Given permission, Isis ran out from her hiding spot, her footsteps "thump-thump-thumping" toward them.
Altaïr quickly made several "quiet" tactical signals at her, urging her to be quieter and not wake the sleeping Duramboros. Only then did Isis slow her pace, walking softly to the Duramboros's side.
Bypassing that enormous Tail Hammer, she came to the curled-up Duramboros's chest, where its huge head was nestled. She instinctively wanted to target it.
Altaïr raised his palm again, signaling her to pause, then forcefully waved his hand, signaling her to come back.
Isis was confused but chose to follow the order, halting her attack and running back out from within the sleeping Duramboros's embrace, looking at Altaïr with puzzlement.
Altaïr wanted to explain to her that the Duramboros's head wasn't really a weak point. While its hitzone wasn't as bad as the keratinized hide layered over its body, its skull was extremely hard and had tremendous impact resistance.
Studies indicated that Duramboros, similar to many horned even-toed ungulates, had a habit of interlocked horns to clash with one another, determining mating rights.
Considering the terrifying impact of two hundred-ton behemoths colliding, the sturdiness of a Duramboros's skull and cervical vertebrae must be startlingly exaggerated.
If Isis fired a Wyvern's Fire there, it certainly wouldn't be unscathed, but it probably would only blast off a patch of scalp. Aside from sending the Duramboros into a furious rage from intense pain, it wouldn't achieve any substantial attack effect.
Better to aim at the hump on its back.
The Duramboros's hump and a camel's Hump were essentially similar things, though their purposes for storing fat and energy differed somewhat.
Camels, due to the food scarcity in their Desert environment, must eat voraciously when encountering an Oasis, converting it into fat to survive the barren, vast sand sea.
Duramboros had no such need. The Jungle areas they inhabited were rich in resources. Wood and foliage, their main food, could be said to be everywhere, so food scarcity wasn't a concern at all.
Their primary purpose for storing large amounts of fat was to support the movement of their massive bodies.
Once their hill-like bodies became active, they would consume huge amounts of calories. Plants, especially lignin, had very low energy density compared to meat, and their digestive efficiency was even lower.
Duramboros grew four stomach chambers, yet still required long periods of rest and repeated rumination to gradually digest the wood they gnawed.
Relying on the heat provided by real-time digestion, even maintaining normal walking was difficult. Once entering combat mode, the bit of wood in those four stomachs couldn't be converted in time into energy capable of driving the massive body to fight.
The fat stored in the hump existed precisely to deal with this situation.
In combat state, this fat would be rapidly consumed and converted into energy, supporting the Duramboros's high-intensity activity.
In short, fat was the necessary fuel supporting a Duramboros's combat, and the hump was the fuel tank storing this fuel.
If the hump could be destroyed, causing the Duramboros to lose a large amount of fat, its sustained combat capability would be greatly reduced. Once the remaining fat was depleted, the Duramboros itself would collapse from exhaustion.
Altaïr couldn't explain all this in detail to Isis through tactical signals. With the Duramboros sleeping soundly just a few meters away, he certainly couldn't chatter loudly and plot at length.
So, he pointed directly at the hump on the Duramboros's back. The meaning was perfectly clear: attack there.
Isis loved simple, unambiguous orders. She gave two thumbs up to acknowledge, then bit her tongue, tiptoed around the hill-like Duramboros, and positioned herself behind it.
Selecting the most prominent, forward-positioned hump, Isis deployed her Gunlance, stabilized her stance, braced for impact, and prepared to unleash Wyvern's Fire.
Before pulling the trigger, she glanced up at Altaïr one more time, confirming the attack signal.
Meanwhile, Altaïr had used the time while Isis adjusted her position to move in front of the Duramboros, ensuring it would see him the moment it opened its eyes.
Meeting Isis's gaze, Altaïr nodded, signaling she could proceed with the attack.
Isis habitually wanted to shout "Wyvern's Fire!" before squeezing the trigger.
Suddenly remembering she was waking a sleeping Monster, she choked the loud cry in her throat, opened her mouth to mouth the words, and "yelled" "Wyvern's Fire!" in a hissed whisper, all under Altaïr's exasperated gaze, before activating the ignition mechanism.
