Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 531: The Secret King of Strange Faces

"Bam—"

Zak was urging his herbivorous dragon forward when he suddenly felt a faint tremor beneath his feet. He stopped in his tracks and looked around.

earthquake?
It's like when it rains, it pours; how could an earthquake happen at such a crucial moment in the battle?

Zack's expression was not good. He bent down and pressed his cheek to the ground, listening carefully. If it was really an earthquake, he would have to quickly remind the hunters defending the fortress to be on guard.

"Bam—"

Another tremor followed, and Zach's brow furrowed involuntarily.

This sound doesn't really sound like an earthquake...

Tangia Port is an earthquake-prone area. Zak has experienced several earthquakes since he was a child, but this time the feeling was significantly different from before.

The tremors were rather superficial, not like they came from deep within the earth; rather, they felt like the vibrations caused by a heavy object falling to the ground.

As for what kind of heavy object it was...

"Bam—"

Another tremor came, and whether it was his imagination or not, Zack felt that the source of the tremor seemed to be a little closer to him.

"Bam—"

Another tremor followed, perfectly timed with the previous sound, as if something was instinctively moving forward at a fixed frequency.

A moving, constantly approaching, enormous object whose every step could trigger a small earthquake...

"Is this... Lao-Shan Lung?"

Zack took a deep breath, glanced back at the herbivorous dragon that had also sensed something was wrong and was now hesitant to move forward, and tried to calm his racing heart. He muttered to himself:
"There's nothing to be afraid of, nothing to be afraid of. Zack, you've aspired to become a hunter as skilled as your brother, how can you back down like this?"

He pounded his chest, grabbed the herbivorous dragon's reins, and forcefully pulled the timid creature to increase its speed.

……

The fortress itself is a defensive structure built on the canyon. In addition to the huge city wall built at the canyon pass, which can reach a height of more than seventy meters, the roads on both sides extending outward along the canyon are also heavily armed, just like the battle street in East Doruma, in order to weaken the opponent's physical strength to the greatest extent possible before the super-large ancient dragon arrives at the pass.

(As shown in the image, this is a high-definition version of the city wall in XX.)
Thanks to Zach's frantic efforts, the batch of medicines was finally delivered. However, the battle had already begun, with artillery fire raging everywhere. Everyone was in a state of chaos, running around the fortress as if their backsides were on fire. Zach couldn't find the logistics personnel he was supposed to coordinate with.

Zack wanted to stop someone to ask him several times, but he was afraid that it might delay the battle. So, after thinking for a moment, he parked the cart next to the tunnel, picked up a box of recovery potions, and jogged through the tunnel, trying to find the place where the potions should be stored by himself.

However, in order to ensure the stability of the defense, a large amount of bricks and stones were used to build the city wall. The passageways were narrow and interconnected. Without familiarizing himself with the place beforehand, Zack lost his way after running around for a while. When he turned around to look around, he felt that everything looked the same and he couldn't tell which way was which.

The place was extremely deserted; the people who had been running around in a chaotic manner just moments before had all disappeared, making it impossible for him to find anyone to ask for directions.

Just as he was about to try his luck and randomly choose a passageway to walk through, his ears twitched slightly, and he heard an unusual sound.

“△○×□…”

Zack was absolutely certain that this was not a human language at all, but rather sounded very much like the language of a small, highly aggressive race of monsters that were often hostile to humans!

That's really strange. How come there are Faerie race members in the fortress? Did some hunter tame one of them as a follower?
Zack was about to peek when he heard a chaotic cacophony in his ears, all in the language of the Strange Faces.

“××○○!”

“□△○○!”

“○△×……”

Now Zack realized the problem completely. Even if some hunters had tamed the Felynes as followers, it was impossible for such a large group to be gathered here!
Zach carefully held his breath and peeked in the direction the sound came from. He was so shocked by what he saw that his eyes widened in horror.

