Monster Hunter Gathering

"We haven't found anything that can inhibit us yet, but even if there isn't one now... if we don't exercise restraint, something like that will eventually appear in the future to inhibit us."

"So, as hunters, we need to find a balance for ourselves." Nie Chiwu said: "Just like Tanjiro and Muzan in his world."

"Or Laos, the demons in your world... Although we will hunt them to resolve these anomalies, we must also be careful not to become the kind of monsters that destroy nature." Nie Chiwu said: "Otherwise, sooner or later..."

"The Nergigante that's hunting us Ancient Dragons will appear above us." Nie Chiwu looked at Laos seriously. "This is my necessary guidance and responsibility as the Grand Commander... Wait, Laos, what are you looking at?"

"Grand Commander!"

Laos was also shocked: "Look above our heads!"

"What?"

Nie Chiwu looked up in confusion and saw above their heads, through the gap in the tent, a huge figure with a pair of large horns approaching the camp at a very fast speed.

The next moment, the tents in the camp were blown away by the shock wave generated when a Nergigante landed on the ground.

"I didn't ask you to come at this time, mee-mee-zi! Help! Monsters are breaking into the camp!!"

Chapter 73: MeeMee who despises the Blue Star for its lack of nutrition

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!"

The originally solid camp was overturned in the blink of an eye by the huge impact of the falling Nergigante.

Mixed in the rubble left by the Nergigante were a large number of its thorns. Those thorns flew everywhere and penetrated Nie Chiwu and Laos' bodies almost instantly, turning them into two hedgehogs.

"Roar!!!"

The huge roar of the Nergigante caused the air to vibrate violently.

Laos also forced himself to endure the pain of his body being pricked like a hedgehog, and opened his eyes to look at the monster called the ancient dragon.

Four legs and two wings...a very standard ancient dragon body shape.

It has a pair of extremely eye-catching large horns, and dark black or dark purple spines all over its body. The intimidating and lethal giant horns overlap with the dense bone spurs on its body to form a terrifying appearance. The huge wings on its back are spread out to a great extent, and one can tell at a glance that it can move at an extremely fast speed.

An ancient dragon that transcends the normal ecological environment, an ancient dragon that preys on other ancient dragons, a dragon of destruction and regeneration.

The extremely brutal appearance brought a strong sense of oppression... In Laos's opinion, the opponent's appearance should be formed by an overly powerful regenerative ability, constantly regenerating thorns.

Just one glance is enough to tell the difference between the other party and ordinary dragons... Laos, who had just been chased by the fire dragon couple, now looks back and feels that the pursuit by the fire dragon couple is particularly easy.

But at this moment, Laos's brain started to work rapidly.

Is this the Ancient Dragon? Why is it here? Is it because of its special activity in preying on Ancient Dragons?

Why would this ancient dragon attack here? Is there something it needs here? Is it trying to feed on the ancient dragon's energy?

What drew them here? The camp? The Felyne? Or the hunters?

Laos thought quickly, but Nergigante had already started his next move.

The huge body had already moved out from the mess caused by the landing of the Nergigante, and in the blink of an eye it came to Nie Chiwu and Laos, stretched out its claws, pressed Nie Chiwu to the ground, and let out another huge roar at Nie Chiwu.

After hearing the roar of the Nergigante at close range, Leos felt that his ears were almost deafened, but taking advantage of the short time when Nie Chiwu attracted the Nergigante's attention, Leos also saw the appearance of the Nergigante clearly.

It was about twenty meters long and six meters high... It was hard to imagine how such a huge creature could fly at such a high speed and launch an attack. The airstrike just now destroyed the entire area nearby in almost an instant.

Thinking back carefully, the attack just now seemed to be a swooping crush of the opponent's entire body, and the thorns on his body further expanded the attack range...

After thinking to this point, Laos has gradually ignored the physical pain and started thinking instead.

It would be great if I could take back these thorns that pierced his body. They would be great as a collection.

Just as Laos was daydreaming, Nie Chiwu was pressed to the ground by the Nergigante. Those thorns that had only pierced into his body were now all pressed into Nie Chiwu's body by the Nergigante.

The Nergigante lowered its head and looked down at Nie Chiwu, then opened its huge mouth and bit off half of Nie Chiwu's body. After chewing it in its mouth for a while, it seemed to have lost interest. After slapping the rest of Nie Chiwu's body hard, its huge body flew into the air and went to hunt elsewhere.

"Is it really for hunting?" Laos guessed.

But now, Felynx has already started to come over and prepare to drag Laos and Nie Chiwu to another place to resurrect them.

Nie Chiwu had been taken away, but Laos wasn't dead yet, so we had to wait a little longer...

Although he is used to dying in the maze of his own world, this is the first time for Laos to die as a hunter, so he is still looking forward to it.

