Isis had no idea that her actions were causing an old man's heart to race and his blood pressure to spike.
Her full attention was focused on reading the movements of the monster before her.
The Yian Kut-Ku wasn't a particularly agile monster, and its turning and tail-swinging speed wasn't too fast.
By taking a shield-forward charge and using Insta-Block to defend against the Kut-Ku's tail swipe, she successfully moved close to the monster's flank.
And the Kut-Ku's turning motion wasn't yet fully finished. Although it was only a half-step slower, although it was only a brief second, this was the attack window she had seized through Insta-Block!
Her eyes beneath the visor shone with fervent light, Isis roared and thrusted forward her Gunlance.
The Kut-Ku, having just turned and not yet stabilized its body, was struck hard on the head by the blow.
All its fury couldn't enhance its resistance to blows; this strike left its brain buzzing, and the ensuing shelling further shook it dizzy and staggering.
Isis's spirits soared, and she pressed the advantage. The three-shell capacity of her Gunlance was quickly exhausted, and she had no time to reload.
Chopping, sweeping, rising; the heavy steel Gunlance in her hands felt like a dried-out wooden stick. As she advanced step by step, her swings grew faster and faster, hitting the Kut-Ku's relatively slender body repeatedly.
Under this tide of fierce attacks, the Kut-Ku was completely suppressed. Amid its miserable cries, it could only retreat continuously.
In the stands, many spectators even felt a strange emotion: "This Kut-Ku is quite pitiful."
But Isis's stamina wasn't limitless either. Another full-force downward strike, the cutting blade at the muzzle severed the Kut-Ku's shoulder, leaving a wound and embedding into the ground. Isis couldn't pull it out immediately.
The Kut-Ku, gaining a brief chance to breathe, hurriedly swung its wings.
Though the damage to the wing membrane roots prevented it from flying, aided by the thrust from vigorously flapping its wings, the Kut-Ku leaped back nearly two body lengths, finally escaping the hunter's suppressing onslaught.
Isis took a deep breath, adjusted her breathing, and while swinging her arms to relax her muscles, completed reloading.
The Eizenlitter Gunlance she wielded wasn't as sturdy and durable as her own Defender Gunlance. After this round of fierce attacks, the cutting blade at the muzzle was already somewhat dulled.
After a brief hesitation, she decided not to take out the Whetstone for polishing just yet.
First, it was somewhat risky; if the Kut-Ku suddenly counterattacked halfway through polishing, reacting would be difficult. Second, it wasn't particularly necessary.
Even if the cutting blade at the front of the Gunlance was dulled or even fell off, relying on the Gunlance's own weight, she was confident she could beat this Kut-Ku dead before her.
Unconsciously, the Kut-Ku she had seen as a formidable enemy that was difficult to defeat was now hardly capable of putting pressure on her.
Isis, who quickly adjusted her state, continued advancing.
The Kut-Ku, seriously injured, was also provoked into ferocity. It lowered its body, growled low, and the flames flickering from the seams of its massive beak grew brighter.
"Gurgle, gurgle..."
In the gurgling sound of mud bubbles, the Kut-Ku suddenly lifted its head, hurling a large mass of scorching firelight from its scoop-shaped beak toward Isis as she approached.
This was the Kut-Ku's breath attack.
Common people with less knowledge of monsters easily mistake the winged, bipedal Kut-Ku as a type of Flying Wyvern; in fact, biologically, these large birds are classified as Bird Wyverns.
Like Rathalos, they possess a special organ called the Flame Sac within their bodies, capable of generating high temperatures and flames.
But the Kut-Ku's throat and neck muscles are far less developed than those of Rathalos, unable to form sufficient pressure to compress flames into fireballs and spray them toward targets in one breath like Rathalos.
Thus, they evolved a unique breathing method.
While feeding on worms, insects, and small crustaceans, Kut-Kus swallow large amounts of sand, storing it within their bodies.
When needed, they mix the flames produced by the Flame Sac with sand, then hurl the sand mass, burning with sparks and flames, out in clumps using that scoop-shaped beak.
This simple breath attack, though unable to easily blast trees apart like Rathalos's fireballs, is terrifying enough for most creatures; sand carrying temperatures of several hundred degrees Celsius is already sufficiently fearsome.
