Half an hour later, when the temperature dropped to a touchable level.
Li Fan jumped into the pit with Eudora and dug out a shell, which was as tall as a person and shone with a silver metallic luster.
Xiao Bendan was initially resistant to carrying such a thing for flight, but after Li Fan's guidance, it agreed to carry it.
Taking off and ascending, Li Fan looked back at the impact crater.
He noticed a small airship landing by the edge of the pit and curiously picked up his telescope to observe.
He saw a male dragon-person wearing a white trench coat and two hunters jump from the small airship to the ground and run towards the impact crater.
Light yellow hair, round-rimmed glasses on his nose...
It was the chief researcher from the Dragon Calendar Institute.
Li Fan initially just felt familiar, but after more detailed observation, he quickly identified the person.
Wait a minute, this small airship definitely can't support long-distance travel...
Li Fan realized something and quickly looked up at the night sky.
In the distant clouds, a huge airship came into view, and he saw the pale blue flag hanging from the mast.
He then confirmed that this was the Dragon Calendar Institute's Dragon-Sighting Ship.
The hot shell was originally intended to be handed over to the Dragon Calendar Institute for research.
But now, riding Xiao Bendan, it was not suitable to come into contact with them, so he could only accelerate and leave, heading for the ancient forest he had discovered earlier.
Looking at the empty, still steaming impact crater, the accompanying male hunter said in disbelief, "How is this possible! We rushed over as soon as we witnessed the fall."
Dewen, the chief dragon-person researcher of the Dragon Calendar Institute, crouched down to examine the footprints nearby and analyzed, "It must have been taken by a hunter team. They had two hunters and an Felyne... Puff Dragon also approached... and footprints of a Rathian?"
Looking at the brand new and puzzling traces left at the scene, Dewen frowned slightly.
Wuwu... Wuwu...
After flying for about another hour, Li Fan heard Xiao Bendan's low growl and noticed that the frequency of its wing beats was weakening.
Knowing that its stamina was about to run out, he quickly guided it to land on the grassy plains on the outskirts of the ancient forest.
The Kulu-Ya-Ku, with its long neck and large body.
Seeing a Rathian suddenly descend from the sky, they quickly scattered and fled.
After unloading and feeding it large pieces of meat, Li Fan took out his portable game console and checked the time. It was currently 3:30 AM.
"Xiao Bendan is out of stamina, and time has been delayed... Let's set up camp on the plains."
Li Fan's original plan was to enter the ancient forest under the cover of night and use Xiao Bendan's aerial advantage to quickly identify a suitable location for a camp.
Nightbirds, as their name suggests, are nocturnal and this time before dawn was perfect for preliminary investigation.
But now, before even entering the ancient forest, dawn was approaching, so he had to prioritize ensuring the team got enough rest.
In the gentle breeze, the camp was set up.
The greatest advantage of the plains for a hunter team was the open field of vision. As long as a member was on watch, they could definitely issue a warning before a monster attack.
Moreover, the ancient forest's jungle was different from any other jungle.
Tall trees, which had been growing here for countless years, surrounded the jungle like city walls, forming a relatively enclosed space.
Monsters that were suitable for living inside rarely came out of the jungle, and those that were not suitable rarely ventured in rashly.
Therefore, even within the same ancient forest region, the safety levels of the plains and the jungle were at two extremes.
For the first time, they deeply felt the power of the ancient dragons, causing a subtle shift in their state of mind, and the atmosphere became somewhat somber for a while.
After a simple meal, the night watch rotation began.
Li Fan sat by the bonfire, spread out the contract "The Illusory Magician," and intended to see if there were any marked hints that would be beneficial for hunting.
To his surprise, he saw that the client was the Dragon Calendar Institute.
This was because the Dragon Calendar Institute's previous research journal had announced that they would cease information sharing with the Hunter's Guild.
The reason was that they could not reach an agreement on the recognition of achieving hunting contracts through sub-tasks.
