Monster Hunter: This Dragon's Built Different

The departing Anjanath grew more and more frustrated the farther it walked. Though it had faced similar situations many times over the past five years, today—it just couldn't take it anymore!

And so, Anjanath made a decision that went against its nature. Well… it decided to run away.

It had never encountered a wyvern as infuriating as Logan. Despite being weaker, Logan had bullied it mercilessly—just because it couldn't fly.

So, Anjanath decided: now, immediately, right this instant—it would leave!

It would return to the depths of the Ancient Forest, to the territory it once ruled!

Having made up its mind, Anjanath oriented itself, and from a hilltop with a wide view, it located the direction of the Ancient Tree. After five long years, it began its migration once more.

This journey would mark the return of a king.

Flying in the same direction, Logan and Aki soared smoothly through the air. The wyverns above and flying species nearby all gave them a wide berth, afraid they might be attacked just for being in the same airspace.

Meanwhile, the Wade Squad had remained in the rift for quite a while. Given Anjanath's record of ambushes, even after Ruby confirmed that the beast was no longer at the scene, the team didn't dare act recklessly and continued waiting for rescue.

Suddenly, a swarm of bugs—glowing green at the tail like fireflies—flew into the cave from the entrance. Under the team's watchful eyes, the insects swirled around Wade.

"This is it! Wade, are you guys in there?"

A familiar voice called from outside the rift. Wade immediately responded, and shortly after, a man carrying twin blades climbed inside. The insects flying around Wade, as if drawn to the man, all returned to the insect cage on his waist.

"Elt—what are these?"

Wade asked uncertainly, unable to hide his excitement.

"Heh, as you can see—these are Scoutflies! After two years of effort, they finally succeeded the day before yesterday!"

Elt proudly patted the insect cage on his hip. One Scoutfly floated out, and seeing no new command, flew back inside.

Ever since the Research Commission arrived in the New World, one of the biggest challenges—aside from building bases—had been the lack of reliable tracking methods. Traditional tracking techniques from the Old World didn't work well here.

And because the terrain was unfamiliar, explorers could easily get lost if they wandered too far. In many cases, they had to rely on flare signals just to orient themselves.

This method wasn't just inefficient—it also wasted a lot of resources. Many investigations had to be abandoned simply because the target moved out of range.

That's why, once the base was partially completed, the Acting Commander began searching for tameable creatures native to the New World to help improve tracking.

After years of effort, they had finally found two candidates. One was the relatively docile Wingdrake—but how to utilize them efficiently was still a work in progress.

The other was the Scoutfly. Unfortunately, training and breeding them had been delayed a bit, and only two days ago were they finally ready. Now, they could be issued to all personnel.

While Wade and Elt were talking, another person climbed into the cave.

"By the way, what happened to you? You look like hell—and how'd you end up this far out?"

They were deep in unexplored territory, far from the Astera base. If it hadn't been for that flare, Elt would never have risked coming here.

"Don't even ask. This mission's been a disaster," Wade muttered, then briefly recounted their run-in with the Great Jagras and the Anjanath.

"The New World really is full of surprises," Wade concluded. "That Great Jagras and the Anjanath both seem like excellent investigation targets. We should prioritize them."

But Elt's expression turned strange.

"Actually, aside from coming to rescue you, I had another mission—gathering everyone back. The Admiral and the Huntsman have returned. There's been a major discovery, and they need everyone involved."

"A major discovery? And it involves even the Admiral?"

Wade was deeply puzzled. The operations of the First Fleet had always been highly unorthodox—mainly because the Admiral and the Huntsman were on a completely different level in terms of strength, while the Field Master and that Wyverian Hunter possessed extraordinary wilderness survival experience.

As a result, the four of them usually acted alone, each conducting their own investigations for extended periods out in the field.

The remaining members operated in teams, following the traditional Hunter's Guild model: the Acting Commander would post quests, squads would accept assignments, and then head out to carry them out.

Moreover, the First Fleet's numbers were extremely limited—they were always short-staffed everywhere—so there had never been a mission that required everyone to be mobilized at once.

"Yes," Elt confirmed. "According to reports, the Huntsman and the Wyverian Hunter spotted a large creature in the Wildspire Waste, glittering all over like it was made of pure gold. They suspect it may be an unidentified Elder Dragon. For now, they've only managed to map out its area of activity."

"A massive Elder Dragon made of gold?"

Wade's eyes widened in shock. The next moment, he struggled to sit up.

"Let's go! Now! I have to get back to Astera and join that mission immediately!"

Wade was beyond excited. If taking down a rampaging Rathian had once been his lifetime bragging right—earning him the title of 'Legendary Hunter' back in his hometown—then participating in the investigation of an Elder Dragon would be something worthy of having his name written down in the history books, passed down for generations!

Besides, it was an Elder Dragon! Every hunter dreams of facing one—even just tossing a Flash Pod from afar would be enough to make his life feel complete!

