The scholars pushed their wooden carts forward with slow, deliberate effort.
Although this region shared a border with the Ancient Forest, the landscape was worlds apart; only at the boundary did a river flow down, pooling into small, shallow wetlands.
The rest of the terrain was a desolate wasteland of rocky hills. In the distance, several massive wildspires towered over the tan-colored earth like natural stone fortresses.
The sunlight burned like fire against the reddish rock walls, reflecting a searing heat. The wind kicked up fine sand that stung the skin like needles, carrying a scent of salt and dry dust.
As the scorching wind whipped the yellow sands into a frenzy, Leon remained at the front of the group, maintaining a high state of alert.
Suddenly, Dumpling rushed back from the trees on the left, his face pale with tension. "Meow! There's a large Flying Wyvern up ahead! It looks like... a Rathian, meow!"
A Rathian?
Leon's pupils contracted. He immediately signaled for the team to stop and raised his binoculars. Sure enough, amidst the sparse trees not far away, a massive, moss-green wyvern was crouched low, seemingly licking some kind of residue off the ground.
Its scales shimmered with a dull, metallic green luster, and its thick, powerful tail ended in a hooked, forked club.
One of the scholars whispered, "We cannot provoke it. The Rathians in the Wildspire Waste are far more aggressive than those in the Ancient Forest..."
Another scholar added, "Most Rathians driven into the Wildspire Waste are unable to breed, which makes their temperaments much more volatile. We should take a detour."
With that, the three scholars began pushing the wooden carts up the slope to the right.
During the climb, one of the scholars accidentally stepped on some loose gravel, producing a sharp 'crack'.
The Rathian's head snapped up, and it began looking around warily.
Leon gripped the hilt of his dual blades, his voice low and steady. "Don't move. Wait for me to distract it."
"Gaooo—!"
The Rathian suddenly threw its head back and spread its wings, letting out an ear-shattering roar!
Leon's expression tightened.
A sharp, stinging pain pierced his eardrums.
He covered his ears, trying to resist the overwhelming auditory assault.
A monster's roar...
Leon suddenly remembered that among his equipment skills, there was one called 'Earplugs' that could negate the effects of roars.
He had assumed reality wouldn't be exactly like the game, but he hadn't expected a monster's roar to be this terrifying...
His body wanted to cover his ears almost by instinct.
Dumpling lay flat on the ground, paws clamped over his ears as he shivered. "Meowoo—this presence is just totally unfair, meow..."
The Rathian dived down, kicking up sand and stones as the pressure of the wind bore down from above, aiming straight for the scholars by the carts.
"Run!!!" Leon forced his will to break through the flinch, his legs exploding with power as he blurred into motion.
He drew his dual blades in a flash—
Demon Mode!
Leon's Clutch Claw latched onto the Rathian's head. Using the tension of the cable, he launched himself forward and delivered a heavy kick to its face.
The Rathian's head jerked to the side from the impact. It let out a furious roar and beat its wings violently, churning up a massive cloud of sand and debris.
Leon flipped through the air and landed, blades held ready. He dropped into a low stance as a visible aura of impact surged beneath his feet.
He faced the Rathian and shouted over his shoulder, "Dumpling, protect the scholars! I'll hold it back!"
"M-Meow, understood, meow!" Dumpling scrambled toward the slope, pushing the cart with everything he had while shouting at the three bloodless scholars, "Hurry up, meow! Don't look back!!"
Seeing them move, Leon focused entirely on the Rathian.
His blades crossed as he slashed downward, sending sparks flying!
The blades made a screeching sound as they struck the metallic scales, fueling the moss-green wyvern's rage.
"Roar—!!!"
The Rathian suddenly beat its wings and leaped into the air, whipping its tail with such speed that it created a sonic boom.
Leon performed a low side-slide to evade, then countered with a Demon Flurry Rush aimed at the wyvern's leg joints.
The Rathian winced in pain and swung its tail in another sweeping arc.
Leon became a whirlwind at the monster's feet, relentlessly hacking at its ankles to keep it off balance.
Clang—!
The blades struck sparks, but they failed to pierce through the thickest part of the armored scales.
The Rathian suddenly flapped its wings and backed away, a glowing red fireball forming in its throat!
Leon didn't panic; he reached for a Flash Pod and threw it.
A blinding burst of light exploded directly in the Rathian's face!
Boom—!
The brilliant white glare was like a bolt of lightning under the midday sun. The Rathian's pupils shrank instantly; its head jerked away, and it began to stumble and sway in place.
Leon took the opportunity to kick off the ground and retreat, his blades carving lines in the sand as he slid behind a large rock.
"Dumpling, move fast!" Leon sprinted toward the scholars to help push the cart.
"Scholars, put some muscle into it, meow!!" Dumpling shrieked as the cart creaked and jolted up the rocky slope toward higher ground.
Leon panted, his eyes remaining sharp as he glanced back at the Rathian still struggling and shaking its head.
...
A few minutes later, the group finally took a moment to rest in the shadow of a massive boulder.
Dumpling collapsed on the ground, gasping for air. "We lived, meow... I never want to see a Rathian again, meow!"
Leon leaned against the rock wall and slid down into a sitting position, his chest heaving. 'If I want to actually hunt a Rathian, I'll need to prepare at least some level of Earplugs...' he thought.
From their vantage point, the three scholars looked down. Besides the multi-story wildspires, there was a charred boulder in the sand that shimmered with a faint red glow.
The edges of the boulder were semi-molten, as if it had been subjected to extreme heat.
The three scholars whispered among themselves for a moment.
The eldest of them pushed up his glasses and pointed at the scorched rock. "That is our objective. We must bring it back to the base for research."
"Let's get down there and load it onto the cart," another scholar said, wiping sweat from his brow. "Otherwise, if another Rathian shows up, I'm afraid we really will lose our lives in this wasteland."
Leon frowned at the boulder. It was partially embedded in a collapsed dune, and the surrounding sand had been baked into a hard, glass-like crust.
"I'll go down and move it," Leon commanded firmly. "Dumpling, you stay here to protect the scholars. In a moment, we'll use the ropes to pull the stone up together."
"M-Meow, understood, meow!" Dumpling pulled a coil of rope from his small backpack and handed it to Leon.
Taking the rope, Leon slid down the slope and cautiously approached the boulder. He knelt and touched the surface; a lingering heat had yet to fully dissipate.
A few minutes later.
Leon finally finished securing the boulder. Together, they pulled on the ropes, using the sand to help reduce the friction.
Before long, the giant stone was loaded onto the cart.
However, just as Dumpling breathed a sigh of relief and the scholars gathered around to inspect the find—
The earth began to vibrate slightly.
"An earthquake?" Dumpling asked, looking around in confusion.
"No—" Leon suddenly drew his dual blades, his voice dropping an octave. "It's not an earthquake. Something is coming..."
Boom!
The sand dune ahead suddenly exploded!
A wave of earth shot into the sky as a massive creature clad in mud and rock armor leaped out!
It was a massive Brute Wyvern with a mountain-like ridge on its back and a head shaped like a heavy stone shovel.
A Barroth—!!
In the next second, the monster lowered its head and charged straight at them!
"Get down!!" Leon shoved the nearest scholar out of the way before rolling across the sand to evade.
The Barroth's massive tail swept out, shattering a section of the rock wall and the lifting equipment, sending debris smashing into a nearby wildspire.
"Protect the scholars!" Leon roared, gritting his teeth. "Dumpling, get them out of here! I'll hold it off!"