Monster Hunt: Notes from a Hunter

Gordon commanded the acid pterosaur and landed on a winding branch in the crown of the ancient giant tree.

Although it is a branch, the diameter of this branch is more than ten meters. Walking on it is like a road. Let alone stopping the acid pterosaur, even a small airship can be stopped easily.

Stuffing a piece of dried meat into the mouth of the Sour Pterodactyl can be regarded as cultivating feelings. If you want these beasts to be obedient, you can't just rely on fists.

The Sour Pterosaur raised its neck, made a harsh "quacking" sound, and then flapped its wings and flew away.

Gordon smiled. Although the cry was strange and unpleasant, after getting along with it these days, he knew that it was a sign of the Sour Pterodactyl's happiness.

Follow the extremely thick branch all the way to the end.

As far as you can see, you can see the green of the forest and the deep blue of the ocean. To the southeast, where the two colors meet, where smoke is faintly rising, is the location of the star stronghold.

It was the gray smoke emitted from the large boilers in the processing house that ran day and night.

The pork chop was placed on Gordon's shoulders, and each of them took a deep breath.

Standing on a super giant tree with a height of more than 1,000 meters and looking into the distance is a scene that was unimaginable in the Old World.

"This is really, really... so beautiful!" Gordon held it in for a long time, but he couldn't come up with any particularly beautiful words.

Pig Chop shouted "Meow——!" but didn't receive much response.

The existence of ancient giant trees gave them the illusion of standing on the top of a mountain, but in fact, the surrounding tens of thousands of square kilometers were flat green fields with flourishing plants.

The acid pterosaur hovering above them was even more excited than the two of them.

The wings danced rapidly into the higher air, and then swooped down, like a blue velociraptor rushing into a group of herbivorous dragons, sending a group of wild pterosaurs running around.

It was also a way to vent the frustration of being beaten repeatedly during this period.

Taking another deep breath of the humid air with explosive oxygen content, Gordon looked at the pork chop and said, "Let's go, let's start working!"

"Good meow!"

One person and one cat began to explore along the branches.

At first, Gordon thought that the ancient giant tree was "one" tree, but he later found out after communicating with scholars from the Institute of Botany.

This "big" ancient tree is a complex composite life form.

The age of the main giant tree cannot be calculated at all. Scholars specializing in plants speculate that the existence of this giant tree may be older than the ancient tree forest itself.

Those giant trees that are tens or hundreds of meters tall in the forest are basically its descendants.

This giant tree is still alive, but its crown is not lush, it can even be said to be bare.

Otherwise, with its tree height of more than 1,000 meters, the diameter of the crown is likely to exceed 2,000 meters, which will truly block the sky and the sun. Under its shadow, other plants will not be able to grow at all.

This is not a baseless guess. Some ancient thick branches that have been petrified can still be found thousands of meters away from the ancient giant trees.

They should be relics from the ancient giant tree's most prosperous period.

As for why it later lost its lush canopy, scholars also have various speculations. The tree began to wither due to its age and the interference of natural forces.

There is even a more emotional and romantic saying - the giant tree does not want to swallow up too many nutrients, and actively cuts off the crown, leaving the sun, rain and dew to other plants.

No one can tell which guess is the truth.

The only thing that can be confirmed is that it is this phenomenon that creates the amazing biodiversity around the giant tree.

The giant tree itself, which had lost its crown, still showed no sign of decay. Countless plants clung to it, giving its thick but bare branches a variety of different greens.

After just a few minutes of walking along the branches, Gordon had already seen at least twenty or thirty kinds of plants growing on this giant tree. He had not even seen most of them, let alone naming them. Saw it.

As he was sighing in his heart, what he saw out of the corner of his eye suddenly slowed down his pace.

Without his reminding, Pig Pork pricked up his ears consciously and became wary of his surroundings.

Gordon raised his head. There seemed to be a claw mark on another branch diagonally above ten meters away.

It should have been left by some kind of large flying dragon, but due to the clouds and mist surrounding it, he couldn't see clearly. In order to confirm the details, he wanted to take a closer look.

So I turned my attention to those vines that could be seen everywhere.

"No, meow!" Pig Chop quickly stopped his unreliable idea, "This is too high from the ground, meow. If your hand slips or the branch breaks, it will turn into a cake, meow!"

Gordon felt a little regretful, but he had to admit that what Pork Chop said made sense.

The hunter who accidentally threw himself to death is so shameful

Helpless, he had no choice but to squint his eyes and stare at the claw mark for a while, "It should be the claw mark of the fire dragon?"

The area where the ancient giant tree is located is indeed inhabited by fire dragons. More than a month ago, Evelin and the others encountered a scene where a male fire dragon and a heterochromatic wind-drifting dragon were competing for territory.

Thinking about it this way, it is possible that there was a fire dragon's lair in the ancient giant tree?

If there is one, the location of the camp needs to be carefully considered. It would be a bit awkward to build the camp at the entrance of the fire dragon's lair.

Gordon's nerves became more tense, and Pork Chop sniffed, catching the smell in the air.

"There's that fishy smell, meow. The lair of a fire dragon or some other large monster should be around here, meow." Piglet lowered his voice.

Gordon actually had some guesses about the location of the monster's lair.

Thinking about how birds build nests in trees, it should be pretty much the same. If a large flying dragon like a fire dragon is placed on an ancient giant tree, wouldn't it look like a small bird on an ordinary tree?

Sure enough, as they gradually approached the center of the canopy, the unique fishy smell of the carnivorous monster's nest became stronger and stronger, and the pork chop could already clearly point out the direction through the sense of smell.

Gordon thought for a while, took out his invisibility suit and put it on, lowered his body and slowed down his pace.

He is not afraid of encountering fire dragons, but his purpose is not to hunt fire dragons, so he should try to cause as little trouble as possible.

One person and one cat carefully arrived at the top of the tree trunk, which is also the center of the branches.

The area here is terrifyingly large, with the flat part in the middle covering thousands of square meters, and there is even a large deep pool formed by rainwater at the edge.

Looking around at a glance, one does not feel that one is at the top of a plant.

In the central area of ​​the platform, many branches, straw, and animal bones and other debris were laid out to form a huge nest.

Obviously, this is the lair of a certain flying dragon.

More claw marks could also be seen on the surrounding "ground". Gordon squatted down and took a closer look, and quickly confirmed that these were the marks left by the Fire Dragon.

Well, there are also female fire dragons.

But right now, the Fire Dragon couple were not at home. Gordon relaxed a little and took off his invisibility suit.

"There's a fire dragon egg, meow!" Zhupa excitedly pulled Gordon's trousers.

Only then did Gordon notice that in the center of the nest, half buried in the soft hay, was a round egg.

Gordon asked funnyly: "Are you greedy?"

"It's been a long time since I've eaten."

"Forget it. Carrying the eggs down from the top of this giant tree will be exhausting."

"Meow too"

The pork chop is a bit regretful. In fact, rather than eating it, it is more looking forward to preparing this precious ingredient by hand.

"Meow?!" Pig Chop's ears suddenly perked up, "There's something moving, meow!"

Gordon was shocked when he heard this, thinking that the owner of the lair was back. He quickly picked up the pork chop and found a hidden place to hide it.

There was silence for a moment.

Not long after, a sneaky figure climbed up to the dragon's nest on the top of the tree, following the thick vines that coiled around the trunk of the giant tree like a staircase.

That's a huge chocobo?