At first glance, Gore Magala tends to evoke evil, danger, and ill omen, while Shagaru Magala is its complete opposite.
None of them had ever seen one firsthand, but the field guide's illustrations and eyewitness accounts described a majestic, beautiful creature.
Anyone unfamiliar with its ecology might even compare it to the phantom beast Kirin and find something almost "sacred" about it.
As for the Monster before them now...
Some parts of its body resembled Shagaru Magala, but no one looking at it would ever think of beauty.
Nor would anyone associate it with divinity.
In this world, more than ninety-nine percent of all living things were bilaterally symmetrical, a phenomenon with many causes.
As a result, symmetry often symbolized rules and order, while asymmetry represented chaos and disorder.
The creature howling in agony before the Hunters embodied that "chaos."
Its massive body looked as though an invisible boundary had brutally torn it in two, leaving each half in a completely different form.
The right half was covered in brilliant, platinum-white scales and Shell, its muscles full and powerful. A razor-sharp horn that seemed forged from gold had pierced through the dead black skin and stood proudly on the right side of its brow. Even the wing membrane, left in tatters by the flames, had been reborn during the metamorphosis. It now had a crystalline texture that glittered in the sunlight filtering through the forest.
The left half, however, looked as though every trace of life and energy had been drained from it. Its muscles and joints were withered and misshapen, and its exposed eye socket was hollow. The antenna that had failed to harden remained charred and broken from the searing flames, while the oversized wing membrane dragged beside its body like a filthy rag.
This was clearly not a successful metamorphosis.
With a desperate roar, the Gore Magala, lost to chaos, clamped its jaws around its left wing. It tried to tear away the black scale armor as if peeling off dead skin, as though perfect platinum scales like those on its right side might be waiting beneath.
A chilling sound of gnawing and tearing rang out. Large chunks of scale armor came free with flesh and blood still clinging to them, and the splatter of toxic blood stained the grass red.
Beneath the black scale armor lay no newborn body, only withered flesh and undersized bones. Nothing more.
"ROOOAAARRR!!"
The anguished howl echoed through the forest.
The Hunters exchanged glances, silently tightening their grips on their weapons and steeling themselves.
Even a docile Kelbi would charge a predator when driven into a corner. What, then, of a savage and violent dragon already cruel by nature?
After its frenzy of self-mutilation, the Chaotic Gore Magala suddenly went still.
It slowly turned around. Crimson light flickered within its hollow eye socket like an illusory pupil, fixing on the wary Hunters.
The moment its metamorphosis failed, its reason had burned away in the flames of despair and bitter rage.
The deformity went far deeper than its appearance. Its bones, organs, blood vessels, and every other tissue in its body were twisted. There was no path to survival left for it.
Its Elder Dragon lineage granted it extraordinary vitality. It might linger a little longer, but it could sense that it did not have much time.
Nothing else mattered anymore. It wanted only to drag everything around it into the grave!
"ROAR!!!"
Bracing its limbs and Wingtalons against the ground, it roared in madness. Newly formed scale powder spread like a sandstorm, staining the once-clear sky an ominous dark purple.
In its fury, the Chaotic Gore Magala entered a state of heightened activity unlike anything it had displayed before. It released every last scrap of energy without restraint, and even the drifting scale powder glimmered with faint, firefly-like lights.
Its evolution had failed, but that surge of energy forced its charred, broken antenna upright, transforming it into a dark purple horn that gleamed alongside the single golden one.
Its asymmetrical but still powerful limbs drove against the ground in unison. The Chaotic Gore Magala lunged, seeking to take down one Hunter while they were still staggered by its thunderous roar.
It clearly had not adapted to its new body. The half that had developed toward Shagaru Magala was noticeably stronger, throwing the pounce off balance.
Morgan, unlucky enough to be its target, seized the opening and dove aside, narrowly avoiding the sudden assault.
That did not mean the attack was over.
The Chaotic Gore Magala had once escaped an Elder Dragon hunting it down, and it possessed exceptional reflexes and combat intelligence.
After missing Morgan, it immediately exploited the greater strength of its right half and sprang sideways in a posture that would have been awkward for most Monsters. Its jaws opened toward Nymera, who was preparing to cover Morgan with gunfire as he recovered.
"Watch out!" Isis cried.
She had just reached Morgan's side to cover her teammate. Who could have expected the Chaotic Gore Magala to switch targets so abruptly? By the time she tried to support Nymera, it was already too late.
At that critical moment, Nymera displayed mobility unparalleled among the Hunters of Kamura Village.
Just as the Monster's massive jaws were about to close around her, she calmly cast a Wirebug and let its Ironsilk haul her clear of the snapping maw by a hair's breadth.
The danger was not over.
Strictly speaking, a Chaotic Gore Magala whose metamorphosis had failed could not yet be classified as an Elder Dragon, but its four-legged, two-winged skeletal structure was unmistakable.
Its Wingtalon, thicker and more powerful than its legs, had swept out at the same moment it opened its jaws, cutting off almost every escape route.
Nymera had only one direction left. She could cast another Wirebug and leap into the air.
The danger was obvious. After using two Wirebugs in quick succession, she had no third one with her, and there would be nothing to push off from in midair.
If the Monster reacted quickly enough, it had plenty of ways to land a devastating hit while she was airborne.
Her Armor offered scarcely more protection than bare skin. A direct hit could severely injure her and knock her unconscious in an instant, and that would count as lucky. If those jaws caught her, she would never even make it onto the Felyne cart.
Yet with the enormous claw closing in, she seemed to have no better option.
Just as Nymera raised a hand to cast a Wirebug and gamble on luck, Altaïr rushed in first and interposed his blade between her and the Monster.
"Clang!"
With a piercing shriek of metal, blade met claw.
The Hunter was unsurprisingly at a disadvantage in the collision. Though he put all his strength into deflecting the blow, it still drove him back several meters, and he could not even complete the counterstroke meant to follow his guard.
Even so, he had averted the crisis threatening his companion.
The Chaotic Gore Magala's attack did have a follow-up. The instant its Wingtalon knocked Altaïr back, it turned and whipped its tail around.
With no time to reset his stance, Altaïr could not block another attack, but he was not worried.
He had bought the few crucial seconds they needed. Morgan's covering fire arrived, and Isis reached them in time to raise her Large Shield and meet the Gore Magala's massive tail head-on.
At last, the Chaotic Gore Magala's relentless chain of attacks came to an end.
Nymera seized the opportunity to retreat. Altaïr shook out his numb arms, having gained a basic sense of the Monster's strength.
"Gunners, keep your distance and stay mobile while firing! Isis, we'll keep it occupied!"
"Understood!"
They charged once more toward the incessantly howling Chaotic Gore Magala.