When Laos was dragged to another camp, he saw Nie Chiwu complaining.

Laos immediately grabbed Nie Chiwu and said excitedly, "Oh! Captain!!! Is that the ancient dragon?!!! He really looks so strong!"

"Why did it attack us? Was it to hunt us? I saw with my own eyes that it ate part of you, Grand Commander!" Laos said excitedly while holding his notes. "I think I understand now! The reason why the Nergigante preys on the Ancient Dragons!"

"It's because of energy!" Laos said, holding up his notebook. "I guess the regeneration of the Nergigante requires a lot of nutrition and energy, so it needs to hunt a lot. Ancient dragons are the most nutritious prey. It must have regarded us as prey, but because it has no energy, it left..."

"That's why it only ate part of you, Grand Commander, before losing interest and leaving." Laos excitedly recounted his discovery. "But why did it judge us as prey, but lose interest after actually eating us..."

"Huh? You're not interested in my meat!" Nie Chiwu revealed a humiliated expression. "I've never been treated this way before! I'm going back to change my equipment! I'm going to fight it!"

"Captain, can you... defeat it?" Laos looked at Nie Chiwu with some doubt.

"..." Nie Chiwu also recalled the experience of being killed instantly just now: "I can't beat him..."

"That's just because I can't beat him now! I will be able to beat him sooner or later!"

Nie Chiwu waved his fist. "Just wait! I must use the materials of the Nergigante to make equipment! The most important thing is to have the Nergigante!"

"How dare you look down on my nutrition! This captain eats and drinks delicious food every day! Nutrition is sufficient!" Nie Chiwu muttered to himself, "Wait until I bring the stun spell and the sledgehammer and make you lie on the ground with stars in your eyes!"

"Captain! Let's go back quickly!" Laos said excitedly, holding a few thorns belonging to the Nergigante in his hand: "I can't wait to share these with others!"

"And...Grand Commander!"

Laos said excitedly, "After seeing Nergigante! I have some ideas about capturing demons!"

Laos' words also made Nie Chiwu stop complaining and turn around: "Really?"

"I want to see what tricks you have!"

Chapter 74: Finalization of the battle direction and departure!

At the subsequent combat meeting in the cafeteria where the six people reunited, Nie Chiwu and Laos also mentioned the incident of them encountering Gu Long in the wild.

Nie Chiwu also took this opportunity to briefly explain the concept of [Ancient Dragon] to several hunters, and also found a lot of sample pictures to show the appearance of the ancient dragon.

"Ancient dragons are generally four-legged, winged species, and come in a variety of sizes... The larger ones are even ecosystems in themselves."

Nie Chiwu showed them: "For example, Laoshan Dragon, Fuyue Dragon, Snake King Dragon... These are all super large ancient dragons."

"Of course, corresponding to these ancient dragons... the equipment that can be crafted from these ancient dragon materials is also incredibly powerful."

"Ancient dragons cannot be captured, but they can be repelled or killed. This is what monster hunters do. However, generally speaking, hunters will not provoke ancient dragons...for ordinary hunters." Nie Chiwu shrugged his shoulders, indicating that they were not ordinary hunters.

Nie Chiwu briefly introduced: "After that... there is actually another type of dragon. Of course, that is not something we can contact right now, so we will talk about it later."

"So... when you went out to retrieve the dragon eggs, you were unexpectedly attacked by an ancient dragon?" Iwatani Naofumi was puzzled for a moment. "And Laos said he had some ideas about demons?"

"That's right! It's what the Grand Commander said about the ecology of the ancient dragons that gave me some ideas!"

Laos stood up excitedly and unfolded a huge drawing. On it were the names of various dragons that he had recorded during this period. There were symbols connecting them to each other, showing the relationship and ecology between different dragons.

"The Grand Commander said there isn't much ecological interaction between ancient dragons, because they themselves are the pinnacle of an ecosystem and aren't affected by it." Laos excitedly drew on the diagram. "The situation with demons is similar, but we need to separate demons from magic."

"The magic of our world is that ecosystem, and the demons are the ancient dragons within that ecosystem."

"There are rare ecosystems among ancient dragons, such as predation and territorial disputes, but unfortunately... there is no species that can do the same to demons."

Laos shook his head. "This is an extreme situation for the ecosystem. The nutrients that an ancient dragon can occupy in its ecological niche aren't actually very abundant. There's a limit to how much it can absorb. If an ancient dragon with energy that exceeds this limit appears, there will be energy-seeking ancient dragons like Nergigante to suppress it to a certain extent."

"We all know what bait is for demons," Laos said. "But I've been thinking about the significance of capturing demons in commissions."

"Captain, generally speaking, what do hunters do after capturing a creature?" Laos asked his question.

"Hmm...eat it?" Nie Chiwu thought for a moment. "Hunters like us would take some of the materials we need, and then study and record them... For example, Muzan is being made into equipment by us right now."

