With the Sword Master at his side, Bai Chen finally felt a deep, steady confidence settle in his chest.
And right on cue, the system sent three new quests flashing across his interface.
Capture or defeat Zinogre or Rathian — Reward: 1,0000 Skill Proficiency + 1 Random Rarity Stone
Capture or defeat Rathalos — Reward: 80,000 Skill Proficiency + 1 Rarity-7 Enhancement Stone + 1 Universal Energy Core.
The Sword Master didn't rush into battle.
Instead, he held Bai Chen back with a calm hand.
"Patience. Let them wear each other down first."
The three monsters were still locked in a ferocious melee before them—
And at this stage, no sane hunter would step between them.
The Rathalos and Rathian couple were livid.
They had hunted and ruled together for years, but this lone intruder—this stubborn, lightning-coated beast—
refused to back down.
Most monsters fled the moment both wyverns took the field.
But not this one.
This Zinogre met them head-on, refusing to yield an inch.
"That's one hell of a crazy wolf…" Bai Chen muttered, narrowing his eyes.
He opened his perception overlay and scanned all three creatures.
The wyverns' stats were what he expected—
But the Zinogre's readout made him pause.
Trait: Symbiosis –Can form mutual coexistence with another lifeform. Its symbiotic partner influences the host's attributes and abilities.
Bai Chen's eyes gleamed.
"So this one's using the Lightning Bugs… but if it can coexist with other creatures too…"
He trailed off, his mind racing.
The idea alone made his pulse quicken.
He skimmed the Zinogre's skill list next.
Overcharged State (Rarity 7):Under lightning stimulation, all stats increase. The higher the stored voltage, the greater the amplification.
High Voltage (Rarity 3):Generates lightning through special fats and stores it in its shell's capacitors.
The first was Zinogre's signature—its core power.
The second… is little more than a crude generator skill.
"No wonder it relies on the lightning bugs," Bai Chen thought. "It's not really built to produce power itself."
Meanwhile, the battlefield had reached its fever pitch.
The lightning swarm clustered around the wolf's body—
their collective hum rising to a furious whine.
With a thunderous crack, Zinogre entered its Overcharged State.
White fur bristled upward, dorsal plates splitting open, arcs of blue lightning exploding from every limb.
He reared back and howled, the forest trembling with his fury.
Then—
He lunged, claws gleaming with lightning, and slammed a three-hit combo into Rathian.
"Oh, I know that move…" Bai Chen smirked.
"That's the classic Farmer's Triple Punch."
Once fully charged, Zinogre's power skyrocketed.
The wyverns tried to suppress him, but he fought like a wild storm, shrugging off Rathalos's claws while hammering Rathian into the dirt.
Rathian roared and tried to take flight—
But the lightning wolf vaulted after her, leaping ten meters high, dragging her back to the ground in a crash of sparks.
"He's completely insane…" Bai Chen whispered, sweat beading on his temple. "That thing's fighting like it's got nothing left to lose."
A fireball burst across Zinogre's back, searing fur to cinders. Rathalos had joined in—his Blazing Fireball landing true.
Rathian lunged next, tail whipping around in a poisonous blur—
The stinger pierced Zinogre's armor and injected toxin deep into his body.
Within seconds, the lightning beast was panting, poisoned—but still growling, still refusing to step back.
He leapt onto a nearby platform, claws sparking, and threw his head toward the heavens.
Dozens of Lightning Bugs swarmed upward, responding to his call.
"Wait," Bai Chen frowned. "That's—!"
He yanked the Sword Master back just in time, retreating a full thirty meters before the air around them exploded into static.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Lightning cascaded from the treetops like divine judgment.
Bolts struck everywhere within a hundred-meter radius—
an unending storm of blinding white and lightning blue.
Zinogre's ultimate technique—
"Thunderclap Shockwave."
All the lightning in his body and symbiotic bugs could muster, unleashed in one colossal burst.
The clearing became a field of lightning fire.
Even the mighty Rathian and Rathalos bellowed in pain as the bolts hammered down upon them.
When it finally ended, the air reeked of ozone and burning bark.
Zinogre collapsed to his knees, steam rising off his battered body—his overcharge state flickering out.
The wyverns, too, were reeling.
Rathian was bleeding, scales scorched black.
Rathalos had fared slightly better, but his wings were singed and his left side quivered from nerve shock.
Then the alpha wyvern raised his head, eyes burning crimson.
He turned toward the weakened wolf.
"He's going to finish it," Bai Chen realized.
If Rathalos struck now, Zinogre would die.
"Time to move."
The Sword Master nodded once and surged forward.
Bai Chen's hands were already alive with black energy.
Twin Shadow balls flew from his palms—
One detonated against Rathalos's jaw, cutting his fireball short with a thunderous blast.
The sudden intrusion enraged the map's ruler.
Rathalos turned from his wounded prey to the two newcomers.
"And here comes the boss aggro," Bai Chen muttered.
The vines underfoot stirred—
pale-green light coursed through the roots as Bai Chen called forth Nature's Force.
In an instant, thick roots erupted from the ground, coiling around the wyvern's legs, wings, and tail.
The Sword Master stared, stunned all over again.
"Every time I see that… it defies everything I know about power."
He didn't waste the opening.His blade burned crimson, aura whirling.The air trembled with condensed ki.
With a sharp exhale, he executed the longsword's ultimate technique—"Spirit Helm Breaker!"
He dashed forward, his sword thrusting upward in a rising spirit strike before flipping into an arcing descent.The blade cleaved across Rathalos's scales, spirit energy detonating inside the wyvern's body, bursting in rapid internal shocks.
Rathalos shrieked, flames erupting from between his teeth.
Fury overtook pain.
A massive fireball surged from his maw—
—but Bai Chen had already seen it coming.
His Super Perception triggered a half-second earlier; he dove into a roll, the explosion searing past where he'd been standing.
"He's marked me as the bigger threat, huh?" Bai Chen muttered, smirking grimly.
"Figures—only the apex beasts are smart enough to know who to hate."
His boots glowed white.
"Move—Quick Attack!"
A flash of light—Bai Chen blurred forward, streaking past Rathalos entirely.
His sights were set instead on the weakened pair across the field—Zinogre and Rathian.
"Master! Handle the big guy—I'll take the others!"
The Sword Master gave a curt nod, turning his full focus on the enraged Rathalos.
Bai Chen sprinted, the earth cracking under his steps.
"Move—Bulk Up!"
"Move—Agility!"
"Move—Focus Energy!"
"Move—Super Perception!"
"Move—Nature's Force: Shadow Punch!"
All buffs are activated at once.
Dark energy cloaked his fists, crackling with ghostly power.
He targeted Zinogre's head and struck down like a hammer.
BOOM!
The blow landed like thunder—
The wolf slammed into the dirt, body convulsing from the impact.
Bai Chen didn't stop.
His muscles tensed, arms bulging with raw strength as he pinned the creature by the neck, forcing it down.
Each swing of his fist carried the weight of his entire body.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Fists like meteors.
The earth cracked beneath them.
The mighty lightning beast howled—
And Bai Chen's grin only widened.
"Sorry, big guy," he growled through his teeth, "but this fisherman is not leaving empty-handed tonight."
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