Monster Hunter: Wild Pointer

A day in advance, Olang went to say hello to his acquaintances and friends and asked them not to come and see him off. Otherwise, before leaving, he would be surrounded by a group of people giving him instructions, which would make him look inexperienced and embarrassing.

As Karim had said before, he joined the caravan as a cook.

The scale of this caravan was not too big, but it was not small either. There were more than a dozen people in total, six herbivorous dragons pulling sand sleds, and more than a dozen camels. When they were lined up in a row, they stretched for dozens of meters.

He didn't know how he negotiated with the caravan leader, but the latter allowed him to bring a camel's worth of goods, which made Karim very excited.

The advantage of being a member of a caravan is that the caravan is responsible for all supplies such as water along the way. This doesn't cost much, but it can reduce a lot of load and allow you to carry more goods.

In this way, if he could reach Balubare smoothly, he was sure to double his starting capital.

The same was true for Aolang and Seabuckthorn, who were the guards of the caravan. They did not carry much luggage with them, so they could travel light and have an easier time along the way.

In the blink of an eye, the day of departure has arrived.

Before daybreak, Ao Lang brought Seabuckthorn to the city entrance and met with other members of the caravan.

Karim arrived earlier than them. In addition to the cargo on a camel, he was also carrying a huge, bulging backpack on his back.

Ao Lang said with some amusement, "You seem to be carrying as much as a camel."

"The more work you do, the more you earn!" Karim said with a grin, "Besides, most of the stuff in this backpack isn't cargo, but food.

Since I am the caravan's chef, we can't have bad food along the way!"

Hearing the other party say this, Orlan couldn't help but think of the fried bacon that Karim treated him to on the night they were besieged by the Qiankoulong, and he couldn't help but feel excited.

All the people have arrived, the goods are neatly stacked on the sand sleds and on the backs of the animals, and all preparations before the trip have been completed.

"Let's go!" the caravan leader shouted loudly.

Just as the convoy was about to depart, several men in City Fortress Guerrilla uniforms suddenly stopped it. "Wait a minute! Random inspection!"

"Ah?" The caravan leader ran over nervously.

There's talk of random inspections? Is this a new rule? Or is it a deliberate attempt to cause trouble for some reason?

Only Ao Lang's face twitched, and Seabuckthorn's beard also shook twice. They were all familiar with those guys.

Nuri walked through the convoy with a serious look on his face. Asa and Resha worked together to pry open the mouth of a herbivorous dragon. It was not known whether they were checking for cavities or what else.

In just over a minute, this inexplicable inspection was hastily concluded.

The caravan leader was completely bewildered. How could they conduct an inspection like this? Judging by their behavior, it looked more like they were teasing them than causing trouble.

"No problem." Nuri nodded to the leader of the caravan, turned his head to glance at Orlan and Seabuckthorn in the caravan, and a slight smile appeared on his serious face.

"Let's go, we'll escort you."

Chapter 51 On the Gobi Desert

The first two days of a trip are always exciting, but after a week, it starts to feel boring.

Of course, this also has to do with the environment.

In the vast desert, the speed of a caravan loaded with goods is naturally impossible to compare with that of a light and fast sand boat. Being able to advance twenty kilometers a day is considered very smooth.

The distance they covered in this week was less than the distance a small sand boat would cover in a day at full speed.

Take the area they are currently passing through, for example. They have been here more than once before on missions. For Orlan, it feels depressing as if he has been wandering around for several days and is still back at home.

Moreover, nothing happened in the past few days. Only the day before yesterday when I was resting in a small oasis, I encountered a wandering yellow speed dragon, which I easily dealt with.

It's too boring!

He felt bored, but the others in the caravan didn't think so. To them, nothing mattered and the best thing was to deliver the goods safely to their destination.

The journey from Loklak to Barubare took almost a month, and only a quarter of it had passed.

Olang suddenly understood why few hunters were willing to take on missions like escorting caravans, even though the rewards were quite high. It was such a waste of time.

It seems that I have to consider changing my way of traveling in the future. After all, Barubare and Lokrak are still within the desert. It would take a whole year to walk all the way to the Vlasiya Snow Mountain area where the Pokai Village is located, right?

After looking at Seabuckthorn who was lying on top of the pile of goods, fiddling with a small mechanism to kill time, Aolan decided to find something to do for himself.

