The blast of air stirred up by the Monster's massive swinging pincer interrupted Altaïr's Foresight Slash. He steadied his stance and paused rather than rushing back in.
Once he had recovered from the shock, he reassessed his opponent.
The hardness of its shell was far from the only unusual thing about this creature!
Carapaceons generally had tremendous load-bearing capacity, easily carrying bones and shells heavier than their own bodies. This was true of everything from small hermit crabs to Daimyo Hermitaur, and even Shen Gaoren, whose body was as vast as a mountain.
That capacity did not come from unusually developed muscles. It owed far more to their exoskeletons and the unique hydraulic structures in their joints.
In terms of attack power and mobility, they held no advantage over other Monsters of comparable size.
Yet the one before him seemed to be an exception.
It had no rock carapace elsewhere to serve as a counterweight, while that single rock-encased pincer had to account for at least two-thirds of its total body mass. How could it still move normally and even swing the pincer in combat instead of being dragged forward by its top-heavy weight and left unable to stand?
There seemed to be only one explanation: the creature planted its legs firmly against the ground and lifted the massive pincer through sheer strength.
Even after discounting its natural advantages as a Carapaceon, its raw physical power was still unbelievable.
Before he could examine the matter further, the Monster swung its pincer and sprang bodily upward, soaring six or seven meters into the air as the stunned Hunter and Felyne stared in disbelief.
Then it brought its full weight crashing down toward the Hunter.
Altaïr had already started moving at full speed the instant the Taikun Zamuza jumped. Even Isis could not have withstood that blow head-on.
The pincer struck the ground with a thunderous impact. The solid, level stone floor shattered, and broad slabs buckled upward around the point of impact.
The ground shook violently. Even Altaïr, who had put a good ten meters between himself and the Monster, struggled to keep his footing and nearly fell.
Now he could be certain there were no other caverns beneath this one.
Otherwise, that pincer strike would have smashed straight through the floor!
"Take this, meow!" Seeing Altaïr retreat from the Monster's side, Sajji seized the opening he had been waiting for and fired a rocket without hesitation.
After more than half a year of frequent use, his skill with the Rathian Model-1 had improved tremendously. He could not snipe at extreme range like Morgan and the other professional Gunners, but at twenty or thirty meters, he could reliably hit whatever he aimed at.
A streak of fire flashed across the cave and burst against the Taikun Zamuza's head in a blaze of searing heat.
It was an Incendiary Round. Fire herb powder mixed with adhesive clung to the Taikun Zamuza's body and burned fiercely.
If a Monster feared fire, taking an Incendiary Round to the head should at least drive it to put out the flames and escape the scorching heat, even if it did not panic outright.
But this creature merely shook itself once. When it failed to shake the flames loose, it ignored them and continued chasing the Hunter with its head ablaze, seemingly without any impairment to its vision.
"Is... is this for real, meow?" Sajji stared in disbelief.
He had specifically consulted Ms. Meow-It-All and prepared so many Incendiary Rounds only after she told him that Taikun Zamuza "should be weak to fire."
But they did not seem to be working very well...
"Hit the claw with Incendiary Rounds!" Altaïr shouted as he used his superior speed to circle the Monster. "Burn away the mycelium and destroy the rock carapace covering it!"
That right claw, encased in a thick rock carapace, was far too troublesome.
It was both a devastating weapon and an impenetrable shield. Whenever the Taikun Zamuza placed the claw in front of itself, most of Altaïr's angles of attack vanished at once.
Trying to circle around it was no use either; the creature could reposition its claw faster than he could get around it.
"Got it, meow!"
Sajji quickly reloaded and fired a second rocket at the Taikun Zamuza's right claw.
The enormous target was even easier to hit than the torso.
Then came a third shot. In less than a minute, he had fired all three Incendiary Rounds he was carrying.
The rounds set the Taikun Zamuza's right claw ablaze.
The mycelium holding the reef rock, coral, and assorted shells in place gave off a pungent smell under the intense heat. If the flames kept burning, the rock layer would soon loosen and fall away.
"I'm going to resupply on Ammo, meow!"
