Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 461 Departure, Destination: Xinaer Village!
Jiangbo Village.

The once vibrant and rapidly developing Jiangbo Village inevitably stagnated after the arrival of the Steel Dragon. And since another airship crashed yesterday, bringing another piece of bad news with the arrival of four wounded hunters, the sunny sky above Jiangbo Village seems to be shrouded in dark clouds.

The trouble caused by the steel dragon has not yet been resolved, and now a new ancient dragon has appeared. Thanks to it, the wave of the Mad Dragon Virus may soon reach Jiangbo Village.

While the villagers were filled with anxiety because of the news, the big-nosed village chief of Jiangbo Village stepped forward and gave a clear and organized response, which calmed the people down.

First, they shortened transportation routes, temporarily abandoning land transportation and relying entirely on sea transport. Second, they urgently mobilized villagers to set up defensive works near the village, emulating the example of Dongdoruma, and cleared a ring of combat streets around the village. Third, they issued a commission, asking the village hunters to go into the wild to investigate the situation and deal with as many berserk monsters as they could. Fourth, they reported the news to the Hunter's Guild and waited for the guild to send elites to provide support.

With their leader in charge, the villagers seemed much calmer. Although they still had a hint of worry on their faces, they were not as fearful as they had been at the beginning.

Julius stood in front of the commission wall at the village entrance, his face slightly pale. His gaze swept over the village chief of Jiangbo Village, who was giving a speech to reassure the villagers, before landing on the commission wall in front of him. He slowly reached out his hand, seemingly intending to accept a commission from inside.

"Hey! Don't be so reckless!"

A hand reached out and grabbed Julius's wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

Julius turned his head and saw the familiar face of the burly man, his cold expression softening slightly.

"Slaying that Black Corrosion Dragon was originally my mission, and now that it has turned into that white-gold form, it is entirely my responsibility."

"Even though my injuries haven't healed yet and I can't challenge it again, there are still other things I can do."

It was clear that Julius felt very guilty about the failure of this mission, and his sense of guilt drove him to do something for the village that had been affected by his failure.

Kevin looked at his longtime rival and slowly shook his head:

"Forget it, you should just stay in the village and recover from your injuries. Leave the reconnaissance missions to us."

Julius glanced at Kevin silently for a couple of seconds, then changed the subject without arguing with him.
"You don't seem worried about your disciple at all?"

Kevin grinned:
"Of course, that kid is very different from us old guys. Perhaps he can't compare to me in terms of combat experience and skills, but he's not fighting alone."

With Tiaotiao around, he wasn't worried at all. Even if he couldn't beat the enemy, escaping wouldn't be difficult.

Just then, a large bronze gong erected at the edge of the village was struck, its deep sound extremely penetrating.

Kevin and Julius's expressions turned serious, and they quickly ran towards the edge of the village.

This alarm only sounds when a large monster gets close! I can't believe a monster is already attacking just one day later!

Not long after, a dark figure appeared in the sky above Jiangbo Village, slowly descending with flapping wings. Its enormous size filled the villagers who watched it with fear.

Kevin and Julius, who were originally prepared for battle, breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the dark figure clearly, and their tense bodies relaxed.

There was no other reason than that they had clearly seen the figure riding on the back of the giant dragon.

As the dragon descended, the non-combatants had already moved far away. Some able-bodied men carrying pitchforks wanted to help, but they were persuaded to leave by the others. Only Tolo, Kevin, and the four hunters from the elite team who had rushed over upon hearing the news remained in the village. Rickres and Rachel had gone out of the village to investigate the situation and were not in the village at the moment.

Tolo drew his one-handed sword, ready to engage in battle, but when he turned around, he was slightly taken aback to find that no one else was drawing their weapons except for himself.

So he looked up again and carefully examined the dragon's body. Finally, he noticed something was wrong, and his expression gradually changed from tense to bewildered.

Am I hallucinating? Why do I see two people and two cats sitting on the back of this black dragon?

