We arrived at Astera like that. As soon as we set foot on the ground, the sight of a half-devastated Astera met our eyes. Looking at the destruction, it seemed less like an attack from Elder Dragons and more like the aftermath of an earthquake. It was most likely the handiwork of Shara Ishvalda.
In any case, the Commander and the survivors gathered to welcome us upon our arrival, but I could feel their expressions change subtly once they realized I was the overall commander of the reinforcements.
"So, this is the grand achievement of those who claim to know the ecosystem so well?"
"..."
The Commander remained silent.
"Well, fine. I didn't come here to pick a fight. Let's move the supplies first. I'll hear the rest of the story after that."
We finished unloading and storing the supplies before listening to the Commander's report.
From what I gathered, the hunt for Shara Ishvalda had failed, resulting in the total destruction of Seliana—the forward base built in the Hoarfrost Reach that I had discovered. Many personnel stationed there had been killed. They had abandoned Seliana, rescued the survivors, and returned to Astera to regroup for another chance, but Astera couldn't withstand the earthquakes triggered by Shara Ishvalda and ended up in this state.
Because of these events, only the Commander remained from the 1st Fleet. The 2nd Fleet had a few survivors left in Astera, the 3rd Fleet was completely wiped out, only the logistics personnel from the 4th Fleet survived, and the 5th Fleet was gone except for the Serious Handler and a few hunters active in Astera.
"All of this is my responsibility. We should never have touched an Elder Dragon that was beyond our capabilities."
"Hmm... I see. Let's deal with Shara Ishvalda first then."
When I spoke so casually, the Commander slammed his hand on the table in anger.
Thud!
"You! Didn't you hear a word I just said?! Even the Sword Master failed and perished! I cannot let such a tragedy repeat itself!"
"I think you've forgotten something. I came here as an Inspector under the King's orders. Just provide the support quietly."
At my words, the Commander frowned and slumped into his chair, rubbing his forehead as if he had a massive headache.
"Ha... This is madness..."
The next day, after finishing preparations, I intended to move to the Hoarfrost Reach. Information had come in that Shara Ishvalda had crossed over to the freezing lands. The Serious Handler was supposed to be my supporter, but her expression was quite dark. When I asked, she said she was planning to return to the motherland because the Excitable A-Lister had died while saving her.
"I'd appreciate it if you could stay while I'm active here."
When I made the request, the Serious Handler eventually agreed.
"Alright, I'll do that."
So, I moved to Seliana with a few knights, and when we arrived, we saw that the ground where Seliana used to stand had collapsed into a deep pit. At that sight, the Serious Handler covered her mouth and shed silent tears. I ordered the knights to search the area, and she and I moved outside Seliana to track Shara Ishvalda. Seeing the wind as sharp as a blade brushing against my face over the snow-covered land, the freezing territory was indeed lethally cold.
We tracked traces while passing through temporary camps set up by hunters. Since the Serious Handler was struggling with the cold, I let her rest at a camp with a Palico and went out alone to find Shara Ishvalda. Climbing further up, I found a large clearing, and there I spotted the monster. Shara Ishvalda was easy to notice due to its massive size and the rock and sand encrusting its body.
I immediately infused mana to extend my blade and sliced off an entire wing part of Shara Ishvalda. Since it was a creature that liked to burrow underground, a preemptive strike was essential.
Squelch!
Thud!
"Kuaaaaakh!!"
As the massive rocky wing fell off, Shara Ishvalda shrieked in pain and tried to hide underground, but I was faster.
Squelch!
I cut off the wing on the other side immediately. Shara Ishvalda tried to create vibrations with its wing tips to turn the terrain into a sand trap and burrow, but it couldn't do that anymore without its wings.
"You picked the wrong person to mess with."
Realizing it was in a desperate situation, Shara Ishvalda spun around quickly to strike with its tail, but I sliced the tail off too. It then shook off the rocks and sand covering its body and began to flee rapidly.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Running faster than the monster, I jumped and landed on its back, thrusting my greatsword precisely into its spine.
Crack!
"Kieeeeeek!!!"
Thump!!
Ping!!
[You have acquired the ability: (S) Vibration (Shara Ishvalda).]
[(S) Vibration (Shara Ishvalda)]
Allows the creation of shockwaves through vibration.
I couldn't fully understand the ability just by reading the description, so I put my hands together and activated it. Air began to vibrate and compress between my hands. Feeling like it had reached its limit, I threw it forward, and the surrounding area exploded with a loud boom.
Boom!
"Hmm... This doesn't seem like that great an ability... Well, I'm sure it'll be useful for something."
While there seemed to be many things one could do with vibration, honestly, it was lacking as an offensive ability. In the time it took to gather a shockwave like that, a pre-made energy bomb or magic would be more powerful and have a shorter casting time. It was likely an ability only useful for Shara Ishvalda because its wings were large enough to compress a vast amount of air.
While I was testing various applications of the ability, I saw the Serious Handler and a Palico running from a distance.
"Wow~ You really caught it."
"Huh? How did you find your way here?"
"I heard the howling and the sounds of explosions."
She must have heard Shara Ishvalda and my experiments.
