“We can’t afford to stall any longer. This expedition has been a complete failure. It’s better we head back now, regroup, and prepare the groundwork for whoever might come next.”
The Wyverian Hunter spoke calmly, his face emotionless. The bluntness of his words didn’t shake his composure in the slightest.
The atmosphere around the campfire instantly turned cold.
It was a harsh truth.
They had been in the New World for five years.
Five long years. It was as if the Hunter’s Guild had completely forgotten about them. No liaison ship had come to check their progress, and not a single supply vessel had arrived to replenish their stores.
If they hadn’t all mentally prepared for this before leaving, the hardships of these five years alone would have crushed the spirits of most people.
“Heh... Then let’s go back! Just like you said—we need to preserve our strength and lay a solid foundation for those who come after us!”
The Admiral clapped his knees and stood up, raising his voice to call out to the rest of the camp, announcing their decision.
They would begin the journey home tomorrow.
...
The Next Day – Astera, New World
While poring over old documents, Nori sighed quietly as he held the so-called 'Moonstone' up to the light, comparing it once again to the illustrations in the records.
“Still not a match…”
The stone was cold to the touch, and under the sunlight, it reflected a faint violet hue. Nori was one of the personnel left behind to watch over Astera. In recent days, he’d practically buried himself in books, tirelessly trying to uncover the secrets of this mysterious rock he had named the Moonstone.
Unfortunately, his efforts had yielded nothing so far.
As he stretched lazily and reached for some fruit to appease the stomach that hadn’t been fed in at least ten minutes, a shape appeared on the horizon—a sail, just barely breaking over the edge of the sea.
Moments later, a dragonbone ship emerged into full view upon the water.
Nori froze for a second.
And then, overwhelming excitement.
Five years.
Five whole years.
At last—a ship!
Biting into a giant pear, he grabbed the grappling hook from his waist and sprinted to the nearest rope line. Latching on, he zipped down to the coastline at the base of the cliff.
There, after some rough modifications—and using wreckage from the First Fleet's original vessel—they had built a makeshift platform.
The acting commander, who had also stayed behind, worked from that very site.
“Commander! Commander!”
The sudden, breathless shouting made Acting Commander Carlos sigh.
That glutton again.
Despite being an exceptionally capable field scribe, Nori had an insatiable appetite—and seemingly limitless energy. He once rode on the back of a frenzied Anjanath for a full half-hour without getting thrown off.
Carlos had been considering a new idea lately: the tasks currently assigned to field scribes had long surpassed what that title originally entailed. He was thinking of renaming them to something more fitting—Chroniclers—tasked not just with recording every discovery, but also assisting Hunters with logistical and clerical matters.
“I heard you, I heard you—what is it?”
Carlos closed the notebook in his hands and looked wearily at Nori.
“There’s a ship! A ship’s coming!” Nori exclaimed, waving his arms excitedly.
“A ship? Where?”
Carlos’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Dragged along by Nori, the two rushed to the shoreline—and sure enough, a keelboat flying the banner of the Hunter’s Guild was slowly making its way across the sea toward them.
“It’s here! Finally!”
Carlos could no longer contain his excitement, joy lighting up his entire face.
...
Deep within the Rathalos Nest of the Ancient Tree, Logan was listening to the Grimalkynes’ report.
Since Chameleos had been repelled, it hadn’t shown itself again. Some of the wildlife that had previously migrated away from the lower layers of the Ancient Tree had now begun to return.
One notable point was that something seemed to have happened to the Zinogre packs. This time, their return had been intermittent, and most of them bore injuries.
From the looks of their wounds, it seemed they had been ambushed by Nargacuga.
A portion of the Anjanath had also returned. As always, they moved independently rather than as a group. However, among the Anjanath that had reappeared in the Ancient Tree region, there was one unusually large individual. Relying solely on its own strength, it had already brutally slain several Zinogre attempting to contest its territory, seizing a considerable area for itself.
The pack of Jagras had not returned to the Ancient Tree but had instead migrated downstream along the river at the base of the forest.
The Grimalkynes had gathered this intelligence from other tribes also residing within the Ancient Forest, so some of the details were vague. Still, none of this was particularly important to Logan. What he cared about most was whether there were any signs of unusual phenomena near the Ancient Tree.
Although most of the Rathalos believed that Chameleos, after being driven off last time, had recognized the danger of the Ancient Tree and returned to its original territory…
Logan knew better. That Chameleos had definitely not left. It was still lurking, coveting the Ancient Tree with malicious intent. It was just that—for the time being—it hadn’t found a method to completely drive out the Rathalos, and thus had yet to reappear.
