Monster Hunter: Wild Pointer

This was indeed the case. Facing the sand dragon that was knocked backwards, Muti opened his shield, growled, took a big step forward, exerted force with his waist and legs, and swung down the gunpowder in his left hand.

"Drink!"

The sand dragon, which had not yet recovered from the previous collision, had its entire head and body smashed to the ground.

The heavy blade split its skull, and the crisp sound of bone cracking made everyone present sure that this guy would never be able to get up again.

At this moment, another sand dragon swooped down from the side.

Compared to humans who don't look like they have much meat, prey of the size of hairy camels are more likely to attract them.

The professor on the long-haired camel was ready to use the sonic boom bomb.

As a scholar who has been running in the wild for many years, he is even more familiar with the use of such props than hunters. Even if Muti is unable to return to defend in time, he can still protect himself.

But Muti didn't know this. Seeing that the cunning sand dragon was about to bypass her defense and attack her companions behind her, she was naturally extremely anxious.

The disadvantage of the large shield was revealed at this time. She was unable to return to defense in time by just sliding.

At this critical moment, a strange idea popped into Muti's mind.

There was no time to consider the feasibility, the body started moving before the brain.

She slid sideways with all her might, adjusted the angle of the rifle, and pulled the trigger continuously.

"Boom! Boom!"

During the sliding process, the feet are not supported, and when launching an attack at this time, the body will be pushed forward by the recoil, but she wants to take advantage of this.

The sideways slide that could only slide one or two meters was turned into a three or four meter slide by the recoil of the artillery fire. In a few seconds, she rushed back to the side of the two camels and barely blocked the attacking sand dragon.

Not intending to give the sand dragon any chance, Muti put up his shield and entered a defensive stance while activating the mechanism. Amidst a low humming sound, the muzzle of the gunfire turned red hot.

The sand dragon slammed its head against the shield, feeling like it had hit a large rock. It shook its head and was about to launch further attacks when a blazing flame burst out of the muzzle.

"Dragon Bomb Cannon!"

Chapter 86: Desert Delicacies

This is an oasis that is about to dry up. The lake that originally covered tens of thousands of square meters is now just a shallow pond that emits a fishy smell of corruption.

Ao Lang knew at a glance that the spring under the pond had completely dried up. The pond water was stagnant and very dirty. Even if it was filtered and boiled for drinking, it was not safe and could easily cause dysentery.

Dysentery meant dehydration, which in the desert was practically a death sentence, so if you could help it, you must not drink from the pond.

If you really need to get water, you have to dig a deep pit a few meters away from the pond, let the water in the pond seep in slowly, use sand and gravel to filter it, and then boil the water after sedimentation. This way the probability of accidents will be much smaller.

Fortunately, Orlan had made sufficient preparations before the trip, and the fresh water reserves were still sufficient. Even if they could not get supplies in this oasis, it would not affect their subsequent itinerary and there was no need to waste so much effort.

However, they still planned to take a short rest in this oasis.

The water source is almost gone, but some drought-resistant plants are still surviving tenaciously, such as sea buckthorn, cactus, and sand date. These are the favorite foods of long-haired camels, and at least they can have a full meal here.

The low shrubs not only sheltered them from the wind and sand, but also provided valuable fuel, allowing travelers to enjoy a long-awaited hot meal.

"Zizi-"

The frying pan was placed on the campfire, and the food inside gave off an enticing aroma. Muti, who was squatting beside it, kept swallowing his saliva.

Ichthyosaur liver. Even though she had never eaten it, she had heard of this desert delicacy. She felt unlucky when she was attacked by a sand dragon during the day, but now she just felt that she and the others were lucky.

The food is delivered to your door!

Orlan shook the pan gently. This time he didn't follow the recipe in the memo. After all, the recipe Karim gave him was not a panacea. There was no recipe for cooking ichthyosaur liver on it.

But it doesn’t matter. The grilled fish liver that the Desert Fin seniors treated me to a few months ago is still clearly remembered.

Food that can be grilled can definitely be fried, and it is easier to control the heat.

Only a little oil is needed to lubricate the pan at the beginning to prevent it from sticking. The sand dragon liver, which is rich in oil, will release a lot of oil during the frying process.

The first attempt was a failure. The fish liver was cut too thick, causing the outside to be a little burnt, while the inside was not cooked yet. After frying for too long, a lot of oil seeped out, and in the end it almost became fried fish liver.

She wanted to throw it away, but Muti couldn't bear to do it, so she poured it into her mouth and started a new pot.

The second time was much better, but unfortunately it was cooked a little too long. Although the taste was fine, the fish liver was fried a bit too long, losing its melt-in-your-mouth characteristic.

