The instant Espinas lowered its head and charged, Altaïr realized just how astonishingly fast it was.
Compared with the Tigrex he had hunted before, Espinas accelerated even faster than the quadrupedal Flying Wyvern famed for its charges.
Its venom-spiked wings spread wide on either side, creating an impact zone more than ten meters across. Even a Hunter who reacted the moment the charge began would struggle to escape unless they were exceptionally skilled.
Faced with that onslaught, Altaïr chose the most dangerous response, but also the one with the greatest potential reward.
Using Instant Slash, he slipped through the gap between Espinas's neck and wing and flashed past the Monster.
His blade skimmed tight along Espinas's body. Its armor plates, normally almost impossible to breach, had been forced apart by its swollen, blood-engorged muscles, exposing broad gaps between them.
The razor-sharp tip of [Heaven Swallower] easily sliced into the softened muscle, opening a long, narrow wound several meters in length.
Capillaries near the muscle's surface split apart, and blood gushed from the wound. Dragon Element energy erupted from the blade as crimson arcs that burrowed into the injury and continued to eat away at Espinas's flesh, inflicting considerable secondary damage.
In its enraged state, Espinas's sense of pain seemed to have dulled.
It charged on for less than a body length before turning, the wound from Instant Slash doing nothing to slow its movements.
As it wheeled around, it beat its wings twice in rapid succession, leaned back, and drew a deep breath. A heartbeat later, a vast fan of flame laced with deadly venom swept over the Hunter's position.
This is bad!
Instant Slash had exhausted all his forward momentum as his blade cut through Espinas's body.
With no speed left, neither a diving roll from a standstill nor Foresight Slash could carry him safely beyond the reach of the fan-shaped venomous flames.
In that desperate moment, his only option was to use Foresight Slash to retreat as far as possible. At the very least, it would spare him a direct hit from the flames.
The whirling blade and the wind it stirred up might scatter some of the stray flames and poisonous smoke, but he had no idea how much protection that would offer.
In truth, the fire and deadly poison were secondary. The greatest danger was the paralytic toxin hidden in the breath attack.
Poison would not bring him down immediately, leaving him a chance to take an antidote. Paralysis, however, would leave him utterly helpless.
—--
Watching from hiding, Minoto sent out her Wirebug for the second time. Once she was certain Altaïr could not evade the attack, she decided to intervene. Unlike Maki, she could not stand by and watch a junior fall into mortal danger.
It made no difference that a Felyne cart from the Meowcenaries was waiting nearby. When it came to cart rescues, being brought back in one piece was the lucky outcome. The Felynes often arrived too late or returned with only half a body...
Just as Minoto was about to launch herself on the Ironsilk, Maki felt a headache coming on.
Minoto might look cool and impassive, but in truth, she was even more impulsive than her sister. Maki had no choice but to grab her from behind and lock both arms around her waist.
"Wait! Someone's saving him! Someone's saving him!"
—--
A figure riding a Palamute raced in from the distance. With a thunderous bang, the rider launched herself from the Palamute's back, soared nearly twenty meters through the air in the blink of an eye, and landed in front of Altaïr with her shield raised.
The surging flames parted around the dark red Large Shield like waves breaking against a reef. The newcomer did not yield a single step before Espinas's fan-shaped breath attack and held firm against the onslaught.
"Isis?!"
Relief washed over Altaïr when he saw his companion arrive in time, only to give way to alarm.
If this had been an ordinary fiery breath attack, the defensive strength of the Glavenus Large Shield and the fire resistance of the Zamtrios Z Armor Set would have spared Isis from all but the slightest harm.
The problem was that Espinas's breath contained more than fire. It also carried lethal poison and the far more troublesome paralytic toxin!
A shield could not stop the poisonous fumes vaporized by the flames.
Altaïr had been ready to rush forward and force Herbal Medicine down Isis's throat the instant paralysis brought her down. Instead, after weathering Espinas's breath attack, Isis still had the presence of mind to glance back and grin at him.
"Relax! I've got an Antidobra!"
Only then did Altaïr notice the Antidobra's tail dangling limply halfway out of the mesh bag behind Isis. It had clearly just been "used."
With the Antidobra's antidote already in her system, Isis ignored the deadly poison and paralytic toxin spreading around her. She shoved the Large Shield forward, swept her Gunlance sideways to scatter the lingering flames and poisonous smoke, then charged straight at the nearby foe with shield raised and Gunlance poised.
Altaïr relaxed and gave a short laugh before charging close behind her.
Even Espinas needed a moment to catch its breath after unleashing two powerful attacks, a charge and a fan-shaped breath, in rapid succession.
The Hunters seized that opening and closed in. Isis hoisted her Large Shield, ready to smash it into Espinas's face.
Startled, Espinas instinctively opened its jaws wide and twisted its head to bite her.
That was exactly what Isis wanted. She planted her shield between its rows of fangs, roared as she drove forward, and locked Espinas in a contest of strength.
Caught off guard with its neck twisted, Espinas could not bring its full strength to bear and actually found itself at a disadvantage. Isis, less than a tenth its size, forced it backward one step after another.
Minoto had barely begun to relax when she tensed again.
She was also a Lance-wielding Tank, but she was the archetypal technical fighter, skilled at using Silkbind techniques to shore up her defense and create opportunities to counterattack. The thought of wrestling a Monster of this size through brute strength alone had never even crossed her mind.
Maki, meanwhile, leaned back in astonishment. "Good grief. Climbing into a Monster's mouth and wrestling it? I thought that kid was exaggerating or joking, but he meant it literally?!
"I suppose I should expect nothing less from that veteran's daughter."
Realistically, no human could overpower a Large Flying Wyvern more than twenty meters long through muscle strength alone. After staggering back several steps, Espinas finally steadied itself.
Isis's armored boots dug deep into the ground and carved two long furrows, but she could drive it back no farther.
With a roar, she raised the Gunlance in her left hand, drove it into the gap between her shield and Espinas's upper and lower jaws, and pulled the trigger hard.
"Wyvern's Fire!"
Devastating energy gathered at the Gunlance's muzzle, deep inside Espinas's mouth.
Realizing the danger, Espinas tried to raise its head and fling Isis away. Another figure rushed out from behind her.
"True Charged Slash!" Altaïr roared as he brought the massive blade down.
Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower], merged with its scabbard in Great Sword form, came down precisely on a gap between the armor plates covering Espinas's head.
The sharp, heavy blade easily tore through the exposed flesh and bit deep into Espinas's skull. The high-intensity Dragon Element energy that erupted from it blasted directly into the Monster's brain. Intense pain sent Espinas's body rigid, and the two Hunters together forced its rising head back down.
After landing the powerful blow, Altaïr immediately rolled backward. By the time he rose, he had already separated the blade from its scabbard and returned the weapon to Long Sword form.
Without pausing, he shifted the Long Sword into a reverse grip and once again assumed its characteristic charging stance.
At that moment, the fully charged Wyvern's Fire erupted.
"BOOOOM!"
Almost none of the blast's power escaped. It poured straight into Espinas's mouth, and the tremendous impact flung its head back, dragging its entire body into a backward lean.
The repeated heavy blows to its head left Espinas briefly stunned. With its upper body reared up, its footing turned unsteady.
Seeing his chance, Altaïr charged. His whirling blade slashed across the wound on Espinas's leg and shattered its last vestige of balance.
The enraged, colossal wyvern howled as it crashed to the ground.
(Translated by yourtl.app)