Chapter 19: The Place That Suits You

(A girl with smoky eye makeup who looked utterly dejected...)

The Light Crossbow User gave his companion a helpless look, then turned to Aolang and the others, saying, "Eat quickly. Many believe that sashimi is the most correct way to eat Wyvern Liver, but that is wrong. Grilling is."

However, whether the Wyvern Liver is iced, smoked, or salted, its texture has already changed, making it unsuitable for grilling.

That fellow is usually careless, but he has always been precise when it comes to controlling the heat for grilling Wyvern Liver."

After thanking them, Aolang brought the grilled Wyvern Liver, trembling like tofu, to his mouth.

The moment the Wyvern Liver entered his mouth, his eyes widened slightly; this was a texture he had never tried before.

The phrase 'melts in the mouth' is generally an exaggerated adjective used to describe tender meat, but applied to Wyvern Liver, it is truly a literal definition.

Unlike muscle with its fibers, and unlike fat with its slight elasticity, the grilled Wyvern Liver is almost pure liquid; it flows down the throat before one can even savor it, and its rich fragrance makes one reluctant to open their mouth to breathe.

"Great, right?" The Dual Blade User handed over another plate of fresh Wyvern Liver sliced into extremely thin pieces. "Grilled Wyvern Liver is delicious, but sashimi is also quite good. Try it."

Aolang tried a bit; this was his first time trying raw meat. To be honest, that slightly sticky, slippery texture made him uncomfortable, and he swallowed it without tasting much. However, Shaji liked it very much.

"Seniors, this might be a bit rude, but I am indeed curious."

After eating several skewers of grilled Wyvern Liver in a row, Asa wiped the oil from the corner of his mouth. "Seniors, your strength is clearly very high. In my opinion, it is absolutely not just Star Three level."

"Why do you endure the spittle of those people and keep hunting Sand Dragons and the Sand Long Wang?"

"Asa!" Nuri hurriedly shouted in reprimand.

"It's fine." The Dual Blade User waved his hand with a smile. "We have long been used to this over the years. Besides, answering the doubts of the young is our seniors' responsibility."

Although it was Asa who raised the question, Aolang could not help but perk up his ears and sit closer.

"Actually, when we were young, we were quite driven. Do you know what our original purpose for hunting the Sand Long Wang was?" the Dual Blade User asked with a smile.

"Defending our hometown? Revenge? Making money?" Asa offered several of the most common reasons.

"None of those." The Great Hammer User said with a smile, "Although the Sand Long Wang is a Fish Wyvern, its body structure is very similar to that of a Flying Wyvern, and its size is not much different."

"In the beginning, we hunted Sand Dragon Kings to conduct special training for promoting to Star Four and facing Flying Wyverns."

"How many Sand Dragon Kings did we hunt back then? Was it three? Or four?"

"Four." The Light Crossbow User answered quickly.

The Dual Blade User continued, "If the gap between Star Five and Star Six is a huge barrier separating Lower Rank and Upper Rank,"

"then between Star Three and Star Four, there also exists a small but significant threshold. Downwards, any hunter who works hard enough can basically reach it, but upwards, one must start facing various dangerous Flying Wyverns, which is not something anyone can do."

"To promote to Star Four, the three of us prepared for nearly a year, went to challenge the Female Fire Dragon full of confidence, and the result was a crushing defeat."

"Yes, although the size difference was not large, that sense of oppression, the flame breath that could blast down great trees, and the flight ability that ruled the sky."

"Is that really a creature humans can deal with?"

"After that crushing defeat, we were depressed for quite a while." The Great Hammer User said with a smile.

"How did you seniors regain your confidence?" Nuri also asked curiously.

Anyone might encounter failure, but from the three of them relaxed demeanor, it was clear they had long since walked out of that shadow.

This made him somewhat concerned.

"Of course, we went back to hunt Sand Dragon Kings to find confidence!" The Great Hammer User took out his personal flat flask, poured a mouthful of strong wine, and said with a chuckle:

"Actually, it wasn't just the Sand Long Wang; we also tried the Great Jaggi and the Khezu. We could probably beat them, but they were indeed not as smooth as the Sand Long Wang."

