Zhan Zhan received no encouragement. It nudged the muddy ground with its flame-shaped shell on its back, settling in more stably.
He hadn't expected the blow to be so severe.
Li Fan had thought Zhan Zhan's distress from losing its tail would lessen as the tail gradually regrew and healed.
Instead, it had become utterly dejected, completely resigned to its fate.
Aside from the existential threat, nothing else seemed worth the effort.
"Weren't you going to give Zhan Zhan special training, meow?"
Dilu, seeing Zhan Zhan lying down, couldn't help but ask.
"Zhan Zhan has lost its fighting spirit, but I'm sure soon..."
*Whoosh~ Whoosh~*
Heavy snores filled the air, and glistening snot bubbles emerged from its nostrils one after another.
"Soon it will be asleep, meow."
Li Fan sighed helplessly and decided to try training on his own for now.
The ancient forest's towering trees, while not as resilient as those in the Cloud-Kissed Mountains, were sufficiently thick.
To slice through their surface with a Great Sword required both strength and technique. For Li Fan at his current stage, they were perfect for training.
Two hours passed.
"Hah! Yah! Hah! Behold my Rising Dragon Slash!"
Li Fan shouted, stomping his blacksmith boots on the tree trunk and leaping upwards.
Twisting his body sideways, he brought down the Shield Crab Great Sword.
"Ugh, landed again."
Li Fan sighed in frustration. While his jumping ability had improved significantly with his increasing physical strength, he was still far from being able to leap from flat ground and unleash a Silkbind Spinning Slash.
"If only I had a Wirebug to propel my body, and then use a Wirebug Kick to unleash a Silkbind Spinning Slash, would it be easier?"
Li Fan mused.
*Aow*
Hearing a low growl, he turned his head. Zhan Zhan, now awake, was watching from behind the bushes.
"You're awake."
Li Fan greeted him.
*Aow, cough cough!*
Zhan Zhan responded with a sound, then coughed heavily, spitting out a pile of hard, black debris from its mouth.
Li Fan sheathed his sword and walked over to examine it, discovering that these were cooled and hardened minerals.
Normally, even after a Zinogre completed the smelting of its tail spikes, it would still store a certain amount of molten minerals in its furnace sac for combat reserves.
If that wasn't enough, it could also shave off some from its softened tail spikes during grinding.
The mineral fragments before him, completely cooled, indicated just how terrible Zhan Zhan's state of mind was.
"I discovered something during my practice earlier. Want to go take a look?"
Li Fan suggested.
While Zhan Zhan hesitated, Li Fan had already grabbed onto a protruding scale and climbed onto its back.
"It's just ahead, not far."
Li Fan pointed the way, and Zhan Zhan began to move.
Before long, man and dragon arrived in a rare sun-drenched area of the ancient forest.
Zhan Zhan observed curiously for a moment, realizing that the reason for the sunlight was the felling of the surrounding giant trees.
Li Fan jumped off the dragon's back and approached a fallen log, patting the cut surface. "This cut is still quite rough. It must have been from recent practice."
*Aow?*
"It's the Zinogre that used to inhabit the ancient forest."
Li Fan finished speaking and ran to another log to examine the cut.
"This one wasn't cut in a single blow, but the cut is much smoother, and it's a downward diagonal slash, with a very precise angle." Li Fan continued forward, reaching a log with scorch marks on its cut surface.
"This time, the tail spikes were heated red during the cut. Perhaps due to reduced rigidity, the slashing power actually weakened. It was an experiment."
Zhan Zhan listened to Li Fan's analysis, deep in thought.
"At the end of this sunlit path, there's a mine. Want to go see?"
As Zhan Zhan hesitated, Li Fan once again climbed onto its back.
*Thump! Thump!*
Inside the dark cave, Zhan Zhan stepped on the gently sloping path, covered in claw marks, and descended, eventually reaching the mine.
*Hoo~*
Zhan Zhan exhaled a ball of flame, illuminating the surroundings.
In the distance, on the deep blue ore veins that resembled high walls, the crisscrossing bite marks were illuminated by the firelight.
Li Fan walked over to a pile of rubble and dug through it, laboriously dragging out a large, hollow shell.
He brushed the dust from his hands and introduced, "This is the carapace from the base of a Zinogre's tail. I wonder if it belonged to it."
