The Ebony Odogaron growled low, trying to use that strange sound to throw off Ahtal-Ka's judgment.
But Ahtal-Ka paid it no mind, quickly retracting its silk, and with scythe-like forelimbs effortlessly raised the long wooden pillar it had just hurled.
When its compound eyes reflected the broken end of that piece of wood, Ahtal-Ka actually let out a roar of pain.
That's right—though a species of insect existing since ancient times, Ahtal-Ka was actually capable of unleashing a Dragon Roar!!
And the reason for its rage at this moment was not the Ebony Odogaron's hostility, but simply that the wooden pillar had broken!!
"Chiuu~~"
From Ahtal-Ka's not-so-large mouthparts came a cry of grief and fury, like the scream of a hawk.
That piece of wood was its favorite part! A 'perfect' piece it had painstakingly scavenged, pried carefully from the wyverns' dwelling grounds, almost undamaged!
It was nothing like that pile of scrap metal its mother had handed down.
And now—!
It had broken! And broken so unevenly!!
"Chiuu!" (You'll pay for my part!!)
Ahtal-Ka spewed out masses of silk, and with the rapid motion of its forelimbs and tail, it quickly wove a giant web.
Just like the puppet techniques of the puppet masters in Naruto, the heap of parts behind it danced in the air on the pull of the silk. Materials of every shape dangled at its back, and at first glance it looked like a scrap-metal version of the 'Treasury of the King.'
Although the Ebony Odogaron's eyesight was not very good, it still heard the fury in Ahtal-Ka's cries. Through the blur it saw the mass of things flying in the sky and was instantly puzzled—those weren't broken by it, so why was this thing pinning the blame on it?
Though the Ebony Odogaron was confused and unable to grasp Ahtal-Ka's thoughts, that did not stop it from taking the initiative to attack.
It spat out a ball of dragon-element energy, but Ahtal-Ka effortlessly blocked it with a rust-stained chunk of metal.
Then, through a weaving of silk threads so fast it left afterimages, the heap of parts behind Ahtal-Ka flew out like a torrential downpour toward the Ebony Odogaron as it charged again.
For a moment, the air was filled with ceaseless booms.
Seeing this scene, the Cats bolted in panic.
The Ebony Odogaron was fast and agile, but under such a dense barrage, it was still no match.
What's more, Ahtal-Ka's 'Treasury of the King' was not only dense, but each piece of material shot forth with extreme speed and great force.
In an instant, the Ebony Odogaron was struck, battered about like a rag doll, smashed by wood, stone, and all manner of unknown debris, unable even to keep its balance.
"Chiuu!!" (Go to hell!!)
At this moment, Ahtal-Ka's mood was like that of a fanatic collector whose prized figurine had been smashed by some brat, showing not the slightest mercy.
As the Cats fled, they suddenly felt the rush of something slicing through the air behind them. Steak instinctively dove forward, and a warped sheet of jagged iron skimmed past its back, cutting into the turf a short distance ahead.
"No good, meow! We can't just run like this! Quick, find a place to hide, meow!"
In the sky, because Ahtal-Ka was wildly flinging its heap of parts, it was unclear whether it was from lack of experience in not wrapping the fragile spots with silk, or simply because the parts were too old, but all of them had become incredibly brittle.
In short, fragments of broken parts were flying everywhere.
The Cats were as if thrown onto a battlefield. Left with no choice, they could only pick whatever cover they could find and hide themselves.
[Whoosh, whoosh!]
[Bang, bang!]
All kinds of fragments kept flying past the Cats' cover.
The 3 cats hugged the 2 Jagras tight; the force they failed to control out of fear almost smothered the Jagras.
Outside the cover, the Ebony Odogaron had already been smashed dazed by parts flying in from every direction, and this was only because Ahtal-Ka, for the sake of keeping the parts in better condition, wasn't going all out—only then had the Ebony Odogaron withstood so many strikes.
If Ahtal-Ka didn't cherish parts, it would be like back at the abandoned Fire Wyvern dwelling in the Wildspire Waste, hurling the assembled ruined citadel with full force at a Tempered Astalos.
Doing that was satisfying, sure—but when Ahtal-Ka later checked the wear on its "mecha" parts, it really wanted to cry.
These were things its own mother had dug out from the ancient ruins of the Wildspire Waste; after being allotted to it, they were a pile of scrap it disdained, with the only good piece being that heavily corroded Dragonator.
So, from then on, when Ahtal-Ka fought, it would hold back wherever it could, and only use more force when there was truly no other way.
After a thorough beating, Ahtal-Ka finally vented the fire in its chest, while the attacked Ebony Odogaron was now lying torn and ragged in a deep pit, clearly breathing out more than it breathed in.
Using silk threads to pull all its parts back and roll them into bundles, neatly set down, it then spewed out large amounts of silk to wrap the Ebony Odogaron's corpse, taking it as reserve food for a while to come.
