Roar of the Anjanath

 The Rotten Vale. A place where death seems to hold more power over the living, corrupting the creatures and environment alike. No living thing would voluntarily come to the Vale unless their time was almost up. And yet, Evans, either a brave or stupid adventurer, crashes into the terrain undead would call home.

 Looking around, Evans first thought was 'man, this place looks even worse up close.' Carrion from countless types of creatures be it large or small litter the area as Raphinos gorge themselves on the desecrated remains. Hornetaurs scuttle about as they flair their wings trying to intimidate Evans.

 Their cowardice shows however as a small puff of flames is all it takes to drive off the creatures. Done driving away the pests, Evans makes his way to the center of the Rotten Vale. A green mist gradually surrounds Evans as he heads in deeper. Taking a moment to look around , Evans realizes that he has steeped into an area concentrated of effluvium. He feels fine though, either due to his wyvern physique, the Zorah core, or maybe both. if he was a hunter unprepared for the toxic fumes, he would no doubt have lost about half of his health by now. 'Still stinks though. Eugh...' Nose crinkling, Evans decides to head upwards to the bone pile, where it will hopefully stink less.

Rotten vale, Grace

 After Grace's close encounter with the Evans, she was able to make her way back to Astera to inform the commander about what happened. He was happy to know that the original problem was taken care of, but that quickly changed from hearing that the wyvern that made their elder dragon hunt fail is now roaming in lands they haven't mapped out yet. As a reward though, Grace was given the title of [Leading expeditionist] and tasked to investigate the newer areas further, much to her delight.

 As a result, now she finds herself in the rotten vale, a place Even the third fleet has little knowledge on. "All right, time to find a place to camp out!" Keeping the commission's main goal in mind, Grace made her way through the upper part of the Rotten vale. She collected any bones or things of interest along her way till she finally found the perfect spot. "This will work. Its naturally protected from the wildlife and is an open area large enough to put the mini canteen kit!" 

 Delighted, Grace was about to send the signal when she heard something in the distance. "What's that?" curious, Grace ducked underneath a pile of bones large enough to hide her as the object approached. 'Whyyyyyyyy is that thing here!?' To her exasperation and annoyance, Evans had reared his head from the slope leading down deeper into the Rotten Vale. Then an idea lit up in her mind. As quietly as she can, Grace reached for her satchel and retrieved a jar. 

 Inside the jar were three glowing balls of light, each of varying sizes. These were scoutflies. and not just any scoutflies, but ones specially trained to be able to remember the scent of a specific wyvern for longer periods of time. Grace let them loose, letting them float to the unaware [Hell ignitor] that seemed to be... looking around? 'This thing is just getting weirder... but that's what makes it interesting i guess.' Grace then retrieved the device the lynian researcher called a 'camera' and took some photos.

 As if sensing something watching it, the anjanath turns its head towards her direction. Thankfully she ducked out of sight in time before she was spotted. Unfortunately, the anjanath was now slowly approaching the bone pile, based on the thuds getting louder little by little.

 'No no no no! go away PLEEEASE!' Now sweating, Grace prayed that the anjanath doesn't roast her for dinner. She knew her bow was not well suited to fight fire wyverns, but she kept it nonetheless as it was a memento form her grandmother, a hunter of the 2nd fleet.

 Just as she began to felt hot air baring down on her, she feels the ground rumble around her. The anjanath seems to have turned its attention to the source as the stream of air was no longer hitting her, much to her relief.

'What happened though?' wanting to see what was going on, Grace cautiously peaked her head. The anjanath was now looking towards the larger portion of the slope, with its dorsal fins, lined with a unique pattern she noticed, released. After snapping a quick photo, She follows the fierce jaw wyvern's line of sight. To her amazement, a large ball of what seemed to be tar and bones was making its way towards the anjanath. 

 What happened next though was what really made her jaw drop. The anjanath, instead of charging forward, roaring or even retreating for cover, pulled back its leg. Then, right as the ball of bones was close it... kicked it!

 The ball of bones, now identified as a new wyvern, was launched away from where it came from. And if that wasn't surprising enough, the anjanath started making a sound similar to laughing! Under Grace's eyes, the anjanath faced the wall leading beyond the Vale and began to climb, teeth sinking in followed by the claws on the toes moving it upward.

 Once it was out of sight Grace pulled herself from the bone pile. She was shaken, though not out of fear. "The commission is gonna love this! I gotta get this back to base now!" As she was about to dash of, she realized two things. First, the scoutflies remained unharmed, and, even better, were floating near the direction the anjanath left. She could now track this Enigma of a wyvern! On the other hand, she still had to signal Astera about the new campsite. Grace happily made her way back to the campsite, unaware that this won't be the last time she encountered the variant.