Following the scent for over a kilometer, Gordon and Zhu Pa found the corpse on a small hill.
It was the corpse of a Herbivore Dragon. Gordon waved away the buzzing flies, endured the stench, and squatted beside the corpse to examine it carefully.
The Herbivore Dragon's skin was dark red, and judging by the degree of decomposition, it had likely been dead for about two days. The fatal wound was on its back; some immense force had shattered its spine, killing it instantly.
Moving away from the corpse to an upwind position, Gordon took a few deep breaths of fresh air and said, "It must have been the Great Izuchi."
Zhu Pa nodded her small head in agreement.
Due to their large, spoon-shaped beaks, Great Izuchi cannot chew large chunks of meat, so Herbivore Dragons are not on their diet. However, this does not mean that the ill-tempered Great Izuchi will not actively attack Herbivore Dragons.
Gordon could roughly imagine the scene when the Herbivore Dragon was attacked.
— The orange-red monster bird descended from the sky, its claws pressing onto the Herbivore Dragon's back, instantly pinning it to the ground. Immediately after, its huge beak, like a giant hammer, smashed down, easily breaking the Herbivore Dragon's spine. The latter died without even a whimper.
Aside from the fatal wound, the relatively intact preservation of the Herbivore Dragon's corpse also spoke volumes.
In the wilderness, where food is always scarce, the appeal of such a corpse is undeniable. Gordon believed that within half an hour at most after the Herbivore Dragon's death, Blue Velocidromes had already visited the site.
Why didn't they feast on this meal? The answer was clear: they smelled the scent of a superior predator on the Herbivore Dragon.
According to the information provided by the Hunter's Guild, there were no traces of other large monster activities nearby, so the only thing the Blue Velocidromes would fear was the Great Izuchi.
"Although the Great Izuchi has a bad temper, it wouldn't expend effort to run far from its nest to attack a Herbivore Dragon it doesn't like to eat," Gordon analyzed to himself. "That guy's nest should be nearby."
Saying this, he turned to look at Zhu Pa, who was covering her nose, "Zhu Pa, when you were in the wilderness before, have you ever seen a Great Izuchi's nest?"
"No, meow!" Zhu Pa said in a muffled voice, "The mountain forest where our tribe lived didn't have Great Izuchi coming over, meow."
"I see."
"But I remember when I was little, the really, really old grandmas in the tribe told us, meow, that if we saw a super big bird's nest in the forest, we should run away quickly, meow, because that's a Great Izuchi's nest, meow!"
Gordon stroked his chin.
Although the story from Zhu Pa's mouth was somewhat like "If you don't sleep when it's dark, the big bad wolf will come eat the children," it also contained some useful information.
— The Great Izuchi builds its nest in the forest.
"We'll use this spot as the center and search in a roundabout way towards the forest!"
The afternoon sun filtered through the crowns of tall trees, casting pillars of light into the forest. The orange-red giant beast raised its long neck, strolling through it with an elegant posture, beautiful like a painting.
Unfortunately, Gordon couldn't appreciate this kind of beauty.
At this moment, he was holding his breath, hiding in the bushes, with his mind full of how to land a brutal cut on that long neck.
The information provided by Zhu Pa was very significant; the Great Izuchi's nest was in a clearing in the forest.
It was a super-sized bird's nest, built from branches and dry grass, with a diameter of over ten meters. Perhaps due to its diet, there was none of the pungent stench usually found in monster nests; instead, it appeared very clean.
Gordon really hoped the Great Izuchi would get tired and lie down in its nest for a nap, so he could sneak over and charge a Sleep Cut.
However, unfortunately, after waiting for several minutes, the Great Izuchi was only strolling around, showing no signs of returning to its nest to rest. It seemed that Sleep Cut was out of the question for now.
Since a sneak Attack Up was impossible, it would have to be a direct confrontation! The clearing where the Great Izuchi's nest was located was relatively flat, with no dense branches that would snag a sword blade, making it a good battlefield!
"Whoosh~."
Having made his decision, Gordon whistled.
The Great Izuchi, with its excellent hearing, immediately stopped, its neck held high, its ruff-like coronal ears fully spread, and its gaze already turned towards this spot.
At the same time, another bush far from Gordon began to shake violently, and the rustling sounds attracted the Great Izuchi's attention.
Hiding in that bush was Zhu Pa; this was the tactic they had discussed beforehand.
While the Great Izuchi's attention was temporarily diverted, Gordon directly rushed out from his hiding spot, sprinting to quickly approach the Great Izuchi, his hand on the sword hilt, the Giant Scissors hanging behind him ready to be drawn.
The Great Izuchi's intelligence was not low.
Although the commotion created by Zhu Pa gave Gordon a little time to close the distance, the Great Izuchi quickly realized that the hunter, who was already charging towards it, was the real threat, rather than the trembling, mysterious bush.
It turned to face Gordon, spread its wide wings, and opened its huge beak, letting out a highly intimidating roar.
"Guaoooaoaoaoao!"
For the sake of his future hearing, Gordon had to interrupt his charge, tightly cover his ears, and endure the roar that was loud enough to deafen a person.
Although the hunter had temporarily stopped, the Great Izuchi's plan to instill fear in its opponent was clearly ineffective.
As soon as the sound wave ended, Gordon unhesitatingly resumed his sprint, and in the blink of an eye, he was in front of the Great Izuchi, his back foot not yet firmly planted when the hilt of the Giant Scissors was already in his palm.
Draw Slash!
"Clang!"
The Shield Crab Great Sword, covered in crimson patterns, collided with the Great Izuchi's hard, massive beak, and the heavy sword body, carrying its inertia, smashed its head to the side, leaving a shallow, foot-long blade mark on the beak.
"Gua woo!" The Great Izuchi shrieked.
Gordon, encouraged by the success of his initial Attack Up, tensed his arms, twisted the sword, and used the inertia to prepare to follow up with a horizontal slash.
However, the Great Izuchi had no intention of giving him the chance for continuous attacks.
With a flap of its massive wings, its huge body was pulled back a distance, and the generated wind pressure swept towards the hunter, hindering his movement.
Gordon slightly lowered his body, steadying his center of gravity.
The heaviness of the metal armor, usually a disadvantage, now became an advantage; the violent airflow flowed away like river water hitting a reef. Although his movement was forced to stop again, he did not lose his balance or get blown away.
As the airflow subsided, he roared and charged at the Great Izuchi again.
"Don't think you can run!"
The Great Izuchi was also completely enraged by the hunter's persistence. It hopped twice in place, then suddenly rotated its body, sweeping its whip-like long tail horizontally towards Gordon, who had stuck to it again like a piece of taffy.
Facing this wide-ranging tail Attack Up, Gordon chose not to resist directly but quickly calculated their speeds and relative distance.
Finally, just as the Great Izuchi's tail was about to hit his head, he lunged forward, narrowly dodging the blow.
Timing the dodge so precisely was extremely dangerous; a slight misstep could backfire. The sound of the Great Izuchi's scales scraping against his helmet seemed clearly audible, but Gordon didn't care.
Because he had already used this roll to close the distance to the Great Izuchi again.
Using the momentum from standing up, Gordon swung his Great Sword once more.
Uppercut Slash!
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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