Yizhan Mudfish Dragon and the Hunter Peeking in the Dark

As soon as it decided to act, it didn't hesitate due to shame or any desire to continue fighting. The moment the Mudfish Dragon's head thought about escaping, it was already running.

But this wouldn't do.

Seeing the Mudfish Dragon about to dive into the swamp, Xingyan quickly spat the lava slag from his Flame Sac at it.

Boom! Boom-boom-boom!

First, a ball of lava was hurled, followed immediately by a violent explosion.

The swamp mud at the impact site was first scorched into dry earth, then blasted apart along with the mud that surged in from the sides. This sent the Mudfish Dragon, which had already buried half its head in the mud, flying back out.

It absolutely could not let this Mudfish Dragon return to its nest, or more accurately, to the area where multiple Mudfish Dragons had built their nests.

If it managed to escape, Xingyan would definitely not dare to pursue it.

No matter how poor the relationship between the Mudfish Dragons was, when a Dragon Slayer appeared before them, they would undoubtedly choose to join forces to eliminate the Dragon Slayer first.

Perhaps they wouldn't even need to join forces.

"Roar!!!"

Its escape plan thwarted, the Mudfish Dragon flinched. It quickly retreated to the open ground beside the explosion, then shook its body frantically like a Golden Retriever just out of the water, trying to shake off the mud that had stuck to it during the explosion.

No, it wasn't mud, but the lava slag spat out from Xingyan's mouth.

Still carrying embers, smoking as it cooled from the water impact... the Mudfish Dragon desperately tried to shake off the dregs stuck to its body, neglecting its defense and even actively shedding the layer of mud armor covering its surface.

Xingyan watched this scene in astonishment. Honestly, the Mudfish Dragon's reaction was a bit too extreme, as if—wait?

Xingyan suddenly realized something.

Because he smelled that familiar oppressive aura again, an aura he had been struggling to adapt to—that's right, a Lava Dragon!

When he had eaten the mountain the Lava Dragon had spewed out before, some of the minerals and rock fragments were stored by Xingyan in his Flame Sac. Having gradually gotten used to the oppressive aura of an Elder Dragon, he had almost forgotten about it.

But clearly, the Mudfish Dragon couldn't ignore the oppressive aura of the Lava Dragon.

Unlike the new mineral secretions that had appeared on its tail, this wasn't something Xingyan had swallowed and digested into his own body. It was stored as is—mineral slag carrying the Lava Dragon's aura.

To the Mudfish Dragon at this moment, it felt as if countless Elder Dragons were crawling all over its body. The Elder Dragon's aura was constantly triggering its instincts, urging it to flee, filling it with terror.

An unexpected bonus.

And an opportunity!

Without hesitation, Xingyan twisted his hips and swung his Sword Tail, slashing horizontally—hit!

A child holding a weapon is more threatening than an adult who is unarmed, and that's precisely the principle. Even though Xingyan was still young, the sharp Sword Tail unique to Dragon Slayers gave him the ability to harm adult monsters.

In order to escape the Elder Dragon's aura, the Mudfish Dragon had personally shed its mud armor, making its defense even weaker.

Strike while the iron is hot. Xingyan continuously swung his Sword Tail, attacking the Mudfish Dragon's lower body—well, to be precise, he attacked the wound on its lower abdomen that had been ripped open. But to his shock, the blood flowing from this gaping wound was actually decreasing?!

What kind of hellish vitality is this!

Under the effect of vigorous Life Energy, large monsters in the New World could possess such recovery power?!

Although the Mudfish Dragon's intestines, which had spilled out earlier, were torn apart by its violent movements, the creature still showed no signs of weakness or imminent collapse.

If the same injury were inflicted on a human, Xingyan couldn't imagine anyone being able to move naturally, let alone fight back with considerable strength, after their intestines were ripped open and torn, with several large wounds on their body.

Is this Mudfish Dragon even legal?

But it didn't matter. Xingyan was a natural hunter, and he was incredibly patient.

He, a perfectly good Dragon Slayer, was acting like a Kulu-Ya-Ku, a nervous skirmisher, hopping around the Mudfish Dragon, neither too close nor too far.

