Within the forest not far from the Ancient Tree—
The Ahtal-Ka's silk retracted, and a snapped tree trunk was yanked back toward it. Its scythe-like forelimbs swiftly sliced across the trunk's surface, violently cutting off branch after branch until only the irregularly curved main body of the trunk remained.
Perched on the Ahtal-Ka's back, Spice was no longer surprised by its behavior.
After the strange phenomenon from last night had vanished, they had continued their journey through the rain. The heavy worry that had weighed on their hearts eased only this morning, when they caught sight of a group of Rathians flying out to forage.
Although the Fire Wyverns were flying too high for the cats to judge anything further from their expressions or eye contact, their flight patterns and speed made it clear that last night's abnormal event hadn't caused serious losses to the Ancient Tree's Fire Wyvern group.
Thus, seeing the Ahtal-Ka walk along while selecting materials as if browsing through a marketplace, Spice made no further attempts to hurry it. Instead, he held tightly to the carapace on the Ahtal-Ka's back and dozed off with his eyes half-closed.
Perhaps it had played enough—or perhaps the trees damaged in the recent battle failed to meet the Ahtal-Ka's rather obsessive standards—but after selecting two of them at random, it decided to later ask the resource-gathering cats for help with processing. Picking up its pace, the Ahtal-Ka continued forward.
Fortunately, because the great battle between Logan and the Kushala Daora had driven most monsters near the Ancient Tree away from the battlefield, nothing foolish enough to get in its way appeared along its path.
As its surroundings grew brighter and clearer, the Ahtal-Ka finally arrived before the towering Ancient Tree that reached into the clouds.
Gazing at the comparatively narrow climbing paths—small even for large monsters—the Ahtal-Ka waved its forelimbs, measuring the width, and after confirming that its mobile fortress couldn't be brought up intact, it tugged on its silk thread and swung the structure back and forth as if shaking a dice cup.
Amid a chorus of startled meows, the cats of the resource-gathering team tumbled out through an opening in the Ahtal-Ka's mobile fortress.
It had traveled tirelessly through the night, while these cats had been sleeping soundly inside its fortress the whole time.
A sensation of something climbing came from the Ahtal-Ka's back. Spice slid down along one of its insect legs, landing on the ground and rubbing his eyes.
"We finally made it, meow. Are you coming up with us, meow?"
The Ahtal-Ka glanced at Spice, then turned its gaze toward the massive fortress being dragged behind it by silk threads. It seemed reluctant to go.
Partly because it was tired, and partly because operating its fortress in combat atop the Ancient Tree would be difficult.
The destruction it had seen along the way made it clear that a powerful creature existed nearby. Without its fortress beside it, the Ahtal-Ka felt unsafe.
As for the fact that it itself possessed combat strength comparable to an Elder Dragon—well, to the Ahtal-Ka, fighting through the use of its fortress was an instinct so ingrained it might as well be a rule of existence. Engaging another monster bare-handed was simply unthinkable.
Perhaps sensing its hesitation, Spice's eyes rolled once before he spoke. "Our tribe's forge that handles material processing is up there too, meow~ Your materials are way too big, Miss Mantis—there's no way we can carry them up ourselves, meow~"
At those words, the Ahtal-Ka's body stiffened, and the purple compound eyes reflected the climbing paths of the Ancient Tree.
What had driven this homebody neopteron to leave its nest and come all the way here—aside from the cats' request—was precisely that forge, wasn't it?
Though the Ahtal-Ka didn't quite understand what a "forge" was, it certainly understood what the cats meant by "material processing"!
"Since I'm already here~~"
After sweeping its gaze around, the Ahtal-Ka dragged its fortress to a spot covered in dense fern leaves and began dismantling it.
However, faced with the great heap of materials it had painstakingly gathered over the past two years, its old problem resurfaced—indecisiveness.
It didn't know which materials to bring first. Everything felt too precious to leave behind.
After pondering to no avail, the Ahtal-Ka mechanically turned its head, its unmoving eyes locking onto Spice.
Though it was a carapaced creature entirely devoid of facial expression, for some reason it managed to give the cat an unmistakably pitiful look.
With Spice and the cats all chattering away in a jumble of meows, Ahtal-Ka finally decided on bringing along the Dragonator among other things—it would both preserve the materials in their best condition and ensure her combat power. Reluctantly turning her head three times with every step, she followed the cats' guidance along the climbing paths of the Ancient Tree toward the upper levels.
