Not long after, Kuku and Yeyu entered a complex mountainous forest.
"Whoosh~"
Yeyu raised a claw wing and pointed in one direction.
It seemed to indicate, "You wait here, I'll go scout the situation."
"Roar! Gugu!"
The two monsters quickly reached an understanding.
Although the trees in the Abandoned Shrine were not as tall as those in the Ancient Forest, providing perfect cover for Yeyu, the complex, uneven terrain and the dark night environment were advantageous for concealment.
After Yeyu flew away, Kuku's fan-shaped auricles spread open.
Since becoming the Ancestral Black Wolf Bird, Kuku's fan-shaped auricles had significantly atrophied, but their hearing range and interference resistance when opened had improved more than a little.
As it activated, Kuku detected the sound of chewing and swallowing approaching.
He originally wanted to go investigate, but remembering he was on standby and couldn't move freely, he continued to listen.
Before long, a three-star monster, a Great Baggi, passed overhead.
Great Baggi were Fanged Wyverns, with bodies similar to apes, covered in blue and white fur. Their three-toed tail claws were extremely strong, capable of supporting their bodies for leaps and spins.
Seeing a purple creature by the river below, gazing upwards blankly near a cave entrance, the Great Bagi quickly swallowed the large persimmon in its mouth.
Then, it picked a yellow one from the various large persimmons in its belly pouch and held it in its claw.
"Whoosh! Splat!"
The yellow persimmon hit Kuku's face, its juice and skin slowly sliding down the purple beak.
"Ugga! Uuuu!"
The Great Baggi let out excited roars, propped itself up on its three-toed tail claws, swayed its body back and forth, and flapped its wing claws, clapping its hands.
"Waooo..."
Kuku narrowed its eyes and slowly looked up.
Remembering his agreement with Yeyu, Kuku decided to endure for now.
Shaking off the persimmon from its beak, Kuku turned its head in another direction and continued to crane its neck to listen.
"Whoosh! Smack!"
Another yellow persimmon flew towards him.
However, this time, Kuku's spiky tail whipped out with a sudden movement, smashing the persimmon into pieces mid-air.
"Wow!"
Kuku issued a warning with a roar.
The Great Baggi paid no mind, pulling more large persimmons from its belly pouch and placing them on its wing-claw arms, clearly intending to launch a continuous assault.
Seeing the situation, Kuku thought it was time to spar with the creature and show it what a "black hand" was.
"Waoo!" Kuku spread its wings and flew directly towards the Great Baggi.
The forest erupted in chaos, no longer peaceful.
Ahead, Yeyu weaved through the trees, moving with near-silent stealth, constantly traversing.
A nest of Great Izuchi appeared below.
Looking at the Great Izuchi, snoring with snot bubbles, an urge to slit its throat with its sharp wing blades surged within Yeyu.
Fortunately, Yeyu suppressed the urge. However, as its claws lifted from the tree and it took flight, the branch it was on snapped back, launching an abandoned bird's nest into the air.
"Whoosh~ Thud!"
Just as the bird's nest was about to fall on the sleeping Great Izuchi, Yeyu, hanging upside down, gently caught it with its sharp beak.
Just as Yeyu felt a sense of relief, a noisy commotion suddenly erupted from not far away. "... Uuuu! Waooo!..."
Realizing one of the roars clearly belonged to Kuku, Yeyu's red eyes darkened.
The Great Izuchi was startled awake by the noise, but before it could get up, it saw a pair of red eyes dangling above its head and was startled again.
"Goo..."
Yeyu wanted to issue a warning with a chirp, indicating that it would kill the creature if it dared to make a sound.
However, halfway through its cry, a crisp sound came from above.
"Crack!"
The crooked-necked tree, to which its claws were hooked, broke under Yeyu's weight.
"Pfft!" Yeyu, falling vertically, plunged its sharp beak directly into the Great Izuchi's head.
"Roar! Roar!..."
With a series of miserable roars, all the Great Izuchi in the nest were awakened and gathered, forming an attacking posture.
Yeyu quickly got up and realized its first stealth approach had failed. It decisively chose its second stealth approach.
Day and night alternated, sun and moon revolved.
The next morning, Kuku and Yeyu flew back to the Firefly together.
Kuku brought back a severed tail of a Great Baggi, with several scratches on its body.
Yeyu's cerulean feathers were stained with a large amount of crimson blood, as if it had been soaked in a blood pool.
