Beneath Coral Plateau, countless corpses rotted and accumulated, giving rise to a thick miasma. This place was known as Miasma Valley. After removing the stumbling block that was Huihui, the hunters could finally begin their investigation here. However, their efforts were met with failure right from the start. This time they were not attacked by some paralyzing creature; instead, they encountered the gruesome claw dragon, a monster that fed on decaying flesh.
"Cough, cough, cough!" The toxic miasma continually eroded the hunters' bodies. The gruesome claw dragon particularly enjoyed luring its prey into the toxic mist before hunting them. Once they were poisoned and half-decayed, it would return to drag the corpse back to its lair, where it would use its own saliva, known for its potent antibacterial properties, to cure and store the meat. (Indeed, the 'meat block' you were tasked with finding in the chef's mission is derived from this process. Next time you eat, be sure to remove these kinds of materials.).
"Behind us! Cough, cough~" A white arrow was shot forth. With the materials obtained from Huihui, her hunting bow was once again enhanced. The bowstring had been reinforced with the wing membranes of the Azure Hollow Dragon, and the arrows themselves used parts from both the Azure Hollow and higher-grade birds. Upon impact, the arrows would disintegrate into blue explosive dust, which would ignite once its concentration reached a certain level, causing extremely devastating damage.
"Cough, cough, cough~ No good, this place is too unsuitable for us to fight." Swordmaster Taito dragged his blade on the ground. As an elderly man, the miasma affected him the most, especially since this toxic mist had a slight dragon attribute corrosion that made him even more fatigued, due to his already existing wounds and old injuries. "We must leave here; we need to find another area with thinner miasma!"
However, the gruesome claw dragon was not foolish. After following them for some distance outside the miasma zone, it decisively gave up the pursuit and hid back in the toxic area, making it impossible for the hunters to complete their hunting task or safely pass through the miasma-accumulated area to reach the bottom of the valley. Therefore, a way had to be found to deal with it; otherwise, the hunters' investigation efforts at the bottom layer would be nearly impossible to carry out.
Ancient Tree Forest
"Hey!" The catgirl raised her katana high and swung it down with force. She was using the sword-holding stance of a Black Knight. After all, a katana of this size really couldn't be wielded with traditional samurai techniques, at least not given her height. If it were a robust member of the Ruga tribe, it might be possible, but the swordsmanship of the Black Knight wasn't particularly suited to the katana, especially when attacking the agile wolf dragon. Out of ten strikes, nearly seven would miss.
"Ow~ ow~" The wolf dragon emitted a sound akin to a dog's whine, moving around the catgirl with soft, slow steps to exert psychological pressure on its prey. This was part of their hunting strategy—one would draw the prey's attention and force it to become nervous under the pressure, while the others awaited their chance to attack, much like wolves, hence the name wolf dragon. "Awoo!" From behind the catgirl, one wolf dragon that had climbed onto an ancient tree leaped down to pounce on her. Unfortunately, she was not a hunter.
"Release!" The catgirl forcefully drove the blade into the ground, causing crystalline spikes formed from ether magic to rise up from behind her. "Awoo!" The wolf dragon agilely twisted its body in midair, flipping over like a cat and pushing off against the crystalline spike. However, its claws were still cut by the sharp ether spikes, and it limped back into its group. "Awoo!" The leading wolf dragon let out a loud call, and they began to run at high speed, with wolf dragons continuously pouncing to attack her, only to be pushed back several meters by her blade.
For those rookie hunters, the wolf dragon was their first deterrent. However, the hunters in the New World were all elite experts, not inexperienced novices. Taking down the cricket wolf dragon wasn't particularly difficult. If they were a seasoned katana hunter from the fifth party, capturing one of the wolf dragons might only require a few strikes. After building up enough rotational energy and strength, they could execute a three-hit gas round slash, taking down the entire pack of wolf dragons.
"Clang!" The katana intercepted the wolf dragon's claws, forcefully tossing it aside. However, this merely alleviated a trivial attack. More wolf dragons continued to alternate their assaults to exhaust their prey's stamina; this was how they hunted larger quarry. Naturally, the males among them, the ferocious wolf dragons, were less meticulous. They were larger than the females and could simply pounce upon prey, swallowing it whole like a snake.
"Boom!" The shadow wall, particularly weak due to insufficient ether particles, was instantly shattered, but it did provide the catgirl a chance to counterattack. "Absorb Slash!" The black blade sliced open the wolf dragon's abdomen. The katana, "Phantom Blade: Wolf Style" (Rank 2, derived katana from Eorzea, Rank 2-7 Phantom Sword, Rank 8 Dream Sword, crafted from the materials of the beast Behemoth), made from attribute chips, beast blood, wolf materials, and ether crystals, was not particularly effective in the hands of a regular hunter. However, in the hands of a Black Knight, it could unleash special effects. (Attributes require weapon liberation.)
Monster blood surged up the blade and was continuously converted into ether material, injecting magical energy into the catgirl's body, becoming her "mana." "Dark Wave!" The pitch-black energy blade struck down one wolf dragon, sending it crashing to the ground. "So weak! The ether particles here are too scarce." The catgirl panted heavily; the ether magic here was woefully low, requiring a long time to accumulate enough to cast a spell, which was not ideal for her.
"Hey!" The massive blade cleaved through a wolf dragon, and the axe-shaped shield at the end transformed into a giant axe, swinging around to drive back several other wolf dragons. "Hurry, get out!" The burly hunter caught the spinning axe blade as it returned, morphing it back into shield and longsword mode. He braced the shield against his body, adopting the best stance for impact, and rammed a wolf dragon that lunged at him, sending it flying.
