Early morning, shortly after the sun had fully risen.
Fully armed and draped in a Ghillie Mantle, Isis lay concealed behind a thicket of shrubs.
In the forest clearing before her was a large nest woven from dead branches, fallen leaves, and vines.
A bizarre, large bird, its body covered in fine, brilliant jade scales, lay curled within the nest, still groggy and not yet awake.
Soft snores resonated through the hollow chamber of its huge, vase-shaped beak, turning into low, beastlike growls that startled the smaller creatures nearby.
"Sleeping so soundly," Isis murmured in a voice only she could hear. "I've heard Yian Kut-Ku claws are delicious. And since Qurupeco is also a Bird Wyvern... No, no, this isn't the time to think about that."
She shook her head, casting aside those untimely thoughts, then took out her pocket watch to check the time.
Only a few minutes remained until the appointed moment.
As the first link in the entire operation, her actions would signal the official start of the Hunt. There was absolutely no room for error.
"Time's almost up... three, two, one!"
The instant the watch hands aligned, Isis snapped the pocket watch shut with a click, burst from the shrubs, and charged toward the brightly colored Bird Wyvern sleeping soundly in its nest, letting out strange cries as she ran.
"Grawk?!" Startled awake by the Hunter's yelling, the Qurupeco lifted its head in confusion, only to see a large, dark-red shield crash viciously into its face like a charging wall.
The massive impact sent it tumbling back to the ground before it could even get to its feet.
This was the perfect opportunity to attack, but Isis did not rush to follow up with a fierce assault.
Her goal was not to hunt the Qurupeco before her, but simply to enrage it.
Otherwise, if that had been the plan from the beginning, she could have crept up to the sleeping Qurupeco and unleashed a Wyvern's Fire followed by a "Gymnastic" combo. With her current strength and weapon proficiency, she could have completely suppressed this Qurupeco, preventing it from ever standing again until it died.
But at least this time, there was no need for that.
After kicking its legs and struggling for a while, the still-dazed Qurupeco finally regained its balance and stood up.
Looking at this strange, unremarkable "small creature" before it, the Qurupeco felt a surge of rage.
The skin sac on its throat and neck suddenly swelled, its wings flapped, and it was about to unleash a threatening, furious roar at the Hunter.
Isis charged in first, swinging her large shield in another heavy smash and violently choking off the cry before it could leave the Qurupeco's throat.
"Not that one! Change the tune!"
The blow snapped the Qurupeco's head back and left it dazed. It staggered several steps before steadying itself again.
Its brain, which had only recently woken up, finally understood that what stood before it was no harmless little animal.
This was an invading, powerful foe! It waved its wings and kicked off with both legs, leaping backward to put a safe distance between them.
Immediately after, it puffed up the throat sac once more, neck held high, and used the resonance between its beak's echo chamber and the sac to produce a series of deep, booming roars that sounded nothing like anything a Bird Wyvern should be capable of.
It was the roar of a Lagiacrus.
"Oh, oh! Yes! That's it, keep going! Sing louder!" Isis cheerfully put away her weapon and clapped her hands.
A booming call identical to a Lagiacrus's roar echoed through the mountain forest. Sound waves too low for human ears to catch passed through layers of rock until they finally reached the coastal cave.
Deep within the cave, two Lagiacrus that had been coiled up and sleeping suddenly snapped their eyes open.
A Hunter might not be able to tell the difference, but to a Lagiacrus, this kind of roar was all too familiar.
This was the roar of a male Lagiacrus declaring its presence. When a Lagiacrus entered a new area for the first time, it would use this method to attract nearby Large Monsters and establish territorial dominance through combat.
It roughly amounted to: "I'm here. Come at me if you dare!"
Right now was the Lagiacrus breeding season. In that context, it could also be interpreted as a display of strength meant to attract the attention of female Lagiacrus.
To a female Lagiacrus in her breeding period, this roar was only a signal. But to a male Lagiacrus, it was an unbearable provocation.
Although that roar lasted only a short while before abruptly stopping, it was already more than enough to ignite the male Lagiacrus's fury. It charged out of the cave with an angry roar, about to rush in the direction the sound had come from.
Suddenly, a scent wormed its way into its extremely keen nostrils.
It stopped in its tracks and sniffed left and right.
It was the scent of an unfamiliar male Lagiacrus.
Veins of red crept into the male Lagiacrus's orange-yellow eyes. If the roar from before had been more of a provocation,
then smearing territory-marking scent right at the entrance of its nest was already a direct act of hostility, no different from launching an attack in its face.
