The Seat of Wyvern and Cat was finally completed. Because the Fire Wyverns had occasionally eaten the special Cat Meals prepared for them in the past, they were already well aware of the effects these dishes had on their bodies.
Thus, the moment the canteen was built, Fire Wyverns wasted no time in bringing food for the cats to prepare. Even though a lack of ingredients made the dishes slightly less effective, the unique taste—and the fact that they still boosted stamina limits—was enough to make the wyverns flock to them eagerly.
Soon, spurred on by this frenzy, the newly joined Fire Wyverns of the Ancient Tree also tried the meals out of curiosity. The cats' superb cooking only sped up the process of integrating these newcomers into the flock.
Before long, a new routine had formed in the Fire Wyverns' daily lives: lining up to wait for Cat Meals.
But the appetite of a Fire Wyvern was immense, far beyond anything a hunter could match. Even with the kitchen cats working at full force under Egg Roll's lead, they could never quite keep up with the demand.
As a result, the cat chefs ended every day exhausted.
That was, until one day—when the Azure Rathalos, the last to join the Ancient Tree and the one whose rapport with the cats was still the weakest, finished its meal. Catching the expectant looks the cats often sneaked their way, it actually gave them rare praise.
Imitating a reward system it had secretly observed among other Fire Wyvern families, it left behind one of its intact scales. The cats were overjoyed.
From then on, it was as if the other Fire Wyverns had grasped the key. Each time they brought food for Cat Meals, they would also prepare some form of "reward." Sometimes it was scales, sometimes materials from monsters they had driven off during a hunt, and on occasion even the carcass of a large slain monster.
In short, the rewards were varied, but the cats accepted them all gladly. They had never expected payment, after all. These gifts were tokens of the Fire Wyvern flock's acknowledgment of them—and whatever they were, they made the cats deeply happy.
But on this day, the "reward" brought back by a group of Rathians returning from a hunt seemed to be… problematic.
That day, Aki went as usual to hunt in the grounds north of the Ancient Tree. Perhaps because her temper had improved lately, she didn't mind when other Rathians trailed behind her.
After a coordinated hunt, each Rathian obtained the food she needed.
Aki, holding a freshly killed Aptonoth in her jaws, tore into its upper body with her talons, then set it into the river to bleed it more quickly.
At that moment, two figures lurked within the dense forest, eyes glowing red, purple drool dripping uncontrollably, their heavy breathing laced with faint black smoke.
[Zzzzt—!]
The sound of crackling electricity instantly put the Rathians on alert, heads raised as they scanned the surroundings.
Aki, however, locked onto the direction at once. Without the slightest hesitation, she unleashed a fiery breath.
The two Tobi-Kadachi dodged nimbly, then roared and charged straight toward the group of Rathians.
The sight made the Rathians furious.
Two Tobi-Kadachi—mere bottom-tier large monsters of the Ancient Forest—dared to launch a direct charge in open ground, and not just at one Rathian, but at an entire group of them.
Had they gone mad?
The Rathians, feeling gravely provoked, beat their wings furiously and surged forward. The two closest lashed their venomous tails, striking the Tobi-Kadachi and sending them flying.
Before the wyverns could regain their footing, a barrage of fireballs followed, engulfing the area and hurling them back once again.
But then, something unexpected happened.
Normally, after taking such punishment, the two Tobi-Kadachi should have fled in disgrace—the gap in strength was obvious, and they were outnumbered as well.
Yet instead of retreating, the pair charged again as if unscathed. One of them, its foreleg already weakened from multiple hits, moved awkwardly and unnaturally, but still lunged forward with reckless abandon. Their crazed advance made them look utterly deranged.
The Rathians were startled, but did not cease their assault, charging once more to meet the attackers head-on.
At that moment, a roar split the air.
Aki's bellow made the Rathians halt in their tracks, lifting into the sky to give way.
Frenzied flames gathered in her jaws. With no other targets before them, the Tobi-Kadachi fixed on Aki and rushed straight at her, their bodies weaving through the air.
Timing it precisely, Aki unleashed a massive fireball wreathed in flickers of blue-violet flame.
Though maddened, the Tobi-Kadachi's combat instincts remained sharp. Using their agility, they swerved aside—
—but the fireball exploded just short of them. In an instant, the shockwave blasted them back.