At the end of the passageway ahead, a large iron gate stood open, and two figures lay motionless in a pool of blood on the ground in front of them.

Through the wide-open door, Zach could clearly see the items stored in the warehouse.

Large quantities of gunpowder, explosives, bombs, and ammunition!

This is the fortress's armory! The supplies stored here are essential weapons for fighting the Lao-Shan Dragon!

Beside the two fallen figures, a dozen or so short, ragged-clothed strange-faced people were going in and out, struggling to carry gunpowder from the armory.

Zack's gaze followed the figure of a Felyne running out carrying a barrel of explosives. He watched it run into another passageway not far away, then push aside a loose brick and disappear into a tunnel.

These strange creatures... they're thieves! While everyone's attention was focused on the battle against Lao-Shan Lung, they secretly dug a tunnel to infiltrate the fortress, all to steal these vital strategic resources!
Damn it! If the Old Mountain Dragons hadn't arrived so suddenly, forcing us to urgently repair the fortress and leaving no time for a thorough inspection, how could they have slipped through our fingers!

Zach's hand involuntarily tightened around the training sword at his waist, wanting to rush out and kill these guys. However, when his gaze swept over the corpses in the pool of blood, his surging hot blood couldn't help but cool down a bit.

Those were two hunters. Judging from their attire, one was wearing a Velociraptor set and the other a Sand Dragon set. They were clearly low-level hunters, around one or two stars. But even low-level hunters were certainly more experienced than Zack, a newbie who hadn't even passed the test yet. The fact that they had died here silently showed that these Grimaldians were definitely not as simple as he thought.

"I can't act impulsively... but I can't just stand by and watch them move things..." Zack muttered to himself, carefully taking steps without making a sound as he slipped into another tunnel, facing the entrance to the tunnel dug by the Strange Faces, and concealing himself in the shadows.

Not long after, another masked creature staggered over carrying gunpowder, preparing to squeeze into the tunnel. Suddenly, a flash of cold light appeared in the darkness, precisely piercing the masked creature's back and ending its sinful life.

There were some miscellaneous items in the passageway. The corpse of the strange-faced tribe was small, so it was easy to hide. Covering it with a canvas would prevent the stench of blood from dissipating for a while.

Zach remained hidden in the shadows, making a series of moves and decisively taking down five or six Felynes who were carrying gunpowder, successfully reducing this audacious bandit group to single digits.

However, things took an unexpected turn at this point.

Noticing that several creatures hadn't returned for a long time, a peculiar Grimace emerged from the gunpowder depot. Compared to the other, thin Grimaces, this creature was much taller, almost as tall as the hunter. What was even more unusual was that it wore a crown on its head, making it stand out even more—although the crown was shaped like a barbecue grill.

(As shown in the picture, the Faceless King of the Old World looks rather unkempt.)

The moment Zach saw this guy, his hair stood on end, and his face instantly turned terrified.

It wasn't the unusual appearance of the strange-faced creature that startled me, but rather the blazing crown on its head.

Just now, this guy has been sitting in the armory full of gunpowder!
If a spark were to fly from its head and ignite the gunpowder in the armory, the violent explosion would directly destroy the entire fortress, clearing the last obstacle in the path of the Old Mountain Dragon.

Holy crap! How could those strange-faced people be so wicked!

Zach immediately changed his mind. He absolutely could not let this dangerous guy into the armory again. Dealing with these thugs would have to wait. The most urgent task was to ensure the armory's safety and prevent it from being detonated.

So he stepped forward, drew his sword, and pointed it at the tall, strange-faced man.

"You thieving scoundrel, do you dare to fight me?"

Although the king of the strange-faced race couldn't understand human language, he could clearly see the other party's provocative actions. He waved to the side, and then a strange-faced race member laboriously dragged a huge club and handed it to the other party.

The King of the Faerie casually swung his club, smashing the brick floor beneath his feet into a spiderweb of cracks, before beckoning to Zack in a provocative gesture.