The so-called achieving hunting contracts through sub-tasks was a new type of contract that the Dragon Calendar Institute was promoting.
The general idea was that as long as a monster's specific parts were broken and complete corresponding materials were collected, they could return directly.
The team did not need to hunt or capture the monster, and could achieve the contract by submitting materials and receiving partial remuneration.
The promotion of such contracts was naturally beneficial for the Dragon Calendar Institute, which specialized in ecological research.
The cost and time of purchasing materials were greatly compressed.
But the Hunter's Guild could not accept it.
Once a monster was severely injured by a hunter team, it would not only accumulate experience in dealing with hunters but also develop strong hatred towards humans when they saw them again.
Monsters that were not successfully hunted and subdued were always considered a hidden danger by the Guild.
Such contracts, which only involved breaking parts and collecting materials, would naturally not be recognized by them.
Thus, the two sides fell out.
However, based on the ecological journals previously published by the Dragon Calendar Institute, Li Fan believed that disputes between the two sides were a regular occurrence.
During the battle to repel the Kushala Daora on the sacred peak of Yun Village twelve years ago, and the battle to repel the Nakarkall in the Dragon's Graveyard seven years ago, the two sides, who had participated together, had countless disputes.
At their core, the Hunter's Guild tended to be conservative, while the Dragon Calendar Institute was very aggressive.
This conflict of ideology often led to irreconcilable contradictions between the two sides.
Regarding the contract dispute this time, seeing that the "Illusory Magician" contract included a sub-task completion method, Li Fan felt that the Guild had made a concession, but it was not a complete compromise. An additional special reward of 10,000z was added for hunting and capture hunts.
After the night watch shift, Li Fan slept until noon.
The first thing Xiao Bendan did after being released from its Poké Ball was to look for food.
The large pieces of meat it had carried were all gone, so Li Fan decided to let it hunt freely.
"Today, we'll first find a suitable place to establish a monster stronghold, then set up a long-term camp nearby, and start tracking the Nightbird in the evening."
Li Fan outlined the plan during lunch.
An hour later, Xiao Bendan returned with a slightly bulging belly.
The team loaded their supplies and headed into the jungle.
Under the shade of the giant canopy, the interior was completely obscured.
Xiao Bendan could only lower its altitude, constantly shifting and flying between the thick tree trunks.
With the dense foliage covering the top, even though the sun was strong, the forest floor remained dark and quiet.
Through continuous observation, Li Fan quickly identified a mountainous terrain with a steep drop.
The mountain was tall enough, with a waterfall forming a water source below, and numerous caves suitable for habitation in the middle...
This was it!
After a period of observation, Li Fan determined that this was the ideal place to establish a monster camp.
As for the hunter camp, he had decided to set it up on the interwoven branches of the giant trees when he went high into the jungle.
It might sound unstable and prone to attacks.
But in reality, at the end of the branches of these giant trees, even the smaller ones were as thick as a person and extremely tough.
In areas where multiple branches intertwined, Xiao Bendan could tread on them without any pressure.
As for safety, at this height, according to the ecological records of the ancient forest and actual observation, no monsters other than annoying flying insects would reach it.
After the high camp was built, Li Fan went to the foot of the mountain and threw out several Poké Balls in succession.
Puff, Kuku, and Big Ape appeared one after another.
"Kuku, Puff, Xiao Bendan, this will be your outdoor camp from now on. Get familiar with it."
Li Fan introduced.
Puff saw Xiao Bendan perched high above, its gaze sank, and it turned its foxy head away.
Big Ape looked around, raised its front paw, and pointed a thick finger at its hippopotamus-like face.
"Big Ape, your temperament is quite unique, so you should live alone. Besides, there are so many trees in the ancient forest to climb and inhabit, why squeeze into a cave?"
Li Fan persuaded.
Big Ape looked up at the towering trees and scratched its head, thinking it made sense.
Kuku was the most excited, flying into the air and inspecting every cave as if choosing a residence.
