Monster Hunter: Wild Pointer

Chapter 98 Entering the Cave

They each went back to their rooms and fell asleep until Eric came and woke them up. It was already past midnight.

Under Muti's expectant gaze, Orlan, who had originally planned to simply eat the food he brought with him, glanced at the clock.

After confirming that there was still some time before the agreed time, he took out the kitchen utensils, fried a few large steaks, and paired them with cheese, honey, buttered bread and other high-calorie foods to fill their stomachs.

After helping each other and quickly checking their weapons, armor, potions, and items, the two hunters walked out of their residence.

The professor and the elders were already waiting outside. When they saw the two men coming out, the professor raised his chin towards them and said, "How are you? How are you doing?

There's a high probability of a fight tonight. If you feel you haven't fully recovered yet, it's fine to rest for a day and then move tomorrow night. These aren't just polite words, so don't force it."

The old dragon man's expression was quite serious.

Muti flexed his arms and patted his not-so-thick biceps. "I've eaten enough, gotten enough sleep, and I'm in top form! I'm totally fine!"

Ao Lang also smiled and said, "These two days of investigation didn't require much physical effort. It's already equivalent to several days of rest. I should rest my muscles and bones."

A smile flashed behind his thick glasses, and the professor waved to the two of them, "Come on, then."

Led by the elder, the group took the elevator to the top of the bedrock. Compared with the scorching heat when the furnace was started during the day, it was even a little chilly here.

The cold wind in the desert at night was enough to carry away the remaining heat after the solar furnace went out. The regularly arranged concave metal plates reflected the starlight, emitting a hazy and fragmented cold light.

At first glance, it doesn't look like an industrial facility for smelting metals, but rather like some special religious place.

There were several people near the Solar Furnace, including the supervisor who had helped Orlan during the day. They were making a series of preparations for entering the waste disposal cave.

The preparation work is actually simple. It mainly involves finding a few rolls of rope that are long and strong enough.

From the big hole at the bottom of the solar furnace where waste is dumped, you can easily reach the inside of the cave by rappelling. The same is true when you want to come back. Just hold on to the rope and send a signal, and the people above can pull them up by manpower or crane.

Noticing the arrival of several people, the supervisor lowered his head, looking a little guilty. "We all know what happened. The last time we cleaned the waste cave was over a year ago. I didn't expect something like this to happen."

"There's no need to talk about this now. How are the preparations going?" The professor was as impatient as ever.

"Wait a moment." The elder signaled the professor to be patient.

Following his instruction, several craftsmen tied a thermometer with a rope and slowly lowered it into the big hole where waste was discarded.

Noticing the hunters' curious glances, the elder explained, "Although more than ten hours have passed since the last dumping of scrap metal, we are unable to confirm the insulation status of the waste disposal cave.

Put the thermometer down first to check the temperature inside the cave."

The professor nodded silently, and the hunters also understood.

What poured down from the solar furnace was red-hot slag and molten metal. Who knew how hot it was down there? Thirty or forty degrees Celsius would be fine, but if it was any higher, it would definitely not be suitable to go down there and fight now.

Everyone waited quietly, and after a moment, the thermometer was pulled up.

"Forty-three degrees." The craftsman looked at the scale on the thermometer and turned to the elder.

Before anyone else could speak, Eric slammed his palm and said excitedly, "I knew it! This temperature is within the giant bee's favorite temperature range!

Under the stimulation of such a temperature, the giant bees' breeding capacity will be greatly improved, and the bee colony must be down there!"

The professor gestured to Eric to shut up, then looked at Orlan and the others. "The temperature is still a bit high. It's up to you to decide. As I said, don't force it."

"It's okay. Over 40 degrees is normal for us people in the desert." Olang moved his joints to warm up.

Muti also nodded. "It shouldn't affect the battle, but just in case, it's better to drink some cold drinks to be safe."

"it is good."

Immediately, a craftsman handed over several cold drinks. For those who worked in the Solar Furnace, cold drinks, which were a way to relieve the heat, had almost become a daily drink.

"Eric, take out all the poisonous smoke balls and flash grenades and give them to them." The professor said to his students while the hunters were taking cold drinks.

Eric quickly realized what the professor meant. He covered his pocket and said, "Shouldn't we go down together?

What a perfect research subject! Queen bees mutated under human influence, and bee colonies and so on! "

The professor glared at the boy and said sternly, "The Queen Bee is a massive monster, and there's an unknown number of swarms out there. Considering the dim light and the unknown terrain, it's already exhausting for the two of them just fighting. We'd be a burden if we went down further!"

If we want to investigate, we have to wait until they finish fighting!"

Ao Lang, who was standing aside, remained calm, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

Just as the professor said, he and Muti were not very confident in the upcoming battle, and if they had to distract themselves to protect the scholars, their attention would be further distracted.

