The scattered Meowcenaries and Kamura Village's elite Hunters were recalled one after another from across the region.
Under Guild Master Hojo's overall coordination, they converged on Infernal Springs, divided the region into sections, and launched a dragnet search from every direction at once.
The main squad led by Maki and Altaïr's four-person squad arrived at Infernal Springs at the same time.
Just as Maki had described, the mountain region was rugged and dotted with hot springs.
Sulfurous steam spewed from fissures in the earth and mingled with the hazy miasma lingering over the ancient battlefield, draping the entire region in a gauzy veil.
High-altitude reconnaissance was virtually useless, and even low-altitude reconnaissance yielded poor results.
No wonder the Cohoots had been unable to pinpoint the target's whereabouts.
With ample manpower now available, however, the situation was different. Low-altitude reconnaissance combined with ground searches gradually tightened the encirclement. Sooner or later, they would flush the creature out.
Suspicious locations that could not be confirmed from the air were marked one by one, then inspected and ruled out by elite Hunters.
Altaïr's group was among them. Capable of protecting themselves even against an Elder Dragon, the four were assigned to investigate the most suspicious and dangerous areas.
Days passed, yet the target remained undiscovered.
Altaïr was not surprised. With the creature deliberately keeping out of sight, finding it would not be easy.
A single sweep might yield nothing. That Shagaru Magala was extremely clever. It knew how to hide, stay out of sight, and slip around the search teams.
But if they swept the region again and again, sooner or later it would make a mistake and expose itself.
During the search, Altaïr and the others discovered an extremely strange, even downright eerie, phenomenon.
Despite the Shagaru Magala, the source of the Frenzy Virus, being active throughout the area, creatures infected with the virus were rare in Infernal Springs and the surrounding mountains.
In particular, they found no Large Monsters more than ten meters long, the kind potentially capable of giving rise to a Gore Magala.
Instead, they discovered numerous badly decomposed corpses covered in strange fungal filaments...
Altaïr immediately reported the situation to Maki and the others.
Maki told him not to worry. One particular "coward" that had made a home in Infernal Springs was deliberately clearing away infected corpses to curb the epidemic.
She specifically instructed them to ignore any Elder Dragon other than the Shagaru Magala and refrain from provoking a fight.
Altaïr's group agreed earnestly, though they suspected Lady Maki was stating the obvious.
They would have to be out of their minds to provoke another Elder Dragon before they had even dealt with the Shagaru Magala...
—--
The next morning, Morgan awoke at camp and prepared for another day of searching.
Visibility in the mountain region was as poor as ever. Even on a cloudless, sunny day, sunlight filtering through the dense miasma reached the ground as no more than a dim, murky yellow glow.
Morgan fitted himself and the Palamute he had hired as a temporary partner with anti-miasma masks, then left camp with a whistle.
Hakucho, meanwhile, had teamed up with Sajji.
Sometimes I really can't tell whether he's my hunting partner or Sajji's...
Grumbling to himself, Morgan rode the Palamute through the mountain ridges.
His assignment that day was to reconnoiter a canyon, and this was far from the first survey of the place.
The fog at the bottom was exceptionally dense, and the canyon itself was spacious enough to provide excellent cover for large creatures, so it had been marked as a key observation area.
Someone was assigned to sweep it almost every other day.
Morgan took out the map, confirmed the route, then lay low over the Palamute's back as the pair continued onward in silence.
Of course he hoped to find something that day, but in truth, he did not expect much.
He had never been particularly lucky, much less one of those "protagonist types" like Altaïr or Isis.
In his view, if anyone was likely to discover the target, it would probably be one of those two.
Why? There was no real reason. If he had to name one, perhaps it was something as nebulous as "fate."
He had never believed in such things before, but the longer he traveled with those two, the more he found himself believing...
His eyes scanned the surroundings for anything unusual while half his mind wandered. Letting his thoughts drift kept his nerves from remaining taut for too long and exhausting him too quickly.
Just as he neared the valley that was his destination, his gaze abruptly fixed ahead. The Palamute also stopped so suddenly that Morgan was nearly hurled from the saddle.
Barely managing to steady himself, Morgan raised his head and stared forward.
The miasma had previously allowed at least twenty or thirty meters of visibility, but at some point it had grown much denser. Saying he could not see his hand in front of his face would have been an exaggeration, but everything ten meters ahead was already blurred and indistinct.
He had no time to dwell on that now.
An eerie silhouette of unbelievable size had emerged beyond the miasma.
The thick fog made its form impossible to see clearly. All Morgan could make out was a pair of gigantic, desiccated wings that seemed to have nothing but bones remaining, faintly flapping...
As the Palamute whimpered in fear, Morgan silently took the Heavy Bowgun from his back and deployed it, bracing himself for a desperate fight.
Just then, the giant wings deep within the miasma drew in slightly. The creature extended its right wing straight out to its right, then folded its left wing across to point in the same direction.
The movement was indescribably awkward. Morgan had never seen any winged creature, whether Bird Wyvern, Flying Wyvern, or Elder Dragon, make such a gesture.
Heavy Bowgun at the ready, Morgan watched the mysterious creature in the fog with wary eyes.
"Gi!"
The creature in the fog uttered a short, bizarre cry with a faint echo, then pointed both wings farther to its right.
An utterly absurd thought popped into Morgan's mind.
As if his brain had stopped working, Morgan did something even he had not expected.
He lowered his weapon and pointed to his left. "You mean... to the left?"
The mysterious creature in the miasma nodded, and its figure gradually faded away.
The surrounding miasma dispersed with it. By the time the fog returned to its usual density, nothing remained before him.
Morgan stood frozen for several seconds, then turned to the left.
An inconspicuous fissure split the towering rock wall nearby. Barely a meter wide, it might have been too narrow for the Palamute to squeeze through while carrying him.
After a moment's hesitation, Morgan jumped down and signaled for the Palamute to wait there.
He then donned his Ghillie Mantle and crept deeper into the fissure with light, stealthy steps.
Was the colossal creature in the fog the other Elder Dragon Lady Maki had mentioned?
Could that gesture have been directing him?
Where did this fissure in the cliff lead? Had it been there before?
Questions tumbled chaotically through his mind. He advanced with utmost caution for several dozen meters until the narrow crack suddenly widened.
This was a secret area hidden within the mountain.
Morgan stopped and looked up.
The secret area's ceiling was open to the sky. The sloping mountainside concealed most of the space, and the dense miasma obscured it even further, preventing aerial observers from detecting it.
Morgan continued forward in utter silence.
His heart pounded wildly as a possibility took shape.
Sure enough, after passing through the fog and reaching the deepest part of the secret area, he found a beautiful figure that seemed forged from white gold, curled there in slumber.
He drew a deep breath, pulled out several Paintballs, and hurled them with all his strength.
The brightly colored, pungent pigment burst across the white-gold dragon's body. The slumbering dragon's eyes snapped open.
Morgan let out a quiet "Heh," turned on his heel, and ran, not forgetting to draw an SOS Flare and fire it into the sky.
It could not escape now!
* * *
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