Monster Hunter: This Dragon's Built Different-Chapter 417: Encounter with the Terastal Bazelgeuse

Under the guidance of the Admiral, the investigation squad spent a full five days before successfully reaching the deepest level of the Rotten Vale, passing through the intricate Everstream corridors and arriving at the Elder's Recess.

Those few days had thoroughly exhausted the investigation squad.

Whether it was the miasma that was almost omnipresent in the lower and middle layers of the Rotten Vale, the various large monsters that had lost their way within it, or the foul-smelling rivers at the very bottom along with the stench-laden acidic fluids, this extreme environment subjected the members' noses to relentless torment.

Fortunately, the Admiral had spent many years operating within the Rotten Vale and the Everstream, and was familiar with the methods of obtaining fermented food within the Rotten Vale as well as the territorial relationships between the various monsters. Otherwise, if the investigation squad had been left to find the way on their own, let alone five days—even half a month might not have been enough to locate the entrance to the Everstream.

After swallowing the last bottle of cold drink and feeling the surface heat rapidly recede from his body, Darren removed his helmet and shook off the sweat that flowed from his head like water.

Following behind the Admiral, they crossed a narrow stream of lava. Watching unknown objects fall into the lava due to their movement without even producing a single bubble, it was easy to imagine just how high the temperature of this lava flow—saturated with immense life energy—truly was.

"We're here!" At the very front, the Admiral felt a relatively cool breeze. After using the comparatively bright firelight of the Everstream to survey the surroundings and confirm their current position, a trace of a smile appeared on his resolute face.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead in one motion and quickened his pace, moving forward rapidly.

Soon, after the surroundings dimmed slightly, everyone's field of vision suddenly opened up.

The exit of this Everstream tributary lay halfway up the slope of a volcano, with the lava stream beside them slowly flowing downward along the mountainside.

In the distance, within the dimness obscured by dark clouds, the land was still illuminated by the reflected glow of lava—the Elder's Recess, stretching continuously among the volcanoes, lighting up both sky and earth.

"So gorgeous! I never expected there to be a scene like this here. Just looking at it, you can feel the gathering of Everstream energy. They're all crystals, but the scenery here is completely different from the Ancient Tree!!"

"Right?!" The Admiral laughed heartily, then pointed toward the largest massive crystal as he continued, "When I first arrived, I was just as excited as you are!"

His words had only just ended when a long, resounding dragon roar rang out—as if echoing the Admiral's words—perfectly timed.

"Welcome to the New World's most—"

"Battle stations! Careful!"

Before the Admiral could finish his impassioned line, Darren and Aiden quickly put on their helmets, took a great stride forward, and rushed behind the Admiral, adopting a defensive stance.

Mia and Lea were quick on the uptake; they immediately flicked out the slinger claws on their arms toward the distance and rapidly pulled away from the cave entrance.

Fortunately, as a veteran hunter of decades, the Admiral reacted just as fast.

The instant Darren and the others gave their warning, he decisively turned around while drawing the shield from his back and raising it high, focusing his defense on his unhelmeted head.

Without protective gear, even with the Admiral's extraordinary natural gifts—and a physique that might even be tougher than Darren's—he still could not withstand a single hit from a large monster.

Boom!!

A dull, heavy sound rang out first. Immediately afterward, more than a dozen blast scales fired out. Before the impact's dust had even settled, successive explosions followed one after another. In an instant, smoke and fumes billowed everywhere, leaving Mia and the other woman—who had moved away from the battlefield—unable to see what was happening inside.

"Darren!!"

Mia cried out, trying to confirm the situation within the thick haze that way.

But what answered her was not Darren's voice—it was the enraged roar of Bazelgeuse.

As Bazelgeuse's massive body twisted and writhed, the airflow it stirred blew the smoke and dust aside. The Admiral could be seen gripping his lance and charging straight beneath Bazelgeuse, bracing against the blast scales and forcibly taking all of its attacks head-on.

