Such an exaggerated number of parasites basically allowed a final verdict: the ecosystem here had already collapsed.
Large monsters infected with Qurio were doomed to die. Even though a great many Qurio would also die, the Qurio that remained would still be enough to parasitize the remaining forty percent of monsters. Even if some monsters ultimately survived this disaster by sheer luck, that tiny number would be nowhere near enough to support the ecology of an entire swamp.
What was more, Logan was worried about another matter.
It was what the Admiral had mentioned: the Qurio were suspected to have been brought and spread by Nergigante.
Logan naturally knew the truth about the Qurio. They had not been brought by Nergigante, so that blame could not be thrown onto Nergigante's head.
But since the Admiral had said that hunters had seen Nergigante actively attacking monsters and letting Qurio parasitize the weakened monsters, Logan could no longer quite get a read on things.
Although, according to the game settings from his previous life, for thousands of years the best host for the Qurio, apart from Gaismagorm, had only been Malzeno, which could just barely meet the Qurio's requirements and serve as their backup symbiotic option.
However, as a fellow melee-focused Elder Dragon, whether Nergigante could just barely become a symbiotic host for the Qurio really had to be marked with a question mark.
The Monster Hunter world was vast and full of strange possibilities, and with the Qurio having undergone some mutations in the New World, something like this really could not be ruled out.
The Radiant Crystal Butterflies hanging on his body were the best proof of that.
Based on Logan's understanding of that big black hedgehog, that guy was nothing like the original Malzeno, who had held fast to his principles and resisted the Qurio, only beginning to use the power of the Qurio after being subtly influenced by them over a long period of time.
By that time, Malzeno's strength had already declined dramatically after years of struggling against the Qurio.
If Nergigante really accepted symbiosis with the Qurio, He would downright become a second Gaismagorm, and He absolutely would do things like actively letting the Qurio help Him absorb energy.
That would mean that once Logan went up against Nergigante, what he would be facing would no longer be the original Nergigante, but a Nergigante that had been strengthened and might even have reached the Tempered level.
High in the sky, Logan took a deep breath.
After three days of flying, he had more or less figured out the approximate extent of this swamp.
After he actively had every Radiant Crystal Butterfly detach, Logan shot up into the cloud layer, with his Sunlight trait going all out.
Unlike when Sunlight acted as a second sun over the Ancient Tree region, what Logan's Sunlight revealed at this moment was its disastrous side.
The temperature in the air began to rise rapidly.
Under Logan's precise control, the temperature in the air quickly climbed to sixty degrees.
Maybe for the creatures in the swamp, this kind of temperature would not count for much in the short term—but what about over a long period of time?
Creatures that had lived in the swamp all year round had long since grown used to an ambient temperature that stayed around ten degrees.
A fluctuation of a few degrees might only make them a bit uncomfortable, but if the temperature changed by more than twenty or thirty degrees and stayed that way for long, that really would be fatal.
The hunter team that had still been exploring the swamp in search of anomalous monsters was the first to notice that something was wrong.
With their feet stepping in the shallows, only the portion of their legs below the surface felt cool, while the rest of their bodies felt unbearably hot.
It was as if their lower bodies were soaking in water while their upper bodies were in a volcanic zone; this feeling of ice and fire at once made the hunters simply unable to bear it.
"Let's head back. If we keep going, just this strange temperature difference alone will be enough to make us suffer."
The hunter decisively made the call to return to the research base.
At this moment, inside the mobile research base whose cabin roof was wrapped in a huge hot-air balloon…
Originally, the Third Fleet Master had been wearing thick clothing because the temperature had been somewhat low after being at high altitude for so long, but now she was so hot that she kept using a small fan to fan herself.
Even though they were high up in the sky, the temperature inside the cabin had already reached nearly forty degrees. Even the wind blowing in from outside the cabin was hot, making the always frail Third Fleet Master extremely uncomfortable.
The Admiral stood at the bow, draped in a short fur vest. The hot wind blew his half-white hair into disarray, yet not a single bead of sweat appeared on his forehead in this kind of temperature.
"Boss, is this your doing?" the Admiral said softly.
Beside him, the Huntsman sat on the deck with his back against the railing, polishing a Rathian Long Sword. He was still fully armed in a set of heavy armor, and just like the Admiral, this kind of temperature seemed to have no effect on him.
Ever since he had returned a few days ago, the Huntsman had stayed alone in his room for an entire night and finally made his final decision: he sealed away the Great Sword that had accompanied him for nearly twenty years and had been forged with Logan's scales as its base, and switched to this Rathian Long Sword forged with Aki's scales as its base.
And indeed, with a lighter weapon, the Huntsman's combat strength had returned to its peak. Compared to the Great Sword's heavy, forceful style, the Huntsman now focused far more on technique.
"According to the scholars' assessment, the Sunblaze Dragon can induce region-wide high temperatures just like the Lunastra. Although these past years it has shown its ecological, beneficial side in the Ancient Tree area, that does not mean it lacks a disastrous side."
The Huntsman sheathed his blade, rose, and faced the bow just like the Admiral did. Only after a long while did he speak again, though his tone carried some hesitation.
"If He keeps doing this for long, it will definitely deal severe damage to the swamp's ecosystem. And if we take it a step further, it could even cause a mass extinction across the entire swamp. Should we stop Him?"
Hearing the Huntsman's words, the Admiral fell into deep thought. Hunters prided themselves on being maintainers of the ecosystem. Generally speaking, when something like this happened, if they had enough personnel, they would definitely intervene.
Although to limit excessive killing by hunters, the Research Commission had issued a system of hunting permits similar to that of the Old World over the past few years—and it just so happened that whether it was the Third Fleet Master inside the cabin, the Admiral, or the Huntsman, all of them had the authority to issue hunting permits.
However…
This time, the one causing a disaster was the Sunblaze Dragon!
Whether from personal feelings or from the larger picture, this was an extremely difficult decision to make.
"I plan to find Him first and talk to Him. Based on what I know about Him, He would never cause a disaster of this scale for no reason. Every decision He makes must have His own deeper meaning."
The Admiral turned and walked back toward the cabin. He planned to speak with the Third Fleet Master, since she was the captain of this mobile research base.
"But what if He really goes out of control?"
The Admiral paused mid-step and said calmly, "I believe in Him."
The Huntsman fell silent. Staring at the clear, cloudless sky, he slowly let out a breath.
"Yes… after all, that's the Sunblaze Dragon. Let's talk to Him first. At worst, we can pretend we never saw anything."
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