When the Mudfish Dragon charged at him, he would hop to the side. When the Mudfish Dragon's movements were too large to recover, he would hop over and land a couple of slashes.

When the Mudfish Dragon tried to burrow into the bottom of the swamp to reapply its mud armor, Xingyan would directly charge up his Tail Bite Great Spin. The Mudfish Dragon, just emerging from the ground, would then take a massive hit, making its situation worse instead of better.

Xingyan had effectively turned the sharp Dragon Slayer's blade into a bloodletting knife. He wondered what other Dragon Slayers would think if they saw this.

But the Mudfish Dragon no longer had time to think.

No matter how vigorous its Life Energy was, it was gradually reaching its end. The most obvious sign was that the Mudfish Dragon's movements had slowed down. Both its charges and bites were becoming slower and slower. Xingyan didn't even need to make significant movements to dodge them easily.

Panting heavily, it wasn't just the Mudfish Dragon that was tired; Xingyan was also exhausted.

Both dodging and attacking, especially those few Tail Bite Great Spins, required a lot of effort. For a Young Dragon like him, the consumption was too great.

But fortunately, the battle was finally coming to an end.

With a nimble sidestep, he dodged the Mudfish Dragon's now sluggish charge. At the same time, Xingyan's Sword Tail swept across the Mudfish Dragon's neck.

Thump.

The uncontrolled dragon's body made a heavy thud as it fell. The swamp had already been churned into a muddy soup by the two dragons' fierce battle. A large splash of mud now soaked Xingyan's legs as he stood in place.

He had won.

He had won!

"Roar!!!"

He tilted his head back and let out a sky-shattering roar. The joy of victory surged through Xingyan's mind—the joy of winning the battle, the joy of impending feasting, the joy of revenge... Nothing could satisfy Xingyan more than this moment.

Instead of being turned into a pile of dung by the Mudfish Dragon, he was now going to turn the Mudfish Dragon into a pile of—oh, it seemed he couldn't.

Remembering the abnormality of his own body calmed Xingyan down somewhat. There wasn't time for him to feel more emotion about his first big battle victory before he immediately threw himself into the important task of eating.

"Roar roar roar! Roar roar roar!" (No need for extra words, let's just get started!)

After a simple eating ceremony, like a starving ghost who hadn't eaten in decades, or as if a dragon might rush out and snatch his feast at any moment if he didn't eat quickly, Xingyan directly jumped onto the Mudfish Dragon's corpse and buried his head in eating.

Following the usual rule, he started with the nutritious and fatty internal organs. This was also where the Mudfish Dragon's Life Energy was concentrated. For Xingyan, who had just expended too much energy in a great battle, this fat could effectively replenish his losses and even make him stronger.

So fragrant! So fragrant!

Xingyan even made slurping sounds.

What a rich flavor!!

The soft, sweet fat, the chewy muscle. Unlike the herbivores he had eaten before, like the Carapace Dragon, the Mudfish Dragon had a taste akin to river fish—or in dragon terms, a bit fishy.

It was quite novel.

This was the best meal Xingyan had ever had since he was born. Even though he didn't have the luxury of seeking cooked food at the moment, and the meat in his mouth was still covered in mud from the swamp, to a Dragon Slayer, it was truly a feast.

The ample amount of meat quickly turned into Life Energy after entering his stomach. This wasn't the meat of low-level creatures like the herbivores he had hunted before, but the meat of the Mudfish Dragon, which occupied a middle position in the ecological hierarchy... well, perhaps it wasn't that high-class either.

In any case, by the time Xingyan had stuffed the entire fish tail into his belly, he was no longer afraid of anything, nor was there anything to be afraid of.

What about Earth Sand Dragons, Female Fire Dragons, Rathalos? They hadn't shown up yet!

Eat when you should eat, drink when you should drink, and don't let things weigh on your mind.

Go for it!

And while Xingyan was devouring the Mudfish Dragon's flesh like a storm, he didn't notice that at the edge of the distant Flower Field Marshland Area, someone was observing him from atop an exceptionally tall, protruding stone pillar.

Yes, a person, not a dragon.

Well, perhaps they could be considered Ape Dragon Species?

If Xingyan had noticed these three people, he would have immediately recognized them as the Hunters he had been longing to see.