Continue to pour it into Muti's mouth and start another pot.

From the third time on, he became more and more successful. Having mastered the characteristics of the ingredients and the cooking time, Ao Lang cut the fish liver into palm-thick slices. After the pan was heated, he put the fish liver directly into the pan without adding oil. After frying for more than 20 seconds, he flipped the pan over and took it out of the pan after another ten seconds. The whole process took less than a minute.

At this time, the surface of the ichthyosaur liver is slightly charred, and the oil inside, which is rich in umami substances, has melted but has not yet had time to seep out. You don't even need to chew it when you put it in your mouth, it will directly turn into fragrant oil and flow into your stomach.

Just sprinkle a little bit of salt and it will be the most delicious delicacy. It feels better than the one roasted by the hammer master of Desert Fin.

Muti took one piece after another, blew on it twice and then stuffed it into her mouth. I don’t know what material her tongue and stomach are made of, but she is not afraid of the heat at all.

Even Eric, who had little interest in food, and the knowledgeable professor ate a few more pieces.

When Muti had eaten until he could no longer swallow his saliva, that is, when he was almost half full, Orlan took out some dry bread as dry food.

He has always believed that oily foods should be eaten with staple foods.

First, I fried the bread with the remaining oil in the pan, then put the fried fish liver on it, and gave Muti a try, and he said, "Super delicious!"

Orlan tried it himself, but felt that something was missing. This time he did not fry it in a frying pan, but directly dry-roasted the bread over the fire, then put a piece of fried fish liver on it, and finally drizzled a little honey on it.

This time the review was “Super super super delicious!”.

The professor also tasted a small piece and gave it a high evaluation, saying, "With a little improvement in the presentation, this dish can be served at the king's banquet."

Ao Lang chuckled and wrote down the preparation process of this dish in his memo.

It's not just ichthyosaur livers. There are actually many monsters that are delicious to eat. Maybe I can compile a cookbook in the future?

When Muti had eaten his fill, Orlan took the remaining fish dragon liver and slowly boiled it into oil. This thing didn't last long, and he didn't have enough salt with him to keep it fresh, so he simply boiled it into oil and stored it in an empty ceramic jar.

It can be used as emergency food and can also be used when cooking. It is more fragrant than butter and tastes good when used to fry cabbage.

The professor watched his movements with interest and thought that this young man was quite good at living.

"Based on our current progress, how many days will it take to reach Chongri Town?" Seeing that Aolan had completed the work at hand, the professor suddenly asked.

Olang took out the map and checked it by the light of the campfire. "According to the itinerary, we still have a rocky beach and a wind-eroded cave area to investigate. Including tonight, it will take six days and seven nights."

"What if we give up investigating those two areas and go straight to Chongri Town?" the professor continued to ask.

Aolan looked up at the old man, made a few gestures on the map, and silently calculated the formation before answering, "Take the shortest route, two days and three nights."

The professor was stunned when he heard this, "So much faster?"

"Yes." Orlan nodded and explained, "The rule of desert travel is that you must keep enough backup supplies for several days no matter what the situation, especially drinking water.

To investigate those two locations, one would first have to go to the nearby oasis to resupply, which involved quite a detour, and the investigation itself would also take time.

If we go directly to Chongri Town, even without using the backup supplies, we have enough supplies at the moment, so we can go straight, just be careful to avoid the sand pits where the sand dragons and sand fish gather."

"So that's how it is." The old dragon man thought.

Eric came over and said, "Professor, aren't you planning on going to the rocky beach and the wind-eroded caves? Why?"

"I've been to those two places. They're desolate, with not even a blade of grass to be seen. The probability of giant bees appearing there is very low." The professor adjusted his glasses and explained:

“The reason I included those two locations in the itinerary was because I was worried that the previous investigation would yield nothing, so I included a few more locations to cast a wider net.

But in the past few days, we have found several lone giant bees. After dissection, we have basically confirmed that it has nothing to do with any abnormal changes in the environment in the larger area.

In this case, there is no need to go to those two places anymore. The appearance of the giant bee swarm is probably a problem of Chongri Town itself.

So we should just go directly to Chongri Town. If we still have no clue by then, it’s not too late to go back and investigate those two places.

how do you feel? "

The last sentence was directed at Orlan. Eric was a student who came with him, so there was no need to ask. Muti was overfed and was lying there burping, so there was no point in asking.

Ao Lang shrugged. "I have no objection. The guest took the initiative to ask to shorten the trip. As a guide, what objection can I have?"

"Then let's settle it like this."

"No problem." Orlan took out a charcoal pencil and drew a straight line between their current location on the map and Chongri Town.

Chapter 87 Arriving at Chongri Town

After changing the route, the group headed straight towards Chongri Town.

