Sajji and Hakucho flew as one, gliding low between the rolling peaks.
When it came to flying, Sajji could hardly compare with a naturally winged Halk like Hakucho. But when it came to evading Monsters, Hakucho was still just a little over a year old, a "baby," and lacked Sajji's experience.
Under Sajji's direction, they skirted one area after another that might be home to Large Monsters. Along the way, they were attacked by a Tigrex with a jet-black carapace.
The Tigrex's earthshaking roar nearly sent Hakucho plunging headfirst out of the sky. Fortunately, Sajji fired his rockets in time to interrupt the roar, then used a Flash Pod to keep the Tigrex from taking off.
Otherwise, even if Tigrex were hardly renowned for their flying ability, Sajji and Hakucho were only a few dozen meters above the ground. The Monster could easily have caught up and snapped them out of the air. One bite would have swallowed them whole.
After that frightening but ultimately harmless encounter, Hakucho put noticeably more effort into his flying, and his speed increased considerably.
In just over half an hour, they crossed nearly half the volcanic mountain range, traveling from its north-central reaches to its western side.
They were now close to the coast. The oncoming sea breeze scattered the haze from the volcanic eruption, clearing both the air and their view. Sajji could not help taking a deep breath.
They were relatively safe here. Large Flying Wyverns capable of threatening them rarely ventured near the coast, much less nested over the open sea.
Sajji directed Hakucho to climb. The young Halk beat his wings faster, and they soon rose several hundred meters into the air.
"Meow?"
The volcano, the strait, and the golden plain on the opposite shore... Sajji suddenly found the view strangely familiar.
He pulled out the map and scanned it before finally realizing that he had been here before with Altaïr and the others. More precisely, they had once visited the golden plain across the strait.
That was the Ancestral Steppe.
It was where he and Altaïr had gone when they first left the desert all those years ago.
They had even stood atop a mountain and gazed across at the volcano, talking about how they might come and see it for themselves one day, if only to broaden their horizons.
Without either of them noticing, that little wish from long ago had come true.
"Screee!" Hakucho called clearly from above, asking for his next instruction.
Sajji refocused. "Hold this altitude and double back toward the volcano, meow. Let's see what could be strange enough to make Shen Gaoren alter its migration route and chase after it, meow!"
They began making repeated passes over the area.
Bright rivers of lava flowed across the ground, crisscrossing like a spiderweb before pooling into orange-red lakes of every size.
Staring at them for too long made Sajji's eyes sting and left afterimages in his vision. He removed his windproof goggles and rubbed his eyes.
"Scree-caw!" Hakucho cried in amazement.
Sajji hurriedly put his goggles back on and looked down. "Meow? I really must be seeing things. Is that volcano moving, meow?"
"Screee!" Hakucho let out another piercing cry.
Sajji rubbed his eyes again and stared intently. The next instant, the long-haired Felyne puffed up into a ball of fur.
An enormous creature was radiating tremendous heat and pouring out smoke and dust. With every ponderous step, lava erupted and the earth shook.
"What in the meow is that thing?!"
Having found their suspicious target, Sajji and Hakucho raced back at top speed.
—--
"That thing is right here, meow!" Upon landing, Sajji did not even wait to steady himself or fold away his glider. He darted to Altaïr's side and pointed a small claw at a spot on the map. "It's heading for the coast, meow!"
After hearing Sajji's description, Altaïr knew the matter was beyond anything he could decide on his own.
He instructed Morgan to continue tracking and monitoring the Shen Gaoren, then took Erik with him to find the Professor and the others resting farther back.
They were sleeping in a hollow among the rocks. Isis held Clawdia in her arms while she and Nymera leaned against Hibiki's belly. Only Rice Cake crouched atop his head, standing "watch."
It had not needed to walk once along the way, spending the entire journey either perched on Isis's shoulder or clinging to Clawdia's back. It was about time it pulled its weight.
"Professor! Your prediction was right!" Erik's shout woke everyone from a sound sleep.
Isis glanced around in groggy alarm, with no idea what was happening.
Sitting alone to one side, his arms folded and his gaze lowered, the Professor might have been dozing or lost in thought. He raised his eyes.