"Got it!"
With that brief acknowledgment, Altaïr devoted his full attention to the opponent before him.
He did not rush to attack. Since the battle began, he had barely attacked in earnest beyond that initial probing Step Slash.
He studied the opponent's movements and learned its habits. He needed a clear picture of its behavior before committing to a full assault, so he would know exactly when to advance or withdraw.
"Boom!"
That massive claw, as large as a Bulldrome and even vaguely shaped like one (...), came crashing down toward the Hunter's head once again.
Altaïr flipped backward, using Foresight Slash: Spin to evade the crushing blow.
The giant claw slammed into the ground, causing another violent tremor. Because the Hunter's feet were still in the air when the attack landed, the vibration did not affect him.
Through repeated attempts, he had gradually worked out the best way to evade several of the opponent's common attacks.
A successful dodge was not simply a matter of avoiding an attack. He had to consider how to expend the least effort, move the shortest distance, expose himself as little as possible, and even transition into a counterattack.
Solo Hunts were nothing like team battles. There were few opportunities to cut loose with full-force attacks, and greedily squeezing in even one extra swing could genuinely prove fatal.
Sajji's special Incendiary Rounds were working well.
With every heavy slam from the Taikun Zamuza, the burning mycelium and spores scattered as embers and sparks. No longer secured by the mycelium, the pieces of reef, coral, and shell on its claw peeled away layer by layer, bit by bit.
Once most of the claw's rock carapace had fallen away and the opponent had lost both its hammer and its shield, Altaïr would have his chance to counterattack.
As Altaïr landed from his evasive spin and considered his next move, he caught an orange afterimage streaking toward him from the corner of his eye.
His body reacted before his thoughts caught up. He pushed off the rebound from his landing and lunged forward, sweeping his blade diagonally along the line of his body's rotation to meet the orange blur head-on.
It was the Taikun Zamuza's other claw.
Unlike the scythe-like left limb of the Taikun Zamuza they had encountered more than half a year ago, this one's left claw was noticeably thicker and heavier. It looked more like what most people would recognize as a crab's claw and could open and close freely.
Clang!
Blade met claw with a crash, and the tremendous impact transmitted through the hilt numbed his wrist.
He had anticipated as much.
If the right claw could swing such a massive boulder, the left claw could not be far behind in strength, even if it was slightly weaker.
A direct contest of strength was out of the question. He used a technique meant for dealing with the powerful attacks of large Monsters.
His blade made contact and immediately withdrew, deflecting the attack and bleeding away its force. At the same time, he avoided planting his feet too firmly. If necessary, he could even let both feet leave the ground and allow the Monster to send him flying, further dissipating the impact.
Just as I thought, the left claw isn't just for show either. Propelled by the force of the Monster's strike, Altaïr slid backward a considerable distance.
The instant he managed to steady himself, he raised his weapon and entered a state of complete focus.
This Monster's strength was undeniably astonishing, but it was still relatively slow. As long as he opened up some distance, it would most likely...
The Taikun Zamuza swung its massive claw, covered the distance in a single leap, and came crashing down toward him.
Exactly as expected.
As the Monster's attack descended, Altaïr unleashed Instant Slash. His blade swept upward across its abdomen even as he evaded the blow, and in a single flash he reappeared behind the creature.
The carapace there was relatively soft. [Heaven Swallower] sliced through it cleanly, sending a streak of blood spraying through the air.
Altaïr turned and casually slashed the Taikun Zamuza's long tail.
It had been no more than an offhand swing, so it carried little power and failed even to cut all the way through the tail's carapace.
Yet that single strike made the Taikun Zamuza hesitate for an instant.
"Hm?"
Altaïr's gaze sharpened as he caught the subtle pause.
When they had hunted a Taikun Zamuza before, they had been too busy breaking through its rock carapace. Once the armor shattered, they had simply hacked at the creature until it died. Altaïr had paid little attention to the long tail dragging behind it, which never struck at them and seemed to serve no purpose beyond maintaining its balance.
A strange but practical question surfaced in Altaïr's mind.
Why would a crab have a tail?
(Translated by yourtl.app)