Chapter 145: I Am Both Elegant and Full of Conscience

In the broad forest clearing, a bird wyvern clad in black-purple scales chirped excitedly.

This bird wyvern was not particularly large, measuring around fourteen meters, roughly comparable in length to a Pukei-Pukei, which was also a bird wyvern.

It possessed a wide beak resembling an iron shovel, with sharp teeth lining the front edge. Silver-white fluff adorned its neck, a pair of pale purple ears grew atop its head, and multiple purple venomous spikes extended along its tail.

Beneath its feet, the carcass of an Aptonoth had been torn apart and devoured beyond recognition.

"Roar-aah!" The Anjanath, seeing its secondary hunting ground invaded by another monster, immediately let out a threatening roar.

"I never expected it to be this monster—the dark fierce wind, Yian Garuga!" Su Yi furrowed his brow, realizing the situation was tricky.

"To think the New World has a Yian Garuga. This bellicose fellow is not easy to deal with," Aiden said in surprise.

In the world of Monster Hunter, the ecological niche of bird wyverns is generally on the lower side.

Yet, there is one exception among bird wyverns, and that is the Yian Garuga.

Monsters usually fight for survival, such as competing for food, territory, or mates.

Not the Yian Garuga. It fights simply because it loves to fight and enjoys combat.

A Yian Garuga is either picking a fight or on its way to pick one.

Furthermore, they are completely devoid of fear, going into battle with absolute madness and bravery.

Even the destroyer of the food chain, the voracious Devourer—Deviljho—would have to take a couple of smacks if it stood before one.

Hence, it earned the moniker of the "Black Madman."

"Roar!"

The hungry Anjanath, enraged by the arrival of the Yian Garuga which had frightened away its rightful prey, the Aptonoth, charged forward furiously and bit down with its massive jaws.

"Gawa-aah!" The Yian Garuga showed no fear, instead charging head-on with soaring battle intent.

Holding a distinct size advantage, the Anjanath clamped its jaws around the Yian Garuga and violently tossed its head, flinging the smaller monster into the air.

Yet the Yian Garuga remained undaunted. Even while trapped within those jaws, it stretched out its neck and viciously pecked at the Anjanath's head with its hard, razor-sharp beak.

In no time at all, the fierce flurry of strikes opened several bloody gashes on the Anjanath's head.

With a low, painful growl, the Anjanath released its grip.

But the Yian Garuga had no intention of stopping. Flapping its wings, it took flight and, amid high-pitched, excited screeches, frantically scratched at the Anjanath with its sharp talons.

Yian Garuga: *Dare to bite me? Do you take me for a Great Jagras, or do you take yourself for a Deviljho? You've really gotten full of yourself, haven't you?!*

As the Anjanath stumbled backward under the relentless onslaught, the Yian Garuga beat its wings fiercely, executed a sudden aerial flip, and, using the centrifugal force of a spinning tail-charge, whipped its tail from bottom to top directly into the Anjanath's jaw.

Bam!

The sixteen-to-seventeen-meter Anjanath was knocked flat onto the ground by the thirteen-to-fourteen-meter Yian Garuga.

Both Kulu-Ya-Ku and the nearby bird wyverns watched in utter shock.

The Anjanath collapsed to the ground, emitting pained, low groans. Blood and purple venom oozed from a torn wound on its lower jaw, and the skin surrounding the injury began to turn purple, clearly indicating it had been poisoned.

In stark contrast, the Yian Garuga bore only a few white scratches on its scales, its defense unbroken, and remained as full of vitality as ever.

"Gawa-aah!"

Surveying the struggling, fallen Anjanath, the Yian Garuga let out a victorious, excited roar, and then turned its head toward Su Yi's group, who had been watching the spectacle.

"Oh ho!" Su Yi drew a Capture Sphere, standing on high alert.

"Shall we engage?" Aiden asked.

"No, I want to find an opportunity to subdue the Anjanath first."

Su Yi was not about to let such a prime opportunity slip away.

"Besides, it's not like we can't handle tangling with the Yian Garuga. This one doesn't have many scars on its body; it looks like a young individual."

After carefully observing the Yian Garuga, Su Yi made this assessment.