Altaïr strode up to him. "Based on the Shen Gaoren's acceleration and direction, Erik roughly calculated the location of whatever is attracting it, so I sent Sajji and Hakucho to scout ahead.
"They found a suspicious target in the western part of the mountain range, not far from the coast."
"It's another Shen Gaoren, meow!" Sajji cut in, waving his paws. "It's a little smaller than the one we're tracking, but it looks different, meow!
"That Shen Gaoren looks as if it has been soaking in lava. Its entire carapace is red-hot, and it even spews lava, meow.
"When I saw it from high above, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me and the volcano itself had started moving, meow!"
"That's Guren Shen Gaoren..." the Professor murmured, giving the creature a name.
The Professor did not sound surprised. If anything, his tone suggested that this was exactly what he had expected. Altaïr pressed him for an explanation. "Guren Shen Gaoren? Is it a Subspecies of Shen Gaoren?"
"Not exactly."
The Professor's answer was vague, and he appeared to be considering something. After a moment, he continued, "Even when what we call a Subspecies has not formed an independent population, there must be enough individuals to prove that its existence is not an extreme, isolated case.
"Azure Rathalos and Blue Yian Kut-Ku are typical examples.
"But there are also exceptional cases. For one reason or another, certain individuals stray far from their original populations and habitats, then develop in isolation into powerful creatures with entirely different ecologies. Academia calls such individuals 'Lone Species.'
"There is no strict boundary between a Lone Species and a Subspecies.
"Take Agnaktor and Glacial Agnaktor. When Glacial Agnaktor was first discovered, dissections confirmed that its underlying anatomy belonged to the same species as Agnaktor. Scholars therefore classified it as a Lone Species rather than a Subspecies.
"Only later were more Glacial Agnaktor discovered in the tundra and the Frozen Seaway. That proved an Agnaktor leaving its volcanic lava habitat, entering an extremely cold region, and ultimately becoming a Glacial Agnaktor was not an isolated occurrence.
"Only then was it reclassified as a Subspecies."
"So if only one extremely altered individual is found, it's a Lone Species, but if ten or twenty or even more similar individuals are discovered, it can be classified as a Subspecies?"
"Exactly." The Professor nodded at Altaïr's summary.
He adjusted his glasses and looked at Sajji. "Apart from its red-hot body and the lava it spewed, was the dragon skull on its back also different from the one carried by the Shen Gaoren we're tracking?"
Sajji nodded. "Yes, meow!"
"Instead of a single horn, did it have a pair of massive tusks?"
"It did, meow!"
"Then it must be the same Guren Shen Gaoren I know of." The Professor nodded to himself. "The owner of that skull was also extraordinary. It was a..."
"A Jhen Mohran, meow!"
"...an Akantor."
Sajji and the Professor spoke at the same time.
They stared at each other in mutual confusion.
The Professor shook his head. "No, no, no. A Jhen Mohran may also have a pair of prominent horns, but the skulls of the two creatures are completely different."
"I'm sure it was a Jhen Mohran, meow!" Sajji insisted. "I took part in the Desert Feast with Boss, meow. I know what a Jhen Mohran looks like!"
"Give me the drawing board." The Professor beckoned to Erik.
Erik quickly handed it over.
The Professor took a charcoal pencil and sketched the outlines of two skulls with astonishing speed.
"The upper one is an Akantor, and the lower one is a Jhen Mohran. Are you sure you saw the lower one, not the upper one?" the Professor asked gravely.
Sajji carefully compared the two sketches. "I'm sure, meow! It was a Jhen Mohran!"
The Professor fell silent for a moment.
"Describe the Guren Shen Gaoren you saw in greater detail. How tall was it? How many limbs did it have?"
"It had the same number of limbs as the Shen Gaoren we're tracking, meow. Four legs and two pincers.
"It should be about forty meters tall, quite a bit smaller than the one we're tracking, meow," Sajji answered without hesitation.
The Professor fell silent again.
"What's wrong, Professor?" Erik asked softly.
"The Guren Shen Gaoren confirmed by the Guild was less than thirty meters tall and carried an Akantor skull. It was last seen seven years ago.
"It couldn't have grown this much in only a few years. This must be a different individual. It seems..." The Professor drew a deep breath.
"A Lone Species is about to become a Subspecies."
(Translated by yourtl.app)