The burly figure stood firm, his feet unmoving in the slightest. With an aura that seemed to declare, "Come on! If you've got what it takes, knock me back!", he gave off an unparalleled sense of reassurance.

Darren and Aiden moved in perfect coordination, each evading Bazelgeuse's attacks while closing in at close range and continuously unleashing their own offense.

When the blades struck those strangely colored scales, a crisp, clear sound rang out first, followed only afterward by the cracking sound of scales colliding and breaking.

"This—!! This is—!!"

"Why does this Bazelgeuse look like this?!!"

Even Lea, who was usually steady and composed, could not help but cry out in alarm.

Although their time since arriving in the New World had not been very long and they had yet to encounter many of its unique monsters, the appearance of Bazelgeuse—a top-tier apex predator classified as high-risk by the Research Commission—was mandatory knowledge for every Compiler.

But the Bazelgeuse before them was simply far too strange!

Apart from the blast scales around its neck, which looked the same as ever, the rest of its body bore red crystals to varying degrees across its scales. At the joints in particular, chunks of crystal had directly grown outward, looking extremely hard. At the connection between its wings and body, a slab of crystal wrapped around the area like a pair of pauldrons.

These changes made Bazelgeuse—already a monster that gave off the impression of having formidable defenses—appear even heavier and more imposing than before.

Fortunately, the equipment of the three hunters present was all quite good. They were able to successfully break through its defenses, avoiding the awkward situation of striking with full force only to fail to even crack its scales.

"Roar!!"

Perhaps the hunters' resistance further enraged the already furious Bazelgeuse, or perhaps the fact that they could pierce its defenses—now far stronger than in the past—made it sense a grave threat. In any case, Bazelgeuse's offensive suddenly became far more frantic. As if completely disregarding stamina consumption, it launched continuous attacks at the hunters without pause.

Blast scales, charging attacks, and even prolonged breath attacks accompanied by violent explosions all came into play.

These somewhat record-breaking attack methods left the hunters genuinely surprised. According to the Bazelgeuse that scholars had dissected in the past, its energy organs should not have been sufficient to support prolonged breath attacks.

The extremely unstable explosive powder stored in its Flame Sac should have limited it to only short bursts of explosive breath, or explosive fireballs like those spat by Rathian.

The breath attack itself was one thing. Although it was not within the hunters' existing data records, they had already made the necessary preparations when facing a monster like this. After enduring a single breath attack, they quickly worked out a countermeasure.

But!

What they found most difficult to adapt to was Bazelgeuse's blast scale attacks.

Unlike normal explosions, once Bazelgeuse clearly entered a state of rage, the crystals covering its body began to spread at an astonishing speed, directly enveloping the blast scales. What had once relied purely on explosive force to deal damage were transformed into "shrapnel blast scales."

The crystal fragments accelerated by the explosions were incomparably sharp and extremely difficult to evade.

This series of changes caused the Admiral to form a plan in his mind.

Taking advantage of a positional shift, when the Admiral once again locked horns with Bazelgeuse, a brief exchange of glances among the group was enough for everyone to understand his intent.

Darren rolled to evade Bazelgeuse's stomp. Relying on movements he had practiced hundreds of times, he swiftly pulled a flash pod from his pouch. His gaze shifted to Aiden, who had also seized the opportunity to disengage from the battlefield and was rapidly assembling a shock trap. After the two exchanged a slight nod in confirmation, Darren decisively fired the flash pod.

The specially made round detonated with precision right in front of Bazelgeuse's face.

Blasted by the intense light, and having never expected the hunters to pull such a dirty trick, Bazelgeuse's brain instantly short-circuited. Its body briefly lost control and crashed down amid a dull thud. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

At the same moment, Aiden charged toward the space beneath Bazelgeuse.

Sensing Aiden's movement as well, the Felyne—who was responsible for interference nearby—dropped to all fours and rushed toward the same destination. His little paws left afterimages as he worked at high speed on the preliminary setup for the trap.

After all, to be the Palico of a top-tier hunter like Darren, how could that Felyne possibly be just a working cat?!

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