He began to walk, swinging his weapon in sync with his steps, which was considered exercise after all.

The result of this is that energy consumption increases significantly, and food intake also increases significantly.

The caravan's food supplies were strictly calculated. In order to avoid putting pressure on the food rations, Orlan specially hunted a herbivorous dragon in the oasis and obtained a large amount of fresh raw meat.

The caravan feasted for several days, and the leftovers were pickled by Karim into bacon and smoked meat. Orlan volunteered to carry these unplanned loads as a way to strengthen his exercise.

I exercise every day until my limbs are sore and my muscles are swollen with blood. Then I eat a big meal of meat, supplemented with honey and herbs collected along the way, and then rest well to recover.

The feeling of physical fitness improving little by little is so addictive.

The caravan leader couldn't help but sigh that there must be a reason why this kid was promoted to two stars before he even reached adulthood.

After finding something to do, I no longer felt bored on the road. Time seemed to pass a lot faster, and before I knew it, most of the journey had passed.

The caravan passed through the Death Sand Sea in the middle of the desert, where there were schools of sand dragons and sand fish. It was arguably the most dangerous area of ​​the entire journey.

In just a few days, Orlan repelled several attacks by sand fish or sand dragons, which made the caravan leader very happy.

If they hadn't invited hunters to accompany them, they wouldn't have been completely wiped out in these attacks, but a lot of goods and livestock would have definitely been lost. This also made the caravan members more friendly towards Orlang and his men.

After crossing the Death Sand Sea, the Chamber of Commerce finally entered the area north of the Sand Sea (Note).

Compared with the central and southern parts where Lockrak is located, the sand in the northern region is coarser, and landforms such as Gobi and rocky beaches are beginning to appear more frequently.

From here on, small sand boats are almost impossible to navigate, and only large sand boats specially built for special purposes can travel in this rough sand.

This is also the main reason why the caravans did not use light and fast sand boats, but instead used human and animal power to transport goods.

Another day passed, and the caravan passed by an oasis that was almost completely dry. The caravan leader looked at the sky and decided to set up camp there to rest.

Where the lake once existed, only a shallow swamp remains. The larger trees have died, and only a few drought-resistant low plants remain around the swamp.

To be honest, there are more disadvantages than advantages to camping in a place like this.

After all, in the Gobi Desert, mud is also a precious source of water, and the presence of drought-resistant plants is likely to attract herbivores, making this place a hunting ground for some carnivorous monsters.

The caravan leader had been walking in the desert for many years, so it was natural for him to understand the reason behind this, but there was really no more suitable place to camp nearby.

Traveling at night is far more dangerous than camping here.

He had no choice but to lead everyone away from the swamp, set up camp among the jagged rocks, light a bonfire, and arrange people to take turns to keep watch.

At the same time, he told Karim not to cook any food, and everyone should just have dry food for dinner to avoid the smell of the food attracting any monsters that might be nearby.

While chewing on the cold and hard dry food, no one had any interest in chatting. After quickly filling their stomachs, they wrapped themselves in blankets and went to sleep.

Late at night, Orlan felt a furry paw pushing his face, and although he was not sleeping very deeply, he immediately opened his eyes.

It was Seabuckthorn who woke him up. "I heard a cry, meow. There's a monster nearby, meow."

Aolan immediately got up and woke up the people around him. Everyone woke each other up, and soon the entire caravan woke up.

"Everyone keep quiet." Aolan said in a low voice, then looked at Seabuckthorn, "Go scout and see what's coming.

It's not necessarily coming for us, so try not to alarm them if you can."

Seabuckthorn nodded and left quietly like a ghost.

The temporary camp became quiet again. No one dared to breathe. Faintly, Aolan also heard the cry that Seabuckthorn had described.

"Chiao——"

"Gah!"

Hearing this sound, the herbivorous dragon and camel that were originally lying quietly on the ground also became restless.

Orlan frowned.

Huang Sulong? It seems a little different.

A few minutes later, Seabuckthorn, who had been out on the scouting trip, came back. He came to Aolan and whispered, "It's a monster meow I haven't seen before. It looks like a yellow speed dragon, but its skin is purple.

There are four in total, some big and some small, but none of them are likely to be on the same level as the pack leader, meow."

After listening to Seabuckthorn's description, Aolan immediately realized what it was.

