The next morning, the Zorah Magdaros capture plan, which shocked everyone, was announced by Commander Frae with an air of unwavering resolve.
All factions immediately entered the preparation phase.
Li Fan, wanting to see if he could be of any assistance, instructed Dilu to collect the newly posted contracts.
Soon, a large stack of newly posted contracts was placed on the cabin table.
"Sigh, how many problems need to be solved?"
Li Fan sighed.
"There are two four-star urgent contracts, meow, we can start with those," Dilu suggested.
"That makes sense. Since they are urgent contracts, they must be closely related to the capture operation," Li Fan said, picking up the top two contracts with red markings.
The first was titled "The Thunder-Rushing Zinogre," posted by the Ecology Research Institute.
The commission stated that the new hunting gear, the Ghillie Mantle, had been successfully developed and was ready to be equipped by hunters.
This mantle could mask scent and, with interchangeable camouflage leaves on its surface, adapt to different wild environments. At a distance, monsters would have difficulty detecting the hunter's presence, thus achieving a stealth effect.
The difficulty lay in the fact that a Zinogre was active at the material gathering point for the Ghillie Mantle, severely slowing down the progress of equipping all hunters.
"This contract is indeed urgent. If the Ghillie Mantle can be equipped quickly, the safety of hunters escorting the transport team on long journeys will be greatly enhanced."
As the Zorah Magdaros capture plan entered its preparatory stages, many new contracts were posted within the base.
However, the actual hunting contracts were relatively limited. Most were for escorting transport teams, gathering materials in the wild, and other support operations.
The distribution of the Ghillie Mantle could significantly improve safety, making its urgent contract status quite necessary.
The other contract was titled "Forest Fury - Anjanath," posted by the Investigation Team.
The commission stated that recently, traces of numerous Anjanaths had been discovered around the base, with a few sightings reported.
For this operation, the base would commit all its combat forces. If the Anjanaths were to launch an attack at this time, it would be difficult to resist, so they decided to strike first.
"Dilu."
"What is it, meow?"
"We'll take these two urgent contracts and depart today."
"Ah? So soon, meow? Aren't there still combat drills to conduct?" Dilu asked, sounding surprised.
"Other teams could probably complete these two urgent contracts, but their efficiency is questionable. It's best for our team to handle it," Li Fan explained.
The faster the operational preparations progressed, the more available time the base would have, allowing them to implement the operation in better condition.
When dealing with the invading Nergigante, the team would have more reliable assistance.
Due to the high-risk target hunt and the urgent nature of the contracts, the team needed to go to the Star Guild branch located at the base to accept these missions.
So, Li Fan called for Eudora, and they took the cable car together.
The Star Guild base branch was, as its name suggested, a giant ship. However, much like the cliff below it, there was a severe fracture in the center of the ship.
Except for the deck, which remained connected, the entire ship was almost split in two.
It was said that when the First Expeditionary Force arrived at the New World on the Starship, they encountered a Steel Dragon fighting an unknown monster on the coast.
The Starship, caught in the crossfire, was swept into the air and then crashed onto the cliff.
While recovery was deemed impossible, it provided a significant inspiration to the members of the First Expeditionary Force who lacked materials for base construction.
Thus, the idea of using the damaged ship as building material took shape.
Walking onto the deck, the giant beer barrel in the center was particularly striking.
Several hunters were drinking at the bar tables arranged around it.
In the bow area, dozens of domesticated Wyverns stood on the railings, awaiting orders.
After picking up their contracts from the counter, hunters could directly depart on a Wyvern.
"Welcome to the Starship base branch!" a tall, mature, and alluring female receptionist in a pink uniform enthusiastically waved from behind the counter.
"Heh heh," Li Fan grinned.
"Li Fan, you're smiling strangely..." Eudora said, looking puzzled.
"Hello there! Material requisitions are over here!" a female supply officer in a green uniform called out enthusiastically from in front of the cargo crane.
"Heh heh," Li Fan responded with a smile again.
"Uh... Li Fan, have you noticed something unusual, meow?" Dilu couldn't help but ask.
"It's nothing. I just think the Commander really understands male hunters," Li Fan commented.
Eudora's gaze swept over the female receptionists on the Starship, all mature, alluring, and curvaceous. She immediately understood Li Fan's meaning.
"Boring! I'm going for a drink." Eudora turned and walked towards the long tables arranged around the giant beer barrel.