*Aow?*
"Yes, I suspect it also lost its tail and came to this sunless ancient forest with confusion and despair. But it didn't give up. Instead, it honed itself in seclusion, waiting for the day its tail spikes would be reforged!"
Li Fan declared, clenching his fist.
*Aow!*
"This is a true Zinogre!"
*Ahhh ahhh ahhh* (The echo from the mine)
Zhan Zhan, which had been hanging its head low, gradually began to show a spark in its eyes.
In the forest, Dilu started humming a melody Li Fan often sang.
"Yankuku, Daiyey, Yuanqiouqiu, Nieshasa, Fenjuxing Little Fool, Hu Paopao Fat Qingtian, Don't look at me, I'm just a meow, Food becomes more fragrant because of me."
At this moment, a large blue mushroom under a tree caught Dilu's attention.
"This is the king of blue mushrooms, meow!"
Dilu said, taking out a small shovel from the side of its backpack, preparing to harvest it.
*Thump! Thump! Thump!*
A series of rapid thuds approached from a distance.
"Aren't the surrounding areas occupied by Paopao and the others? This is not right, meow."
Dilu hid in the bushes to observe.
"Zhan Zhan! Don't rush! We still have plenty of time for training. It's okay to wait a little longer! Ouch! So hot!"
Hearing Li Fan's shouts, Dilu looked in that direction.
It saw Li Fan on Zhan Zhan's back, struggling to maintain balance as it moved at high speed, but there was nothing to hold onto.
It tried to use its upward-pointing flame-shaped shell, but Zhan Zhan's skin was glowing red, and wisps of heat emanated from its entire body.
Li Fan was scalded by the high temperature with just a light touch.
*Sss!!!*
In an open area, Zhan Zhan, with fire in its mouth, suddenly stopped, sliding for over ten meters before flicking its tail.
"Oh, hell no!"
Li Fan, who almost fell off, quickly crouched down and covered his ears with his hands.
*Aow!!!*
Birds flew away, rabbits scurried into their burrows, frogs dove into the water, and fish swam deeper.
It seemed all living creatures in the vicinity were fleeing.
Dilu walked over to the imprint of Zhan Zhan's three-toed foot, looked at the flattened king blue mushroom in the pit, and slumped to the ground powerlessly.
In the evening, at the fixed camp built suspended at the top of a tree trunk.
Li Fan and Dilu were eating dinner around a campfire.
Listening to the rumbling sounds from afar, Dilu asked worriedly, "If Zhan Zhan keeps training like this, won't something happen, meow?"
"Don't worry. At most, it'll be exhausted and faint from overexertion. We've secured the surroundings, and Ye Ye is on night watch. Even sleeping outdoors is safe."
Li Fan said, then ladled another bowl of mushroom soup.
"I'm afraid that when it sleeps, Zhan Zhan will cut down the tree supporting the camp below, meow."
Dilu sighed.
"It won't. Judging by the distance, Zhan Zhan won't be able to reach here before its stamina is completely depleted."
Li Fan explained, then picked up a piece of mushroom and put it in his mouth, praising, "The mushrooms today have a really firm texture. Is it a new species?"
"It's not a new species, it's a blue mushroom, meow."
Dilu sighed.
The next day, Li Fan, who woke up at noon, emerged from his tent and stretched as he went to relieve himself at the edge of the tree branch.
This feeling of being a king in the wilderness was truly exhilarating.
After putting on his armor and strapping on his weapon, Li Fan began to search for Zhan Zhan's whereabouts based on the damage to the trees.
As expected, he found Zhan Zhan fast asleep in a clearing where the surrounding giant trees were full of dents.
Li Fan didn't rush to wake it. Instead, he practiced more in-depth slashes with his Great Sword on a lower section of a tree trunk.
The intention was simple: if its tail spikes were to break through armor, he could directly attack the inner flesh by striking at the cracked area.
An hour later, Zhan Zhan woke up.
"No way, I just rested for a bit and you're awake."
Li Fan had intended to use his own impressive training to inspire Zhan Zhan, but it woke up at the most inopportune moment.
*Aow.*
"Go forage. I won't be following."
Li Fan waved goodbye.
