│ "Release the binding bolts."
Standing on the mountain peak, the Third Fleet Leader issued her command.
The hunters followed orders and removed the restraints from the giant ballistae.
After all the binding bolts were released, the Third Fleet Leader ordered everyone to withdraw.
The hunters mounted their Wingdrakes and returned to Astera.
Aboard the Wingdrakes, the Third Fleet Leader looked at Zorah Magdaros slowly sinking into the earth, a trace of emotion flashing across her face.
│ "Once we part here, this giant will truly fall, and his life energy will return to the entire New World."
She withdrew her gaze and looked toward Astera instead.
Anticipation filled her expression.
│ "I've heard that Knight Bai Chen raised a Thunderlord Zinogre in just two months, and also trained a special Gravios, and that he even has a way to make Basarios suddenly grow larger."
│ "I really want to ask him how he managed all of that."
She was not the only one.
At this moment, scholars across the New World were all eagerly anticipating a meeting with that legendary knight.
│ "No."
Inside the command room, the Commander looked at the scholars crowding the hall and flatly rejected them.
│ "Commander, why?" one scholar protested.
│ "This is the perfect opportunity to study Zinogre and Gravios, especially Thunderlord Zinogre; there are barely any confirmed records of that subspecies in the Guild."
│ "I will have Bai Chen submit ecological reports," the Commander said calmly, "but for now, none of you are allowed to disturb him."
The Commander himself had many questions as well, such as Kirin's ecology and Bai Chen's ability to fly independently.
But he could tell Bai Chen was busy with something important and had no spare time for academic research.
With the Commander's decision made, the scholars could only leave reluctantly and return to their posts.
After everyone else had gone, the Third Fleet Leader finally asked.
│ "Commander, that knight… is he really human?"
Faced with the question, the Commander remained silent for a long time.
After a while, he finally replied.
│ "I only know that he is a member of the Commission."
The Third Fleet Leader fell silent as well.
The answer was interesting enough to give her plenty to think about.
Still, with the Commander personally vouching for Bai Chen, she no longer needed to worry about the safety of the Commission.
│ "If he returns later, please ask him to give us a ride," she said.
│ "There's still a lot of work waiting at the research base."
│ "I'll entrust him with it."
At the very moment everyone was discussing Bai Chen, Bai Chen himself was exploring the high peaks.
Within a recessed rocky ledge, Bai Chen sat completely still.
He wore a hastily made black cloak, its back covered in Nergigante's spikes, the very spikes created when she entered Second Gear a few days earlier.
Using telekinesis, Bai Chen formed a barrier that sealed off the rocky recess, preventing any trace of their presence from leaking out.
His tense gaze locked onto the crimson comet streaking across the sky.
That Valstrax's cruising speed had already reached subsonic levels.
And that was merely Valstrax's patrol speed.
If she got serious, even Mach two would be nothing more than a warm-up.
│ "There's only a little over a thousand meters left to the summit," Bai Chen thought.
│ "Once we reach it, I'll be able to teleport there directly next time."
A thousand meters sounded trivial, but each meter upward felt like climbing to the heavens.
First, the peak's altitude had already exceeded eight thousand meters.
That was twice the four thousand meters previously measured by the Wyverians.
Second, since it was formed from Coral Highlands structures, it was not particularly stable, and the summit platform was less than 500 square meters in total.
Bai Chen was currently at an altitude of seven thousand meters.
The oxygen content in the Monster Hunter world was slightly higher than in the Pokémon world, but only slightly.
At 7,000 meters, Bai Chen could survive with focused breathing, but climbing higher would severely exacerbate oxygen deprivation.
If he reached the summit, his combat power would likely drop by half.
Moreover, a few days ago, Valstrax had already detected his presence near her territory.
She had been on high alert and had not left her nest for five full days.
The most critical point was this.
Neither Cosmog nor Bai Chen himself could appear to steal the egg.
Cosmog was too weak.
If he encountered Valstrax's high-speed dive during the theft, he would certainly die.
Trading a mythical-tier Pokémon for an ordinary Elder Dragon was a terrible deal by any measure.
Bai Chen also could not show himself.
If he personally stole the egg, a Valstrax unable to find him would almost certainly attack Astera or the Ancient Wyverian villages.
The fury of a mother who lost her child was something no one could withstand.
Bai Chen did not want to bring that wrath upon hunters or Wyverians.
After careful consideration, he had chosen the egg thief.
Nergigante.
There was already another Nergigante in the New World.
If Valstrax could be lured into killing that one, it would be excellent news for Bai Chen.
Furthermore, Nergigante adapted to high altitudes far better than Bai Chen.
She had already fully adapted to seven thousand meters.
Even above eight thousand meters, her combat power would not decline much.
Watching Valstrax circling in the sky, Bai Chen thought to himself.
│ "I refuse to believe you'll never leave."
│ "The moment you do, that's our chance."
The turning point came quickly.
Two days before Bai Chen's scheduled return to the Pokémon world, Valstrax finally left her nest.
Watching Valstrax vanish into the distance, Bai Chen knew the opportunity had arrived.
After waiting ten minutes, Bai Chen released Nergigante.
│ "Now."
│ "Roar!"
