Chapter Forty-Seven: Guage Blocks the Door, the Waterfall of the Underworld

Returning once more to the rock cave camp, Su Yi felt a sense of security surrounded by stone. He released Dewgrass, then made his way toward the exit, following the cracks along the rock wall.

However, as Su Yi crouched and squeezed out of the low entrance, an unexpected surprise awaited him.

Out on the flat ground beyond the cave, a gigantic dark green Tyrant Dragon was wandering, sniffing at the air around it. The moment Su Yi emerged, the monster suddenly caught a whiff of his unfamiliar scent and whipped its head around to look.

Just as Su Yi straightened up, his gaze met the golden, predatory eyes of the dragon.

With a thunderous roar, the Tyrant Dragon let out a howl of excitement. Its terrifying, scar-riddled head shot up and lunged at Su Yi with brutal force.

“Damn!” Su Yi flung himself backward, scrambling in a frantic, undignified crawl to retreat into the cave. In his panic, he bumped Dewgrass, who had been right behind him, out into the open.

“Meow?!” Dewgrass was startled by the sudden commotion.

With a loud crash, the cave entrance shuddered violently. Fragments of rock sprayed against Su Yi’s back, crackling with sharp impacts.

Su Yi looked back in disarray. At the entrance—barely large enough for a person to crouch through—the Tyrant Dragon, having missed its strike, turned its head sideways and peered in with its fierce golden eyes.

It was a scene reminiscent of a classic horror movie.

The beast roared again, ramming its head against the entrance. After a few thunderous blows, the entire cave trembled. Even so, only the rocks around the opening were shattered; the inner stone, being harder, merely shed some powdery dust.

Su Yi and Dewgrass hurried along the narrow passage, barely wide enough for a single person, retreating deeper into the cave’s interior.

“That must be the same Tyrant Dragon that fought the Scarclaw Drake,” Su Yi said with lingering fear.

The long, thin scars across the monster’s face were unmistakably left by the Scarclaw Drake’s desperate counterattack.

“That nearly scared the whiskers off me! That terrifying beast is right outside the camp!” Dewgrass’s heart pounded as the pounding sounds from outside continued.

“Beep beep! Rotom! What kind of Pokémon was that just now?! So terrifying!” Su Yi’s Rotom Phone emerged from his backpack, stammering in fright.

“Hahaha! Welcome to the New World, Rotom!” Su Yi burst out laughing.

“The New World? Where is this?! How did we end up in a place like this?! Rotom!” Rotom’s circuits seemed ready to short out.

“You can think of this as another world. But please, keep this secret in front of outsiders, okay?” Su Yi said.

“Another world? I can’t wrap my head around it, Rotom! Wait—there’s no network signal! We’ve really ended up somewhere extraordinary!” Rotom exclaimed in amazement.

“Isn’t this the adventure you wanted? There’s even more excitement ahead! Welcome to our journey!” Su Yi laughed heartily.

“Understood! A secret, undiscovered adventure! I love it! Let’s commemorate this moment, Rotom!” Rotom spun excitedly in the air and snapped a photo of the camp.

Su Yi couldn’t help but think that Rotom’s addition would make the journey even more lively and interesting.

Outside, the sounds of rock being battered still echoed.

“Thank goodness I chose the right place for the camp!” Su Yi was deeply relieved. If he’d set up camp in one of those open areas from the game, who knew what kind of monster would have barged in by now?

Fortunately, the Vale of Miasma was filled with caves perched along the walls, allowing Su Yi to find such a secure spot for his camp.

“If you keep chasing me like this, it’s just rude, Big Gourd!” Su Yi muttered helplessly, hearing the Tyrant Dragon still occasionally slamming at the entrance, though less frequently now.

Soon, the beast seemed to lose its patience, and the noise outside finally ceased.

“Let me see...”

There was a simple, effective way to check if the Tyrant Dragon had left.

Su Yi opened the “Hunting Guide” and clicked “Leave Monster Hunter World.”

[You are being tracked and cannot return.]

With a snap, Su Yi closed the guide and cursed under his breath: “You old fox!”

Sure enough, the Tyrant Dragon was still outside, either resting or lying in wait. Regardless, it still remembered Su Yi’s scent and was keeping watch nearby.

“What grudge do you have against me?” Su Yi sighed in resignation. Why would the Tyrant Dragon be so fixated on him, a snack hardly worth the effort?

Is it holding a grudge?

Why not go after the Exploding Scale Drake instead?

He had just been fired up to explore, but as soon as he stepped out, he was cornered by the Tyrant Dragon. What rotten luck.

Just as Su Yi was considering using a flash bomb or a stink bomb to make his escape, Dewgrass made a discovery.

“Su Yi, meow! There’s a crack here—it looks like there’s a path behind it, meow!” Dewgrass peered into a fissure in the cave wall.

“Let me see!” Su Yi hurried over. At that moment, Rotom thoughtfully switched on the phone’s flashlight. Su Yi saw that the fissure extended outward, gradually widening enough for a person to just barely squeeze through.

“This gap is just big enough for me. Let me check it out, Rotom,” Rotom volunteered, clearly already swept up in the spirit of adventure.

“I’ll leave it to you, Rotom,” Su Yi nodded.

Rotom floated into the crack and flew outside. After a few minutes, it returned.

“There’s a passage outside that leads to an open area. But the environment out there is so dark and eerie, Rotom!” Rotom reported.

“As long as there’s a way out. Come on out, Great Direjackal!”

Su Yi summoned the Great Direjackal and pointed to the fissure. “Use Dragon Claw to widen it.”

The Direjackal slashed with its glowing claws, striking several blows that widened the gap enough for a person to squeeze through.

“Thank you,” Su Yi said, recalling Direjackal.

“Haha, Big Gourd, this is my escape route. See you around!” With Rotom’s flashlight showing the way, Su Yi squeezed into the fissure.

After wriggling through the short gap, he found himself in a narrow rocky tunnel. As he proceeded, the roar of water grew louder in his ears. Emerging from the tunnel, he was greeted by a dramatically different scene.

Before him stretched a fairly broad shoal. Not far ahead, a massive waterfall thundered down from above. The waters, having descended from the Coral Highlands, rushed over rocks and enormous bleached bones, finally merging into the murky river that wound across the landscape, its ultimate destination somewhere in the depths of the Vale of Miasma.

The whole scene resembled the fabled River of the Underworld.

“What kind of Pokémon’s bones are those? They’re huge, Rotom!” Rotom snapped a photo of the massive skeleton.

“Could those be the remains of the Serpent King Dragon?” Su Yi was unsure. After all, this was a graveyard of elder dragons, and it was hard to tell to whom such a colossal bone might have belonged.

Along the riverbank, a cluster of dark red plants caught Su Yi’s eye. Curious, he walked over. “Are these the Red-Skinned Fruits from the game?”

The plant bore clusters of red fruit, resembling lychees. In the game, all specialties were represented by simple icons, so Su Yi had no way of knowing exactly which fruit this was in reality.

“So, is it safe to eat?” Su Yi hesitated. After all, who could say whether these were the edible fruits from the game?

Moreover, growing in a place filled with bones and shrouded in miasma, the fruit hardly looked appetizing.

“Clean and sanitary, brothers!” After much deliberation, Su Yi finally peeled one of the red fruits and popped the flesh, reminiscent of a red-fleshed dragon fruit, into his mouth.