The professor was the person in charge of this trip, so if he insisted on going down, there was really no way to refuse. Fortunately, the old man was rational enough.

Under the professor's harsh suppression, Eric had no choice but to hand over the poison smoke ball and flash bomb in his hand, although his face was full of reluctance.

After stuffing these tools into the hands of the two hunters, the professor continued to instruct them, "Don't rush to loosen the ropes after you go down, and don't start fighting right away. First, determine the environment inside the cave.

Whether the temperature can be adapted, whether the air can be breathed normally, etc., especially the latter point, is very important. In such an almost completely enclosed cave, the air quality will not be very good.

If you think it's not working, send a signal immediately, and we'll find a solution after we pull you up."

The two nodded seriously.

As he spoke, he handed the two of them a few more things, "This is a portable oil lamp, hung around the waist, which can provide basic lighting, and there are also emergency earplugs that can block some noise.

The queen bee is huge, and the noise from the vibration of its wings when it flies is quite loud, so it’s easy to get too close to it.”

Imagining the giant bee's "wi——" sound amplified tenfold, Muti shuddered and quickly took the emergency earplugs and put them on. (Note)

The professor said something else, and Muti watched his mouth open and close, confused.

The professor glared at her and pointed at her ears. Only then did Muti react and took off the emergency earplugs with a dry smile.

"That's pretty much all I need to say. Don't think about saving props; they're worthless. If you're defeated, retreat decisively. Got it?"

Aolang and the other man nodded repeatedly.

The professor waved his hand, and the rope was put into the cave. With the help of the craftsmen, the two men fixed the buckle of the zipline. After making a "don't worry" gesture to the people around them, they jumped into the big cave and began to rappel.

With the help of the lights on their waists, they could see that the passage was not completely vertical, but was slightly inclined towards the south, which was consistent with some information they had obtained before.

A little slag and scrap metal solidified on the rock walls of the passage, reflecting a dim light under the flames of the lamps.

The two of them slowly descended. In just a few minutes, they had descended nearly two hundred meters, and the temperature around them was also rising significantly.

After descending another twenty or thirty meters, the passage, which was originally only a few meters in diameter, began to expand rapidly, which meant that they had entered the cave. The two looked at each other and got ready.

Soon, their feet touched the ground, or to be more precise, they stepped on the slide specially built for discharging slag.

Looking around, I saw that this was a cave of considerable size, and the light from the portable lamp was not enough to illuminate the entire cave.

The two carefully left the slide and checked the temperature and air conditions as the professor had reminded them.

It was very hot and stuffy. This was the two people's first impression of the interior environment of the waste disposal cave.

The good news is that although it was very uncomfortable, after feeling it for a while both of them felt that it would not affect the battle.

After pulling the rope a few times and sending a "fight according to plan" signal to the people anxiously waiting above, the two men loosened the buckle and left the rope end in place.

This is their escape route.

Muti consciously unfolded his large shield and musket and walked in front, which was his duty as a heavy-armored vanguard.

Orlan placed his hand on the hilt of the sword, his eyes quickly searching around.

There was silence all around. Suddenly, the light from the lamp illuminated a corner of the cave wall. A giant bee that was perched on the rock wall was awakened. It spread its wings and flew away from the rock wall.

"Om-"

This was like igniting a powder keg. The next second, the buzzing sounds of countless giant bees rising into the air gathered into a deafening roar, coming from all directions.

ps. Emergency earplugs, an item from MH4, work as the name suggests. The interesting thing is that the action of using this in the game is the same as eating - it feels inexplicably suitable for Muti?

Chapter 99 Bee Swarm

"Swarm!" Orlan roared.

Both of them were wearing emergency earplugs, so if they wanted to communicate, they could only rely on shouting, except for tactical hand signals.

Muti stopped moving forward, and the two of them quickly moved together, back to back, covering each other's rear.

Giant bees particularly like to go around behind their targets and launch sneak attacks, especially when there are multiple giant bees fighting in a group, the attacks come from all directions.

If you are not careful for a moment and get stung by the bee stinger filled with paralyzing toxin, the moment you lose the ability to move, the other giant bees will swarm over you, and even the most skilled hunter may be defeated.

The sharp and narrow sword is very suitable for dealing with swarms of giant bees. Orlan swung the sword continuously and cut the first two giant bees that attacked in half in the blink of an eye.

The gunpowder gun was not a heavy weapon either, at least not for Muti.

She swung her gun, slashing at the giant bees nearby, and continuously pulled the trigger to bombard the approaching swarm of bees.

The bullets fired by the Defense Force's improved gunlance are of the diffuse type, similar to the shotgun's shrapnel. This type of bullet has a short range and causes very limited damage to large monsters at medium and long distances.

However, at close range, the power of diffuser bullets is quite astonishing.

