I, Yuhaka, am hungry!

..............

In the town of Skula, on the border of the ancient forest, Milia arrived at a small house where she could hire a companion cat and a kitchen cat, carrying her ecological research notebook. There, Milia showed the notes left by Yuhaka in her ecological research notebook to the blonde dragon girl (from appearance) who ran the business.

The blonde dragon-human loli looked at the handwriting of Yuhaka in Milia's ecological research notebook and said:

"Milia...remember...you's taste...come find...you..."

After saying that, the blonde dragon girl looked at Milia with a strange expression.

Chapter 19 [The Hunting Insects and the Misty Swamp]

Milia returned home looking exhausted. Looking at the description of the Merlin cat clan in her ecological research notebook, her cheeks puffed up. That little idiot actually made her find her by smell? Did he think I was a dog?!

Moreover, she ended up being given a strange look by the dragon-woman cat girl who was in charge of taking care of her companion cats, making Milia wonder if she had been misunderstood.

However… Milia glanced at the spiky scales that Yuhaka had left her on her hand and said:

"If it's a stalker bug or a guide bug looking for Youyou, there shouldn't be any problem, right?"

Here's a brief explanation of the so-called Kommo-no-Karakuri. The Kommo-no-Karakuri are somewhat similar to the Kinsects controlled by the Insect Glaive. However, the difference is that the former are like hunting dogs on Earth, trained to search for prey and track large monsters, while the latter are trained specifically to be used in conjunction with the Insect Glaive to hunt large monsters.

After all, hunters usually carry dye orbs to hunt large monsters. Of course, hunters don't have a dog's nose and can always find the traces of large monsters by smelling the dye orbs.

Furthermore, some clever large monsters will also try to remove the scent and traces of the dye balls from their bodies. For example, the snow lion king, who lives in the snowy mountain region, will rub the dye balls off on the snow.

Unlike other insects, hunting insects use two methods: [luring tracking] and [scent tracking] to track large prey and other things.

【Induced tracking】uses a special pheromone to mark the target, because only insects like predator beetles can smell this special pheromone.

[Scent tracking] is very simple. Just like a dog looking for something, you only need to give the carnivore a target, and the carnivore will follow similar scents to find the target.

While scent-tracking Palicoes can do the same thing... stalkers are much cheaper than Palicoes. Although stalkers are more expensive than Palicoes, you don't need to pay stalkers, while Palicoes do.

The two differ in their food costs. The stalker only needs to eat some fruit and honey, while the companion cat, although it doesn't eat as much as the hunter, only about a quarter of the hunter's usual food intake, still needs to eat meat, and meat is not cheap in this world.

As for Scoutflies, forget about them. They are far more expensive than the previous two, and the Hunter Guild also restricts hunters from purchasing them by level, since Scoutflies are more difficult to train than Hunting Bugs.

Milia scratched her chin, her eyes looking somewhat unfocused. She was also inclined to buy the Stalker, but she herself felt a little uncomfortable with it.

Although Milia isn't afraid of monsters like beetles and horned creatures, she really dislikes them; I guess it's just a girl's nature...

..................

【Misty Swamp】is the name of a swamp located in the southern part of the continent. Because it is shrouded in mist for many years, the residents of this place call it the 【Misty Swamp】.

Although this land is shrouded in mist year-round and presents many dangers, there are still many residents living here. The Misty Swamp contains many rare resources, such as rare minerals like crystals, which can be found in abundance in the underground caves of the Misty Swamp.

Furthermore, herbs with detoxifying properties are the easiest to find in the Misty Swamp.

In a hunter's camp in the Misty Swamp, the four members with the afro arrived.

The leader with the afro scratched his head, looking at the thick fog around him, and said:

"Wow, is the fog this thick here? How are we supposed to get the Azure Stones like this??"

The second-in-command with the afro looked at his boss with a speechless expression and said:

"Boss, didn't the residents of Misty Village say that if you want to go into the Misty Swamp, it's best to wait until noon, because the fog is thickest in the morning?"

Upon hearing what the second-in-command with the afro said, the eldest-in-command with the afro looked somewhat troubled and said:

"Damn it... how are we supposed to mine azurite now...?"

The fourth brother with the afro, standing to the side, said cautiously:

"Um... how about we go and buy some azurite from other hunters?"

The leader with the afro immediately shook his head, thinking about the exorbitant prices those players were charging for materials, and said:

"No, no, no, I'd rather mine all day than buy those shady merchants' stuff. Damn, it's too expensive. One azurite costs 20 azurites to sell to the store."