"Did you really go scouting?" Li Fan asked in surprise.
"Gugu! Roar!"
"Alright, so did you find anything?"
"Roar!"
"Great Baggi only know how to run and use terrain to hide; they're no match for you... And you, Yeyu?"
"Gugu!"
"The monsters here have a low sense of danger. Not only are there many of them, but their variety is also very rich. If an Almudron were nesting nearby recently, they wouldn't be acting like this."
After understanding Yeyu's report, Li Fan pondered for a moment and affirmed, "That makes sense. It seems the guild's information is reliable."
He took out a map and drew a cross on the square where they were located.
The Firefly set sail again, preparing to move to the next designated area to continue their search.
This method of searching was indeed inefficient, but since even the permanent guild investigators in the field couldn't find any trace of the Almudron, only simple, thorough carpet searching remained.
Soon, half a month passed. Kuku and Yeyu's coordination during reconnaissance became even more默契.
Almost every time, Kuku would cause a large-scale disturbance to attract attention, allowing Yeyu to safely begin its stealth reconnaissance.
However, even with such meticulous searching, no useful information was obtained.
Li Fan, looking at the map covered in crosses on the deck, felt a slight headache.
Now, only two areas remained to be searched. One was the Verdant Leaf Fortress, a defensive area extending outwards from Firefly Village.
But the interception capabilities there were top-notch, and the village defense force was stationed there year-round, making it impossible for an Almudron to hide.
The other area was the mountainous forest behind Firefly Village, near the cliff.
Because it bordered the sea, there seemed to be nothing attractive for an Almudron to go there.
Li Fan pondered for a moment. Although he knew Almudron had nothing to do with the sea, he decided to set sail and investigate.
After all, it was the only place nearby they hadn't searched.
One sunny noon, after searching the sky without finding any abnormalities, the Firefly descended to the cliff behind the village. Since there was a fishing port on the coast with many passing pedestrians, Li Fan, to prevent monsters from appearing and causing panic or unnecessary trouble, chose to have the team search for traces on land.
Taking the rolling lift that transported fresh fish, the team soon arrived at the forest below the cliff.
In the jungle, Dilo held a large book, reading as she walked.
"No wonder Almudron's tracks are hard to find; they even swallow bones when they eat, meow!"
Dilo finished speaking and continued to flip through the pages.
"Consuming a large amount of bone not only strengthens the Almudron's physique and promotes the generation of internal ghost fire dust, but also speeds up the growth of the helmet-like horns on their heads."
Li Fan added.
"Have they even investigated what they like to eat?" Yudora asked in surprise.
"Yes, if we can really catch the Almudron, I'll send it to the Dragon Graveyard. Rotting bone piles are its favorite... Of course, we have to find it first." Li Fan said with anticipation.
"Li Fan, what does the triangle on the map mean?" Yudora asked curiously.
The entire map was covered in crosses, with only one area on the edge of the Abandoned Shrine marked with a triangle.
"That's a habitat for a pack of Zinogre, discovered by Yeyu and Kuku by chance." Li Fan explained.
"Why mark it there?" Yudora asked, confused.
"That seems to be where Brother Lei's former pack was."
"Uh... okay." Yudora was a bit surprised, not expecting that Brother Lei, who had been active around Karaba Village for a long time, actually came from the Abandoned Shrine area around Firefly Village.
Magnifying glass, small shovel, collection bottle... Dilo began her specialized tracking investigation.
After spending an entire afternoon, they finally found a set of Almudron footprints.
Following the footprints, the team arrived at a dense jungle.
As the tracking deepened, Dilo's brows furrowed.
"Something's not right, meow. The footprints are getting more numerous, and their depth varies greatly. There might be more than one Almudron active in the vicinity." Dilo stated her findings.
Sniffing the slightly pungent rotten smell in the air and glancing at the darkening sky, Li Fan marked the location and decided to return to the fishing port to rest for the night.
Late at night, in a small inn at the fishing port, Li Fan inquired about the local situation from the owner.
"There's nothing unusual. But it is strange, other fishing ports are often attacked, yet this place has been peaceful for many years." The male owner leaned against the counter and spoke freely.
"Peaceful? Have monsters never attacked?" Li Fan asked in surprise.
"That's right, young man. At first, everyone was worried that this place was too far from Firefly Village for reinforcements to arrive in time, but after all these years, it's now considered a blessed land." The owner said with certainty.