After about half an hour of acclimatization, Xiao Bendan chose the top of the mountain.
Kuku chose a narrow cave where it could wedge its head and sleep standing up.
Puff chose a cave below, hidden behind the waterfall.
"Good, the ecological spaces won't conflict with each other, and we can look out for each other if anything happens."
Li Fan was very satisfied with this arrangement.
As dusk approached, Puff placed two Bitefish at the roots of the tree where the camp was located.
A moment later, Kuku flew over and spat out two giant beetle corpses from its large beak.
Before long, Xiao Bendan also airdropped a Shroomish to the camp.
"Sigh... Looking at it this way, the food I used to buy doesn't seem that expensive."
Li Fan, moved, exclaimed.
Pan-fried Bitefish, Shroomish mushroom soup, roasted beetles.
After dinner, the sky had completely darkened. The next step was to track the Nightbird.
The condition for the Dragon Calendar Institute's sub-task was to obtain a complete Nightbird wing membrane.
The team had no reason to do the sub-task, so they still focused on regular hunting.
Dilu put on her Shell-Crab armor and helmet, rode on Haru's back, and began to search through the forest.
The most obvious residual characteristic of the Nightbird was its distinctive blue feathers and the golden powder it released in excess, which could cause sensory confusion.
Dilu carefully examined every trace, while Li Fan and Eudora followed behind, also closely monitoring their surroundings.
Two hours later, Dilu looked at the three blue feathers collected and drooped her cat ears.
"Don't be discouraged, Dilu. Nightbirds are extremely good at hiding themselves, so tracking them is difficult. It's normal."
Li Fan encouraged her.
Both the Nightbird and the Rathian were classified as four-star monsters by the Guild, but their habits were vastly different.
Although Rathians were also good hunters, they followed a brute-force approach.
Nightbirds, on the other hand, would stealthily stalk their prey in complex environments where they could hide.
The size of their targets was also much smaller than that of Rathians, so not only was tracking difficult, but the Guild received very few sighting reports.
"Okay, meow! I will definitely find the Nightbird!"
Dilu clenched her cat paws and continued tracking.
On a branch behind the team, a pair of dark red spherical eyes floated quietly in the air, scanning the ground before locking onto Dilu.
In the early morning hours.
Sparse moonlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting specks of silver light that gently swayed in the wind.
In the silent jungle, Dilu and Haru both collapsed on the ground.
"Wuwuwu... I can't anymore, meow."
Exhausted, Dilu let out a groan.
Eudora opened a can of portable food and fed it to her.
Li Fan reviewed the monsters he had with him and realized that in this complex environment, none of them could track the Nightbird.
Low flight noise, nocturnal, excellent night vision, good at hiding...
Li Fan's mind constantly replayed the characteristics of the Nightbird.
Dilu ate a couple of bites of food and closed her eyes in a daze.
"I'll carry Dilu back, and we'll try again tomorrow..."
Li Fan was halfway through his sentence when a large dark shadow flashed before his eyes.
Sensing the target, he drew his Great Sword and instantly activated Foresight!
Clang! The Shell-Crab Great Sword collided with curled-up claws, sparks flying.
The dark shadow landed on a single foot. Facing its back, covered in dark blue feathers, Li Fan swung his sword.
Gugu!
The dark shadow's head rotated 180 degrees, its two bright red round eyes staring intently at Li Fan, but this did not stop the Great Sword from falling.
Clang! As the Nightbird turned its body sideways and raised its wing to block, Li Fan immediately bounced back.
"Finally found you... meow."
A dyeing fruit ball landed on its claws.
The Nightbird looked at the pink powder drifting from its feet, quickly turned, and raised its wing-claws to strike down, only to find that the hunter in Shell-Crab armor was already carrying the small boar and the Felyne and had run a considerable distance away.
"Li Fan, you can do this, right?"
Eudora asked as she ran.
"Of course."
Li Fan said confidently.