The second brother with the afro nodded in agreement with the first brother's words. After all, the prices that those hunter players were selling at were simply unacceptable. Even the swallowstones and iron ore sold by hunter players in the town of Kusla were much cheaper.

The third brother with the afro looked at the thick fog around him, where he couldn't see anything more than 30 meters away, and said:

"Could it be that those hunters who sell Azurite in Misty Village encountered something in this Misty Swamp that caused them to sell it for such a high price?"

The leader with the afro shook his head at the third leader with the afro and said:

"I don't know. Who knows what's in the Misty Swamp? Probably some Poison Bird and Scythe Crab. Anyway, when we encounter the Glavenus, we can just feed it Fertilizer Orbs like we did last time."

The fourth brother with the afro looked at the eldest brother with the afro and suddenly said:

"But... Boss, we still got killed by the Dragon Slayer after throwing away the fertilizer orbs."

Then the fourth brother with the afro received a fist, and the eldest brother with the afro, after clenching his fist, said to the others:

"Alright, let's stop chatting here. Let's go explore the surrounding area and see where there are walls. We'll be able to find the entrance to the underground cave by following the walls."

"Boss is wise!"

The fourth brother with the afro, who had just finished flattering others, was knocked to the ground by the eldest brother with the afro. The eldest brother then took out a pickaxe he had retrieved from Misty Village from his backpack and said to the others:

"Alright, let's get ready to go. We're not going back to camp until we've dug our fill today! Let's go!"

...15 minutes later...

Eight Palicoes pushed a cart to the hunter's camp, and on the cart were four people with stick-out butts and afro hair, and their bodies were covered in mud.

Hunting failed!

Chapter 20 [The Unknown Monster and the Little Frog]

"Hahahaha!"

Yingying laughed as she looked at the various encounters of hunter players in Misty Village on the forum. All sorts of hunter players had suffered a major setback in the Misty Swamp.

Since most players do hunting quests around the town of Skula, the hunting grounds around Skula are mostly simple and easy terrain environments.

The slightly more challenging areas are only in the depths of the ancient forest, where the terrain is covered with all sorts of tree roots, weeds, and vines.

However, compared to the terrain of the Misty Swamp, the terrain of the Ancient Forest seems rather childish.

Having lived in Misty Village for some time, Ying Yingying was well aware of how treacherous the environment of the Misty Swamp was. In addition to the dense fog that reduced visibility, the swamp hidden in the grassland was one of the most dangerous dangers of the Misty Swamp.

In addition to the aforementioned deadly terrain, the Misty Swamp also harbors a variety of other dangers.

For example, there's a plant that emits poisonous mist at night, poisonous insects and wild beasts lurking in hidden places, and the low-temperature environment of underground caves. The most terrifying are the monsters lurking in the misty swamp.

Besides hunters and monsters like the Little Scythe Crab that lurk underground to ambush you, there are also many other dangerous monsters in the Misty Swamp, such as the Poison Dog Dragon that travels in groups, and aquatic beasts that lurk in the water.

In addition to the small monsters mentioned above, there are also large monsters active in the Misty Swamp, such as the Scythe Crab, the Poison Dog Dragon King, the Water Beast, the Ghost Frog, the Poisonous Bird, and more dangerous monsters like the Sea Dragon and the White Lightning Dragon.

Yingying had also heard that some dangerous subspecies of monsters appeared in the Misty Swamp, such as the Poison Water Beast and the Black Kairon.

These factors make the Misty Swamp much more dangerous than other hunting grounds. In addition, the terrain has been greatly improved in this generation of Monster Hunter. For example, stepping into the swamp will cause you to sink, and setting fire to the snow will melt the snow.

However, those things are nothing special, because one thing has piqued the interest of many hunter players.

In the Misty Swamp, a resource-gathering hunter discovered a water beast with a peculiar manner of death in the mist.

Based on the screenshots and posts from that player, it can be seen that the water beast's head is swollen and has several strange white bristles sticking out of it. Although they look like bristles, they are actually thorns.

The player also posted pictures of the monster tracks they collected in the thread. The description of the monster tracks included the following:

"An unidentified large monster left behind white bristles, which possess a terrifyingly potent poison." — Investigation Progress: 13%

Seeing this information, players knew that new monsters had appeared. When the game was launched, hunter players encountered all sorts of new plants, insects, and small monsters, but they did not encounter any new large monsters.

After all, each generation of Monster Hunter introduces some entirely new monsters, but they haven't encountered a single new large monster in this generation, which makes them wonder if the game company is just using some "old monsters" to fool them.