Nergigante responded and leapt from Bai Chen's shoulder, canceling her reduced form.
Bai Chen tightened his belt and secured the cloak infused with Nergigante's scent around himself.
He hugged Nergigante's neck and hid his entire body beneath her chest.
│ "Go!"
Nergigante beat her wings and climbed sharply upward, icy winds slicing past Bai Chen.
Seven thousand one hundred meters.
Seven thousand two hundred meters.
Seven thousand three hundred meters.
With her speed and Bai Chen's teleportation, three hundred meters took only ten seconds.
At seven thousand six hundred meters, Bai Chen suddenly spotted a streak of red diving from the clouds.
He clenched his teeth in realization.
Valstrax had set a trap, luring them out.
│ "She's used this trick five times already."
│ "She's absurdly cautious."
Bai Chen knew this was the final chance.
If he failed again, Valstrax would guard her nest to the death, and he would never get the egg before returning worlds.
Using telekinesis, Bai Chen pulled three Fire Soul Bombs from his pouch.
│ "Don't stop," he warned Nergigante.
All his telekinetic force gathered behind the bombs.
The three Fire Soul Bombs shot toward Valstrax at supersonic speed.
When Valstrax was only three hundred meters away, the bombs detonated simultaneously.
The explosions were terrifying, three crimson infernos consuming the thin oxygen of the high sky.
Bai Chen had never expected the bombs to bring Valstrax down.
A monster capable of supersonic flight and impact had astonishing fire resistance and physical durability.
The bombs were only meant to buy time.
│ "Teleport."
Bai Chen teleported with Nergigante toward the summit, each blink covering a hundred meters.
Below them, flames obscured Valstrax's vision.
At that speed, even with perfect reactions, midair turning was impossible.
A thunderous crash echoed as Valstrax slammed into the mountain.
The already narrow summit shook violently.
Bai Chen glanced downward.
Even with her resilience, Valstrax could not fully withstand such an impact.
She began free-falling toward the mountainside.
After only five or six seconds, she stabilized herself midair.
Crimson dragon energy erupted from behind her wings.
In one or two seconds, she broke the sound barrier again.
Bai Chen immediately teleported laterally with Nergigante.
Valstrax streaked past them, climbed beyond ten thousand meters, then looped like a fighter jet and dove again.
This time, Bai Chen tried the same trick.
But Valstrax folded her wings and redirected her thrusters to brake sharply after losing sight.
She did not crash again.
The maneuver was impressive.
But Bai Chen had already reached the summit.
The summit was flat, its entirety visible at a glance.
Activating Super Perception, Bai Chen scanned rapidly.
His heart sank.
│ "There's no egg here?"
In less than a second, Bai Chen realized the truth.
The intelligence was correct.
Valstrax had laid an egg.
She was simply hiding it elsewhere.
Valstrax closed in from behind, the plan on the brink of failure.
│ "Detonate."
Boom—boom—boom!
Explosions thundered from below the peak.
The blasts came from within the mountain itself.
Bai Chen had prepared fifty Fire Soul Bombs in advance.
He had secretly embedded them throughout the mountain using telekinesis.
They were powerful enough to collapse the thousand-meter protrusion.
This was his contingency plan.
As expected, the explosions drew Valstrax's attention immediately.
The mountain began collapsing.
Bai Chen could not see her actions directly, but his Super Perception locked onto her movements.
│ "Where did you hide your egg?"
Scanning a five-hundred-meter radius took time.
Bai Chen needed nearly ten seconds for full coverage.
Valstrax instinctively looked toward the egg's hiding place.
Following her gaze, Bai Chen located a concealed nest on a northern cliff face, two hundred meters below.
Large boulders masked its entrance.
│ "Found it!"
Bai Chen released Nergigante and teleported alone.
Teleportation had many limits.
He could not teleport to places he had never been.
Distance was also affected by carried weight.
Teleporting a massive Nergigante a hundred meters had already been his limit.
Alone, he could teleport several kilometers.
Within Super Perception's range, Bai Chen could teleport directly up to five hundred meters.
Arriving inside the rocky chamber, Bai Chen saw the half-meter-tall egg instantly.
The mountain was collapsing, leaving no time to admire it.
He grabbed the egg and teleported back to Nergigante.
At the summit, only Nergigante remained.
Valstrax had gone to save her child.
She did not realize the egg was already gone.
Bai Chen immediately released Cosmog.
│ "Back to Astera."
│ "Mogu!"
In the blink of an eye, all three of them, egg included, safely returned to the arena in Astera.
Looking at the familiar surroundings, Bai Chen finally let out a long breath.
He could have sneaked up alone and forcibly taken the egg using teleportation and perception.
But that would have drawn Valstrax's hatred toward Astera.
An Elder Dragon would never need proof to attack.
Letting Nergigante show herself changed everything.
All of Valstrax's hatred was now focused on Nergigante.
As long as she was rational, Astera would be spared.
Bai Chen looked at the half-meter-tall Elder Dragon egg.
│ "Don't blame me for stealing you," he thought.
│ "I'm giving you an opportunity."
│ "You'll become the strongest Valstrax someday."
He masked the egg's aura and carried it home, placing it beside the Velkhana egg.
"All the eggs are secured."
│ "It's time to prepare for my return."
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