Chapter 144: As Expected...

Anjanath twisted in agony, roaring as it tried to shake the Odogaron from its back.

Kulu-Ya-Ku leaped high into the air with a boulder clutched in its talons and slammed it down onto Anjanath’s head.

At the same time, Aiden closed in, his sword and shield carving swiftly and fiercely into the muscles of Anjanath’s legs.

With its head, which kept it balanced, and its legs, which supported its body, both under attack—and the Odogaron biting and clawing at its back—Anjanath staggered and crashed to the ground.

“Good! Partner, play the music!” Su Yi commanded.

“Coming right up, meow!” Dew produced a hunting horn, puffed out her cheeks, and began to play.

The next moment, the deep, soaring melody of “Proof of a Hero” rang out.

“Focus fire!” Su Yi shouted.

The various companions unleashed their most powerful techniques in a furious concentrated assault.

And as the hunting horn’s battle melody reached its end, the companions’ attacks suddenly grew even stronger.

“Graaaargh!” At last, Tobi-Kadachi could vent its rage against the fallen, struggling Anjanath. It unleashed Thunderbolt, sweeping its charged tail toward Anjanath’s head.

As the crackling tail came whipping toward it, Anjanath’s furious pupils contracted. It suddenly opened its enormous jaws.

Snap!

Tobi-Kadachi’s tail was caught in a crushing bite.

Boom!

Anjanath unleashed all its strength and surged to its feet. At the same time, it lifted Tobi-Kadachi by the tail clenched between its teeth, then swung it toward the companions surrounding it.

With a heavy thud, Tobi-Kadachi slammed into the Odogaron, sending both monsters staggering several steps backward.

Roar!

Anjanath bellowed in fury. The bones around its nose and the membrane along its back opened at once, revealing its full enraged form.

At the same time, the skin around its throat began to glow orange-red, while sparks drifted between its sharp teeth.

Anjanath twisted its body, sweeping its thick tail behind it. Kulu-Ya-Ku nimbly lowered its head and ducked beneath the blow.

“Give me a boost!” Aiden shouted as he ran forward.

Great Jagras lowered its head. Aiden leaped onto it, and Great Jagras suddenly heaved upward, launching him into the air.

Riding the momentum, Aiden soared high, then swung down the small shield in his right hand and smashed it toward Anjanath’s head.

Roar!

Anjanath noticed Aiden and swiftly opened its jaws, snapping at him from below.

Clang!

Its teeth clamped down on the shield, stopping the blow and pinning Aiden in place.

When Aiden saw the flames about to erupt from Anjanath’s throat, he cried out, “Damn it!”

“One Hundred Thousand Horsepower!” Su Yi shouted.

Great Jagras became wrapped in a faint radiance and charged into Anjanath.

With a thunderous impact, Anjanath’s body lurched and its jaws loosened. Aiden quickly pulled his shield free and leaped to the ground.

“Dew, keep playing!”

“Got it, meow!” Dew lifted the hunting horn and once again played the rousing melody of “Proof of a Hero.”

“Odogaron—Bleeding Claws! Tobi-Kadachi—Thunderbolt!” Su Yi commanded, sweeping his hand forward.

The Odogaron came racing in like an arrow loosed from a bow, while Tobi-Kadachi leaped high into the air and glided down from above on its wing membranes.

“Graaagh!” Faced with attacks from two directions, Anjanath hesitated for the briefest moment before lunging upward at Tobi-Kadachi.

“Graaaargh!” Tobi-Kadachi shifted its posture, somersaulting through the air as it gathered strength. Then it swung its electrified tail down at Anjanath.

Crack!

Thunderbolt met the enormous, flame-wreathed jaws, and Anjanath once again endured the pain and clamped down on it.

But the Odogaron seized the opening. Its two vicious claws raked back and forth, carving a series of intersecting wounds across Anjanath’s chest in the shape of an X.

