Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 453 Broken Horn
"Boom!"

Lin Lin was using the ravaged trees, now reduced to mere wreckage, as cover to quickly approach the center of the battlefield when a faint white light suddenly appeared on the ground beneath his feet, accompanied by a series of tingling sensations.

Seeing this, Lin Lin didn't think twice and immediately rolled forward. Almost as soon as he finished his movement and got up, a bright silver-white lightning bolt descended from the sky and struck the spot where he had just landed.

Sparks flew everywhere, the ground was instantly charred black, and a peculiar, metallic smell filled the air—the smell of ozone formed when oxygen was subjected to a high-energy electric current.

Lin Lin took a deep breath. Fortunately, there was a faint flash of light on the ground. Although he only had about half a second to react, he could at least predict where the lightning would strike. Otherwise, given the excellent conductivity of his Transforming Ice Shark suit, he would have been turned into charcoal by this "family member" once he was hit. The hunter's language pronunciation of Qilin was exactly the same as the Chinese pronunciation of his name, so it was not unreasonable to call him a family member.

When the Qilin fought the Tianhuilong before, Julius, who had fought the Qilin before, briefly and quickly told them some information about the Qilin. The most important thing was the way the Qilin controlled lightning strikes.

Based on the faint flashes of light that appear on the ground before lightning strikes, some scholars have deduced that the Qilin uses some method to condense a large amount of electrical charge on the ground, drawing lightning down from the sky, thus achieving precise control over the lightning's landing point—and this is the greatest advantage hunters have when facing Qilin attacks.

'Am I being targeted?'

Lin Lin subconsciously thought this, but quickly shook his head and rejected the conjecture. First, he had not yet appeared in Qilin's sight. Second, after the first lightning bolt struck, there were no more lightning bolts chasing after him. It was just a lightning bolt that Qilin accidentally missed.

However, the fact that it could deviate so far suggests that Qilin's condition is not very good at the moment, and its ability to control lightning has declined as a result.

It seems that even among ancient dragons, the Qilin's uniquely small size puts it at a significant disadvantage when fighting opponents of the same level.

Lin Lin glanced back at the land that had melted and crystallized under the lightning strike, took a deep breath, and continued forward.

Although there was still thunder in the sky, compared to the grand scene at the beginning where the earth changed color and the mountains were covered with silver snakes, the thunder was now much sparser, which was enough to prove that the Qilin was weakening at this moment.

However, when Lin Lin returned to the battlefield after dodging the aftershocks of various attacks, he discovered that things were slightly different from what he had expected.

The Qilin pawed restlessly at the ground, exhaling white mist from its mouth and nose. Large patches of its scales were broken, and bright red blood dripped down, staining its pure white mane crimson, making it look quite pitiful.

But the Heavenly Returning Dragon opposite it didn't seem to be much less injured than the Qilin. One of its wing claws had a gaping, bloody hole, seemingly pierced by the Qilin's azure horn. Its once pristine white-gold body, enhanced by molting, had largely reverted to its former jet-black color. However, this black wasn't a regression to the Black Eclipse Dragon, but rather a charred black caused by being bombarded by a powerful electric current… Hmm, it smelled burnt. Who knows how many times it had been struck by lightning…

It has to be said that the ancient dragon's vitality is really tenacious. After being baptized by lightning, most flying dragons would have been unable to withstand such severe injuries, but this Heavenly Returning Dragon was still able to stand up and let out a loud roar at the Qilin.

A brief silence fell over the battlefield as the two ancient dragons silently sized each other up, reassessing the threat posed by the other and considering whether the conflict was worth the price of serious injury to continue fighting, or whether they should turn away, bow their heads, and admit defeat.

The two stared at each other for a long time, and in the end, it was Qilin who first decided to retreat. The continuous summoning of lightning in the battle had greatly depleted its stamina. Although the Tianhui Dragon opposite it was also in bad condition and rarely used its scale powder breath anymore, if they continued to fight, they would have to enter the stage of physical combat. Qilin was well aware of its own strength. Its body was indeed considered weak among the ancient dragon species, and it would definitely not be able to defeat its opponent at that time.

