Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 538 A false alarm

When the Lao-Shan Lung didn't even look at them before raising its claws and sweeping over, the hearts of all the hunters around them couldn't help but clench.

There's no way to outrun it. Lao-Shan Lung's attack range is simply too vast. Even with a Wirebug, it's difficult to cross such a long distance. And with Lao-Shan Lung's enormous body and strength, the only outcome of defending is to be turned into a meat pie. It seems that they have already entered a dead end, with no way to avoid it, and can only wait futilely for death to come.

However, although Lin Lin's expression was tense, he did not show any signs of panic.

He casually tucked his shield axe behind him, then took long strides, but instead of running away from Lao-Shan Lung, he charged straight at Lao-Shan Lung.

"Rumble--"

The earth is shaking and the mountains are shaking.

With a sweep of its front claws, the Laoshanlong shattered large sections of the brick and stone ground, and the billowing dust obscured the view. It was easy to imagine that if one were unfortunate enough to be caught in the attack, it would be a certain death.

Laoshanlong's movements were quite significant. To avoid being disturbed in her lower body, Yoko directly pulled Scizor into the air, preparing to unleash a Dragon Slayer attack when Laoshanlong stopped.

While suspended in the air, Yoko glanced down and noticed that the other hunters had already retreated out of Lao-Shan Lung's attack range, but she couldn't see the figure in the golden armor. Her expression froze, and boundless fear gripped her heart like an invisible hand, making it painful to breathe.

no, I can not!
Brother Lin is so strong, he couldn't possibly have fallen like that! I must have misjudged him!

Yoko had lost all interest in attacking Lao-Shan Lung at this point. She was just constantly throwing out Wirebugs or using her jetpack to maintain her altitude, her eyes anxiously searching the ground of the battle town.

No.

No.

Still nothing...

Her gaze lingered, but there was no trace of gold in sight. Yoko's expression turned panicked, her heart pounded, and an indescribable pain spread from her heart to her entire body, reaching her eyes and blurring them with glistening tears.

Old! Mountain! Dragon!
I want you dead!!!

Ye Zi blinked hard to avoid her tears obscuring her vision, but when her gaze fell on Lao Shanlong again, it was already overflowing with boundless killing intent.

Only by killing this official can she alleviate the hatred in her heart!

Water droplets fell from the sky, and Yoko continued her actions, releasing flying insects one after another, but this time she kept raising her own altitude.

She was using this to enhance the power of the Dragon Subduing Technique, hoping to pierce through the body of the Old Mountain Dragon in one strike—although she knew very well that this was impossible, it did not stop Yoko from thinking this as the Red Lotus Karmic Fire burned fiercely in her heart.

Then, she almost collided with the sky, where the sky was having a buffet.

This was only because Osora noticed something and quickly dodged to the side; otherwise, he might have crashed directly.

With a sweep of azure eyes, Da Kong tilted his head involuntarily. What was he trying to do, leaping so high? He'd never seen him do this during battles before.
Then it saw Yoko fling a flying insect downwards.

Dasora:! ! !
Are you crazy?! Jumping off a hundred meters in the air! What's the difference between that and suicide?!
Without a moment's hesitation, Ooku swooped down and caught up with Yoko at an even faster speed. He grabbed her with one claw, then spread his wings and slowly descended with Yoko on his back.

Ye Zi turned around angrily:
"let me go!"

Oozora let out a low growl, both helpless and puzzled.

My goodness! Why did you have to work so hard when we were doing something perfectly fine?

Of course, it was impossible for Ooko to let go of Yoko like that. It glided with Yoko all the way to the high platform of Battle Street before releasing its claws and glancing at her with a slightly worried look.

Yoko gripped the insect stick tightly in her hand, took a deep breath, and forced herself to calm down.

I was indeed too impulsive just now. If I had acted that way, I wouldn't have been able to avenge Brother Lin...

She turned to look at Osora, who was still staring at her with concern, and suddenly felt something was off.

Didn't Brother Lin Lin say that he and Da Kong could communicate with each other? Why does Da Kong look like nothing's wrong now?
With such doubts arising in her mind, Yoko's heart was suddenly filled with hope. Since Osora was behaving this way, maybe... Brother Lin Lin was alright too?