Elt wasn't the least bit surprised by Wade's reaction. He wasn't the first to respond like this. In fact, everyone who heard the news had been fired up—morale across the board was sky-high.

"Alright, alright! We're going now," Elt rolled his eyes and took the initiative to help Wade up. The group then made their way out of the rift.

Outside, three unfamiliar Palicoes had already been waiting with carts for some time.

They belonged to the Grimalkyne Tribe—an unexpected discovery after the Research Commission arrived in the New World. After some friendly negotiation, the two sides had established a cooperative relationship.

The Grimalkyne could choose whether or not to respond to rescue flares based on the situation. Every time they provided aid, they only needed to transport the rescued individual to the nearest camp—and in exchange, they would receive one-third of the quest reward as a rescue fee.

If the rescue occurred outside of an active quest, the hunter and the Palicoes would need to negotiate a private deal.

Since hunter payouts were usually quite generous, a single rescue could provide enough supplies to sustain a Grimalkyne tribe for a week. As a result, these Palicoes would almost always answer a rescue call and rarely passed up such opportunities.

"Thank you for your help, Grimalkyne," Wade said.

The adorable Grimalkyne all responded with cheerful sounds. After confirming Wade was secured in the cart, they immediately began pushing it toward Astera.

"Huh? What's that?"

Along the way, Nori was momentarily blinded by a glint reflecting off a rock. Curious, he picked up the bluish-purple stone.

"Whoa, it's freezing!"

The stone felt icy to the touch and seemed to emit a faint chill.

"Nori! Hurry up!"

"Coming!" Nori called back. He stifled his curiosity, stuffed the stone into his pack, and jogged after the team.

...

The Ancient Forest was truly vast. Even after flying for an entire day, Logan and Aki found that the colossal ancient trees in the distance had only grown slightly larger in their field of vision.

During their flight, they occasionally stopped to forage and drink water. Every now and then, some clueless creature would charge at them to drive them off—only to be met with a pincer attack from the male and female Rathalos.

One especially reckless Anjanath, merely 16 meters in length, ended up gravely wounded after being rammed by Aki's wyvern truck form. Logan then easily crunched its neck with a single bite.

That easy victory made Logan realize what kind of monster the Anjanath he had been harassing over the past five years truly was!

Not only was that one significantly larger than a regular Anjanath, but its breath attacks didn't require the usual buildup—unlike this one, which had to gather flames first. The other could breathe fire at will, for prolonged periods, and Logan had never seen it burn its own throat in the process.

What truly stood out was that after forcing out just a single fire blast—one that Logan's Flame-Attracting Trait could even partially absorb—this regular Anjanath actually entered a brief fatigue state. Not only did it retract its heat-shedding membranes, but it also stood there panting?

In a life-or-death battle—only one big move, and it's already winded?

Can you believe that?

Without a word, Aki took the opportunity. While it was still catching its breath, she transformed into a shimmering, green-toned truck and slammed the massive beast straight off its feet. It crashed to the ground and lay there, struggling to rise. Logan swooped in, his body wreathed in flames, and crushed its neck with one decisive bite.

If it had been that Anjanath, there was no way this outcome would've been possible. Logan had seen that one spread its heat-dispersing membranes, spraying flames all over while playfully dueling with him—and even then, it maintained its form, easily repelling any carnivorous wyverns daring to trespass on its territory.

In terms of stamina, that beast seemed like it was permanently on some kind of frenzy drug—fighting all day long without rest, always either brawling or heading toward a fight, with no signs of exhaustion.

As for defense, Logan had once dive-bombed it at high speed, combining his flame-cloaked body with his Powerhouse Trait and Flame-Attracting Trait. Yet even that only managed to knock it down and leave a fairly deep wound—an injury that monster would immediately recover from and then counterattack with renewed vigor.

But this one? It couldn't even withstand a single truck hit from Aki. Its neck snapped like a brittle cracker, and Logan's flames were enough to carbonize the skin at the break.

He wasn't sure if this Anjanath was just incredibly weak—or if this was actually the normal power level of a standard Anjanath.

Even Aki seemed a little surprised.

To be fair to Logan and Aki, the location of their previous nest had been incredibly advantageous. Not only was there no real threat nearby, but they also had access to multiple hunting zones.

Most of the monsters they encountered while hunting were lower in the ecosystem hierarchy. The moment those creatures saw Logan or Aki, they typically ran for it. Even in the rare cases where fights did occur, it was mostly about scaring them off rather than actual combat.

This particular Anjanath probably felt bold because it was a seasoned adult, thinking it could easily deal with a subadult female Rathian skilled in ground combat and a juvenile male Rathalos. At worst, it likely thought it could drive them out of its territory.

But what it didn't expect was that the Rathian it was facing was a battle-hardened veteran—one who could go head-to-head in a full-body charge with a fully grown Pukei-Pukei back when she was still under 9 meters long. And alongside her was a 'cheat-code' male Rathalos.

That miscalculation didn't just tip the scales of battle—it directly cost the Anjanath its life.

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