Monster Hunter: This Dragon's Built Different

Logan and Aki lazily sprawled beside the riverbank, letting the mildly rushing water wash the blood from their muzzles.

Logan turned his gaze toward Aki. In the sunlight, her green scales shimmered with a gradient of gold—each one a flawless work of art, without the slightest blemish.

Compared to before, Aki's form had fully matured: powerful wings, firm and slightly bulging pectoral muscles, a slender yet elegant neck, shoulder spikes arranged in perfect proportion—not excessive, not lacking—and a long tail swaying contentedly in rhythm with her good mood. Fierce and dangerous, yet undeniably beautiful.

How Could a Female Rathian Be This Gorgeous?!

How could there possibly be a female Rathian this striking, with such a vibrant appearance and perfect proportions?

Seen through the lens of his past life, Aki was a textbook bombshell—a sporty beauty with a stunning figure, great fashion sense, and a flawless face.

Noticing Logan's burning gaze, Aki didn't seem to care. She casually stretched her body under the afternoon sun, letting the warmth chase away the chill nestled between her scales. The heat felt thoroughly pleasant.

She had long grown used to that gaze of his. Truth be told, Aki herself couldn't quite understand what he found so captivating.

But just as Logan and Aki were enjoying this rare moment of peace, trouble—as always—came uninvited.

A swarm of Thunderbugs, attracted to each other and crackling with blue light, suddenly formed a pulsing thunderball and shot toward Aki.

With agile reflexes, she twisted to the side. The lightning orb missed and slammed into the river with a loud boom, sending shockwaves through the water. Several fish—each at least half a meter long—flipped belly-up, still twitching from residual electricity as they floated to the surface.

Four Zinogres, trailing arcs of lightning, crept in cautiously to surround Logan and Aki. Thunderbugs darted among them, weaving between their limbs to form pulsing nets of electricity.

Aki instantly snapped into combat mode. Her body lowered slightly, all her back spines stood on end, and she let out a thunderous roar that shook the forest.

Logan took to the sky at once. Flames coiled around his form, and a fireball began to gather in his throat—ready to unleash a fatal strike at a moment's notice.

But just as the standoff reached its peak, a long howl echoed from not far away.

Appearing from the trees was a Zinogre significantly larger than the rest—at least a third bigger. The electricity arcing off its body wasn't just blue, but laced with golden streaks. The carapace on its arms and back gleamed with a bronze-like luster. Its cold gaze locked straight onto them.

With another commanding howl, the four Zinogres reluctantly withdrew their lightning, turned away from Logan and Aki, and followed their imposing leader downstream along the river.

It was clear now: these Zinogres had come to hunt this ground too. But they'd arrived too late—their prey had already scattered, and the two herbivore carcasses clearly belonged to Logan and Aki.

So, they turned their aggression toward the two wyverns instead.

And yet—for some unknown reason—that dominant Zinogre had chosen to stop the fight and summoned its pack to retreat.

This hunting ground was already at the edge of the Ancient Tree's territory. Further downstream, the forest gradually gave way to the area near the Great Ravine.

The Zinogres' original territory... was in that direction.

Normally, Zinogres—being pack-based creatures—would never leave the territory designated by their alpha.

And now that the Zinogre pack had claimed the middle and lower layers of the Ancient Tree as their domain, none of them should have left that area—not even to hunt.

Such strict, hierarchical rules—much like wolf packs in Logan's previous life—applied to Zinogres as well.

"Pack split?"

Logan wasn't sure. But that Zinogre from earlier… was definitely interesting.

Golden lightning.

That was a mark of the Thunderlord Zinogre, the pinnacle of their kind. Even though it was just a trace, it still signified something extraordinary.

"Two alpha wolves? So… did this one lose?"

Logan speculated silently.

Down on the ground, Aki let out a slow breath of heated air. Since the battle had never happened, her back spines finally relaxed.

Her good mood for the day was completely ruined. And worst of all, she hadn't even gotten to fight—her excitement had just started to build, but now she had no way to release it. That simmering frustration left her visibly irked.

With a fiery snort, she launched an explosive fireball at the river, sending up a splash of water and steam. Then she let out a sharp call to Logan, grabbed one of the herbivore corpses, and flew off toward their nest in the Ancient Tree.

Logan could only sigh helplessly.

Aki's combative nature could be a handful at times.

She wasn't lacking in intelligence—in fact, even in combat, she remained remarkably cool-headed.

It was just her temperament. She had a slight tendency toward aggression... but she knew how to restrain herself. And in the grand scheme of things, that minor flaw barely counted.

Whether human or wyvern, a few imperfections could make someone all the more captivating.