"Just like that, we accumulated another year or two of experience and went to challenge the Female Fire Dragon again."

"Did you succeed this time?" Asa asked somewhat nervously.

"We succeeded, but it was very difficult." The smile on the Dual Blade User's face faded slightly. "Two were seriously injured; the one drinking almost didn't make it, and it took a long time to recover."

The Great Hammer User, who was pouring wine into his mouth, patted his belly. "Then, for rehabilitation, we went to trouble the Sand Long Wang again, hahaha!"

"The Sand Dragon family really owes you, meow..." Shaji couldn't help but mutter.

"But, not long after that, one day, we came to the Gathering Hall in Tangia Port and heard some bad news." Speaking here, the Dual Blade User's tone slowed a bit; under the glow of the bonfire, his expression was indistinct.

"A genius Hunter from our cohort sacrificed himself. He was such a powerful fellow..."

"When we had just promoted to Star Three, he had already successfully hunted a Flying Wyvern and promoted to Star Four. And when we suffered a crushing defeat against the Female Fire Dragon, he had already smoothly promoted to Star Five."

Everyone thought that genius would definitely promote to Upper Rank within a few years and become the pride of their hometown."

"But he died. He died during a normal hunting mission, and the target of that mission was the Sand Long Wang."

Silence fell around the bonfire.

The Dual Blade User paused for a moment before continuing, "At that time, although we had not yet established the name 'Desert Fin', we had hunted nearly ten Sand Dragon Kings in total."

"After that Star Five cohort member sacrificed himself, the Guild Master entrusted that mission to us."

"Before setting out, we were very nervous, made many, many preparations, and even left behind suicide notes."

"Because in our view, that Sand Long Wang must have had something wrong with it; otherwise, how could such a simple Monster kill a Star Five Hunter?"

"But in fact, that mission ended without a ripple."

"We also found the body of that Star Five Hunter near the Sand Dragon nest. After recovery and analysis by Guild personnel, it was confirmed."

"That Hunter should have been accidentally ambushed by other Sand Dragons during the battle with the Sand Long Wang, leading to an unexpected defeat."

"After the Guild Master learned all this, he was lost for a long time. One sentence he said at that time left a deep impression on us."

The Light Crossbow User, who spoke rarely, interjected at this point, "He said, 'Since you experts who can easily solve the Sand Long Wang are here, why should I entrust that mission to a Hunter unfamiliar with Sand Dragons?'"

"Hoo—"

The Great Hammer User put down the wine flask, exhaled a breath of alcohol, and said, "The occasion at that time was very inappropriate, but I almost couldn't hold back my laughter, because it was the first time someone called us 'experts'."

"The three of us have always been the most ordinary Hunters, with no outstanding achievements to show, not outstanding, not famous, and with nothing particularly brilliant."

"But it was after that time that we found our place."

"Burp—, kid, you just asked why. This is why."

"No one knows better than us which part of the Sand Dragon's skin is the softest, and which bone gaps lead directly to vital internal organs."

"How to find traces left by moving Sand Dragons, how to lock onto the location of Sand Dragon Tribe activity, how to drive Sand Dragons to act according to the plan, and how to move freely amidst the siege of the Sand Long Wang and the Sand Dragon Tribe."

Due to the presence of the Sand Dragon Tribe, combined with this Monster's unique ecological habits, even powerful elites could be defeated before the Sand Long Wang.

But we will not. For missions concerning the Sand Dragons, entrusted to us, there is no possibility other than a perfect resolution.

Because we are the experts in handling Sand Dragons. We are the Desert Fin!

"Oh oh oh!" Asa clapped his hands, his face full of admiration.

The Light Crossbow User glanced at the Great Hammer User, who was holding a wine jug high with an impassioned tone, and asked, "Did you prepare this speech specifically?"

"Haha, you saw right through it." The Great Hammer User showed no trace of embarrassment at being exposed. "We don't get many chances to brag in front of the young ones, so shouldn't we practice well?"