With a bang! The agile, graceful body slammed straight down.
The Great Sand Shrew, unable to flip over, was smashed down, its back sinking deep into the soil beneath the water.
This move is impressive. By constantly spinning and accelerating on the frothing lubricating fluid, it finally launches itself into the air for a fatal impact on the target.
Li Fan marveled inwardly.
Among the five-star monsters, Pao Fu was on the weaker side in terms of strength.
Therefore, it felt like it didn't have advantageous moves in close combat, but this move completely changed Li Fan's impression.
The Great Sand Shrew struggled to get up, but even after escaping its grounded position and lying on its back, it still couldn't stand. It could only lie on its side, panting heavily.
Kuku landed on the water at a distance, and Li Fan, who had jumped off, slowly approached.
"Great Sand Shrew, do you understand the situation?"
Hearing this question, Pao Fu was the first to react, turning its head left and right. Finally, it found Li Fan, who was trying to communicate, behind its tail.
Woo....
Pao Fu turned its head and let out a low hum, curious why Li Fan was standing so far back.
Looking at the Great Sand Shrew, then turning back, Pao Fu seemed to understand something.
Its four claws pressed down, sinking into the mud and water, its neck extended, and its fox-like head lowered.
Seeing that it was about to unleash a water beam, Li Fan quickly waved his hand to stop it: "Hold on a moment! Pao Fu."
Aow aow... *hic!*
Pao Fu let out a hiccup and forcefully held back the water beam.
The Jawblade Type 1 was still stuck in its head crest shell, and Li Fan didn't even have a weapon in his hand, which was why he was reluctant to get close.
But if he were to rely on Pao Fu to communicate, the Great Sand Shrew would probably become a corpse very soon, so he had to step in himself.
Hmm... First, he couldn't lose in terms of aura.
"Guan Guan, you go there, Kuku, you stand behind."
After deciding on the initial strategy of persuasion, Li Fan gave a series of commands.
Soon, three monsters and one hunter approached from four directions, surrounding the Great Sand Shrew in a brutal manner.
The Great Sand Shrew, lying on its side in the water, retreated in anger, gradually becoming more conscious.
But its eyes darted around, and for a moment, it didn't know where to look.
Under the pressure, its constantly kicking feet slowly stopped.
"This is the feeling, relax slowly, it will be over soon..."
Li Fan guided it, then threw out a Great Ball.
The Great Sand Shrew turned into white light and was absorbed into the ball, and the Jawblade Type 1 also fell out.
Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!....
Bubbles emerged one after another, and the Great Ball at the bottom struggled slightly three times, with no further reaction.
It seemed that making the monster feel the absolute difference in strength and despair was also a method of capture.
Li Fan felt that in terms of injuries, the Great Sand Shrew was still some distance from being near death.
The reason it surrendered so easily was largely due to Pao Fu, whom it couldn't defeat, and the mental pressure from being surrounded.
Taking out his handheld device, Li Fan wiped the foam off the screen and checked the Great Sand Shrew's status.
[Great Sand Shrew] Female (Unnamed)
Health: 320/1589
Status: Severely Injured, Anxious.
Level: 9
Strength: 70
Agility: 19
Intelligence: 25
Skills: [Mud Armor] In wet, muddy ground, the Great Sand Shrew's shell can absorb mud as armor.
[Mud Pit] Before the mud armor solidifies, it can be partially flung onto the ground, forming a small mud pit area.
The Great Sand Shrew can use its back to roll and reclaim the mud, re-adhering it to the surface of its shell.
Description: A beast wyvern monster with an extremely tough head crest shell.
Cruel and ferocious, it likes to hide in muddy swamps to escape the heat. Its impact force when moving at high speed is particularly terrifying.
"It's actually a female... then I'll name her Sha Sha."
Li Fan thought of a rather cute name and gave it.
Looking through the unread system notifications, Kuku leveling up by 1 was not surprising, but Pao Fu's affection increasing made Li Fan a bit confused.
