"No, just a little tired..."
Eudora asked.
"Then only Li Fan's neck is injured."
Gu Xing asked curiously.
"Not injured, I slept awkwardly last night. What does the giant snake's head look like inside?"
"It's all filled with cocoons of silk. Touching them will get you stuck. The good news is that the Mantis's ability to resist interference while controlling is very poor. If its body movements deviate slightly, the entire external city will be severely out of control."
Gu Xing informed him.
"This should be a unique characteristic of the giant snake city."
Li Fan analyzed, looking at the giant snake lying on its side in the city.
"Why do you say that?"
Gu Xing asked, confused.
"Cities in dragon form have four legs for support, making them structurally much more stable. The giant snake, however, lacks support. To achieve gliding, each joint module must be bound by two silk threads for precise control. The control pressure is much greater in comparison."
Li Fan explained.
"Then why did the Mantis choose the giant snake city..."
"The dragon city is too cumbersome. Its speed is not suitable for charging city walls under artillery fire."
Li Fan gave the reason.
"So, the Mantis is consciously attacking East Doruma and is very well prepared, rather than it being due to monster habits."
Gu Xing realized the crux of the problem.
It came with hostility, not as an ecological coincidence.
Four nearby hunter teams had already rushed to the location of the giant snake's head.
The teams and Gu Xing also decided to attack at this moment.
Whoosh... whoosh...
Scattered golden silk threads suddenly tightened.
Clang! Creak!
The giant snake's head, slightly indented on the side, slowly lifted off the ground and then raised again.
The four hunter teams attacked from below the giant snake.
With the clang of swords and the crack of blades, the snake's body, touching the ground in the middle, continuously shattered.
But as the giant snake resumed its movement, a simple swing of its serpentine body generated an impact that the hunters could not withstand. Thus, the four hunter teams could only follow and attack.
Under Eudora's guiding flight, Li Fan was the first to land on the giant snake's head.
"Gu Xing, you opened your mouth a bit too wide..."
Li Fan was speaking when he suddenly felt the thick metal plate beneath his feet shake violently.
Trying to shake me off by rocking, what a joke!
Li Fan immediately adjusted his balance by tilting his head left and right.
"This..."
Gu Xing, also being dragged by Eudora's flight, was speechless at the sight.
Others adjusted their balance through body coordination, but he just shook his head.
However, seeing Li Fan's steady steps, Gu Xing also felt the urge to try.
"Don't look, you can't learn it. Wait until Li Fan breaks through and the Mantis's attention shifts, and it stops shaking the snake's head violently. Then you can go down."
Eudora reminded him.
"Mm..."
Gu Xing followed the silk thread and looked up at Eudora, who was floating upside down above.
He felt that Eudora had grown a lot compared to before, when she only knew how to attack mindlessly. A sense of relief washed over him.
"Ugh... I'm so dizzy, meow."
Dill, holding onto Li Fan's shoulder, felt uncomfortable from the shaking.
"Hold on, we're here."
Li Fan said, drawing his Thunder God Blade and plunging it into the thick metal plate.
Crackling!
With flashes of yellow electricity, he twisted the hilt with both hands.
The Thunder God Blade, designed with a double-edged blade, quickly cut out a circular hole.
*Crack!* A charged metal disc fell. The Mantis looked up at the opening above.
The man and the insect thus met each other's gaze.
"Why are you here?"
Li Fan asked first.
The Mantis did not answer. Its compound eyes flashed purple light twice, and it tilted its head.
"Who taught you to mimic the Nargacuga's form to build a city?"
Li Fan asked again.
Suddenly, its compound eyes erupted with purple light. But just as its left scythe was about to be raised, it was pulled back with great force by the taut silk threads.
The moving giant snake's body paused unnaturally.
To maintain control, the Mantis had to retract its scythe.
Li Fan could feel the Mantis's emotions fluctuating greatly, but he didn't know why.
Boom! Crash...
As numerous houses were flattened, the gliding giant snake city arrived at the side of the battle street and continued to move forward in the center of the city.
"That's enough!"
As Gu Xing reminded him, Eudora released the Wirebug silk threads she was holding.
Clang! A heavy falling sound echoed.
The Mantis instantly became alert, its scythes swaying rhythmically to the left and right.
The snake's head began to shake violently again.
It could probably understand what I was saying, but it seemed to express its response through physical displays.
Unfortunately, any slight movement now would affect the entire city.
Bang! Bang! Bang!...
As Li Fan pondered, countless red signal flares exploded in the sky ahead.
