Huìhuì ascended to a sufficient altitude and continued to accelerate with a circling flight.
As her body tilted slightly, her constricted vertical pupils quickly locked onto the location of the giant crater on the island's surface.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
On her left arm, which held the Diablos Lance, the spinning Silkbinds rapidly encircled.
After binding to Huìhuì's back carapace, they tightened with all their might, becoming taut.
"Li Fan! Be careful with the Dragonator, meow!" Dilu warned from within her shield.
Based on the intelligence gathered from previous battles, Dilu felt that the Thunder Serpent would definitely use the Dragonator as a defensive measure.
"Got it."
Sensing that her left arm was secured, Li Fan pressed himself closer to the inner wall of the shield again.
The edges of the lance wings glowed red during the high-speed flight.
While researching the combined techniques with Huìhuì, Li Fan had made some considerations.
For example, using the Great Sword to absorb protective Dragon Energy and release a Dragon Energy Blade Spirit Slash.
However, Huìhuì's attack method, "Crimson Star Skyfall," was achieved through a charge after high-speed propulsion.
The weapon that could maximize the power of a charge while also defending against high temperatures was none other than a lance.
Sizzle!
The four sides of the Iron Tower Heavy Shield erupted with orange light, melting and shrinking slightly as they burned.
The tip of the lance, which pierced the air, also quickly turned orange and began to spread backward.
Hoo! Boom!
Huìhuì's body turned downwards, and a blast of air exploded, initiating a rapid diagonal descent.
A membrane emerged from the surface of the carapace, pushing the scorching airflow away from her body while emitting a dazzling red light.
Whoosh! As the ancient Dragon Palace City on the sea surface continuously expanded, a red meteor flashed and plummeted into the center of the deep crater.
Dispelling the black smoke from the Dragonator's blast, three Dragonator heads pointing upward at the bottom of the pit were revealed.
Boom!
Hum! Hum! Hum!...
The scorching shockwave formed by Dragon Energy spread across the bottom of the pit.
Under the immense impact, the three Dragonator heads, along with the Thunder Serpent lying on its back, were driven deep into the ground.
Bang! The immense force of the impact caused a large amount of fluid to surge from the Thunder Serpent's wounds.
However, at this moment, the Dragonator heads seemed to have hit the bottom and suddenly stopped sinking into the earth.
The three lance tips pressed against the membrane-like Dragon Energy defense, emitting a grating sound that made one's teeth ache.
Click!
The Dragon Slayer Heavy Boots stepped out. Behind the Iron Tower Heavy Shield, whose outer shield surface had been melted into a paste, Li Fan revealed half of his body.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Silkbinds that had been wrapped and fixed to his left arm rapidly unbound.
The orange-red Diablos Lance, with its tip glowing, retracted slightly with a backward swing of his arm.
"Cute Star Sky Pierce!"
Li Fan leaped up, shouting loudly.
The protruding parts of the Dragon Energy defense extended and detached from the surface as Li Fan charged forward, attaching themselves to his body.
Hum!
Insight activated!
The flow of time immediately slowed.
Li Fan leaped into the gap between the three Dragonator heads and thrust his Diablos Lance in mid-air.
Seeing the Thunder Serpent's potential demise, the enraged Zinogre, unwilling to retreat, had just managed to get up at the edge of the pit after enduring the impact.
Upon seeing Li Fan's aerial thrust, its only remaining right eye widened instantly.
The Thunder Serpent, lying on its back, and Li Fan, diagonally thrusting downward.
This scene was forever etched into the Zinogre's mind at that moment.
"Heh... Ah!"
Puff! Li Fan, along with the Diablos Lance he thrust forward, plunged into the Thunder Serpent's giant mouth, which was equipped with dual jaws.
Crack! Squish!....
A series of tearing sounds echoed.
Hoo~ Hoo~
The Thunder Serpent's pair of forelimbs, which were still raised, fell powerlessly to the ground.
The golden, lightning-infused Dragonator heads also gradually lost their radiance.
"You... will eventually... be like... us..."
A broken, intermittent female voice echoed in Li Fan's mind.
"Hoo~ Hoo~ My fate.... I decide for myself."
Li Fan, breathing heavily, took two deep breaths and responded.
"Here... you will... lose everything... just like... us..."
Puff! Just as the voice sounded in his mind, a squelching sound of slippery mucus was heard.
Li Fan immediately turned his head back and was surprised to discover an egg with six air sacs, emitting golden electricity, sliding out from his abdominal pouch.
Seeing the egg spinning upward with the wind, Li Fan shouted, "Huìhuì! Get rid of it!"
Huìhuì, hovering, peered down for a moment, then began to tilt her neck back.
Faintly, she could indeed see something flying with the wind.
Whoosh! The lance wing thrust out.
A spherical rock shattered.
Huìhuì's close-range vision was not very good, and that egg was too small for her.
Li Fan then directed Xixi to pursue it.
"Farewell..."
After the woman's voice faded, Li Fan felt the Diablos Lance, which had been thrust into the giant mouth, drop downward. He then saw the Thunder Serpent's head fall to the side, completely silent.
"Ugh... it's finally over."
Li Fan climbed out of the giant mouth and then sat down at the bottom of the pit.
Right! The Zinogre hasn't been captured yet!
Li Fan remembered this and quickly got up to search.
Finally, he found a Fate Ball next to the pit wall where he had witnessed the Zinogre falling.
"That's not right, this ball was clearly swallowed by the Zinogre, could it be that..."
Li Fan took out his handheld device to check and was surprised to find that the Zinogre had already been captured.
What was going on? Had it been affected by the shockwave, causing its injuries to be too severe, thus willingly being captured?
