Hobbit & Lord of the Rings © J.R.R. Tolkien & New Line Cinema
Monster Hunter franchise © Capcom
The Avaricious Serpent of Gold
A flock of Barnos were flying about in the Elder's Recess either searching for prey or to interact with their own peers. Suddenly, the sky turned dark and the sound of the gust of wind was heard before the actual one blew the confused wyverns off course. Stunned and with some of them plummeting to the ground dazed, they were unable to comprehend what just flew overhead of them.
A sleeping Kushala Daora was on its perch high up on a cliff overlooking the valley when it, too, also heard the wind rushing. The metallic dragon opened its eyes and perked its head up to the sky with alertness and nervousness. At first, it spotted nothing until it came across a shadowed silhouette of a massive flying serpent flying into the horizons beyond the recess.
In the Wildspire Waste, a small group of bone-headed Kestodon were suddenly anxious with the females bleating nervously and the larger, helmet-head males agitated, waving their waves aggressively at something in the sky.
A herd of Apceros stampeded in a panicked frenzy on the sand dunes when the same massive shadow engulfed them briefly before it flew ahead of them. Nearby, a browsing Diablos hated so much from having its delectable dinner of cacti disturbed by the silhouetted massive serpent above in the sky that it let out its ear-splitting roar at the creature that neither pained or reacted at all to its cry.
Several Grimalkynes scurried back to a hole leading to their underground village deep in the cave with their ears perked up at the sound of something gigantic beating its wings up in the skies above them. Fear consumed them as they closed their huts and blew out the candles.
Back in the Ancient Forest, a gracile Fanged Wyvern with grayish-blue scales and patches of white fur on its bushy, spiky tail called the Kobi-Todachi was resting for the noon after having eaten a hadrosaur-like Aptonoth carcass in its nest. That was until it heard the branches rustling with the trees swaying lightly at first, but it soon became clear that something was wrong when something gigantic flew above the canopy at terrifying speeds. The entire forest suddenly swayed violently in the direction that the mysterious monster flew by that the canopy almost bent to the point of breaking, startling the Fanged Wyvern when it let out a surprised shriek.
A Kulu-Ya-Ku, herds of Aptonoth, a pack of Jagras led by a Great Jagras, and a Pukei-Pukei were running through the chaotic windswept jungle followed by a fleeing mother Anjanath and her five chicks when a thunderous, bestial roar echoed throughout the sky. It was then followed by a ground shaking explosion when the mysterious monster blew apart a rock wall that happened to be the Rathian's nest situated on a high cliff where the verdant Queen of the Wyverns was sitting protectively on top of her unhatched clutch of eggs. A flooding waterfall ensued, deluging the nest and washing down the Rathian and her eggs to their very doom into the jungle floor far below.
Astera, home of the Research Commission in the New World, was on the edge of the forest when everyone saw huge trees being scarily uprooted and tossed up into the air before crashing to the ground. That same very massive shadow flew pass Astera, followed by a gust of wind that engulfed the village and a more horrifying roar that struck fear into its denizens, including the Commander.
"ELDER DRAGON!" the Commander shouted with every Hunter scrambling about to regain their bearings.
The warning horn was sounded, but it proved too late as the flying monster roared, spitting out a massive stream of flames onto the workshop. The dragon fire reacted violently to the burning furnace and caused the entire workshop to explode, taking out the elevator chain system and the makeshift houses refurbished out of ships in flames. Everyone screamed in fear and panic while those who were caught in the flames let out cries of agony as they burned to death.
The Field Team Leader was doing his best to keep his cool under the stressful and paramount magnitude of the destruction to guide the surviving researchers, Palicoes, injured Hunters, and remaining villagers onto the few boats that were still seaworthy. The one and only ship frigate that was still functional was firing all of its cannons at the enormous flying shadow to take it down or forestall its rampage, but to no avail as the cannon fire hadn't even hit the thing that flew fast in the sky.
A blonde, short-haired woman with emerald eyes; garbed in pickle-greenish Deviljho armor and wielding a Deviljho Great Sword called Anguish and accompanied by an orange-striped, black cat clad in Deviljho Palico armor rushed to the wreckage of wood and steel bars where the Handler was painfully pinned underneath. The Huntress pushed away the smaller pieces and she and her Palico tried to lift a heavy bar that happened to crush the Handler's legs. The Handler whimpered in pain and terror as the flames got closer. All seemed lost for the Huntress and the Handler when a male Hunter clad in the dark cowboy outfit comprised of Great Girros material took notice of their plight and quickly rushed to help the Deviljho Huntress. His Palico clad in Odogaron Palico armor also volunteered to help her fellow Palico, who was growling fiercely with strain on his body from exerting much effort on the wooden bar.
They finally succeeded in pushing the wooden bar off the Handler's legs after much effort. They propped the injured Handler onto their shoulders and tried to evacuate from Astera. However, their evacuation was cut short when the silhouetted, gigantic flying creature landed in behind them, crushing the very garden that housed a now-scorched Ancient Tree with one of its giant scaly hands with each having a huge leathery wing attached to it. The impact of the monster's landing threw them off their feet.
