Cantios

"It can travel across all terrains, no matter how extreme they are. Wherever it goes it numbs the nerves of their victims, then silences them completely..." -Blacksmith

Cantios (Cahn-tee-oas) are Flying Wyverns able to hunt in all environments.

Appearance
Cantios' main shape is that of a Flying Wyvern's. Its wings are bladed, and on ground has clawed hands like a Tigrex's, which are not visible while flying. Its head is embodied with horns like a crown. Its talons resemble that of a Rath's. The tail is like a mace, two arcs from the top and bottom, and two thinner ones from the sides. Along its neck is what appears to be gills like of a fish. Several spines cover its feet, back and chest.

Its body is a light brown, with red zigzag patterns across its legs, tail and wing webbing. Its wings, hands, feet and tail blades are a deep green. Its chest is blue.



Behaviour
These wyverns don't see many as a threat as it knows how to fight on all terrains. However once such a foe arises, it shows that skill in combat attacking with claws on ground, breath and wings in air, and tail with body in water.

If it finds itself outclassed it has no hesitation to quickly flee the area to escape the stronger monster.

Like most of the Flying Wyvern class it is highly aggressive and will attack those who seem like a threat.

Encounter Intro
Sword Shatterer: Area 3 Fallen Woods (In the quest, Seregios avoids area 3, the chest must be broken and no other parts can be broken.)

The hunter tracks down a Seregios that has been wounded by his/her hand. It goes to sleep near the poison pond. Something is seen swimming in the river above the area, it looks like a wyvern only meant for flight. It erupts out of the river in a jump similar to Tigrex, slicing off the Seregios' tail in a single slice. This expectedly immediately awakes the Seregios and enrages it. The hunter quickly dashes for safety as the two wyverns fight. Cantios flings fire from its claws which miss the Seregios, only for it to receive a deadly kick to the face and breaking its horn. Seregios sends its shards towards Cantios but it takes off and flies like it was a Rathalos. It gives chase in the sky to claw Cantios. It reacts by breathing out a silver mist at Seregios. Seregios no longer appears to protect its damaged parts anymore. Cantios uses its wings to send out blue wind at the tail stump, freezing it in place. Cantios torpedoes into Seregios, breaking its wings and back. Defeated Seregios falls into the poison pool as Cantios flies away. The scene swifts back to the hunters view, next to the now dead Seregios.

(The quest then scriptedly abandons)

Hunt Intro
Old Jungle: Area 3: Master Of Environment's

The Cantios bursts from the river, flies up into the sky and breathes a cloud of Undrea and lands on the ground. There it dashes towards a carcass of a Kelbi to eat. The hunter is seen behind and Cantios takes notice, abandoning its previous meal. It swiftly breathes Undrea and roars, and the hunt is on.

Attacks
Cantios is unique in being able to fight in all environments. The fight will be a challenge for that reason, with strategies changing on the go.

Ground

 * Roar Does the Flying Wyvern style roar animation except it keeps its wing talons on the ground. Requires high grade earplugs to block.
 * Side Bite: A slight bite to the left while swinging its tail up, does minor damage.
 * Snap Cantios raises its head and wings and lunges forward in a chomp. Enraged this is done twice.
 * Claw Of Fire Its claw is dragged into the ground and flung up, sending fire sparks out.
 * Tail Club Turns around 180° and slams its tail. Always done twice. It is the tail spin of Cantios.
 * Charge Rushes forward with its mouth open and skids to a halt. This is done in a true flying wyvern style.
 * Undrea Breath Its chest will turn grey and it spreads its wings out and it breathes out a cloud of Undrea. This will cause Undreablight.
 * Slashes In an arc it swipes the ground in front of it with both claws one after the other.
 * Hip Check Bends to its side and tackles with its wing. Done to hit opponents by its side.
 * Undrea Ball Raises itself up and breathes downward firing a ball of Undrea. There is a chance it will remain skyborne after this.
 * Kick Cantios pounces at a target and lashes out with both talons. When enraged this will do Fireblight.
 * Tail Smash Looks behind it as it raises its tail. It smashes it down at a quick speed enough to cause quake.
 * Tail Swing: Swings its tail in a fast arc that can be done to its left or right side that near reaches its face.