A giant bee that is hit directly by the jet within five meters will be blown into a pile of debris, and at a farther distance, the scattered shrapnel can also cause damage to the giant bee's fragile wings.

Muti didn't even need to aim, the spreading bullets smashed and injured the surrounding giant bees.

However, the number of bees that gathered was even greater.

While Muti was reloading and the fire suppression was briefly interrupted, more giant bees surrounded them, and the roar created by the trembling insect wings was almost deafening.

"Rush out! Go to the edge of the rock wall and use your back against it for cover!" Orlan shouted.

After completing the reloading, Muti nodded heavily and fired several shots in succession. After clearing out some of the swarms of bees crowded in front, she charged forward with a large shield.

Aolan followed closely behind, swinging his sword continuously, killing the giant bees that kept trying to approach them.

Like a giant boar king charging at full speed, Muti, holding a large shield, knocked away one giant bee after another. When they came to the edge of the rock wall, her shield was already covered with thick green mucus and dirty blood.

"Poisonous smoke ball! Throw it on the ground! I'll cover you!" After another roar, Orlan stood in front of Muti, swinging the sword with all his strength to fight against the gathering swarm of bees.

Muti put down his weapon as quickly as possible, took out several poisonous smoke balls from his prop bag, and threw them all on the ground at their feet.

Dark purple poisonous smoke rose up and spread, covering an area of ​​dozens of square meters around it.

Orlan and Muti held their breath in advance to minimize the inhalation of poisonous smoke. The swarm of bees gathered and coiled around them had no idea of ​​how to guard against this, and the highly toxic smoke was inhaled into their bodies through their spiracles.

In just a few seconds, the giant bees that were closer began to show symptoms of poisoning, and their flying posture became shaky.

Because there were too many bees gathered, countless insect wings stirred up the air flow, and the poisonous smoke rose and dispersed quickly. Muti continued to throw poisonous smoke balls in rounds of a few each, until all the poisonous smoke balls on his body were used up.

The toxin corrodes the giant bee's internal organs and nerves. As the professor said before, this insect has a poor ability to metabolize toxins.

In a short while, most of the giant bees surrounding them had lost the ability to continue flying, and fell to the ground one after another like rain, their wings trembling, their abdomens rolling, and their limbs twitching constantly.

They won't live long.

The remaining giant bees that were farther away inhaled less poisonous smoke, but were obviously also affected. Their flying movements were no longer swift and smooth, and they would lose balance and fall from time to time.

The crisis was temporarily resolved. Orlan and Muti quickly took out the antidote and swallowed it. Their respiratory tract and internal organs, which had become hot and stinging due to inhaling the poisonous smoke, finally felt much better.

Looking at the giant bees all over the ground, the two of them felt extremely relieved. Who would have thought that they had already dealt with fifty or sixty giant bees before, and there were still so many in this cave?

If the professor had not prepared a large number of poisonous smoke balls for them in advance, they might not have been able to withstand the dense swarm of bees even without seeing the queen bee.

"Are we going to use the remaining poisonous smoke balls?" Muti asked loudly.

She had used up all the poisonous smoke balls on her body, but Orlan still had a lot.

"Not yet. These giant bees aren't much of a threat anymore. They can be dealt with without poison. Keep them just in case!"

"it is good!"

Under the influence of a large number of poisonous smoke balls, the offensive and defensive positions between the giant bees and the hunters were instantly reversed. Orlan and Muti stepped over the insect corpses that covered the ground and chased after the remaining giant bees.

The giant bees affected by the toxin could not fly fast or high at all. In just a few minutes, they were almost completely wiped out by the two men.

The cave gradually became quiet, with only a few giant bees that had fallen to the ground but were not yet dead. They were still trying to flap their wings and making weak buzzing sounds.

Looking at the insect corpses all over the ground, both of them felt a little excited.

The materials of giant bees are not precious. The shell can be sold for a hundred yuan, and the insect feathers are only a few dozen yuan a pair. Only the body fluids are more valuable, which can be sold for a few hundred yuan.

But there were too many of them. Apart from those giant bees that were chopped into pieces or blasted to pieces by them, there were more than twenty intact bodies of giant bees that fell to the ground after being poisoned.

If they stripped and collected all of them and brought them back to the guild's buyers to sell them, they would earn at least five figures, which was higher than the reward for this mission.

Of course, this is just a thought. Now is not the time to leisurely peel off the materials. The queen bee has not appeared yet, and these corpses will not run away if they are left here. Let's consider peeling them after everything is over.

Trying hard to take their eyes off the banknotes scattered on the ground, the two men covered each other, cleaned and polished their weapons, and then continued to walk down the slide. Since the slope in the cave was very steep, they could only slow down as much as possible.

There were no more giant bees attacking them, but this did not make them feel relaxed. Instead, it made them even more vigilant.