Jump's suppression and then staggering as it tried to escape.

Because of the mixture of the Mad Dragon virus and the toxicity of the swamp, the heavy beetle's dark green body fluid also had a hint of purple, and it would make a "hissing" sound when it dripped onto the ground.

Just as Lin Lin was about to command Jump to rush up and finish off the enemy, he noticed that the heavy beetle's body swayed and suddenly changed direction. Originally, it was fleeing in the opposite direction from Jump, but now it was heading towards Jump.

His unsteady gait was as if he had lost his soul, making him look no different from a walking corpse.

"What's going on? It seems to be heading towards that Venus flytrap!"

Lin Lin looked up at the direction of the Venus flytrap, his gaze sweeping over the swarm of flying beetles that seemed trapped in a maze around the leaves and wouldn't leave, as well as the huge, clamp-shaped leaves that were slowly opening and closing. His expression changed.

"Buhou! My new armor!"

Now I understand why this guy went crazy and burrowed into a poisonous pool that he couldn't possibly withstand after being infected with the Mad Dragon Disease. It must have been caused by some kind of attractant released by that giant Venus flytrap! That thing wanted to eat and digest the heavy beetle too!
Lin Lin couldn't stand it. Jumping felt Lin Lin's urgency, so it flapped its wings and pounced on the heavy beetle, which was like a walking corpse, and pinned it to the ground.

The beetle that was pinned down didn't struggle violently; it just moved its feet mechanically, seemingly still trying to get closer to the Venus flytrap. However, the fluids flowing out of its abdominal wound were eroding its life, making it weaker and weaker with each passing second, until it lost the strength to move.

Jumpy raised its claws slightly, and seeing that there was indeed no movement under its wing claws, it couldn't help but turn its head and let out a soft roar in Lin Lin's direction.

"Well done! Jump!"

Lin Lin praised it, then couldn't help but glance at the giant Venus flytrap again.

"Let's hurry up and extract all the materials. This thing is weird and sinister. We shouldn't stay here any longer."

"No problem, I'll do whatever Brother Lin Lin says!"

……

With the two people and two cats working together, they quickly finished extracting the materials from the heavy beetle. Looking at the heavy bag of materials, Lin Lin's mood couldn't help but become much happier.

"Let's take the materials back to the temporary camp first, and then go to the mountaintop to look for them. Maybe we can find traces of that Black Corrosion Dragon."

Just then, a bright green firework suddenly exploded in the distant sky, and Lin Lin's open mouth froze in place.

"It's a signal flare, meow!"

"And it's not a distress signal. Green flares usually indicate safety and can also be used for location tracking, meow."

Coconut also gave Nia a quick lesson on some basic knowledge.

"Brother Lin Lin, shall we go take a look?"

Ye Zi turned to look at Lin Lin.

"Of course!"

"The only hunters we know of in the primeval forest, besides us, are the elite teams that came to hunt the Black Eclipse Dragon. This is most likely the signal they sent. I need to check the situation."

The release of a green flare—could it mean the mission was successfully completed, and the Black Devouring Dragon that was about to molt was eliminated? If so, that would be for the best, but we also need to be wary of the possibility that the other party might take the opportunity to complete its own molt, like in the game's storyline. We'll have to examine the corpse carefully later.

As for autopsy methods, the dangerous wanderer in the Rim of the Pacific has already provided a good example using the ridge-backed turtle.

Because of this signal flare, Lin Lin and his group decisively changed their plans, riding on Tiao Tiao's back and flying straight towards the direction from which the signal flare was emitted.

Along with them, heading towards the location where the signal flare was launched, was a very familiar airship. Lin Lin remembered clearly that when Barbare was fighting against Haoshanlong, Julius and his group had come to provide support in this very airship.

It really was Julius and his group!
(End of this chapter)