"Haa..." Bai Feng let out a long breath, sweat dripping from her neck into the sand, instantly evaporating in the sun, leaving behind only a barely visible layer of salt crystals. The Great Jagras Wildspire Waste isn't a complete desert; the heat hasn't reached the point where special "Cool Drinks" are required to ensure hunters don't die of heatstroke. But it's definitely not a cool, pleasant area either.
Across from her, the Diablos was also nearing its limit. It had thick armor and sand-encrusted plating, making its cooling system even worse. Hot white vapor billowed from its nostrils, and the blood vessels all over its body had dilated to their maximum extent. The heart pumped high-speed blood flow, further enhancing its activity, but, conversely, it also made the white, misty, frigid arrows in Bai Feng's hand even more lethal.
The Diablos is weak to Ice, and the reason behind this isn't very impressive. Because it has poor heat dissipation, it spends most of its time below the cool sand layer and inside caves, rarely fighting on the surface. So, after intense activity, to dissipate as much heat as possible through saliva and its nostrils, it naturally increases blood flow and dilates blood vessels, allowing the blood to carry heat away from its organs.
However, if attacked with Ice weapons, its blood vessels rapidly constrict under the cold stimulus, causing heat to be trapped inside instead of being dissipated. At the same time, the brain becomes muddled due to lack of blood flow. Therefore, the Diablos's elemental weakness is near the neck for this reason. In addition, paralysis is also a good choice, as it can cause muscle spasms and heart attacks, leading it to fall over and lose the ability to move.
Although the Diablos has such obvious weaknesses and flaws, it is still one of the most deadly monsters. This illustrates just how fearsome its combat power and danger are outside of those weaknesses. Its huge horns are nearly impervious to blades, the armor covering its entire body also has extremely high defense, the heavy body gives it powerful charge attacks, and the huge hammerhead on its tail is a devastating weapon. Hunters who get hit are instantly sent flying; ordinary armor is no different from tissue paper, except for heavy shields.
Therefore, hunters who can hunt Diablos are almost the elite of the elite, a paragon among monsters. This is definitely not something ordinary humans can handle single-handedly, nor is it something that an ordinary elite hunter squad can accomplish. And Bai Feng... is just that kind of hunter—a monster hunter!
The Frost Silverpelt slowly unfolded, high-volatility Windproof Oil rapidly evaporating on the arrowhead, quickly condensing a small ice flower. "Whoosh!" Three arrows flew, and as they bounced off the armor, they also allowed the cold to slowly seep into the gaps. Suddenly encountering cold when her body was so overheated, the Diablos shuddered, and its charge faltered slightly. "Boom!"
The huge monster crashed to the ground, struggling to get up, but the hunter forcefully scraped the ground with her foot, and the burning Dragon Piercer was positioned horizontally on the giant bow. "It's over~" "Whoosh!" The Dragon Piercer connected, layer by layer shattering the Diablos's thick sand-covered shell, tearing open the thick scales beneath, ripping through muscle, penetrating internal organs, and finally exploding inside its body, tearing out a horrifying cavity. Dragon blood gushed out like a fountain onto the sand, exuding a strong, foul odor.
"Aroo...aroo..." The powerful life force of this monster meant that it didn't die immediately. It struggled, trying to stand up and counterattack again, but Bai Feng's response was simple: she drew the second-to-last arrow from her quiver and positioned it on the bow again. "Whoosh! Bang bang bang!" Like a series of firecrackers, the Dragon Piercer once again carved out a terrifying channel of flesh and blood, completely taking away the Diablos's last bit of stamina.
Unlike in the games, hunters in reality have extremely limited arrows and ammunition. Special ammunition like Dragon Piercers are only carried in amounts of 2-3. When the battle reaches a certain point, the hunter/bowman has to use the arrows as short spears, wielding them for slashes and stabs. Likewise, the Kinsect's stamina isn't unlimited, the Long Sword is easily broken, and the number of various phials isn't infinite.
So, real hunter battles usually don't last too long. Most of the time is spent tracking prey and resupplying. The battle itself doesn't take very long. Whether it's stamina or ammunition replenishment, they can't sustain high-intensity combat for long. Humans, even the most monstrous humans, can't compare to the stamina of monsters.
