Anyone who has played any Monster Hunter game will have probably noticed at some point that the ways these so called "monsters" act are strangely familiar, with their behavior being more animalistic than monstrous. This is without a doubt the thing...
A large half-moon shines brightly in the cloudy night sky, its silver glow reflecting off the calm waters of the marshy lowlands. Bordering the expanses of the soft, wet ground and the shallow rivers and lakes are tropical forests, the trees casting large shadows and creating many dark patches scattered throughout the area: the perfect spots for predators to ambush their unsuspecting prey.
However, not all of these shadowy spaces are made by trees; all over the region, the titanic fossils of long-extinct creatures form a bizarre canopy. The colossal ribs and vertebrae of the fragmented skeletons provide vines and small plants with the perfect place to take root, ultimately turning some parts of these macabre monuments into patchworks of vegetation, giving the primal forest's most agile inhabitants new pathways to travel on, or making natural nests for them to rest in, the perfect place to rest while avoiding the menagerie of ground-dwelling predators that stalk the steep, sloping terrain, and the patches of poisonous puddles that occasionally bubble to the surface.
Within the towering canopies, a Malfestio calls out into the night, the bird wyvern's shrieking echoes across the land. Using the cover of night to hunt for prey and avoid larger predators, the feathered creature moves its head to look around at the forest floor, its wide eyes fixed into its skull take in as much light as possible.
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Extending its typically folded plumicorns, the bird wyvern listens closely to its environment, attempting to detect any sign of prey that may be hidden from view. Sensing something nearby, the Malfestio quickly repositions itself closer to the ground, the hidden wing claws slicing through the air as it flies down in complete silence. Everything about this animal is designed to make it the ultimate nocturnal assassin.
Perching itself on a branch, the bird wyvern keeps listening for the faint sound it heard, rotating its head a full 360 degrees to determine the exact position of the source. Yet before it can do this, the animal hears the cries of another Malfestio in the distance, prompting it to respond. As both animals continue exchanging calls, the Malfestio detects something else, and this time the sounds are much closer. A series of rustling, grunting, and footfall are heard, causing the bird wyvern to rotate its head until it's facing directly behind.
There's suddenly another grunt, accompanied by an earthly rumble; finally, a whistling noise begins. Looking carefully, the Malfestio quickly leaps off its perch and flies away as a boulder comes crashing down on the branch it had occupied only moments ago, the slab of stone easily smashing the wood and sending it crashing to the ground.
While the bird wyvern flees the area, a deafening roar shatters the quiet of the night. Not daring to look back, the Malfestio continues flying as its attacker stomps away, heading back to its resting place to resume the slumber from which it had been so rudely interrupted.
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The sun rises over the landscape as its rays chase away the darkness and bring warmth to the environment. A menagerie of species beings awakening from their night's sleep; however, not all animals are so inclined to get up. In an abandoned, damaged, and cluttered Nerscylla web, Thunder, an adult male Rajang, starts stirring in discomfort.
