Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 84 Combat Readiness
"Uh... Master's wife?"

Lin Lin's sudden words shocked Rachel so much that she almost fell off the sofa. She sat there in a daze for two seconds before she could recover.

"What are you talking about, you drunken bastard!"

Then, she suddenly jumped up, pretending to reach out to pinch Lin Lin's neck to teach this talkative boy a lesson. However, on her face that pretended to be angry, she could not hide the smile in the corner of her eyes.

Lin Lin hurriedly escaped, "Ehhh!"

"Lady Rachel, I was wrong! Please spare my life!"

Tiao Tiao widened his eyes and looked at the female who was respectfully invited in by the leader. She chased the leader and hit him on the head, while the leader had no power to fight back and could only run away with his head in his hands.

It’s so scary. The leader can even knock down that brown behemoth. How outrageous must this female be?
It hesitated whether to go forward to help the leader escape, but Coconut Date was alert and dragged Tiao Tiao away from the scene.

Tiao Tiao was confused. Seeing that although the leader was beaten and screamed loudly, he did not seem to have suffered any substantial damage, he hesitated for a moment and then retreated a little with Coconut Date.

I hope the chief is okay.

……

Two days later, at the dock.

"Teacher, you are here?"

The tall girl bowed to Rachel calmly.

Rachel nodded in response with her usual icy expression.

Lin Lin:?
Didn't she always call her "sister"? With such a polite yet distant attitude, was she really the Shion Rachel was talking about?
I looked at the aloof Rachel again. She was not exactly the same as the one in my mind who looked extremely childish after drinking and exposed the emotional side of women, but it can be said that they were not related at all.

Lin Lin felt relieved. Maybe this was the difference between how ladies behaved in public and in private?

"And Senior Lin Lin!"

Although they had only met once, Ziyuan recognized Lin Lin immediately and bowed to him.

Lin Lin scratched the side of his face with his fingers and said, "Don't call me senior, it feels weird. Just call me Lin Lin."

Rachel also reached out and patted Lin Lin's shoulder vigorously. "In a sense, this is also your senior brother. If you don't call him by his name directly, you can just call him senior brother."

Ziyuan readily followed suit: "Senior Brother!"

"Ahaha, are everyone here?"

A hearty laugh was heard. Turning around, I saw the captain flipping over and jumping down from the bow of the Fengshan Maru. Then he patted the sand on his legs and walked towards the few people.

"All?"

Lin Lin turned to look at Ziyuan. Is she also going to participate in the running-in training?

But isn't she still studying in the training camp?

Seeing Lin Lin looking over, Ziyuan probably guessed Lin Lin's doubts and explained in a low voice:
"The Rocklark training camp participates in the simulation of the Fengshan Dragon Hunting Festival every year. I just passed the hunter assessment two days ago. I was supposed to be assigned to other sand ships in the fleet, but the teacher wanted me to see if I could go one step further and participate in the battle on the Fengshan Maru." Lin Lin nodded, then glanced at the sturdy figure of the fleet captain.

The courage to face the Sand Dragon, huh?

The captain looked at Lin Lin and Rachel. "This is both your first time attending the Great Desert Feast. I'll explain the operational procedures and division of labor. Shiyuan, although you're a native of Rocklak, it's best to listen as well. There's no harm in that."

Shiyuan nodded seriously, without any impatience at all.

The captain then pointed to Fengshan Maru behind him and said, "Let's first talk about the three parties participating in the feast."

"In general, the main force of the operation will be the Sand Ship Regiment, with the Dragon-Striking Ship Fengshan Maru as its flagship. The City Fortress Guerrillas will serve as a mobile force, providing emergency battlefield rescue or supporting combat as needed. The civilian fleet, primarily composed of fishermen, will follow behind to intercept the hunting of sandfish, creating a combat environment as free of interference as possible for the Sand Ship Regiment."

As if fearing that the two outsiders might not understand, the captain of the fleet also made a special explanation:
"The patrols of the Peak Dragon will dig up a large amount of nutrients from the ground, attracting a large number of sandfish to follow. Without the help of the civilian fishing fleet, the battle would be twice as difficult for the sandfish fleet."

His gaze turned to the large sand ships docked next to the Mineyama Maru. These were much larger than civilian sand ships. Following the Mineyama Maru, their maintenance progress had also reached the end.

"Including the Mineyama Maru, the Sand Fleet has a total of eleven ships participating in this year's operations. Each five ships will form a guard group, guarding both sides of the Mineyama Maru."

"Each sand ship is equipped with two to three pilots and three to four combatants. A small number of these combatants are drawn from the Fortress Guerrillas, but the majority are local hunters who have volunteered to participate."

"Including the twenty or so members of the Mineyama Maru, the total number of personnel involved in the frontal combat is over eighty."

Lin Lin hissed, feeling that there were quite a lot of people, but then he thought, Rocklak is a big city known as the Pearl of the Desert. The fleet that went to fight against the Peak Mountain Dragon gathered most of the power of the entire Rocklak, and only gathered so many people. He deeply felt how scarce hunters were in this world.

"Each of the sand ships is equipped with a heavy crossbow, and the Mineyama Maru has two. In addition to firing heavy crossbow bolts refined from tupelolith (piezoresistive bullets), they can also fire restraint bullets when necessary."

"This restraint bomb is connected to the crossbow via a high-strength cable, which is nailed to the ship's planks. It can be launched when necessary, connecting the sand ship to the body of the mountain dragon. This not only depletes its energy but also makes it easier for combatants to board its back and engage in combat."

"In addition, Fengshan Maru is equipped with two cannons on both sides, and a giant bronze gong inherited from ancient times is installed at the stern. The bow is our ultimate weapon, which is also the key to successfully stopping Fengshan Dragon. It is the Dragon Slaying Spear!"

Lin Lin followed the captain's gaze towards the sharp spear fixed beneath the rough keel, and subconsciously asked:

"Why don't we build a few more dragon-slaying spears and install one on each ship? They should be more effective than using crossbows, cannons, or other weapons, right?"

The captain choked and looked at Lin Lin helplessly:

"Why not? Is it because you don't want to?"

Lin Lin coughed dryly and made a zippering motion with his hand in front of his mouth.

The captain explained:

"The Dragon-Slaying Spear's power comes entirely from the propulsion device at its base. The moment the Dragon-Slaying Spear is activated, its immense recoil will instantly destroy the ship's frame. Cloud-knotting wood, earth sand dragons, and even the skeleton of a horned dragon wouldn't be able to withstand it. Only the mysterious keel that forms the core of the Fengshan Maru can withstand it."

"That's why we only have one Mineyama Maru."

Lin Lin blinked, and suddenly recalled the long-range shooting dragon spear that Elgard used to fight the Nether Dragon.

Can't you really bear it?
(End of this chapter)