Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 485 The Unlucky Water Dragon

Cha Cha struggled to move its limbs, its body darting through the seawater like a fish, but even so, it was still much slower than the enormous creature closely following behind. If it hadn't been clever enough to change direction frequently, it probably would have been caught up and swallowed whole long ago.

"Tea grunt..."

Bad luck, bad luck, bad luck!

Cha Cha was so anxious that she almost bit off the oxygen algae in her mouth and nearly choked on the seawater.

The ocean environment is completely different from that of land. It may appear calm on the surface, but there are strong currents beneath the surface. If you are in unfamiliar waters, even the most experienced seafarers can be swept away if you are not careful.

Clearly, Chacha, as a land-dwelling member of the Grimaldian race, even with her decent swimming skills, is no match for the sea people who make a living in the ocean.

In addition, this place was far away from the island and submerged forest that it was somewhat familiar with. As it followed the debris of the wooden planks floating on the sea to find the source of the shipwreck, it was unsurprisingly swept into a surging undercurrent. It was like being thrown into a washing machine and spun around countless times before finally being washed to an area with a relatively calm current.

Before it could catch its breath, it felt an instinctive shiver, the sense of crisis that a prey feels when it is being watched by a predator.

Turning her head, she saw a fish head covered in iridescent scales suddenly appear in the center of the lush coral reef, its eyes practically glowing green as it stared at Cha Cha.

This is a water dragon!
During her time hunting with Shion in Moga Village, Chacha had also seen this monster before. She knew it was a ferocious carnivorous ichthyosaur, with a body larger than many large flying dragons. Its combat power surpassed that of the common sea dragons and aquatic beasts. As long as it didn't face a sea dragon, its strength was enough to make it the king of the ocean.

Was that guy the one who ruined the tea on that ship?
The thought popped into Chacha's mind, but the other party didn't give it any time to think. It opened its blood-red maw and charged at Chacha, intending to swallow it whole.

This guy is even more ruthless than the one we met before!
Chacha hurriedly struggled to avoid the water dragon's bite, and then frantically tried to find the location of Ziyuan. Without a hunter present, it was impossible for it to handle this big guy on its own.

However, although Chacha's original intention was to find Shion for help, its sense of direction is not very good. Otherwise, it wouldn't have gotten lost in the Moga Forest while searching for the "Supreme Mask" and been attacked by a group of small dragons.

Just as it was thrown off course by the undercurrent and was being chased by the water dragon, Chacha had no time to figure out its direction. It thought it was moving towards Shion, but in reality it was going in the opposite direction and was getting closer and closer to its original target—the sea area where the ship wrecked.

Once again, Cha Cha narrowly avoided the water dragon's bite. The water flow caused by the snapping of its jaws made Cha Cha's body unsteady. In her panic, Cha Cha kicked the water dragon's chin, narrowly avoiding the massive body that was about to crash into her.

Why is this guy staring at me like that, Cha!
Tea was inwardly groaning, unaware that the water dragon, relentlessly pursuing it, was equally agitated.

It used to live a carefree life in the stinking ditch of the Waterless Forest, but a while ago a sea dragon came to seize the throne of the king of the stinking ditch. Although it tried its best to fight the other party, the lightning controlled by the sea dragon was too much of a counter to it and drove it out of the Waterless Forest.

Having finally found a relatively resource-rich habitat in an unfamiliar sea, the water dragon hadn't even had a good night's sleep when another creature appeared, resembling a sea dragon but surrounded by terrifying dark lightning. Its overwhelming aura made the water dragon unable to muster any will to fight it, and it simply tucked its tail between its legs and ran away.

But after leaving that sea area, the water dragon wandered around, and the resources in the surrounding environment became increasingly scarce, making it difficult to fill its stomach. Especially in the last two days, it had not encountered a single edible creature. The tea in front of it was the first living thing to appear before it.

Therefore, the water dragon, which was already so hungry that its eyes were turning green, had no intention of giving up and was single-mindedly chasing after Cha Cha to devour her, until a huge figure appeared in its eyes at some point.

The creature looked like a squid-like mollusk. Although it was huge, about 35 meters long, it wasn't particularly large for the water dragon. But for some reason, the water dragon stopped chasing Chacha the moment it saw it, and a huge fear rose in its heart.

This guy looks even scarier than that guy covered in dark lightning!
run!
Run!

At this moment, the water dragon seemed oblivious to the hunger that had been churning in its stomach for two days; its only thought was to run away and survive.

Despite the water dragon's best efforts to swing its body and shoot forward like an arrow through the water, the giant monster that looked like a squid still followed closely behind it.

Moreover, that guy seemed to be completely at ease. As the water dragon accelerated, it accelerated as well, always keeping a close enough distance to follow behind the water dragon, as if it were toying with it.

It wasn't until the water dragon's stamina became unsustainable and its escape speed inevitably decreased that the creature slowed down slightly, maintaining a speed only slightly faster than the water dragon, allowing the water dragon to clearly perceive that the distance between them was gradually shrinking.

The growing shadow of impending death, the terror and despair that threatened to consume it bit by bit, nearly drove the water dragon mad. When the giant squid came within ten meters, the last thread in its mind snapped.

Perhaps knowing that escape was hopeless, or perhaps wanting to make a final struggle, it suddenly turned its head, opened its big mouth, and bit at the giant squid.

However, before it could even open its mouth or turn its head, it was already bound by a long and powerful tentacle.

The water dragon tried to struggle, but another tentacle had already wrapped tightly around its tail. The two tentacles exerted force at the same time, directly flipping the water dragon, which was not much shorter than itself, sideways.

