Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 452 Is this thunder a divine punishment or a blessing?

The highest point of the primeval forest is not a mountain peak, but a series of huge spines intertwined. Dense dark clouds linger around the skeletons, and lightning often flashes within them.

At that very moment, as the Heavenly Returning Dragon released a large amount of scale powder outwards, the thunderclouds that had been swirling and covering the primeval forest for countless years suddenly surged violently, spreading outwards continuously. In the blink of an eye, they had already enveloped the battlefield between Jump Jump and the Heavenly Returning Dragon.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

A dazzling bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, its bright blue-white light illuminating the area shrouded in black mist. Arcs of electricity leaped and danced in the air, and any dust particles from the raging dragon that came into contact with the lightning were instantly reduced to dust.

Lightning bolts struck one after another, illuminating the previously dark and dusty open space as bright as day. The ground struck by the lightning melted instantly due to the high temperature, forming dendritic crystals. The air was pierced by the terrifying voltage. Even if one was not targeted, the residual charge still made one feel a faint tingling sensation on the skin. It was only because of the helmet that Lin Lin felt his hair would stand on end and turn into an afro.

Another thick bolt of lightning struck down, its instantaneous flash forcing everyone to raise their hands to protect their eyes. When the lightning dissipated and everyone looked up again, they discovered that a creature with a completely silvery-white body had appeared in the open space between them and the Heavenly Returning Dragon.

Its body structure is similar to that of an elf deer, but its neck, back, four hooves, and tail are covered with thick, pure white mane. On its head, there is a sharp horn with spiral patterns. Although it is only a little over four meters long, which is only slightly larger than an elf deer, its body is wrapped in lightning and emits a silver-white glow. Its aura is extraordinary and is in no way inferior to the Heavenly Returning Dragon opposite it.

"When did this guy show up?!"

Ye Zi stared wide-eyed in shock. The way he appeared, which was like teleportation, and the thunder that filled the sky, made her not dare to underestimate him because of his height of just over four meters.

Julius's pupils contracted slightly as the silver-white figure before him gradually overlapped with the figure in his memory, causing the scar on his left arm, left by the electric current, to start to ache again.

(PS: As mentioned earlier, Julius's known battle record is too small, so the author added a personal setting of him defeating the Qilin alone.)
Lin Lin stared at the figure crackling with electricity and slowly exhaled:

"Qilin..."

Sensing the rage in the Qilin's heart, and watching it flick its head and horns to draw down a thick bolt of lightning from the sky, which pierced the body of the Heavenly Returning Dragon like a lightning spear, Lin Lin had completely understood.

No wonder, no wonder the thunderclouds on the top of the primeval forest mountain lingered for so long, no wonder the local Ailu people regarded this place as a forbidden area, and that trespassing would be punished by the heavens, because it was the dwelling place of the Qilin, an ancient dragon that controlled the power of thunder!

The place where they fought the Heavenly Returning Dragon was not far from the mountaintop. It must have been the scales released by the Heavenly Returning Dragon that angered the Qilin, causing it to leave the summit and come looking for them!

Although its vision had not fully recovered, Tianhuilong instinctively sensed the danger and subconsciously leaped to the side, avoiding the center of the lightning spear. Even so, it was still struck by a huge bolt of lightning, leaving a large patch of charred black on its platinum body. Intense electric current surged through its body, causing the muscles on its left wing that had been hit to become numb and sore, leaving it unable to exert any strength for a moment.

"Roar!!!"

Even after completing its transformation, this was still the most severe injury the Heavenly Returning Dragon had ever suffered. It roared furiously and instinctively opened its mouth to spit out a ball of purplish-black energy towards the direction of the Qilin.

The Qilin's attention was completely focused on the Tianhui Dragon. Upon noticing its movements, it nimbly leaped and shifted its position, avoiding the energy ball's path.

However, it did not expect that Tianhuilong, with its still somewhat blurry eyes, squinted and with a thought, the high-concentration Mad Dragon virus compressed into a virus suddenly exploded. Although it did not hit directly, the powerful impact still made the Qilin stagger.