The force of the detonation scattered lingering flames across the ground in their path.
Aki spread her wings as though to take flight. The Tobi-Kadachi seized on what seemed like an "opening," forcing themselves through the blast's aftershock and trampling without hesitation onto the fire-laden ground.
The next second, Aki spat out another fireball—this time aimed directly at the scorched earth.
The two Tobi-Kadachi roared and twisted, slipping clear of it with ease.
The fireball struck the ground.
In an instant, the explosion ignited the land, a wave of fire sweeping out to engulf the two Tobi-Kadachi completely.
The searing pain wrung pitiful howls from them, yet within the flames their silhouettes still writhed, crawling forward with all their strength—
—as if determined to drag themselves out, to sink their fangs into Aki even if it cost them their lives.
The abnormal bloodlust and aggression they displayed completely defied the natural laws of living creatures.
Knowing they stood no chance, they still pressed on in a mad, suicidal charge. Aki had never witnessed such frenzied behavior before, not from any monster—creatures that could even ignore the instinctive terror brought by pain itself.
To be safe, she forbade the other Rathians from engaging in close combat, deciding instead to finish them herself with ranged attacks.
The secondary detonation of fire laid upon the ground was a technique she had only recently devised. With the deepening of her metamorphosis, her charged fireballs had just barely reached the level needed to execute it.
Originally, the move had been conceived as a joint attack with Logan: after her fireball strike, Logan's flames would follow seamlessly, triggering a second fiery explosion to trap the enemy and create the perfect opening for assault.
She had never imagined she would use it here, today.
When the flames at last died down, the two Tobi-Kadachi lay motionless. Not wishing to waste anything, the Rathians brought their corpses back with them on the return flight.
Thus, the bodies of the two Tobi-Kadachi appeared before the cats—offered up as their "reward."
Meanwhile, the Admiral—accompanied this time by a scholar and a scribe assigned specifically to prevent him from writing down strange and misleading records again—arrived once more at the Ancient Tree after more than two years, to pay a visit to the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne.
...
"So it's the corpse of a Tobi-Kadachi, huh? From the looks of it, aside from the surface burns being rather severe, there doesn't seem to be anything strange about it. Why can't you handle it yourselves?"
Beneath the cliff where the Seat of Wyvern and Cat stood, in a natural cave at the center, the Admiral had barely gotten the chance to seek out Logan for a chat when the cats' report drew his attention. Volunteering himself, he led his squad down via a makeshift ropeway hastily assembled from vines.
"As I recall, material carving from monsters is a compulsory skill for every Palico, isn't it? All the more so for a Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne—handling carving should be second nature to you."
Speaking as he drew his hunter's dagger, the Admiral was about to continue slicing along the incision the cats had already started.
Just then, a patch of the Tobi-Kadachi's belly suddenly sank inward slightly. Since everyone's eyes were already fixed on that area, they noticed the anomaly at once.
The Admiral narrowed his eyes, shifted the dagger's angle, and, with precise skill, slipped the blade into a weak point in the scales. Following the grain, he peeled away the section with ease.
In that instant, thin streams of dark violet blood trickled onto the ground.
"How many blows did this thing take? Even dead, it's still packed with venom…" the Admiral muttered unconsciously.
"No! This isn't ordinary venom!"
The scholar crouched down for a closer look, stirring the puddle of tainted blood with a small wooden stick. Lifting it up, he studied the viscous strands clinging to the tip and countered sharply.
"This isn't the kind of toxin produced by a Fire Wyvern or a Pukei-Pukei. This must be something new."
Relying on his wealth of experience, the scholar set aside the stick, his gaze blazing as it fixed on the Tobi-Kadachi's corpse.
This was a new, unknown specimen for experimentation!
"Admiral, please—don't damage the integrity of the body any further!"
Saying this, the scholar moved as if to rush forward and physically stop the Admiral from slicing. To him, the more intact the corpse remained, the better for study. If only there were a proper facility nearby, he would no doubt demand the body be transported immediately so he could dissect it with his own hands.
"Alright, alright, I won't touch it! Don't get worked up."
The Admiral obediently withdrew the blade, fully aware of the nature of these scholars.
They might look like mild-mannered bookworms, buried in their tomes all day—but once research was involved, they became entirely different creatures.
Had he kept cutting, the fellow would probably have thrown himself at him in desperation.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---