Since the Kirin was dead, Lancer followed his usual routine of storing the carcass. After cleaning up the scene, the group headed toward the campsite Jack had found earlier. Jack led the way, while Lancer and Olga Marie huddled together. The young man named Heng tactfully quickened his pace to keep up with Jack, giving Lancer and Olga Marie space to talk.
"Did you find something wrong? Your expression has been strange for a while now."
As soon as Heng was out of earshot, Olga Marie leaned in and whispered to Lancer. Lancer gave a straightforward nod.
"Yeah. I suspect the 'time' we're in is wrong."
"Time?"
"Exactly. Time. The last time I came here, I went directly to 'Pokke Village.' It's one of the most famous hunter villages on the continent, founded by a legendary giant Wyverian who single-handedly defeated an Akantor and tracked a Ukanlos to the mountains. When I was there, the hunter industry was booming; you could see hunters everywhere. But this man, Heng, hasn't even heard of the 'Guild.' Considering we can verify this as soon as we get back, there's no reason for him to lie. The only explanation is————the Guild truly doesn't exist."
Though Lancer didn't want to admit it, it was the most plausible possibility.
"There are two reasons the Guild might not exist. First, it was destroyed. If you wanted to erase its existence entirely, it would mean nearly all hunters have vanished..."
Lancer's expression darkened, but then he let out a sharp breath.
"Of course, there's another possibility—just like before, we've arrived at an 'earlier' point in time! A point where the Guild hasn't been founded yet!"
Personally, Lancer hoped for the second theory. He didn't want the hunters he had drunk and caroused with to have been sacrificed, even if they had often said, "I have nothing left to fear," while intoxicated.
Since she hadn't accompanied Lancer to this world before, Olga Marie didn't care as much about the Guild. However, she noticed that Lancer's expression still hadn't smoothed out; his brow was still furrowed.
"Is there something else?"
"Yeah. It's that Kirin. Its... strength was off."
Lancer's expression became even more conflicted.
With Lancer's current abilities, if he were to be ranked, he would easily be a G-Rank hunter. The ranking standards for "Low Rank," "High Rank," and "G-Rank" are quite vague, usually based on quest difficulty.
In the real world, you don't get one monster that can barely scratch you (Low Rank) while another of the same species can one-shot you (G-Rank). Generally, a species' strength stays within a certain range. Small monsters like Velociprey, Genprey, or Jaggi aren't individually as strong as other monsters of the same rank even if the quest is G-Rank. They are only G-Rank difficulty because they can lead massive packs to attack travelers or villages. Their individual strength isn't terrifying; the "G-Rank difficulty" refers to the entire pack led by a powerful Great King.
Sightings of an Elder Dragon like the Kirin were rare, so few hunters had fought them. However, based on evidence and tissue samples left behind, every Kirin that appeared before humans—even the weakest—was solidly G-Rank in strength.
What about the Raths?
Unless weakened by injury or other factors, their average strength was around High Rank, with some special individuals reaching G-Rank.
The Wyverns Lancer had dealt with earlier were mostly High Rank, with a few Low Rank.
Undoubtedly, this Kirin surpassed the previous monsters in power, speed, and elemental attacks. So why did Lancer still feel its strength was off?
It was simple: because it was an "Elder Dragon"!
What is an Elder Dragon?
Simply put, they are long-lived beings that have existed since ancient times and exist outside the basic ecosystem. More terrifyingly, their special abilities allow them to manipulate mysterious natural forces, making them like moving natural disasters—or rather, the incarnations of disaster themselves!
Strength is a characteristic of an Elder Dragon, but not the defining one. Many monsters strong enough to kill Elder Dragons aren't classified as Elder Dragon types. The most iconic examples are Akantor and Ukanlos, beings at the absolute top of the volcano and mountain ecosystems respectively, yet they are not classified as Elder Dragons.
So what about this Kirin?
While its lightning was fearsome, it felt different from the Kirin in Lancer's memory. It felt like it was missing something, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Or rather, while its strength was formidable, it didn't feel like a "moving natural disaster."
And speaking of Elder Dragons, Lancer suddenly noticed something strange. Since returning to this world, he seemed to have only encountered Flying Wyverns, Piscine Wyverns, and the Kirin he just killed. On the other hand, Fanged Beasts and Carapaceons—which should be more widely distributed—were nowhere to be seen. As for Neopterons (insects), they were all just tiny bugs, with no "monster-sized" variants in sight...
However, he wasn't a researcher. Though it felt odd, he didn't dwell on it.
"Whatever. Thinking about this is pointless. Maybe the Kirin we met was just getting old and its strength declined?"
He cracked a joke that sounded implausible and pushed the matter to the back of his mind. His plan was to continue gathering info from Heng. Based on what he learned, he would make his choice.
If the Guild had been destroyed and people had forgotten hunters, he would just keep exploring here. He had less than three weeks left and couldn't change much anyway. But if he were in a time before the Guild was founded, he would choose to escort this man back to the other continent!
Even if he wouldn't get the chance to hunt alongside those old friends, he wanted to create an environment where they could hunt in peace!
As Lancer walked forward with his head held high, even he might not have noticed how much his mindset had shifted since the beginning.
If the old him was like a person groping in the dark, carefully avoiding all obstacles, the current him—now possessing strength—had begun habitually leading others forward.
There was no complex reason. He just felt it was what he should do.
Watching Lancer's increasingly stalwart back, the look in Olga Marie's eyes became a little lost.