In the Mangrove Forest, dense grass and shrubs were scarce, but the mangroves' tangled root systems provided ideal cover.
The Hunters moved lightly and quickly behind a large tree. Half-crouched among the tangled roots and concealed beneath their Ghillie Mantles, they quietly observed what was unfolding in the nighttime forest.
It was a brownish Monster.
Since the Hunters had followed the tracks all the way there, the first thing they saw was the Monster's back. The thought A Tigrex subspecies? immediately sprang to Altaïr's mind.
A closer look, however, revealed major differences between the two. Their only similarity lay in their skeletal structure.
Both had winged forelimbs that were more developed than their hind legs, and both walked on all fours.
That alone made it difficult to tell whether this Monster was a close relative of Tigrex or merely the product of convergent evolution.
In earlier years, when research into such relationships was less thorough, scholars had even classified winged-forelimb wyverns as a branch of the Tigrex family, with the famous Nargacuga as a typical example.
Only in recent decades had researchers determined that these wyverns merely resembled Tigrex in the way they moved and were not close relatives.
The Monster before them was probably another example of the same phenomenon.
It had no conspicuously large scales anywhere on its body. Instead, its slick skin was coated in a thick, foul-smelling layer of slime.
The fins on its foreclaws and along the edges of its tail displayed clear Amphibian traits.
Most striking, however, was its head, or more precisely, the enormous mouth that spanned its entire width and dripped with drool. It was a disgusting sight.
The great battle they had anticipated between the Lolo Gougarf and the mysterious Monster did not occur. Had the Lolo Gougarf not been directly in their line of sight, Altaïr would have thought it had tricked them again.
What was happening in the cramped forest clearing defied easy description.
The unknown Monster with the enormous mouth had buried its head in a meal. No, "chewing" was not quite accurate either; "swallowing" was the more precise term.
It was trying to gulp down an entire plump Bullfango, but the Bullfango's curved fangs, hooked like a pair of hooks, caught on the corners of its mouth and kept it from swallowing for the moment.
Altaïr was certain that no traces of large creatures such as Bullfango remained in the nearby forest.
The Bullfango this Monster was swallowing must have come from somewhere else. As for who had brought it there and how...
Strands of silk still wrapped the Bullfango's carcass, leaving just over half of it exposed. That made it clear the Lolo Gougarf was responsible.
It had made the arduous journey to the outskirts of the Mangrove Forest, killed this robust Bullfango, then dragged it all the way back into the forest's depths with its silk. Clearly, it had not gone to all that trouble merely to feed the mysterious Monster.
Given that it had even hurled a Toxic Glowbug nest at a Hunter as an improvised weapon, this Bullfango carcass was likely another piece of bait prepared as part of a deliberate plan.
While the mysterious Monster busied itself devouring the Bullfango carcass, the Lolo Gougarf was far from idle.
Standing thirty to forty meters from the mysterious Monster, it fired three strands of silk from each wrist and anchored them to the trunks of six large trees. It then leaned back, gripping all six strands tightly in its palms.
It released a low roar, and its muscles, far more developed than those of an ordinary Lolo Gougarf, bulged in thick ridges. Its dark golden eyes turned bloodshot from the strain.
Its feet stamped against the ground, while its long tail, tipped with claw-like structures, coiled around another tree behind it. Every muscle in its body straining, it retreated one arduous step at a time, stretching the six silk strands farther and farther.
The sight almost left the Hunters stunned.
Using the silk from its wrists to catapult itself like a projectile from a Slinger could well be called the Lolo Gougarf's signature technique.
In every previous encounter, however, they had seen it use only one strand from each wrist. Watching this specimen prepare a charge with all six strands at once was unprecedented.
By simple arithmetic, that meant triple the power.
The trade-off, of course, was a much longer charging time.
An ordinary Lolo Gougarf might not even have been capable of firing six strands at once; even if it could, it probably would not have had the strength to stretch all six simultaneously.
Altaïr finally understood why the Lolo Gougarf had gone to such trouble to bring the Bullfango carcass back from the edge of the forest.