Forced to lie belly up and unable to move, the water dragon struggled desperately, but no matter how it twisted its body, it showed no sign of breaking free. Instead, due to the strenuous exercise, it consumed a lot of oxygen, and being bound and unable to breathe, its struggles quickly lost strength due to lack of oxygen.

Although water dragons have gill-like structures, they are actually quite similar to frogs, mainly breathing through their lungs with their skin as a supplement. Perhaps this is why frogs are the most popular food in the water dragon's diet.

"Gululu..."

The giant squid exhaled a series of bubbles from its four-lobed mouth, appearing quite pleased with itself.

Although it can't compare to the sea dragon, the water dragon's meat is still very succulent, with a tender texture that melts in your mouth. Plus, this is a delivery that has voluntarily entered its territory and been delivered to its door, rather than something it has spent time and effort to hunt for itself. This makes it all the more worthy of its enjoyment.

The tentacles bound the water dragon's body. The skeletal dragon didn't rush to kill its prey, but instead swam slowly and leisurely back to its nest. This was its habit; it always brought the best food back to its nest to enjoy. As for the leftover bones, it could keep them to decorate its nest and make it look more beautiful.

As for the airship that it shot down not long ago, it is no longer on its radar.

Over the years, it has shot down at least thirty to fifty airships. It knows very well that the airships, which are made almost entirely of wood, leather and steel, have no value for food. Shooting them down is just a matter of luck.

If it's lucky, it can shoot down a passenger airship with a decent capacity, or a cargo airship carrying food, and then it can feast for a while.

The guild airship that it had just shot down was designed to be lightweight to facilitate the guild messengers' travels. It had only a few members, most of whom were short-statured Elu. If it hadn't caught the water dragon, it might have been interested in scavenging through the garbage dump. But now, it just wanted to return to its lair and enjoy the giant sashimi fish that was over twenty-five meters long.

Having witnessed the two-headed skeletal dragon chasing the water dragon into the distance, Celestina, who had already resigned herself to certain death, suddenly felt a renewed flame of hope for survival.

After repeatedly confirming that the skeletal dragon seemed to have given up on this side, she released the almost broken ballista in her hand and instead found a relatively intact piece of wood fragment. Using this as a support, she kept herself afloat on the sea surface and struggled to paddle for the other airship members.

Although the skeletal dragon could return at any time, and as long as she remained in this sea area, she was shrouded in great risk, Celestina still did not choose to flee alone.

Now that we've accepted the mission to protect the airship, we must do our duty to protect them. Now that the airship is destroyed, we must save as many as we can.

After all, protecting those who need protection is a hunter's duty, and if it were her sister Hela, she would definitely do the same...

While the Bone Dragon had not yet returned, Celestina had quickly gathered all the members on the airship. Apart from the Coat Cat, who was nowhere to be found, all the other members were alive, but they were all seriously injured, and some were even in a coma. If they did not receive timely treatment, it was uncertain whether they would survive.

After swimming around twice more, seeing that she still couldn't find any trace of the Coat Cat, Celestina had no choice but to grit her teeth and decide to lead the group away first—the skeletal dragon could reappear at any time, and it was really not a good place to stay.

Even though I'm on the vast ocean and don't know where to go or where I can go, I certainly can't stay in one place.

Just as Celestina was lying on a plank of the boat, taking off her shield and axe and using her shield as an oar to row, a bald head suddenly emerged from the sea in front of her.

"Ok?"

Upon closer inspection, Celestina realized that the so-called bald head was actually a smooth acorn mask, but the graffiti on it made her mistake it for eyes for a moment.

This mask style... is it from the Strange Mask Tribe?!

This is unbelievable! Are there really strange creatures in the sea?

Celestina felt that this escort mission was so absurd. First, a terrifying skeletal dragon appeared out of nowhere and easily destroyed the airship. Then, just as she was about to rescue people and leave, a futuristic creature living in the water appeared out of nowhere!

As a hunter from Minagard, Celestina knew very well how dangerous these seemingly harmless little creatures, the Grimals, actually were.

They are extremely aggressive and can make and use various simple weapons. Once their numbers increase, even high-ranking hunters cannot withstand an attack. Countless careless hunters have already given their lives as a warning.

Celestina immediately raised the shield she was using as a paddle, ready to smash it down on the faced creature.

However, upon seeing Celestina's reaction, the strange-faced man's flustered waving made her raise her hand and pause slightly.

"Tea bar, tea bar, ka!"

What does this mean? Is this a plea for mercy?
Unless you are a scholar who specializes in studying the Orcs, the language of the Grimmmen sounds like an incomprehensible book to most people, giving them a rather chaotic and disordered impression.

Even though Celestina was a scholar who transitioned to a hunter halfway through her career, and she hadn't studied the orc language before, she was momentarily bewildered as she watched this orc with tea-green skin gesturing.

"Wow!"

Not far away, a splash of water erupted, revealing a wet head.

It was Shion who arrived late.

Looking at the injured people who had been gathered by Celestina onto a relatively intact piece of ship plank, and then at Chacha who was turning to look at her, Shion gave a thumbs-up with a look of delight:

"Well done, Cha Cha! I didn't expect you to gather all the airship crew so quickly!"

In order to complete the rescue more efficiently, Ziyuan made a point of learning about the airship crew before saying goodbye to Da Yimao. She also carefully moved forward, hiding herself on the sand or coral on the seabed, for fear of being confronted by the guy who shot down the airship from hundreds or thousands of meters away.

However, it seems that I was probably overthinking it. That guy should have left after firing the first shot. If it was just a simple rescue, then there shouldn't be any problem.

"Yes, well done, Chacha!"

(End of this chapter)