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The Great Jagras leader originally intended to suppress the agonizing turmoil in its stomach and finish off the opponent, who looked equally unwell.
But when it turned its head, it saw the hateful creature pull out something and drink it. In just a few seconds, the opponent's condition visibly improved, with almost no trace of injury remaining.
Its own stomach was cramping with pain. Toxins were invading its entire body via its bloodstream, and its muscles were stiffening, refusing to obey. Furthermore, its earlier rage had caused its blood to flow at high speed, resulting in massive blood loss from the multiple wounds that hadn't healed yet…
Anger could make its mind more excited, its movements more agile, and its attacks more powerful, but all of this depended on the ability to metabolize sufficient energy to fuel its actions.
Since a day ago, the Great Jagras leader had only ingested that little bit of doctored internal organs. The energy provided by that meal had long been depleted by the triple assault of toxins, blood loss, and rage. A sense of boundless weakness surged up. As the anger subsided, its mind cleared. The Great Jagras leader finally realized its current state was highly dangerous.
So, after glaring hatefully at Ethan, who had drunk the potion and drawn his Sword and Shield once more, the Great Jagras leader turned, its steps staggering as it hurried back towards its nest.
"Hmph! You think you can run?"
Ethan had gone to great lengths to lure this monster out alone. If he allowed it to return to its pack and hide under their protection, wouldn't all his effort have been wasted?
However, the Great Jagras leader seemed to have completely abandoned the idea of engaging Ethan further. It simply focused on escaping, ignoring Ethan who was chasing close behind.
Ethan was in a dilemma. It was difficult to sprint while carrying his weapon in the drawn state; his center of gravity would be thrown off with any carelessness. But if he sheathed his weapon to pursue it, the monster would gain another two or three meters in the wind-up time of his draw-and-slash motion, making him miss.
Chasing the monster down a narrow mountain path, Ethan saw that the creature was determined to flee. He gritted his teeth and pulled out another Flash Bomb, throwing it.
"Awoo!"
The Great Jagras leader, who was facing away from Ethan, had no way of noticing the Flash Bomb. Caught off guard, the flash disoriented its mind. Combined with the lingering effects of the Parashroom, it actually stumbled and tumbled off the mountain path. Its miserable wails lingered in the air, gradually fading into the distance.
Ethan: …
He peered over the edge of the mountain path. Outside was a steep slope, at least seventy degrees, and the vertical drop to the gentler stream-covered area below was at least forty or fifty meters. Along the way, there were easily over twenty trees that had been snapped and pushed over by the Great Jagras leader.
"Good heavens, can anything survive that fall?"
Ethan had already sentenced the unlucky monster to death in his heart, but to be safe, he had to go down and see the corpse with his own eyes.
Ethan dared not descend the mountain in such a wild manner. By the time he cautiously followed the tracks step by step to the gentle stream area at the foot of the mountain, he saw the "grotesquely contorted" Great Jagras corpse lying nearby.
The pitiful state… well, how to put it? It was unclear how much of its scales, claws, and hide remained usable, but there was certainly no hope of finding any quality bone materials.
Sighing softly, slightly disappointed that he hadn't managed to end the fight with a final Super Discharge, Ethan pulled a Signal Flare from his item pouch, lit the fuse, and shot it into the sky.
"Whoosh—Bang!"
A bright green flare blossomed in the air. A few minutes later, a flare of the same color rose from the direction of Yukumo Village in the distance.
"Phew—"
Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. He looked down at the Jagras corpse at his feet. After a moment of contemplation, he pulled out his carving knife and cut off the creature's large, fan-like ears, stuffing them into his item pouch.
Having done this, Ethan found a rock that hadn't been dampened by the stream and sat down, silently waiting for the Transport Team to arrive.
Since hunting grounds are usually complex environments and a Hunter's own carrying capacity is quite limited, Hunters often only manage to carve the most important materials after hunting a large monster. The remaining materials, along with the monster's carcass, are left to re-enter the natural ecological cycle.
This method severely limited the materials a Hunter could acquire from one hunt. Consequently, many Hunters often needed to hunt the same monster multiple times just to forge a complete set of gear. To put it extremely, this method could even encourage poaching and illegal hunting.
Therefore, the Hunter's Guild introduced an alternative: the Guild organized and established Transport Teams to help Hunters move monster carcasses back to the base camps. After the monster materials were professionally sectioned, a percentage of the materials was taken as a reward, and the remaining materials were returned to the Hunter.
This method maximized the Hunter's profit, but due to limitations in manpower and resources, it could only be implemented in less dangerous and remote hunting grounds. For example, high-danger areas like the Volcano, where powerful monsters run rampant, still could not successfully utilize this service.
Ethan still wanted to use the Great Jagras's materials to forge a set of Jagras armor. That set not only offered slightly better defense than the Yukumo set but also provided a unique skill that increased strength and reinforced the body's recovery capabilities.
So, to ensure nothing went wrong, he didn't simply pack up and leave. He sat there watching over the Great Jagras leader's corpse, prepared to escort the Transport Team back to the village.
Just then, Ethan's ears twitched slightly. He heard a subtle anomaly over the rushing sound of the water.
Turning his head, a yellowish head poked out from beneath the white curtain of the waterfall.
Immediately following, a thick neck covered in bright yellow, sponge-like scales extended out. Short, thick limbs supported its body on the sand and rocks at the bottom of the stream, pulling the heavy body forward and fully revealing its appearance to Ethan.
"You son of a !"
The creature that had just appeared was undoubtedly the culprit that caused Senior Kia's brutal carting, the recent Stream resident that drove away Bear Bro, and the short-tempered Harem King of the Ludroth pack—the Royal Ludroth!
And now, this creature that looked like a banana was clearly eyeing the Great Jagras corpse. It completely ignored the standing Ethan, climbing toward its goal on its own.
Ethan looked up at the massive monster, swallowing a mouthful of saliva, and reached into his small item pouch.
Standing in front of a nine-meter-long Great Jagras felt like facing an Iodrome, making his heart race. But this monster, estimated to be sixteen or seventeen meters long, made the Great Jagras leader look petite and delicate in comparison. Even though its appearance wasn't particularly ferocious, the sheer physical intimidation made him involuntarily hold his breath.
"It's just a long banana, it has no real power…"
Taking a deep breath, Ethan suppressed his rising heart rate and abruptly threw a Deodorant Bomb.
"Get away from my new armor, you bastard!"
"Thwack!"
The Royal Ludroth's leisurely crawling motion suddenly paused. Its moss-covered head, now smeared with brown, slowly turned its sapphire blue eyes, locking onto the minuscule figure staring back at it.
"Roar—"
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