It had no time to wonder why the roar and the scent came from different locations. Its long, powerful body twisted and writhed like a snake as it charged straight toward the source of that infuriating smell.
From the cliff edge above the nest, having confirmed that the male Lagiacrus had left and the female Lagiacrus had not shown herself, Nymera narrowed her eyes with a smile.
She sent Mochi off to deliver the news to her companions. There was no need for a precise message; simply circling above the others' heads to let them know the mission was progressing smoothly would suffice.
Although a Lagiacrus was primarily an aquatic Monster, its ability to move on land was by no means poor. Very soon, the Lagiacrus arrived at the source of the scent closest to its nest.
It was a claw mark radiating the scent of a strange Lagiacrus.
The male Lagiacrus's rage intensified. With a violent roar, it continued following the scent trail through the air.
It was going to rip that arrogant intruder who didn't know its place to shreds!
Barely seven or eight hundred meters ahead, Jara was sprinting at a speed that defied his physique, holding the glass bottle containing the Lagiacrus mucus.
The bottle's stopper had long since been removed. This was where the scent that fed the Lagiacrus's fury was coming from.
Like a bouncing ball, he agilely vaulted over obstructing rocks and vegetation, arriving at another artificially fabricated "Lagiacrus activity mark."
Tilting the glass bottle in his hand, he poured part of the mucus inside onto that mark, then continued striding forward at high speed.
Just then, a series of familiar, shrill cries came from the air.
Jara looked up. Watching Mochi circle and call high above, an excited grin spread across his chubby face.
As long as the plan goes smoothly!
Once that male Lagiacrus is lured into that semi-enclosed little canyon, this Hunt will already be more than half a success!
"ROOOAAAR!!" A furious, raging roar was drawing closer.
If this kept up, that Lagiacrus would probably catch up to him before long.
Unfortunately, the vegetation on this island was not lush enough, and the terrain was not complex enough. Otherwise, someone who could even lead a Tigrex on a merry chase would not be caught like this by a Lagiacrus! Jara clicked his tongue and whistled.
Hibiki sprinted over diagonally but stubbornly refused to come right up next to Jara.
Carrying this guy is more exhausting than hauling two ordinary people!
"Think carefully, mutt!" Jara shouted while running at full speed. "Only if you carry me can we move smoothly! Smooth movement means a successful Lagiacrus Hunt, and a successful Lagiacrus Hunt means good food for everyone!"
"Chuff."
Hibiki, who had been reluctant a moment earlier, blasted two streams of hot air from his nostrils. He accelerated further, stopping right in front of Jara.
Jara had almost never ridden a Palamute before, so he could not gracefully leap onto a sprinting Palamute's back the way Nymera and the others could.
After clambering aboard on all fours, Jara swept his hand forward forcefully!
"Charge!"
With a heavy stamp, Hibiki barked explosively, accelerated to full speed, and hurtled toward the next mark point, carrying the mountain of flesh that was Jara.
For ordinary hunting or driving off a rival, a Lagiacrus would not be willing to pursue this far.
But this time there had been the roaring, the scent markers, and on top of that, the breeding-season instinct of a male Lagiacrus rejecting other males.
Riding Hibiki, Jara charged for two to three thousand meters in one long stretch, and that Lagiacrus was still hot on their heels.
The destination was now right before their eyes!
Meanwhile, inside the small canyon, Altaïr stood quietly, awaiting his prey's arrival.
Beside him, Clawdia sharpened the steel claws in her paws with a "shing-shing," ready for a big fight, while Sajji repeatedly checked several barrel-shaped mechanical Barrel Bombs, each over a meter in diameter with a squat, rounded profile.
This was another grand gift he had prepared for the Lagiacrus! Apart from the one human and two Felynes who had stayed inside the canyon, the first to arrive was not Jara, who was leading the Lagiacrus, but Isis, who had given the Qurupeco a severe beating, shut it up, and rushed over by crossing the mountain ridges.
Afterward, Nymera, moving swiftly through the treetops using Wirebugs, also reached the battlefield.
Their blades honed, their Ammo loaded, the three prepared for battle.
"Bark! Woof!"
A Palamute's bark rang from the canyon entrance, and the distant bellowing of a Lagiacrus made them tighten their grip on their weapons' handles.
On Hibiki's back, Jara burst into the canyon. He leaped off the sprinting Palamute's back, rolled once to shed his momentum, then swiftly rose and turned, staring toward the canyon entrance.
"It's coming, it's coming!"
A few seconds later, the azure behemoth they had spent several days maneuvering into place finally appeared at the canyon entrance.
(Translated by yourtl.app)