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"How could a monster intrude on the trade road, meow!"
No sooner had the words left its mouth than the bushes not far away rustled violently, and the vague howl of a monster drifted out.
"That sounds like a Jaggi, meow! They occasionally wander onto the trade roads, meow! We must speed up, meow!"
The Felyne driver, who had been confidently guaranteeing their safety, stiffened at the sound. Ignoring the winding road, where accelerating risked capsizing, it anxiously urged the Kulu-Ya-Ku to run.
"Don't worry, customer, meow! I've run this road many times, meow! We'll be fine, meow!"
The girl in the carriage immediately closed her book and put it away, then lifted her head and looked around.
However, the look on her face was closer to excitement than panic.
"Where is it? Where is it?"
Just as she spoke, a huge white shadow suddenly leaped out of the bushes to the side, letting out an ear-splitting roar at the person, the cat, and the bird.
The Felyne was so startled it stammered, unable to speak properly: "Gr-Great Jagras, meow! How is it here?"
"Hmm… So, this is what the King's Frill looks like? It's truly an apt description. So, does the Jagras pack have a rule that the larger the ears, the higher the status?"
The girl in the carriage observed the Jagras leader closely, muttering to herself. She then thought seriously for a moment. "The book says that the male Jagras, besides hunting, also take on the duty of patrolling their territory. Therefore, they can be encountered even far away from the nest."
"So, if we can encounter Jaggi on the trade road, this area is actually part of the Jagras pack's territory. It's quite normal to encounter the leader here, isn't it?"
"Is this the time to be discussing that, meow?!"
Amidst the Felyne's screaming, the Kulu-Ya-Ku strained to run along the trade path. The drooling Jagras leader pursued them relentlessly from behind. The girl could almost smell the rank odor from its mouth.
"Why is it chasing us, meow!"
"Maybe it's hungry?"
The girl was bounced up and down in the bumpy carriage, but she ignored her bruised backside, seriously observing the Jagras leader behind them.
"The Great Jagras is a carnivorous Bird Wyvern. Its diet includes Herbivores, Kulu-Ya-Ku, and Mosswine. Perhaps it's targeting the Kulu-Ya-Ku pulling our cart?"
"If it catches up, if we abandon the Kulu-Ya-Ku and split up, it probably won't chase us."
The girl's calm analysis slightly steadied the Felyne driver. It stole a glance back, then was struck by terror. "It's catching up, meow!"
That brief glance caused the Felyne to miss a bend in the road ahead. The cart, following the Kulu-Ya-Ku, flew into the air for half a second before tumbling and crashing amidst three screams.
The Felyne and the girl were thrown out, rolling several times on the ground before finally coming to a stop. Fortunately, the ground here was soft humus, preventing any serious injury, but they were certainly covered in dirt.
Compared to the person and the cat, the Kulu-Ya-Ku, harnessed to the cart, was much worse off. Half its body was trapped under the overturned cart, unable to move. It could only watch helplessly as the giant white beast cast the shadow of death over it.
The Jagras leader savored the tender meat in its mouth, its mood improving greatly.
It had killed a Kulu-Ya-Ku earlier this morning to vent its anger but hadn't eaten any of it. Following that, it had spent time patrolling its territory and remarking its ground. All that activity had naturally made its stomach hungry. It was feeling quite frustrated, but then suddenly discovered a solitary Kulu-Ya-Ku—it was like a gift from the heavens! No sense in letting it go to waste!
A piece of fresh meat was gulped down whole. The Jagras leader's eyes swept to the side: one small cat, not even enough to pick its teeth; one hairless monkey, just enough to pick its teeth.
It initially decided to ignore them, but then it involuntarily recalled the hairless monkey it had chased some time ago, which preferred to jump off a cliff rather than let it have a taste. Its curiosity was suddenly piqued.
"Meow! It's coming, meow! Your analysis was wrong, meow!"
"I know! Run!"
However, legs barely a meter long could not outrun legs four or five meters long. The girl had only run a few steps before the Jagras leader was about to overtake her.
The fear of the death shadow finally overcame her initial excitement and calm. The girl despairingly closed her eyes.
Suddenly, a bright flash exploded. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel the darkness before her turn brilliant. A mournful howl then came from behind her.
The intense flash only lasted a moment. The girl's eyes struggled to adjust to the dim light of the woods. The Jagras leader, having taken the full impact of the Flash Bomb, had its eyes streaming with tears. It couldn't open them at all and could only violently shake its head, trying to escape its sudden state of blindness.
"Run! I'll hold it back!"
The girl saw a Hunter running toward her, swinging the blade in his hand as he attacked the Jagras leader. Before she could say anything, he urged her to get away.
Ethan cleaved the Jagras leader's skull with his sword. The force of the counter-shock running up the blade made his arm ache and feel numb. The impact felt no better than hitting Yukumo wood and was completely different from when he sliced through the Jaggi's skulls.
Struggling to maintain the cleaving motion of his blade without letting it warp, Ethan watched the girl and the Felyne run off with the corner of his eye, silently sighing in relief.
He had been following the tracks and had finally found the Jaggi, which were grouped together patrolling with the leader. He had just managed to find an opportunity to take down a single, isolated one to fulfill the quest quota and was prying out the dragon tooth when he heard the screams. He rushed over in a panic and found that someone had indeed been attacked, prompting him to throw the self-made Flash Bomb and save them.
"Boom!" "Screech!"
Although its vision had not yet returned, the Jagras leader, feeling continuous pain in its head, opened its massive mouth and snapped viciously in the direction the impact came from. But it felt its teeth clamp down on hard bone, causing a painful shock to its mouth and a throbbing ache in its teeth.
Ethan was rocked by the impact, forced to retreat a few steps to steady himself. He looked at the massive creature before him with utmost gravity.
The monster's huge body gave it incredible strength. He couldn't rely on brute force to bully it like he did with the Jaggi anymore…
He moved forward to engage in combat again. The fierce impacts caused the blade of his sword to constantly accumulate energy. Before long, with a sizzling sccchhh sound, the edge of the blade began to emit a red-hot glow.
Glancing at the direction the girl had fled—her figure now obscured by the dense jungle—Ethan let out a deep breath, took a few steps back, inserted his blade into the shield, and infused the overheating energy accumulated in the sword into the shield.
Come on! Even if I wasn't ready to face this guy, I absolutely have to hold it back here. I can't let it attack people anymore!
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