With that thought in mind, she hurriedly jumped off the platform and rushed back towards Lao-Shan Lung, her eyes scanning over the hunters present, trying to find out if she had overlooked anything.

A moment later, her gaze sharpened and settled on the conspicuous wound on Lao Shanlong's chest.

At this moment, the flesh there was writhing and twitching, as if something indescribable was about to emerge from it.

"Wow..."

A crimson figure parted the surrounding flesh and forced its way out of the wound. As the figure appeared, thick, sticky dragon blood gushed out from the blocked wound.

Judging from the sword and shield he carries, who else could it be but Lin Lin?
Just now, after realizing he couldn't escape the Old Mountain Dragon's attack range, Lin Lin had a sudden inspiration and decided to do the opposite. He lowered his head and rammed his entire body into the Old Mountain Dragon's bloody wound on its chest, forcibly squeezing through the torn flesh. The Old Mountain Dragon only attacked because it felt pain, so it wouldn't attack its own wound. Since that was the case, why not just hide inside the Old Mountain Dragon's wound?

Although the golden armor I was wearing was completely stained with the blood of the ancient dragon, it didn't have much of an impact; I could just wash it off later.

Looking up, Lin Lin saw that Lao Shanlong had already stepped forward again, as if he had just casually swatted a trivial mosquito. He breathed a slight sigh of relief, then his gaze sharpened as he met Ye Zi's eyes not far away.

Seeing the tears welling up in his beloved girl's eyes as she smiled through her tears, a soft string in Lin Lin's heart was quietly touched.

It made her worry... On the battlefield, things change in an instant. There was no time for them to pour out their hearts to each other. Everything was understood without words. After a brief exchange of glances, everyone took their positions again and began to carry out their duties, launching a siege against the Old Mountain Dragon.

……

The sun rises in the east, hangs high in the sky, and then slowly sinks in the west. The fiery red sunset hangs above the distant mountains, and the light makes the huge reddish-brown shadows even deeper.

Almost a whole day has passed since Lao-Shan Lung stepped into Battle Street and the ambush officially began. If it were traveling at its normal speed, it would probably have already crossed the fortress and headed towards Minagard. However, due to the hunters' delay, Lao-Shan Lung has only just entered the end of Battle Street and seen the thick city wall in front of it.

At this moment, Laoshanlong looked much more disheveled than when it first entered the battle zone. Not only had a large piece of its carapace fallen off its back, but the surrounding carapace surface was also charred black. Several wounds of varying sizes had appeared on its chest and abdomen. The largest wound had expanded to nearly three meters in length, and the blood flowing from it had stained the dark white dragon skin dark red.

Although it appears to be moving forward steadily, a closer look reveals that each step it takes is slower than the last.

It's injured!

This was certainly due to the attacks launched by the high-ranking hunters who took turns coming to their aid, but even more important were the two dragon bombs that had been infused with high-density dragon-slaying carbon.

After the White Wind Squad arrived, the task of placing the anti-dragon bombs became less reliant on the land bridge due to the presence of the Sky. Therefore, when Manjushri brought the remaining two anti-dragon bombs, the battle plan underwent a slight change.

The fact that Lin Lin had dodged an attack from Lao-Shan Lung by directly entering its wound had given them considerable inspiration.

If the bomb could be inserted into the wound and then detonated, the resulting damage would be far greater than if it were detonated directly outside the body!

Simply stuffing the bomb into the wound would undoubtedly cause Lao-Shan Lung pain, thus stimulating its movement, so doing so carries considerable risk.

If it were other monsters, such as the Great Sea Dragon or the Mine Mountain Dragon, Lin Lin's ability to sense the monster's thoughts could serve as a guarantee for the battle plan.

However, this monster was an Old Mountain Dragon that had lived for over a thousand years, its mind even more chaotic than that of a Great Sea Dragon. Its every move was driven almost entirely by instinct. Having participated in the battle for so long, Lin Lin had never heard a single word from this creature that could be considered a complete thought. The only reaction that could barely be considered as self-awareness was its intense fear and apprehension towards a certain direction—undoubtedly the direction of the culprit that caused the Old Mountain Dragon's abnormal migration, and also the direction of the Black Dragon, one of the biggest bosses in this world.