While virtual reality stealth technology may satisfy players' enjoyment of Monster Hunter, veteran hunters won't buy into it.

However, this news piqued the interest of countless veteran players, and many of them planned to go to the Misty Swamp to see if they could find the mysterious monster mentioned in the post.

........................

"Croak! Croak! Croak—"

With a splat, a monster about the size of a dog, resembling an underdeveloped frog larva, was slammed into the mud by a giant claw.

"Little Gan Frog, found."

In its third form, Yuhaka stares at the slippery monster in its hand with two pairs of bright orange eyes. This small, frog-like monster with an orange skin is the larva of some kind of large monster.

This monster is called the "Little Frog," and it is the juvenile form of a large monster called the "Frog." This monster lives near the waters of the Misty Swamp and will swallow any moving object.

Of course, this is on the premise that the prey is not as big as their mouths.

Because of the high reproductive rate of the sweet frog, there are many of these small sweet frogs in the Misty Swamp. Even if most of the small sweet frogs die, the number of the surviving ones that grow into adult sweet frogs is still very large.

The Hunters' Guild also regularly conducts specific hunting activities during the breeding season of the Sweet Frogs, encouraging hunters to hunt these voracious predators to ensure the ecological stability and safety of the Misty Swamp.

After all, the sweet frogs have attacked humans and other beastmen quite a few times. Moreover, these sweet frogs do not have fixed territories. They go wherever they want to eat, and you are likely to see sweet frogs wherever there is water.

However, due to environmental factors, the frog has only been found in humid environments such as the Misty Swamp. No other frogs have been found in other places.

Therefore, the Hunter's Guild headquarters pays more attention to monsters that pose a high threat to the environment. Fortunately, the meat of the frog is of good quality and suitable for making delicious dishes. Even small frogs are quite fragrant when made into fried frog legs.

Yuhaka was drawn in by the delicious fried frog legs. The last time, the fried frog legs made by Grandma Origami Cat in the kitchen were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with delicate meat, which made Yuhaka deeply addicted to the taste of fried frog legs.

So, at Zelus's urging, Yuhaka gradually made his way to the Misty Swamp through the Deep Groove Worm Path, beginning his journey in search of delicious ingredients.

As for why they didn't just fly over... well, there are still observation balloons from the human side in the sky. If they weren't discovered, the researchers observing the monster's ecology certainly wouldn't let Yuhaka go, after all, this is a completely new species that has never been seen before.

So Zelus had Ehka reach the Misty Swamp via the Deep Trench Bug Pit. Incidentally, Ehka's Deep Trench Bug Pit is a system-specific skill, not something Ehka dug out bit by bit.

In other words, Yuhaka only needs a few seconds to travel to the other side, which is tens of kilometers away, just like wormhole teleportation.

After Yuhaka ripped the little frog's head and its internal organs off its body, he threw it aside. Soon, the little poisonous dragons surrounding Yuhaka rushed to the little frog's head and ate everything that had been pulled out.

These little Poison Dog Dragons were summoned by Yuhaka, who imitated the voice of the Poison Dog Dragon King. Although the little Poison Dog Dragons didn't know that the big guy in front of them didn't look much like them, they followed their new boss happily because he could bring them good food.

Chapter 21 [Fried Frog Legs]

After hunting the little frogs for a while, Yuhaka, with a bountiful harvest, prepared to return with his spoils. As for the little poisonous dragons still following him, Yuhaka did not drive them away. Well... it's more accurate to say that Yuhaka was too lazy to drive them away.

"OwO!"

After walking for a while, Yuhaka suddenly smelled something and stopped to sniff the air. The little poisonous dragon next to Yuhaka drooled as if it had smelled something delicious and rushed in one direction as if it was afraid that Yuhaka would steal their food.

Seeing the little poisonous dragon rush in one direction made Yuhaka tilt its head in confusion, but it still followed to check it out.

Soon, Yuhaka and the little poisonous dragons discovered a strange orange slime near a swampy meadow. The slime emitted a sweet smell that made them feel hungry. Yuhaka even had the urge to run over and lick it, but after being taught by Rorota, Zelus, and Milia not to eat food that had fallen on the ground, Yuhaka lost interest in it.

Yuhaka only vaguely remembered the scent of that strange, sweet, orange slime before searching the Misty Swamp to see if he could find something similar.

Although Yuhaka didn't lick the sweet orange slime, it didn't mean that the little poisonous dragons around him wouldn't. Soon, the little poisonous dragons around Yuhaka ran to the sweet orange slime and started licking it. However, the little poisonous dragons didn't lick for long before they started twitching as if they had been electrocuted.