Chapter 128: The Arrival of the Wings of Annihilation

Rumble!

The Zorah Magdaros’s awakening sent tremors through the entire canyon. The surrounding rock walls cracked and crumbled under the vibrations, creating an immediate scene of terrestrial collapse.

On the peak of the Zorah Magdaros, where magma flowed like rivers, the Tigrex plummeted rapidly, charging toward Su Yi at the bottom of the slope. Thinking quickly, Su Yi threw himself to the side of the embankment, and the Tigrex slid past him. Before Su Yi could even catch his breath, a medium-sized boulder came rolling toward him, forcing him to scramble away in a frantic rush.

Suddenly, the Zorah Magdaros shifted from a quadrupedal stance to a bipedal one. Su Yi felt the world spin as the mountain peak beneath his feet slowly tilted horizontally. He steadied himself, adjusting his footing as the terrain shifted; the boulders stopped rolling down the slope due to gravity.

"Whew!" Su Yi exhaled. That had been both terrifying and exhilarating.

*Huff, huff, huff!*

Heavy, ragged breathing sounded from nearby. Su Yi’s hair stood on end. He turned to look and saw the Tigrex gripping the edge of the cliff with its powerful forelimbs, straining to pull itself back up.

"Ugh! You didn't fall off?" Su Yi quickly grabbed a Capture Ball.

Honestly, this narrow space was ill-suited for a fight. One wrong move would mean a two-hundred-meter plunge from the volcanic titan.

*Thud!*

Beneath them, the Zorah Magdaros took a step forward, reached the fractured peak, and struck it with its massive, heavy claws.

*Rumble!*

The peak shook, and vast amounts of earth and stone were gouged away. Su Yi and the Tigrex lost their footing, their bodies swaying uncontrollably. In the brief interval before the next strike, the Tigrex let out a low growl and lunged at Su Yi.

"Great Jagras! Protect!" Su Yi immediately summoned his Monstie.

"Gao gao??" The Great Jagras, upon emerging, sensed the overwhelming aura of the Elder Dragon and froze in stunned silence. But seeing the ferocious Tigrex charging toward it, it snapped back to reality and, in the nick of time, activated a protective barrier.

*Bang!*

The barrier shuddered violently. The Tigrex’s momentum slowed for a split second, but it continued to press forward. The barrier shattered instantly, and the Tigrex barreled through, slamming into the Great Jagras with savage force.

"Such immense power." Su Yi quickly recalled the Great Jagras and scrambled to the side.

This was exactly why Su Yi was hesitant to go head-to-head with monsters of the Tigrex’s caliber. The disparity in strength was too vast; even if his Odogaron activated its "Ferocious" state, it would likely only be able to contest that power for a moment. To actually win, he would need to calculate countless variables, and the risk of his Monsties suffering severe injury or death was far too high.

*Bang!*

The Zorah Magdaros struck the peak again, causing Su Yi to stumble. Then, the titan leaned forward, shifting its body weight as it transitioned back to a quadrupedal crawl. The peak beneath them tilted once more. The Tigrex roared in frustration as it slid down the slope. Su Yi seized the opportunity, fired his Clutch Claw, and hooked onto the Tigrex’s back.

The next moment, the Tigrex slid off the slope and landed on the Zorah Magdaros’s rocky shell. It scrambled impatiently toward the edge, spread the wing membranes on its forelimbs, and glided off the giant's back. Su Yi caught a free ride away from the Zorah Magdaros.

Behind them, the Zorah Magdaros continued its unstoppable march, thundering forward. The Tigrex caught its breath, glanced at the departing titan, and then turned its malevolent gaze toward Su Yi.

"Well, I'm really in a bind now." Su Yi’s palms sweated as he braced for a desperate battle.

"Su Yi! Get up here!" A Corviknight flew in rapidly from the sky. Hanging below it was a cart, from which Aibo, Aiden, and Navirou were shouting frantically.

