" Tsk!"
As they spent more ti together, Sherwin felt that this little yellow cat was getting bolder and more shaless.
But...
With a mouth full of cat food, he really didn’t have the guts to argue with Sanji-ow.
Besides, the cat was just so cute.
A little impudence didn’t matter—it not like he was going to lose a chunk of flesh.
Sherwin reached out and scratched under Sanji-ow chin as a gesture of repaying grievance with virtue, successfully making the cat squint his eyes in satisfaction and show a comfortable expression.
Heh heh heh, you foolish little kitty—my cat-petting skills are known in the industry as the divine technique of the "Hand of Kato Neko"!
Just as the little cat in front of him was getting into it, Sherwin suddenly pulled his hand back.
"ow?"
Sanji-ow, who had just started enjoying himself, felt quite aggrieved. But he couldn’t bring himself to ask Sherwin to continue, so he could only glare at him angrily, his tail swishing with audible whoosh sounds behind him, even snapping a few plant branches in the process.
Sherwin, however, pretended not to see any of it and picked up his hunting knife again, stabbing it into the wild bird corpse.
This ti, the blade managed to pierce the carcass, and a small amount of blood seeped out from the wound Sherwin had made.
"Just as I thought..."
Sherwin pulled out the hunting knife and nodded as he spoke.
In the ga, small creatures like this one, and even small monsters roughly the sa size as a hunter, could only be carved once.
Only large neutral creatures like Popo and Slagtoth could be carved twice, while large monsters that served as bosses could be carved three tis. If the tail was severed, you could even get one extra carve from the tail.
After explaining the hunting knife function to Sanji-ow, the little yellow cat who ranked cooking as the second-most important interest in his life imdiately forgot all about Sherwin earlier "outrageous betrayal" and hurriedly rummaged through his pack to pull out all the ingredients.
"Quick! Give each one a slash, ow!"
Getting an extra portion of perfectly processed ingredients out of thin air—no chef would turn that down.
Sherwin also wanted to do more testing, so of course he was happy to oblige.
They ended up acquiring all kinds of "bonus materials": at, bones, feathers, hides... Sherwin even managed to carve out a scent gland from a weasel corpse, which left his hands reeking.
There was nothing he could do about it—just like in the ga, the materials you carved were completely random.
Finally, Sanji-ow pulled out the biggest piece of Forest Ram King at and had Sherwin try carving it...
Just as Sherwin had expected, the carve failed.
Then he deliberately damaged an untouched wild rabbit corpse, and again failed to carve anything from it.
"Looks like the material can only be carved if the ingredient retains a certain level of integrity."
Sherwin put the hunting knife away, looked up at the sky, then said to Sanji-ow, "We’ve tested enough. We should pick up the pace. Who knows how long I’ll be fighting those two Boar Kings."
"Don’t worry, ow! We’re almost there, and I rember their scent. We’ll find them soon, ow."
With all the new ingredients he had just acquired, Sanji-ow was in a very good mood. Even his steps while leading the way beca much lighter, and his tail stood proudly upright behind him, the tip swaying mischievously like it had a will of its own.
Sanji-ow hadn’t been exaggerating, either. Before long, under his lead, Sherwin arrived near the location of two massive wild boars.
Judging by their size, the two Boar Kings were a bit smaller than the Forest Ram King, but even the smaller one was far larger than a normal wild boar.
At the mont, the two were rooting through the soil for plant roots, seemingly unaware of Sherwin and Sanji-ow arrival.
But Sanji-ow inford Sherwin that this was only because they hadn’t yet entered the boars alert range. In fact, the boars had already noticed them.
"Once we get a little closer, they’ll issue a warning, ow. If we don’t back off fast enough, they’ll attack, ow."
Sanji-ow hadn’t just gotten familiar with the terrain during his previous explorations—he’d also gathered plenty of intel on Sherwin future targets...
Even though Sherwin had never asked him to do that.
Such a tsundere little cat.
Sherwin smiled with a fatherly warmth on his face...
"Why are you smiling so creepily, ow? And getting so close, ow."
With a look full of disgust, Sanji-ow used a little paw to push away Sherwin, who had leaned in to try and rub his head against him.