Fortunately, although they couldn't hear each other's thoughts, the group of high-ranking hunters were not to be trifled with. After some discussion, they concluded that Lao-Shan Lung had one characteristic: rigidity.

Driven almost entirely by instinct, Lao-Shan Lung moves with remarkable rigidity. When it feels pain, it attacks the source of the pain, and once the pain subsides, it continues on its way as if nothing had happened.

This gave the hunters an opportunity.

First, the hunters wielding dragon-attribute weapons take the stage—Lin Lin's Destenetta, Lin Yun's Dragon-Sealing Sword [Superb Skill], and Rod's Terrifying Tyrant—these three powerful dragon-attribute weapons attack simultaneously, causing Lao-Shan Lung to feel pain and thus retaliate.

Before Lao-Shan Lung fully calmed down and before its pain threshold returned to normal, with the help of Daiko, they inserted the Dragon Bomb into the flesh and blood of the wound on Lao-Shan Lung's back, removed the safety pin, and retreated.

There was no need to even light the fuse. After devouring a number of winged serpents and regaining his strength, Da Kong could easily detonate it by spitting out a small fireball.

After adopting this tactic, the effect of the bomb buried in the wound was no less than that of the previous two bombs. It seemed that after this bomb was detonated, it finally caused real damage to Lao-Shan Lung and slowed down its movements.

As for the last remaining anti-dragon bomb, after some discussion, everyone agreed that instead of detonating it in the back wound, they should try to create an opportunity to stuff it into the chest wound. Perhaps it could damage the Lao-Shan Lung's internal organs, and the effect would definitely be better than detonating it in the back.

However, this opportunity was not so easy to create. Laoshanlong spent most of its time crawling on all fours. Even when it fought back because of the pain, the wound on its chest was exposed for too short a time. Sora had not been able to find an opportunity to approach with his people and the bomb together. And this opportunity had been waiting for until now.

Seeing the city walls almost within reach, Manjushri took a deep breath and picked up the Dragon Bomb:

"We can't wait any longer. Since there's really no chance to detonate it in the abdomen, let's settle for second best and detonate it in the back!"

Before Lao-Shan Lung even reached the fortress, the battle had reached its finish line. Either they would defeat Lao-Shan Lung here, or Lao-Shan Lung would break through the fortress and charge towards Minagard. There was no time left for them to wait any longer.

"No, the opportunity is coming soon!"

Elania shook her head, looked up at the city walls above and the cliffs extending on both sides, her eyes filled with anticipation.

The interior of the cliffs on both sides has long been hollowed out, concealing a complex array of facilities and institutions, including but not limited to field hospitals, engineering warehouses, granaries, ammunition depots, and some special defensive weapons.

For example, now.

As the old mountain dragon drew closer to the fortress, facing the tens of meters high city wall, it finally changed its posture, going from crawling on all fours back to standing upright on two legs, preparing to go forward and destroy the obstacle blocking its way.

However, just as it passed the cliffs on both sides and was about to approach the city wall in front, several crossbow bolts, each over a meter long and made entirely of sparrow stone, shot out.

Seeing this, Elania couldn't help but show a hint of joy on her face:
"Galba did a good job, now's our chance!"

These crossbow bolts, with huge, sharp barbs at the tip and specially made strong ropes attached to the tail, are single-shot restraint bullets specifically designed to fight against colossal Elder Dragons.

Under Galba's command, and with the precise shooting of the archers hidden in the fortifications, holding their breath and waiting for the right moment, these restraining bullets pierced the wounds that the high-ranking hunters had prepared in advance, their sharp barbs firmly embedded in the flesh.

"Roar--"

Under the tense gaze of the hunters, whose hearts were in their throats, the ropes attached to the restraining bullets instantly taut and continued to stretch at a speed so slow it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye, constantly emitting a grating "squeak, squeak" sound.

"Quick! The restraint rounds won't last long!"

Urged on by Elania, the Sky Soared into the air, its figure clad in emerald armor charging straight toward Lao-Shan Lung's chest.

At this very moment, the old mountain dragon was still struggling against the ropes that were fixing its body and hindering its progress.

(End of this chapter)