"call--"

Lin Lin hopped back to the ground, flipped off, and looked around at the lavish welcome he was receiving. A slight twitch appeared on his lips.
"Sorry, I was in a bit of a rush and accidentally went too far, which startled the villagers..."

Julius immediately stepped forward and got straight to the point:
"How is it? What's the situation? Can you confirm the whereabouts of the Black Corrosive Dragon and the Qilin?"

Lin Lin nodded and looked around:
"Well, I guess it can still be considered good news."

Julius visibly breathed a sigh of relief, and so did the other three members of the elite team.

Fortunately, nothing irreparable happened; otherwise, this failure would likely have become a permanent source of pain for them.

"They were evenly matched, but I intervened in the battle and the result was that the Heavenly Dragon was driven away from the native forest, while the Qilin was also seriously injured."

"Heavenly Returning Dragon?"

Aiden kept repeating the name.

Lin Lin realized that since Tianhuilong was appearing in the guild's view for the first time and didn't have a name yet, he added:
"Do you remember that ancient book I mentioned before? I named the Black Eclipse Dragon after the one that had completed its transformation based on the information in it."

Kevin was puzzled and about to ask when Julius stopped him and whispered:

"I'll tell you later, let's find out the situation first."

"Then, taking advantage of the Qilin's injury and weakness, a mad dragon transformed into a golden lion appeared on the battlefield, trying to forcibly break off the Qilin's horn."

Based on the size of the mad dragon-transformed golden lion and some chaotic thoughts, Lin Lin could basically confirm that this was the same golden lion that attacked them at Mount Eld. The mad dragon disease on the lion was most likely caused by Jump Jump, but there was no need to reveal this unimportant information.

"The guild has given special permission that once a monster that has turned into a berserk dragon is discovered, it should be hunted down immediately if possible. The procedure can be supplemented later, so I took action against that golden lion and rescued that kirin while I was at it."

Kevin frowned. He felt that Lin Lin had used euphemisms in his words. Why did it seem like this kid only attacked the Golden Lion to save the Qilin?
However, thinking back to the associations he had when he first found Lin Lin and heard his name, Kevin suddenly felt relieved—legend has it that the Qilin will raise abandoned human orphans, and it is said that the method of making one-handed swords using Qilin materials was passed down from a "Qilin child".

Is there a problem with a child raised by a Qilin rescuing it when it's in danger? No, it's perfectly reasonable.

"There's no need to go into the details of the battle. In short, the result was that the Mad Dragon-Transformed Golden Lion was successfully defeated. I also managed to build a good relationship with that Qilin. It will clear out the monsters in the primeval forest infected with the Mad Dragon Disease due to the scales scattered by the Heavenly Returning Dragon, so there's no need to worry about any ecological chaos there." Fabius was about to ask Lin Lin how he knew the Qilin would do this, but after glancing at Jump Jump, who stood behind Lin Lin like a guardian angel, he fell silent again.

If even such a massive monster can become a partner, what's so strange about this kid knowing this?

Just then, Lin Lin noticed Tolo, who looked dazed and seemed to be in a very worrying mental state, and couldn't help but ask him with concern:

"Brother Tolo, are you alright?"

When his name was called, Tolo seemed to finally return to his senses, snapping back to reality with a start. He glanced at Lin Lin, then at Tiaotiao:

"what is happening?"

Isn't this clearly a captured monster?
Lin Lin looked puzzled:
"Didn't I tell you back then, brother? Jumpy is my partner."

Back then, didn't you look like you completely understood? I thought you had a strong heart and accepted it instantly...

Tolo's stopped brain worked for a moment, then he remembered that there seemed to be such a thing, and could only give a dry laugh.

I thought you were just making a joke I didn't understand, who would have thought it was actually true...

After explaining the situation concisely and clearly, Lin Lin breathed a slight sigh of relief. He had noticed while he was on Tiao Tiao's back that Jiangbo Village now seemed much more tense than when he first arrived, mostly because of the news of the Heavenly Returning Dragon brought back by Julius and his group.

Therefore, upon landing, he did not rush to find the commander and the others, but immediately prepared to set sail for Xinard Village. Instead, he first explained the current situation.

