blogombal Chapter 54 He opened his eyes
Chapter 54 He opened his eyes
"Chen Yan, I heard that the Xialong is covered in purple flowers, has horns on its head, very big eyes, and a very long tongue... Is that true?"
"Yes, yes, yes."
Chen Yan, preoccupied with figuring out weapon materials, was being rather perfunctory.
"Chen Yan, I also heard that the Xialong's tail is always curled up, looking like a giant lollipop. Is that true?"
"Yes, yes, yes."
Chen Yan continued to give perfunctory answers.
"Chen Yan, I've also heard that Xialong can change color and become invisible. Tell me the truth, do you often ride it to peep at the staff on the Starship taking a bath in the hot springs?"
"Yes, yes, yes."
Chen Yan let Hua Miao's nagging go in one ear and out the other, without giving it any thought; he was still just giving perfunctory replies.
The cat flew into a rage, transforming into its usual face-hugging form after a long absence, and began frantically scratching at his head from its perch.
"You, Chen Yan! I considered you a brother, and you didn't even take me with you to this great event! You know perfectly well that I love the calico kitten on the Starship the most!"
Chen Yan, caught off guard by the sudden darkness, nearly fell from a tree dozens of meters high.
"What are you doing? What's so interesting about the hostesses and Palicoes on the Starship? I'll take you to peek at the female Rathalos next door who's home alone with her eggs because her husband is busy with work..."
Flower Cat was shocked and hid from looking at the hostess and Little Meow... What's so interesting about a female Rathalos?
But it still insisted on asking one last question.
"Chen Yan, please, one last question: why didn't Xia Long eat you? I remember He wasn't a vegetarian!"
Flower Cat was really curious.
In its mind, whether it's the lowest-level Little Thief Dragon or the highest-level Elder Dragon, they are all vicious monsters who never do good deeds and only love killing and arson.
Legend has it that heroes from all walks of life consider it an honor to defeat ancient dragons, and this is the first time it has ever heard of someone being friends with an ancient dragon.
"Hmm... I actually know the answer to that question."
Chen Yan gently hugged the cat in his arms and carefully peeled back the belly fat to measure its thickness.
"When we first met, He was going to devour me alive, but I told Him I had the fattest Palico in history, and that eating it was so delicious and juicy. He immediately put me down and told me to fatten you up a bit more so He could use you for hot pot later..."
"what?"
Seeing Chen Yan's serious expression, Hua Miao shuddered violently.
"Chen Yan, you definitely wouldn't want to use me for hot pot, right..."
Chen Yan thought about it carefully and answered it more seriously.
"That's not necessarily true, but if I still have the secret stash of money I keep under my bed, I probably wouldn't want to part with it."
Upon hearing that her legs had stopped shaking and her flesh had stopped trembling, Hua Miao, with a death-defying resolve, plopped herself onto him.
"Then you might as well take me to the hot pot restaurant..."
Chen Yan and Hua Miao struggled to crawl through the cramped thicket of trees.
He parted a withered vine, and several beetles hiding on it fell to the ground with a crackling sound; their shriveled bodies indicated that they had been dead for a long time.
Not only were the insects dead, but the vines were dead, the trees beneath our feet were dead, and the entire ancient forest was shrouded in a deathly silence.
As expected, something bad happened.
Before, when I wandered around looking for quest monsters, I could hear birds chirping and strange roars, and occasionally smell something fresh. But now, everything is deathly silent, and all that lingers in my nostrils is a strong stench of decay.
Carefully leaping over the treetops, they had reached the middle layer of the Ancient Forest, where the situation was even more dire. Rotting corpses were scattered everywhere under the trees, including not only herbivorous dragons but also small and medium-sized monsters, and even a considerable number of large monsters such as fire dragons and anjanaths.
"Is the dragon calamity that serious? Flower Cat, we need to hurry!"
It took them longer than last time to reach the edge of the Lynx Dettel territory as they traversed the winding, bushy paths.
Looking at the tightly closed tree hole, Chen Yan tentatively called out a few times, but there was no response. However, he seemed to see several phantom figures flash past from the treetop.
He thought for a moment, unpacked his backpack, took out a large, cured sausage, and broke it in half, releasing a rich, meaty aroma...
"Meow! It's you! Please come in!"
The old lynx chieftain suddenly appeared from somewhere, its eyes fixed on the sausages, and beckoned its members to open the door and welcome the guests...
Chen Yan sat cross-legged in front of the campfire, feeding the lynx cubs that were crawling all over him while listening to the old lynx complain.
After a long while, Chen Yan understood.
Because the ancient tree forest food chain collapsed, they faced a food crisis.