(Enraged only)
 * Fiery Undrea Breath: The attack will begin as before. Unlike before its wingclaws both slam down and cause a spark of fire. A bright orange glow will travel along its zig zag patterns on its body to its head and ignite the Undrea in its mouth. Cantios will then shoot the breath directly in front of it, unleashing a fire ball like breath. If the attack hits a obstacle it explodes.
 * Fiery Slashes: As the attack is being prepared its claws flare orange. When the slashes are done fire is left on the ground where the claws hit.

(G rank only)
 * Turning charge Upon doing its rath styled charge, it extends its claws, turns around, and does another in the style of Tigrex.
 * Slide Leaps forward and does a Plesioth like slide.

Air

 * Aerial Roar: Shakes its head and roars to the ground.
 * Headbutt Violently turns its head to the side while turning.
 * Wing Slash Extends its claw to swipe while spinning with the other wing to keep it airborne.
 * Bite Bites downwards causing minor damage.
 * Airborne Undrea Breath Inhales, then exhales Undrea fumes in a straight stream.
 * Talon Smash: Cantios springs up with both of its talons and strikes down at the ground.
 * Talon Pin If low on stamina, it will aim at a hunter. Cantios glides back, readies its talons and slams into the ground. If successfully done it will proceed pin the hunter and then bite him/her repeatedly. If its not escaped from in time Cantios will do the Undrea Ball attack on the hunter pinned.
 * Glide Moves back and rushes forwards. Borrowed from Rathalos.
 * Surprise Ruined If any attack Cantios from behind it will upswing hunters using its tail.
 * Tail Sweep: It will bring its tail by its side and swing it widely around it to its other side.
 * Rock Throw Slams both talons in the ground, pulling out a piece of earth. It swings back and then forth tossing the rock. Can Iceblight or Fireblight when in environmental areas.
 * Air Freeze Cantios curls its wings and flaps forward a gust of cold air causing Iceblight.
 * Earth Ripping Glide Goes to the ground and extends its claws and talons. Using them to tear the ground and unearth rocks that fly behind. When enraged this will do Fireblight.

(Enraged Only)
 * Talon Scrape: With its red hot talons it scrapes the ground with sparks of fire being left behind.
 * Fiery Scrape: It begins its talon scrape attack but will move downwards a second and claw into the ground then spring up, kicking forward fiery shrapnel at hunters.

(G Rank Only)
 * Undrea Glide Breathes a cloud of Undrea that surrounds its wings. With a wide span it flies overhead, leaving the Undrea cloud behind.
 * Dive Slam: Will suddenly extend its wing talons and slam directly down into the ground.

Water
(G rank only)
 * Underwater Roar: Does a leviathan styled roar.
 * Bite: Bites forwards.
 * Swinging Chomp: A bite that reaches from both of its sides.
 * Double Bite: Will bite forward twice.
 * Double Swinging Chomp: Does the attack two times and both bites reach around to a 180 degree angle.
 * Wing Flap: Takes its wings out of fin form and pushes a current of water. Causes Waterblight.
 * Claw: Will extend one of its claws and slash. A very quick attack.
 * Tail Flip: Raises its tail and back flips, if the tail isn't cut off it can inflict Waterblight.
 * Spin: Dashes to its side and spins itself in a circular motion.
 * Undrea Wave: Breathes out three balls of Undrea that move in a wave like pattern.
 * Dash: Swims backwards and spinning charges into a faraway opponent.
 * Tail Swipes: Will swing itself around to hit hunters with its tail.
 * Freeze Flap An unexpected attack as it uses its wings not as fins. It repeatedly flaps them and exhales into the cloud formed. It bursts to hit anything in its range with Iceblight.