After seeing that everyone's expressions relaxed, Lin Lin waved his hand:

"That's the situation. Nothing should happen in the primeval forest right now. The only thing we need to be careful about is the Heavenly Returning Dragon."

He continued to use fictitious ancient books as an excuse to reveal information:

"According to that ancient book, after the Heavenly Returning Dragon finishes molting, it will scatter a larger amount of scale powder than the Black Eclipse Dragon. New Black Eclipse Dragons will be born from the bodies of monsters that die from the disease caused by the Heavenly Returning Dragon. This will completely reshuffle the ecology of the place where the Heavenly Returning Dragon is located."

"Even putting that aside, our numerous battles and chases have filled that creature with hatred for humans. Once it spots humans, it will certainly attack without hesitation. Therefore, for both public and private reasons, we must eliminate that creature as soon as possible."

Kevin shook his head: "You kid... that's true, but we don't even know where that guy is, how are we going to take him down?"

During the battle, through sensing the thoughts of the Heavenly Dragon, Lin Lin clearly knew that the creature's thought when it retreated was "not yet returning to its homeland to sow the seeds of life." Therefore, it can be basically confirmed that its destination is the forbidden area of ​​Sky Mountain, just as in the original story. However, knowing this is one thing, explaining it reasonably is another.

Just as Lin Lin was racking his brains to come up with an excuse, a voice interrupted his thoughts:
"The Lord of Reincarnation... he actually appeared! I never imagined the legends were true..."

Turning my head, I saw the big-nosed village chief walking over.

Clearly, he had overheard the conversation between the hunters.

Lin Lin's eyes lit up. Hey, here comes the excuse!
Nadia bowed slightly. "May I ask, Village Chief, what is the legend you spoke of?"

The big-nosed village chief carefully scanned Tiao Tiao's body before explaining:

"It's like this, in my hometown of Xinaer Village, there's a legend..."

None of the hunters present were fools; they quickly connected the so-called legend with their own experiences:
"So, the Heavenly Returning Dragon already existed a thousand years ago?"

"You can think so."

"In legend, our ancestors also left a prophecy that when black evil winds surge down from the top of the sky again, it will be the time when the gods return."

"So, in my opinion, now that a new Heavenly Dragon has been born, we might as well go to Sky Mountain and take a look. Maybe we can find some clues."

The big-nosed village chief paused, then turned his gaze to Lin Lin, his tone becoming earnest:

"Excuse me, I overheard part of your conversation. May I take a look at that ancient book you mentioned?"

Lin Lin: ...

Sorry, little cream puff, you'll have to take the blame again!
"I'm sorry, that book was burned in a fire a year ago, and I can only recall it from my memory."

A flicker of disappointment crossed the big-nosed village chief's eyes, but his expression remained unchanged; he simply smiled.
"That's a real shame."

……

With the endorsement of the former abbot of Xinard Village, Lin Lin successfully persuaded the brigade commander to set off immediately. However, this time, an airship followed them alongside the Isana.

That's an airship belonging to a top-tier squadron.

Kevin originally wanted to call on Rachel and Rickles to help his apprentice, but there was a huge threat of a steel dragon in the dense forest near Jiangbo Village. The village didn't have enough fighting power, so it was too dangerous. Helpless, he could only silently wish Lin Lin and his group a good victory.

The sea is vast and boundless; even an airship would need to fly for several days to find the location of Sinard Village.

Meanwhile, on the Isana, in the blacksmith's cabin, the furnace fire never stopped burning all day long.

After all, they were about to face a real ancient dragon head-on. To ensure the safety of the hunters in the guild, the blacksmith was working hard to finish Lin Lin's armor before they arrived at Xinard Village.

The defensive capabilities of his Transformation Ice Shark suit are no longer sufficient for this level of combat. On the other hand, Yoru's current armor, crafted from the ultimate Thousand Blade Dragon material, is comparable to Ancient Dragon equipment in terms of defensive capabilities.

(End of this chapter)