Not for a single moment could he afford to bask in his own achievement.
The Field Team Leader let out a thunderous roar, desperately hauling back the Great Sword he had swung upward. He fought to keep the massive blade from flying off with its own momentum; instead, the weapon traced a heavy semi-circle in mid-air, clearing his shoulder before the tip slammed into the ground behind him—he began to charge!
Straining every muscle in his body, he channeled the life energy within him in a primal, raw fashion. At that moment, the Field Team Leader and his Great Sword seemed to be draped in a faint film of light, transitioning from a dull orange-yellow to a brilliant, shimmering gold!
True Charged Slash!!
He couldn't land a direct hit on the main body of the Blue-fied Espinas, which had overshot its mark during a reckless charge. In fact, as the Field Team Leader flipped his body like a gymnast to swing the Great Sword for the initial light hit against the earth, he struck nothing at all. But that didn't matter. What mattered was the momentum; using the force of that first swing, the Leader spun himself like a whirlwind.
It was impossible to tell if he was wielding the Great Sword or if the Great Sword was wielding him. To an observer, it looked as if the blade had swung the Leader around in a full circle before launching itself forward. The power accumulated from the continuous rotation was finally unleashed in a single, devastating moment. The edge slammed heavily into the very tip of the Blue-fied Espinas's tail!
Clang!—Crack!!
The first sound was the deafening roar of hard objects colliding. The Field Team Leader's strike hadn't hit the Espinas's tail armor, but rather the red thorns protruding from it. The blow snapped a massive notch right through the middle of a thorn; deep purple venom began to leak from the rupture, signifying that the venom glands within had been forcibly breached.
"ROAR!!!"
Before he could even celebrate his success in breaking the monster's defense, the Field Team Leader saw his vision flooded by a blue-green blur. At this lethally short distance, the Blue-fied Espinas exploded with a burst of speed that no ordinary Hunter could react to. In an instant, it was bearing down on him.
It felt like a man standing before a runaway steel coil, trying to stop it with his bare hands. Had Mirrorblade not rushed in with an emergency Tackle to bash the Espinas off-course, the Field Team Leader would have been ruthlessly flattened.
Bang! Bang!
Having tasted success with his previous shots, Alun followed up with two more rounds. However, these failed to find their mark. To avoid accidentally hitting Mirrorblade, Alun had to be extremely cautious, aiming his shots as far from Mirrorblade as possible while still trying to lead the Espinas.
But therein lay the problem. Currently, the Blue-fied Espinas seemed to have eyes only for Mirrorblade. It completely ignored the Field Team Leader hacking at its tail, the sniper in the distance harassing its eyes, and even the tiny creature scurrying between its legs throwing out strange gadgets. It was obsessed with Mirrorblade!!
This fixation resulted in Alun wasting two Abyssal Crystal Bombs. Both were dodged by the Espinas's unconscious, violent thrashing. Aside from creating two clusters of eerie blue crystals on the battlefield, they achieved nothing.
The monster locked in a struggle with the Espinas had shifted from a Zinogre to Mirrorblade. Both were essentially forced into this melee, and Mirrorblade himself didn't know how things had spiraled to this point—he had intended to fight intellectually! Just like his father (Asterion) back when he was still young and weak, wielding a unique, transcendent wisdom!
But Mirrorblade knew that was impossible. No matter how much he hated to admit it, he knew he couldn't be like his father—someone who, upon seeing a monster for the first time, could instantly decipher its attack patterns, evade them, and counter-attack the weak points with surgical precision.
At least, that's what the old Grimalkynes in the Glavenus tribe always said. Even that battle-hungry Bazelgeuse uncle admitted as much... Perhaps he could have talked back years ago, but as time passed, Mirrorblade had slowly accepted the reality of his own "weakness" and was trying to improve in his own way.