We have no choice but to give up this place of refuge...

The Qilin shook its head, snorted, and felt a little regretful.

Ultimately, I am not strong enough to repel this powerful enemy. If I allow this guy to scatter those ominous scales here, it won't be long before this place becomes a wasteland...

During its years living in the primeval forest, although it spent most of its time on the mountaintop, it would often restrain its energy and wander around the area. Few particularly ferocious monsters appeared here, and it was mostly peaceful. The Qilin liked this place very much and did not want it to become a barren land devoid of life.

Just then, its gaze suddenly shifted slightly as it noticed a figure behind the Heavenly Returning Dragon.

What is that? How dare he trespass into the battlefield of two ancient dragons? Isn't he afraid of dying?
The Qilin did not believe that the creature, which was smaller than itself, could be very strong. In nature, big does not always mean strong, but small often means weak.

The Qilin hesitated for a moment, and did not leave immediately. Instead, it adopted a guarded posture, glancing at the figure with its eyes.

It has always had a good temper and likes creatures with similarly gentle temperaments. It concealed its aura and, when wandering around the primeval forest, liked to mingle with those small creatures, because small creatures are usually weak, and weak creatures are often more gentle in temperament—it wanted to see what that figure was up to, and if possible, it didn't want the other party to die a miserable death in front of it.

Tianhuilong keenly sensed the change in the gaze of the silver-white ancient dragon opposite it, but the creature before it was a formidable enemy with considerable intelligence. It worried that this was a trick to lure it back to observe and then launch a sneak attack, so it kept its gaze fixed on the Qilin.

Then, it heard what sounded like metal scraping behind it, a somewhat familiar sound that immediately brought back some unpleasant memories.

It immediately turned its head and looked over, and then saw a huge battle axe sweep across the ground in a crescent-shaped arc, crashing down heavily. Because of its turn, the axe struck it squarely on the forehead.

If it weren't for its hardened tentacles, which had become hardened horns, blocking the axe blade, this axe strike would have directly cleaved its head in two, causing it to bleed profusely.

Even so, the axe's powerful attack still caused its head to slam down hard, and a small nick appeared on one of its horns from the sharp blade.

The one who attacked from behind was Lin Lin. He cautiously approached the battlefield, and after carefully confirming that the Kirin had not shown any hostility towards him after discovering him, he stealthily crept behind the Tenkai Dragon and seized the opportunity to unleash this powerful attack without the energy bottle exploding. Since the shield axe was not yet refilled with energy bottles when he attacked, this powerful attack did not require immediate disassembly to avoid overheating. In addition, with Lin Lin's current strength, he would not be exhausted after using a powerful attack.

Therefore, when the axe fell, Lin Lin did not disassemble the shield axe as usual. Instead, he stretched his body into a large bow and swung the shield axe, which had been swung to the right, back with even more force. With a whistling sound, it slammed heavily into the head of the Tenkai Dragon, which had been lowered.

Caught off guard by the sudden ambush, the Heavenly Dragon was clearly caught off guard. Faced with the returning golden giant axe, it only had time to turn its head and use its hard horns to block the attack.

This attack, having incorporated the residual force from the previous Super Release, contained three times the power of the Super Release. If the bottle explosion is not considered, it was even close to the force of the swing and slam during the Super Release.

"Clang!" "Crack!"

The heavy blow landed on the steel horn, and the recoil was equally tremendous. Even with the protection of his armor, Lin Lin's hand instantly split open, and the flowing blood soaked the handle of his shield and axe, turning it bright red.

However, a smile appeared on Lin Lin's lips, because he clearly saw a conspicuous crack on the dragon horn that the Heavenly Returning Dragon used to defend itself.

The crack clearly caused the Heavenly Returning Dragon considerable pain. It let out a painful roar, staggered backward, and stared intently at the attacker's figure with its orange-red eyes.