The strength of individual Yian Garuga largely depends on the battles they have experienced.

Only by surviving countless brutal, life-or-death skirmishes can a Yian Garuga hone its physical strength and combat prowess to terrifying levels.

One could say that a battle-scarred Yian Garuga and a freshly minted one fight like two entirely different species.

And the one before them was clearly a young bird lacking in experience.

"Prepare for battle, and proceed with caution!" Su Yi quickly dispatched his Monsties.

An Odogaron and a Tobi-Kadachi materialized in the clearing.

It wasn't that Su Yi didn't want to send out other Monsties, but he feared that if the Yian Garuga flew into a frenzy and relentlessly targeted a single Monstie, it might result in casualties.

The Odogaron possessed sufficient baseline strength, while the Tobi-Kadachi could rely on its arboreal gliding skills to evade attacks flexibly.

These two should have no problem playing keep-away with the Yian Garuga for a while.

The Odogaron bared its claws, bracing itself.

The Tobi-Kadachi, however, constricted its pupils, reacting as if facing a mortal threat.

"What's wrong?" Su Yi looked curiously at the Tobi-Kadachi, whose fur was standing entirely on end.

"Hiss-aah!" The Tobi-Kadachi let out a shrill hiss.

"What? It says this is the fire-breathing, tyrannical bully meow?!" meowed Kitchu in astonishment.

"...!?" Su Yi froze.

Aiden looked at the Tobi-Kadachi, then exchanged glances with Su Yi.

"When you talked about it back then, you didn't mean the Rathalos couple, you meant the Yian Garuga?!" Su Yi and Aiden exclaimed in unison.

"S-ha?" The Tobi-Kadachi turned its head to look back at Su Yi, looking perplexed.

*What else could it be? I might not know this freak, but how could I not recognize the Rathalos couple?*

"Your intel was completely bogus!" Su Yi, incensed, yanked a few hairs right out of the Tobi-Kadachi's tail.

The Tobi-Kadachi immediately let out an indignant hiss.

*Just admit whether the damn thing breathes fire or not!*

"Gawa-aah!" The Yian Garuga roared in fury.

*Do I not even exist to you lot?*

The Yian Garuga lifted its head slightly, flames instantly accumulating within its maw.

"Get back, quick!" Su Yi shouted.

The Kulu-Ya-Ku and the bird wyvern instantly carried Su Yi and Aiden away from the Yian Garuga's direct line of fire, while the Odogaron and Tobi-Kadachi darted off to the flanks.

After a brief charge, with a deafening boom, a volatile wave of fire exploded and spread outward, scorching a large patch of ground to a blackened crisp.

This destructive power was by no means inferior to a Rathalos's breath attack.

A hard shell, potent venom, powerful fireballs, and a ferocious combat style...

These elements formed the primary offensive arsenal of this fighting madman known as the Yian Garuga.

"The Anjanath is trying to escape meow!" reminded Kitchu.

Taking advantage of the distraction Su Yi's group had created by drawing the Yian Garuga's attention, the Anjanath had hauled itself up, panting heavily with drool dripping from its jaws, and began fleeing into the distance.

Having failed to secure a meal and suffering heavy injuries, the Anjanath was not the kind of monster to fight to the death over pride; clearly, it urgently needed to find food and a place to rest.

"Forget the Yian Garuga, after the Anjanath!" Su Yi ordered.

"Gawa-aah!" The Yian Garuga spread its wings and took to the air, hurtling directly toward Su Yi's position.

"Now, flash!" Su Yi commanded.

The bird wyvern spun around abruptly, instantly unleashing a pre-prepared blinding Flash Pod.

With a bright pop, the Yian Garuga tumbled clumsily out of the air.

Whoosh!

A gale howled.

Boom!

A fireball detonated.

Su Yi gritted his teeth and looked up, only to see a pale-blue silhouette roaring down at him.

"Azure Rathalos!" Aiden furrowed his brow deeply.

"Encountered a Yian Garuga and an Azure Rathalos! Requesting backup!" Su Yi yelled into his communicator.

"What? A Yian Garuga?" the Field Team Leader exclaimed in shock.