"Yes, that's it."

Laos slapped the blueprint in front of him and said, "After I thought of this, I asked the Felyne cats yesterday."

"The devil isn't a living creature. It doesn't have a body of its own, so it can't get materials to make equipment."

Laos also patted his stomach and said, "Magic power can't fill your stomach, but monsters can... but they can be hunted in the maze."

"The possibility of capture in a commission means that after the capture, the demon will provide some kind of help to us hunters," Laos said. "But I haven't figured out how this help will manifest itself."

"..."

After everyone was silent for a while, Nie Chiwu also started to think.

"Ultimately, we still need an opportunity to capture the demon." Laos said finally: "If killing the demon is to eat the demon as the most basic appetite, then does capturing mean to make the demon willing to enter our trap?"

"For example, making demons closer to living creatures?" Laos proposed this idea.

"..."

After listening to all this, Nie Chiwu also knocked on the table: "It seems that we should have a direction for discussion."

"Come on, let's start our war meeting."

"Once we have a concrete plan...it's time for us to set off."

——【Operation meeting time】!——

Determining the direction of the battle took Nie Chiwu and others a lot of time to prepare.

Prepare the corresponding equipment, train your proficiency in weapons, and coordinate your own abilities with weapons, as well as your respective coordination.

By the way, everyone also dealt with the matters in their respective worlds so that they could set off with peace of mind.

"Finally, this day has arrived."

Nie Chiwu sighed, "We're heading off to the Labyrinth... that is, the world of Laos!"

"Are you all ready?" Nie Chiwu said as he checked his equipment and backpack. "Have you eaten all the special cat food?"

"I'm ready. I didn't forget anything." Iwatani Naofumi said this, holding the new heavy crossbow he had replaced. "I've also brought all the bullets, and the materials for mixing bullets..."

"I've also practiced with my new weapon!" Er Qiao was also full of confidence: "This weapon called the double swords is also very suitable for me! Especially that move where I spin on someone's back..."

"Uh... this is my first time holding such a huge weapon." Laos happily stroked the sword and axe in his hand, which felt like monster material. "This is my first time using a weapon that can transform!"

"Tanjiro, you really don't need a katana?" Kazuma looked at Tanjiro beside him in confusion, and also carried his bow and arrow a little tighter.

"Well, I'm not yet proficient in integrating Sun Breathing into the katana..." Tanjiro answered Kazuma with a sledgehammer on his back, his face righteous. "But for some reason, I can use it very well with a hammer! The rotation in the hammer is very similar to many of the techniques in the breathing method! In order not to cause trouble! I will work hard!"

"Looks like everything is ready!"

Nie Chiwu also patted the shield axe on his back and said, "We are not following martial ethics. Hunters usually hunt in groups of four, and we went with six people at once..."

"Maybe it's because the enemy we're facing is also unimaginable." Iwatani Naofumi sighed: "I hope the experience points they give are enough."

"Ha! Don't forget to say goodbye to Granny Cat!"

"Maze! Here we come!!!"

Chapter 75: The Hunter's meeting with the Labyrinth Team!!!

Malushil, Chilchak, Sensi... When they were about to step into the depths that no one had ever reached with Laos, they suddenly developed a high fever and were bedridden.

But after they had slept all night, Malushiel rubbed his eyes and crawled out of the quilt, only to find that his body had become much smaller.

Not only that, there were three strangers in front of him. One was a strange-looking elf with black hair, one was a dog-headed man with cat ears, and the other was a middle-aged human with torn clothes...

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

“Ah ...

Strange cries rang out in this small room. After calming down for a while, everyone finally confirmed each other's identities.

Sensi turned into an elf, Malusil turned into a halfling, Chilchak turned into a tall man, and Itsujinmei turned into a dog-headed man...but the cat ear feature did not disappear.

"Where's Laos!!!"

Malusil lifted the blanket from Laos, but found nothing but Kensuke. "Could it have transformed into something else... Did a monster attack during the night?"

"Will he abandon Kensuke?" Chirchak also said: "No, that's Laos..."

"Ohhh! You guys have really changed!!" Just when they were confused, Laos walked in from outside. He was wearing a set of armor that they had never seen before, and in his arms was a huge egg: "Sensi! This is the egg I brought you! It's a herbivorous dragon's egg!"

"Laos! Where have you been!" Malusil dragged the clothes that had become much longer for her. "What's going on with the armor on you? What's going on with the dragon egg? Why didn't you transform... What on earth is going on?"

"Actually, I transformed too. We all stepped on the transformation mushroom, and I turned into a dwarf." Laos began to say some confusing things in front of his friends: "After I became a dwarf, I went to another world and met a group of very nice people. They gave me new equipment, took me to eat a meal made with dragon meat, and invited me to become one of them!"