The Heavenly Dragon was able to stand out from the fierce competition with other Black Erosion Dragons, so its combat experience is quite rich. Although it is not yet familiar with the various abilities of its new body, its combat awareness and ability to seize opportunities are by no means inferior. Seeing that the Qilin revealed an opening, it immediately pounced on the figure shining with silver-white light in front of it.

However, it inadvertently overlooked the fact that it had just been struck by a strong electric current, and half of its body was paralyzed and unable to exert any strength, causing its attack to be somewhat delayed. This gave the Qilin a chance to readjust its body balance and successfully dodge the attack.

After a brief exchange, both ancient dragons realized that the other was a formidable opponent and that they could not afford to be careless. They distanced themselves and let out hisses and roars.

"Hush pee pee"

"Roar--"

One said, "Get out of here, you inherently evil white dragon!" The other thought, "You dare to injure me? You've met your end."

Although neither side could understand the other's specific meaning, they could both sense the tension in their shouts. Thus, negotiations naturally broke down, and the only solution was to fight! Let's see who's the best!
Qilin, Tianhuilong, territorial struggle!
This was a clash between two ancient dragons. For a moment, lightning flashed continuously in the sky, thick dragon dust swept in all directions, roars and howls intertwined, and muffled thunderous strikes and the explosions of scales and dust rose and fell one after another. The earth trembled and the sky collapsed. It was as if the two supreme beings were fighting to the very top of the heavens, and even the Great Dao was obliterated.

With the two ancient dragons locked in fierce combat, both Jump and the hunters present became insignificant figures on the battlefield. Facing the lightning bolts striking everywhere and the swirling dragon dust, they had to concentrate all their energy on dodging and had no way to intervene in the battle. They could only retreat continuously.

They managed to escape the aftershocks of the battle by staying hundreds of meters away from the center of the battlefield and using the dense forest for cover.

Julius's expression was rather unpleasant:
"I never expected that a Qilin would inhabit this primeval forest. This mission has been a complete failure..."

Nadia sighed as well, rubbing her temples as if her head was throbbing.

"Not only did we fail to kill that Black Corrosion Dragon, we also caused it to mutate into that form... with such a huge area of ​​scales and the strength to fight a Qilin, this guy is undoubtedly an ancient dragon."

Fabius remained silent, recalling the wings of the Heavenly Returning Dragon from before, feeling that the scales shimmering with white-gold light looked very familiar.

Aiden looked a little dejected:
"Even without Qilin's interference, that Black Corrosion Dragon had already completed its transformation. If Lin Lin and the others hadn't arrived in time with Tiao Tiao, we probably wouldn't have been able to escape from its claws."

Aiden's words reminded Julius, who clutched his chest, stood up, and bowed to Lin Lin's group of two people, two cats, and a dragon:
"On behalf of the entire elite team, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for your assistance. When I return, I will truthfully acknowledge your achievements."

Lin Lin didn't pay much attention to these words of thanks, and simply nodded. His mind was now entirely focused on the Heavenly Returning Dragon he had just encountered.

Julius said their mission had been a complete failure, but Lin Lin thought things might not be as they described.

Admittedly, once the Kirin and the Celestial Dragon started fighting, they were no longer needed on the battlefield. But from another perspective, even though the Kirin was jokingly called the "Shame of Elder Dragons" by players in the game, it was still an Elder Dragon. They had just experienced its lightning strikes up close—absolutely ridiculously powerful. If a hunter were hit head-on, they would likely be instantly reduced to charred remains. The Celestial Dragon, fighting it, would inevitably suffer significant injuries. The Celestial Dragon had just completed its molt and was still unfamiliar with its body's abilities. Moreover, it had already been weakened by the top team before molting, and coupled with the injuries from its battle with the Kirin, the Celestial Dragon was currently at its weakest! With their combined efforts, they might still have a chance to severely injure its opponent.

If they could form a united front with the Qilin and join forces against the Tianhui Dragon, they might even be able to kill it on the spot—but this possibility is really slim. After all, they had never had any contact with this Qilin before, and the two sides were complete strangers (dragons). In addition, because of the Dragon Dust released by the Tianhui Dragon, even the usually mild-tempered Qilin was filled with anger and took the initiative to come to their door. Lin Lin did not think that when the Qilin saw the Jumping Jump, which was of the same origin as the Tianhui Dragon, approaching, it would join forces with them to fight against the enemy, instead of attacking them all together.

