The Taikun Zamuza's last leaping slam had buried its massive claw in the ground. Its joints creaked and groaned as it strained with all its might, but it could not pull free right away.
It was practically offering them a free opening.
Before discovering the strange feature of the Taikun Zamuza's tail, Altaïr would have attacked its front without hesitation, with its legs as his second choice.
Striking the front would deal effective damage to its main body, while targeting the legs would weaken its mobility.
Now, however, he had changed his mind. He wanted to test an attack on that seemingly useless tail.
He sheathed the blade as quickly as he could, twisted the hilt to lock it into the scabbard, and transformed the weapon into its Great Sword form. Then he hoisted it onto his shoulder and began charging.
He immediately canceled the charge with a Tackle and transitioned into Strongarm Stance.
By then, the Taikun Zamuza had pulled its massive claw free. It had used so much force that its body reeled backward in a pronounced stagger.
Altaïr had planned to transition once more into the final charging stance, but he knew better than to get greedy now. He abandoned the True Charged Slash and continued gathering strength and fighting spirit in Strongarm Stance.
Just as the Taikun Zamuza regained its balance and began turning to deliver a roundhouse blow with its massive claw, Altaïr gave a low shout and brought his blade down.
It was not the supremely powerful True Charged Slash, but a fully charged Strong Charged Slash still packed formidable force.
Weighted by its reinforced scabbard, Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] bit cleanly into a gap in the carapace along the Taikun Zamuza's tail, cleaving nearly halfway through the appendage that remained pressed flat against the ground.
The only disappointment was that this Carapaceon contained no trace of Dragon Element energy. [Heaven Swallower]'s potent Dragon Element remained completely dormant, leaving the weapon to function as a purely physical blade.
Orange-red blood sprayed out as Altaïr pulled the blade free. The Taikun Zamuza had been rapidly shifting its footing to smash him away, but its movements suddenly fell into disarray.
The tremendous momentum of its swinging claw dragged its body off balance, interrupting the attack halfway through.
It worked!
A flicker of delight rose in Altaïr's heart.
With such a thick rock carapace covering its body and no visible eyes or similar organs, how did the Taikun Zamuza perceive its surroundings?
They had long been curious about that question, and scholars had debated it many times.
The leading theory was that it sensed vibrations.
Yet the rock carapace's complex structure would inevitably interfere with the transmission of shock waves, and the Hunters' attacks created plenty of additional interference. How the Taikun Zamuza could accurately read its surroundings through all that disruption remained a mystery.
Maybe... the key was in that tail.
If the tail contained sensory organs and remained pressed against the ground to detect vibrations, it could minimize all those sources of interference.
Then I'll cut off its tail first!
"Rocket incoming, meow!"
A rocket shrieked through the air, and another burst of flame blossomed against the Taikun Zamuza's massive claw.
Sajji had returned after leaving the cave to replenish his ammunition. Seeing the Taikun Zamuza intent on hammering Altaïr and paying him no mind at all, he had simply strapped on as many rockets as he could carry.
He had always entered battle as a support Felyne. Now that he finally had a chance to moonlight as a Bombing Palico, he intended to blast away to his heart's content!
Using his superior speed, Altaïr kept circling behind the Taikun Zamuza. That position lay in the blind spot of its two massive claws, both offensively and defensively.
Aside from a rapid turning roundhouse blow and its sudden leaping slam, the Taikun Zamuza seemed to have no way to strike an enemy directly behind it.
Both attacks also had fairly obvious windups. As long as Altaïr reacted in time and responded correctly, avoiding them was not too difficult.
He therefore released the lock between blade and scabbard, switching the weapon back to its more agile Long Sword form.
He did not expect to sever the long tail quickly. Instead, he kept circling the Taikun Zamuza and slashed whenever an opening appeared, striking once and immediately retreating without getting greedy. If no opening presented itself, he simply continued circling.
Whether the Taikun Zamuza turned to attack or merely tried to move, it had to drag along those massive claws, each larger than its own body.
Altaïr doubted its stamina was limitless. If this continued, the Taikun Zamuza would inevitably tire.
"Boom!" Another rocket exploded against the Taikun Zamuza's body.
Sajji shouldered the rocket launcher, his eyes gleaming.
The Taikun Zamuza's attention remained fixed entirely on Altaïr. It had never spared Sajji a glance, allowing him to take his time aiming and firing.
Altaïr also kept circling behind the Taikun Zamuza while Sajji targeted its front, eliminating any risk of friendly fire. Sajji fired one shot after another, reveling in every blast.
The Incendiary Rounds' sustained flames, combined with the Taikun Zamuza's repeated heavy slams, steadily stripped the rock carapace from its right claw.
At last, it leaped into another heavy slam. The mycelium, already charred almost to nothing, could no longer anchor the reef rock. The entire layer shattered, exposing the orange-red claw beneath. (In the game, the right claw seems to be indestructible during the second phase.)
The sudden loss of the rock carapace's weight made the Taikun Zamuza lurch and tilt to the left, but it swiftly repositioned its legs and recovered its balance.
In fact, only now had its center of gravity truly returned to equilibrium.
The Taikun Zamuza raised both massive claws, released a piercing screech, and spun around with two consecutive swipes.
Altaïr hurriedly used Foresight Slash to retreat, lowering his head and center of gravity against the wind pressure from the successive swings.
A twinge of regret nagged at him.
Without the rock carapace's weight, the Taikun Zamuza's blows might not carry the same crushing force as before, but its speed and agility had markedly increased.
For the Taikun Zamuza, the rock carapace's weight had been both a weapon and a shackle. Now that it had fallen away, repeatedly circling behind the Monster would be far more difficult.
Sajji's barrage had been a little too hasty. Given a few more minutes, Altaïr might have severed that long tail.
He did not blame his partner. Such accidents were common in the heat of battle; it was not truly a mistake, merely a lapse in their coordination.
Altaïr dodged the Taikun Zamuza's attacks while readjusting to the much faster movements it could make without the burden of its rock carapace.
The creature had become even more troublesome than before.
If the hammering force of its rock-covered claw rated a ten, then without the carapace it was closer to a five. Even a three, however, would critically injure him if it landed cleanly.
Watching the suddenly faster Taikun Zamuza chase Altaïr with a wild barrage of blows, Sajji realized his error. He hesitated, unsure whether he should keep attacking.
When Sajji's fire stopped, Altaïr immediately understood his concern. Sajji had plenty of experience as a support Felyne, but he still lacked confidence as an attacker.
Clawdia would probably have scoffed, "I already broke through its claw armor. How have you still not cut off that tail, meow? Can you even do this, meow?"
Then she would have charged back in with her steel claws and cut the tail off herself...
Altaïr backstepped away from another claw slam and shouted, "Hit its back! And the tail!"
The new order snapped Sajji back into focus. His gaze sharpened as he pulled a high-explosive rocket from behind him, rammed it into the scorching-hot launcher, took a moment to aim, and squeezed the trigger.
"Boom!"
The blast from behind made the Taikun Zamuza stagger in the middle of its all-out attack. Whether it was the high-explosive rocket's sheer power or its shock wave disrupting the sensory organs in the Taikun Zamuza's tail, the Monster's movements became noticeably erratic, and a gap opened in the guard formed by its two massive claws.
Altaïr's eyes lit up. "Nice work! Pincer attack!"
Perfect timing. He had almost fully adjusted to its new speed.
Altaïr surged forward with his blade and launched his counterattack.
(Translated by yourtl.app)