"Thwack!" The hunting knife forcefully ripped open the dragon hide. Bai Feng cut out a sizable, shimmering scale from the Diablos's wound. This was proof of a successful hunt. The rest of the materials would be left to the Palico to carve from the dragon's corpse, and then the rest depended on the running speed of the Fourth Fleet's support team. If they ran fast, they could recover more materials. If they ran slow, scavengers would basically take care of the remaining parts. That's why the materials hunters are rewarded with aren't always guaranteed. It's also why capturing a monster yields significantly more materials than directly killing it.
"So, now we'll learn the truth about the Zorah Magdaros, right?" Bai Feng wiped away sweat. Even for her monstrous physique, this level of combat was almost unbearable. "Aibo, want some?" The Deviljho-blooded miss pulled out a water skin. Being both women, Bai Feng didn't hesitate to pop the stopper and gulp down the liquid inside.
The taste was cool with a strong honey flavor, quite pleasant to drink, and there even seemed to be some small bubbles. "Where did you get this?" "Ah, I saw Gajalaka digging a hole earlier. I used a Torch Pod to scare them away and then found it in the hole. Maybe it's a drink they brewed." The Deviljho-blooded miss had unique talent and skill only in the area of eating and drinking.
"They have skills like that? That's amazing." The Gajalaka are a Lynian species. They have a complete social structure and considerable intelligence, even more clever than the Palicoes. In some human villages, they are considered "elves," but they harbor some malice toward humans. Their biggest feature is that they always wear masks on their heads. Researchers believe this is because they live in caves and underground for long periods of time, so they are afraid of direct sunlight – it's worth noting that, supposedly, the true faces of the Gajalaka are very cute.
However, even being cute couldn't save them now. Because Huihui silently stared at the storage area that had been dug into a terrible mess. The Gajalaka were climbing up and down inside her brewing vats. The Gajalaka King Shakalaka, wearing a strange, fiercely burning headdress, waved his cutlass at Huihui, constantly taunting her. Flying wyverns are creatures that Gajalaka cannot hunt and are one of their natural enemies, so the Gajalaka attack any flying wyvern they see on the ground – including Elder Dragons. Anything that flies is their enemy.
"....." Huihui twitched her nose and took a deep breath. "Aroo!~!" The sharp, whistle-like shriek directly blew away the small Gajalaka. Some of them, like hunters, pulled out small shields to defend against the blow attack, and then were slammed into the ground by Huihui's palm. The gunlance's tail, covered in crystal shells, swept across, and the trident-like tips easily tore through the Gajalaka's bodies. This made the Gajalaka King extremely angry, and he lunged at Huihui, waving his cutlass.
Then he was blasted away by a lightning strike. Huihui raised her head, and layers of white spines slowly grew on her back, making a sound like a rattlesnake. As the electrical arcs tore through the air, tiny, pale blue, light-like organisms surrounded her. That wasn't magic, but Hunter insect larvae that feed on Huihui's Aether Crystal and blood. They made angry buzzing sounds, searching for the culprit who made them unable to settle down – as parasitic creatures, they certainly wouldn't blame the host at this time – and the Gajalaka King became their primary target.
The Kinsects, wreathed in electrical arcs, swarmed the Gajalaka, stinging them. While siphoning off a certain amount of blood, they also inflicted considerable electrical damage, leaving behind a cluster of silver arc dust. (Arc Kinsect: Power Level 6, Insect Dust: Thunder Attribute) The arc dust was then ignited by the electrical arcs and burst open, like shimmering, scattering phosphorescence. However, every Gajalaka that came into contact with it was instantly paralyzed by the shock and fell to the ground.
"Huff..." The sharp dragon teeth approached the Shakalaka King. It was clear Huihui was quite angry. However, the Shakalaka King, with a barbecue grill on his head, wasn't afraid at all. He threw a large lump of suspicious powder in Huihui's face. "Achoo!" Huihui sneezed repeatedly, shaking her head violently. The Shakalaka King leaped high and slashed at her neck with his cutlass... "Clang!"
