Chapter 148: The Swaying Crimson Afterglow

The capture ball opened, and Nargacuga materialized before Su Yi.

Nargacuga was about to enjoy a leisurely stretch when it noticed a large, upturned chin lunging directly toward it.

Roar-Augh!

Nargacuga let out an annoyed snarl and whipped its tail violently at the Yian Kut-Ku.

Smack!

Caught completely off guard, the Yian Kut-Ku took a direct hit to the head. Because its center of gravity was shifted forward, its body immediately listed to the side and crashed flat onto the ground.

"Wha-ah-ah!?" The Yian Kut-Ku scrambled back up, its tiny eyes filled with massive confusion.

When did this guy pop out?

Meanwhile, Nargacuga turned its head back, glaring at Su Yi with an irritated expression, as if blaming him for suddenly dropping it right in front of an enemy attack.

"Hahaha, thank you, Nargacuga." Su Yi offered an awkward smile.

"Anyway, Nargacuga, I'm counting on you to handle this guy!" Su Yi said.

Nargacuga let out a soft huff through its nose, turned back toward the Yian Kut-Ku, and slipped into combat stance.

Seeing this, Su Yi let out a sigh of relief. After serving it fine food and good drinks for over half a month, it would have just grown fat if it didn't move around.

Besides, he didn't want to maintain that state of zero communication and inability to give commands with Nargacuga forever.

He really didn't want to resort to brute-forcing a Monstie into submission.

Since Monsties possessed an intelligence comparable to humans, doing that would likely only exacerbate misunderstandings and friction, perhaps even turning them into hatred.

The fact that Nargacuga was willing to fight for him now was a good beginning.

Seeing Nargacuga assume a battle posture, the Yian Kut-Ku's eyes burned with fighting spirit once more: Screw it! Let's brawl!

"Gah-aw!" The Yian Kut-Ku spread its wings and took flight, aiming its sharp and sturdy beak at Nargacuga as it dived straight down like a piercing javelin.

"Nargacuga, dodge, and then use—" Su Yi immediately commanded.

However, Nargacuga moved first.

Its tail erected, the spikes along the tip bristling outward like a spiked mace, Nargacuga swung with all its might right into the Yian Kut-Ku's "rocket headbutt."

Bang!

Crash-shing!

The tail strike connected, but Nargacuga had still underestimated the Yian Kut-Ku's desperate, all-out charge.

A large section of Nargacuga's tail spikes shattered under the impact. Roaring in pain, Nargacuga quickly pulled back its severely battered tail.

Meanwhile, the Yian Kut-Ku shook its head, sporting only a few fresh bloody scratches on its face, looking largely unscathed.

"Nargacuga, use a skill..." Su Yi shouted anxiously.

Yet Nargacuga clearly had its own ideas.

With a low growl, it charged straight at the Yian Kut-Ku.

The Yian Kut-Ku's fighting spirit undiminished, it leaped up at the very last fraction of a second, clearing Nargacuga's pounce, before emitting a piercing sonic blast from its beak.

Nargacuga's body froze as it shook its head and roared in agitation.

It appeared that Nargacuga had never fought a monster like the Yian Kut-Ku before and was completely clueless about its abilities.

Pouncing on the opportunity, the Yian Kut-Ku spread its sharp talons and swooped down from the air, sinking them into Nargacuga's back before delivering a flurry of vicious, heavy pecks with its formidable beak.

Furious, Nargacuga leaped and bolted around, even slamming its back against the trees in an attempt to shake the beast off.

Yet the Yian Kut-Ku clung tenaciously to Nargacuga's back, refusing to let go even as it was thrashed about while shrieking at the top of its lungs.

Both sides were locked in an endurance test.

Swish!

At that exact moment, a Clutch Claw suddenly shot forward, clamping onto the Yian Kut-Ku's head with a sharp snap.

With a whoosh, Su Yi was reeled along the wire straight toward the Yian Kut-Ku's head.

"Gah-ah?" The Yian Kut-Ku rolled its eyes, glancing sideways at this tiny human who had somehow produced a strange short sword in his hand.

"Honedge, Brick Break!"

With a low hum, the Honedge in Su Yi's hand burst into radiant light before slashing fiercely down onto the Yian Kut-Ku's head.