He was dressed in full blue and white heavy armor, holding a huge axe more than three meters long. He was unfamiliar, but the aura he exuded and the pain from the falling axe were so familiar.

"Roar!"

Tianhuilong let out an angry roar. The wing claw that had been pierced through by the Qilin's sharp horn trembled involuntarily. Compared to the other wing claw, this wing claw was missing a finger. It was because of the missing finger that it was able to be attacked by the Qilin with its horn during the battle just now. And the culprit that cut off its finger was the guy who ambushed it in front of it!

As the saying goes, enemies are especially hateful when they meet. Tianhuilong roared angrily and slammed its intact wing claw heavily towards Lin Lin.

However, the momentary surge of anger made it forget that Lin Lin was not the only one fighting it.

"Boom!"

Another dazzling silver-white lightning bolt struck down, the intense current instantly interrupting the Heavenly Returning Dragon's movements. Its wing claws rose in mid-air but failed to fall, instead affecting its balance, causing it to stagger from the lightning strike.

Lin Lin was originally prepared to use Wirebug to create distance and dodge the attack, but he didn't expect his "own family" to provide such a timely assist. Of course, he couldn't let such a good opportunity pass him by. He strode forward with his shield axe in axe form and swung it down at the head of the Heavenly Dragon.

"Crack!"

A powerful electric current surged through his body, making it difficult for Tianhuilong to move. He could only close his eyes and once again use the steel horn on his head to take the axe blow head-on.

Its dragon horns, already cracked from being cleaved, were now struck again by the heavy axe, widening the cracks considerably. The once-hard dragon horns now appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

Tianhuilong finally realized the unfavorable situation. A single Qilin was already an opponent it had to be prepared for. Now, with the addition of Linlin, who had once fought it to a standstill, if it continued to fight here stubbornly, it might very well perish!
It has just completed its metamorphosis and hasn't even returned to its homeland to sow the seeds of life yet. How can it fall here!

It immediately let out a low growl, which can be considered as showing weakness to the Qilin. Generally speaking, unless it is a predator-prey relationship, monsters will not fight to the death. It is enough to determine a winner. At this moment, it showed weakness to the Qilin, and the Qilin did not attack it again. Well, it is possible that the Qilin was in too poor condition and did not have the strength to continue attacking.

It flapped its wings, wanting to take off and get away from here, but Lin Lin risked being caught in the crossfire of the battle between the two ancient dragons to come here, just to keep it here. He was determined not to let it leave so easily. His hands kept moving, and with a double attack, he swung his shield and axe horizontally at the Heavenly Dragon, still aiming for its head.

"Crack!"

The Heavenly Dragon could have used its wing claws to block the attack, but that would have interrupted its attempt to take flight and escape. Therefore, it had no choice but to endure the pain and use its horn to withstand the attack once again.

After being struck repeatedly, the newly grown ancient dragon horn could no longer withstand the blows. The crack suddenly spread and then split open, the entire horn breaking off at the root and flying away in a whirl.

Tianhuilong, enduring excruciating pain, flapped its wings with all its might, soaring into the sky and rapidly shrinking in Lin Lin's field of vision.

Unexpectedly, even breaking the horn couldn't bring the other plane down. By the time Lin Lin tried to pull out a flashbang to force it down, the Heavenly Dragon had already flown out of the range of the flashbang. Lin Lin could only helplessly watch it fly further and further away.

'This guy must be heading to Sky Mountain, right? Looks like I need to get the captain and the others moving as soon as we get back; we can't give it time to recover from its injuries…'

Lin Lin's gaze fell on the disassembled shield and axe, his eyes flashing as he looked at the dark red bloodstains on it.

Speaking of which, isn't this ancient dragon blood? If I lick it, could I resonate with that guy and then accurately sense its location?
Just as Lin Lin was about to act on his impulse, he suddenly felt a bright gaze fall upon him—it was the gaze of the Qilin.

(End of this chapter)