In order to save time, they took a little risk and traveled through an area where sand fish and sand dragons frequently moved. Naturally, they encountered several attacks during the journey, and once they even encountered the Sand Dragon King.

Finally, thanks to the efforts of the two young hunters, they repelled the monster without any danger.

On the tenth day after leaving Balubare, the majestic bedrock where Chongri Town is located finally appeared at the edge of the group's sight.

Arriving in the town means sufficient water, food, and a living environment that is far safer and more comfortable than in the wild.

After trekking in the desert for more than a week, people could not help but feel excited. Even the pace of the two long-haired camels quickened a bit.

A small sand boat flew past them.

Muti couldn't help but exclaimed, pointing in the direction of the small sand boat going away and asked loudly: "Wow! That's fast! What is that?!"

Orlan was a little confused at first, and thought Muti was referring to something on the sand boat.

After all, in his concept, a small sand boat should be the most basic means of transportation that is used more frequently than vehicles and sand sleds. He never thought that Muti had never seen this thing.

It wasn't until the professor replied to her, "Small sand boats are a common means of transportation in the sand sea area," that he reacted and explained in detail the geological differences between the sand sea and the northern part of the desert, as well as the problem that small sand boats could not be used near Baru Barena.

"It looks interesting!" Muti reluctantly looked away until the small sand boat completely disappeared from his sight. "If I have the chance, I really want to sit on it and watch it."

Olang's expression was a little strange. He really wanted to ask what was the point of a small sand boat?

But think about it, why do so many people come to Rocklake every year when it's just sand and there's no scenery at all? Why are there even many tourists willing to pay a high price to join the fishing fleet into the sand sea to fish?

Maybe one day I will encounter something that I think is extremely strange, but is very common in Muti's eyes.

As they continued to get closer, the number of sand ships and caravans appearing around them increased, and airships flew by from time to time.

It can be seen that although the Chongri Town is far inferior to large cities like Rocklark, it is also a prosperous and vibrant town.

Finally, they arrived at the rock platform where Chongri Town was located.

Compared with the super-giant rock platform in Lockrak, which covers an area of ​​nearly 20 square kilometers, the rock platform in front of us is far smaller, only about one or two square kilometers.

But this platform is very high and not as flat as the giant platform in Rocklake. It looks like an undulating rock mountain.

Chongri Town is built next to a mountain. Almost on the mountainside, you can see a number of clustered buildings, which are where the residents of Chongri Town live.

The road up the mountain is just ahead. The residents of Chongri Town have actually built a winding stone road on this rock platform. There are even mine car tracks and elevators along the road for transporting ore.

These are not the facilities that you would find in a typical remote town.

Orlan looked at the professor. According to the previous agreement, the guide's work had ended here. After all, he himself had never been to Chongri Town. The subsequent negotiations and other work would be handled personally by the old dragon man.

The professor nodded at him, straightened his clothes, and then took out two flags from his backpack. They were the flags of the guild.

He unfolded a flag and hung it on the side of the long-haired camel, and handed the other flag to Orlang who was riding beside him. The latter understood his intention and unfolded and hung that flag as well.

From the moment they hung the flag, they became official representatives of the guild.

At least temporarily.

When the guards in charge of guarding the mountain road saw them, they let them go without even asking any questions and found a young and smart townsman to lead the way for them.

Several people also got off the long-haired camels, led the camels, and walked up the mountain path.

The young townsman was very enthusiastic and took the reins of the long-haired camel, but his eyes could not help but glance at the weapons behind Orlan and Muti.

Accidentally meeting Aolan's gaze, he tentatively asked, "Are these two hunters?"

Olang simply said yes, and the young man suddenly became more enthusiastic.

"Ah! That's great! Our Chongri Town is too remote, so few hunters come here. However, with the protection of this large rock platform, we don't have to worry about monster attacks, so there aren't many hunters stationed here for a long time.

But if we run into trouble with monsters or something, it's a real headache. There have been giant bees everywhere here lately, and it's really frustrating. By the way, have you ever been to Chongri Town before?"

"I've been here once before," the professor replied, "but back then there weren't any minecart tracks or elevators."

"That must have been a long time ago," the young townsman said, shaking his head. "The elevator was built after I was born, but I heard the mine carts were already there during my grandfather's generation.

But old man, you are a dragon man, so it's normal.

There are a lot of dragon people in Chongri Town, accounting for almost one-third of the total population. You might even run into someone you know!"

"One third? So much?" Muti was a little surprised.

Compared with ordinary humans, the dragon people are very rare, with a population of only a few tenths of that of ordinary humans, but their lifespan is generally very long, several times that of ordinary humans.