After a full day of tracking, the Hunters had all but confirmed that these Monsters were wandering aimlessly.
They had no fixed habitat and never returned to any supposed nest. When their full bellies made movement difficult, they simply found a quiet patch of woodland where they could lie down and digest their food.
With no better option, the Hunters found a suitable hiding place nearby. One person kept watch while the others took turns resting.
This continued until late into the night.
Altaïr had been dozing against a tree trunk when Isis shook him awake.
After taking a moment to clear his head, Altaïr sat up and peered through the dense screen of branches and leaves concealing them, focusing on the Monster in the woods.
The Monster lay curled up and completely motionless, its breathing steady. It was clearly still asleep.
Confused, Altaïr looked over at Isis.
Isis made several quick gestures, but improvised gestures were no substitute for sign language. All he could gather was that she was pointing toward something happening in the sky, in a particular direction.
Seeing that Altaïr did not understand, Isis grew a little flustered. After a moment's thought, she reasoned that Sonic Bombs had no effect on the Monster, so its hearing probably was not especially sharp either. She lowered her voice and spoke.
"An SOS Flare. There's an SOS Flare rising in that direction, about five to ten kilometers away. It's green."
A green SOS Flare? Altaïr was momentarily taken aback. A red SOS Flare was usually reserved for emergencies, while a yellow one marked a position. A green SOS Flare roughly meant, "I'm here. Where are you?"
There were no other humans on Tidal Island besides the advance team. The appearance of a green SOS Flare meant Sajji had brought someone out to find them.
But how could they have arrived so quickly? Sajji had not even been gone for twenty-four hours, and the one-way journey was nearly a hundred kilometers. Even if they had set out the moment Sajji delivered the message, the Hunter escort would be exhausted after running the entire distance. Could Ms. Meow-It-All, an elderly Felyne, even manage such a journey on foot?
Or perhaps Nymera was escorting Ms. Meow-It-All, and they had ridden Palamutes together? That would make more sense... Before Altaïr could settle on an explanation, Isis added, "The SOS Flare was launched from the sky. They must have flown here."
Flown here? Altaïr pictured Hakucho towing a glider, with Sajji dangling beneath it and Ms. Meow-It-All secured in a bindle beneath Sajji.
Had they flown through the night? Were they really that eager? Baffled, Altaïr nevertheless called his companions out of their hiding place behind the large tree. They moved away from the sleeping Monster and entered a clearing in the woods, where he fired a yellow signal flare into the sky.
In the dead of night, they needed a flare to guide the landing. If Sajji and the others had only the few trail markers left along the way to follow, they could end up searching almost anywhere.
Not long after the signal went up, a shadow appeared over the forest clearing, pitch-black against the night sky.
"The Pioneer?"
Altaïr stared at the dark silhouette hovering above the clearing and exclaimed in astonishment.
This was the advance team's only Airship. Neither its gondola nor its air sac followed the conventional streamlined design. The vessel more closely resembled a hot-air balloon, and its size fell somewhere between that of a small and medium Airship.
Its semicircular air sac traded some speed for exceptional stability and endurance, allowing it to hover at high altitude for days without landing, much like an observation balloon.
The gondola also offered far more space than those of conventional small Airships. According to Ms. Meow-It-All, the Airship had been built from the ground up to serve as both a "miniature Soaratorium aerial research lab" and a "balloon-style Hunter's Camp."
Altaïr had never imagined the Village Chief would deploy the Pioneer. This new-model Airship was the advance team's most prized asset. Hovering above the base camp, it served as their best lookout, offered an overhead view of the construction work, and could even function as a crane when needed.
Before setting out, Altaïr had asked the Village Chief for permission to use the Airship, but his request had been denied. Had the situation become more serious than they had anticipated?
While he was lost in thought, a rope ladder descended from the Airship hovering above the forest clearing.
The Hunters exchanged glances, then climbed the ladder one by one. The Airship began to ascend as they boarded, stopping at a safe altitude several hundred feet above the ground.
"You've all had a rough few days, meow," Ms. Meow-It-All said from the gondola deck. Dressed in a scholar's robe and square academic cap, she greeted the Hunters with her arms crossed.
Before Altaïr could ask anything, Morgan spoke first. "Weren't you the one who said it was too dangerous to use the Airship because we knew too little about Tidal Island?"
