"Boom!"
A near-point-blank shell blast shattered an Ioprey's skull. Isis growled as she swept her Gunlance sideways, its red-hot blade effortlessly cutting another Ioprey in half.
She followed by raising her Large Shield and driving it forward. With a perfectly timed guard, she stopped another Ioprey's leaping attack, then slammed her Gunlance down and broke the creature's spine.
Another Ioprey tried to ambush her from behind, but before it could reach the Hunter, a swift shadow darted across its path.
Sharp steel claws tore open its throat. Blood gushed out as the cunning Ioprey collapsed into a pool of its own blood, hissing weakly through the wound before falling still.
Clawdia landed, shook the blood from her steel claws, and deactivated Beast Mode.
The pair looked surrounded and in peril amid the Ioprey pack, but the fight was not nearly as difficult as it appeared. Clawdia had no need to remain in Beast Mode, so conserving her strength made more sense.
"Keee!"
Rice Cake, who had scampered onto Isis's shoulder at the start of the battle, stood upright and let out a series of urgent, high-pitched cries.
Using Isis's height as a vantage point, it had spotted the Iodrome in the distance, a creature more than twice the size of its kin.
As a Stinkmink, it had no ability to fight head-on.
According to Master Iori, however, the little creature had been a menace in the jungle, forever tricking one Monster into fighting another. It possessed an innate tactical instinct, and its intelligence might even surpass a Palamute's.
It knew that taking down the big one was the key to everything!
Alerted by Rice Cake, Isis also spotted the bright red crest rising well above the pack several dozen meters away.
"There it is!" Raising her Large Shield, she charged with a roar.
An Ioprey that tried to block her path was smashed aside by her shield, its neck snapping. More Ioprey swarmed in to cut off her charge.
"Out of my way!" she bellowed. Using the momentum of her charge, she pivoted into a sweeping Gunlance strike and fired a shell to accelerate the swing.
Even with the muzzle brake unlocked, the shelling recoil combined with her own immense strength to amplify the spinning slash to an astonishing degree.
The massive blade, glowing molten red, carved a perfect arc.
The sounds of tearing flesh and splintering bone blended into a single grisly din. The Ioprey crowding her path had their skulls shattered, their forelimbs severed, or their chests ripped open.
Even those that did not die instantly fell to the ground howling, no longer able to fight.
Isis looked up and continued her charge toward the Iodrome.
Unease flickered in the Iodrome's eyes. It had expected nothing more than prey its pack could divide up as a snack, yet these opponents were proving far more troublesome.
Isis was delighted by the power of the Glavenus Gunlance's superheated blade. She flicked the weapon into a Quick Reload and locked the muzzle brake at the same time.
As the Hunter bore down on it, the Iodrome was smart enough not to pounce. It did not panic and flee either. Instead, it opened its jaws wide.
The Iodrome sprayed the foul venom stored in its venom gland, engulfing the approaching Hunter.
Isis clicked her tongue, but had no intention of retreating. She raised her Large Shield a little higher to protect her upper body, then activated the shelling boost.
With a thunderous blast, she shot forward like a cannonball.
Her Large Shield punched through the cloud of venom. The small amount that splashed onto her armor was nothing to worry about, and in the blink of an eye, she was right in front of the Iodrome.
Stunned by the Hunter's unexpected movement, the Iodrome no longer had time to flee.
The terrifying overhead slash, empowered by both shelling and extreme heat, cleaved deep into the Iodrome's skull and sent it crashing to the ground.
The blade, heated to over a thousand degrees, lodged in the Iodrome's crest and hissed like meat hitting a hot grill.
Even Ioprey accustomed to living in volcanic regions had no hope of enduring such intense heat.
A pungent, burnt smell filled the air. Grievously wounded in an instant, the Iodrome struggled desperately to stand again.
Isis had no intention of giving it the chance. She wrenched her Gunlance free and prepared to unleash Wyvern's Fire at point-blank range, straight into the Iodrome's head.
"Wyvern's Fire!"
Her shout rang with conviction, but nothing happened... Instead, the Iodrome seized the opportunity to struggle halfway to its feet.
Isis froze. After tearing apart two Ioprey that had tried to sneak up on them, Clawdia called out, "It's overheated, meow!"
The reminder made Isis realize her mistake. From the first time she had ever handled a Gunlance, she had always used weapons fitted with automatic cooling systems. The idea of overheat protection had never entered her mind.
Trying to force Wyvern's Fire now could make the barrel explode. Reluctantly abandoning the idea of blasting the Iodrome's head apart, Isis swung her Large Shield and smashed the half-risen creature back to the ground.
Several more brutal overhead chops followed, until she severed its spine and chopped off its head.
"Remember to vent the heat. Remember to vent the heat..." Isis muttered, drilling the lesson into her memory as she flipped the lever Sajji had installed.
Several banks of white-hot heat canisters immediately sprang from the barrel, rapidly venting the waste heat.
With their leader dead, the Ioprey pack fled in panic.
Isis glanced in the direction the Shen Gaoren had gone. The mountain-like creature had already traveled some distance.
She scratched the Stinkmink under the chin. Rice Cake gave a soft squeak and obediently released a cloud of white smoke laden with Monster-attracting pheromones from its scent gland.
The fleeing Ioprey stopped dead...
Isis had held off on luring them earlier partly because she wanted to test her new moves, but more importantly because she wanted to avoid the Shen Gaoren.
According to the Professor, a Stinkmink's pheromones could affect even Elder Dragons. There was no telling whether pheromones that potent would also work on the Shen Gaoren.
If they attracted the Shen Gaoren as well, the entire situation would descend into chaos.
Rather than immediately finishing off the Ioprey that had been lured back, Isis mounted Hibiki. "Come on, let's make a couple of loops around here and draw in every Ioprey nearby!"
Clawdia swiftly jumped up behind her. Hibiki broke into a run, maintaining a pace that kept the Ioprey from falling behind without letting them catch up, rounding up the scattered pack like a sheepdog herding sheep.
Just then, a rumble rolled across the land, so deep that it pressed against their chests.
Unlike the minor eruptions of the nearby smaller volcanoes, the Latio Active Volcano at the heart of the volcanic mountain range had entered another phase of violent activity.
At first, Isis paid it little mind. They were still far from the volcano's core area and would not be directly affected.
But what happened next sent cold sweat prickling down her back.
As the Latio Active Volcano erupted violently, the Shen Gaoren that had been heading north slowly came to a halt and began to change direction.
At first, Isis thought the Shen Gaoren possessed an extraordinarily keen sense of smell and had detected the traces of Stinkmink pheromones in the air.
She abandoned her attempt to gather more Ioprey and urged Hibiki to accelerate, putting as much distance as possible between them and the Shen Gaoren.
Before long, however, she confirmed that they were not what had drawn its attention.
The Shen Gaoren had not turned toward them. Instead, defying the instinctive aversion to high temperatures that the Professor had described, it was advancing step by step into the depths of the volcano.
"O-oh no! What am I supposed to do?!" Isis cried, staring at Rice Cake crouched on her shoulder. "Circle around in front of it and lure it back onto its original path?"
"Squeak?" Rice Cake stared at her in confusion.
You're asking me?
"Meow?" Clawdia looked equally stunned.
"You're asking the rat, meow?"
(Translated by yourtl.app)