"By the way, how did you find us?"

Aiden took a breath, then suddenly turned his head and asked curiously:
"They arrived just in time; we almost got stuck there."

Yoko smiled faintly and pointed to the sky:
"We saw the signal flare and came over to take a look."

Flare?
Aiden recalled for a moment, then was immediately alarmed. He hadn't forgotten that the original intention of firing the signal flare was to call the airship to come and collect the corpse of the Black Corrosive Dragon. Now that the fighting here was so intense, if the airship got close, it might be caught up in the fierce battle and torn to pieces!

Nadia glanced at Aiden's expression and knew what he was thinking. She immediately rolled her eyes and sighed helplessly.
"The Ailus aren't stupid. Seeing the constant thunderstorms and black winds, how could they possibly grit their teeth and rush in?"

At this moment, Nia seemed to sense something, her gaze suddenly shifting to the sky shrouded in thunderclouds, her tone strange:
"No, it seems they really have come, meow..."

Everyone looked in the direction Niaru was looking, and they did see a small dot struggling to approach. It was moving very slowly, and sometimes it even had to retreat a distance, just to avoid the constantly falling lightning.

Nadia: ...

Julius made a decision quickly:
"Send a signal flare first to tell them not to come any closer, and then come to meet us after we have retreated to a safe position."

As he spoke, he turned to look at Lin Lin:
"Would you like to come with us?"

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Lin Lin slowly shook his head, his gaze fixed on the lightning-streaked sky:
"Thank you, but you don't need to."

Fabius vaguely guessed his thoughts, and his expression became serious:

"You're not thinking of...? That's too dangerous."

Lin Lin merely answered a question with a question, but this question undoubtedly confirmed Fabius's conjecture:

"Even if that guy completes his transformation, he shouldn't be removed from the hunting commissions, right?"

"In that case, at most it would just be considered as not strictly following the procedures, and it shouldn't be considered poaching, right?"

This time, not only Fabius, but also Julius, Nadia, and Aiden's expressions changed:
"This... is far too risky..."

"There's no need to work so hard!"

"Quickly try to persuade Lin Lin to be more rational!"

The last sentence was spoken by Aiden to Yezi, but upon hearing it, Yezi merely shook her head slightly, her gaze fixed on Lin Lin, her tone gentle yet firm:
"I believe in Brother Lin Lin! I will stand by him!"

"You! Alas..."

The four members of the elite team all wore complex expressions. In their view, Lin Lin's decision was undoubtedly taking a huge risk to complete the mission they had failed to accomplish, and to make up for their failures and mistakes.

They wanted to stay and fight alongside Lin Lin and the others, but the previous battles had nearly exhausted their strength. Their injuries, which were serious, couldn't be healed instantly with just a couple of bottles of healing potions. The wear and tear on their weapons and the depletion of their ammunition greatly limited their combat effectiveness. At this moment, retreating was the best and only option.

"The guild hasn't fallen to the point where it needs young people to shoulder the burden. If we fail, other high-ranking hunters will come to the rescue!"

Lin Lin sighed:

"I understand, I just want to give it a try."

Finally, Julius gave Lin Lin a deep look:
"Do what you can, retreat when necessary, protect yourselves, you are the future of the guild."

After saying that, he turned around and waved his hand forcefully: "Let's go!"

……

The elite team of four retreated in disarray, while Lin Lin and his group continued to wait quietly on the edge of the battlefield, unaffected by the aftershocks.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared, and lightning dust filled the sky. The roar of battle lasted for nearly half an hour before the relentless lightning strikes finally began to subside.

Lin Lin understood that the time was almost right.

He turned to look at Ye Zi:
"I'll go check it out. You take Tiaotiao and wait outside. Don't come any closer."

He was worried that if Jump Jump went there, the Qilin would regard him as an enemy of the same kind as the Heavenly Returning Dragon. After all, Jump Jump had always been very restrained and had not caused any damage to the ecosystem. The reason he said "basically" instead of "completely" was mainly because he was targeted by the Golden Lion in the volcano. In order to protect himself, he had no choice but to use all his strength to give that guy the Mad Dragon Disease buff.

(End of this chapter)