"..." The Shakalaka King looked at the broken blade in his hand, then let out a sharp whistle. He dove into a small hole in the ground and disappeared. The other Gajalaka also plunged into holes, vanishing without a trace, leaving behind only a furious Huihui, digging holes and smashing the ground, wanting to find those nasty little runts and tear them to shreds.
Just as the Gajalaka can't do much about flying wyverns, most flying wyverns can't do much about them either. Well, except for Diablos. That's why the Gajalaka never go near Diablos's habitat. But thinking about it carefully, the Diablos, other than being a Wyvern, doesn't fly. And the Gajalaka don't discriminate against "Flying Wyverns", but rather against "Flying Dragons." So, even the Tobi-Kadachi and Pukei-Pukei, which aren't Flying Wyverns, are within their range of discrimination and attack.
After digging for a while and realizing she couldn't possibly dig out all those little runts, Huihui stopped her futile efforts. Her amber eyes stared intently at the holes for a moment, and she forcefully sniffed their scent. Then, she spread her wings and flew away. Huihui, to some extent, is never a very forgiving creature. Well, unless you feed her. When you don't, she's narrow-minded; after feeding, she becomes open-minded.
Obviously, the Gajalaka's theft had made Huihui's already not-so-open mind even narrower. So, she decided to record this species at the very top of her little black book. Her flying away wasn't about letting the matter drop, but rather… finding a way to get revenge on those little bastards.
At the waterfall on the edge of the Wildspire Waste, the Aether Sphere was deeply immersed in the pool, quickly filling up. Judging from the volume, Huihui's sphere probably held nearly 20 tons of water. This was very difficult for her flight carrying capacity. She slowly moved, half-flying and half-walking, almost sticking to the ground, to the oasis where the Gajalaka lived. Then Huihui dumped that huge mass of clean water mixed with mud on them.
Soon, Gajalaka who couldn't take it anymore jumped out of the mud pits, and Huihui grabbed them. Next was grabbing them in her claws and applying a "Fat Dragon Eighteen Palms" on the rocks, smashing the unlucky one into a pile of stinking minced meat. Then came the next one, until no new Gajalaka emerged from the burrows. The surrounding rock walls, adorned with Gajalaka totems, were already a bloody slaughterhouse.
Satisfied after her successful venting, Huihui left. A long time later, the Shakalaka King emerged from another cave. Looking at the fragmented corpses of his tribesmen, rage and hatred flickered in his eyes beneath his mask. After pausing for a moment, the Shakalaka King once again disappeared into the underground tunnels. They didn't have good methods for tracking and attacking flying wyverns, so staying here would only increase the casualties and danger to his people.
On a deserted island, "Harder, Zerrin!" Geralt tensed his muscles, pulling the vines taut, binding two rows of jagged pieces of wood together. It was clearly a small raft. They'd searched the entire deserted island and ultimately had to admit, to their dismay, that the Leshen wasn't here. This made both witchers very frustrated, as it meant they had to find a way to cross the ocean to complete their mission, and even reach a certain location across the sea to activate the obelisk and send themselves back.
"This is just awful!" This wasn't the first time Zerrin had complained; it was the hundred and twenty-ninth time he'd complained. Shipbuilding wasn't included in the essential skills that every witcher had to master. All the rafts they'd cobbled together before had failed. This one was the closest they'd come to a successful product. After adding coconut shells to make pontoons, the raft could barely stay afloat on the sea, but how far it could drift was anyone's guess...
"Alright, next we just push it down, Zerrin." "Aard!" The powerful shockwave blew the raft into the sea. Then, Geralt quickly jumped onto the raft. Witchers had the unfortunate tendency to easily break bones and legs, and a puzzling weakness to pitchforks, but their inability to dissolve in water was a good thing, much better than the Undead – well, come to think of it, the Undead are "Ashes," so ashes dissolving in water doesn't seem so strange. This also meant that, besides the raft, they could swim if they capsized.
"Hopefully, the aquatic creatures here are a bit more gentle than the Drowners." Geralt grabbed his silver sword and thrust it into the water, spearing a dragonfish. "At least... food is plentiful enough." The raw fish meat was quite fishy, but it also had a strange sweetness, making it pretty good to eat. They at least didn't have to worry about food and drink on the sea.