Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 483 Shion and Chacha

The cat in the coat frowned as it gazed at the islands below. The emerald green islands were set against the azure backdrop, looking quite beautiful.

Everything was calm and peaceful; there was no sign of danger at all.

Moreover, the situation across the entire continent is currently very tense, and there is a severe shortage of hunters who can provide support in various regions. Recalling those two hunters as soon as possible can alleviate the situation to some extent.

"If we take a detour, how much more time will it take us?"

The cat in the coat turned to look at the navigator.

"Conservatively speaking, it will take about one or two more days of flight time."

The cat in the coat looked away.
"Then let's not go around in circles; we don't have much time."

The navigator opened his mouth, wanting to offer more advice, but when he met the anxious look in the coat-cat's eyes, he helplessly shut his mouth.

"Alright, let's speed things up and get through this area as quickly as possible."

At the navigator's signal, a rumbling sound came from the airship's fuel tank, propelling the vessel forward with increased power.

Instead of returning to the cabin, the cat in the coat stood at the bow of the ship, constantly looking around.

It wasn't acting unilaterally. Since the navigator had indicated that the area might be dangerous, it was necessary to be prepared. So it called out Celestina, who was resting in the cabin.

With hunters around, they won't be completely helpless even if something unexpected happens.

Time passed by, and the journey was calm. The crew members were initially on edge and vigilant, but the lack of incidents gradually made them relax. Even Celestina, who had been called out by the coat cat to keep watch, couldn't help but yawn.

"It feels like another false alarm..."

The coat cat disagreed, and it glanced around:
"Something feels off... Maybe taking a detour is a better option?"

The navigator had warned it that this sea area would be dangerous, and it had expected to encounter many monsters along the way. It was even prepared to be harassed by several flying dragons in succession. However, the current situation, which was calmer than the known safe routes, made it feel deeply uneasy.

Hearing what the cat in the coat said, Celestina straightened her helmet, looked around again, and was about to speak when her gaze suddenly stopped. Her instincts, honed over a long period of hunting, made her realize something was amiss.

"Wait a minute, something's definitely not right. It's too quiet here!"

There were no birds or pterosaurs in the sky, and no fish leaping out of the water to create splashes. The sea was calm without any wind, and the waves were barely noticeable.

This area looks like it's dead, completely devoid of life.

Upon discovering this, Celestina's instincts kicked in and she frantically warned that this so-called high-risk area was probably actually the location of some powerful being!
It seems their strategy of increasing engine speed to traverse the area at top speed was completely flawed! The roar of the engines was more likely to attract the attention of that unknown entity!
"Slow down! Increase altitude!"

Celestina's shouts puzzled the navigator, but the urgency and seriousness in her tone clearly indicated that she was not joking, and the navigator immediately relayed her instructions.

"Did you find anything?"

After doing all this, he turned to the only hunter on the ship.

Celestina had just nodded, preparing to voice her speculation, when suddenly her heart skipped a beat, her hair stood on end, and without thinking, she lunged forward, knocking the navigator and the cat in the coat to the ground.

Almost at the same moment, a thick beam of red light shot out from below, almost grazing the bottom of the airship before piercing through the clouds in front.

Almost the exact same scene played out again in this sea area, just one day and one night later.

Feeling the airship tremble violently, Celestina quickly got up, and shouted at the top of her lungs:

"We've been spotted! Slowing down won't help! Speed ​​up and get out of this area!"

The violent shaking of the airship did cause the crew to panic for a moment, but Celestina's voice that followed immediately gave them a sense of security and told them what to do.

"Quickly, get back to the cabin and prepare for the impact!"

Celestina left a message for the Coat Cat and the navigator, then immediately rushed to the ship's side, looked down, and quickly pinpointed the approximate location of the attack based on the angle of the thick laser beam.

It was a completely empty sea.

The attackers are likely lurking beneath the seawater.