"Quickly, leave this place!" More and more wolf dragons appeared above the ancient grove, slowly descending towards the prey below along the vines and ancient trees.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Three successive standard crossbow bolts struck a ferocious wolf dragon, triggering the explosive dragon bombs set on the ground. This landmine-like device completely shattered the dragon's abdomen, leaving no chance for survival. "I'll cover you, hurry up, rookie!" the hunter with the light crossbow waved, clearly indicating that this was a duo gathering and investigation team. From their Ailu cat companion and the level of their equipment, it was evident that they were not hunters from the fifth or first teams, but rather supply and logistics hunters from the fourth team.
They were responsible for collecting materials for crafting ammunition, such as paralysis mushrooms and sleep grass, and sometimes gathered ores and fish. Due to logistical issues in the New World, it was impossible to rely entirely on the fifth team hunters for collecting all the supplies during their investigation and hunting, nor could they depend on supplies from the rear. Therefore, the ammunition, traps, and potions obtained by the supply depot were all gathered bit by bit by the fourth team hunters from various locations and then crafted by the manufacturing experts of the second team.
Thus, once the fifth team secured a region, the hunters from the fourth team would gradually enter to begin the collection and capture of materials. At the same time, scholars from the third team would enter for related investigations. Unless they encountered highly dangerous and unmanageable monsters during this process, the fifth team hunters, or even the team leader (yes, that's you!) would be called upon to handle the situation.
"It's okay, I'll take the damage, you focus on attacking!" The catgirl decisively regained her balance and assumed a defensive fighting stance. "Deep Hatred!" Ether particles swirled around her, forming a faint dark mist, intensely stimulating the creatures nearby to elicit aggressive tendencies. "Release!" Sharp ether spikes unfurled like sea urchins, forcing the wolf dragons to once again change their attack target towards this particularly discomforting opponent.
However, this amateur was quite impressive at blocking and parrying; she had yet to take a hit. It seemed she also possessed some special skills that greatly reduced damage and improved her blocking ability, which allowed the two seasoned hunters to focus on output. Soon, a number of wolf dragons lay defeated on the ground, the majority taken down by shield axes, while a smaller number fell to explosive dragon bombs and crossbows.
"Which team are you from?"
"I'm not a hunter," the catgirl admitted. Hunting was not something she wanted to do, but she needed to make a living. After all, she didn't have any production skills, her cooking skills weren't good enough to assist the chef, her crafting ability was only sufficient for making simple items, and she didn't know alchemy or anything about ecology. Therefore, she could only approach the commander to take on a simple task of hunting wolf dragons for some money.
"Whoosh~"
"Lower your head!" the seasoned hunter pressed her down. "Stay quiet." A giant dragon, nearly 28 meters long, glided overhead as six streams of blue-green flames spiraled downwards, landing in a clearing within the ancient forest. "Sniff sniff~" Huihui extended her nose to smell the traces and scents of the plants on the ground, and then, like a little dog, she began to dig madly, crushing the plants and eventually pulling out a long string of bulbous roots.
"Do blue dragons eat both plants and meat?" the seasoned hunter asked quietly.
"I don't know, but they probably do," Huihui responded. She dipped the bulb into the stream to rinse it off before putting it in her mouth, crunching it loudly. The crisp fruit flesh had a faint fragrance and sweetness, perfect for rinsing the mouth and aiding digestion. Unfortunately, there weren't enough, and even though Huihui had left her scent to deter the mushroom pigs, she couldn't guarantee a daily supply. She could only occasionally sample them as a substitute for carrots—indeed, the dark mage eventually found an opportunity to feed her carrots and saquil vegetables. However, the latter had a very strong odor, which Huihui found unbearable and refused to eat. (The story mentions why humans don't consume this vegetable: saquil vegetables have an intensely foul smell, which only chocobos seem to enjoy.)
However, she did eat carrots and even found substitutes in the New World. Huihui dug up a large pile of bulbous roots and lounged in the sunlight, casually munching on the fruits in a very relaxed posture. After eating a bit, she rolled over on the ground, exposing her soft belly scales to the sun, living as if she were some kind of lazy dragon. (Think of the posture of a giant panda: "How could I bend my brow and stoop to please those in power, when it prevents me from smiling?")
"Hey, that is..." The catgirl also recognized the strange dragon species. It had left quite a bit of food for itself, although it seemed that it wasted a lot of food as well. The catgirl later discovered other decaying bodies with similar wounds; most of them had only the ribs and soft belly meat eaten, while the rest of the bodies were left to waste away. Strangely, no scavengers dared to approach these corpses, as if even a spiky land dragon wouldn't touch the rotting remains, lest it risk consuming the dragon's leftovers.
"Have you encountered this monster?"
"I've come across it a few times in the wasteland. Thanks to it, I managed to survive."
"You're very lucky." At least a double-digit number of hunters had been rendered incapacitated or severely injured by the blue dragon, and countless others had been similarly affected. With each retreat they faced, it grew rapidly, learning to recognize traps, use weapons, and adopt those strange skills, leading to frequent mishaps among hunters during their expeditions—such as when hunting the brute jaws dragon, a sudden thunderclap would echo above, rendering one temporarily paralyzed with electric shocks, only for the brute jaws dragon to send them packing in retreat.