The enraged Nightbird turned its head upside down again, its pupils suddenly shrinking.
Puff Dragon curled up on the ground, a Rathian with smoke coming from its mouth, and... a Great Bird that was sleeping in a standing position.
Wuwu!!!
With a sudden screech, the Nightbird quickly flew into the air and attacked Kuku.
So brave...
Li Fan had expected that upon seeing this scene, the Nightbird would either not run or would keep its distance, and would actively attack. He had not expected it to charge forward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Xiao Bendan spat out three fireballs.
One missed, two hit, and as the Nightbird protected itself by tucking its wings, its dark blue feathers instantly turned black.
Its momentum was halted, and Kuku was awakened by the explosion, quickly opening its eyes.
Gugu!
The Nightbird did not land or stop. It spread its wings in the air and turned, circling a giant tree.
Except for a few falling leaves, it disappeared without a sound.
Xiao Bendan rushed to pursue, but its body and wingspan were too wide. To pass through the gaps between the giant trees, it had to fly at an angle.
When it encountered branches, it could either break them with brute force or go around them.
Watching the Nightbird skillfully weave through the trees, Li Fan could only watch as it flew further and further away.
Carrying Dilu back to the camp, it was already 3 AM, but neither of them felt sleepy.
"If we limit ourselves to this jungle, it seems the Nightbird is the true hunter."
Eudora said dejectedly.
Li Fan sniffed the scent of the dyeing fruit in the air and agreed, "You're right, it hasn't gone far, or it's intentionally ambushing. It truly considers itself a hunter."
"Do you have a plan?"
"I'm thinking."
"Hmm... Have you thought of it yet?"
"How could I think of it so quickly?"
Li Fan said helplessly.
"But... being treated as prey by a monster really feels awful."
Eudora couldn't help but say.
"We have an absolute advantage in combat power, so there will always be a way."
Li Fan knew that there would be "annoying" monsters in the Monster Hunter world, but he hadn't expected it to manifest in this way.
He was now certain that the Nightbird was absolutely safe in the ancient forest, because even with his own monsters, he couldn't do anything to it, and his team was being stalked as prey.
"Hmm... Nightbirds like to hunt small prey, so I can understand why it attacked Dilu first, but why did it attack Kuku afterward?"
Li Fan thought of a detail.
"Could it be trying to defeat the weakest one first?"
"I don't think so. Although the Nightbird might not have seen such a scene before, the attack intentions of Puff and Xiao Bendan were very clear at the time. As a hunter, the Nightbird couldn't have failed to sense it."
Li Fan found it illogical.
"Then... it's because Kuku was sleeping and easier to attack?"
Eudora speculated.
"Sleeping? That's right! When Dilu was attacked, wasn't she also closing her eyes?"
Li Fan felt like he had found the reason.
"Yes! ... But this habit is too strange."
Eudora felt that although this explanation was reasonable, it lacked evidence.
"I guess it might be related to the Nightbird's frequent use of hypnotic sonic waves."
Hypnotic sonic waves were the ability Li Fan valued most, but ecological research on the Nightbird was scarce, so he could only conduct his own research.
"But I didn't see the Nightbird use hypnotic sonic waves?"
Eudora asked, confused.
"Indeed not, but the state of sleep changed the Nightbird's target identification. Perhaps in its consciousness, the best moment to initiate an attack and the selection of the target were not whether the target was affected by hypnotic sonic waves, but whether it had fallen asleep."
Li Fan explained.
"This... so does it mean that the Nightbird has a strong urge to attack as soon as it sees a sleeping target?"
Eudora found it incredible.
"Although it's just a hypothesis, it's pretty much the feeling."
"Then it means we can use fake sleep to set up a trap."
Eudora began to strategize.
"Exactly. Let Xiao Bendan be the bait."
"Why?"
"Monsters are very vengeful, especially monsters like the Nightbird that have no natural enemies in the ancient forest. Those two fireballs are probably something it will remember for a lifetime."
