Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 457 The Qilin's Lifelong Enemy

(I almost forgot to include a picture of Qilin, so here are two more. I think the My Little Pony version would be quite suitable as the image of a young Qilin.)
The Blue Velociraptor King instinctively felt uneasy. Its open mouth paused for a moment as it looked at the tiny creature that barely reached its knees with suspicion. The aura that made its heart tremble seemed to be emanating from this unassuming little thing.

"Boom!"

A bolt of silvery-white lightning struck down instantly, hitting the ground precisely beside the Blue Velocidrome.

Unfortunately, the little Qilin had only just started practicing and wasn't very skilled at controlling this talent yet.

But this still startled the Blue Velociraptor King. Such overwhelming power had completely terrified the greedy predator. It dared not look at the seemingly harmless white pony in front of it again, and turned to flee in panic, disappearing from the little Qilin's sight in a few breaths.

However, at this moment, the little Qilin had no time to pay attention to the big blue thing. It stared at the ground in front of it, which looked charred after being struck by lightning, and was filled with excitement.

The bad news: the world doesn't seem to be as peaceful as I've always seen it.

Good news: I have the power to protect myself from those ruthless guys.

"Boom!"

Another bolt of lightning struck, but this one was much thicker and brighter than the one summoned by the little Qilin. Amidst the rolling thunder, there seemed to be a faint wail mixed in.

The little Qilin was taken aback. It seemed that it had only summoned one bolt of lightning just now.

"Oh dear~"

A hiss came from behind. The little Qilin turned its head and saw that its mother had caught up with it at some point.

When the little Qilin turned to look at her, the Qilin mother lowered her head and gently touched the little Qilin's tender horn with the thunder horn on her head.

Even among the ancient dragons, the Qilin is the most agile, with strong legs and excellent running ability. It can also transform into lightning and move instantly. How could it not catch up with its own child?

It had spotted the Blue Velociraptor King long ago, but had been hiding in the shadows and hadn't launched an attack immediately.

After all, even ancient dragons are not completely above the natural ecosystem; there are things that can threaten them. Overprotecting the cubs will only raise them into overgrown babies raised in a cradle, leaving them with no ability to resist when faced with a real crisis.

It seems that its offspring have performed very well, successfully awakening their racial talents as expected.

Next, what's needed is consistent practice to master the Thunder as much as possible.

……

Under the guidance of its mother, the little Qilin gradually gained stronger control over lightning and became more and more proficient, while its size quietly increased day by day.

Time flies in the mountains, and the years pass unnoticed as the cold fades. Before they knew it, the little Qilin had grown up and, according to the standards of the Qilin clan, could be considered a sub-adult.

As the baby Qilin grows up, the mother Qilin gradually stops watching over it as closely as before. She intentionally gives the baby Qilin space, allowing it to gradually leave its protection and experience the storms of nature.

If nothing unexpected happens, life will continue peacefully like this. When the little Qilin comes of age, the Qilin mother will leave her child and continue her wanderings around the world. Unlike most Elder Dragons, Qilin is considered by many anthropologists to be one of the most notorious for its nomadic lifestyle among Elder Dragons.

It's not that this is by nature, but rather that I was forced into it.

There's nothing we can do; after all, there's a race like the Golden Lion in this world, one that's brimming with malice and targeting.

With superhuman resistance to lightning, superhuman strength, arms and legs more suited for melee combat than hooves, and a size that, despite not being large for a monster, can still overpower a Qilin by a head... this race uses breaking off a Qilin's lightning horn as a coming-of-age ceremony to activate its inner power...

Admittedly, there are varying degrees of strength among the Golden Lions. Most of the time, the Golden Lions that approach the Kirin are not strong enough to break the Doritos. However, the absolute restraint in their elemental affinity makes it difficult for the Kirin to find an opportunity to leave a fatal wound on any madman who dares to offend the dignity of the Elder Dragon. If you can beat them, there will be no surprise; if you can't, there will be punishment. The Kirin is not stupid. After being entangled with a Kirin a few times, more or less, they will choose to avoid trouble if they can't afford to offend them.