After all, he hadn't shown any extraordinary performance in front of Pao Fu just now.
Li Fan thought about it and could only explain it as individual differences among monsters.
Monsters like Kuku and Xiong Da tend to recognize you as the leader and gain your approval and affection the more dominant your combat performance is.
Pao Fu was a bit different; it seemed to enjoy the feeling of protecting him to lift its spirits.
In this sense, each monster had different needs, and their understanding of intimacy was also different.
Li Fan decided to record this new discovery in his notebook and study it later when he had time.
Returning to the camp in the rock crevice, the frothing and mud-covered hunter's leather armor was so dirty it was unbearable to look at.
Fortunately, Li Fan himself was the manufacturer of the frothing lubricating fluid.
After a round of scrubbing with a small brush, he hung the set up to dry by the campfire.
Li Fan ate his portable rations and pondered his next move.
Encountering the Guild's Special Extermination Team was the biggest variable in this plan.
Especially since there was a member who was suspected to be from the Guild's Night Watch.
If he was only worried about his identity as a transmigrator, he didn't need to panic at all.
Based on the intelligence gathered so far, the Monster Hunter world was no stranger to transmigrators.
If you could help resist monster invasions, you would still be regarded as a hero.
The biggest problem was the Poké Balls.
In the Monster Hunter world, monsters had a crushing advantage over humans and dragon people.
However, due to geographical distribution and artificial intervention by the Guild, stability was barely maintained.
The uncontrolled rampage of a five-star monster would not only threaten the safety of surrounding villages but also cause ecological imbalance in large areas.
Imbalance meant that a large number of species would migrate to other areas, causing unpredictable chain reactions.
The Elder Dragons' migration to the New World and the Rampage in the Fire Village were caused by this.
If he had three or more five-star monsters in his hands and the Guild noticed, then the two sides would easily enter a "trinity" of suspicion.
The Guild would study me every day, wondering if I would go mad one day and gather monsters to endanger the world.
I would ponder every day if I would be eliminated by the Guild's Night Watch because I had the ability to endanger the world.
In the constant cycle of suspicion, no one could trust anyone.
"Since I can't prove I'm harmless, I'll make the threat so great that the other party can't bear it. Then everything will be simple..."
Gazing at the flickering flames in the campfire, Li Fan quickly made a decision.
"So tired, meow..."
Dilu's fur, after being washed, was fluffy. She lay down by the campfire to dry.
Li Fan withdrew his thoughts and turned to look at Kuku in the rock crevice.
At this moment, Kuku's fan-shaped ear cochlea was fully extended, and he was intently peering outwards.
"Kuku, did you hear anything?"
Wow oh...
Kuku let out a dejected cry.
"It's okay, just keep listening. As long as you can catch the roar of the Zinogre or the sound of a signal flare, that's enough."
Li Fan encouraged him.
[Low Interference Hearing] In the water-logged forest with its rampant water flow, it certainly wouldn't be very effective.
It was really difficult for Kuku to monitor the movements of the Guild's Special Extermination Team.
However, if the two sides started hunting battles upon encountering a Zinogre, the roar should be detectable.
Li Fan's idea was to start working immediately as soon as the fight began over there.
After the hunter's leather armor set was dried, Li Fan and Dilu prepared themselves, ensuring they could start filling at any time.
As dusk fell, the silver moon slowly rose from the sea of trees.
Dilu rested her chin on her paws, lying on the ground, her eyelids growing heavier.
Kuku's giant beak was already embedded in the rock crevice, supporting its body as it dozed off.
Hoo~~
A gentle breeze blew past, and Kuku's fan-shaped ear cochlea trembled slightly.
Wow oh! Wow oh!
Kuku shrieked excitedly.
Li Fan, who had been snoring, suddenly woke up and ran to the edge of the rock crevice to look outside.
Seeing two small green lights flashing in the far distance in the sky, he took out his binoculars to confirm.