Screech—the rusted blade pierced slightly into the flesh unprotected by hard scales.

"Screech!"

Ding-jing-jing——!

The Honedge abruptly emitted a piercing, uncanny sonic wave.

"Gah-ah-ah-ah!" Struck point-blank by the sound wave, the Yian Kut-Ku's head spun violently, its claws loosening as it tumbled off Nargacuga's back.

Su Yi seized the opening to leap down.

"Nargacuga, use Shadow Sneak!" Su Yi pointed forward with his blade.

"Howl-oom!" Nargacuga narrowed its eyes as a strange power surged through its body.

Clang!

A dim, murky glow shrouded its wingblades.

The Yian Kut-Ku clambered back to its feet, opened its maw with a raucous cry, and spat out a hurtling fireball.

Swish! Nargacuga moved. Its pitch-black silhouette flashed past like a phantom crossing a gap, the dark blade-light tracing a continuous single line.

Bang!

The fireball was sliced cleanly apart, dissolving into scattering sparks.

Before the Yian Kut-Ku could release its second fireball, the razor-sharp edge was already upon it.

Slash!

The wingblade carved a smooth gash across the dark purple carapace, sending crimson blood splashing into the air and leaving a long, narrow trail of gore on the ground.

The Yian Kut-Ku let out a delayed, agonizing roar.

Nargacuga looked down at its own wingblades; this kind of power was entirely different from anything it had ever wielded before.

The explosive burst of acceleration in that single instant, coupled with the feeling of its body growing lighter and more buoyant afterward, were unlike anything in its past experience.

It had grown stronger.

"So fast!" Su Yi was equally astonished by Nargacuga's speed.

*Could this be the practical manifestation of priority?* Su Yi thought to himself.

Shadow Sneak granted a priority advantage when used, and boosted speed afterward—wasn't this essentially getting faster the longer the fight went on?

Gah-ah!

The Yian Kut-Ku mounted another fierce charge, and Nargacuga executed Shadow Sneak once more.

The slash, even faster than the previous one, left the Yian Kut-Ku completely unable to react.

With a tear, another wound was carved into its armor.

Growing wise to this, the Yian Kut-Ku abruptly flapped its wings and took flight.

"Gah-ah!"

Roaring angrily, the Yian Kut-Ku opened its maw mid-air, raining down fireballs from above.

Though not quite matching the rapid-fire succession of the Scarred Yian Kut-Ku, it was still remarkably swift.

That was the essence of the Yian Kut-Ku: growing stronger through combat, constantly learning and improving its battle capabilities.

Faced with the barrage of fireballs plunging from the sky, Su Yi commanded: "Use Agility to dodge!"

Nargacuga complied instantly, moving with nimble agility as it ran and leaped, weaving and dodging through the continuously raining fireballs.

"Thousand Spikes!"

Mid-dodge, Nargacuga whipped its tail, launching several spikes in a rapid blur. Some were deflected by the Yian Kut-Ku's carapace, while others pierced deep into its flesh.

Cessating its barrage, the Yian Kut-Ku mimicked the attack pattern of the Azure Rathalos, diving down to tear at its target with sharp talons.

"Tail Slam!" Su Yi called out, seizing the precise timing.

Nargacuga twisted its body, its tail—bristling with upright spikes and glowing with energy—whipped around with tremendous force, smashing heavily into the diving Yian Kut-Ku and abruptly cutting its pounce short.

Roar-roar-roar!

At that moment, a high-pitched cry accompanied by the crackle of electricity echoed from behind.

Su Yi turned his head to look. In the distance, the back membrane of an Anjanath flashed with lightning, brilliant azure electricity blooming from its nasal bone and maw.

Roar!

The Anjanath roared fiercely, biting down hard with jaws wreathed in crackling electricity.

The Great Jagras failed to dodge in time and threw up a Protect shield to block.

With a sharp crack, the lightning bite paused for a fraction of a second before the barrier shattered, and the Anjanath clamped down once more.

Boom!

Lightning exploded. The Great Jagras let out a miserable wail as it was clamped in the jaws, then tossed aside to crash heavily onto the ground, on the verge of death.

In the initial tactical breakdown, the Odogaron had taken the offensive role, the Great Jagras used Heavy Slam and Protect to occasionally front-line tank and distract, the Tobi-Kadachi assisted the offense, and the Kulu-Ya-Ku harassed with solid-rock heavy strikes.

