On the Astera lookout platform, the hunters on duty suddenly noticed a disturbance on the horizon.
Zorah Magdaros—its back burdened by an entire massive volcano—burst up from the sea, entered the coastal waters, and began trudging toward the Ancient Forest.
Thick, rolling smoke continuously spewed from the crater. Countless Barnos wheeled through the air. Just its movement alone carried a shock far beyond anything they had ever seen from any other Elder Dragon—more awe-inspiring even than Yama Tsukami!
This was the pressure of an absolute monster: 257 meters long and 131 meters tall, carrying an entire miniature ecosystem on its back.
And this Zorah Magdaros was still considered a relatively small, "malnourished" specimen among all records held by the Hunter's Guild. At the very least, the Zorah Magdaros that served as the continental keystone of the Guiding Lands—adjacent to the New World—was vastly larger than the one before them. This one had truly reached the very limits of its life and had come here to seek its final resting place.
"Great—this time it's not landing on our side, but over by the inland river!"
Once he confirmed Zorah Magdaros's route, the hunter finally let out a breath of relief.
But as he kept adjusting the binoculars, wanting to admire its silhouette a little longer before it vanished from view, his gaze shifted—and he spotted an enormous dragonbone ship hanging on Zorah Magdaros's back. From the flag flying on that dragonbone ship, the hunter instantly understood that something had gone wrong!!
"Rescue! The Fifth Fleet needs rescue!!"
As the hunter's urgent shout spread, Astera—having waited for this—moved at once. The already-prepared contact ships and trade ships quickly left port, rushing out to support the Fifth Fleet, who had arrived without weapons.
...
Nearly ten years old now, and already 14 meters long, little Loren led several Radiant Fire Wyvern that had also accepted the escort assignment, protecting this group of Research Commission members as they transported supplies to the mobile research base and returned to Astera.
Several years had passed. Perhaps the battle with Nakarkos had truly jolted him awake—or perhaps, as he grew older, his mind steadily matured. In any case, over these years he had repeatedly taken the initiative to join all kinds of battles, and every single fight showed visible progress.
A greenhouse flower, once exposed to the wind and rain after being let loose, had finally begun cashing in on its own potential.
As little Loren was now, as long as he was not being deliberately targeted, he could already begin to show the essence of a natural disaster. He had even, more than once, been summoned several times by nature's will and dealt with several special individuals occupying very high ecological niches.
After landing on the Celestial Pursuit, little Loren looked down at the unusually busy Research Commission members with some confusion. He could not quite understand what they were so excited about. After all, in Loren's eyes over these past few years, those Research Commission members responsible for logistics had almost never shown a smile, and the overall atmosphere had been lifeless and gloomy.
So today's abnormal behavior naturally piqued little Loren's curiosity.
He flew out from the Celestial Pursuit and went to the herb plantation, where he found the now-fat, homebody Elder Dragon that the Research Commission had raised—Mother Chameleos—and began asking her what exactly had happened.
At the same time, a commonly used camp near the coast of the Ancient Forest.
A male hunter, about 2.2 meters tall, wearing no armor at all, descended from the sky. His exposed arm muscles were not exaggerated, but they were full of clean, defined lines. As he hit the ground, he used several skillful rolls to successfully bleed off the force, and on the face that bore a thin scar at the corner of his right eye, he slowly let out a breath of relief.
The lively girl with freckles who had come down with him was not so lucky. Relying purely on her tough physique, she used a pile of branches as cushioning, and in the end she dropped butt-first onto what was still fairly soft grass.
"Hiss—ow, ow, ow! Thank goodness you were here! Otherwise I'd have been done for this time. If I couldn't make it to the New World smoothly, I'd probably die and still be too ashamed to go see my grandpa."
Rubbing her waist, the freckled girl limped along, but her pace was not slow as she followed the small path not far ahead. As a member of the Recommendation Team and an editor who had made it through layer after layer of evaluations to be selected, this was exactly the moment for her to play her role!
...
Inside Astera, as the remaining nine ships docked, the harbor—wide as it originally was—suddenly became incomparably crowded.
The Commander looked down from the conference platform at the hunters constantly disembarking from the ships, and the smile at the corner of his mouth was impossible to suppress.
With so many fresh troops arriving successfully, they could probably pay off the debt soon!!
Standing beside the Commander, Noah—now grown into a strapping young man, and having become the leader of the Ecological Research Center through his own strength—looked at the smile on his grandfather's face, and his heart also rose with happiness.
He knew very well that the old man's lifelong dream was to unravel the mystery of the Elder Crossing. With so many powerful hunters joining in, that dream finally seemed to have a chance of being realized. This kind of joy was indeed deeply compelling.
At that moment, the person responsible for communicating with the Fifth Fleet walked over at a brisk pace and whispered something into the Commander's ear, causing the smile on the Commander's face to vanish in an instant.
Just as Noah was feeling puzzled, the Commander turned to look at him and said, "One of the Fifth Fleet's ships was accidentally overturned by Zorah Magdaros. Although most of the hunters were rescued by the other ships, one group of Recommendation Team members is missing. According to the final eyewitness reports, they seemed to have grabbed onto Barnos that were migrating alongside Zorah Magdaros at the last moment and successfully entered the New World.
"However, they are not carrying any weapons. For safety's sake, take some people with you into the Ancient Forest and make sure to bring them back!"
Noah responded in a low, firm voice.
That was the Recommendation Team!
Although the Fifth Fleet, due to the sheer number of participating factions and its excessive headcount, had not openly selected a true Fleet Master, the Recommendation Team—composed of the real elites among these hunters—could effectively be regarded as a group that possessed the functions of a Fleet Master.
In the subsequent Elder Dragon investigation missions, whoever stood out would become the Fifth Fleet Master.
Therefore, every Recommendation Team group was extremely important. They were all destined to be the absolute main force in future Elder Dragon investigations and could not be lost lightly.
Noah immediately called several hunters over and headed at a brisk pace toward the Ancient Forest.
...
In the Ancient Forest, at a choke point near Astera, the hunter and the freckled girl were being pursued by a Great Jagras.
Watching his companion, who was already starting to panic and lose direction, the hunter tightly gripped the handle of his hunter's knife—the tool used for carving monster materials—in his right hand. If they truly could not escape, then he would have no choice but to try to deal with this Great Jagras using that knife.
"Roar!"
Suddenly, a deep, thunderous roar burst out of the forest, accompanied by a wave of fetid wind.
An Anjanath came charging out with a bellow, slamming straight into the Great Jagras.
But just as it sent the Great Jagras flying, the Anjanath's gaze fell upon the hunter and the freckled girl.
Memories of being hunted and encircled by hunters multiple times over the years suddenly surfaced, pounding relentlessly against its mind.
In an instant, the Anjanath's eyes turned blood-red as it fixed the two of them with malicious intent.
At this moment, the gears of fate began to shift!
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