Anjanath roared in agony and released Tobi-Kadachi’s tail. Then its eyes flicked to one side, and in the next instant it bolted toward the forest.

“Stop it!” Su Yi ordered.

The companions immediately gave chase.

But then a roar echoed from the sky.

“Wasn’t this supposed to be outside the Rathian and Rathalos pair’s feeding and patrol hours?”

Su Yi looked up in surprise. A blue-gray shape circled down from the heavens, roaring warnings and threats at them.

“It isn’t the pair—it’s an Azure Rathalos! How could I forget about it? More importantly, why haven’t you left the Ancient Forest yet?!”

Seeing the numerous monsters on the ground, the Azure Rathalos decisively spat out several fireballs.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A relentless chain of fiery explosions threw the battlefield into chaos.

“Tzitzi, flash it down!” Su Yi shouted as he dodged the flames and hurled a capture orb.

“Waaah?!” The moment Tzitzi appeared, it narrowly dodged a fireball. Then, angered, it spread its flash membrane and began charging it.

Roar!

The Azure Rathalos descended with a roar, spreading its talons as it prepared to swoop down and kill Tzitzi.

“Waaah!” Tzitzi hurriedly accelerated its charge.

When the Azure Rathalos was less than thirty feet away, a sharp sound rang out, and a dazzling flash exploded.

The Azure Rathalos squeezed its eyes shut against the pain. Its optic nerves were overwhelmed, its mind briefly stunned, and its body immediately lost control, plummeting to the ground.

By then, Anjanath had taken advantage of the confusion and fled into the forest.

“After it!”

Su Yi recalled several of the companions, then mounted Kulu-Ya-Ku with Aiden and rode after Anjanath on Tzitzi.

Su Yi switched on his radio and said, “The situation has changed. An Azure Rathalos has entered the area, and Anjanath has escaped into the forest. We’re tracking it now.”

“Understood. Report your approximate location, and we’ll follow behind you,” said the Investigation Team leader.

After Su Yi gave him their approximate position, the leader immediately led his squad in pursuit.

…

Deep in the forest, Anjanath panted as it smashed through the trees and continued farther in.

It had not fed, and it had suffered a fierce assault from the companions. Its body was covered in wounds, and hunger had left it weak.

With its powerful metabolism, it needed to eat at once.

“It’s heading deeper in,” Su Yi said. “We have to find a way to hold it here.”

Roar!

Another furious cry rang out overhead as the enraged flying wyvern swept across the sky.

The Azure Rathalos’s keen eyes quickly spotted Anjanath charging recklessly through the forest. Then it noticed Su Yi and the others following behind.

“It just won’t leave us alone!” Su Yi gritted out.

Sweat ran down Aiden’s forehead. “There’s something worse. Have you forgotten? Farther in lies the Rathian and Rathalos pair’s territory. If the Azure Rathalos barges in at a time like this…”

“One missed step, and the whole game is lost,” Su Yi sighed.

But there was nothing they could do. Information about flying wyverns was already difficult to obtain, let alone about an Azure Rathalos whose movements were so unpredictable.

No one could have anticipated this. If it merely clashed with the Rathian and Rathalos pair, that would be one thing. But if they were dragged into the conflict as well, they would be in serious trouble.

“But it isn’t the worst yet! We still have a chance!” Su Yi said.

The dense forest canopy blocked most of the sky, allowing Su Yi and the others to avoid the Azure Rathalos’s flames.

Meanwhile, Anjanath began to hesitate as it ran.

But soon, it pressed onward again.

Branches scraped against their armor as Kulu-Ya-Ku carried Su Yi out of the trees and into a clearing.

“Wait! What’s that monster in the middle of the clearing?!”

Aiden, riding Tzitzi, had sharp eyes. He immediately spotted a bipedal, winged monster at the center of the clearing. It let out an excited roar and stared toward Anjanath and Su Yi’s group.

“How many more things are going to happen that weren’t part of the plan?!”

Su Yi’s eyes widened.

End of chapter.