"That was before, meow. You've confirmed that the Monsters in the forest have left, even aerial rulers like Rathalos, haven't you, meow?
"Pariapuria are troublesome, but they can barely fly. Besides, we traveled over the sea to skirt the peripheral zones where Monsters congregate. That kept our route safe, meow."
"Pariapuria?" Altaïr immediately seized on the unfamiliar name. "Is that the Monster's scientific name? It comes from 'devouring,' which is quite fitting."
"Yes, meow. To be honest, when I saw the sketch Sajji sent back, I was quite surprised, meow. I never expected to encounter this creature on Tidal Island, meow."
Isis asked curiously, "So, is Pariapuria a very rare species?"
"You could say that, meow. So far, the Guild has confirmed the existence of this Monster in only two locations, meow. One is the Gorge, and the other is the arid Moonlands, meow.
"Both places are extremely far from Tidal Island, so I can't yet be entirely certain that the Monster you found is Pariapuria rather than a closely related species, meow.
"At the very least, Sajji's description matches every peculiar habit associated with Pariapuria. That makes it highly likely they are the same species, meow."
Ms. Meow-It-All paused for a couple of seconds. "But there is one strange detail, meow. According to the records of the Guild and the Royal Paleontology Scriveners, Pariapuria should not be social creatures, meow.
"Are you certain the Pariapuria you encountered were acting as a pack, meow?"
"Acting as a pack?" Ms. Meow-It-All's question made Altaïr realize something.
"If that's what you mean, then no. The first Pariapuria we encountered was alone. After we worked with the Lolo Gougarf to take it down, the scent of blood must have drawn in a second one.
"A while later, a third Pariapuria appeared, and the two of them tore into the first one's carcass together."
"That's what I thought, meow." Ms. Meow-It-All nodded firmly. "Your experience proves only that multiple Pariapuria roam the depths of the Mangrove Forest. That's a far cry from 'pack behavior,' meow."
Altaïr asked, puzzled, "Then what could cause a species that is not social by nature to gather in one place and disrupt the ecology of the Mangrove Forest? Could it be breeding season? I recall that some large snake species congregate to mate at certain times of the year."
"Hmm, we've considered that possibility too, meow, but we can't say for certain yet." Ms. Meow-It-All stroked her whiskers. "Our knowledge of Pariapuria is still too limited. How they reproduce remains a mystery, meow. You've seen how voracious these Monsters are. It's hard to imagine how a newborn hatchling could avoid being devoured by an adult, meow."
"True..." Altaïr fell silent for a moment.
"Speaking of which, there's one sleeping not far from here." When the conversation stalled, Isis spoke up. "If you're interested, why don't we go take a look?"
Ms. Meow-It-All's eyes lit up. "Where is it, meow?"
Altaïr pointed in one direction. "Not far. A little over a kilometer straight that way."
Ms. Meow-It-All immediately instructed Millsy, who was steering the Airship, to change course and head for the Pariapuria's resting place.
The Pioneer was not fast, but it was still much quicker than traveling on foot. Within two or three minutes, they were hovering above the Pariapuria. It remained fast asleep, completely unaware of the observers high overhead.
On the way there, Altaïr briefly summarized the results of their daytime tracking. "This Pariapuria spent the entire day wandering aimlessly through the forest. We honestly don't have any leads on how to find out where they truly came from."
Ms. Meow-It-All did not answer. She stood at the railing and peered down through her binoculars, calling for Millsy to take the Airship lower. After a moment, she nodded with confidence. "There's no doubt about it. That's a Pariapuria, meow. And there is a way to find out where they came from, meow."
"What way?" Altaïr pressed.
"Keep it under constant pressure and make it feel threatened. Instinct will drive it toward somewhere familiar and safe, meow."
Altaïr immediately understood. "You mean we should wound it badly, then chase it and track where it goes?"
Ms. Meow-It-All frowned at him. "Don't be so crude, meow. The smell of blood from a battle would only draw in other Pariapuria. Since we've already brought the Airship, we can use a more elegant method, meow."
"Such as?" Isis tilted her head.
Ms. Meow-It-All lifted a hatch in the deck, pulled out a wooden barrel, and held it aloft. "By dropping Barrel Bombs from the sky, meow."
(Translated by yourtl.app)