As the little dummy probed closer to the island's surface, it sensed the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon, Huihui, moving away. Its body began to emerge from the quicksand vortex.
With no reachable areas left on the island's surface, the team could only attack from the air.
Wanpi, Xixi, Piaopiao, and Bingbingzi circled from different directions, drawing its attention.
All eight wing-legs pointed skyward, and the tremor rays began to sweep across.
"If it lands on its head, the rays will definitely adjust their trajectory to attack," Li Fan observed after a moment, sensing the threat.
Freed from the heavy rock shell's restraint, the tremor transmission intensity and flexibility at the wing-tip ends had greatly improved. Once the team made contact, an attack was inevitable.
"I'll defend with my greatsword to cover your attack," Yidola proposed.
"That won't work. It has wing-legs on both sides. If it attacks from different angles, even a heavy shield equipped to a lance won't be able to defend against it," Li Fan deemed it unfeasible.
"If we can't gain a foothold, it's hard to cause effective damage," Yidola found the situation increasingly tricky.
"The direction of its wing-legs is adjusted through the wing bones. As long as we restrict the rotation of the wing bones, theoretically, the attacks won't hit accurately," Li Fan mused for a moment, offering a possibility.
"Are you planning to use monsters to disrupt the wing-bone rotation?" Yidola guessed.
"Yes, that's the limit of our operations... Dilu, I'll handle launching the Poké Balls, and you handle recalling them. Is that okay?" Li Fan asked.
"No problem, meow," Dilu replied, two recall balls appearing on her paws as if by magic.
The little dummy turned its body and entered a dive.
Roar! Roar! Roar!...
The monsters surrounding them in the air began to roar, drawing the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon's attention.
Even so, the sweeping tremor rays remained extremely threatening. For the little dummy, with its exceptionally long wingspan, it could only attempt to descend while constantly maneuvering.
"This altitude is good... Bingbingzi!" Li Fan said, drawing his Thunderclap Divine Blade.
A faint blue mist quickly coated the blade.
"Yidola, you must descend all the way. Hovering and floating is unsafe," Li Fan warned.
"Got it! I'll use the jet acceleration to descend! Hold on tight!" Yidola exclaimed, releasing the silk threads wrapped around the little dummy's claws.
The team detached and fell. Yidola gripped the hilt of her sword with both hands and unleashed a vertical slash with her Dragon Heat Mechanism.
Boom! Propelled by the jets, the descent of the two and the cat became even more rapid. Their small size proved advantageous; two tremor rays swept past without touching any of the team members.
Tap~
After successfully landing on the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon's head shell, Li Fan threw a Poké Ball at each of its wings and then performed a vertical slash with his blade.
Clang!
The strike wasn't aimed at dealing damage but at quickly absorbing Qi. The Golden Lion and the Raging Horn, appearing from the Poké Balls in a grappling stance, pounced and began to shake a wing-bone with all their might.
The tremor rays emanating from the tips of both wing-legs immediately began to waver erratically.
Bingbingzi, who had been flying at high speed with elegant movements, spitting frost, believing she had mastered the tremor ray's trajectory...
The sudden, chaotic change in trajectory made Bingbingzi unable to dodge in time.
Hiss! Hiss! Crackle!
The rays swept across her body, and several pieces of cracked Moonstone armor fell off. Fortunately, as the tremor rays lost their pattern, they also lost their ability to pursue. Bingbingzi, having escaped, immediately ascended.
Howl~ Howl~
Seeing the Golden Lion grappling with a wing-bone and howling, Bingbingzi's gaze deepened. She suddenly felt that this ugly black-furred ape was truly detestable. However, upon seeing that it was hindering the source of the noise from attacking, she immediately found it pleasing to the eye.
On the team's side, Yidola held her sword, watching the attack vectors of all the wing-legs, ready to block at any moment. Li Fan quickly finished charging his blade and, while staggering, stepped diagonally across the patterns on the crown to reach the location of the Compassionate Eye Shell.
At the center of the crown shell was a keyhole-shaped gap, through which the internal structure was completely invisible to the naked eye.
Li Fan swung his Silk Thread, leaned back, and leaped into the air.
Swish!
A straight Qi blade pierced the crown shell.
Thwack~
A crack appeared on the keyhole, and a bit of grayish-blue blood mixed with quicksand oozed out.
Feeling the pain, the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon began to shake its head restlessly. Seeing three wing-legs turning, the Golden Lion and the Raging Horn immediately leaped onto the two wing-bones involved in the attack and began to disrupt them.
The Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon could only turn more wing-legs to attack its head. However, because the aerial threat was removed, the monsters that could only fly evasively began to attack without restraint.
Crimson flames, frost, lightning strikes... The successive elemental attacks plunged the scene into chaos for a time.
"I didn't expect the effect to be even better than anticipated. After all, a brawl is the strongest tactic... Yidola, attack with me." Li Fan, who was continuously stabbing into the Compassionate Eye Shell, called out.
Yidola immediately abandoned her defensive stance, released three Silk Threads to fix herself and the trembling crown, then swung her sword back and began to charge.
"Hee~ Hee~ Hee~..." Li Fan watched the charging progress while repeatedly stabbing with his blade.
"Here I come, meow!"
Sizzle~ Sizzle~... Dilu, holding a small bomb barrel, called out.
Li Fan immediately withdrew his blade, making way for Dilu to shove the small bomb barrel into the keyhole-shaped gap.
"Take one swing and leave, don't get greedy!" After instructing, Li Fan picked up Dilu and climbed onto a wind-bag cloud.
"You're so slow, Dilu," Li Fan complained, pressing down on the soft wind-bag with his palm.
"It wasn't designed for human-sized bodies, meow..." Dilu said, taking out a fan and fanning rapidly downwards to boost their speed. Although they were escaping at a snail's pace, given the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon's state of being ganged up on, it was clearly in no condition to pay attention to Li Fan. The reason for their escape now was more to avoid being caught in Yidola's charged slash.
"Hmm... I'm going to strike!" Li Fan declared. Dilu then reached out, opened a recall ball, and recalled the Raging Horn and Golden Lion, before lying down on the wind-bag cloud.
Boom! A strong gust of air dispersed. The wind-bag cloud was blown dozens of meters away before slowly coming to a halt. A cat and a person poked their heads out to observe below.
The Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon, its forehead shell completely shattered, was now lying on its side, slowly sinking into the quicksand.
"The inside of the Compassionate Eye Shell is empty, meow. Was it really a sensory organ?" Dilu asked with some concern.
"Perhaps it uses the interstitial space within the shell to collect vibrational information, thereby allowing it to detect its surroundings," Li Fan speculated.
Yidola, floating in mid-air, gasped for breath. Seeing the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon appear to be entering a dormant state, she descended, intending to pursue.
"No!" Li Fan shouted. If one sense was disabled, the monster would definitely switch to another sensory ability. A change in sensory method would likely lead to changes in attack and movement patterns. Li Fan didn't want Yidola to take risks before they understood what was happening.
Yidola, however, wasn't thinking that far ahead. She felt that letting the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon sink into the quicksand like this was a waste of a great attack opportunity. After a brief inverted charge, propelled by the Dragon Heat Mechanism, Yidola plunged downwards with her sword.
Sizzle~ Sizzle~
The Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon's sinking stopped. Its long, slit-like eyelids suddenly opened, revealing eyes composed of petal-patterned green corneas and crimson pupils.
"This is..." Sensing something was wrong, Yidola raised her hand and forcibly twisted her jet direction to dodge. As her speed slightly decreased, she immediately shut off the jets and returned to a floating state.
The Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon, now with its eyes open, climbed out of the quicksand and began to shake its head, scanning its surroundings. It seemed as if everything around it was unfamiliar, requiring it to quickly familiarize itself.
After the team regrouped, Li Fan immediately began to instruct.
"You heavily injured it just now and destroyed the Compassionate Eye Shell. It's likely that until the moment it dies, it will be fixated on you. Yidola, you must not feel any psychological burden. If you feel any discomfort, you can speak up at any time," Li Fan informed her.
"Is it that strange... I'll try to adapt," Yidola said, a drop of cold sweat beading on her forehead.
"Don't be nervous. Dilu and I, along with many monsters, will protect you. It has switched its sensory method, so while it might have an advantage in direct combat, it absolutely won't be able to detect Huihui's high-speed attacks," Li Fan pointed out the advantage.
"Yes! I won't be afraid. Bring on the stares, they can't hurt me!"
"Alright, let's go!" The two and the cat once again mounted the little dummy's claws and descended.
The Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon sensed the team approaching, and its eyes indeed began to lock onto them, moving with their flight trajectory.
Whoosh~ Crack! Wanpi, reaching in from the other side, was hit by a rapidly swung tremor ray. Fortunately, its shell was strong enough, and only a few scales chipped off. This brief exchange of probing provided the flying monsters with important intelligence: the opponent's attacks were not only faster but also more accurate, requiring them to be more cautious.