Mirrorblade wanted to quickly put distance between himself and the Espinas, but every time he attempted a Foresight Slash to disengage, the Espinas would pursue him with a relentless charge. It made Mirrorblade want to curse in the dragon tongue; he felt the only thing missing between him and his father's level was a "Bazelgeuse uncle."
Specifically, a thick-skinned Bazelgeuse uncle who could stick to other monsters and draw all the aggro.
Mirrorblade also wanted to use his father's signature "bleeding" tactic, only to realize this blue-fied monster didn't seem to need any help bleeding. From head to toe, from back to claws, the creature was covered in wounds. It bled everywhere, yet its blood seemed infinite. No matter how much blue-green dragon blood sprayed out, the intensity of its assault never wavered.
He wanted to stall for time, to drain the Espinas's stamina while shaving off the Abyssal energy crystals on its skin. Yet, he found that his slicing speed couldn't keep up with the rate the monster sprayed blood. The moment the dragon blood touched the air, it crystallized into eerie blue shards. Consequently, under Mirrorblade's continuous hacking, the Abyssal crystals on the Espinas's body weren't decreasing—they were multiplying.
Frustration, anger, and irritation mounted. Unlike Mirrorblade, whose plans were failing step by step, the Blue-fied Espinas had finally found a target worthy of its rage. It charged back and forth like a mad bull, crushing the fallen tree trunks into splinters and destroying everything between itself and Mirrorblade with indiscriminate violence.
Foresight Slash, retreat, saw-blade grind, retreat... there wasn't even an opening for a Tail-Bite Roundforce. The Espinas stuck to him like glue, refusing to give Mirrorblade a chance to charge his energy. No matter how the Field Team Leader and the others attacked from the sidelines to distract it, the monster ignored them, hell-bent on killing Mirrorblade!
A powerful sense of grievance filled Mirrorblade's heart. His fury burned hotter, to the point where his footwork during counters began to falter. Instead of finding an opening to widen the Espinas's wounds, he was brutally slammed twice. The crimson thorns stabbed deep into Mirrorblade's body, carving out massive holes. Even the blood spraying from his wounds turned a sickly purple-red—Mirrorblade had been severely poisoned.
Worse still, Abyssal energy crystals had embedded themselves into multiple parts of his body—from his neck to his chest, from his sternum to his abdomen. Every wound acted as a gateway for Abyssal energy to invade his system. Gradually, Mirrorblade's originally amber eyes began to glow with a faint, eerie blue hue.
"Aaaaaah! GET BACK!!!"
With a roar, fine, scale-like crystals began to condense on the Field Team Leader's temples and forehead. The Abyssal Crystal Mantle he wore began to vibrate on its own. It wasn't due to his violent movements; rather, every single crystal on the mantle was shivering. Every hair on the fur seemed to "breathe," filling with a ghostly blue light that surged like waves on the ocean surface, clinking and chiming.
"STRIKE!!!"
Whish!!
As the Field Team Leader swung his Great Sword forward with everything he had, it felt as if all the strength in his body was being drained instantly. He couldn't even maintain his grip on the hilt.
But before him, a crescent-shaped arc of blue light shot toward the Blue-fied Espinas, accompanied by an eerie whistling sound. It sliced through everything in its path—dirt, rock, wood, and crystal clusters were all cleaved. Carrying all the Field Team Leader's hopes, it slammed heavily into the Espinas!
Squelch!!
That wind-like slash carved a massive, vertical wound into the Espinas, over six feet high. The attack power was staggering!
This was the effect of the Abyssal Crystal Mantle. While wearing it, a portion of all damage the Hunter took would be converted and absorbed into the Abyssal crystals on the mantle. Once the energy was fully charged, the Hunter could release it all in a single attack, dealing massive, specialized elemental damage.
Even so, the wound caused by this Abyssal strike wasn't fatal. For the Blue-fied Espinas in its current state, a wound of this magnitude only served to make it more berserk, pushing its primal ferocity to the limit.