Thinking of the large amount of aftermath work to be done, Li Fan decided that since the Zinogre had been captured, he would first clean up the scene.
The dead body of the Magnamalo could be explained, but the Valstrax falling into the giant pit and disappearing was too unreasonable.
Thus, Huìhuì immediately flew away.
As for the other monsters, since it was originally a Rampage, their appearance here was not strange.
Two hours later, the morning sun rose from the horizon.
With the dark clouds gone, the entire ancient Dragon Palace City seemed to have regained its vitality.
Beside the giant pit, a temporary camp made of tents quickly appeared.
The exhausted team, after completing the basic cleanup, went directly to rest, as the Seven-Colored Hellfire Bird Dust was much more draining on the body than normally concocted Demon Slaying Dust.
The team slept until the afternoon before waking up.
Li Fan stretched as he emerged from the tent and walked to the edge of the cliff to observe. He noticed that not only had a large number of airships landed on the island, but the coastline of the ancient city was also covered with ships.
"Li Fan, there's an emergency meeting to be held, and they said they'd like us to participate." Eudora informed him from behind.
"Alright, I'll be right there." Li Fan withdrew his gaze and followed Eudora into the largest tent.
Zudda, the director of the Elder Dragon Observation Research Center representing the Guild, Vegasa, the Dean of the Dragon Calendar Institute, and Puxian, the village chief of Fire Village, were already present.
"Oh! It's the chief hunter team of the Dragon Calendar Institute that repelled the Valstrax, ended the Thunder Serpent, and saved the Seven Stars hunters!" Vegasa exclaimed loudly.
Seeing the other party's exaggerated praise, Zudda could only sigh helplessly.
After all, the Guild's performance in this crisis was far inferior to that of the Dragon Calendar Institute.
"Dean, since you're all here, why are you only calling us now?" Li Fan asked with some surprise.
"We saw you were resting, so we decided to wait for you. The main purpose of gathering everyone here is for the aftermath," Vegasa explained.
"We are grateful for the strong support from the Guild and the Dragon Calendar Institute. No matter what the plan is, Fire Village will do its best to cooperate," Puxian immediately stated his stance.
Whether it was defending Fort Verdant or the fierce battle in the ancient Dragon Palace City, without the help of the Guild and the Dragon Calendar Institute, Fire Village would likely have had no ability to resist on its own.
"Then, the contract standard for participating hunters will be based on the Seven Star missions," Zudda suggested.
"No problem," Puxian agreed.
After finalizing the details one by one, Vegasa posed a question that silenced the room for a long time: How should the corpses of the Kushala Daora and the Thunder Serpent be handled?
Li Fan initially thought it wasn't a problem, but as the discussion deepened, he quickly understood the inherent dangers.
The Guild and the Dragon Calendar Institute had very little understanding of the Kushala Daora and the Thunder Serpent, and even the information held by Fire Village was extremely limited.
Without detailed ecological data, even transferring them for research would carry immense risks.
There was also another point that the three of them did not mention, but it was certainly within their implicit consideration: the entire ecosystem did not wish for their continuation.
If humans and dragon-people insisted on conducting research, it might lead to retaliation later.
"Their corpses are indeed not suitable for continued existence," Vegasa stated her opinion.
Li Fan saw that even the Dragon Calendar Institute had no intention of researching them, and the two Elder Dragon corpses were indeed a significant hidden threat.
"I agree. Since the Rampage has ended here, there's no need to delve into other issues," Puxian concurred.
"My suggestion is to destroy them on the spot. Otherwise, if the information gets out, the Dragon Slayers' Cult will use the recent frequent anomalies as an excuse to stir up trouble," Zudda reasoned.
"Burying them is definitely not an option. How about we just eat them?" Vegasa pondered.
"Consuming Elder Dragon corpses carries the risk of ecological mutation, and there aren't many monsters that can eat the hardened carapace and keratinous parts," Zudda rejected.
"Doesn't the Guild headquarters' arena have a Brachydios?"
"It's already dead."
"This makes things difficult..." Vegasa sighed.
"I don't have any good suggestions for handling the corpses, but could we at least make two sets of armor first?" Li Fan's statement caused the room to fall silent.
"You want to wear armor made from their materials?" Zudda tentatively asked after a moment.
"Yes," Li Fan confirmed.
"Li Fan, armor made from Elder Dragon materials isn't impossible to use or wear... but the risk of assimilation is extremely high, especially since the Kushala Daora and the Thunder Serpent themselves carry an ominous aura," Vegasa advised.
If only they knew about skill activation! Li Fan wanted to say, but to maintain plausibility, he sighed.
"If it weren't for the Valstrax coincidentally also wanting to eliminate the Thunder Serpent in this battle, I feel we would have lost nine times out of ten. This made me realize my own weakness. Besides studying and training, the only way to improve my strength is through armor and weapons."
"Even as a chief hunter, you still pursue improvements in combat power... Alright, I agree with Li Fan's proposal," Vegasa said firmly.
"Fire Village will also provide full support!" Puxian stood up excitedly.
"You... fine, but the corpses cannot be moved. Materials can only be collected on-site. Additionally, crafting this kind of armor requires the most top-tier craftsmen. I will notify headquarters to dispatch them as soon as possible." Zudda reluctantly agreed and could only help.
"Thank you, Director Zudda, but the two corpses should be dealt with as soon as possible. Therefore, the craftsmen can be found in Fire Village."
"Craftsmen who are capable and willing to process Elder Dragon materials are actually very rare," Zudda explained the real reason for dispatching craftsmen.
"Damon will be willing," Puxian stated with great confidence.