Chapter Five: The Restless Forest

The sea dragon burst forth from the water, crawling on four limbs like a crocodile, its long, powerful tail undulating slowly. Its slender neck flared like the hood of a cobra, and its hard, azure carapace was adorned with two distinct rows of sharp dorsal spines. Towering and majestic, the sea dragon dwarfed even the ferocious Great Jagras. As it strode ashore with overwhelming force, the Great Jagras retreated, roaring in protest but clearly cowed by the sea dragon's oppressive presence.

"It's really a sea dragon! Isn't this the scrapped monster from 'Monster Hunter: World'?" Su Yi, hidden at a safe distance, stared at the fearsome sea dragon in astonishment.

In early development footage of 'Monster Hunter: World,' sea dragons once roamed the ancient forest's water reserves. Later, it was said that issues with the sea dragon's skeleton led to its removal from the final game. Thinking about it, a sea dragon appearing in a coastal forest made perfect sense—technical limitations alone had forced its exclusion. Now, the very creature that should have shone brilliantly in the game marched boldly onto land, making its presence known throughout the forest.

"More and more monsters are making their grand entrances," Su Yi murmured with excitement. In just two days, he'd encountered Anjanath, Nargacuga, Rathian, Great Jagras, and now the sea dragon—a total of five large monsters. This continent, largely untouched by hunters, was truly a paradise for monsters.

A game is just a game; technical and storage constraints meant that many creatures that might exist here were never depicted. Yet in truth, this was a continent of unimaginable diversity!

The sea dragon let out a furious roar and snapped up a Jagras with ease. As the Great Jagras backed away reluctantly and the sea dragon prepared to enjoy its prize, a thunderous bellow erupted from the sky.

With a savage cry, a massive fireball plummeted from above, exploding in front of the sea dragon. The blast of flame sent the hapless Great Jagras tumbling, its scales scorched and blackened. It scrambled desperately to its feet. The sea dragon, enraged at the interruption, crackled with azure lightning along the twin rows of dorsal shells on its back, entering a furious state.

A bolt of electricity leapt from the sea dragon, striking the downed Great Jagras and making it convulse violently. Overhead, the challenger roared, flames curling between its fangs.

It was the king of the skies—the Rathalos!

"This is a classic showdown!" Su Yi's eyes widened as he watched the king of the skies confront the king of the sea. It was as if he'd stepped into the CG cutscene from 'Monster Hunter 3.'

Two monarchs: one reigning over the skies, the other the sea; one red, one blue; one weak to thunder, the other to fire, counterbalancing each other—a pair of "archrivals" within the Monster Hunter world. Though, over time, Rathalos seemed to amass ever more rivals.

The two titans faced off, each relying on its own prowess. Rathalos spread its talons and dove; the sea dragon twisted away with serpentine agility. Missing its mark, Rathalos seized the Jagras corpse, flaunting its dominance by stealing the sea dragon's prey. The sea dragon retaliated, spitting a crackling ball of electricity, while Rathalos answered with a blazing fireball. In an instant, fire and lightning collided with a thunderous roar, sending sand and dust billowing.

With a sweep of its great wings, Rathalos lifted its prize into the air. The sea dragon, left behind and choking on the dust, could only roar in frustration as its foe receded skyward. In the end, the airborne Rathalos claimed a narrow victory. The sea dragon, bested, slipped back into the water, while the battered Great Jagras hobbled into the forest, a casualty of the two lords' clash.

"Now’s my chance!" Su Yi parted the grass and approached the battlefield. Swarms of green scoutflies erupted from the jar at his waist, clinging to a pile of scorched, broken scales. The scoutflies then drifted into the forest, tracking the Great Jagras's trail.

Su Yi knew better than to provoke the sea dragon or Rathalos, but the grievously wounded Great Jagras was an opportunity.

Following the scoutflies into the dense forest, Su Yi noticed that the Great Jagras hadn't bothered to hide its trail—broken branches, claw marks, even blood were all discovered by the scoutflies.