Two hours later, Zhan Zhan returned, not only having eaten its fill but also having coated its tail spikes with a new layer of mineral solution, though it appeared somewhat thin.
However, as long as Zhan Zhan had the will to fight, this was a good start.
Furthermore, its furnace sac near its throat was bulging and hanging low, clearly having stored a considerable amount of explosive minerals.
Seeing that Zhan Zhan was so well-prepared for special training, Li Fan first praised it, then explained his research findings.
Combined combat mode.
"Dilu, come! Demonstrate for Zhan Zhan."
Li Fan said, lying down on the ground. Dilu, holding its staff, jumped onto his back, and the interesting and lively teaching began.
"Zhan Zhan, this is combined combat mode. However, this is just a demonstration. During training, I am you, and you are... no, I am Dilu, and you are me. It might sound a bit complicated, but just understand the general idea."
*Aow.*
Zhan Zhan blinked, looking quite confused.
"You don't need to worry about me. You can even ignore my presence. But at crucial moments, I will assist you in launching heavy attacks on the enemy! Move Dilu."
"Meow! Meow!"
Dilu waved its staff a couple of times.
Zhan Zhan pondered for a moment. Seeing a beetle crawl across the muddy ground, it raised its foot and crushed it into a beetle pancake, then nudged it out of the dirt with its head.
"I do run the risk of being affected by you, but as I said, just ignore my presence."
Li Fan knew what Zhan Zhan was worried about.
The immense power unleashed by a monster during combat, based on its size, might be difficult even for itself to control precisely. For example, with a Rising Dragon Slash, anyone nearby was within the attack range.
If the coordination wasn't good, even if Li Fan wasn't directly injured by Zhan Zhan, they might hinder each other.
Retreating after being injured, or falling backward due to being hit – these passive movements were even less controllable by Zhan Zhan.
*Aow!*
Zhan Zhan acknowledged Li Fan's fearless spirit.
After a brief lesson, Li Fan climbed onto Zhan Zhan's back and tied a large-diameter Iron Wire between the tops of the flame-shaped shells on either side, creating a grip.
Seeing that the high temperature did not significantly damage the Iron Wire, Li Fan felt that his combined combat mode had taken another step forward. The next step was combat practice.
Li Fan, positioned on Zhan Zhan's back, would generally not be attacked.
The parry of the Courage Style was difficult to utilize, so he switched his weapon to the Shield Crab Great Sword.
The specific attack moves had not yet taken shape. Li Fan followed Zhan Zhan's tail spike slashes to gradually adapt to the attack rhythm and the undulation of its back, while also providing guidance on the application of tail spike slashes based on his understanding of the Great Sword.
Two days later, a *sizzle* sound echoed through the forest, and soon a giant tree toppled with a crash.
Zhan Zhan panted heavily and glanced at its tail spikes, which were bent forward. Although the cast ore on them was still thin, with Li Fan's guidance on force and angle, no giant tree in the ancient forest could withstand two slashes.
"It's time to go back. If we leave now, we'll be back in time for dinner."
Li Fan felt that the training he desired had been largely achieved. He gathered the monsters and began the journey back, riding Little Fool.
Back at the small wooden house, everything was as usual.
During dinner at the table, Eudora mentioned the Zinogre, saying it was still lingering around the village. To cooperate with the Guild's defense, Cala Village had entered lockdown.
"Any more information?"
Li Fan inquired.
"Well, according to the Guild's situation report, after being injured by Iron, this individual Zinogre not only showed no intention of avoiding the village but its fighting desire and hatred for humans have further intensified."
Eudora informed him.
"It's looking to sharpen its blade on hunters."
Li Fan surmised.
"What do you mean?"
"Let me give you an analogy. If a hunter spends many years crafting a high-grade weapon, what will they do with it?"
"Hunt, of course."
"Exactly. The Zinogre's behavior is similar. Crafting tail spikes takes a lot of time, but given the Zinogre's lifespan and the tail spikes' load-bearing capacity, there's ultimately a limit."
"Are you saying that Zinogre's crafting of its tail spikes has reached its limit?"
"Yes, so all that Zinogre needs to refine now is its combat skills."
"For a monster to improve itself so relentlessly, what is the reason?"
Eudora sighed.
This Zinogre's pursuit had clearly gone beyond mere survival.