Now that the tank and distraction had fallen, the Anjanath immediately shifted its gaze to the annoying Kulu-Ya-Ku, intending to pick them off one by one.

"We can't waste any time on this guy!" Su Yi said anxiously.

Watching the Yian Kut-Ku stubbornly clambering back to its feet despite being knocked down, Su Yi pulled out a capture ball.

"Catch!" Su Yi hurled it forward.

Thwump!

The Yian Kut-Ku dissolved into a beam of light and was sucked into the sphere.

At that exact moment, Su Yi sprinted forward and delivered a solid drop-kick to the violently shaking capture ball.

"Goodbye!"

Bang!

The capture ball shot out through the hollow opening of the giant tree, plunging down toward the lush, intricate layers of the forest below.

One could almost hear the faint pop of the capture ball bursting open in the distance.

Nargacuga watched in stunned silence. A terrifying thought flashed through its mind: if it had stubbornly resisted and refused to enter the capture ball back then, would it have ended up like that—stuffed into a ball and punted all the way from the Coral Highlands down to the Rotten Vale?

"Nargacuga, let's go deal with that brute!" Su Yi sprinted toward the Anjanath.

"Awooo!" Nargacuga let out a low growl and followed close behind.

On the other side, the Kulu-Ya-Ku was shrieking wildly as it hopped frantically to evade the pursuing Anjanath.

The Odogaron lunged at the Anjanath's flank, but the Anjanath spun its head around instantly, snapping down upon the pouncing Odogaron.

Caught in the jaws, the Odogaron was instantly paralyzed by the electricity coursing through the Anjanath's mouth, rendering it utterly immobile.

"Shadow Sneak!"

Swish!

A phantom flashed, and the wingblade slashed through the air, prompting the Anjanath to roar in pain and release the Odogaron.

"Do it again!" Su Yi waved his hand.

Nargacuga moved once more, its wingblade tracing an arc of blade-light and leaving a long, crimson gash across the Anjanath's hide.

Roar!

The Anjanath bellowed in fury, locking its gaze onto Nargacuga.

Suddenly, Nargacuga tilted its head back and let out a long howl, the red markings stretching from its eyes to its ears beginning to emit a faint, eerie crimson glow.

Concurrently, its pair of wingblades turned pitch-dark, wrapped in an inexplicable energy that made them look like lethal blades hidden in total darkness.

"What's happening?" Su Yi gasped in surprise.

What was this state? Those abruptly darkened wingblades were definitely not an ability native to the Nargacuga species.

"Could it be a Pokémon ability? Wait—Agility, coupled with the speed boosts from four uses of Shadow Sneak... Nargacuga's speed has already reached its absolute maximum!"

Remembering Nargacuga's ability, Su Yi realized with a start: "Has it fully activated the Speed Boost ability?!"

Ability: Speed Boost (When HP is above half, STAB moves gain +1 priority; once speed reaches maximum, signature moves have a higher critical-hit ratio.)

"Alright! Let's unleash a critical strike with Shadow Sneak right now!" Su Yi clenched his fist in encouragement.

"Howl-augh!" Nargacuga growled softly, its ghostly silhouette rocketing toward the Anjanath.

Roar! The Anjanath let out an enraged bellow, spreading its jaws crackling with violent electricity as it lunged forward amid thunderous roars.

"Don't take it head-on!" Seeing the Anjanath unleash its ultimate attack, Su Yi immediately warned.

Mid-charge, Nargacuga's form flickered, the swaying red afterimage tracing a curved trajectory to evade the Anjanath's thunderous bite.

Immediately following, Nargacuga pursued, its wingblade slashing down with a sharp swish.

"Su Yi, the Anjanath is trying to run away, meow!" Lilia pointed ahead and warned.

Seizing the opening created when the Anjanath broke through the encirclement with its thunder bite, the Anjanath had recovered a sliver of stamina and was now stumbling toward the branches of the giant tree.

"Then let's finish this spee—" Su Yi turned around, preparing to call the Monsties for a joint all-out assault.

Only to see that, taking advantage of the gap opened by the thunder bite, the Anjanath had slipped away along the base of the giant tree and vanished.

"Tch." Su Yi clicked his tongue.