Sherwin: "..."
If it weren’t for the timing being off, once I’m done with those two boars, I’m going to pet you into a Sphinx!
Sherwin muttered fiercely in his heart as he reluctantly pulled his head back, but on the surface, he said calmly, "You just stay here. Leave the rest to ."
"Even though I’m just a chef cat," Sanji-ow pulled out a frying pan and gave it a few swings, "I can still fight, ow!"
"Don’t worry," Sherwin reached out and patted his little head, trying to persuade him again.
"I already took down the Forest Ram King, who about the sa strength as these guys, without a scratch. No need to trouble you. What if you get hurt? Who going to cook for then?"
If Sanji-ow had the sa level of strength as the original Sanji, or if he were a combat-oriented Felyne, Sherwin wouldn’t refuse his help. But since fighting wasn’t his strength, there was no reason to let him take that risk.
Thankfully, Sanji-ow still stayed true to his "character setting." As long as it didn’t involve a Beautiful big sister Felyne, this little yellow cat could think things through calmly. So even though he was a little reluctant, he was eventually persuaded by Sherwin.
"Alright, I’m going in!" Sherwin popped a atball to fully restore his stamina, then gripped the hilt of the Longsword and charged at the smaller of the two Boar Kings.
Just as Sanji-ow had said, Sherwin had barely taken five steps when the two boars, who were previously munching away, suddenly stopped eating, turned in his direction, and let out deep growls as a warning.
According to the hunter legacy Sherwin had received, even early-stage bosses like the Boar Kings would usually hesitate for a mont when encountering an enemy.
After all, being apex predators in their respective territories, few creatures would dare initiate an attack on them.
Even if they did encounter another boss-level monster, they’d usually stare each other down first to evaluate whether a fight was worth it.
And that habit gave hunters a pri opportunity to strike, especially those skilled with dual blades, who could land an entire combo before the monsters had a chance to react.
With the experience and mories of seasoned hunters, Sherwin obviously wouldn’t miss that chance. So as he charged in, he also activated Demon Mode.
However, things didn’t play out the way they did in the inherited mories. The two Boar Kings didn’t show any signs of hesitation at all—at the mont they saw Sherwin, they both launched straight into a charge.
"Tch! What kind of crappy luck is this?!"
Although this kind of situation was rare, the old hunters in the inherited mories had also encountered it before.
Just like how every person has a different personality, monsters of the sa type could also have vastly different temperants.
Even among the usually cowardly Snow Rabbits, there had been individuals more aggressive than a Rajang—let alone the naturally reckless Boar Kings.
Sherwin imdiately decided to cancel his Demon Mode. Without a good opening to attack, staying in Demon Mode was nothing but a waste of stamina.
Still, there was just enough ti for a single strike.
So just before colliding with the smaller Boar King, Sherwin sidestepped to evade the oncoming attack. At the sa ti, he drew the Longsword from his back, gripped it with both hands, twisted his waist, and executed a Demon Mode Spirit Slash—
Hunter Style Secret Technique: Foot-Cutting Swordplay!
Yep... Since most of the hunters enemies were massive monsters, nearly every hunter had developed the habit of going for the legs first—get them down, then finish them off.
And then...
Slice, slice.
Both right legs of the Boar King were cleanly severed by Sherwin.
...???
Boar Kings... were they really this fragile?!
The unexpected result left Sherwin montarily stunned. He instinctively deactivated his Demon Mode, ca to a stop, and leaned on the longsword, staring at the Boar King lying on the ground, howling in pain from its severed legs.
Sure, in that strike, he had activated Demon Mode, used a Spirit Slash, leveraged the montum from the Boar King own charge, and wielded the Longsword—a fully upgraded Longsword—but still,
cleanly slicing off the Boar King legs like that... that was sothing only those legendary Longsword heroes wielding the peerless Heaven and Earth Blade had managed in his inherited mories.
So, this really wasn’t the Monster Hunter world, was it?
Sherwin was becoming more and more certain of that fact.
"You idiot, what are you spacing out for, nya?! There still one more Boar King, nya!"
Just as Sherwin was lost in thought, Sanji ow anxious voice suddenly called out from not far away.
"...Eh?"
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