The typical Electric Dragon shell was predominantly green. The Three Elder Dragons had never seen one entirely golden yellow before.
"Roar?"
The Teostra let out an inquiring sound.
"Where's the giant pit from before?"
Xixi still didn't look up, only responding that she hadn't seen it.
"Roar?"
The Lunastra, sensing something amiss, chimed in.
"This Electric Dragon, like those other monsters, shows no fear of Elder Dragons. There's definitely something wrong."
"Roar!"
Xixi, displeased, retorted, "Can't I just be naturally brave?"
The Three Elder Dragons obviously didn't believe this flimsy excuse. They lowered their flight altitude and hovered above the ground.
Soon, a familiar Elder Dragon signature was detected, originating from ahead.
*Crack!*
Xixi's crown rubbed together, and several golden arcs of electricity crackled.
The opponent didn't recklessly probe but instead had the Kushala Daora move to the forefront.
With a flap of its wings, a powerful gust of wind, carrying misty white currents, surged forth.
*Whoosh!*
Crystal fragments, piled up from the collapse, were swept up in the turbulent flow.
Soon, a circular outline filled with debris appeared behind Xixi.
The collapse caused by the previous battle had perfectly filled and concealed the pit where Hui Hui resided.
Xixi, who had come specifically to guard, had thought a little improvisation on the scene would suffice for concealment.
Unfortunately, she had underestimated the Elder Dragons' sensory abilities and their importance to Hui Hui.
"Roar! Roar!"
Now it was the Teostra and Lunastra's turn to advance, their roars urging Xixi to retreat.
"Roar! Roar!"
Xixi lowered her neck, responding with equal defiance.
The Teostra and Lunastra immediately lost patience. Waves of scorching heat emanated from their bodies, and then they pounced simultaneously from the left and right.
*Zap! Buzz!*
Xixi immediately lowered her head. The electric light erupting from her crown transformed into a golden blade of light.
Then, with a tilt of her neck, she swung it horizontally.
Even the Teostra and Lunastra had never seen such a large blade of light.
But to them, an attack from a mere Electric Dragon was hardly worth evading.
So, they simultaneously opened their mouths and lunged forward to bite.
*Screech!*
The blade of light sparked and flared as it scraped against their sharp teeth.
The pouncing momentum of the two Elder Dragons was halted, forcing them to land.
However, the blade of light caught in their mouths could not advance any further.
After a brief struggle, the Teostra and Lunastra retreated, dragging Xixi forward.
Xixi's claws dug deep into the ground, yet she was powerless to stop it.
*Bang!*
Her spiked tail slammed into the ground, and rings of electricity spread across the surface.
*Snap!* The blade of light on her crown suddenly shattered.
Freed from the restraint, Xixi used the backward momentum to spin her body around and whip out her charged tail.
The Teostra and Lunastra dodged to their respective sides, and the electric discharge from the tail swept through the middle, striking the Kushala Daora behind them, who hadn't managed to dodge in time.
*Crack! Crack!*
"Ugh..."
The Kushala Daora let out a low groan, enduring the impact and maintaining its balance.
*Zzzzt!*
Seeing that her attack had missed the Teostra and Lunastra, Xixi quickly gathered electricity at her wing claws.
But before she could even raise her wing claws halfway, the Teostra, wreathed in flames, lunged from the side, closing the distance.
With a roar, its descending claws slammed onto the insect-like transparent wing membranes.
As Xixi, body tilting, twisted her neck, the ship-slaying blade of light erupted from her crown.
The Teostra didn't back down, opening its mouth to unleash a blast of flame.
In the extremely close-range confrontation, the blade of light cleaved through the flames and struck the Teostra's forehead.
However, the head that had unleashed the ship-slaying blade could not withstand the searing flames for long.
*Snap!* The ship-slaying blade shattered!
As Xixi twisted her neck to dodge the flames, a pair of sharp claws from the Lunastra appeared in her vision.
*Whoosh! Whoosh!*
Two powerful gusts of wind came from above.
Before the Lunastra could look up, its claws grabbed Xixi's wings on either side and began to tear them backward.
"Roar!"
The Lunastra let out a fierce roar.
It wasn't a scolding for the little rascal's playful attack on her, but a reminder to the Kushala Daora to hurry and help if it wasn't dead.
A mass of invisible air currents surged forward.
The little rascal, struggling with all its might, was astonished to find that no matter how much it flapped its wings, the generated wind pressure was rapidly diminishing.
Hovering flight could no longer be maintained. The two dragons had to release their claws and descend to the ground.
"This won't do. The wind currents are too much of a counter to the little rascal..."
