"Don't worry, little one," Pachi chimed in, trying to soothe. "Li Fan said as long as this charm hangs on the egg, it'll be fine, meow."
The flustered little one finally calmed down.
Now came the time to make a choice.
Should they join the monster team on the offensive, or stay behind on the Flame Mother to guard the dragon egg?
As the little one was in a dilemma, Li Fan, with low-frequency clicks on his handheld device, canceled the little one's summon order.
The reason was that he knew the little one was unwilling to leave the dragon egg, and with no monsters stationed on the Flame Mother, it was indeed too dangerous in the ancient tower area.
As they ventured deeper into the core area, the Ancient Tower Ruins, the height of the ruins gradually increased.
Although Li Fan had been in a hurry when he set out, he waited for a while before entering the Ancient Tower Ruins, only entering the area after meeting up with the Mantis Captain.
The clouds here were all black, with occasional flashes of white light.
As the altitude increased, large patches of red starlight appeared in the dark sky.
Wannian flew towards the nearest one, and after a while, realized it was a sphere floating in mid-air.
"Zhi Yan, can this thing cause mutations?" Li Fan asked, looking at Zhi Yan.
Zhi Yan's eyes seemed to be fixated on the scarlet sphere, and without a response, it swooped towards it.
*Crack!*
The red sphere shattered, turning into several red electric sparks that flew into Zhi Yan's body.
"Alright, Zhi Yan answered the question with actions," Li Fan said helplessly, tilting his head to observe the distribution of the red spheres in the sky.
The higher they went, the denser the red spheres became.
Gathering the surrounding towering ancient tower ruins, an idea quickly emerged.
The monsters that lived here were all waiting for the red spheres to scatter when the black lightning struck.
Due to the floating nature of the red spheres, monsters that nested at the top of the ancient towers would have more opportunities to interact with them.
As for monsters like the Great Jagras and the Zinogre, which lacked flight capabilities, the height of their respective ancient tower ruins became even more crucial.
This was probably the reason for the competition for the tower tops, a strange ecological phenomenon.
Monsters that had long resided in the outer areas could only absorb the red spheres that were scattered further away due to not being noticed in time.
If "Gold and Silver" that Zhi Yan mentioned referred to the Gold Rathian and Silver Rathian, then they indeed had the potential to dominate the core area of the ancient tower.
By all accounts, this area should have been exclusively occupied by a certain Elder Dragon.
But no one knew how long the pair of Rathians had been here.
Assuming they had enough time, and each black lightning strike brought a certain amount of improvement, then even an Elder Dragon might not be able to gain an advantage against the two Rathians working together.
Moreover, other monsters on the tower tops might join in for the overall benefit.
Lost in thought, Li Fan felt as if he had glimpsed the ecological structure of the Ancient Tower Ruins.
"It seems that venturing into the Ancient Tower Ruins is an act that easily incurs the wrath of many," Li Fan realized, understanding that he might have to face not only the Gold and Silver Rathians but the entire ecosystem of the Ancient Tower Ruins.
"What should we do, meow? Should we retreat and come up with a plan?" Dilu asked nervously.
"We might have time, but the total number of red spheres is limited. By the time we figure out a plan, they'll likely be absorbed. No matter! Everyone gather around Wannian, be careful not to spread out too much, and go absorb the red spheres!"
After Li Fan gave his instructions, all the monsters immediately sprang into action.
*Crack! Crack!*
Wannian, with its exceptional flight capabilities, continuously collided with the red spheres in the air, absorbing the red lightning within them into its body.
*Roar!*
Not long after, Xixi arrived with a roar.
"It's not absorbing."
Li Fan heard this and turned to look, only to discover that the red electric sparks were merely adhering to Xixi's carapace due to its electricity storage capabilities, with no signs of absorption.
"That's strange. I can understand why insect-type monsters like Shanshan can't absorb it, but what about Xixi? Never mind, Xixi, you can just be a power bank and keep collecting."
Just as he finished speaking, Huihui swooped down beside him, indicating that it also couldn't absorb the red spheres.
This time, Li Fan wasn't surprised. Many monsters, although classified as Elder Dragons, didn't necessarily originate from the same species.
Especially for an unconventional creature like Huihui, which gave off a technologically advanced vibe.
However, in terms of energy absorption, Huihui should at least be capable of it.
"Huihui, you just focus on security."
The monster team charged through the Ancient Tower Ruins, their overall altitude increasing as they pursued the red spheres.
At the center of the Ancient Tower Ruins, atop the towering ruins that pierced the clouds, a male Rathalos with silver scales and a female Rathian with golden scales were confronting a Great Jagras with crimson skin.