"But seriously, why did the Commander send such a capable hunter back to the mainland?"
"He said something about the ecosystem."
At those words, the Serious Handler frowned and began to fume with anger.
"What?! So, many of our colleagues died just because of that ecosystem nonsense?! That's absolutely ridiculous."
She seemed quite furious. Since she had known my skill for a long time, it seemed she felt it even more deeply.
Anyway, we farmed materials from Shara Ishvalda and returned to Seliana. There, I saw the knights of the kingdom gathering the corpses of the fallen. It wasn't just people; countless Palicoes had also perished.
Fortunately, since it was so cold, they hadn't decomposed much.
"Sob..."
I went to check who it was because the Serious Handler was crying over a body. I didn't recognize him at first because the head was missing, but upon closer inspection, I could tell it was the Excitable A-Lister by the prosthetic leg I had gifted him.
"He was a good guy. It's a shame... Let's head back to Astera for now."
We loaded the bodies onto the ships and returned to Astera. Upon hearing that I had taken down Shara Ishvalda, the Commander admitted his mistakes and apologized. In response, the Serious Handler, with a furious face, slapped the Commander and started berating him, while surrounding hunters barely managed to pull her away. I was quite surprised myself; I didn't know the usually model-student-like Serious Handler could get so angry at the Commander.
Regardless, a month passed after the funerals. Once Astera stabilized, it was decided to expand back into Seliana. I was busy writing reports to send to the kingdom. Of course, I didn't forget to send a letter to the Big Sister of Light.
Another month flowed by, and Seliana was completed once again. Now, Seliana became the base for the 6th Fleet, new hunters who came from the motherland. Given the scale of the sacrifice, the kingdom had quickly sent new hunters. The newly rebuilt Seliana was to be led by the tanned, black-haired woman who was the leader of the 4th Fleet logistics team. It was an unavoidable choice since so many talented people had died during the Shara Ishvalda disaster.
Furthermore, the King ordered the knights to support Seliana while it was being established. It seemed like a measure taken to ensure Seliana and the hunters wouldn't be lost as fruitlessly as before. The Commander also received disciplinary action and was ordered to return to the motherland as soon as he handed over his position to a new commander sent from home.
"This has turned into a completely different story from the original."
It felt like that happened because the original protagonist usually cleaned up everyone's messes. A true saint, really. Since I didn't hold back, things ended up like this.
Now that Seliana was beginning to stabilize, I gradually started hunting again with the Serious Handler. Then, a hunter found a shed skin in a certain area and brought it to show us. It seemed Safi'jiiva had finally been discovered. I immediately hopped on a Wyvern with the Serious Handler and flew to the location where the skin was found to investigate.
"Look over there, it's a Xeno'jiiva skin!"
Looking where she pointed, I saw a massive Xeno'jiiva-shaped skin draped over a high rock. The Serious Handler thought for a moment before offering her opinion.
"I don't think the Xeno'jiiva we caught was an adult. This is probably where it shed its skin and matured into an adult form."
"Then an adult Xeno'jiiva might be nearby. Let's find a safe spot first."
"Alright."
We set up a temporary camp in a crevice high on the rocks and waited. Soon, we saw a massive Elder Dragon create a huge gust of wind as it entered the area where the skin was. Judging by the size, it was the adult Xeno'jiiva, 'Safi'jiiva'. This seemed to be its nest.
"Whoa~ that fellow is quite handsome."
"Seriously, you can say that in this situation?"
The Serious Handler was flabbergasted by my remark, but since I came to this world specifically for this, the difference in perspective couldn't be helped.
"Let's head back to Seliana first and report this."
"Okay."
We returned to Seliana and informed the Leader. The Leader sighed as she spoke.
"I see. Sigh... just when Seliana was stabilizing, another powerful Elder Dragon appears... This is troubling..."
"Sister, I'll take care of it for you. You trust me, right?"
"It would be great if you took it on, but are you sure? Isn't the honorable Inspector being a bit too eager to jump into the fray?"
The newly appointed Leader seemed to find it a bit odd that I, an Inspector, was acting like a hunter.
"Don't worry about that. The King sent me exactly for this reason."
At those words, the Leader's expression brightened.
"I see. Then shall I ask this of you once again?"
"Just leave it to me."
The next day, I prepared and headed out to hunt Safi'jiiva. When I arrived, the creature was simply taking a nap in its nest, seemingly without a care in the world.
"I'm going to launch a surprise attack from here, so let me know if anything happens."
"Understood."
I immediately took out my dual blades, jumped, and brought them down on Safi'jiiva's neck. I was aiming to end it in one blow.
Slash!
"Kuaaaaakh!!"
However, knowing this creature absorbed energy, I couldn't wrap my blades in mana. As a result, the reach was shorter and the slash was shallow. Plus, perhaps because it had lived a long time, it sensed the timing of my ambush and twisted its neck sharply to avoid a fatal wound.
"This guy!"
It hadn't dodged everything, though; blood poured from its neck as it slowly rose and glared at me.
"Grrr!"
Then, it suddenly spread its wings and took flight, not to fight, but to head straight down into the depths.