As for how Logan could be so certain of its continued presence, it was due to what he’d sensed while actively absorbing energy from the earth veins during this time—anomalous fluctuations in the energy node beneath the Ancient Tree.
Under normal conditions, when undisturbed, earth vein energy remains relatively stable and calm, showing little variation over long periods.
Yet even after the Shara Ishvalda had once again fallen into slumber, the energy of the earth veins beneath the Ancient Tree remained unusually active. This anomaly had been especially apparent during the days when the Rathalos worked together to repel the Chameleos.
Logan suspected that Chameleos was actively channeling life energy to heal its wounds.
This dragon was highly intelligent. The last time they had managed to repel it was not just because Logan had carefully planned in advance, but also because Chameleos had been careless. It hadn’t considered the possibility that any creature other than an Elder Dragon would dare to stand in its way. So when Logan encountered it in the mist, it still wore that same relaxed and leisurely demeanor.
But next time would be different. If it returned, it would undoubtedly be far more cautious—and far more difficult for Logan to locate.
...
Just as she returned from marking her territory, Aki saw Logan looking visibly troubled. Though she didn’t fully understand what was weighing on his mind, she still chose to comfort him in her own way.
Just like when Logan was little, Aki approached and gently draped her wings—adorned with mesmerizing patterns—around his body. She nuzzled the side of his face softly, soothing him with the warmth and gentleness of an older sister, easing the restlessness in his heart.
Under her patient and enveloping comfort, Logan gradually calmed down.
“When the enemy comes, we defend; when the flood rises, we block it with earth.”
Given the Chameleos’s nature, its next appearance would surely be far more troublesome. Since there was no obvious solution, the only option was to adapt as the situation developed.
At worst, they’d abandon the Ancient Tree and migrate elsewhere.
It wasn’t as if leaving the Ancient Tree meant certain death. The only downside would be slower growth—and that was all.
Monsters had exceptionally long lifespans. It was just that most never lived long enough to reach the end of theirs, often dying in the ceaseless struggle for survival.
With this mindset, Logan’s life finally returned to a sense of normalcy. Once he let go of the stress, his whole wyvern self felt at ease again.
...
After a bit of investigation, Logan confirmed that the unusually large Anjanath among the returning group was in fact his 'old friend'—the one that had begun mutating toward a Thunderjaw-like form.
Once they confirmed they had both settled in the Ancient Tree region, their five-year feud resumed without hesitation.
However, the terrain of the Ancient Forest was incredibly complex. Logan found it difficult to take advantage of his aerial strength in the forest’s lower layers. Worse yet, that creature would often steer their fights into tight, cramped areas, limiting Logan’s movement and even putting him at a disadvantage at times.
That changed one day when Aki joined Logan on a joint hunt and happened to run into their old adversary. Together, they gave it a righteous beating—though it ultimately escaped.
Since then, before every confrontation with Logan, the creature would flare its nostrils wide to take in the scent-filled air with its powerful sense of smell, confirming Aki’s absence before daring to launch an attack.
After all, its goal was to kill Logan—not to be killed by him.
And so, the days passed one after another, as the ecosystem of the Ancient Tree region gradually and steadily recovered.
The signs of this stability even made Logan start to question himself. Had he been overthinking things? Perhaps Chameleos really had returned to its original territory, and the lingering fluctuations in the earth vein’s energy were simply residual effects left behind by Shara Ishvalda.
But on this day, Logan became certain: he hadn't been imagining things—and Chameleos had gone completely mad.
That day, the outer reaches of the Ancient Tree region were once again swallowed by mist. But this time, the fog wasn’t the same pure white as before. Mixed within it was a distinctly green, poisonous gas—clear evidence that the one releasing it had begun an indiscriminate massacre.
This time, the toxic mist gave no chance for any creature caught within to react. Its toxicity was extreme. Even large monsters couldn’t survive inside for long. Many didn’t even get the chance to flee. Smaller creatures died the instant they came into contact with it. Only plants were left unaffected.
As always, the poisonous fog came without warning. And in just 30 minutes, every living creature caught in the mist had been wiped out. This level of efficient slaughter didn’t even cause the usual chaos or panic—it was too sudden for that.
By the time the monsters living within the Ancient Tree sensed something was wrong, the poisonous fog was already dangerously close.
Its horrifying effectiveness even made the Anjanath—usually nothing short of a brutish thug—tremble in fear. Without hesitation, it abandoned its territory and fled.
In an instant, the Ancient Tree’s ecosystem—after all its recent recovery—collapsed once again, and this time even more completely than before.
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