However, the Golden Lion race, which harbors endless malice towards the Kirin, has another characteristic: these monsters, whose minds are filled with nothing but fighting, eating, drinking, defecating, and sleeping, can only exert a tracking ability that surpasses that of the Scoutflies when searching for the Kirin.

Despite its small size, the Kirin has a powerful ability to control lightning, allowing it to hold its own against other Elder Dragons and Elder Dragon-level creatures like the Deviljho. However, it is helpless against the Rajang's overwhelming advantage, and can only run away from it.

This is the fundamental reason why the Qilin has no fixed abode. If it stays in one place for too long, the Golden Lion, which is as sticky as chewing gum, will often come looking for it by its scent.

This time, the reason why the mother Kirin was able to raise her baby Kirin safely to its current state is entirely due to the habitat she chose—the forest where the baby Kirin grew up has a resounding name among hunters: Shuretesen Hill. And not far from Shuretesen Hill is the ruins of an ancient kingdom that was destroyed, known as the Ancient Shurete Kingdom.

The more powerful a creature is, the more it will feel the terrifying pressure that permeates the air as it approaches this area, enough to make its soul tremble. In its fear, it will instinctively stay away from this place.

This aura is like a fateful war; even a mere contact with it can evoke an endless sea of ​​blood and a colossal evil capable of twisting the soul.

When the mother Qilin, who was pregnant with her baby Qilin, accidentally came here, she felt this aura and her first reaction was to flee.

Coincidentally, it happened to be targeted by a powerful golden lion at that time.

Unable to fight back or shake off, this opponent who gave Qilin's mother a huge headache didn't pounce on her for the first time after catching up with her once again.

Under the oppressive, all-pervasive, invisible, and suffocating aura, the Golden Lion stared restlessly at the Qilin Mother for a long time before finally choosing to turn and leave.

At this point, Qilin's mother understood what it meant that the most dangerous place is often the safest place.

It settled on the edge of the ancient ruins of Shuretsen Hill. Although it could feel the terrifying aura, it wasn't intense and was still manageable. The strongest monster that roamed this place was only the fire dragon, Leorius, known as the King of the Sky. Without the endless harassment of the Golden Lion, these days were arguably the most peaceful time the Kirin mother had ever experienced. She was able to raise her cub in peace, and if nothing unexpected happened, she and her child would probably settle here for the rest of their lives.

But accidents often happen unexpectedly.

As the days went by, Qilin's mother felt an increasing unease in her heart, and the oppressive aura that she had become basically used to seemed to be gradually intensifying.

It's as if something that has been sleeping in the ruins of Ancient Shuret is slowly awakening.

This feeling grew stronger and stronger. The mother Qilin was unsure whether it was because the terrifying being itself was gradually awakening, or because its neighbors were two ancient dragons whose occasional lightning had stimulated it. Based on the fact that it would always go to the other side of the forest hill and stay far away from the ruins of the ancient Shureite when absorbing lightning and training the little Qilin, it thought it was more likely the former.

In that case, it's no longer possible to stay here.

The mere presence of that being exuded such terrifying oppression made the Qilin mother very clear that it was not only powerful but also extremely evil. Slaughter and death were ever-present for it, and it was definitely not someone to be trifled with. Once it completed its resurrection, all creatures in the surrounding area would likely suffer.

Must leave.

The little Qilin couldn't understand why its mother was suddenly leaving when they were living peacefully. Based on what it had seen since birth, these creatures should be the most powerful in this area. Even the male fire dragons that always flew over the forest never dared to offend them in the slightest. So what danger was there?
But no matter how unwilling it was, it couldn't change its mother's decision. Helpless, it could only look back longingly at the forest where it was born and raised, and then it took off galloping away.

If Rathalos is the champion of endurance in flight among monsters, able to fly for three days and three nights without rest, then Kirin is the champion of long-distance running among monsters, traversing mountains and valleys and running thousands of miles as easily as eating and drinking.