In Logan's eyes, Aki's slightly battle-hungry nature only served to highlight her brilliance even more.

To put it simply—he loved her even more for it.

Hehe~

...

Ever since that unusually distinct Zinogre was discovered leaving the Ancient Forest, the number of Zinogres within the region had sharply declined. The vast territory they once dominated could no longer be fully controlled.

Seizing this opportunity, monsters that had previously been squeezed out of their habitats surged into the Ancient Forest. Outnumbered by a wide margin, even though the Zinogres continued to move in groups, they were beaten back again and again, rapidly contracting their active territory.

Every day, large carnivorous wyverns fell in battle. The ecosystem of the Ancient Forest—once on the brink of collapse due to the presence of Chameleos—was now recovering swiftly thanks to the constant clashes among these carnivores.

The mass deaths of meat-eating monsters provided ample food for smaller carnivorous and omnivorous creatures, who no longer needed to hunt the few remaining small environmental species.

As the population of large carnivores decreased, herbivorous monsters in various hunting grounds were granted enough space and time to reproduce. In this relatively safe environment, their numbers were rising at an astonishing pace.

Naturally, as their population grew, so did the range of their movements. Seeds and fruit pits, undigested by the herbivores, were deposited elsewhere with their dung. In these fertile and warm conditions, the seeds sprouted quickly, took root in the soil, and filled in the forest's gaps.

To Logan, this evolving environment was truly satisfying.

The middle and lower layers of the Ancient Forest were embroiled in chaos, yet all sides seemed to share a tacit understanding: none of them disturbed the upper layer.

Of course, this was also because the upper layer of the Ancient Forest had little to offer—its environment only suited flying creatures.

As time passed and more of the forest's original inhabitants returned, life became increasingly difficult for the dwindling Zinogre population.

But it was precisely during this moment of crisis that Logan finally laid eyes on the elusive leader of the Zinogres.

Their first encounter took place at a nearby hunting ground. The leader was out hunting, and while its size wasn't significantly larger than a regular Zinogre, one key difference stood out—its lightning flickered with faint traces of golden light.

Cracks marred the carapace and scales across its body. The pair of horn-like protrusions atop its head, reminiscent of a wolf's ears, were far larger than those of a normal Zinogre. But upon closer inspection, they weren't particularly sharp. Instead, they carried a faded, ashen quality.

From appearance alone, this was clearly a battle-hardened warrior. The cracked plates and shattered scales were marks of glory.

But Logan knew the truth—this Zinogre's body was already in a dangerously deteriorated state.

This wasn't how a Zinogre pack leader was supposed to look.

Scales could fall off and regrow, carapace damage could be shed and replaced. For a Zinogre to be left in such a state, there were only two possibilities.

The first: severe malnutrition. With a lack of food, the body would conserve its energy, prioritizing combat readiness. Scales would only be replaced once their deterioration seriously compromised its defensive capabilities.

This phenomenon was most evident in the Rathians of the Wildspire Waste who raised their offspring alone. These mothers would often delay molting their scales until their young could survive independently—or until they themselves had to journey to the Ancient Forest to find their mate, the Rathalos.

The second reason: years of constant battle. Too many wounds, too much damage, until the energy consumed outweighed what the body could store. Recovery could no longer come from within—it had to be forced, aided by external forces.

Clearly, this was the state the Zinogre leader was in.

The Zinogre pack hadn't fractured from infighting; instead, the leader had deliberately sent away a young Zinogre—one with the potential to become king—to lead a portion of the pack, including juveniles, back to their original territory. That young one was meant to be the seed of the next generation.

That also explained why the Zinogre back then had stopped the others from attacking Logan and Aki. They knew they had no chance of defeating them.

There's no such thing as 'mutual understanding' between monsters. Their minds were not forgiving.

The sight of those two heavily gnawed herbivore corpses might have provoked Logan and Aki. If they had decided to retaliate during the pack's migration—especially targeting the vulnerable juveniles—what then?

So, the Zinogre leader chose to yield and withdrew from that hunting ground.

After sending off part of the pack, the leader stayed behind in the Ancient Forest with the remainder. Its goal: to rely on the life energy of the forest's leylines and wager everything on one final gamble.

If it won, it would recover from its injuries—and its strength could rise to new heights.

If it lost, it wouldn't just mean the leader's death. The rest of the Zinogres, now without a guiding force, would fall apart completely.

A lone Zinogre held the same ecological status as an Anjanath. A leaderless pack would be torn to shreds by the furious native monsters of the Ancient Forest. The survivors would either have to find their way back to the Great Ravine...

...or tuck their tails and adapt, learning to survive like any other beast in the ecosystem and taking their place in the local food chain.

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