Dog Dragon, a monster that can barely be considered a close relative of the Yellow Speed ​​Dragon, with similar body shape, habits, etc. It is not distributed near Rocklak, but there seem to be quite a few here.

As for the issue of sea buckthorn's body sizes, it should be the difference between male and female dog dragons. According to the book, female dog dragons are obviously larger than males.

"Four heads?" Aolan muttered to himself.

Goulong and Huangsulong are similar in all aspects. With his current strength, it is not difficult to deal with them.

However, if fighting can be avoided, it should be avoided as much as possible. After all, the smell of blood may attract other monsters. If he is alone, he can escape relatively easily, but he also has to protect the caravan.

"Gah-"

The sounds of the dog dragons were getting closer, and a frightened herbivorous dragon stood up and let out a low "moo" growl.

The driver in charge of looking after it pulled the reins hard, trying to steady it, but he didn't expect the other herbivorous dragons to struggle as well, causing chaos in the camp.

Aolan was helpless.

Those dog dragons must have followed the scent of the herbivorous dragon, and with this commotion, their location has been undoubtedly exposed.

"Let's go, Seabuckthorn. Let's finish this quickly."

Before he finished speaking, another violent roar reached his ears.

“Gua ...

Aolan was startled. This wasn't a roar that a creature the size of the dog dragon could produce. Was there another large monster nearby?!

Note: The official map divisions of the MH series are very vague, and there are conflicts between the early and later works in the official settings, so I will briefly explain the settings here (only for the settings of this book)

Dede Desert (Old Desert), also known as the Great Desert, can be understood as a general term for the entire desert area.

The sand in the middle of the desert is very fine, and sand boats, sand dragons, sand fish and other creatures can sail freely. This is the so-called "Death Sand Sea" or "Sand Sea Area". Lockrak is located in the southern part of the sand sea.

The area further north of the sand sea has coarser sand and more diverse terrains such as oases, gobi, and rocky beaches (further north is the Ruins Plain), and the mobile city Barubare is wandering around this area.

Due to the rough sand, the Hausanosaurus living in the northern desert had thicker shells and horns than the Fengshanosaurus.

Chapter 52: Dump Truck

Orlan was certain that he had never heard such a roar before, which meant that it was not any kind of monster he had ever dealt with.

He pulled the caravan leader, whose face was filled with nervousness, over and said quickly, "Besides the dog dragon, there's some kind of large monster nearby. I'm not sure what it is, and I'm not sure we can repel it successfully.

You guys try to appease the herbivorous dragon and hide here. I'll go deal with the dog dragon and then try to lure the large monsters away.

If you see me send out a red flare, it means I've failed, but I'll try to delay it and buy you time to escape.

Leave the goods here for now, and come back to get them after you are out of danger."

Olang had given the best solution, and as an employer, he could not ask for more.

"Be careful, brother," Karim whispered.

Orlan nodded and ran out of the camp with Seabuckthorn.

The top priority now is to get rid of Goulong, because it is almost certain that Goulong is coming for the caravan.

As for that unknown large monster, it is best not to provoke it. Maybe it is just passing by and has no intention of attacking the caravan.

Orlan comforted himself in this way.

But he actually understood that the probability of getting along peacefully with that large monster was very low. After all, the roar just now did not sound like it had a good temper.

Following the direction of the dog dragons' howling, the hunter and Elu came to the swamp they had passed before. Sure enough, the dog dragons were there.

Aolan quickly squatted down and pressed Seabuckthorn's head down at the same time.

Because that unknown large monster is also here

With the help of the hazy moonlight, the true appearance of the monster was finally revealed before their eyes.

It was about thirteen or fourteen meters long, with a compact body structure and a thick shell covered in mud. Coupled with the huge head shaped like a shovel, even though he had never encountered it in person, Orlan immediately recognized the identity of this monster.

——Polporus (Sand Dragon), a beast dragon monster that lives in deserts and swamps.

Because it often lurks in the mud and has the habit of wrapping itself with semi-solidified mud and sand to enhance its defense and protect itself, people in desert areas call it the "Son of the Mud".

According to books and illustrations, although the Sand Dragon is a monster that feeds on termites and insects, it has a bad temper and a strong sense of territory.

It will not hesitate to attack monsters that invade its territory, even if the opponent is a large flying dragon such as a fire dragon or a ceratopsian.