Chapter Summaries

Amos taught Gordon and Hayata how to evade with precise footwork, predict monsters, and control a Great Sword’s momentum. Gordon struggled against two Shakalaka but eventually used an Iron Mountain Lean and his opponent’s body to defeat them.

• Amos demonstrated precise sidesteps and a predictive slash, explaining how Great Sword users could anticipate a monster’s movements.
• Amos showed Gordon how to control a weapon’s momentum with his whole body, then quickly killed the remaining Shakalaka.
• Amos sent Gordon to fight two more Shakalaka while Hayata and Porkchop watched.
• Gordon missed several attacks and stumbled as he practiced small evasive movements and tried to control his Buster Sword.
• Gordon used an Iron Mountain Lean to smash one Shakalaka, then grabbed it and swung it into the second, ending the fight.

Gordon, Amos, and Hayata continued their Shakalaka hunt, but Amos refused to venture deeper after warning them that King Shakalaka might roam the region during festival preparations. The group stayed near the territory’s outskirts, prioritizing caution over finishing the quest quickly.

• Gordon asked Amos whether his understanding of controlling inertia was wrong, and Amos told him to develop a fighting style that suited him.
• After killing nine Shakalaka, Gordon suggested moving deeper into their territory, but Amos refused.
• Amos explained that King Shakalaka was powerful enough to warrant a five-star quest and usually stayed in the forest’s central regions.
• Amos warned Gordon and Hayata that Shakalaka tribes were preparing for their festival and that King Shakalaka might be roaming nearby.
• Amos insisted they hunt on the outskirts, telling Gordon that cautious hunters were more likely to survive and grow stronger.

Gordon, Amos, and Hayata searched the edge of Shakalaka territory while Amos taught Hayata survival skills. When Gordon spotted a Mushroom Pig, Amos encouraged Hayata to kill it so she could gain her first experience drawing blood, and she approached it despite her nerves.

• Gordon thanked Amos for joining the quest to protect him, and the group agreed to avoid going deeper into Shakalaka territory.
• After Gordon and the others left, the King Shakalaka arrived among the bodies of the fallen Shakalaka and rallied his followers with a howl.
• Amos continued teaching Hayata how to navigate the forest and find resources while they searched without encountering more Shakalaka.
• Gordon spotted a Mushroom Pig and suggested that Hayata kill it, since she had not yet drawn blood.
• Amos encouraged Hayata to try hunting the relatively harmless Mushroom Pig, and she approached it with her shield and knife before snapping at Gordon to shut up.

After Hayata killed a Mushroom Pig, Amos sensed that the unnaturally quiet forest concealed pursuing Shakalaka. The group was surrounded, and Gordon discovered that the King Shakalaka could overpower him before Amos intervened and the hunters began a desperate fight.

• Hayata struggled through her first kill, and Gordon carved meat from the Mushroom Pig before the group left Shakalaka territory.
• Amos noticed the forest had fallen silent and hurried the group forward, warning Gordon that Shakalaka and their King were pursuing them.
• Two Shakalaka ambushed the hunters, and Amos killed them with a Kesa Slash as more enemies surrounded the group.
• Gordon blocked a Shakalaka from reaching Hayata, but the King Shakalaka knocked his Buster Sword aside and nearly struck him.
• Amos saved Gordon with his ice-blue blade and ordered him to fall back, then faced the King Shakalaka while Gordon charged the others.

Hayata, Porkchop, and Gordon fought off a swarm of Shakalaka, and Gordon learned to control his Great Sword’s momentum. As Hayata collapsed from exhaustion, Amos wounded the King Shakalaka with a Foresight Slash, but the enraged monster fought on.

• Hayata used her sword and shield to block the Shakalaka while kicking them back, with Porkchop helping protect her.
• Gordon charged into the swarm and used sweeping Great Sword strikes to break the Shakalaka formation and kill many of them.
• Gordon learned to guide his Great Sword’s momentum with small adjustments, making the blade feel lighter and more nimble.
• The surviving Shakalaka fled, and Hayata collapsed from exhaustion as the battle continued between Amos and the King Shakalaka.
• Amos countered the King Shakalaka’s scepter attack with Foresight Slash, wounding its shoulder and freezing the injury.
• The King Shakalaka clawed away the frost to restore its movement and shrieked at Amos, bloodied and enraged.