A Palico, who was wiping the tables, immediately moved aside and handed her a beer mug.
The contracts for hunting four-star monsters were well within the team's capabilities.
Urgent missions were also better completed sooner rather than later, so the entire process encountered no obstacles.
Before Eudora could finish half a mug of beer, all the paperwork was completed.
"Have a safe journey, brave hunter!"
"I will!" Li Fan said with firm conviction, looking back and waving at the counter.
The "Crimson Scale" immediately departed from the base.
Three hours later, the "Crimson Scale" hovered in the air. The little idiot and Naughty, who had completely mutated into a Gold Rathian and Silver Rathian, listened intently to Li Fan's mission briefing outside the hull.
"An Anjanath, when enraged, will suddenly open its nasal bone, forming a crest-like structure on its head," Li Fan demonstrated with an action while speaking.
"Roar..." Naughty let out a roar, seemingly understanding.
"It also has a fire sac organ that can spew flames, and two fan-shaped membranes on its back, but these are only for heat dissipation and cannot be used for flight."
After hearing this description, Naughty seemed to recall something.
"Roar?"
"That's right, it's him," Li Fan confirmed. Naughty immediately turned its body and swooped down to fly away.
"The Zinogre has a large tail, likes to move through forests, and can unleash electrified attacks. Although it has an elemental advantage against you, there's no reason you should lose to it. Moreover, its usual activity area is nearby. Go, Little Idiot!"
"Roar!" Little Idiot roared, tucking its wings and swooping downwards.
Li Fan chose Naughty and Little Idiot to go because, through their time here, both had gained sufficient understanding of the Ancient Forest.
Secondly, their excellent flight capabilities would allow them to quickly locate the target and complete the mission as soon as possible.
"I wonder when Naughty and Little Idiot..."
*Boom!* As Li Fan turned to head back into the ship, he heard a loud explosion and quickly ran to the railing to observe.
A large plume of smoke had yet to dissipate when, accompanied by the roar of a fireball explosion, another dense cloud of black smoke rose.
The green forest on the ground turned black after being burned, and as the fire spread, Li Fan saw that Little Idiot was flying at a low altitude, pursuing the Zinogre.
Perhaps because the tangled branches of the Ancient Forest obstructed Little Idiot's flight, it chose a simple and brutal method.
It burned away all the obstructing jungle.
As for the Zinogre, whose figure could be vaguely seen, it darted and weaved through the forest with its agile body, flying and gliding.
The two chased each other, and the forest suddenly became lively.
"This Zinogre has experience in the forest, but it's a shame it hasn't realized the seriousness of the situation yet," Li Fan commented, watching the fast-moving white figure.
"Isn't the Zinogre just running away, meow?" Dilu asked curiously, lowering her binoculars and tilting her head.
"It is running away, but because it's confident it can use the forest to evade pursuit, it hasn't fled to the underground areas," Li Fan explained.
Given Little Idiot's size and wingspan, many cave entrances in the underground areas of the Ancient Forest would be inaccessible.
If it were purely for safety, that would be the best place to go.
"That doesn't make sense, meow?" Dilu asked in surprise.
"Not necessarily. I suspect this Zinogre has often acted so recklessly when facing Rathalos in the past."
"Why, meow?"
"I don't know yet, but compared to the mainland, the creatures here seem more unrestrained." Li Fan concluded.
He had always felt that even if the monsters on both sides were of the same species, their behavioral patterns might not be identical.
Based on his current observations, the monsters here were clearly more prone to recklessness.
Whether it was the impact of overflowing ley line energy on the creatures or the lack of excessive human intervention, no conclusion had been reached yet.
Gradually understanding the Zinogre's escape route and behavior, Little Idiot suddenly swerved its wings and flew away, ceasing its pursuit.
"Now there's no fun left," Li Fan commented upon seeing this action.
The Zinogre glanced back as it fled. Seeing the golden Rathian that had been chasing it disappear, it slowed down slightly.
*Whoosh! Whoosh!* A vertical wall of blue flame swept in from ahead.
The Zinogre turned to flee, and a strong gust of wind instantly surged from behind.
The Zinogre then began to climb downwards, intending to glide over the wall of flames by unfurling its membranes from a height and re-enter the forest.
But a blue flame fireball flew in and exploded on the thick, climbing tree trunk.
The contorted Ancient Tree burned and broke within seconds, toppling to one side.
