Covered in wounds and bleeding profusely, the Pariapuria raced through the forest.
Each Machine Cannon round was a conical steel spike capable of piercing a Large Flying Wyvern's scales with ease. Against a Monster like the Pariapuria, which lacked armored protection and had only a layer of mucus covering its skin, every shot left a bowl-sized hole.
Morgan had just fired sixty or seventy rounds in a single burst, and most had struck the target squarely. The poor Pariapuria was in terrible condition.
The Pioneer maintained an altitude of more than a hundred meters as it followed the Monster.
Although the four-legged Pariapuria could run faster, the Mangrove Forest was thick with obstacles. Dense mangroves, tangled roots, and vines repeatedly slowed its escape.
The low-flying Pioneer faced no such obstacles. It seemed to be moving at a leisurely pace, yet never allowed the Pariapuria to widen the gap.
Morgan, carrying Sajji's Rathian Model-1 Rocket Launcher, seized an opportunity and fired.
Hitting the Pariapuria as it raced through the forest was far more difficult. The Pioneer was also rocking slightly, and Morgan's shot went wide.
With a deafening bang, a ball of fire blossomed a few meters from the Pariapuria. Still haunted by the terrifying breath of the "Monster in the sky," it let out a low howl and quickened its pace.
Morgan set the Rathian Model-1 Rocket Launcher down on the deck and clicked his tongue in frustration.
Whether he was annoyed at missing or dissatisfied with the weapon's weak firepower was unclear.
After experiencing the Machine Cannon's astonishing rate of fire, even a Heavy Bowgun's Crouching Fire could no longer satisfy him.
Looking at the trail of blood through the forest, Altaïr grew worried. "Won't all this blood attract other Pariapuria in the forest?"
Ms. Meow-It-All stared at the Pariapuria fleeing at full speed below. "It's possible, meow. But any others following the scent alone wouldn't catch up so quickly, meow.
"Right now, I'm more worried that given its injuries and how far we've chased it, it might not hold out long enough to lead us back to where they came from, meow."
Morgan silently bent down to reload the Rathian Model-1 Rocket Launcher, looking a little guilty.
Altaïr cleared his throat. "Ahem. Large Monsters are generally very resilient. Those wounds look serious, but its internal organs probably haven't suffered much damage. It should be fine."
"I hope so, meow..."
Chasing a Monster aboard the Pioneer might have seemed fun, but after a while, it inevitably became boring.
Sajji and Theo, who had been busy all night, simply retreated to the cabin to rest, telling the others to call them if anything happened. Altaïr and Isis remained on deck the entire time, but they kept themselves busy as well.
Altaïr maintained his weapon and meditated, while Isis even found some heavy objects for a little strength training.
Morgan had it easy too. He only needed to pick up the Rathian Model-1 Rocket Launcher and fire every so often, and he could spend the intervals crafting a few rounds of Bowgun Ammo.
Only two people aboard the Pioneer were truly busy: Millsy, who constantly adjusted the Airship's altitude and direction, and Ms. Meow-It-All, who repeatedly consulted the map to track the Pariapuria's course.
—--
Several hours passed this way.
After working in silence for so long, Ms. Meow-It-All suddenly smiled. "Found it, meow."
Sitting cross-legged nearby, Altaïr opened his eyes at the end of his meditation. Isis, who had been grunting as she carried a large crate, also stopped her workout and hurried over.
"What is it? What did you find?"
Their gazes fell on the map spread out before Ms. Meow-It-All.
The map was a chaotic mess, covered in countless notes and markings that no one but its creator could decipher. One line drawn in red ink, however, stood out clearly.
At first, the line tangled around itself like a ball of twine, doubling back and twisting chaotically. Near its end, however, it broke free of that random wandering and headed in a clear direction toward a specific point.
The line represented the injured Pariapuria's escape route.
"It looks like it's heading northwest. What's in that direction?" Isis crouched down and leaned closer to Ms. Meow-It-All.
Ms. Meow-It-All unfurled a larger-scale map.
Although this map contained vast unexplored areas, it at least showed the general terrain.
"A mountain range?" Altaïr roughly plotted the route in his head.
"If we keep going straight, doesn't that connect to the mountain range where we hunted that crab Monster... uh, Taikun Zamuza. That's what we call it now, right?"
"It should, meow. That hilly region is vast, stretching all the way to the center of Tidal Island. Judging by its current course, it's probably trying to enter the mountains, meow.
"Still, finding a Pariapuria in hilly terrain is a little strange, meow... Wait, meow!" Ms. Meow-It-All suddenly sprang to her feet.
Both Isis and Altaïr were startled by Ms. Meow-It-All's outburst.
"The Gorge, where Pariapuria were first discovered, and the Moonlands, where they were later sighted, share another feature besides arid desert terrain, meow!
"Both places have complex underground systems. Judging by their physical traits, Pariapuria don't seem adapted to life on an arid surface at all..."
"You mean that mountain range also has an extensive cave system, like the sinkhole where we hunted the Taikun Zamuza?
"And the Pariapuria came from underground?" Altaïr finally understood what Ms. Meow-It-All meant.
"There's a good chance, meow!" Ms. Meow-It-All tossed the map into Isis's arms and asked her to continue recording the route, then dashed up to the observation deck.
She stared along the path of the fleeing Pariapuria, the same direction in which the Pioneer was traveling.
The rolling mountain range was already faintly visible on the horizon.
The pursuit lasted from morning until sunset. By late afternoon, the Pariapuria's stamina had clearly declined. Its once-nimble gait had become an uneven limp, and its speed had slowed considerably.
The Mangrove Forest's dense vegetation gradually gave way to hard, rocky ground. The tall mangroves disappeared, replaced by hardy shrubs and grasses growing from cracks in the stone.
To avoid danger, Ms. Meow-It-All ordered Millsy to raise the Pioneer to an altitude of around two hundred meters.
At that height, they could navigate the rolling terrain more easily and avoid the erratic winds created by the complex topography.
Just before the sun completely set, a dry river valley came into view.
The Pariapuria plunged into the valley without looking back. Pebbles of every size covered the ground, but they did nothing to slow it. Its slime-coated belly slid over the stones as it half crawled and half slid forward, moving noticeably faster than it had through the forest.
In the gathering twilight, Ms. Meow-It-All's feline eyes glimmered with an eerie light. "Just as I thought. This environment is similar to the Gorge, meow. We should be very close now, meow."
As she spoke, the Pariapuria suddenly vanished from the Hunters' sight.
Isis rubbed her eyes in shock, then raised her telescope and scanned the pebble-strewn riverbed. She still found nothing.
Had the others not witnessed it too, Isis might have thought she was hallucinating.
With a Felyne's superior night vision, Ms. Meow-It-All narrowed her eyes and stared into the pitch-black, dry riverbed.
"Take us lower, meow!" she suddenly ordered.
The Pioneer began to descend slowly.
As its altitude steadily dropped, the riverbed below came into clearer view.
A long, narrow fissure, about forty or fifty meters long and no more than five or six meters wide, cut through the bottom of the winding riverbed.
Staring into that deep, dark fissure, Altaïr felt his hair stand on end, as though countless hungry eyes were watching him from deep within the darkness.
(Translated by yourtl.app)