"Ah! Dammit, it's going to absorb Leyline energy."
Both Xeno'jiiva and Safi'jiiva could absorb and use Leyline energy, so it seemed it was trying to heal its wounded body by doing so. I quickly followed it down using the Wyvern.
Deep underground, Safi'jiiva could be seen glowing as it absorbed Leyline energy. The wound on its neck had already closed up, and there was no more bleeding.
"You're being a nuisance. I wanted to end this quickly."
I tried to charge at Safi'jiiva, but it suddenly hovered in the air and began breathing fire downward.
"Blast it!"
As the surroundings were about to be engulfed in flames, I quickly hid behind a large rock nearby. The Palico seemed to have already burrowed into the ground to hide. Safi'jiiva's breath wasn't just spewing flames; it compressed the energy it had absorbed from the Leyline into small points and fired them down.
Kaaaa-boom!!!
"Ugh!!"
This creature's breath was far more powerful than in the original. Even though the rock I hid behind was enormous, it began to be pushed back.
Once the explosions ended, I moved even faster, targeting Safi'jiiva. Looking at the power of its breath, it wasn't something to ignore. I made up my mind to deal with it before the next breath attack came.
In the original game, there were gas-leaking areas in the terrain, so one could use the gas explosions to stagger it and then deal massive damage. However, that single breath had wiped all of that away, and there was almost nowhere left to hide. I didn't expect the 'Reality Patch' of this hobbyist life to make the Elder Dragons this strong. If I hadn't been here, I think the world would have been destroyed by these dragons.
As soon as I reached Safi'jiiva, I spun my body and shredded its leg with the dual blades. If cutting it in one go was impossible, I would just try multiple times.
"Kuaaaaakh!!"
Safi'jiiva's front leg was sliced off and fell to the floor by the dual blades swung with immense power. Giving it no time to rest, I similarly shredded its back knee by spinning my body and delivering a sequence of rapid slashes.
Slash-slash-slash-slash!!
Thud!
Safi'jiiva couldn't hold on and collapsed, flailing on the ground.
"It's over."
I immediately jumped and aimed the greatsword precisely at its head.
Crunch!
I thrust it so hard that the entire greatsword went inside the head. It couldn't be helped. Since the creature was so huge, it was difficult to hit vital organs otherwise.
Ping~!
[You have acquired the abilities: (SS) Energy Drain, (SS) Energy Pressure.]
[The (S) Energy Drain ability is absorbed into the (SS) Energy Drain ability.]
[(SS) Energy Pressure]
Allows for the compression of energy into high densities.
[(SS) Energy Drain]
Allows for the absorption, storage, and discharge of energy, as well as recovery. (If mana is full, additional energy equivalent to one's own health can be stored.)
Getting the [Energy Drain] ability at SS rank increased its power and added a recovery effect. However, since I already had [Healing Factor], I just had to be satisfied with the increased potency.
"Whew~ it was a tricky one, but I got it for now."
After I succeeded in hunting Safi'jiiva, the Serious Handler flew in on a Wyvern.
"Wow~ Incredible! I really thought it was dangerous this time. The shockwaves from the breath reached all the way up!"
Indeed, as the Serious Handler said, Safi'jiiva's breath was quite dangerous. An attack that compressed and fired a massive amount of Leyline energy at high density was truly powerful.
Just then, the ground surged, and Alma (the Palico) who had been hiding underground emerged. However, its head fur was slightly scorched.
"Meow nya-nya meow!! (Don't call me when you go to catch someone like this!!)"
Looking at the angry Palico with its scorched fur, the Serious Handler began to laugh.
"Nyaon!!! (Don't laugh!!!)"
Anyway, after finishing the hunt and farming the materials, we returned to Seliana and reported.
"I see. As expected, you are quite something. It would have been very difficult without you. Thank you."
The Leader was deeply grateful for the hunt.
Several months passed after that. The Commander ultimately took full responsibility and returned to the motherland.
'It's a bit of a shame about the Commander... Well, our goals were different, so it couldn't be helped.'
A scholar-like fellow arrived as the new commander. He was a bit different, but his handling of administrative work was extremely fast. Normally, people like him shine, but I'm not sure how it'll be during a crisis.
In between, I also caught Alatreon, which turned out to be unexpectedly easy. I cut off its head immediately with a surprise attack. I gained its abilities as well:
[(SS) Escaton Judgment], [(A) Weather Manipulation], [(S) Fire Resistance], [(S) Ice Resistance], and [(S) Thunder Resistance]. It was a fellow with a lot of abilities.
However, the elemental resistances were mostly meaningless since my fruit abilities already made me almost immune to them. But the [(SS) Escaton Judgment] ability was quite ridiculous. It involves momentarily exploding mana within the body to devastate the surroundings. Luckily, I tested it far out at sea; had I used it on land, it would have been a disaster.
"Is only the Black Dragon Fatalis left?"
Now, only the strongest monster in the world of Monster Hunter, the Black Dragon Fatalis, remained.
While waiting for Fatalis, I spent my time with the Serious Handler hunting monsters like Deviljho and Bazelgeuse, which loved to interrupt other hunters mid-combat, just to help the beginners.