Seeing no escape, the Zinogre leaped to the ground and let out a roar of extreme unwillingness towards Little Idiot in the sky.
Provoked, Little Idiot immediately became enraged, hooked its claws, and swooped down.
*Splat! Crackle...* The battle ended instantly.
Before long, Little Idiot brought the Zinogre's corpse, held in its claws, to the "Crimson Scale."
As a medium-sized airship, a monster carcass suddenly appearing on the deck was quite inconvenient.
However, to alleviate the limited transport capacity of the base, Li Fan decided to bring it back himself.
Three hours later, Naughty located the Anjanath in a distant area.
The battle ended very quickly. Even though the "Crimson Scale" rushed over immediately, they still didn't witness the combat process.
One was transported on the deck, the other suspended by a cable.
Before dinner, the team returned to the Astera base.
Completing four-star urgent missions on the same day they were accepted was almost unimaginable for everyone at the base.
At the Starship's bar, everyone was talking about the Fifth Expeditionary Force leader's heroic deeds.
"Master, are the top hunters from the mainland all this powerful?" the slightly tipsy Di Yan asked curiously.
The seated Sword Master pondered for a moment and replied, "Hunters of this caliber are rare even on the mainland, but I admire their swift and decisive way of doing things even more."
"How does that compare to the hero hunter of Kokoto Village?"
"If that guy were still alive, he probably wouldn't be able to escape the ravages of time," the Sword Master sighed, looking up at the starry sky.
With the two troublesome urgent missions quickly resolved, three days after the operational deployment decision was announced, the first transport team carrying supplies officially departed from the base.
The ecological information accumulated through the camp advancement strategy, combined with the increasingly complete maps of the two regions, had established a transport route to the canyon.
The full distribution of the Ghillie Mantle also provided greater assurance for transport safety.
After all, the purpose of hunter escorts was not to hunt and kill along the way but to ensure the safe arrival of the transport team at the designated area.
During this period, the team remained in uncharted areas of the Ancient Forest, practicing coordinated combat with monsters.
"No, the previous training didn't account for the swaying of Zorah Magdaros's back," Li Fan told Eudora, who was training with the monsters.
"Does that mean Eudora's Guillotine won't work?" Eudora asked dejectedly.
"That's right. And Zorah Magdaros can also stand up like Lao Shan Lung. Falling from its back isn't a major threat, but if its foot steps on you, you're pretty much done for."
"It steps on you and crushes you, what does that have to do with you?" Li Fan believed it was normal for Zorah Magdaros to step on and kill a hunter without any awareness.
"Fighting another Elder Dragon on Zorah Magdaros's back is indeed not as simple as imagined..." Eudora mused.
When training to face the Steel Dragon, there was at least more preparation time, and the combat terrain had fewer variable factors.
Now, as the combat area changed, the difficulty of tactical deployment also increased.
"Dilu said Captain Mantis is very powerful. Can't we grab and pin Nergigante, then perform the Guillotine?" Eudora proposed.
"There are no ruins here. Shiny can only barely construct rock giants. Fighting head-on wouldn't be a problem, but there are two issues: one is the extreme risk of falling, and the other is Nergigante's flight capability," Li Fan stated the difficulties.
"This is really troublesome... Wait a minute, what if we change the combat location?" Eudora suddenly exclaimed.
"Are you suggesting we don't engage Nergigante during the Zorah Magdaros capture operation?" Li Fan quickly inferred her idea.
"Yes, that way we can fight without any reservations," Eudora said with surprise.
"No." Li Fan shook his head firmly.
"Why?... Oh, right. We haven't figured out its ecological habits yet, so there's nothing to attract Nergigante," Eudora realized.
"Then why did Zorah Magdaros attract Nergigante, meow?" Dilu asked, confused.
"Is it because Zorah Magdaros is an Elder Dragon?" Eudora asked curiously.
"To be more precise, it's an Elder Dragon involved in the Elder Crossing, meow," Dilu added.
"I'm going to the river to get some fresh air and clear my head." Eudora and Dilu were somewhat surprised when Li Fan left during the discussion.
Normally, at such times, Li Fan would provide detailed explanations to both the person and the cat to facilitate understanding.
"That's strange. Could it be because I secretly ate his steak from his plate last night and he's in a bad mood because he noticed?" Eudora wondered suspiciously.
"I know, meow! Huì Huì is also a member of the Elder Crossing," Dilu suddenly realized.