Monster Hunter: Stars of Hope

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Emperor

No one had seen it coming. If there was to be an intruder upon their mission at the Well, especially an Elder Dragon, then surely it would have been the Nergigante, which they had already encountered and knew to have an interest in the energies contained within this place, as well as a recent, violent history with the wyvern they were just facing a moment ago.

It most certainly was not the Nergigante. It was so much worse in so many ways.

Even though Nia had experienced a gut feeling on multiple occasions that there was some greater threat lurking unseen, she never could have expected to find herself face to face with a creature of this kind of power, even in a place so rife with power as this. Even though the wyvern they faced before this great terror's arrival was only barely alive a moment ago, she would've never believed that the Rathalos she struggled so much to see brought to its end could be crushed so simply, had she not just witnessed it with her own eyes. Further, she even would have called any a liar had they told her that the bioenergy that once belonged to that Rathalos, which put it through so much suffering for so long, had been so willingly and easily taken from it by a creature with such seemingly purposeful malevolence in its eyes that she could not believe that it wasn't completely aware of what it was doing.

The red dragon gave none an opportunity for such delusions.

The massive creature wasted no time rampaging pridefully, sending all who had any value for their lives scrambling for cover. Its appearance alone invoked the deepest, most instinctual kind of terror in all who looked upon it, beholding its menacing, muscular, quadrupedal frame that towered over them, coated all over in nigh-impenetrable, sharp-ridged, red-hued scales, though those on its underside, its slender jaws full of blade-like fangs, and the membranes of its enormous wings were more beige in coloration. Adorning its imposing form were a great number of massive black spikes that lined its spine and ran all the way down to its tail, where they spread out wildly, along with a number of giant, imposing, similarly-colored, backwards-facing horns on both sides of its skull, giving it an undoubtedly menacing visage. Even at a physical level, it was clear to see how its powerful claws raked through the stonework as if was naught but sand, how each idle motion of its wings nearly knocked even the most stalwart hunters to the ground, and how its lengthy tail smashed through those great pillars as if they were fragile glass. Yet, it did not solely lash out with its physical strength, as it readily and regularly unleashed insanely devastating beams of pure, bright blue energy from its maw that sheered through all they made contact with, or seemingly even command the energy still contained within the earth itself to burst upwards in similarly colored flames as it slammed its claws through the ground. Given its aggression in conjunction with all of tools of death at its disposal, this monster was swiftly proving itself utterly unfightable.

They had defeated the Rathalos that beared the white flame without casualty; Nia already had the horrific displeasure of seeing people lose their lives to this terrifying Elder Dragon before her very eyes, and it had only been here for a few moments.

"Wha-what the hell is that thing!?", Nia shouted in terrified confusion as she and Haldys took cover behind one of the few stone pillars that remained, to which the old man shouted out in response, clearly not believing there to be enough time to properly answer this question, "Miles above of the pay grade of everyone here combined, that's what is!". It was swiftly clear to Nia that he was capable of giving her a more detailed answer on that front, but she did not blame him for his focus being elsewhere; This Elder Dragon had displayed enough of its strength already that the fact Haldys immediately believed it to be well above what even he was capable of dealing with, something that would otherwise speak volumes to her, scarcely caught her by surprise.