Li Fan, watching from a distance, said with a helpless expression.
If they were at a greater distance, the wind direction changes brought by the approaching wind currents would have been detectable by the little rascal's sensitivity to air currents, preventing it from being locked onto.
But at this proximity, there was no escape.
"Pure ground combat... Attack the Kushala Daora!"
Li Fan pondered for a moment and then issued his command.
The Kushala Daora, being the source of the disturbed air currents and already injured, immediately became the little rascal's best target for ground combat.
Seeing the Gold and Silver Raths charging forward with roars,
The Kushala Daora hesitated for a moment, then turned and began to flee.
Now unhindered, the Lunastra pounced, pinning Xixi's other wing, then turned towards the circular pit filled with crystal fragments, its mouth igniting with flames.
"No, it's too late."
Li Fan took out a capture ball and recalled Xixi.
However, Xixi, still struggling fiercely, showed no reaction.
"Xixi! Come back quickly!"
Li Fan shouted and ran towards her.
Seeing the Lunastra's flames about to erupt, Xixi let out a roar of defiance.
Her crown swung with her neck, angling backward.
*Buzz!* A massive ship-slaying blade emerged, slashing towards the Lunastra.
The Teostra, having just been struck on the head and knowing its formidable power, couldn't afford to continue suppressing Xixi. It leaped forward and knocked the Lunastra aside.
Xixi's slash missed. She struggled to her feet and continued to block the large pit with her body.
The Teostra and Lunastra saw clearly that without dealing with the obstacle in front of them, they wouldn't be able to get close easily.
*Whoosh!* The heat of the wind intensified.
Amidst the orange-red glow, countless points of light began to orbit Xixi.
*Crack!*
Golden electricity surged across her body, finally converging at her crown.
"Don't keep resisting, Xixi! You'll die!"
Li Fan, holding the capture ball, shouted as he ran.
"Roar..."
Xixi let out a low growl, firmly stating that Hui Hui was behind her and she would never retreat.
*Whoosh!* As the heatwave struck,
Without heat-resistant gear or discs, Li Fan, his companion, and the cat were forced to stop about two hundred meters away.
"Hui Hui also refuses to be captured... Don't be so stubborn, you two."
Thanks to the heat-resistance training received during her previous skirmishes with the Lunastra,
Li Fan could endure the high-heat area for a while.
However, this was a one-time opportunity and had to be used wisely.
Helplessly, he took out his handheld device to check if Hui Hui's refusal to be captured was due to a status problem.
He had only looked halfway through when a trait called suddenly popped up.
"So that's why she refuses to be captured..."
Li Fan murmured, looking at the screen, a look of realization on his face.
*Buzz... Buzz...*
The ground suddenly began to vibrate at an extremely high frequency.
A small crystal fragment buried in the circular pit slowly levitated in the tremor.
Moments later, more crystal fragments detached from the ground, swirling in the air.
*Creak!* As a slightly larger crystal shard rose, a bright blue beam of light shot out from the gap, piercing the sky.
The Teostra and Lunastra sensed danger and immediately began to retreat.
Xixi sensed the anomaly behind her but remained vigilant, closely observing all their movements.
*Bang! Crack!*
The crystals filling the pit began to fracture. More blue beams of light projected outward as the crystals flew away.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
The familiar sound of booster jets grew louder.
"Dilu."
"I'm here! What is it, meow?"
Dilu, staring intently, asked.
"Put on your goggles."
Li Fan, gazing at the pit, advised.
"Okay, meow."
Dilu said, pulling the goggles from the top of her head down over her eyes.
As the ground vibration frequency reached its peak, it suddenly stopped.
The blue light overflowing from the cracks and fissures also dimmed.
The entire area fell into an unprecedented silence. Even the Bellowing Dragons circling overhead ceased their roars.
It was as if they were waiting for something to appear.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Waves of air erupted, and the circular pit's surface exploded.
A dazzling bright blue beam of light shot straight into the sky.
*Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!*
Under the scouring air currents, the excess, overgrown carapace began to soften and melt, gradually revealing a streamlined body with sharp horns.
The Teostra and Lunastra, constantly turning their heads to observe, realized that it was difficult even to lock onto the blue mass in the air. They knew this battle could no longer continue.
So, they turned to look for the Kushala Daora, preparing to withdraw.
Li Fan, knowing that Hui Hui, though appearing spectacular, still had issues with adapting to flight and regenerating carapace, did not issue an attack order. Instead, he called back the little rascal and the other dragon.
At the same time.
Mul, a Dragonkin hunter investigating the Elder's Recess, also witnessed Hui Hui soaring through the sky.