*Roar. Roar!*
The roars of both sides grew fiercer, their gazes locked on each other, as if a battle could erupt at any moment.
*Whoosh~*
A gust of wind exploded in the distance, and a red light streaked across the sky.
The scattered red starlight in the air, affected by the shockwave, gathered at the upper and lower ends.
The red spheres drifting upwards were being absorbed by a male Rathalos and an Electric Dragon.
The red spheres drifting downwards were being absorbed by two Black Diablos.
The Great Jagras had never seen such an efficient absorption method and was momentarily stunned.
*Roar!*
A roar from the Gold Rathian opposite startled it back to reality.
The Great Jagras could only bare its fangs and emit a low growl to intimidate, and the two sides fell into a stalemate once more.
However, after only a moment, the Great Jagras's eyes involuntarily drifted back to the sky.
At this moment, the Silver Rathian let out a fierce roar, issuing a warning, indicating that the two sides were currently in negotiations and hoping the Great Jagras would be more serious.
The grievances between the two sides were not complicated.
The Great Jagras originally inhabited the second tallest tower within the Ancient Tower Ruins. Although it lacked flight capabilities, it could still absorb some of the falling red spheres when the black lightning struck, thanks to the height and area advantage of the tower top.
As for the Gold and Silver Rathian couple, they specialized in absorbing the red spheres from higher altitudes.
The two sides had always minded their own business, but recently the couple had started eyeing the red spheres at lower altitudes.
They would absorb a wave from above the tower top, then move to higher areas, effectively cornering monsters without flight capabilities.
The most disgruntled among them were the Great Jagras and the Zinogre.
These two, residing at the second and third highest towers, were finding that the red spheres they could absorb were becoming fewer and fewer.
With the arrival of this lightning strike, the Gold and Silver Rathian couple had resumed their usual tactic. Seeing the scattered red spheres being absorbed by them before they could even reach the tower top, the Great Jagras could tolerate it no longer.
While lacking flight capabilities, it was difficult to pose a substantial threat, but destroying their nesting grounds so that no one could have a good time was something the Great Jagras was confident it could achieve.
Upon seeing their lair invaded, the Gold and Silver Rathian couple immediately returned, leading to the current confrontation.
The Great Jagras had wanted to inform them about the anomaly in the sky, but seeing the two dragons brimming with aggression, it developed a rebellious streak and continued to maintain a fierce posture to intimidate them.
The red starlight in the sky was visibly decreasing, but the Great Jagras roared with increasing vigor.
The Gold and Silver Rathian couple also became more invested.
They brought up the matter of repelling Elder Dragons and protecting the Ancient Tower Ruins.
They claimed that without them, the Great Jagras and the Zinogre would not be able to defend this area.
As the two sides argued, a red sphere fell nearby.
No one knew if the other party would seize the opportunity to attack, so no one touched it.
*Whoosh~*
A gust of wind pressure arrived, and Kuku landed on the tower top.
Skillfully pecking the red sphere to pieces with its large beak, it absorbed the electric sparks into its body and spread its wings to fly away.
*Roar!*
At this moment, the Gold Rathian let out a furious roar.
Kuku calmly turned its head to glance, then turned back, its claws scraping the ground, responding with a low growl.
The Gold and Silver Rathian couple and the Great Jagras were all stunned by this.
*Boom! Whoosh~*
A gust of wind exploded in the air. Using the air currents to disperse the red spheres on one side, Huihui moved to the other side to continue its work.
The Gold and Silver Rathian couple twisted their necks and discovered that the sky was dark and seemed to be missing something.
Immediately, they took to the sky with roars.
"Their reaction is so slow. Is it because the dragon attribute in the surrounding area is too strong?" Li Fan was somewhat surprised to notice their delayed reaction.
However, since the Gold and Silver Rathian couple had likely fought Elder Dragons and had long been in an area with a strong dragon attribute reaction, it was understandable that they hadn't noticed Huihui.
But no matter how powerful their flight capabilities were, they couldn't possibly catch up to Huihui.
*Roar!*
Kuku, looking up, let out an excited roar, indicating that Huihui was on the same team.
The Great Jagras let out a roar of approval, not for Huihui, but for Kuku's courage.
*Roar!*
Kuku responded politely and informed them that there were many red spheres falling on the top of the nearby ancient tower.
A Zinogre was absorbing them, and if the Great Jagras rushed over now, it might be able to snatch some.
On the top of the adjacent ancient tower...
The Great Jagras pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized that it was its own nesting ground!