"Perhaps it's simply its nature, or it has its own ideals, things it wants to protect. Or maybe, like humans and Dragonborn, it continuously arms itself to possess the ability to resist when disaster strikes."
Li Fan offered his opinion.
The next day, the team went to the Guild branch hall to check the joint hunt recruitment contract.
The contract name was "From the Unknown Beyond."
Upon signing the contract, an advance payment of 22,500z would be issued. Hunters participating in the repel mission would be directly promoted from three-star to four-star. Four-star ratings would be counted towards Guild evaluations, playing a significant role in future five-star hunter promotions.
Additionally, there was a final payment of 28,500z.
If the monster was slain, hunters would have the right to distribute monster materials according to their contribution.
The names of the hunters and hunting groups would be recorded in the Cala Village Chronicle.
A Spirit Jade-level Chosen One badge would be awarded, and participants could receive two free venison meals daily from the Cat's Grill restaurant, provided by Chief Bazel of Cala Village.
"Overall, it feels similar to the 'Moonlit Duet' event."
Li Fan commented on his feelings.
"Last time I participated, we had to strictly follow the Guild's deployment. Can you adapt to that?"
Eudora asked with some concern.
She didn't believe Li Fan would disobey orders and obstruct the Guild's operations.
Rather, once the monsters he led appeared in combat, the situation could spiral out of control.
"I can't adapt. The Guild might not even trust people, let alone monsters."
"Ah? Then why did you come to look at the joint contract?"
Eudora asked, puzzled.
"Why refuse free money?"
"Free money?"
Eudora looked bewildered.
Li Fan glanced around, seeing that the hunter teams in the hall were busy with their own affairs, and then asked, "Doesn't that Zinogre want to improve itself through combat? I can help it. It's just a bit intense."
"You mean!"
"Shh. Among five-star monsters, only another Zinogre can confront it head-on. You said so yourself."
"That's true, but there are no usable monsters in the surrounding area. This means the hunt will have to rely on the team's own strength."
Eudora voiced her concerns.
Although she didn't understand monster capture as well as Li Fan, she could clearly sense that Zhan Zhan was not in a bad state when it was captured, only its mental state had collapsed.
The exploited Diablos "Little Handsome" also played a crucial role.
Excluding these factors, completely hunting and killing a Zinogre was an extremely difficult task.
"I've considered all of that. But as long as Zhan Zhan is here, the situation won't develop in a bad direction."
"Yes, as long as Zhan Zhan is here, even if the hunting attempt fails, we can use the Zinogre's penchant for dueling to lure it elsewhere."
Eudora suddenly realized the crux of the problem.
"Since the Zinogre will definitely be lured away, the advance payment of 22,500z really is like free money. I'm signing up!"
Eudora said, running towards the counter with a cheerful expression, which contrasted sharply with the somber atmosphere in the hall.
However, this advance payment of 22,500z per person was not entirely free.
That evening, the team received a summons from the Guild.
As Li Fan was still a three-star hunter, he was not assigned to direct combat but was placed in the support group.
"Li Fan!"
In the Guild's field base tent, Shireen, also in the support group, looked exceptionally surprised to see Li Fan.
"What a coincidence. Is this box of G-rank healing potions for you to sign for?"
Li Fan said, setting down the grid box filled with potions.
"Yes. Did you mix all of these yourself?"
"Mhm. I wanted the effect to be stronger, so I added more honey and enhancers within the allowable range."
Li Fan informed her.
"No wonder the color is a bit dark. A full 24 bottles, you must have worked hard!"
Shireen immediately completed the signing.
"What's next?"
"How about mixing some Flash Bombs for me?"
"No problem."
"The standard materials were lost. I bought all these Glowbugs myself. Please be careful."
Shireen clasped her hands together.
Li Fan suspiciously stepped on the bulging carpet, lifted a corner, and saw the crushed bodies of a dozen Glowbugs, immediately startled.
"Your mixing success rate is a bit low."
"Hoo~ You found out. I'm already depressed. Please don't tease me anymore."
Shireen said, covering her head.
"Don't worry about it. My nickname is 'Mixing Prince.' Flash Bombs are a piece of cake."
Li Fan said confidently.
Zhao Lala reminds you: Please remember to collect after reading.