"The headquarters is not far ahead. The Guild is about to launch a concentrated attack! Li Fan, we need to create conditions for the attack!"
Gu Xing's voice called out.
Li Fan looked at the metal plate beneath his feet and replied, "Then let's split it in half and cut out a large gap."
"Okay!"
Screech! Screech!
The Kama Sutra and the Thunder God Blade were plunged into the metal plate, and the two men ran while dragging their blades.
With a screeching friction sound, two arcs quickly converged.
*Clang!* The thick metal frame suddenly sank downwards.
They retracted their blades, reached into the cut gap, and lifted upwards with all their might.
The protective barrier was cut open with a large hole. The Mantis, naturally, would not let it go unchallenged.
*Slap!* *Slap!* *Slap!*
Cocoons of silk were continuously sprayed towards the lifted crack.
Gu Xing was quickly splattered with sticky silk.
"Let me help too!"
Eudora, spinning down, landed and reached into the cut.
Clang! Buzz!
The large metal disc that had been cut out was lifted by the three of them and thrown to the side.
Whoosh~ A strong fragrance gushed out.
The Mantis inside the giant snake's head was exposed, its claw-like tail raised, launching a fierce attack with cocoons of silk.
Gu Xing, who was supporting it and enduring the strain, was already covered in silk and, with his movements hindered, was hit again, immediately wrapped into a ball.
"I'll go save him..."
*Slap!* Eudora, flying closer, was hit by a cocoon of silk mid-sentence and also wrapped into a ball.
However, by rapidly swinging its exposed feet, this ball could still fly in the air.
Another violent jolt came. Gu Xing, wrapped in a silk ball, could no longer move his body and suddenly remembered Li Fan's head-tilting technique for maintaining balance.
If that kid can do it, I definitely can too.
With determination, Gu Xing attempted it in his moment of crisis.
As a result, as soon as he tilted his head, his entire body fell over.
The silk ball rolled and quickly slid towards the edge of the snake's head amidst the jolts.
In the Monster Hunter world, people rarely die from falls, especially with the silk ball acting as a buffer.
But if it landed and was crushed by a sliding giant snake, it would likely be game over.
"Gu Xing! Hold on!"
As he tumbled and spun, Gu Xing heard a shout from above, and hope surged.
But when the silk ball flew out from the edge and stopped rolling in mid-air, he saw Eudora's current state.
You're a ball too, and you're telling me to hold on...
"Dodge, Eudora!"
Gu Xing shouted loudly.
"There's still time! Don't give up!"
Eudora's body moved vertically downwards, and as her feet swung rapidly, gusts of propulsive air quickly emerged.
The purple ghost fire that had just ignited within the Hannya mask instantly extinguished.
"Looking at you... I can't even activate my abilities."
Gu Xing sighed softly.
*Puchi!* The two silk balls collided and stuck together.
"Ah... ah!"
Watching the massive body of the giant snake slide towards them, Eudora shouted and swung her legs rapidly, flying sideways.
*Bang!* The two balls were flung out by the debris-laden rock wall and crashed into the wall of a tall tower.
"Whoa~ That was close... With such a severe impact, why am I completely fine?"
As Eudora wondered, she heard a pained groan from behind her.
She turned and saw Gu Xing, embedded in the wall behind her, making the sound.
"The silk ball is flattened... Are you okay?"
Eudora asked worriedly.
"I..."
Gu Xing's neck twisted, and blood dripped from beneath the Hannya mask.
Sensing that the silk on her body was showing signs of loosening due to solidification, Eudora immediately swung her body rapidly and broke free from the silk ball.
"The exact extent of the injury is unknown, so let's just use a recovery potion."
Eudora, floating upside down, took a recovery potion bottle from her belt.
"To save you, I have no choice but to be rude."
With that, Eudora reached out her hands and removed the Hannya mask.
"Uh... there are so many wounds on your face too. You really fought hard, no wonder you became Gu Xing's Oni... Hmm... Ah... This... Dad?"
Eudora, floating upside down, quickly righted herself to confirm the appearance.
"What's going on... It's impossible... Li Fan, come and identify him quickly... No! He hasn't seen Dad before either."
Eudora covered her face with her hands, falling into extreme confusion.
Meanwhile, Li Fan was still on top of the snake's head, preparing to dodge the cocoons of silk by rolling.
However, after holding his prepared stance for a long time, the Mantis did not attack.
"Why isn't it attacking yet? Is it out of silk?"
Li Fan asked suspiciously.
"I don't know, meow."
Dill shook her head.
