MHGA Chapter 319: Gathering Isn't Just About Carving—You Gotta Track Too!
"ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAARR!!"
Nergigante responded very politely to Kairo Retsu's greeting—with an energetic roar, as if to confirm that yes, it had eaten its fill.
"A-hahaha… that's good to hear you're full! I'll just be on my way now, yeah?"
Kairo Retsu let out an awkward laugh, slowly backing away—only to see Nergigante raise its claw high and send him flying with a massive horizontal slap.
"Guh—!"
He slammed into the trunk of a nearby tree, smashing a deep crater into the ancient wood.
Kairo Retsu was fairly certain he'd just broken a few ribs.
"This is it… I'm getting carted."
He closed his eyes in resignation, already bracing himself to be Felyne-carted back to camp and hear Kazuma's inevitable mockery.
He could already imagine it: Kazuma, grinning maliciously, saying some cutting remark about Kairo once again running into that damned Nergigante and getting carted for it.
Kairo knew it. He knew Kazuma would do that.
Because if their roles were reversed, he'd totally say the same thing.
There was no way Kazuma's moral compass ranked higher than his own.
But…
The expected chomp never came.
Kairo, confused, cracked open an eye—only to see Nergigante sniffing him with a perplexed look.
Kairo Retsu was dumbfounded.
Wasn't this the same Nergigante that had slapped him, tried a bite, decided he tasted bad, and then flew off?
Why wasn't it finishing him off this time?
As he wondered, Nergigante casually gave him another slap, sending him crashing into another tree stump and creating yet another massive crater.
More bones definitely broke.
"Damn it! Kill me or don't—but stop humiliating me!" Kairo roared in indignation. Still, he started to suspect Nergigante's intentions weren't so simple.
This Elder Dragon… might have actually recognized him.
Nergigante reached out and pawed at the Kairo-shaped dent in the tree trunk, seemingly trying to figure out how this guy, who'd already "died" twice, was still not dead—and even stronger than before.
Two slaps and he still wasn't dead? This was a first.
Even more confusingly, Nergigante could sense that the energy inside this puny bipedal ape-wyvern species was significantly more potent than last time.
Still not fully mature? Not worth eating yet? No wonder he tasted so bad earlier.
Was this guy… the golden monkey's cub?
Nergigante stopped thinking too hard about it.
It just knew this little guy, who didn't even measure up to an Aptonoth, had somehow become more resilient.
If he ever reached the Rajang's level, then he'd be worth eating…
"…?"
Kairo stared at Nergigante in a daze.
Make up your mind already! If you're gonna kill me, just do it—why are you just standing there staring!?
Before he could react, Nergigante pawed at him again—this time dislodging items from his waist pack.
The Flame Sac he'd carved from the Rathalos tumbled out and rolled on the ground.
The glowing, attribute-charged gem immediately caught Nergigante's attention.
With one flick of its tongue, it scooped up the Flame Sac along with several pieces of Rathalos material—and promptly ignored Kairo to prepare for takeoff.
It had just fought the golden monkey, and regeneration had consumed plenty of energy. Time to go hunt some more.
As for the weird two-legged monkey kid who just wouldn't die…
Whatever.
Nergigante turned and flapped its wings, showing zero guilt for having just stolen Kairo Retsu's rarest loot.
But what it didn't notice was this:
Clinging tightly to the spike-laden, club-like tail it lifted into the air…
…was a certain very pissed-off hunter.
Like a meteor, Nergigante soared into the sky and sped toward a distant volcanic mountain range.
It remembered that a worn-down Teostra had recently taken up residence there.
That would be today's prey.
And on its tail, Kairo Retsu hung on for dear life, trembling in the frigid high-altitude wind but refusing to let go.
"Damn you! I don't care if I get carted!! You ate my Flame Sac—the rarest carve I've had in weeks! There's no way I'm letting you just fly off!"
His eyes burned with fury as the wind howled past him.
"I'm going all in today!! Fortune favors the bold!!"
One Week Later – During the Large-Scale Hunter Campaign…
After several days of continuous hunting, many hunters had begun cycling back through the Gathering Hub periodically—hauling in monster parts and forging High Rank gear.
They had fully upgraded from Low Rank cobbled gear to properly forged High Rank sets made from authentic monster materials.
"These really are… High Rank weapons!"
In the training area, Naofumi Iwatani personally tested out a Heavy Bowgun crafted from monsters he had hunted himself.
With the synergy of his new armor's Skills, his firepower had undergone a drastic leap.
More importantly… Naofumi could feel the difference in defense between Low Rank and High Rank armor.
Wearing his new set felt like the difference between soft stone and solid iron sculpture—he now suspected that even if the other three Heroes hit him at once, they wouldn't be able to dent his health bar.
Other hunters also experienced significant boosts to their gear and power levels.
But…
Tanjiro, now clad in a Glavenus armor set, tested its sharpness bonus and said with some concern, "Guildmaster hasn't returned yet? Could something have happened to him?"
"We've come back multiple times, and he's still gone," Joseph said with a shrug. "I asked Granny Felyne—no sign of him. I messaged him too, and he hasn't responded at all…"
"I heard he vanished right after carving that Rathalos," Joseph added. "Didn't even restock supplies…"
Emiya Shirou, overhearing this, looked puzzled.
"Maybe the Guildmaster didn't see the message. I'll try sending him one more…"
He typed quickly.
Seconds later, a flood of dozens of messages came in like a bombardment.
"!" Emiya Shirou blinked. "He replied!"
"Huh?" Kazuma perked up. "No way. That guy didn't get anything else besides that Rathalos, right? I wanna see what so-called High Rank gear he ended up with."
Kazuma adjusted his flashy Zinogre armor smugly.
He had lucked out when his target Zinogre got into a fight with another monster—then sweeped in and finished it off.
There's no way Kairo Retsu got better gear than him.
"…Guildmaster says he's rich now," Shirou said, face twitching slightly. "Says he brought back a ton of Elder Dragon scraps…"
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