Li Fan explained.
"As expected of an expert in this field."
Eudora praised.
As the sun just rose, the scent of the dyeing fruit gradually faded.
After choosing an open area, Li Fan began to practice the deployment.
"Xiao Bendan, why are your eyes open again?"
Hearing Li Fan's question, Xiao Bendan could only close its eyes again.
"Puff, snot bubbles are blown from the nostrils. The bubbles you're blowing are too big even for a Lao Shan Lung. Please make them smaller."
"Big Ape, your landing point is too far forward. Placing you here is not for a frontal battle with the Nightbird, but to utilize your specialty."
Watching Li Fan run around and constantly give instructions, Dilu curiously asked, "Eudora, what is Li Fan doing, meow?"
"He's probably... setting a trap for the Nightbird."
Eudora was also a bit confused.
She actually wanted to participate, but Li Fan had solemnly advised that no one should get close during the execution of this mission, so she gave up the idea.
As the sun slowly set, night fell again.
Li Fan and Eudora crawled in the bushes, their noses sniffing vigorously.
"It's here! Above us! About 30 meters away!"
Eudora suddenly reminded.
"Wow, your sense of smell is so good."
Li Fan exclaimed.
"Uh... I just happened to look up and saw it. It landed on the treetop."
Eudora pointed.
"Alright..."
Li Fan followed her gaze upwards.
Its claws, stained with dyeing fruit powder, were restlessly stomping, appearing impatient.
Upon seeing the sleeping Xiao Bendan, the Nightbird seemed to have forgotten to hide itself.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!...
After changing its footing several times, the Nightbird slightly spread its wings, its chest leaning forward.
This attack was aimed at its vital head...
Li Fan's heart suddenly tensed.
He had expected the Nightbird to attack recklessly and uncontrollably.
He hadn't expected that if time permitted, it would plan a more precise and fierce strike.
It was exactly the same as his own actions of deploying an attack after making a monster fall asleep.
Whoosh! Unlike monsters that liked to roar to intimidate their enemies before attacking, the Nightbird's dive from high up was silent.
Chirp! Its two claws struck and kicked, simultaneously tightening, and the sharp tips of its claws dug into the shell, making a crisp sound.
Xiao Bendan's head shell could not withstand it and immediately shattered and fell off.
The Nightbird then landed and struck down.
Whoosh! The golden powder attached to its chest feathers was shaken off by the impact, scattering and quickly expanding into a golden mist ball that enveloped the Nightbird.
However, just as it was about to flap its wings to spread the powder towards Xiao Bendan, it found that Xiao Bendan's wings had already begun to flap.
The Nightbird was immediately stunned, because even if a monster attacked while sleeping and woke up quickly, this reaction was too fast.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Xiao Bendan's wings were large and powerful, creating strong gusts of wind.
Seeing that the confusing powder could not be blown over, the Nightbird could only rely on speed.
"Choosing to stalemate, how naive."
Seeing that the Nightbird had fallen into the trap, a smile appeared on Li Fan's lips.
Roar!!!
A roar that echoed through the surroundings erupted.
Big Ape, holding onto a tree, slid down rapidly. When it was still 20 meters from the ground, it leaped into the air and landed steadily with a somersault.
Pfft! It arrogantly spat out a chewed, yellowed mushroom root from its mouth.
Big Ape grinned at the Nightbird and then turned around.
Seeing this, the Nightbird's crimson round eyes widened. xxs
Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh~
Dim yellow mist gushed out.
The terrified Nightbird flapped its wings desperately, but Kuku also joined in, fanning it forcefully.
In the bushes, Li Fan and Eudora, who had already put on scarves to cover their mouths and noses, repeatedly moved their heads from side to side.
Watching the mixed mist move from left to right, and from right to left.
"Can the Nightbird flap its wings this fast, meow? Is this a new ecological discovery?"
Dilu exclaimed, vaguely seeing afterimages of the Nightbird's wings.