"I’m saved!" Su Yi immediately fired his hookshot, snagging the cart and pulling himself toward the Corviknight just as the Tigrex prepared to lash out.

*ROAR!*

The Tigrex bellowed, scooped up a rock with its forelimb, and hurled it at the airborne Corviknight.

"Dodge to the left!" Su Yi shouted from his position beneath the cart.

"Caa!" The Corviknight remained calm under pressure, reacting swiftly to evade the projectile.

Watching the Corviknight drift further away, the Tigrex roared in impotent fury. After such a harrowing escape, Su Yi had no heart left for tracking. After collecting some Zorah Magdaros shell fragments into the cart along the way, weight limitations forced Su Yi to have the Corviknight fly back to the base first. The rest of them decided to trek back on foot through the coastal outskirts of the Ancient Forest.

"Are you alright, Su Yi?" Aibo asked with concern.

"I'm fine, mostly just startled," Su Yi replied. Surely, no one else had ever survived a standoff with a Tigrex on the back of a gargantuan Elder Dragon.

"Drink this to calm your nerves, meow." Navirou handed him a bottle.

"Thanks." Su Yi took a long gulp, settling his racing heart. He couldn't help but reflect: did every sightseeing trip have to end in disaster? But he knew he’d do it again in a heartbeat.

"That was truly a close call. If it weren't for the Corviknight, we would have been in real danger," Aiden remarked.

"Who knew the Zorah Magdaros would wake up at that exact moment? I have reason to suspect it was the noise from the Glavenus and Tigrex fighting that stirred it," Su Yi said helplessly.

"Do you think the Zorah Magdaros is so obsessed with pushing through obstacles to get somewhere specific?" Aibo asked curiously.

"The graveyard of Elder Dragons, the Rotten Vale," Su Yi said. Of course, he left out the full truth: the Zorah Magdaros was actually being guided by the Xeno'jiiva toward the Confluence of Fates in the Elder's Recess.

"The Rotten Vale?" Aibo asked, confused.

Just as Su Yi was about to explain, Aiden suddenly pointed to the sky and gasped, "What is that!?"

Above the canyon, a dark shadow flew along the path carved by the Zorah Magdaros. Su Yi narrowed his eyes, then widened them in realization.

"Hide, quickly!" Su Yi hissed, sprinting toward a pile of debris at the edge of the canyon, finding a large rock to huddle behind. Aibo and Aiden didn't hesitate to follow.

*Whoosh!*

Pitch-black, thorny wings beat against the air, bringing down a demonic figure. The elder dragon’s massive, jagged-toothed maw emitted a low growl. Under the sunlight, a pair of diabolical horns looked particularly hideous.

"What kind of monster is that? Such a terrifying presence!" Aiden’s muscles were tense, his expression filled with the same dread he felt when facing other Elder Dragons.

"Nergigante," Su Yi muttered, peeking carefully from behind the rock.

This "Eater of Elders," the predator of Elder Dragons, had finally tracked the Zorah Magdaros to the New World. Nergigante gazed at the canyon carved by the Zorah Magdaros and let out an excited growl.

Su Yi reached into his side pocket and pulled out his Rotom Phone.

"Su Yi, that guy looks like bad news, Rotom." The Rotom Phone, with its inherent sensitivity as a Ghost-type Pokémon, was filled with terror at the sight of the monster in the distance.

"Turn off the sound and flash. I’m just taking a few pictures," Su Yi whispered.

"Understood, Rotom," the phone replied quietly.

Su Yi poked his head out, aimed the phone at the Nergigante—which had its back to them—and snapped a few photos. Nergigante didn't linger; it brushed its wings against the ground, leaving behind a few thorny spikes as a mark, before taking flight and following the Zorah Magdaros down the canyon.

Regarding the content from *Monster Hunter Stories*, I generally treat it as a parallel world to the main *Monster Hunter* series, viewing it mostly as legend or Easter eggs.