This time the situation is even more serious than last time. The herbivorous dragons have disappeared, and even the water source they usually drink has been polluted. Fortunately, the lynxes are omnivorous beastmen. Since they can't get meat, they can barely survive by eating tree hearts and grass roots, but they are also about to go under.
If Chen Yan had arrived a little later, he would have seen them suffering as they gnawed on the tree bark...
Chen Yan prepared a lot of food and fresh water and quickly gave them to the animals. No matter how difficult the Starry Sky Stronghold was, at least they didn't have to worry about food and drink.
"Why didn't you think of asking a hunter for help?"
The old lynx chieftain sighed and pointed to the sky.
"Some fire dragons are starving. They usually look down on us, but now they want to swallow us whole without even chewing us. We have a hard time dealing with flying dragons, let alone fire dragons. We really dare not leave the bushes."
Chen Yan kept it in mind and reported it to Naomi later, asking her to prepare some small gadgets like distress flares for the lynxes to use for communication.
After glancing at the flower cat, who was being overwhelmed by Dettel's little beauty while holding food, Chen Yan asked the question he was most concerned about.
Have any monsters I've never seen before appeared in the higher levels of the Ancient Forest?
He just asked casually, but the old lynx thought about it and actually pulled out something really amazing.
A small, translucent, iridescent wing membrane.
A single, extremely sharp, golden reverse scale.
A glittering golden scale.
Chen Yan's gaze instantly locked onto the golden scales.
"The wing membrane and this scale were obtained by us at great risk."
"And this golden scale was obtained by us in exchange for half a bundle of grass roots when we traded food with other groups. They said we found it in the stream flowing down from the highest point."
"Thousand-Blade Dragon, Electric Dragon, Gold Rathian!"
It was bad enough that the Ancient Forest had seen the appearance of the Thousand Blade Dragon and the Electric Dragon, two mortal enemies of fire dragons, but what surprised him was that he had actually guessed correctly: the Gold Rathian had appeared!
Since Gold Rathalos is here, it means Silver Rathalos is here too. Gold and Silver Rathalos combined are indeed beyond the capabilities of Chameleon, but they shouldn't be more than twenty times stronger. What other formidable monsters are there?
Seeing his interest, the old lynx chieftain generously gave him these scales, since he was going to trade them for food with other tribes anyway. He also told him some news about fire dragons.
An injured fire dragon crashed last night on the edge of its territory, and according to the patrolling lynx, it seemed to be on its last breath.
Chen Yan's mission antenna crackled as he grabbed the old lynx chieftain's thin, dry claws.
"take me!"
They followed the old lynx chieftain, winding their way through the forest, until they found a dying fire dragon lying on the ground.
"Be careful, this guy's fierce. He almost bit one of our patrolling lynxes yesterday!"
The old lynx chieftain hid behind a tree, warning Chen Yan who wanted to approach.
Chen Yan took a deep breath and was about to take a step, but then he thought for a moment, took off his katana and stuck it aside. With his hands empty, he slowly approached the "King of the Sky" that was struggling to breathe.
Chen Yan wasn't offering himself to the dragon; he dared to step forward empty-handed because the flower cat and the group of lynxes behind him were all holding tightly to the flashing winged insects in their claws.
If the fire dragon makes even the slightest movement, it will witness the rise of a second sun.
This male Rathalos is truly in a terrible state.
Its entire body was covered in congealed blood on its red scales. At least two and a half of the three wing bones were broken, and the wing membranes were so tattered that only a few strips remained hanging from the bones. Its body was covered with large and small blood holes, and for some reason, the wounds had not clotted and were still dripping blood. The scales on its hind limbs that supported its body were broken, revealing deeper muscle tissue.
Even its mouthful of sharp fangs had been broken in many places. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be tightly biting a piece of iron-blue carapace, which looked very much like the reverse scale of the Thousand Blade Dragon.
Chen Yan took a step, then paused. Seeing that the fallen Rathalos remained unresponsive, he took another step forward. He was only three steps away from the Rathalos and could clearly see the shattered reverse scales embedded in its flesh.
"That's too tragic! It's like being subjected to a slow, agonizing torture from beginning to end..."
When Chen Yan looked around carefully and then focused on its head, he realized that the male fire dragon had opened its eyes at some point and was staring at him with weak but still fierce eyes.
Chen Yan slowly opened his hands, revealing a very friendly smile.
"Don't be afraid, I mean you no harm..."
The Rathalos ignored him completely and closed its eyes again; it had seen the hunter before.
It's just a noisy little bug that often trespasses into its territory, uses dirty tricks, and occasionally scratches it.
Besides stealing dragon eggs laid by its wife, what else does it do?
But its tightly closed eyes opened again half a second later.
What did it see?
A large, well-marinated sausage, broken in half, releases a burst of meaty aroma...