Several days in a row passed, and on the Ancient Tree there were no longer any cases of monsters being found parasitized by Qurio. While this made Logan secretly lower his guard in his heart, it also caused some doubts to start to arise.
Although he did not understand this kind of thing, the Qurio, very much, and in the memories of his previous life he only remembered some basic information about Qurio, through his thoughts over these past few days, the more Logan thought, the more he felt something was wrong.
That Rathian's condition at that time very obviously had already been deeply parasitized, entering an anomalous state. If not for Logan's appearance drawing out the Qurio lurking inside its body, that Rathian would probably really have entered that anomalous state on the spot.
But in Logan's memories, under normal circumstances the Qurio would not go parasitize these ordinary monsters. They were picky, and monsters that could coexist with them were extremely limited.
For hundreds of years, the most perfect symbiotic partner had only been Gaismagorm, such a Disaster Level Elder Dragon, and the degree of symbiosis between the two sides had even reached an inseparable relationship.
Gaismagorm, by releasing large numbers of Qurio, used the Qurio to collect life energy from nearby living beings, and afterward received life energy from the Qurio to feed itself. In this kind of process, the Qurio also were able to share out from Gaismagorm "food" suitable for their own reproduction and survival.
If one were to say that Gaismagorm, living underground, was the "Abyssal Archdemon" of the Monster Hunter world, then the Qurio were the "apostles" of Gaismagorm, a kind of biological natural disaster.
It was just that, different from Shagaru Magala's Frenzy Virus, the Qurio did not have such strong ecological destructive power.
Apart from Gaismagorm, another target with which the Qurio could achieve symbiosis was Malzeno; more precisely, it should be said Primordial Malzeno.
Apart from these two great Elder Dragons, the Qurio could hardly find any other suitable hosts.
Then the question came: when there was a host, the Qurio would only instinctively go collect monsters' life energy, and would not forcibly parasitize other living beings, much less very roughly transform monsters into breeding incubators suitable for their multiplication.
Only masterless Qurio would, when there was no other choice, choose to adapt to the environment and forcibly evolve into this kind of appearance.
One had to know that transforming ordinary monsters into temporary breeding incubators would not only, while enhancing the strength of the parasitized monsters, also massively consume the monsters' life force, but the Qurio themselves would likewise suffer enormous consumption in this process. After all, the monsters would not obediently submit, right?
So, where did this group of ordinary Qurio come from?
Could it be that there was a Gaismagorm that died near the New World?
But this also did not make sense. Among Disaster Level monsters, Gaismagorm was absolutely a tank-type fighter. If there had been a Gaismagorm dying near the New World, Logan could not possibly have failed to sense it. After all, the life energy released when a Disaster Level monster died was not something that could be easily concealed.
But if it was not that a Gaismagorm died near the New World, then these Qurio could not all be wild, right?
This thing was not like Thunderbug, that kind of insect that could live independently in the natural world and survive just by relying on plants. Its traits destined it to be able to live only by relying on parasitism.
"Could it be that there was some monster that happened to be having its life energy absorbed by Qurio, and then, unwilling to just be drained to death like that, chose, before being drained to death, to follow behind the Elder Crossing and cross the ocean to come here, and as a result, because it got too far away, the Qurio and the original host lost contact, and only then, with no other choice, forcibly evolved?"
Thinking back to that day when Aki gave birth, that unnatural thunderstorm weather and that unfamiliar yet abundant life energy, even without news from the Research Commission, by calculating the time, Logan also knew that this Elder Crossing had already arrived.
Therefore, connecting it with this, only then did such an idea surface in the depths of his mind.
Only, very soon, this idea was again denied by him himself.
After all, with the Old World and the New World separated by such a great distance, to be able to withstand the Qurio instinctively speeding up the rate at which they drew life energy when they were far from their host, and then still cross the ocean for so long and not die on the way, just how strong would that monster's will to survive have to be? As for food sources and the like along the way, how would a monster that had had a large amount of its life energy drained and was in a weakened state solve that?
With all these problems combined, Logan felt that this idea of his really was somewhat too far-fetched. How could there just happen to be a situation that simultaneously satisfied such harsh conditions? The probability was too small!
Unable to figure out the cause of the problem, Logan in the end still temporarily set this question aside. Anyway, the information had already been passed on to the Research Commission. With the Research Commission's curious nature, even though they were currently in a state of repaying debts, they would still squeeze out some manpower to carry out an investigation.
Logan only needed to quietly wait in the background for the investigation results.
No longer getting tangled up, Logan happily ate the Fire Wyvern Felyne Meal specially made using Mosswine. Feeling the unique taste of Mosswine coming from his taste buds, he could not help swallowing in big gulps again.
At the same time, inside Astera.
At the gate of Astera leading toward Wildspire Waste, a commotion suddenly came.
"Move, move meow!!"
An anxious voice came, and the hunters originally coming and going at the gate all jumped aside to avoid it.
Only to see a group of Grimalkynes of the Wasteland Protectors Tribe, under the lead of a Palico, half pushing and half pulling as they drove a Cartsmeow rushing in from outside the gate.
A hunter whose arm was wrapped with bandages was at this moment lying unconscious on the Cartsmeow with a face full of pain, and from time to time let out painful sounds with the jolting of the Cartsmeow.
"Doctor, where doctor meow, hurry and save someone meow!!"
Under the loud shouting of this panicked Palico, the Cartsmeow stopped in the circulation area, drawing the crowd's onlooking.
Very quickly, several doctors who had come with the Fourth Fleet appeared from the cable car, ran all the way to this sick hunter, and without paying attention to anything else, began performing emergency treatment on the spot.
"So hot, his body temperature is too high, needs to be cooled down as soon as possible."
"No severe external injuries on the surface."
After a round of quick checking, the hunter was made to swallow some medicine, and afterward was taken to the logistics area.
And among the crowd, a repairman from a remote kingdom in the Old World, watching the hunter being carried away, had a wave of unease surge in his heart.
Mainly it was this hunter's appearance right now that stirred up within him some very painful memories.
"Plague."
The repairman murmured this, and his body subconsciously shivered. He would never forget how, when the village's guardian hunter encountered that crimson-colored insect, he ultimately brought the plague back to the village, resulting in that village, which had passed down for hundreds of years, disappearing in just a single year because of an epidemic.
The repairman clenched his fist, thought again and again, put down the tools in his hand, and under the doubtful voices of the colleague beside him, walked toward the meeting place where the Commander was.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---