It seems there's been no movement. It looks like that terrifying attack just now must have taken a toll on it, and it probably won't be able to unleash it again anytime soon.
Celestina was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when her pupils contracted and she blurted out:

"Damn it, he's coming again? Change direction now!"

However, given the airship's clumsiness, by the time it saw the attack being launched and tried to maneuver to evade it, it was clearly too late. The crimson laser pierced right through the airship's hull and the gasbag on top.

Celestina watched the laser beam hurtle towards her, having already resigned herself to death in despair, until she realized that the airship had been pierced and was drifting diagonally downwards.

That thing couldn't continuously fire lasers of the same terrifying intensity as the first one in a short period of time. Once it was hit, it was powerful enough to pulverize an airship into dust. But if it missed the first shot, it wasn't without other means to continue attacking, such as the laser that was much thinner but still powerful enough to easily pierce through an airship.

The airship was tilting uncontrollably. Celestina gritted her teeth, scrambled to the position where the heavy ballista was fixed, took out a flashbang, tied it to the bolt, pressed the bolt into the groove, aimed at the sea area where the laser had just been fired, and pulled the trigger.

"Whoosh!"

The hinge loosened, and the immense power propelled the crossbow bolt, sending it hurtling towards the sea from which the attack had originated.

Celestina's eyes were fixed on the movement of the crossbow bolt, praying that it would have the desired effect and stop it from continuing its attack on the airship.

While such a penetrating wound would be a severe blow to an airship, a skilled pilot could still make an emergency landing. However, another hit would likely shatter the airship into pieces, sending everyone crashing into the sea to feed the fish—or perhaps, the very creature that launched the attack. In the blink of an eye, the crossbow bolt arrived from a distance of nearly a kilometer.

Celestina stared wide-eyed at the surface of the water.

The next moment, a dragon head made entirely of bones suddenly emerged from the water, and with a gentle headbutt, it easily interrupted the final momentum of the crossbow bolt.

"Snapped!"

Upon impact, the flashbang attached to the arrow shaft was activated, bursting out with intense light.

Become!

Celestina waved her hand forcefully, and she clearly saw the skeletal dragon head being flashed by the bright light. This definitely worked!

However, her smile froze completely on her face the moment it appeared.

Because the dragon head seemed unaffected, it merely glanced in the direction the airship had crashed before lowering itself into the water, seemingly searching for the crossbow bolt that had fallen into the water, and appeared quite curious about the thing that had just emitted a bright light.

Almost at the same moment that dragon head disappeared into the water, another dragon head, also made of skeleton, emerged from beside it, its scarlet eyes fixed on the airship, its mouth slightly open.

After a brief pause, a thin laser beam shot out again, accurately striking the teetering airship. Two intersecting penetrating wounds completely destroyed the airship's structure, causing it to disintegrate in mid-air, turning into a firework, rags, planks, and debris flying everywhere.

Perhaps, the only saving grace is that these two attacks only destroyed one airship, and none of the crew members were directly hit.

Celestina felt her body plummeting downwards with nowhere to attach to it. The only thing she could do was cling tightly to the heavy ballista in front of her, which had detached from its base as the airship collapsed.

"Oh!"

"Wow!"

……

"Wow!"

Suddenly, water splashed on the calm surface, and a wet head popped out.

She reached into her mouth and took something out, gasping for breath. It took a full two minutes for her breathing to return to normal.

"Tsk, this thing is actually pretty useful!"

Ziyuan shook the thing off forcefully, put it back in her mouth, and was about to plunge into the water again.

"Investigate! Investigate, click!"

Beside Ziyuan, a small creature with tea-green skin and a chestnut mask on its head seemed to have discovered something. Suddenly, it excitedly tugged at Ziyuan's arm and uttered a series of unintelligible syllables.

"What's wrong, Cha Cha?"

Ziyuan had to interrupt her actions, take the thing out of her mouth again, and look at the little one with a puzzled expression.

