Facing the diving Vespoid Queen, Isis and Altaïr ran in separate directions.
Through their previous encounters, they had basically confirmed that the Vespoid Queen was not a Monster adept at combat.
It lacked powerful limbs, sharp claws and teeth, thick carapace capable of blocking blades, nor the ability to unleash breath attacks.
The only organ suitable for combat was the stinger at its tail.
But if it couldn't strike its target, no matter how sharp the stinger or how potent the paralytic venom attached to it, it would be meaningless.
Yet despite this, they still dared not let their guard down.
Facing the diving Vespoid Queen, the hunters suddenly realized that merely the combination of "massive size" and "flight capability" was enough to inspire caution.
Imagine a giant insect weighing tons diving from the sky, being hit head-on was no joking matter.
Then there were those insect wings with a wingspan of nearly twenty meters. They appeared thin and transparent, yet each side could extend nearly ten meters without bending while vibrating rapidly enough to lift the Vespoid Queen's massive body into the air. The hardness and flexibility of these wings were likely extraordinary.
If struck by them, it probably wouldn't differ much from being cut by a metal blade.
Perhaps because Isis was taller and carried a large shield, making her overall frame appear larger, combined with her relatively slower running speed...
After splitting from Altaïr, the diving Vespoid Queen adjusted its direction and locked onto her.
Confronted by the aggressive Vespoid Queen, Isis kept glancing back while running to confirm its distance and altitude.
When the distance between them narrowed to less than twenty meters, Isis suddenly stopped, turned around, and began running back toward the Vespoid Queen's approach.
This move caught the Vespoid Queen somewhat off guard.
The dive had already entered its final phase. While pulling up early to abort the attack was feasible, sharply increasing the dive angle wasn't as easy, a misstep could send it crashing headfirst into the ground. Its instincts as a flying creature wouldn't allow that.
The moment the Vespoid Queen was about to pass over her head, Isis threw herself to the ground, narrowly avoiding the diving impact.
Altaïr, witnessing this from afar, almost couldn't resist immediately pulling out his Slinger to shoot the Queen down, but he managed to restrain himself.
If I shoot it down now, Isis will definitely get caught in the crash zone. Better wait until it climbs back up.
The Vespoid Queen failed its attack and climbed back toward the ceiling, while Altaïr quickly ran toward the steep slag slope nearby.
Before witnessing Isis's zigzag evasion method, he wouldn't have had such an idea. But now, he felt this steep slope was perfectly suited to counter the Vespoid Queen's dive attack.
The Vespoid Queen, having climbed back to the cave ceiling, locked its gaze on Altaïr who had reached the bottom of the slope.
Altaïr was struggling to climb the slope, but due to the extreme angle, his progress was slow, making him the perfect target in the Queen's eyes.
Seeing the Vespoid Queen diving toward him, Altaïr smiled and continued climbing.
One hundred meters, fifty meters, twenty meters, the distance between them kept closing, yet Altaïr acted as if he didn't see the approaching Queen, maintaining his upward climb.
"Watch out!" Isis couldn't help but shout.
The zigzag running technique for evading flying monsters' pounces was taught by training camp instructors. Timing was crucial for safely dodging attacks.
After all, diving monsters moved at incredible speeds. Being just one second late in turning around could mean missing the chance to dive forward and getting hit head-on by the charging monster.
In her view, Altaïr had already missed his window. With less than ten meters between them and Altaïr struggling on the steep slope, he had no space to dive forward. Being hit seemed inevitable.
She desperately quickened her pace, wanting to rush over and cover her teammate who was about to be seriously injured.
But then she saw Altaïr suddenly turn around and sit down while climbing, pushing off hard with his right hand to slide downward. He narrowly avoided the Queen's charge while simultaneously firing a Flash Pod backward with his left arm.
Under the intense flash, the Queen's flight pattern became disordered.
It's worth noting that before it was a slope exceeding thirty degrees. Even if it managed to climb at a steep angle in time, its bulky abdomen would likely scrape against the slope.
Now, blinded by the intense flash, even if not fully stunned, its flight momentarily destabilized. The Queen, already flying at an extreme angle, couldn't climb in time and crashed headfirst into the slope.
Unable to overcome the inertia, its entire body tumbled forward before rolling down the slope in disarray.
Altaïr had also slid to the bottom of the slope by this point.
Indeed, he never actually intended to climb to the top, he was simply baiting the Queen to charge at him, making it easier to lure it into crashing against the slope.
Seeing the Queen rolling down the slope toward him, Altaïr quickly backed up several steps and drew his blade.
Timing it perfectly, he leveled his sword and stepped forward into a Thrust.
Isis, who was rushing over, was about to sigh in relief seeing Altaïr escape safely, but that breath caught in her throat when she saw his sword stance.
Was that Spirit Blade Thrust? Was he going to use Spirit Helm Breaker?!
She had demonstrated the usage of Spirit Blade Thrust and Spirit Helm Breaker to him, but these were advanced techniques that required "Spirit" to unleash their full power!
She hadn't mastered them even after years of practice and never dared use them in actual combat. Was he really going to use them now?
Her pupils dilated in shock, her footsteps unconsciously slowing.
The Iron Gospel, wreathed in pale Spirit energy, thrust forward sharply, accurately striking the weak point between the Queen's abdominal segment and thorax.
Then, using the leverage from his blade, he leaped high into the air, his gaze fixed on the Queen's drooping wing, preparing to bring down a mighty slash.
But this was ultimately a sword technique he hadn't fully mastered yet. Even against training dummies in the practice grounds, he had only succeeded a handful of times, let alone in actual combat.
The timing of his blade swing was slightly too early, and the motion of flipping to adjust his angle was somewhat overdone.
It was these minor mistakes that made his Spirit Helm Breaker appear deceptively beautiful, the Spirit Gauge flowing down in a concentrated, unbroken line.
But it missed completely.
Altaïr: "..."
Precious attack time wasted, the Spirit Gauge accumulated over half the battle depleted, and the attack failed to connect.
Why did something so frustrating have to exist?
Isis, running over from a distance, wore a faint, comforting smile. Whiffing the Spirit Helm Breaker was part of being a Long Sword user, if you can't handle the salt, don't play!
Experiencing this "Long Sword user specialty" for the first time, Altaïr gritted his teeth and was about to charge forward to continue his assault and rebuild his Spirit Gauge when Isis called out to stop him.
"Wait! Fall back!"
Though unsure of her reason, Altaïr sheathed his weapon and leaped backward.
Isis looked up toward the ceiling.
Earlier, while following Altaïr's Spirit Helm Breaker with her eyes, she had caught a glimpse of a stalactite directly above the fallen Vespoid Queen.
She raised her arm and fired her Slinger's hookshot, firmly latching onto the stalactite. Then, tightening all her muscles, she let out a low grunt and pulled down with all her might.
"Hrrraaah!"
Altaïr glanced up at the stalactite, then at Isis straining fiercely on the hookshot, feeling somewhat speechless.
He could guess what she was trying to do, but that stalactite was as thick as a person's embrace! Could she really pull–
Crack, crack! A crisp snapping sound echoed from above.
Under Altaïr's disbelieving gaze, the stalactite broke in the middle. A segment about two to three meters long plunged down like a sharp sword, piercing straight through the Vespoid Queen as it tried to rise.