"All units, attack the wing-legs!" Li Fan designated the target, and all the monsters launched a concentrated assault. They had initially intended for the monsters to provide cover, allowing the team to more safely destroy the Compassionate Eye Shell, but unexpectedly discovered that the brawl tactic was extremely effective against the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon. Thus, they decided to try it again.
Soon, the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon's wing-leg rotations fell into chaos once more.
"Since it's going to stare at me, let's split up," Yidola thought of a plan upon seeing this.
"Okay, fly a bit lower. Its chest is a blind spot for ray attacks, but be careful of it charging," Li Fan advised.
"Got it!" Yidola replied, detaching from the little dummy's claws and floating away.
"Hang in there, Yidola. The Monster Hunter world doesn't believe in such things," Li Fan silently encouraged.
"Huh? Why is the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon still staring at us, meow?" Dilu asked, confused.
"Ah?... Dilu, are you alright?" Li Fan quickly began to rub Dilu's fluffy round face.
"Mmm... I'm okay, meow. I haven't felt anything unusual yet."
"Be strong, Dilu. With you and Yidola here, we'll get through this," Li Fan reassured her.
"I will, meow... It's so strange. I only put in one small bomb barrel," Dilu was utterly perplexed as to why the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon, a monster capable of building an ecosystem, would pick on an Felyne.
"It's safer to stay away from the battlefield. Give me your shoulder strap," Li Fan said, advising her to withdraw due to the extreme danger.
"No, meow."
"This level of targeting is completely different, Dilu. This is for the good of the team."
"Alright, meow." Dilu's ears drooped as she handed over her shoulder strap and began to retreat on the wind-bag cloud.
At this point, Li Fan continued to observe and noticed that the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon, looking upwards, was still fixated on him. He glanced up at the little dummy soaring in the sky and felt there was only one possibility left.
"Damn it..." I didn't even use a taunt this time; I just used an Air Kamaitachi. Why is it only staring at me! However, no matter how frustrated Li Fan felt, the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon's eyes remained locked onto him.
Sensing that gaze was somewhat unnerving, Li Fan closed his eyes and tried to calm his mind. However, those eyes appeared in the darkness. Then, the darkness was replaced by countless golden lights, lotuses bloomed, and magnificent temples on clouds appeared before his eyes.
Shocked, he quickly opened his eyes. "There's something foul..." Li Fan frantically patted his shoulders, as if trying to shake something off. He could clearly feel this persistent sensation deepening, yet he was helpless.
"Let go of your attachments, let go of your attachments..." Overlapping voices, indistinguishable in gender, echoed in his consciousness. "Abandon your inner demons, abandon your inner demons..." Chants caused Li Fan to suddenly feel as if nothing else mattered. A sense of yearning seemed to have become an obstacle to reaching the Pure Land.
"Everyone is still fighting. I can't sink into this..." Li Fan, his eyes blooming with lotuses, softly murmured. He took out a Poké Ball from his shoulder strap.
"No, without Dilu..."
"I'm here, meow." Dilu's voice rang out.
"Uh..." Li Fan turned his head and saw Dilu sitting on the wind-bag cloud, her face full of disbelief.
"After I flew far away, I saw that the Heavenly Golden Roar Dragon wasn't actually looking at me, so I guessed the targeting might be you, and I came back, meow."
"That's great! It's pouring information into my consciousness, trying to influence my actions..."
"I understand, meow... Wind God Dragon Armor preparation complete!"
"Sunny Day! Attack!"
Thump~ On the sparse clouds over the distant sea. Sunny Day pawed the air a few times, feeling as if it had appeared somewhere it shouldn't have.
Hmph! As soon as the indignant pig squeal was let out, swoosh~ swoosh~, its descending body was wrapped by two Silk Threads. Before Sunny Day could react to what was happening while suspended, the Wind God Dragon armor was strapped to its back.
"Output! Full output!" Seeing Li Fan's urgent shout, Sunny Day paused for a moment before grunting in its mind with pig squeals.
Let go of attachments... Hmph! Hmph! Abandon inner demons... Hmph! Hmph! The chanting, interspersed with pig squeals, quickly lost its effect. The lotus pattern unfolding around Li Fan's pupils also gradually dimmed.
"Mental attack, is it? Fine! Dilu, let's join Sunny Day in battle."
"Okay, meow!... How do we join?"
"I say brother, you say dragon, brother!"
"Dragon!... Meow."