Gordon watched Amos battle the King Shakalaka and began to understand the Long Sword’s Spirit Slash and honing. Amos wounded the King Shakalaka but let it retreat, then told the group to gather materials and check whether they had completed the quest objective.

• Gordon resisted the urge to join the fight and watched Amos’s skillful footwork and attacks.
• Amos used the Great Mist Stance to unleash a Spirit Slash, striking faster and driving the King Shakalaka into a defensive opening.
• Amos’s Spirit Roundslash wounded the King Shakalaka gravely and honed his sword momentum.
• Gordon moved to block the King Shakalaka’s escape, but Amos signaled him to stop, and the monster fled into the thicket.
• Amos reassured Gordon and Hayata that he was unharmed, then told the group to gather materials and check whether they had slain twenty Shakalaka.

Gordon, Hayata, and Amos completed their Shakalaka subjugation quest and returned toward Minegarde after Hayata shared a valuable coin with Gordon. On the journey, Amos explained that he spared the King Shakalaka to prompt the young hunters to consider a hunter’s duty and humanity’s relationship with nature.

• Gordon and Hayata searched the Shakalaka corpses, but while Gordon found mostly worthless items, Hayata discovered a valuable foreign gold coin and a brilliant crystal.
• Hayata gave Gordon the gold coin, and Amos told him to accept it as his share of the spoils for contributing most to the hunt.
• Gordon confirmed that the Shakalaka subjugation count exceeded the quest requirement, and Amos led the group back to camp and then toward Minegarde.
• Gordon asked Amos why he had spared the King Shakalaka, and Amos asked Gordon and Hayata what they believed a hunter’s duty and humanity’s relationship with nature should be.
• Gordon described the relationship as competition, while Hayata said it involved both competition and coexistence, pleasing Amos.

Amos explained to Gordon and Hayata why hunters should respect nature and the ecological chain while carrying out necessary hunts. Gordon understood why Amos had spared the King Shakalaka, and the chapter ended with Amos urging them to remember that hunters were not butchers.

• Amos told Gordon and Hayata that humans were part of nature and that the ecological chain was both resilient and fragile.
• Amos explained that a forest could recover from a wildfire, then showed how killing the King Shakalaka might disrupt the Shakalaka tribes and lead to widespread hunting and attacks on people.
• Gordon realized that hunting the King Shakalaka offered no benefit and might cause an ecological disaster.
• Amos explained that the Hunter's Guild reviewed quests with other organizations and discouraged hunters from killing targets outside their assignments.
• Amos urged Gordon and Hayata to carry reverence for life and nature into the hunting grounds.

Gordon settled the quest in Minegarde City, reunited with Amos and Hayata, and visited the city’s Blacksmith Workshop to repair his Buster Sword. The workshop boss inspected the damaged grab hook and found the sword’s workmanship good.

• Tiji and Machi apologized to Gordon for the flawed quest information, and Tiji promised to check quest documents more carefully.
• Gordon collected the 4,300z quest reward, then treated Amos, Hayata, and Porkchop to a celebratory meal before parting ways with the hunters.
• Gordon and Porkchop returned to their room, and Gordon planned a visit to the nearby Blacksmith Workshop the next morning.
• Gordon left Porkchop at the Hunter Gathering Hall and went to the Workshop, where he met its elderly Wyverian boss.
• Gordon showed the boss the Buster Sword’s deformed grab hook, and the boss tested its mechanism and praised the sword’s workmanship.

Gordon brought his damaged Buster Sword to the workshop, where the owner identified damage from a Rathalos and the King Shakalaka. After Gordon refused an offer to buy Hayata’s Ancient Coin, he paid to have his sword repaired and arranged to collect it the next day.

• The workshop owner examined Gordon’s Buster Sword and recognized signs that it had blocked a Rathalos’s breath and been struck by a powerful weapon.
• Gordon explained that the King Shakalaka had damaged the sword with a Bone Scepter, prompting the workshop owner to scold him for fighting dangerous foes.
• Gordon showed the Ancient Coin Hayata had given him, and Oshura teased him about the girl who had shared her luck with him.
• The workshop owner offered Gordon 6,000z for the coin, but Gordon declined because it was his friend’s gift and he hoped it would improve his luck.
• Gordon paid 800z for repairs and maintenance, and the workshop owner told him to return after noon the next day.