When the dust and smoke cleared a bit, the ominous glow of the burning village revealed a giant, wyvern-like Elder Dragon with its four limbs configured in a posture similar to a pterosaur with two back legs and two front legs with wings attached. It had dark crimson and black scales and its body plan was eerily serpentine with a long, flexible snake-like neck, a relatively slender body with a huge, deep chest, and a long, whip-like tail that was equal the entire length of the creature's body. The Elder Dragon had dinosaurian snout and jaws with expressive lips curled in a sneering snarl, revealing its row of dagger-like teeth. A crown of red and black horns adorned the back of its head. The eyes were at their most menacing when their amber hue turned Halloween orange with the flames' light illuminating them. The dragon's yellow chest was as armored as the rest of its body.
The most terrifying part was that this monster was twice the size of Xeno'Jiiva as its giant body and bat-like wings overshadowed the entirety of Astera.
The male Hunter and the Huntress turned around with their bodies still floored by the impact with their faces looking at the Elder Dragon in front of them while their Palicos valiantly stood protectively between them and the dragon with their weapons drawn out.
Then the dragon chuckled before he did something none of the people and Hunters expected at all.
"How pathetic…are these supposed to be the so-called legendary slayers of Xeno'Jiiva that I heard rumors about?" the monster spoke in a reverberating, deep gravelly voice that sent cold shivers and shock down everyone's spines.
"By the gods, the tales and songs fall utterly short in his presence," the Field Team Leader muttered with his body paralyzed in fear for the first time in his life as he remembered the very dragon of avarice whose dreaded name was spoken in stories long ago.
"So disappointing and pitiful…," the dragon spoke derisively as he was not impressed with the pair of Hunters that now stood up in defiance of the monstrous reptile. The beast then gave out evil smirk and a growl when he spotted the Handler covering behind her friends.
"Is that your child…?" The Handler gulped at that, trying hard to be brave in the face of this existential terror, but failing miserably. "…or a dear friend of yours?" the reptile spoke deceptively smooth in his tone with his eyes like that of a cat eyeing a mouse.
"You cannot save her from the fire. She will…BUURRNNN!" the dragon declared, which prompted the Huntress and the Hunter to unsheathe their weapons with defiance and anger coloring their expressions.
The next scene showed the male Hunter outfitted in the same Girros armor and wielding a Pulsar Shooter III firing a hail of bullets at Smaug's chest, who seemed unfazed by the damage. The fight was in the Wildspire Waste when the Hunter had to dodge out of harm's way when Smaug slammed his left front limb. The Hunter went around and fired his Heavy Bowgun's signature thunder bullets at the dragon's skyscraper-sized wings. Smaug felt the bombardment and quickly lashed out with his whip-like tail knocking him away before the dragon spat out a fireball that combusted upon contact with the Hunter.
In another scene, this time in the Ancient Forest, Smaug was flapping his wings furiously creating gusts of winds that knocked out the Deviljho Huntress and others easily.
A Hunter outfitted in Val Hazaak was mowed over by Smaug in the bone graveyard of Rotten Vale when he flew so close to the ground to the point that his chest knocked him down at such high velocities. The Val Hazaak Hunter had been inflicted by so much damage that he was dizzy. His Palico tried to give him the Vigorwasp to heal him, but it proved too late when Smaug was quick to roast them both in a stream of fire.
Smaug swayed his neck side to side vigorously and snapping his jaws ferociously at anyone that tried to get too close to him in the Ancient Forest.
The same dragon was seen flying in the air, carrying a flailing Legiana in his hind limbs and claws before he slammed her down onto the coral floor with his chest crushing her back. He then blasted fire onto her as she wailed about painfully. Several Girros were thrown about and burnt simultaneously when Smaug flashed about clouds of explosive gold flakes from his wings and chest. He was then seen taunting a downed Azure Rathalos that he had pinned down with his front limbs before he bit into the wyvern's throat and snapped its neck apart.
In the cavernous lair resembling a massive treasury chamber built within a ruined temple situated on top of a mountain, Smaug was confronted by a hungry Deviljho with the former amused by the latter's posturing that hardly fazed him for a second. A fight ensues with the Deviljho spitting out Dragon Breath at Smaug, but it was lacerated and whacked in the face by his elongated whiplike tail in return.
Smaug let out his own version of the Teostra's supernova move with clouds of golden flakes surrounding both him and the power couple of Teostra and Lunastra. The massive fire-drake's chest and neck glowed ominously before he lashed out his fire breath igniting the gold dust clouds. The explosion consumed and harmed both the leonine Elder Dragons while he remained unaffected.
The same Deviljho Huntress hid behind a stone pillar that was half-buried by steep hills of gold, diamonds, gems, and the like. She put on her Ghillie Mantle with her breathing unsteady and sweat forming down her skin as she heard the fire drake's breathing and felt his fiery hot breath nearby.
"Come now…don't be shy…," Smaug's head and long snake-like neck slithered past the pillar where she hid behind as he spoke in a mockingly inviting voice.
"Step into the light."
A Capcom and J.R.R. Tolkien Fan Collaboration
DESOLATION BEGINS
ON DECEMBER 13