After the dragon girl left, the hunters discussed it.
It was already past noon, so it might be too late to start hunting directly. Everyone was physically exhausted from the previous rush.
But doing nothing and resting until tomorrow seems like a waste of time.
In the end, Julius made the decision to eat in the camp, rest for an hour, and then set off for reconnaissance activities to familiarize himself with the surrounding terrain and prepare for the official hunt tomorrow.
It was said to be a rest, but no one really lay down to rest.
Gordon repeatedly checked the explosive sword Kai that had not been used for a long time. He had always maintained and oiled this sword, and it was in good condition. The hook popped out and retracted smoothly and flexibly.
Julius was also checking his swords, something that became almost instinctive for a swordsman.
Different from the water attribute "Holy Saber" that Huo Sheng carried before, this time he chose a thunder attribute weapon that poses the greatest threat to the Thor Beetles and does relatively little damage to the Heavy Beetles.
This pair of swords is called the "Execution Saw". It has a very rare shape. It is powered by a built-in electrical bag. When the mechanism is pressed, the blade composed of a chain saw will rotate at high speed and cut the opponent. The power is amazing.
It's simply a man's romance. (?)
Nadia focused on checking the ammunition. She carried a large number of fire bombs. This ammunition was a perfect match for her Fire Dragon Light Crossbow "Fire Dragon Cannon". It was very useful whether it was against Thor Beetles or Heavy Beetles.
Pig Chop is also checking its explosive bombs and props. It looks like a bunch of grapes with its body covered with micro explosive bombs - this guy has gone further and further down the path of the explosive cat.
"Are you all ready?" Julius looked at his companions.
Gordon put away the hook of the explosive knife, carried it behind his back, and pulled off the visor at the same time.
Nadia also held a light crossbow across her body and made a "ready" gesture.
"You can go at any time, meow!"
"Then let's go."
The road to Sky Mountain is really difficult.
Many times there is no road, and you need to climb up and down vines or even rocks, but they are gradually getting used to it.
The hunter team of three people and one cat started from the camp and explored in circles, recording the terrain information they had confirmed on the map that was so simple that it was almost useless.
During this period, they carefully avoided the "no-go places" that the dragon girl repeatedly emphasized.
I have to say that the child's ability to arouse people's curiosity is really top-notch. When passing by from a distance, everyone was secretly glancing in that direction with their peripheral vision.
Unfortunately, they saw nothing but a large pile of messy boulders and ruins.
Climbing up a short peak along the vines, Pork Chop suddenly stopped.
It twitched its nose from side to side, then looked in one direction, "There's a strange smell coming from over there, nya!"
Julius gave the order without hesitation, Pork Chop led the way, and we went over to take a look.
With a clear target point, the group speeded up a lot. After a few minutes, they came to a skeleton.
There was a strange fermentation smell in the air nearby. It was not exactly the smell of rotting animal carcasses, but also had a strange sour smell, similar to that of spoiled wine.
"It must be the skeleton of a spiritual deer." Gordon whispered.
Julius nodded and confirmed, "Well, the soft tissue has almost completely disappeared, and even half of the bones have melted. It is obviously not the result of natural decay."
Nadia broke off a branch from the nearby bush and picked up a bit of semi-liquid pus and blood hanging on the skeleton. "Those guys like to dissolve their prey with corrosive liquid and then suck the juice."
"It's them."
Julius was very sure: "Only the piercing beetle and the shadow spider of the horned species have similar habits, and the latter will not appear in Sky Mountain."
"This carcass is quite fresh. The beetle should be nearby." Gordon suddenly said.
"How can you tell?" Nadia asked puzzledly.
It's not that she doubted Gordon's judgment, she was really curious about how to judge whether a corpse that was so fermented and had only half of its bones was fresh or not.
Gordon knelt down and pointed at some grass blades pressed under the bones covered in corrosive liquid.
"The leaves of these grasses are all rotten, but there is still a greenish tint near the roots. Even if the corrosive liquid is not that strong in decomposing living plants, it will not remain like this after being soaked for a long time."
"That makes sense." Nadia nodded in understanding.
Julius also agreed with Gordon's judgment, "Be prepared for battle. It would be great if you can encounter a lone Toru Beetle."
Although according to the original plan, the hunting would officially start tomorrow, he would not be so rigid as to let go of the prey that was right in front of him.
"Meow!"
Pork Chop suddenly ran about ten meters in one direction, and Gordon and the others quickly followed.
On a low shrub growing between rock crevices, Pig Chop found a few drops of thick blood, which should have been dropped when the beetle left.
"Well done, pork chop."
Even Julius couldn't help but praise the pork chop.
The beetles are good at flying and cannot be tracked through their footprints. The traces found by Pig Chop can help them roughly determine the direction in which the beetles left.
"Walk."
The three people and one cat quickly and lightly explored the front.
A few minutes later, Nadia, who was protected in the middle of the queue by Julius and Gordon, suddenly stopped and raised her fist to signal a pause.
The three of them squatted down almost simultaneously to reduce the probability of being discovered.
Nadia put her fingers together, tapped the corners of her eyes, and then pointed in a direction.
Julius and Gordon looked in that direction.
On a rock wall about thirty or forty meters ahead, a huge beetle as tall as three or four people was lying there, with its wings folded, as if it was resting.
Julius gave Nadia a look.
The latter immediately understood what he meant, set up the Fire Dragon Cannon, pressed a dyed bullet into the barrel, and pulled the trigger.
"boom!"
The strong-smelling dye exploded on the beetle's back.
To deal with this kind of flying monster, mark it with dye balls or dye bombs before fighting, which can effectively improve the pursuit efficiency.
Next, without anyone giving orders, Gordon and Julius launched a charge at the same time.
Nadia also put on fire bombs and started firing continuously.
The beetle that was awakened by the dye bomb immediately vibrated its wings and flew up. When it turned around, the fire bomb had already hit, exploding into a ball of fire in its abdomen.
It made a sharp sound and seemed angry.
But the hunters didn't care at all.
In front of two five-star and one four-star hunters, and two-star dangerous monsters, just be angry.
Gordon, who was heavily armored and sword-heavy, had only run two-thirds of the way when Julius had already rushed in front of the beetle.
He clashed his swords, shouted softly, and directly entered the ghost-human state, further increasing his already fast speed.
The weapon mechanism was activated, and with a slightly harsh "buzzing" sound, the saw chain of the execution saw rotated at high speed.
As Julius danced with his swords in a dizzying manner, criss-crossing knife marks appeared on the beetle's body, and green blood flew out.
(End of chapter)