So it quickly ran to the edge of the ancient tower and looked down.
*Puff! Puff!*
Dust kicked up by its claws continuously appeared on the tower top, but visually, no monster could be seen.
The Great Jagras braced itself with its claws and let out a roar.
An extremely unpleasant curse echoed through the Ancient Tower Ruins.
*Whoosh~* The Great Jagras leaped up and glided towards its nesting ground.
The blurry figure of the fleeing Zinogre immediately became visible.
Kuku, tilting its head, heard Wannian's roar and quickly took off to help.
Since the Gold and Silver Rathian couple couldn't catch Huihui, they naturally turned their attention to Wannian and Xixi.
Xixi wanted to fight back, but currently acting as a power bank, the energy attached to its body would be absorbed as soon as it got close.
Li Fan didn't want the energy to be absorbed by the Gold and Silver Rathian couple, so he decided to command Xixi to return the energy to the Flame Mother for the little one.
The problem was that the battle would become difficult, and the threat wouldn't solely come from the Gold and Silver Rathian couple.
"Dilu, you focus on observing the tower top below. If any monster attacks, alert me immediately," Li Fan instructed.
*Roar!* A roar came from the side.
"Don't worry, they're fighting amongst themselves?" Li Fan was surprised to hear Kuku's reminder.
"They really are fighting, meow! It's the Great Jagras and the Zinogre!" Dilu, looking down with binoculars, confirmed.
"Why are they fighting? Did that curse from the Great Jagras mean it was cursing the Zinogre?" Li Fan suddenly remembered the curse he had heard earlier.
He had been wondering why his monster team was absorbing the red spheres located at high altitudes.
If anyone should be angry, it should be the Gold and Silver Rathian couple. Why was the Great Jagras cursing along? It turned out it wasn't cursing the monster team at all.
"Never mind, it's better if they fight."
*Swish!* Wannian immediately shifted its body, and then, a fireball with blue flames flew overhead.
"Lower your altitude!" Li Fan commanded. Wannian straightened its body and swooped down, with the Gold and Silver Rathian couple in close pursuit.
Seeing the distance rapidly closing, Wannian spotted a tall tower ahead and spiraled downwards along its wall, trying to increase the distance.
However, they didn't fall for the trap. The Silver Rathian continued to pursue from behind, while the Gold Rathian circled around to intercept.
"This couple's combat coordination is truly remarkable," Li Fan couldn't help but exclaim as he looked back.
*Boom!* The blue flame fireball struck the tower wall, causing a large amount of bricks and stones to scatter.
Wannian's carapace, with its extremely high fire resistance, not only failed to extinguish the flames upon contact with the blue flames but instead began to melt on the surface.
The carapace quickly turned a pale pink.
*Roar.* Wannian let out a low growl, indicating it was in pain.
Li Fan immediately drew his sword and sliced off the burnt part of the carapace.
The temperature quickly dropped, but the originally deep red carapace was also burned to a charcoal color.
"This fireball is so strange, it can even burn through a Rathian's carapace." Li Fan had initially thought the Gold and Silver Rathians' blue flame fireball was just a change in color for game effect, but now it seemed the nature of this flame was completely different from that of a normal Rathian's breath.
This was the power of a rare species.
The Silver Rathian was still in pursuit, unable to escape, while the Gold Rathian that had circled around had already caught up.
"There's no other way. We'll have to use the tower's line of sight to block and recall Wannian and Kuku first." Li Fan felt that in the current situation, as long as Huihui could provide a distraction, he could escape alone relatively easily.
"If we could just lower our altitude a bit more, we could get support from the ground..." Although unwilling, Li Fan took out a capture sphere.
*Roar!* At this moment, Kuku let out an urgent roar.
"What! Zhi Yan also followed... That's right, if it descends while in pursuit, it can keep up with its flight capabilities. But shouldn't it be taking this opportunity to absorb more red spheres?" Li Fan didn't quite understand Zhi Yan's motive.
*Roar!* "Compared to the red spheres, Kuku is more important... So Zhi Yan is here to help? It was so afraid of the Gold and Silver before, this is too loyal." Li Fan was very surprised.
*Roar!* Kuku let out a proud roar.
"That's right, this friendship is indeed incomparable to that between the Great Jagras and the Zinogre! So they were fighting over the red spheres." Li Fan hadn't expected Kuku to also obtain some information.
"Since Zhi Yan is so loyal, we can't let it down. Wannian! Continue to lower your altitude! Kuku and Zhi Yan will handle the Gold Rathian in front." Li Fan gave his deployment.