This attack required a long preparation, and the Lolo Gougarf could not move while charging. Its power was immense, but landing it against an agile, moving enemy was difficult, and the lengthy preparation left it highly vulnerable to counterattacks.
Under normal circumstances, a Lolo Gougarf would attempt the move only after creating enough distance or restraining its opponent with silk.
This Lolo Gougarf, however, had released three times as much silk, and the time required to charge had probably increased by more than a factor of three. By the time the Hunters arrived, it had already spent over ten seconds pulling those strands taut and storing power.
Without some kind of trick, the opposing Monster would already have pounced on it and bitten it to death.
Frankly, the bait was astonishingly effective.
Hunters also used Raw Meat as bait to lure Monsters, but that tactic required the target not to have noticed them. Very few Monsters would continue eating with a threat nearby.
Perhaps the boar carcass smelled irresistible, or the mysterious Monster was simply starving beyond reason.
The Lolo Gougarf stood only a few body lengths away preparing its attack, yet the mysterious Monster seemed completely oblivious. It merely kept tilting its head back and swallowing faster.
Its naturally short, thick neck had expanded like a soft rubber tube to several times its normal size, and its broad jaws had dislocated, all so it could gulp down the food lodged in its throat more easily.
The sight of its frantic swallowing inevitably reminded the Hunters of a snake.
Just as the mysterious Monster finally stretched its mouth wide enough to swallow the Bullfango whole, fangs and all, the Lolo Gougarf completed its preparations.
It released a furious roar. Its two hind feet and tail claws, planted deep in the sandy soil, tore free of the ground. The potential energy stored in the six silk strands instantly became a staggering amount of kinetic energy, catapulting it forward in a blur toward the nearby mysterious Monster.
"Go!" Isis clenched her fists and whispered despite herself.
Altaïr was silently cheering for the Lolo Gougarf as well.
Of course, his reason was not Isis's "Because it looks so awesome!" He simply hoped the Lolo Gougarf would kick that mysterious Monster to death.
The Lolo Gougarf crossed the several dozen meters in an instant. With its body and tail combined, it was barely over ten meters long, making it look remarkably small beside the mysterious Monster, which measured nearly twenty meters.
Yet the immense kinetic energy stored in the silk gave its charge astonishing force.
The mysterious Monster had thrown its neck back as it swallowed frantically, leaving the vital area of its chest completely exposed. That was precisely where the Lolo Gougarf's attack landed.
At the instant of impact, Altaïr and the others, still dozens of meters away, clearly heard the sharp crack of breaking bones.
The mysterious Monster, which weighed at least four or five times as much as the Lolo Gougarf, was hurled backward and tumbled several times across the ground before finally coming to a stop.
The Bullfango carcass had only just passed down its throat and had not yet been forced into its stomach. The impact ejected it, sending the slimy, sodden carcass flying into the distance.
Altaïr could not help clicking his tongue twice. Had that force struck a Yian Kut-Ku, it could have snapped the Yian Kut-Ku's spine in two. Even a Rathian would probably have been severely injured and immediately incapacitated.
How the mysterious Monster had fared was harder to judge. Who knew how sturdy its body was? Besides, the impact could not have been easy on the Lolo Gougarf either. The recoil alone was probably enough to break a couple of its bones.
The mysterious Monster twisted its body, struggled to roll over, then rose to its feet again.
Blood flowed from its mouth and nose. It was clearly injured, though nowhere close to mortally wounded.
Its bulging, fishlike eyes turned bloodshot with rage and locked onto the Lolo Gougarf, which was also staggering unsteadily nearby.
With a "click," its massive, dislocated jaw snapped back into place. A savage roar echoed through the nighttime forest.
"GROOOOAAAAR!!!"
Undaunted by the gluttonous beast, the Lolo Gougarf beat its chest twice, producing deep, drumlike "thump thump" sounds.
"WOOOAAAHHHH!!!"
The mysterious Monster opened its bloody maw wide and lunged forward. At the same instant, the Lolo Gougarf leaped into the air and brought its sharp claws down with the full force of gravity.
(Translated by yourtl.app)