Wooo... Wooo... Wooo...
*Gong!* *Gong!* *Gong!*...
A low horn sound and the rapid striking of gongs sounded simultaneously.
This was the Guild's final warning to the participating hunter teams.
It meant that a large-scale concentrated attack was imminent, and they should immediately distance themselves from the target monster.
This was a mandatory part of the four-star hunter exam. Although Li Fan had surpassed the star level without participating, he had still done thorough research.
He glanced at Huihui, who was waiting in the sky, and couldn't think of a good solution for a moment.
After all, if East Doruma were to become the battlefield, it would be difficult to determine whether the Mantis or the Valstrax was the source of the crisis.
Thinking of this, a sudden idea flashed through his mind.
However, escaping was the priority, and Li Fan didn't have time to ponder it.
After holding Dill and flying away from the rear, dense heavy crossbow bolts, comparable to raindrops, descended diagonally from high above.
Then, a large number of black cannonballs rained down from all directions.
The combat rail-mounted artillery trains lined up like a dragon also unleashed their first salvo.
Boom! Boom! Boom!...
The tremors from the artillery bombardment even overshadowed the advancing steps of the Lao Long.
*Swish!*
After a flurry of tiles flew, Li Fan completed his deceleration with a foot brake.
"Something's wrong. There are too many anomalies with the Mantis."
Li Fan looked up at the collapsing giant snake city and said.
"It is strange, meow. Treasure meow said that the Mantis has a move where it drags steel beams and then swings and throws them, a long-range attack of terrifying power, capable of even knocking away Huihui's shell. It's the best time to use it when attacked outside the city, but it seems to have forgotten this move."
Dill flipped through the record book on her waist, also very confused.
"Dill, if a person doesn't have a Poké Ball, can they still capture monsters?"
Li Fan asked.
"That... would be difficult, meow. It might require extremely high intelligence, of course, and like you, the ability to communicate with monsters."
Dill replied.
"If the other party already knew that this Mantis would appear, would it reduce the difficulty somewhat?"
"Appearing in East Doruma, meow?"
"No, even earlier... or rather, because he appeared earlier... the Mantis could appear in East Doruma!"
Suddenly, Li Fan grasped the vague thought in his mind.
"Uh... I don't understand at all, meow."
Dill drooped her head helplessly.
"He did something similar to me. The difference is that my target was Huihui, and his target was the Mantis!"
"Then who is this person, meow?"
"He participated in the Nargacuga subjugation battle and knew about the Mantis's existence in advance... It's that legendary hunter who disappeared from the Guild."
Li Fan gave the answer.
"No way, meow! Why would a legendary hunter make the Mantis attack!"
Dill scratched her ear with her paw, exclaiming in surprise.
"The legendary hunter disappeared mysteriously. From the remaining information, it's highly likely he didn't have any Poké Balls available... Then the only way to maintain a relationship with monsters is frequent face-to-face communication. So... the Mantis was likely induced."
"Ah! That's too sinister, meow! Then the person who could deceive the Mantis is..."
Dill clenched her paw.
"It's Guild Master Zhang!"
Li Fan firmly declared the other party's identity.
"So it was him, meow! I knew I saw him... Wait, Li Fan, who is the Guild Master?"
Dill couldn't recall ever seeing this person.
"The leader of the legendary hunter's Guild! He likes to wear an orange cowboy hat. That hat was once blown away on a sandship... Never mind, in short, he's the most suspicious."
Li Fan informed her.
"Did you gather any evidence, meow?"
Seeing Li Fan's composed demeanor, Dill's eyes lit up.
"No, but this intuition is very strong."
Dill wanted to question him, but the words she was about to say were held back.
*Whoosh!* As Li Fan moved his feet, a piece of broken tile slid from the roof.
Neither Li Fan nor Dill paid attention, as who would be on the streets at this hour.
*Clack!*
"Ugh... what an unfortunate day."
A low complaint came from below.
Li Fan and Dill peered down.
"Orange cowboy hat... that's the culprit, meow!"
Dill exclaimed.
The white-bearded man in front of the truck below was shaking the broken tile off his hat brim.
Looking up and seeing two heads peeking out from above, he looked surprised.
On the observation deck of the Guild headquarters, Sophia, leaning against the platform, also wore a puzzled expression.
"Li Fan isn't rushing to attack when he sees the Shiny, and he seems to be trying to communicate. What is he thinking?... No, it must be due to his stupidity."
Sophia shook her head quickly, as if trying to drive a certain thought out of her mind as soon as possible.