Li Fan pondered for a moment and took out the map to observe. The Verdant Leaf Fortress extended outwards in a fan shape, providing almost comprehensive blockage to the outside.
The fishing port far behind it had never been attacked, which seemed reasonable.
However, the investigation that day had confirmed that Almudron could visit this place, meaning the fishing port was not within the protection range of the Verdant Leaf Fortress.
Could it be that Firefly Village's blocking capabilities were too strong, combined with sheer luck? Li Fan was surprised that there were no defenses when he arrived at the fishing port. So, they were relying on luck to stand firm all this time.
"Perhaps it's the coastal ecosystem, combined with the external blockade in front, that causes monsters to rarely visit," Li Fan speculated.
"There's actually another theory."
"What theory?" The owner smiled and pointed to the dark sea outside the window.
"An old fisherman who often goes out to sea said that in this sea, there is a dragon palace left by a lost civilization. When this dragon palace reappears, the world will come to an end, so even monsters don't want to touch this place."
Could this be referring to the Dragon Palace Ancient City?
"Are there any more detailed descriptions?" Li Fan pressed.
"No more."
The next day, the weather was clear and the air fresh. The team went to the marked location from yesterday early in the morning to continue their investigation, but the scene shocked everyone.
Trees were broken, rocks were cracked, and countless dense claw marks were visible on the ground.
The rotten smell was very strong, with several unburnt purple ghost fires scattered everywhere.
Dilo walked over to a purple fire cluster and observed. Soon, the flickering flame turned pink.
Dilo turned and pounced.
Boom! A small amount of purple scale powder exploded into a pink fire cluster, causing a chain reaction with the surrounding ghost fire clusters.
However, as it was only a small residue, it did not pose much of a threat.
"Is this the monster that Lone Hunter once hunted?" Yudora exclaimed, looking at the hellish scene.
"This battlefield looks like it was left by two Almudron fighting," Li Fan speculated.
"That's right, meow... But why would two Almudron fight?" Dilo couldn't understand.
Based on their known habits, Almudron did not engage in mortal combat upon encountering each other like Zinogre.
"Let's investigate first. Be careful of the ghost fires that haven't fully exploded," Li Fan said, drawing his Zinogre Great Sword and beginning to defuse the unexploded ghost fire clusters.
Dilo followed behind, starting her investigation and collection of traces.
Twenty minutes later, the preliminary investigation of the scene was completed.
"There are also female Almudron at the scene, at least three?" Li Fan was also surprised by Dilo's findings.
"Yes, meow." Dilo said, taking out a thick book from her backpack and showing Li Fan a page.
"Female Almudron weigh less than males, so their footprints are slightly smaller and shallower, meow. Also, the areas where these footprints are concentrated have no combat traces nearby, which is consistent with females being less involved in combat," Dilo explained, pointing to the page with her cat claws.
"What was the motive?" Li Fan couldn't understand why Almudron would fight each other.
Why would they fight in the barren coastal mountains instead of occupying the rich ecosystem of the Abandoned Shrine, and even bringing three females?
Fighting for mates? Male Almudron could have harems as they pleased, except...
"I know, the Almudron we're looking for is likely one of them," Li Fan speculated.
"Ah? But there are clearly no Almudron occupying the Abandoned Shrine area, meow?" Dilo found it unbelievable.
The motive for Almudron fighting each other was likely territorial disputes, but what was there to fight over in the coastal mountains?
"I can think of three possibilities, the most likely being they simply disliked each other," Li Fan explained.
"That can be a reason for fighting?" Yudora asked, confused.
"As it stands, that seems to be the case. The Almudron, seeing the other creature flaunting its many mates and recalling its own unfortunate experience of damaged helmet horns, targeted it. The two engaged in constant struggles, fighting all the way to the coastal mountains." Li Fan explained.
"Uh... that seems quite reasonable. What about the second possibility?"
"This possibility is less likely. The Almudron sensed that the other creature had formed purple jade internally and wanted to consume it for mutation. However, according to secret archives from the Dragon Chronicle Institute, only exceptionally strong or ancient individuals usually form precious jade. If it were at that level, the Almudron would likely not be a match." Li Fan informed.
"What about the third possibility?"
"The third possibility is even less likely. The Hundred Dragon Night Hunt is coming, and the Almudron wants to have it all to itself."
Zhao Lala reminds you: Remember to collect after reading.