All

 * Undrea Blast Will breathe in a huge breath and fire a cluster bomb like Undrea ball. This is Cantios' Strongest attack and its animation changes depending on its mode.

Rage and tired states

 * Enraged: Undrea fumes from mouth and eyes and red patterns glow.


 * Tired: Drools from mouth, chest will shrink if not broken and Undrea attacks will fail.

Breaks

 * Head (2x), horns then scar up the middle of head
 * Chest, spines broken and weak point revealed
 * Tail broken, tips of blades broken
 * Tail sever, tail must have been broken first
 * Left wing
 * Right wing
 * Left wing claw
 * Right wing claw
 * Back spines
 * Foot talons

Mount

 * Cantios is attacked on the back in the land and sea. The land shake off animation can be of that of a Nargacuga's or the standard Flying Wyvern one. The sea mount involves it darting in circles.
 * Cantios is attacked on its chest in the sky. The shake off animation is similar to the ones several Elder Dragon's use mounted in the sky.

Land
It begins like Tigrex/Narga's but will then raise both wings up and flop down on the floor dead. A combination of Tigrex, Rathalos and Plesioth's death animations.

Air
It shares this animation with Seregios.

Water
Cantios extends its wings and its claws to try and make it to air, but it fails and with a few flaps, turns on its side and dies

Music Theme
Cantios has its own unique theme. But since the creator (Chaoarren) couldn't make one, he decided to upload this for it.



Interactions with The Frenzy/Apex
Cantios can become infected by The Frenzy as Undrea cannot block it out. Its red zigzag markings become purple and its roar becomes a much lower pitch.

Cantios can overcome The Frenzy and become Apex Cantios. The brown hide it has turns much darker. Its roar becomes completely unrecognisable from its normal one. When on ground its claws spread off fire sparks when it does any attack involving them. Its Undrea blast increases in wideness. It becomes truly deadly, gaining another set of attacks to go with the original.

Transformation To Apex
Tundra: Area 2: Corruption Of The Cantios

The sun shines over the Tundra as a familiar shadow dashes past. The camera shows that its a Cantios fleeing from what looks like another one, only frenzied. The frenzied one let's out a distorted screech striking out and hitting the Cantios back. Despite this it continues to flee, with frenzied one in pursuit. After a while the frenzied one hits the tail of the normal making it lose balance, followed with a dive bomb that sends it directly into the area with cracked ice surrounding its seemingly dead body. Right next to it is a Popo which the frenzied lands directly on, killing it instantly. The frenzied wyvern eats from the meat, then proceeds to sleep on the areas right edge.

As night comes, The Frenzy starts to taint the Cantios, unexpectedly causing clouds to form as it fails to fully infect the Cantios. A blast of purple lights the area as the clouds now begin coming from the Cantios' body. This awakes the frenzied, who fails to see the danger and rushes right at it lashing with its wing talons. The talons completely break from the hardness of the shell causing it to emit a pained yet distorted scream. The new apex replies with a roar of its own, a horrifying scream distorted beyond recognition. The frenzied one dashes and takes flight from fear from the apex, only for apex to leap at it in Tigrex fashion biting off its tail and seemingly burning its wings from its claws.

As the frenzied struggles to get up, a wing arm broken the apex predator lands directly in front, biting its severed tail into shards. Its wing talons glow orange, melting the snow on which it stands. The frenzied is pushed down as the apex brings its right claw to its throat. The screen turns black just as the apex slashes...

The Aftermath
Tundra (Night): Area 2: Brutal Aftermath

A camera pans across the area, turning towards the right. The sight seen is grim. The skeleton of a Cantios is seen, with several parts of its flesh remaining however burnt. Ice around is stained red with several holes in the floor. In the centre is a crater like impact zone, with a Popo skeleton next to that. The dead Cantios is seen to have died brutally, with its wing talons missing along with its tail, a broken wing and many fractures. It appears to have had its throat cut, mauled then eaten. A yelp from a Barioth interrupts the scene, seen flying overhead from area 4 as a dark figure knocks it straight into the area...