That's right, Ahtal-Ka is a carnivorous monster.
It just doesn't have a strong drive to attack—and it's super reclusive~~
Hiding behind the cover, the Cats finally let out a breath only after the commotion outside died down and nothing weird kept flying past.
Peeking stealthily from behind the cover, they saw Ahtal-Ka hook its forelimbs around a bundle wrapped in white silk and walk into the forest; only after its back disappeared did they step out from cover.
"Wow, so many metal fragments, meow!"
The Palico carrying a shovel looked at the fragments all over the ground, with quite a few metal pieces among them. For Ahtal-Ka, these scraps were just leftover trimmings, but for the Cats of the resource-gathering team, though rust-stained, if they collected all the remaining pieces and did a bit of smelting, they could get a good amount of metal.
"I'll go see if these metals are still usable, meow!"
With that call, Steak didn't even have time to pull it back; he only managed to say, "Don't rush it—wait!"
But the shovel-toting Palico had already darted out, dropping to all fours, springing nimbly to a larger, curved metal plate etched with traces of wind-and-sand erosion.
It took a pointed little hammer from its small pouch and clanged a few taps.
The surface rust shattered; the time-worn, brittle, uneven corrugations knocked away, revealing the silver-black metal within.
Seeing this, the Palico showed a satisfied, cute smile.
It was one of the most special among the Palicoes serving the Fire Wyvern clan at the Ancient Tree.
An assistant apprentice personally appointed by a master builder of the Second Fleet!
Identifying metals and ores was already second nature to it; that's why, with combat power plain and unremarkable, it had been assigned to the first resource gathering team.
"Meow, meow~"
The Palico Spice tapped here and there on the metal plate with the little hammer, and soon most of the rust-covered areas of the plate were cleaned away. Although the surface was now full of holes, overall it looked more refined.
At least, it was no longer in the category of scrap iron.
Just then, a massive shadow loomed over Spice, who was working hard to flatten the plate.
His body instantly froze, his wide eyes filled with fear.
Slowly lifting his head, he saw Steak and the other companions opposite him, all with weapons drawn, nervously staring at him.
"Gulp~"
Spice swallowed hard, his face showing utter disbelief as he stiffly turned his head.
There stood a monster with gorgeous-colored carapace, right behind him, its amethyst-like compound eyes locked on him, unreadable.
At that moment, Ahtal-Ka suddenly moved!
It lowered its body and reached its forelimbs toward Spice.
"I-I'm dead, meow!! I haven't even found a proper mate to marry yet, meow!!"
In despair, Spice squeezed his eyes shut in terror.
Just as Steak, seeing things go bad, was about to throw out the flash bomb in his hand, that gorgeous monster's forelimbs reached past Spice and directly hooked up the metal plate.
As the plate was pulled away, Spice, who had been standing on it awaiting death, fell flat on his bottom.
Sitting on the ground, he blinked open his eyes in confusion, rubbed his little backside, and then looked up at the gorgeous monster.
Ahtal-Ka lifted that small piece of metal, tilting its head this way and that, looking it over with growing satisfaction.
The only drawbacks were that it had irregular holes, was too small, and was a bit bent.
As a creature with a bit of obsessive-compulsive tendency, Ahtal-Ka really found the flaws on this metal plate somewhat unbearable.
After laying the plate flat on the ground, it lifted its forelimbs, gesturing at the bent protrusion on the plate, then turned its head toward the dazed Spice.
For some reason, in that instant Ahtal-Ka turned to look at him, Spice felt he seemed to understand its meaning. Getting up, he looked at the spot Ahtal-Ka had indicated, then nodded.
"Right there, just a few taps and it'll be fine, meow."
Seeing Spice's motion, Ahtal-Ka swung its forelimbs.
With a clang, the plate was forcibly hammered flat.
Once finished, Ahtal-Ka hooked the plate back up, its compound eyes carefully scrutinizing it, seemingly quite pleased with its craftsmanship.
But it was still the same problem—this metal plate was just a fragment flung away during its earlier battle, far too small to be of any use in the ruined citadel nest it was piecing together.
After thinking for a moment, Ahtal-Ka simply tossed the plate aside, the heavy thud startling Spice.
Then they saw the monster tug at silk threads, dragging over that pile of scraps, before detaching a metal pillar likewise over-eroded by wind and sand, and carefully setting it down in front of Spice.
"Chirp, chirp?"
Faced with this piece of junk several meters long and so wide it towered over his own height, Spice's mouth twitched.
"Can't do it, this is just too big. Without tool support, I really can't manage it, meow~"
For some reason, Spice always felt this monster seemed rather kind, with an air of communication and no small measure of intelligence. So, faced with that pillar, he thought it over and still chose to tell the truth.
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