For hunters, it's the same. Not only being hit directly by the breath attack, even splattering high-temperature sand easily flows into armor gaps, causing severe burns.
Last time fighting the Kut-Ku, she lost to this move, so Isis dodged very cautiously.
As that hot sand mass was thrown into the air, she roughly judged the landing point of the breath attack and dodged with continuous side-step slides.
Two or three seconds later, that large mass of scorching sand landed on the ground several meters away from her, scattering sparks, flames, and high-temperature grit covering a large area.
She dared not be careless, contracting her body as much as possible, shielding her torso with the large shield. Nevertheless, a small amount of scattered fine sand still fell on her.
Fortunately, the armor crafted from Cephalos scales had fairly good high-temperature resistance. These fine sands slid down the overlapping fine scales on the armor's surface, unable to harm her.
Isis breathed a slight sigh of relief; the last tiny shadow in her heart dissipated.
Now it's my turn!
Isis, who dropped her defensive stance, quickened her steps, charging straight toward the prey not far away.
Facing the hunter charging close, the Kut-Ku chose to counterattack.
It lowered its center of gravity, tilted its head, opened its massive beak to the ground, wings also pressed tightly against the ground, then its legs suddenly exerted force, charging forward rumblingly like a bulldozer.
Isis was somewhat surprised.
She hadn't seen this move in the two Kut-Kus she had dealt with before, but this wasn't anything strange; it's normal for different individuals to have slight differences in movement habits.
The Gunlance's movement was sluggish; dodging out of the attack range via side jumps and slides seemed unrealistic, so Isis further accelerated her charge speed.
The Kut-Ku's charging collision move similar to a Wyvern charge surely had power increasing with longer charge distance; relatively, if at the initial stage, speed not yet built up, the impact force would certainly diminish somewhat.
If so, then let's clash!
Under the mutual charge, the distance between the monster and the hunter instantly became zero.
Amid the wild cheers of countless spectators in the stands, the Kut-Ku's hard beak and the hunter's steel large shield fiercely collided together.
"Bang!"
Comparing the impact force from inertia, a heavily armed heavy weapon hunter couldn't compete with a large monster weighing tons.
The large shield firmly jammed into the Kut-Ku's widely opened beak, emitting a grating "creak." Isis's core muscles tensed, her feet pushing backward, she was pushed sliding backward continuously.
But supported by powerful strength, her defensive stance remained unbroken. The steel nails at the soles of her battle boots firmly gripped the ground, plowing two meter-long deep grooves into the compacted loess floor of the arena.
Finally, the Kut-Ku's forward-charging power exhausted; the two, pressing firmly against each other, stopped.
"Haaaah...!"
The hunter roared and began exerting force. Her legs alternately stomped the ground, leaving one after another deep footprints in the solid loess.
One step, two steps...
The scene of the hunter pushing the far larger monster step by step forward caused the spectators in the stands to widen their eyes in astonishment.
Realizing its contest of strength actually couldn't surpass the opponent, the Kut-Ku panicked too. It swung its head, trying to throw off the hunter, regain distance.
But its beak was tightly stuck by the shield jammed into its mouth; momentarily, it couldn't shake it off.
"Zzz..."
The heat canister popped out on the Gunlance barrel for heat dissipation retracted; the Wyvern's Fire completed cooling.
In a low roar, Isis thrusted the Gunlance forward, fiercely driving it deep into the Kut-Ku's unclosed beak, into the depths of its throat.
Then, she forcefully pulled the trigger for the Wyvern's Fire.
(Translated by yourtl.app)
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TL NOTES — LORE SECTION
Some terms and creatures referenced in this story may be unfamiliar to readers new to the Monster Hunter universe. The following entries provide additional context.
SKILLS & TECHNIQUES
Insta-Block — A Gunlance (and Lance) technique in which the hunter raises their shield at the very last moment before impact. When timed correctly, it allows the hunter to block an attack without breaking stride and immediately transition into a counter-offensive, turning the brief gap in a monster's attack pattern into an opening.
Flame Sac — A biological organ found in various fire-producing monsters throughout the Monster Hunter world. It generates and stores combustible compounds that monsters ignite internally to produce flame-based attacks. Different species have evolved distinct ways of deploying this organ, from compressed fireballs to wide-area breath attacks.