"Right, meow! We also need to bring this, meow!"
Suddenly remembering something, Spice reached into the materials pack on his back, pulled out an identity scale from a Fire Wyvern, and swiftly climbed up to the top of a component hanging from one of Ahtal-Ka's silk threads on a long pillar.
"Hanging it here will do—this way, we won't get into conflict with Lord Fire Wyverns, meow!"
Spice clapped his paws, too lazy to jump back down, and simply squatted on top of the component, meowing as he directed Ahtal-Ka's path.
The rest of the cats could only scamper on all fours, panting hard just to keep up with Ahtal-Ka's pace.
Casting a somewhat disdainful glance at the Fire Wyvern scale, Ahtal-Ka barely restrained the urge to fling the thing away and quickened her steps.
Along the way, Ahtal-Ka made no attempt to conceal her massive form. Faced with the wary—sometimes openly hostile—gazes of the Fire Wyverns who spotted her, she felt no particular emotion at all.
They were nothing more than a flock of flying backup rations. If not for the fact that the Rathians often delivered those beautiful materials and cats to the Ancient Ruins Basin, just the ones showing hostility—Ahtal-Ka could have skewered them all with her Dragonator!
As she passed through the long internal passage of the tree's heart, sunlight once again fell upon Ahtal-Ka's body. What unfolded before her bright eyes was a scene filled with groups upon groups of cats and those familiar wooden constructions.
Especially the cable car that the cats were currently repairing—the wooden pillars and the interlocking gear components made Ahtal-Ka's forelimbs itch with excitement.
She so wanted to tear them down and use them to build a walking fortress!!
Sensing that Ahtal-Ka was unconsciously drawing closer to one of the cable car stations, Spice immediately let out a loud cry, trying to snap the entranced Ahtal-Ka back to awareness.
The cats working on repairing the cable car node were startled out of their wits by Ahtal-Ka's sudden appearance. They had barely pulled out their rescue horns and were about to blow them when Spice's meows came repeatedly echoing over.
Fortunately, though she dearly loved that cable car station and the surrounding buildings, Ahtal-Ka still managed to restrain herself. Amid Spice's frantic reminders, she finally withdrew her forelimbs.
'If that so-called forge can't get its walking fortress parts right, then I'll just come back and tear these down too!'
Suppressing her restless urge, Ahtal-Ka, as Spice let out a sigh of relief, once again moved toward the upper levels.
As she drew closer and closer to the canopy, the number of cats gathering around Ahtal-Ka also began to increase.
All of them were curious about this enormous creature they had never seen before—especially after hearing that she was the one who had provided those special silk threads that once saved the Fire Wyvern eggs and had brought the cats a tremendous profit. That knowledge made them feel an even stronger sense of familiarity toward her.
Except, of course, for the patrol teams stationed along the paths—those cats already had Stink Bombs and Flash Bombs prepared in advance.
[Whoosh~~]
A gust of wind blew by. Spice raised a paw to shield himself and saw a silver-white figure fly past.
"Ah, it's Boss Fire Wyvern, meow!!"
Spice exclaimed in delight. If Boss Fire Wyvern was unharmed, then that was the best news imaginable!
Descending from the canopy layer to carry out his usual territorial patrol, Logan heard Spice's meow. Ordinarily he would have ignored such a trivial sound, yet for some reason, he chose to turn his head for a glance.
And that one glance revealed a massive golden-yellow insectoid figure.
"Holy—Ahtal-Ka!!"
His wings trembled slightly, almost causing him to lose control of his balance. Logan stirred up a wave of air pressure and forcibly halted his dive, staring in shock at Ahtal-Ka—who was surrounded by cats and showing a completely stable emotional state.
"Why is Ahtal-Ka appearing here?"
That question filled Logan's mind. It wasn't that he feared Ahtal-Ka for her overwhelming strength.
No matter how powerful she was, Ahtal-Ka was ultimately a monster that couldn't fly and lacked any significant long-range attack capability. As long as one avoided close or mid-range combat, even an ordinary Fire Wyvern could escape her safely.
However—her destructive power was comparable to that of a super-giant Elder Dragon!
If she went berserk here in the Ancient Tree, she could truly tear the entire thing apart!
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