This little guy is a member of the Grimaldian race, and a boy at that. A few months ago, Shion and Brave had just arrived on the island where Moga Village is located by boat and were familiarizing themselves with the surroundings when they encountered Chacha being chased by a small dragon in a place called "Moga Forest".

Originally, Ziyuan was just watching for fun, seeing the little guy being chased around by several small dragon puppies and looking quite pathetic. But unexpectedly, as the guy was running, he suddenly noticed Ziyuan's figure, ran to her feet in a flash, and hugged her leg, saying "Chaba Chaba" endlessly.

Ziyuan had heard that the Strange Faces were a particularly xenophobic and aggressive race, so much so that they would treat them as monsters and exterminate them without any problem. However, this Strange Faces boy seemed to be completely different from the Strange Faces she had heard about before. He actually clung to her leg and begged for help. Well, despite the language barrier, Ziyuan was quite certain that the boy was asking for help.

(As shown in the picture, Cha Cha, those two black holes on the mask are where the eyes are.)
Curious about the boy, and seeing the few ignorant little dragon puppies charging at her, Shion didn't hesitate. She immediately unleashed her heavy crossbow and easily mowed them down with Lv3 normal ammo, thus saving the Felyne.

And because of her rescue, Chacha became attached to Ziyuan, following her everywhere and refusing to leave no matter what she said or tried to get rid of her. Helpless, Ziyuan had no choice but to take it back to the village.

Because the syllable "cha" appeared most frequently in the bunch of incomprehensible syllables the kid shouted when he called for help, Shion used her amazing wisdom to simply name the kid Chacha.

Chacha is indeed quite intelligent and curious about everything. He doesn't have the overly aggressive nature typical of adult Grimmmen. After spending some time together, the villagers of Moga were quite accepting of this Grimmmen child. Ziyuan also found the boy quite interesting and decided to make him her hunting partner.

Back in Yuukoku, the few Elf introduced by Granny Cat all felt that she wasn't calm enough and acted too strangely, so none of them wanted to be her hunting partner. This matter left Shion with a lingering resentment that she could never get over.

Hmm! You look down on me, but I look down on you too!
I'll just bring in the Felynes as my hunting partners! Which hunter can do what I do?
To Ziyuan's surprise, Chacha learned things quite quickly. He mastered all kinds of hunting skills in no time and understood them immediately. During the time they were clearing the land in Moga Village, this kid really provided a lot of help.

—Well, Moga Village is just a fishing village after all. Before Bref and Violet arrived, no hunters stayed here for long. Naturally, there were no hunting facilities or anything like that. Everything had to be built from scratch.

However, besides Lin Lin and Ye Zi's monster companions, there was also a local mascot, An Xia, who came to Moga Village with Bref and Shion. An Xia had already honed her professional skills while studying in Lokrak, so her job as the mascot in the village was naturally a breeze.

Because of her presence, the two hunters, Brave and Ziyuan, only needed to accept the pre-organized commissions from her. The land reclamation work proceeded in an orderly manner, and they quickly built a camp in the hunting grounds near Moga Village. In the process of development, they gradually integrated the naval warfare knowledge that originally only existed on paper into practice.

After the preliminary preparations were completed, the two began their campaign against the culprit who caused the earthquake in Moga Village—Hailong.

Although the battle was a bit tough, it was eventually completed successfully. Breve also achieved his goal of promotion, shedding the title of "half-star" and officially becoming a five-star hunter. Shion also successfully promoted to four stars.

However, although they had hunted the sea dragon, the earthquake in Moga Village did not end there. Therefore, the two did not return to East Doruma, but stayed in Moga Village, taking on quests and continuing to search for the cause of the earthquake.

For example, Ziyuan, having found nothing in the Submerged Forest, decided to continue exploring northeastward.

"Finally, we've found something?!"

(End of this chapter)