"Is it returning to its nest? Not out hunting?" Su Yi hesitated as the scoutflies pointed toward a cave. According to their ecological habits, Great Jagras usually nested in such caves, and Jagras packs would often enter the Great Jagras’s den for protection. If he rushed in now, he’d have to face not only the wounded monster in a confined space, but also a swarm of troublesome small fry.

That wasn’t his original plan. Su Yi had hoped the injured Great Jagras would feel the urge to feed, and during its hunts the Jagras would hide, giving him a chance to face the Great Jagras alone.

"I remember there’s a second exit in the caves in the game. Maybe this one has one too, and the Great Jagras already slipped out through it?"

While Su Yi debated whether to investigate, a sneaky figure caught his eye.

“Huh? A Kulu-Ya-Ku?”

A pale yellow bird wyvern crept cautiously toward the cave. Its build and skeleton were similar to a Velocidrome, lean-bodied, with a head shaped like a dodo. Red and yellow feathers decorated its crest and forearms.

"I’ll let you blaze the trail," Su Yi chuckled, silently following the Kulu-Ya-Ku into the cave.

Inside, the cave was humid and warm, suffused with glowing moss that lit the darkness, thanks to the abundant moisture of the ancient forest. The Kulu-Ya-Ku navigated the cave with practiced ease—clearly, it was a habitual trespasser. Its objective quickly became clear: it rummaged tirelessly through a crude nest of branches and decayed earth, soon unearthing an egg the size of a basketball.

No doubt, it was a Great Jagras egg, buried in the earth for incubation. With a few sharp jabs of its beak, the Kulu-Ya-Ku cracked the egg open and feasted on its contents—a true ‘egg thief.’

“Didn’t expect a bonus like this,” Su Yi thought, watching from behind a rock. Suddenly, a realization struck him as he recalled several earlier encounters.

Both Rathian and Rathalos had been hunting in the same area, and now there were Great Jagras eggs—could it be breeding season?

He was alarmed: with both male and female Rathalos sharing a territory and alternately hunting and bringing food back to the nest, it likely meant Rathian had laid her eggs, and the pair were taking turns guarding them. Now was not the time to steal a Rathalos egg; with both parents rotating watch, there was no chance, and trying would mean certain death.

But Su Yi remembered reading, before crossing over, that in the New World, a Rathalos would mate with multiple Rathians. Only the strongest Rathian would share the prime hunting grounds and raise offspring with Rathalos, while weaker ones would return to the Wildspire Waste to raise young alone.

He couldn’t take on the couple, but perhaps one day he’d catch a lone mother away hunting. For now, though, the Wildspire Waste was a distant, unknown place; stealing a Rathalos egg was only a fantasy.

Another crack—the Kulu-Ya-Ku had already left a pile of eggshells. “You greedy little thing! Leave me one!” Su Yi cursed under his breath. While he’d been thinking, the Kulu-Ya-Ku had devoured several eggs. Great Jagras typically lay only three or four—precious few.

After eating its fill, the Kulu-Ya-Ku dug out another egg, clutching it as it headed deeper into the cave. “You’re taking one to go?” Su Yi sighed. Cautious by nature, the Kulu-Ya-Ku usually brought eggs back to its own nest to eat—this one was stocking up.

Once it left, Su Yi hurried to the nest and dug through the loose earth, following the Kulu-Ya-Ku’s tunnels, but found no more eggs.

“Damn! You ate every last one!” he grumbled.

Just then, the culprit returned in haste, clutching a Great Jagras egg and doubling back the way it had come. Su Yi ducked into a side passage as the Kulu-Ya-Ku scurried past, and a furious roar echoed behind it.

“The nest owner’s back!” Su Yi saw the bloated, battered Great Jagras chase the Kulu-Ya-Ku out of the cave. Though it wouldn’t defend its eggs too fiercely, it would not tolerate trespassers in its territory.

The Great Jagras was the very one Su Yi had been tracking, scars covering its body, flanked by several Jagras.

