MHGA Chapter 160 – Winged Lion! Capture Complete!
Just as Kairo Retsu was grumbling and slowly fading out of consciousness, a message popped up before everyone's eyes—
A notification from the Hunter's Guild assembly—
[The Nergigante you discovered has departed.]
"So… does this mean we don't have to fight Nergigante anymore?" Naofumi Iwatani looked at the interface and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness, we don't have to fight that thing!" Kazuma chimed in. "If I could take that down, I'd go fight the Demon King myself!"
"Guildmaster-san!!"
As the moral compass of the hunter party, Tanjiro Kamado immediately rushed to Kairo's side, grabbing his hand in panic. "I'll heal you right now!"
Tanjiro pulled out a Potion from his pack and fed it to Kairo.
Meanwhile, Joseph focused on a different matter.
"Come to think of it…"
Joseph stared at the ruined body of the Laios-Chimera. "Now that Laios has ended up like this, doesn't that mean… we've technically won the bet?"
"Oh yeah…"
The hunters, along with Kairo—who was just saved by Tanjiro—collectively turned toward the Chimera-Laios, who was now barely clinging to life.
"Ah… Let me check the time."
Kairo fumbled around in his backpack and pulled out… a smartphone.
"Oh! Time's almost up! Looks like we won!"
Kairo clenched a fist. "As expected of Memeiko! We don't have to fight Laios after all!"
"This all feels kind of… surreal…" Naofumi muttered. "Can't believe an Elder Dragon showed up in our mission… I hope this doesn't happen again."
"Elder Dragons crashing our assignments shouldn't happen often, but…" Kairo scratched his head. "I'll check with the Granny Felyne and the others when we get back. As Guildmaster, I've got a responsibility to ensure future hunts are properly managed."
"I'm more concerned with why you brought a smartphone here. The tone of the story's all over the place now…" Kazuma complained. "And there's no signal here either! What's the point?!"
"To check the time, obviously," Kairo said, as if it were the most natural thing. "I don't have a watch or anything. Modern people rely on phones to tell time… Never underestimate the power of modern life!"
As they chatted, the time of the bet between Laios and the demon also came to an end.
From within the bloody remains of the Laios-Chimera, the real Laios—covered in gore—was slowly pushed out of the beast's body and dropped onto the ground before them.
The Chimera-Laios was now completely dead, leaving behind only its massive corpse.
After feeding him a Potion, Laios finally regained consciousness. He looked around in confusion and asked, "I… finished turning into a monster?"
"Yup."
Kairo gave him a thumbs-up. "Not a single person got hurt!"
"Nergigante…" Laios began to recall everything that happened in those thirty minutes as a monster.
Just then, people from the outside rushed over. When they saw the slain Chimera and the blood-drenched Laios in full Nergigante armor lying nearby…
Many immediately jumped to conclusions—and then burst into cheers.
"Laios defeated that monster!"
"Demon King Laios!"
"Dragonblood Laios!"
"Laios! Laios!"
Hearing the crowd cheer for Laios's name, the hunters were suddenly left baffled.
Who?
Laios?
Didn't Laios just get flattened by Nergigante? Why are they cheering?
Kairo reacted first. Looking between Laios in Nergigante gear and the downed Chimera, he suddenly realized—
Could it be the people outside thought…
That the monster Laios transformed into… was Nergigante?
Laios had become the human form of Nergigante?!
While everyone continued cheering, Mithrun teleported directly in front of the hunters. His first question was urgent:
"What about the demon…?"
"The half-hour is up."
Kairo answered calmly. "We've won."
Just as he said that, from within the Chimera's corpse, the demon re-emerged—once again in the form of the Winged Lion.
"..."
The Winged Lion didn't look pleased, but its appearance instantly silenced the crowd's earlier cheers.
This was… the demon.
Even though many still didn't fully grasp what the demon was, they understood three things clearly:
The demon was powerful.
The demon was responsible for the Dungeon and the monsters.
The demon was the cause of everything that had happened.
"Winged Lion! You lost the bet."
Laios declared, "You know what you have to do!"
"..."
The Winged Lion remained silent for a moment, then, under everyone's watchful eyes, finally spoke.
"You hunters… really are a bunch of lunatics."
"Fine. I'll trust you. That you can make it possible for me to coexist 'normally' with humans."
"And also…"
The Winged Lion turned to stare daggers at Laios.
"To think you hid something like that monster before the bet… You hunters…"
"You win!"
With that, the Winged Lion pounced toward Laios—and then merged into his body entirely.
Startled, Laios patted himself all over, but nothing seemed to happen. Turning around, he noticed some people looking at him with admiration… while others stared at him like he was some kind of freak.
"Laios! Laios…"
Many nearby continued cheering for him.
"Does this count as a success?" Laios asked, still dazed.
The Winged Lion hadn't signed the scroll yet, so was it official?
As Laios puzzled over it, the Winged Lion's irritated voice echoed in his ears:
"I already signed it with my magic. I can't do anything now even if I wanted to… You guys and your tricks—it's infuriating."
As the Winged Lion finished speaking, a mission complete notification appeared before the hunters.
Winged Lion—capture complete.
"It's time for a feast!"
The hunters looked at one another and cheered in unison.
Despite all the twists and close calls, and even with all the unbelievable moments in between—
They had completed the hunt.
"Feast time!"
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