Monster Hunter: I can accept monster quests!

"Harley, what's that thing floating in your bowl? It's red and purple. Did you accidentally throw some ore into the pot?"

Inside the camp, Chen Yan, who was injured and lying on the ground again, looked at the bowl of rice that Harley was holding and stared at the suspicious thick soup inside with a wary expression.

Harley ignored him, just smiled kindly and scooped up a spoonful of water and held it to his mouth.

"It's full of good stuff, I guarantee you'll sleep soundly until dawn after you finish this bowl."

Seeing that Chen Yan was clenching his teeth and refusing to give in, Harley finally dropped her pretense and fiercely ordered Flower Cat to do her work.

"Flower Cat, come here and pry his mouth open. This time, even if you tie him up, you'll have to take him back to the base!"

The cat obediently came closer and started to pry open his mouth.

"Chen Yan, let's listen to Harley. Look how much weight you've lost these past few days. I haven't had a good night's sleep since we got here. I'm afraid you'll go out for a stroll tomorrow and pick up some weird stuff again..."

There are still three days left until the promised half-month trip to the Giant Ant Mound Wasteland.

Harley was truly exhausted. She had experienced more in the past ten days than she had in several years combined, including slaying dragons and black horned dragons. She was afraid that if she stayed any longer, her heart wouldn't be able to take it.

The most crucial issue is that Chen Yan's body has suffered a great loss this time, and he has become visibly haggard, with even gray hair. The medicines she brought are not very effective for his recovery, so they must be taken back to the base for the medical team to properly nourish him.

Just as she was thinking about how to coax Chen Yan into drinking her love potion, she didn't expect him to obediently open his mouth on his own.

Chen Yan was also making plans in his mind.

The harvest from this trip to the Great Anthill Wasteland has met his expectations, mainly because the reward from the Ember Blade Dragon Slayer exceeded his expectations. He figured he wouldn't encounter any more powerful monsters in the last two or three days, so going back early would allow him to prepare for an epic battle.

Upon closer inspection, the gains were quite substantial.

I obtained the Gold Rush Claw from the Scratcher.

I obtained the [Rocket Hammer] from the Sand Dragon.

I obtained the [Strong Lung] from the Mudfish Dragon.

I received [Luck] from the Mudfish Dragon cub.

I obtained the [Flying Blade Rock-Breaking Slash (Enhanced Version)] from the Ember Blade Slayer Dragon.

And finally, there was that little horned dragon that made his eye twitch [call him Mom!].

Once Mrs. Blackhorn's pregnancy ends and her black skin sheds, will he still be able to call her over?

With all these miscellaneous quest rewards combined with those from the Ancient Forest, if Nergigante doesn't throw out some ridiculously difficult quests, there should be a good chance of completing them... right?

Chen Yan's eyelids grew heavier and heavier. After a few sips of soup, a feeling of drowsiness washed over him.

Harley's love potion tasted pretty good. I wonder if the little horned dragon ate it, and if the Chameleon missed me. Did Naomi help me air out my blankets...?

A jumble of thoughts flashed through Chen Yan's mind, and his breathing gradually became steady. He fell asleep on Harley's lap pillow.

...

"Phew! Another male Rathalos caught! Luckily, we weren't spotted by the herd; that was close!"

In a secluded camp in the Ancient Forest, Aibo wiped the sweat from his brow, watching with relief as numerous fire dragons flew overhead.

Azure Star, wiping the knife, nodded.

This is the fourth fire dragon he has captured.

"We captured four, and the other hunters worked together to capture two more. The outpost can hold a maximum of four more, but I think the number of fire dragons in the forest is not much of a problem, even if it's ten or dozens fewer."

Aibo frowned as he counted on his fingers.

"I wonder when this fire dragon disaster will end..."

Azure Star remained silent, but gripped the hilt of her sword tightly and stood up again.

The fact that the ancient forest was being wreaked havoc by fire dragons could not be kept secret from the nearby Starry Sky Outpost.

Through the observation of hunters and the research of scholars, they were surprised to find that there were an unusually large number of fire dragons coming from other places during the fire dragon breeding season.

To be precise, their numbers are almost greater than those of the native fire dragons.

The fire dragons that can fly from other regions over long distances are significantly stronger than those from the forest region.

According to their instincts, fire dragons will use their strength to determine the height of their nests in order to attract mates.

In the past, there weren't many native fire dragons, and not many foreign ones either. Even if their nests were low, they wouldn't be very low, so they could almost always find a mate.

This year is different. Due to the influx of foreign fire dragons, the weaker native fire dragons have been forced to build their nests in the lower levels of the Ancient Forest, while the powerful newcomers have been able to occupy the middle and upper levels where water and food are plentiful.

No female Rathalos would want to go after a male Rathalos that lives in the dark, damp depths of the forest.

This struggle between the indigenous people and the newcomers is destined to be brutal.

Fighting for territory, vying for mates... the entire forest is shrouded day and night in the roars and howls of fire dragons.

When the fire dragons get tired or injured, they need to eat more to get energy. However, the number of herbivorous dragons cannot meet the foraging needs of so many fire dragons. Moreover, the grasslands they depend on for survival are polluted by streams filled with venom.

The herbivorous dragon began to flee.

The food chain collapsed, the fragile ecological cycle was broken, and the entire ancient tree forest was plunged into a disaster.

The commander-in-chief reacted swiftly, immediately issuing a mission to capture the fire dragon with all his might, and also arranging for some hunters to open up a transport route from the Ancient Forest to the Wildspire Wasteland.

His idea was to capture the excess fire dragons from the Ancient Forest and release them in the Anthill Wasteland. However, the road was not cleared smoothly, so he could only temporarily house the fire dragons in the base. But the base had limited space, which could only accommodate a maximum of ten fire dragons, and he also had to take care of their food, water and waste.

Naomi, the head of the supplies team, was exhausted; only she knew just how much the six fire dragons could eat...

Just as the stronghold's leadership was discussing again whether to change from capturing Rathalos to hunting Rathalos, the situation in the Ancient Forest changed once more.

A slender dragon, never before seen in the Ancient Forest, suddenly swooped down from the clouds, its eyes blazing with ferocity, and charged toward two male Rathalos locked in combat.

Its piezoelectric armor on its dark brown body pulsated, with wisps of emerald green lightning emerging. Blue arcs of electricity also danced on its translucent wing membranes, and green fluorescent light emanated from its constantly opening and closing fan-shaped crown.

As it approached the Rathalos, it let out an extremely sharp roar.

With the piezoelectric armor at full power, a massive amount of electric arcs converged in its beak-like tip, and half a second later, it directly ejected a cross-current with unpredictable trajectories, the dense blue currents spreading across the sky.

At least dozens of explosions struck the unavoidable Rathalos, causing their armor to shatter and blood to drip amidst the crackling sounds.

But its electric breath is just an appetizer; its real killer move is its powerful talons wrapped with thick electric arcs.

As it swooped down, it carried a terrifying impact. One of the male Rathalos was unable to dodge in time and was slapped on the head, its skull being crushed in half. The massive corpse twitched and fell to the ground.

The electric dragon, having successfully hunted another Rathalos, completely ignored the Rathalos corpse that had crashed to the ground. Instead, it turned its even fiercer gaze to the other Rathalos, let out another roar, and its body shone brightly with blue lightning as it pounced on it once more.

This time, a narrow blade made of emerald green lightning faintly appeared on its crown.