"That's right, it's their green signal flare! Dilu, let's get to work!"
The man and the cat quickly jumped onto the water.
After throwing out the Fullness Ball, Li Fan pushed the large barrel, and Dilu pushed the small barrel, and they both got busy.
After five hours of high-intensity work, they completed the filling of the last Great Barrel Liquor and hid it in the bushes.
Exhausted, Li Fan sat directly in the water to rest.
"Can't... do... it... meow."
Dilu drooped her head, looking like she was about to faint. Pao Fu, lying on the water, didn't even move.
"Earning money in this other world isn't easy either..."
Li Fan sighed, put Pao Fu into the ball, and then guided Kuku to carry him and Dilu back to the camp.
"Kuku, I really admire your camp-guarding method of blocking the entrance. I'll leave the safety tonight to you."
Li Fan instructed, then picked up Dilu by the scruff of her neck and stumbled into the tent.
Wow oh? Wow oh!
After Kuku muttered, he skillfully wedged his giant beak into the rock crevice and closed his eyes to sleep.
Bright sunlight shone in from the rock crevice. Li Fan got up and stretched, then started packing his equipment.
The Great Barrels had already been filled, and the wilderness camp would not be dismantled and recovered, so there wasn't much to pack.
Below the camp, the Pao Fu that had been piled on the water surface last night had been washed away by the current, leaving no trace.
Li Fan was reluctant to leave such a suitable filling site.
He tied the carrying straps and loaded the four Great Barrels into the net.
Guan Guan's two paws were already sunk into the mud.
"Guan Guan, you can do it!"
Li Fan gently stroked Guan Guan's back and mounted it.
"It seems a bit slow, meow?"
Dilu, having navigated through the night, noticed the speed was wrong.
"Yeah... there's nothing we can do about it."
Li Fan sighed, jumped off, and used his hunter's knife to cut open a net bag, causing the Great Barrel to roll into the water.
This time, the travel speed increased, but because Guan Guan was carrying uneven weight on both sides, its body tilted.
There was an oversight in the plan. The weight of the Great Barrels after being filled was much heavier than when they only contained supplies, completely exceeding Guan Guan's carrying capacity.
Realizing the deployment error, a frustrated Li Fan rubbed his face with his palm.
"Don't be discouraged, meow. For your first expeditionary hunt, achieving this much is already very good."
Dilu encouraged him.
Li Fan felt a warmth in his heart.
"Well, unloading one more won't be a problem. Since the filling is already done, I'll dig a big pit and bury it under the camp, and then I can retrieve it directly."
After an hour of work, the man and the cat set off again.
According to the Guild hunter's authority classification, in areas that the Guild could not penetrate deeply, some five-star hunters could act as investigators to conduct hunting certifications.
Li Fan was afraid that a signal flare would attract that Guild Special Extermination Team.
So, on the way back, he decided to find local distribution investigators in the villages and towns along the way for certification.
Two days later, a young male investigator from the Shuhai Village Guild branch looked at the Great Sand Shrew lying motionless on the ground, a look of confusion appearing on his face.
"Strange, why would there be a Great Sand Shrew around here?"
The young male investigator scratched his head.
Besides certifying hunting contracts, the main job of Guild field investigators was to investigate and monitor the ecology of the surrounding areas.
"This Great Sand Shrew's head was severely injured when I found it. I suspect it broke free and escaped midway while being captured and transported to the village."
Li Fan pointed to the wound on Sha Sha's head crest and began to deceive.
"That should be it... Thank you for your efforts in maintaining regional stability. Please submit the contract to the Hunter's Guild at the contract's place of issue as soon as possible. Goodbye!"
Although the reason for this hunting contract was absurd, the requirements for completion were very lenient.
After stamping the contract, the young male investigator left.
"Get up, Sha Sha."
After the investigator had walked away, Li Fan reminded.
Sha Sha pushed off the ground with its paws and slowly stood up.