"Isis!" Altaïr shouted.
By spitting out so many fireballs at once, the target had dispersed the destructive power across the entire volley. No single explosion would be especially powerful. Given Isis's defensive skill and the sturdiness of Demon King Tyrant, Altaïr was not worried that her Defensive Stance would be broken from the front.
The flames erupting from the fireballs and the lingering blaze from the Supernova's midair detonation, however, had engulfed her completely.
Even setting aside the impact of the explosions, it was as if someone had thrown her straight into a blazing furnace.
If Altaïr had been caught in it, that would have been one thing. His Brute Tigrex Armor Set offered excellent resistance to fire, so a few seconds in those fierce flames would not have been a serious problem.
Isis was different. The Kuarusepu Armor Set offered exceptional defensive performance, but its materials conducted heat far too readily, leaving it extremely vulnerable to intense flames.
If she could not escape in time, the blaze could inflict severe injuries within moments.
Altaïr immediately broke off his charge for Instant Slash and sprinted toward Isis, shouting, "Morgan! Covering fire!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Morgan needed no reminder. He already knew exactly what to do.
The instant Altaïr shouted, a rapid barrage of Water Ammo was already roaring from Morgan's Bowgun toward the airborne Yian Garuga.
"Screeee!"
With that piercing cry, Hakucho shot straight upward.
After more than a year of steady feeding and training, Hakucho's wingspan now exceeded four meters.
He was still an unassuming little fellow beside a true Large Monster, but his aggression was anything but ordinary. Landing on the Yian Garuga's back, he tore into it with a frenzy of pecking and clawing.
The streaking Water Ammo and the arcs of Dragon Element energy wrapped around Hakucho's sharp beak and talons inflicted excruciating pain on the airborne Yian Garuga.
But after countless battles, each one ending with it still alive, the Monster had long since learned to ignore pain in a fight.
Deadeye endured the Gunner's barrage and the Halk's assault head-on, beat its wings hard, then folded them. Beak first, its entire body became a spear as it dove toward Isis through the flames.
Its objective was obvious: eliminate one opponent first!
"Look out!" Altaïr shouted again.
This time, panic rang clear in his voice. He plunged into the lingering blaze and tried to reach Isis in time to help block the attack.
A second cannon blast thundered out. Isis burst from the roiling fire and smoke and landed in the riverbed twenty or thirty meters away.
She looked terrible. Her face and bare thighs bore obvious burns, and small flames still danced at the ends of her tied-back hair.
She immediately rolled through the shallow stream, dousing the sparks still burning across her clothes and armor while rapidly cooling both her body and armor.
"I'm fine!" she shouted as she rolled back to her feet.
The tension gripping the others finally eased.
Deadeye's failed dive had left it in a faintly comical position. Its sharp beak was buried deep in the ground, and it braced itself on its wing claws as it struggled to wrench free.
Altaïr found nothing funny about it. He felt only lingering fear.
Had that dive struck Isis directly, the impact would have crippled her in an instant despite her armor, leaving her unable to move.
Her response, however, had unquestionably been correct.
She had refrained from using Storm Retreat to burst out of the flames at once because she needed to confirm the target's next move.
Only then could she avoid being trapped by Deadeye's follow-up and, at the same time, lure the airborne Monster back to the ground.
The price had been the burns covering her body.
Clawdia hurried to Isis's side and scattered handful after handful of Lifepowder over her.
Relieved, Altaïr charged at full speed and reached Deadeye in the blink of an eye. The failed dive had left the Yian Garuga with a small but exploitable opening.
Altaïr did not hesitate. He activated Demon Mode and launched a fierce assault.
He wove Crimson Blade Slashes between Spirit Blade attacks, turning his sword into a blur that rained one strike after another onto the Yian Garuga's head.
His Spirit Gauge climbed rapidly.
Morgan dropped into a Crouching Shot stance and unleashed a torrent of fire, pounding Deadeye without pause with Water Ammo and Freeze Ammo.
Sajji and Hakucho also attacked with everything they had, each in a different way.
Even this assault, however, was not enough to pin Deadeye down. As it tore its massive beak free, it whipped its head around and snapped at Altaïr nearby.
The bite was fast and almost impossible to read, but Altaïr had been waiting for it. He immediately used Foresight Slash and spun backward.
As though it had anticipated the evasion, Deadeye extended its neck and kept snapping at him.
Caught in a tight spot, Altaïr changed course mid-move. He abandoned Foresight Slash's rising counter and committed all of his momentum to the retreat, springing into a backward flip. The movement resembled both the precise evasion of a Dual Blades user and Foresight Slash: Spin, and it carried him clear of the counterbite by the narrowest margin.
The instant his feet touched down, Altaïr reversed his Long Sword into a counter stance, then shifted directly into a charging stance.
He knew that simply evading an enemy like this would get him nowhere. Once he yielded the initiative and fell into its rhythm, his room to dodge would shrink until a hit became inevitable.
The same was true of the combo Deadeye had used on Isis. If she had not been so skilled at using shelling to reposition quickly, that final dive would have been impossible to evade, leaving her no choice but to endure it in a Defensive Stance.
Even a defender who blocked such an attack would not emerge unscathed. The inevitable follow-up would be harder still to handle, and the pressure would continue until the defender finally collapsed.
Just as he expected, after missing the lateral bite, Deadeye used the momentum of its outstretched neck to spin into a broad tail sweep.
The danger came not only from tail spikes sharp enough to shear through a large tree, but from the sheets of venom flung outward with the sweep.
Altaïr gave a low shout and launched his attack a heartbeat before the massive tail and venom reached him.
His blade wheeled around as he flashed forward. Almost dancing, he crossed paths with the turning Yian Garuga and passed it in a blur.
The keen edge of concentrated Spirit energy sliced across the Yian Garuga's claws.
Hardened through countless battles, those claws were extraordinarily tough. Even the Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower], for all its Sharpness, barely cut through the scales and into the flesh beneath. The edge could go no deeper.
The result was disappointing, just as Altaïr had expected.
Aside from its back, the claws bore the hardest scales on a Yian Garuga's body.
He had never expected a Charged Spirit Roundslash released before full charge to severely wound Deadeye. The attack was meant to replace an evasive move and break the rhythm of its relentless pursuit.
One strike, however, was not enough.
Without slowing as he reached Deadeye's rear, Altaïr immediately adjusted his sword posture and entered a Focus stance.
Its wealth of combat experience had taught Deadeye never to leave its back exposed. It accelerated with a beat of its wings, spun around, and drove its beak toward him.
The turning peck was blindingly fast, and its power was not to be underestimated.
Deadeye habitually pecked twice in quick succession to prevent an opponent from dodging. A Hunter who tried to evade by rolling would be caught by the second blow while rising.
Yet a split second before the enormous beak struck, Altaïr used Instant Slash. He blurred beneath Deadeye's head, passed between its legs, and emerged behind it once again.
The double peck meant to seal off his escape now struck nothing, and the committed attack left Deadeye itself open.
Altaïr seized those precious two or three seconds and entered a charging stance once more, his gaze fixed on the Yian Garuga's legs.
The hitzones there were poor, but those claws also anchored every agile movement the Yian Garuga made on the ground.
If Altaïr wanted to bring it down and create the major opening his entire team needed for an all-out assault, he would have to deepen those wounds.
* * *
Warhammer: Stars and Ants is another story you can read here on Webnovel. Thank you for reading.