"Gudu"

Watching the King of the Fathomables' effortless movements, and then glancing at the two corpses lying in a pool of blood, Zack swallowed hard.

He was wondering why these strange creatures weren't strong; he could take them all down with a single strike. There was no reason why a Star Hunter wouldn't be a match for them. Now he understood: the other side had a powerful backer.

Just as he hesitated, the king of the strange-faced tribe changed his previous contemptuous attitude and suddenly sprang up, stomping his feet on the ground and charging straight towards Zack. His speed was like a gust of wind, and in the blink of an eye, he was in front of him, raising his club high, about to smash Zack to pieces with one blow.

However, Zach reacted quickly, and since there was some distance between them at the beginning, Zach instinctively rolled to the side to avoid the blow, finally managing to prevent the deadly club from narrowly missing his body.

This strike was no longer a casual blow like before. The power of the heavy slam was comparable to that of a large monster's attack, shattering the bricks beneath their feet and kicking up a cloud of dust.

Seeing that this creature, smaller than himself, could unleash such astonishing destructive power, Zack knew he was no match for it and had no intention of fighting it. After rolling to his feet, he turned and ran without hesitation, shouting as he ran.

"Help! Help! The Feathered Ones have invaded the armory!"

The king of the Qimian tribe was furious upon seeing this. He wasn't stupid; he knew that Zack's shout had ruined his grand theft plan. With so many people in the fortress, if they were on guard, even with his personal strength, he couldn't withstand a group attack. He should stop while he was ahead and quickly lead his people to evacuate, at least preserving his current gains.

However, after running a few steps, Zack realized that the King of the Faerie had stopped chasing him and that it was planning to leave. But this guy had broken into the fortress to steal supplies and killed two hunters. Zack was furious with him and couldn't possibly let him leave like that.

Zach immediately turned around and charged at the King of the Faerie once again.

Seeing this, the King of the Strange-Faced Clan was not alarmed but delighted. The other party had exposed his plan. If he had just turned around and run away, there would have been nothing he could do. But the other party had taken the initiative to rush over. Wasn't this the perfect opportunity to smash the other party flat with a club and vent his anger?
Then it saw a burst of intense white flashes in front of it.

For a moment, the King of the Strange-Faced Clan saw stars and felt dizzy. He couldn't even find the location of his target, and he could barely stand, swaying as if he were drunk.

"Flashbangs are indeed a good thing, brother was right!"

Zack gave a thumbs-up, but he knew his own limitations. Even if he gained the upper hand with the flashbang, he might not be able to take down the guy. So he simply didn't get close and continued to shout at the top of his lungs.

"Help! Help!"

Zack's shout was quickly answered. In the short ten seconds he had to delay, a figure clad in emerald armor arrived at the sound, released a flying insect, and soared into the air. While still in mid-air, he raised his great hammer and slammed it down on the king of the Strange Faces.

“Kid, step back. This is the king of the Strange-Faced Clan. You can’t handle him.”

As the heavy hammer slammed down, the king of the strange-faced tribe, who had just been swaying and unsteady on his feet, suddenly regained his mobility. He dodged the blow with a swift movement and swung the club in his hand back towards the spot where he had just been standing.

It's clear that although it temporarily lost its sight due to the flashbang, its condition was far from bad. Its swaying appearance just now was merely a feigned weakness to lure Zack into attacking it.

"Haha, as expected of the King of the Strange-Faced Clan, truly cunning!"

The female hunter laughed loudly, taking the blow with her heavy hammer. Then, using herself as a fulcrum, she quickly spun around, swinging the hammer in a circle before smashing it down on the king of the Strange-Faced Tribe again.

While the huntress was locked in combat with the King of the Faerie, more hunters arrived, blocking the King of the Faerie's escape route and completely cutting off its hope of escape.

(End of this chapter)