"Partner!!" the Field Team Leader shouted in desperation. He had entered the exhaustion period following the use of the Crystallized Vigorwasp. At this moment, he couldn't even lift his sword.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry—Alun! Move!!" Regardless of whether Alun could hear him, the Leader screamed out of pure instinct, placing all his faith in his comrade.
As for Alun... he couldn't hear a thing.
As the support Hunter overlooking the battlefield from a distance, Alun perceived the entire situation with more clarity than the Leader who was in the thick of the fight.
Because of this clarity, Alun pulled a short cylinder—about the length of an adult's palm and three fingers thick—from his hunting pouch.
"Pfft, if I used 'Kankan's' favorite phrase, it would be... ta-da!" Alun couldn't help but chuckle. "Behold! The Abyssal Sensation Booster!!"
Without hesitation, Alun slammed the cylinder into the ground beside him. A second later, countless wisps of fine, blue smoke billowed out from the base. Unlike the Health Boosters favored by melee Hunters, this Abyssal Sensation Booster was a piece of equipment specifically crafted by the technicians for long-range Hunters.
Though the smoke was a deep, translucent blue, it didn't obscure Alun's vision. From the name and its compatibility, one could guess its function. Bathed in the blue mist, Alun took a deep breath. In that moment, he felt his thoughts become hyper-active. The entire battlefield felt like a 3D model perfectly rendered inside his mind.
Specifically, the two behemoths fighting for their lives—the situation where he couldn't find a window to shoot for fear of hitting Mirrorblade—seemed to vanish. Fantastic ideas flooded Alun's brain, as if an invisible brush were darting through his mental battlefield, drawing clear, simple, and visible ballistic lines.
An invisible confidence swirled in Alun's heart, telling him that as long as he fired along these shifting ballistic paths, he would inevitably hit his mark... An extraordinary, unerring certainty.
Yet, Alun didn't pull the trigger of his Light Bowgun. Instead, he opened his eyes wide, staring fixedly at the blue monster slamming into Mirrorblade. Unbeknownst to him, a clear, glowing blue light began to drift from his eyes, and the skin near his temples started to sprout translucent blue crystals.
This time, he was certain he could see it.
Bang!
He pulled the trigger. The final Abyssal Crystal Bomb streaked from the barrel. Unlike before, as this shell traced a line of blue fire through the air, it seemed to act like a giant mouth, physically tearing away a chunk of the blue mist surrounding Alun.
The Abyssal Sensation Booster significantly increased a support Hunter's perception and cognitive speed. Furthermore, when a Hunter fired specialized ammunition with a ranged weapon while within the Booster's radius, a portion of the smoke would be drawn in as additional damage.
As for the price...
"We should be able to win, right?"
Without even looking back at the main battlefield or trying to confirm his results, Alun rolled over and collapsed onto the tree trunk after firing. His head felt like a Kulu-Ya-Ku was burrowing inside—chaotic, agonizing, and he could feel a grainy texture when his fingers touched his forehead.
"You have to win, little boss..." Closing his eyes, Alun murmured, "If it weren't for you, how could the Commission ever hope to defeat a monster of this level?"
"Good luck, my partner... my friend..."
Mirrorblade felt he needed to clarify something: he was actually very strong. He wasn't the type of dragon that any random monster could jump out and beat into a near-death state.
Over the past few years, as a member of Astera, he had slain many powerful monsters—Gold Rathian, Silver Rathalos, Nargacuga, Anjanath, and so on. He had provided vital help for the researchers and technicians and earned the respect and friendship of many Commission members.
Well, maybe call it "admiration and trust"?
Regardless, a dragon without real strength could never have achieved those things.
Uh, the reason he had to emphasize this was that he was currently being pummeled by this blue-fied monster—pummeled in a way that Mirrorblade himself found shameful, infuriating, and painful.
But truthfully, Mirrorblade felt that his current state was actually... pretty good?
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