In contrast to the Rathalos, which needs to hunt to replenish its energy, the Qilin's methods are much simpler and more direct. When it is hungry, it "eats" a bolt of lightning to replenish its energy, and when it is tired, it summons a bolt of lightning to strike its body to relax its muscles and improve blood circulation. Only the mental fatigue caused by controlling lightning for a long time requires them to rely on rest and sleep to recover.

Run, rest, teleport like lightning, and run again...

Since leaving its hometown, the little unicorn's life has been spent almost entirely on endless running. In each new place, it would stay for no more than three to five days, or at most half a month. Sunrise and sunset, tides rising and falling, it could no longer pause among the grass and trees to smell the roses as it had in its childhood.

The little Qilin didn't know where it was going or how much longer it would have to run. It only felt that its body seemed a little lighter since it left Xiuletsen Hill, but this feeling of ease was quickly worn away by the almost endless running.

Finally, when they reached the edge of the continent and could gaze at the boundless blue sea, the mother Qilin let out another urging cry, but the little Qilin was unhappy.

It had had enough of this life. It wanted to stay here, to gaze at the azure sea, to feel the sea breeze on its face, and to have shimmering butterflies land on it to rest...

Looking at her stubborn child, who stood firmly in place, refusing to move as if rooted to the spot, the mother unicorn gazed at it for a long time before finally letting out a sigh.

Countless years ago, it also threw tantrums at its mother in the same way. The stubborn look of the little Qilin now seems to be gradually overlapping with its younger self.

Well, it's already mastered the manipulation of lightning, and I have no more survival skills to teach it. Perhaps it really is time to part ways...

My child, this is our farewell, and I don't know if we'll ever meet again. I hope you are well.

Taking two steps forward, the mother unicorn gently rubbed her neck against her baby unicorn's neck for a moment.

The little Qilin, still angry, huffed and puffed, refusing to respond to such affectionate gestures.

The mother unicorn touched her child's horn with the sharp horn on her head again, then turned around and took two steps.

Not hearing the little Qilin's footsteps following, the Qilin mother turned her head to look at the little Qilin one last time, and let out a reluctant cry.

The little Qilin angrily turned its head away, refusing to look at its mother.

The mother unicorn stopped, lightning crackled from her four hooves, and she shot out like lightning, landing on the sea.

"Crackling"

Blinding lightning crackled and danced. Enveloped in the lightning, the mother Qilin did not sink into the water. Instead, she leaped and flew away as if on land, carrying the thunderclouds above her head. In the little Qilin's eyes, the thunderclouds grew smaller and smaller until they became a tiny dot.

The little Qilin was stunned.

It couldn't understand why its mother would rather abandon it and continue that meaningless long journey.

It felt even more stifled.

So the little Qilin turned its body around, facing away from the sea, and strolled alone among the mangroves growing along the coast.

Perhaps, in its heart, it still held a sliver of hope, hoping that its mother was just putting on an act and would soon return to find it and live here together.

Two months later, a chimpanzee with jet-black fur and a ferocious face like a demon came to them. Only then did Qilin finally understand what its mother had been hiding from by taking it on a nomadic journey.

—As an ancient dragon, the Qilin's intelligence is in no way inferior to that of humans. However, their solitary lifestyle, which they mostly lead, has prevented them from developing their own language. Like most monsters, they can only communicate by using different calls to convey less complex information. This is why the Qilin, who has never seen the Golden Lion, has never been able to understand its mother's intentions.

In that fight, it was beaten quite badly, and the lightning horns that had grown over the years were broken off. It had no choice but to escape by teleporting as lightning.

After the Thunder Horn broke, the Qilin encountered black-haired gorillas several more times. However, when they rushed up excitedly, they found that their target's horn was broken, and they immediately lost most of their fighting spirit. Some even turned around and left, which allowed the Qilin to escape from the constant pursuit and blockade.

(End of this chapter)