Apex Intro
Tundra: Area 4: Cruel Master

The hunter appears and with no waiting there is already action! A heavily wounded Barioth charges at the Apex Cantios, affected by Undrea. Cantios swiftly dodges a bite and with a reflex it pounces and slashes its wing claw at Barioth's chest wound, killing it as the flames burns through and smashes against a wall. The Cantios' gaze turns to the hunter, slowly turning towards him/her. It gives out its distorted roar, causing him/her to leap out of the way as ice spikes fall from the ceiling. Before he/she can react Cantios' picks him/her up in its talons! And proceeds to even leave the area!

Above area 3 the hunter manages to use a Wystone to make it drop him/her. The apex theme begins to play as Apex Cantios hovers over and roars in annoyance, then the hunt begins from there!

Ground
(G rank only)
 * Leap: In ground mode it pounces and slashes in a Tigrex fashion causing fireblight.
 * 360° tail strike: Spins its tail in a over quick style like Nargacuga.
 * Single slash: Leaping at a target it delivers a powerful slash from one of its wing talons causing hunters to get knocked back far.
 * Maul: Will strike both wing talons together in an attempt to trap a hunter. If it succeeds it will repeatedly slash at him/her with its right wing talon. If not broken out of in time it picks him/her up with its left wing talon, drops him/her only to violently slash him/her away with its right. The hunter can actually hit another one, causing damage to him/her as well. The worst part is that this pin is very hard to mash out of.
 * Double slash: When enraged it will repeat the attack immediately on a different target.
 * Slash maul combo: If it misses its slash attack twice in a row it'll do its maul grab as it lands.

Air
(G rank only)
 * Arial glide down: Climbs to a high altitude and glides to the ground with foot talons out. When enraged it fires down a single ball of Undrea.
 * Glide Undrea breath It always fires a ball of Undrea even when not enraged. When it is, the ball turns into a full continuous stream of it.

Water
(G rank only)
 * Turning tail whip: Does a Plesioth style tail strike, inflicting Waterblight.
 * Advancing 360° spin: Dashes forward a bit bringing up its tail before dashing more as it spins that tail around.
 * Spin Undrea add on: As it does its spin it breathes out Undrea during it.

All

 * Undrea mist: Now whenever it does an Undrea attack it will remain on the ground as a mist for a few seconds to infect any who are unaware.

Body Biology
Has the appearance and body of a Flying Wyvern like Rathalos. Its bone structure and muscles are able to change to become able to move through water, or become a brute. Its wings can bend to become fins, along with a pair of gills next to its throat that allow water filtering. The wings can also shrink in the webbing and bulk in the arms, causing its wing talons to swell and become hands like that of a Tigrex's. The tail acts like a mace on land, which Cantios uses to smash through tough hides or the occasional rock. In water it becomes a fin, propelling it through the water.

It's body also contains a lot of heat, its claws being naturally warm. If angered its body temperature will rise, causing the zigzag patterns on its body to glow red along with its claws and talons. These patterns are actually special organs which conduct heat when needed. An example of the organs being used is them transferring a wave of heat to Cantioses mouth to ignite its Undrea breath. Cantios can controls said organs manually, as in the fiery breath only being used on its own command.

Undrea
The Undrea from Cantios is created from its stomach acid, its lungs and dragon element which it cannot use purely. It affects the brain and pain sensors of whoever it affects, making them unaware of their wounds, leaving them to a potential fatal strike.

In the food chain
Cantios will eat whatever meat it gets its talons on. It has been seen eating, Aptonoth, Apceros, Epioth, Rhenoplos, Kelbi, Popo, and fish. Sometimes it might eat a monster that tried to kill it. Despite its abilities, it faces threats from many wyverns from all environments, due to its presence in all them. If it finds itself outclassed, it doesn't have any objections to fleeing from battle quickly.