Guild Hunters.

"Truly incredible... such a small body, yet it hunted prey twice or even three times its size."

Taking down the binoculars that were pressed against his face, a burly young man said in a low voice. Compared to his two companions, this young man was considerably more burly, or rather, a size larger. His black hair grew wildly like a lion's mane.

"Keep your voice down. We don't know how much difference there is between the Dragon Slayers of the New World and those of the Old World, especially concerning their hearing."

To the right of the burly young man, a similarly young woman was lying down. She extended her arm and pushed down the head of the burly young man, who kept craning his neck to look, telling him not to be too conspicuous.

"It's a bit scary. Are all the monsters in the New World like this?" the leaner young man lying to the left of the burly young man said, turning his head. "You've all hunted Dragon Slayers before, right? Compared to those guys, this little one is just too... smart."

"You mean cunning, don't you?" the female Hunter chuckled. "It uses other creatures to set traps. Even though the trap was very crude, the act itself proves its intelligence. At least, I haven't seen similar behavior in other Dragon Slayers."

"Not just that," the leaner young man shook his head. "There was also the follow-up pursuit. That thing doesn't act like a Dragon Slayer at all. Did you all see it? It was deliberately stalling to weaken that fish-like dragon further. That's a bloodletting tactic. It didn't go head-to-head with that dragon at all—this isn't something the Dragon Slayers I remember would do."

Yes, these Hunters had witnessed almost Xingyan's entire revenge battle, from the setting of the trap to his unusual combat style.

"Indeed. The Dragon Slayers I remember were all hot-tempered swordsmen. They wouldn't fight by jumping around like that," the female Hunter also commented. "I'm more curious about where its mother is. Logically, a cub like this shouldn't be hunting alone yet—or perhaps, because it lost its mother, it learned to hunt this way?"

"Hey, hey, hey, why have you two already jumped to conclusions while talking?" the burly young man interjected. "Maybe it's not a Dragon Slayer at all, but a monster that looks like a Dragon Slayer, attacks like a Dragon Slayer, and behaves like a Dragon Slayer, but isn't actually a Dragon Slayer, just something similar to a Dragon Slayer."

"Are you listening to yourself?" the leaner young man looked at his companion speechlessly. "If a dragon looks like a Dragon Slayer, fights like a Dragon Slayer, and behaves like a Dragon Slayer, then it is a Dragon Slayer."

"Ahaha, sorry, sorry. I got a bit carried away," the burly young man scratched his head and grinned.

"Actually, it's not necessarily the case," the female Hunter said after thinking for a moment. "There are indeed creatures in nature that disguise themselves as other species when they are young, only revealing their true forms when they mature and gain the ability to protect themselves."

"Perhaps," the leaner young man shook his head. "I'm more concerned about whether such an intelligent monster could pose a threat to our camp."

"Hunt? Or capture?" the burly young man raised his hand and asked.

Xingyan, far away, suddenly felt a chill down his spine. He looked up and around, and after confirming there was nothing, he lowered his head and continued eating.

"Wait, let's not jump to conclusions so rashly," the female Hunter said, stopping them repeatedly. "I know you're all incredibly excited about arriving in a New World, and the Guild doesn't have many restrictions on us, but that's no reason for us to hunt indiscriminately."

"Hehe, of course, I was just joking," the burly young man chuckled twice. "Don't be nervous, Yano, and you too, Commander—don't forget we're just here to investigate. We can't act rashly until the situation is clear."

"You know that, Leader," the female Hunter—Yano—glared at the burly young man. "The Steel Dragon and that volcano-like dragon were indeed heading in this direction, but the volcano dragon doesn't seem to have landed in this great canyon. The evidence is that the life patterns of these monsters haven't been affected by the Elder Dragons."

"Then let's move forward," the male Hunter, known as Commander, said. "The sooner we figure out why the Elder Dragons are heading here, the sooner we can return to the Guild."

"Oh! Then let's go!"

Casting one last glance at Xingyan, who was still buried in eating, the burly Hunter known as Leader slid down the stone pillar.

He remembered this exceptionally unique young Dragon Slayer and hoped he would see it again when the investigation team returned.

Don't fall to this cruel nature, little one!