He flipped up his hood and paused on a crystal pillar, gazing upwards.
"That is the Azure Star that guides the way..."
Mul exclaimed in awe.
A moment later, the Azure Star in his eyes suddenly plummeted towards the ground.
Mul followed its descent, his vision soon obscured by the distant layered crystal pillars.
However, in the flowing magma veins in the same direction below, he saw a Lavasioth struggling and thrashing.
"It's a Lavasioth with an injured tail. Why is it entering the magma veins? And why is it trying to escape?"
Mul, an expert in ecological observation, quickly noticed something unusual.
Once a monster enters the magma flow of a vein, even if it doesn't die, it will be transported to another area.
Other monsters might not understand, but a Lavasioth certainly would.
Therefore, the most likely reason was to use the vein's flow to facilitate its regional migration.
If it was related to the tail injury, the most probable cause would be regional instability, prompting it to escape to another area for shelter.
With this thought, Mul felt it all made sense.
The recent anomalies in the Elder's Recess indeed exceeded current ecological understanding.
But the Lavasioth's sudden change of heart and its thrashing out of the magma vein was truly puzzling.
"This is... a reverse-flowing vein!"
Mul quickly discovered the reason for the Lavasioth's attempt to escape by comparing it to the flow of other veins.
The creature was migrating to other regions due to ecological instability.
And the reverse-flowing vein likely led to a more core area of the current region.
The Lavasioth, realizing it had boarded the wrong transport, could only make an emergency exit.
However, as an ecologist, he harbored an intense interest in the core areas of visited regions.
Especially those that might hide significant ecological discoveries.
Evening, by the campfire.
Dilu, holding a telescope, gazed for a long time and asked worriedly, "Hui Hui has been flying for so long, will she be okay, meow?"
"She'll be fine. Hui Hui just hasn't flown like this in a long time."
Li Fan, lying on the ground, replied, looking up at the starry sky.
"What are your plans for the next step?"
Eudora asked.
"Return to the Star Base, submit the ecological discoveries and the mapped data. Then, we'll need to establish land routes and let brave hunter teams attempt entry."
Li Fan responded.
Although the Elder's Recess was dangerous, its resources were also extremely abundant.
The team's current ecological discoveries were rather limited. To gain a more comprehensive understanding, more hunters and scholars were naturally needed to visit.
If a complete observation mechanism could be developed in the future, and joint hunts were organized, even confronting Elder Dragons might be possible.
"What about the Nergigante?"
Eudora asked curiously.
"Let those three Elder Dragons deal with it. If it grows and truly becomes a threat... we can always escape with Hui Hui. Oh, right, we need to prepare an escape plan using her."
Li Fan suddenly realized.
"Uh... I was actually hoping to challenge it. So you really came here just to help Hui Hui form a Dragon Gem."
Eudora sighed.
"I considered it too, but to truly fight the Nergigante, there needs to be a sufficient reason."
"Maintain ecological balance!"
"Ecological balance... Don't you think the New World's overall ecosystem has been intentionally supplying energy to the Nergigante?"
Li Fan mused.
"That's impossible, right? In the past, monsters adapted to the ecosystem, not the other way around."
Eudora found it hard to believe.
"Let's hope it's a coincidence. In any case, we have no reason to risk our lives against the Nergigante. If it remains hidden well enough, it will likely ignore us, and that's true balance."
Li Fan explained.
"Alright, but once the routes are open and hunters start arriving, I'm definitely settling things with the Kushala Daora."
Having witnessed the coordinated combat of the three Elder Dragons, Eudora knew that confronting the Kushala Daora now would be extremely unwise.
But if hunters and scholars arrived, with the assistance of extensive eyewitness accounts, they might find an opportunity when the Kushala Daora was alone.
Three days passed quickly. Seeing Hui Hui's flight becoming increasingly smooth, Li Fan bid farewell.
In fact, given Hui Hui's flight capabilities, he shouldn't have worried about encountering any monster.
However, for stability's sake, he chose to observe for three more days.
Xixi, unwilling to leave, also remained in the Elder's Recess, left to roam freely.
"If you encounter trouble, don't rush in. Go find Hui Hui first."
"Roar!" Hearing Xixi's affirmative reply, the two humans and the cat immediately set off.
Upon returning to the camp at the entrance, a gaunt-faced Aipo was listlessly roasting sweet potatoes.
"That's not right. Didn't we leave plenty of food?"
Li Fan, seeing this scene from a distance, was immediately curious.
"The camp's storage chest is overturned on the ground... they must have eaten it all."
Eudora deduced.