They naturally disliked water—

"Dragon Feather Emus are also Fire System creatures, Mr. Knight," Tata reminded.

"Yes, I was just suspecting that," he looked around curiously, "Although Dragon Feather Emus indeed reside in the marshes, they generally prefer to build their nests on drier highlands."

Before he finished speaking, they heard a strange noise coming from ahead.

"Huh," Fang Hong stopped, turned his head, and asked, "Tata, did you hear something?"

Tata shook his head.

But moments later, a clearer shouting sound came from the forest ahead. This time, both of them could hear it clearly—it was the sound of fighting. Fang Hong and Tata looked at each other and, without a second thought, ran towards the direction of the sounds.

He had not run far when he felt solid ground under his feet.

The forest in this direction had become drier, and in the distance, there appeared intermittent spring vents with trails of white mist. Fang Hong then realized why there were so many Fire System creatures nearby; there was clearly an abundant geothermal resource underground here.

But this still did not explain why the Elephant Nose Beetles would appear on the surface.

The sounds of fighting grew louder. Ahead was a densely populated thicket of Fishbone Wood. Fang Hong stepped forward, parted the branches, and finally saw the scene behind the shrubbery.

He then gasped—

"Did these people poke the nest of the Elephant Nose Beetles?"

A thought unconsciously crossed his mind. Before him was a clearing in the woods, where seventeen or eighteen Brown-Red Elephant Beetles were seemingly rioting, attacking five adventurers in the middle of the clearing.

There was a pile of giant rocks stacked against each other, and although the adventurers had taken the high ground on the rocks, the overwhelming numbers had them completely surrounded and in mortal danger.

Not to mention, among the five adventurers, three were trainees without any combat capability.

Fang Hong quickly recognized the identity of the three trainees—they wore no conspicuous war gear, armor, or carried Magic Guided Reactors; they were typical tourists at first glance.

The three trainees were all young, two males and one female, the eldest male perhaps a bit younger than him, around sixteen years old, with an East Asian face, he cautiously shielded everyone at the forefront.

The other male was very skinny, with black hair that was very soft, almost drooping over his head. He wore round-rimmed glasses that were big and bulky, the thick lenses covering a third of his face, only revealing his sharp lower face.

With red lips and white teeth, and delicate eyebrows almost like a girl's, he was indeed wearing a male's black-brown velvet robe, which completely trailed on the ground, almost a size too large for him. He was probably the youngest of the three, seemingly not yet fourteen as he tightly hugged a large book, protected by the other two at the very back.

Seeing this scene, Fang Hong couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards these three trainees; people who step forward to protect their companions always seemed inherently good to him.

As for the last girl—also the only one who was not East Asian, she had neatly cropped light golden hair to her ears, adorned with two pretty earrings, and fine freckles dotted her nose, a round face that, although not very beautiful, had a friendly, cute look brimming with the vitality of a young girl.

The ones fighting desperately in front of these three trainees were presumably adventurers they had hired.

There were only two of them.

An Elf Girl with wheat-colored skin, probably no older than seventeen or eighteen, dressed in hunter's attire, carrying a Short Bow—yet unused; instead, she held a long spear in both hands, crouched low like a leopard ready to pounce.

The Elf Girl had a pair of exceptionally beautiful light green eyes, which sparkled with intelligence, always seeming to capture the precise movement of the enemy at the last moment to strike in time, sending the advancing Elephant Nose Beetles flying with her spear.

Her movements were both cautious and flawless, her body flexible, capable of leveraging the power from her waist and abdomen to the fullest extent, much like a straightened whip. Sometimes Fang Hong almost thought she might break her slender waist.

But in a blink of an eye, she turned peril into safety, agilely moving backward to avoid the fire spit of the Elephant Nose Beetles, showcasing the beauty of strength and agility in her stillness and motion.

The girl's level wasn't high, probably not even a second-stage profession, roughly around level seven or eight, but her combat experience was much more extensive than any Chosen Fang Hong had seen at this level.

It was simply incomparable—

So much so that there were only three words in Fang Hong's mind to describe the splendid fight of this Female Hunter.

Predator.

Yes, in the eyes of others, the Elf Girl was truly a genuine jungle Predator.

As for the other person, he seemed quite ridiculous. He was a Papalarian, a type of Half-Person, different from the nomadic Tall Half-People; Papalarians had their own settlements and culture—they were quite an endearing race, mainly because of their optimistic and cheerful yet somewhat serious nature; of course, their appearance also played a part.

A typical Papalarian should be like so.

They ate seven meals a day, breakfast, snacks and tea after a morning walk, main meal, afternoon tea, dinner, evening gatherings, and bedtime snacks.

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