Energy gathered at the Gunlance's muzzle. After a brief few seconds of charging, searing flames and smoke erupted from the barrel.
"BOOOOOOM!!"
Even wearing the heavy Basarios Armor Set and having stabilized her stance in an impact-bracing posture, Isis was still shoved backward several meters by the recoil.
If the recoil was that powerful, the fully-charged Wyvern's Fire's destructive force was naturally astonishing.
The "composite outer armor" composed of shrubs, moss, and a thin layer of soil was blasted away over a large area, and the flesh beneath didn't escape unscathed.
To accommodate the changes in the hump's state under massive fat storage and consumption, the skin enveloping the hump was highly elastic but lacked the protection of thick, keratinized hide, making it relatively fragile.
Under the point-blank blast of the Wyvern's Fire, the large hump near the Duramboros's neck was blown open with a crater the size of a well opening.
The interior of the hump contained little muscle or vasculature, being almost entirely soft fat. The blasted fat particles splattered stickily all over Isis. Scorched by the Wyvern's Fire's high heat, the air even filled with a slightly burnt, roasted aroma reminiscent of grilled meat.
That hump probably would taste really good roasted... come to think of it, Duramboros hump is supposedly a really high-grade ingredient, isn't it?
Isis shook her head vigorously, forcefully suppressing the absurd urge to lean in and take a bite. She swiftly folded and stowed her Gunlance, then turned and retreated.
The power of a Gunlance's Wyvern's Fire was naturally incomparable to a random unsheathed Jumping Slash from a Sword and Shield.
If the earlier sword strike was like a mosquito buzzing and stinging the tip of its nose, then this Wyvern's Fire blast was like a powerful beauty delivering a full-force heavy punch.
The Duramboros jolted awake from its slumber. It let out a low roar, used its horns and forelimbs to brace against the ground, twisted its bloated body, and heaved itself upright.
The Duramboros certainly noticed Altaïr, who was practically standing on the tip of its nose. But the sharp, agonizing pain came from behind, and in its subconscious, it didn't believe such a "small creature" before it could inflict damage of this magnitude.
That fiery, searing pain on its back felt exactly like being bitten hard by a Rathian. It genuinely suspected a Rathian was standing right behind it.
Altaïr, who was about to execute the baiting plan, naturally wouldn't let the Duramboros shift its attention so easily, especially since Isis hadn't yet withdrawn into the jungle.
If the Duramboros turned its head now and saw Isis fleeing, its attention would undoubtedly lock onto her completely.
As the main frontline fighter, Isis did need to draw the target's attention, but not right now. Her heavy armor wasn't suited for leading the Duramboros on a chase through the jungle. It was better to have her enter the fray in the next phase.
Before the Duramboros could turn around, Altaïr raised the horn he had obtained from Sajji and blew into it hard.
"Bweeet..."
The shrill horn blast echoed through the jungle, irritating and agitating the Duramboros's already tense and sensitive nerves, heightened by the sudden ambush.
The Duramboros halted its turning motion. Rage burned away its reason, and for a moment, it forgot that the "attack came from" behind.
Its small, dull-yellow eyes fixed dead ahead on the tiny thing emitting the piercing noise. Compared to its massive frame, its less-developed brain held only one thought:
Crush this little thing into pulp!
"Moo-roooar!!" The deep, muffled roar startled countless birds from the jungle. Its hind legs, thick as giant tree roots, scraped and dug at the ground, a sign the monster was about to charge.
Altaïr smiled, putting away the horn as he backed away, beckoning and taunting the Duramboros.
"That's it, follow me!"
(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.
CONCEPTS & SYSTEMS
Duramboros Hump — The large dorsal hump of the Duramboros functions as a fat-storage organ, analogous to a camel's hump but adapted for combat endurance rather than survival in scarce environments. During high-intensity activity, the stored fat is rapidly converted into energy to sustain the creature's enormous body. Destroying the hump mid-hunt significantly depletes the Duramboros's fuel reserves, reducing its stamina and combat effectiveness until it eventually collapses from exhaustion, making it a key tactical target.