Hunting Style
Cantios prefers not to ambush prey unless its colours blend in with the environment it is currently in. They often attack head on with their claws and fangs. They also process a mace shaped tail to stun with a strike often aimed at the head. During combat the Cantios will transfer the heat it has into its special heat veins and make them glow fiercely. This also heats up its claws if they haven't already and makes it able to use a fiery breath. The fiery breath isn't the only breath it has, it also has the ability to use an ailment known as Undrea. With a direct hit from this breath its prey/enemy will become numb and their behaviour will often change. Many instances of the behaviour change make them unaware of their injuries and only blindly attack without any sense of evasion or blocking. Once infected by Undrea most hunts quickly end with Cantios striking an already wounded part to rupture an internal organ of its prey and kill it.

Since Cantios can fight in sea and air as well as land its fighting styles change depending on it too. In the air it attacks using its wings and talons to cut prey down before descending down on them and finishing them off. From this style of attack prey are most likely prone to being inflicted by Undrea breath. Cantios often fly to their preys side before they glide or attack with their talons.

In the seas Cantios mainly uses its fangs and tail to shred and smash prey to pieces. This attack pattern has been compared by hunters to be that like the Plesioth, which is a Piscine Wyvern. It is here where Cantios mainly do their rarely done ambush attack, as reported by a hunter on a quest contact to hunt a Seregios.

Life Cycle
Cantios begin as eggs laid in any environment, even in water. The nest is surrounded by Undrea, giving would be predators the appearance that they are rotten, and any who persist get infected and then likely killed by the parent, who stays with the eggs until they hatch. The new born Cantios is shaped like the environment it hatched in, but the other abilities develop over time. Food is mainly supplied by the parent Cantios, during the first few weeks. During the next two months it develops and learns to interact in other environments. Those that fail, or have a disability that prevents its adaptation to other environments, very often die, abandoned by the parent or flat out killed by its siblings. It is believed an imperfect Cantios exists, but there has been no confirmed sighting.

If the parent contracts the frenzy at any stage this will be passed onto its young. They might even become apex, resulting in the deaths of the parent and all its siblings.

Those who do survive grow into fully fledged Cantios' able to live on their own.

An aged Cantios can be told from battle wounds or scars across its body, as well as sharper talons and fangs. Of course Cantios will eventually die, from age, effects of The Frenzy, killed by other monsters or slain by hunters as part of a quest contract. If a parent dies of age or of other causes while in the presence of its young, they will eventually eat it out of hunger.

Evolution
Cantios evolved from a creature which didn't lose its fish abilities when moving to land because of unique genes. It later evolved wings, becoming a Flying Wyvern and through new muscle stretching could change it back to a land monster.

The Undrea ability began as a poison, and through changes in its lungs and other chemical factors it fused to become the iconic Undrea breath.

Elemental resistance

 * Fire: 15
 * Ice: -10
 * Thunder: 5
 * '''Water: 10
 * Dragon: -20

Skills

 * Olympic swimmer
 * Marathon runner
 * Guts
 * Undrea master
 * Sharpness +1

General Trivia

 * Cantios' creation came from a simple idea: What if there was a creature able to hunt everywhere without being unsuited?
 * Its wing claws where originally always extended regardless of mode, but due to the render made, Chaoarren decided to make them only appear in ground mode.
 * Apex Cantios' pin comes from the original idea of Seregios pin, in which the "damage other hunters" concept never happened in the final game.
 * They seem to have a hatred for Seregios, possibly from the natural viewing of them as weak, and Cantios' hatred for monsters that are evasive.
 * Plus, Seregios shards don't seem to harm them much, sometimes having no effect.
 * In the Old Monster Hunter Fanon it is the flagship of Monster Hunter Tri Frenzy, a fangame that is not active here.
 * Like most fanon flagships it is the users favourite creation.

User Credits

 * Rathalosaurus: For the main render and using Cantios in his fan game.
 * Ailuromancy: For creating the icon for Cantios.
 * Gojira57: For using this monster in his EX series.
 * Setheo: For the re-version of Cantios.