“So the Great Jagras came home sated, and I didn’t get an egg—was all this for nothing?” Su Yi was frustrated.

He tailed the Great Jagras, hoping to track the Kulu-Ya-Ku back to its own nest and maybe steal an egg from the thief’s hoard.

The sated Great Jagras was no match for the nimble Kulu-Ya-Ku, which strolled out of the cave with ease. But before it could celebrate, a massive maw snapped down from above.

With a thud, the Kulu-Ya-Ku was pinned and savaged, shaken violently by its attacker.

Watching the scene from within the cave, Su Yi broke into a cold sweat.

A new giant had arrived.

Thunderous footsteps, another slam—the Kulu-Ya-Ku was tossed heavily to the ground.

Inside the cave, the Great Jagras roared in protest at the intruder blocking its den. “You’re bold, aren’t you? Challenging the Anjanath?” Su Yi recognized the interloper as the forest’s notorious brute, Anjanath—not as high on the food chain as a Rathalos, but still a tyrant.

He remembered the ecological displays in the game, where Anjanath would maul and kill a Great Jagras with brutal ferocity.

Roaring, the brute would not tolerate provocation. Anjanath crouched, shoving its head into the cave and bellowing at the Great Jagras.

The Great Jagras refused to back down, roaring in turn—it was, after all, defending its nest.

But it underestimated Anjanath’s aggression. The brute lowered itself, braced its powerful legs, and forced its bulk into the cave.

“Time to run!” Su Yi abandoned his pursuit of the Kulu-Ya-Ku—after Anjanath’s mauling, both the thief and the egg were surely lost.

Knowing it was no match for Anjanath, the Great Jagras also turned to flee.

The cave was not large, and as Su Yi sprinted for the light ahead, the roars behind drew ever closer.

Bursting into the daylight, Su Yi emerged from the cave just as the bloated Great Jagras scrambled out behind him, only to be shoved violently out by Anjanath. The Great Jagras tumbled, scrambled to its feet, and Anjanath emerged from the narrow entrance, stretching its body and unleashing a triumphant roar.

“Looks like the Great Jagras is in for it now,” Su Yi thought, sparing a moment’s pity for the overconfident beast.

Anjanath flared its nasal crest, sniffing the air and unfurling heat-dissipating membranes along its tail, all while fixing the Great Jagras with a predatory glare.

But then, it paused, its gaze drifting to Su Yi.

“Shit, it found me?” Su Yi ducked behind a tree, heart pounding.

Suddenly, the Great Jagras’s panicked cries split the air. Su Yi hoped Anjanath would turn its attention back to the monster. Instead, a crashing sound came from behind—trees shattered as something struck them with immense force.

Reacting instantly, Su Yi dove for the ground. Glancing back, he saw the Great Jagras collapsed beside the broken trunk, barely alive, while Anjanath’s nostrils flared, its fierce eyes locked on him.

With a roar even fiercer than before, Anjanath bellowed in rage.

“Wait—are you the one that chased me before?!” Su Yi’s eyes widened.

What was it called—fated to meet across a thousand miles?

All that over a single dung bomb?

Clearly, this Anjanath bore a grudge.

“You’ve got the wrong guy—goodbye!” Su Yi didn’t dare linger, turning and sprinting for his life.

Anjanath roared and thundered after him.

As Su Yi ran, he cursed under his breath, “You sneaky brute—if I had another dung bomb, I’d give you a second helping!”

The brute’s wrath sent turmoil through the forest, while Su Yi scrambled to think of ways to shake his pursuer. Unknowingly, they plunged deeper into the woods.

The restlessness of breeding season had set the monsters on edge. Beneath towering trees, a cautious green wyvern moved through the shadows. Seeing the commotion headed its way, it let out a warning roar.

Rathian ignored the insignificant Su Yi and snarled at Anjanath, her talons flexing menacingly.

Anjanath could not ignore such a formidable foe and squared off against the Rathian.

Su Yi had no desire to watch; he crashed through the undergrowth, fleeing until the roars faded into the distance.