"Roooaaarrr...!!"
The monster's roar compressed the air, kicking up sand and dust, and sent a visible, terrifying shockwave sweeping outward in every direction.
Rolling aside to dodge the monster's overhead pounce, Altaïr was driven back several meters by that wall of air before he could even steady himself.
One hand clenched around the hilt protruding over his shoulder, Altaïr abruptly raised his head and looked at the truly dangerous opponent before him.
Yellow and blue scales, a massive head whose fanged maw could open past ninety degrees, powerful wing-limbs used more for running and tearing than for flight... "The Absolute Power, Tigrex," Altaïr murmured to himself.
His gaze fell involuntarily on the pair of foreclaws and wing membranes that had crushed the Gendrome's corpse and were now soaked in blood.
Thick, powerful, possessed of the terrifying strength to tear apart the flesh of other Large Flying Wyverns.
But... unlike in his childhood memories, they were not grotesquely swollen, nor did they bear the brilliant, vivid blue hue etched into the deepest part of his soul.
It's not that one... At that moment, Altaïr found it hard to tell whether what he felt was relief or disappointment, but soon, he had no time to dwell on it.
Drawn by the scent of blood, the Tigrex erupted into another roar. Its four limbs clawed and gouged at the ground in a frenzy, as if trying to tear the earth itself apart, and its bloody maw gaped wide as it charged straight at him.
Greeting me with a charge attack right from the start? As brutally ferocious as ever.
Altaïr glanced sideways behind him. The camp where the Nomads were hiding was less than fifty meters away.
The wicker walls and Kelbi Horns that could stop Genprey would never hold against the Tigrex's frenzied charge. He had to stay constantly aware of the camp's position while dealing with its attacks, to avoid dragging danger toward the people inside.
And he could not stray too far from the camp either. Those ravenous Genprey were still lurking in the shadows. The Tigrex's appearance had cowed them for now, but once he led it away, the remaining Genprey would surely try to assault the camp.
A camp surrounded by wooden fences was hardly safe... Those thoughts flashed through his mind. Facing the Tigrex as it rushed him with a furious roar, Altaïr made a dangerous decision, one only slightly less reckless than stopping a charge with a Great Sword.
He activated Demon Mode and charged straight at the Tigrex.
Such a bold move clearly provoked the tyrannical instincts of the "Absolute Power." The Tigrex bellowed furiously, and its charging speed increased even further.
The already short distance between them vanished in an instant. At the last moment before impact, Altaïr relied on his advantage in agility and veered sharply to the Tigrex's right.
For a Tigrex weighing nearly a hundred tons and barreling forward at full speed, changing direction was anything but easy, but driven by its muscle-laden, powerful limbs, it still forced its body to turn.
For Altaïr, who had once sparred and fought with a Tigrex, such a reaction was within his expectations.
With power surging through his ankle and thigh, Altaïr, who had just veered to the Tigrex's right side, immediately reversed course and sprinted toward the monster's left flank.
A creature of the Tigrex's size could never match a human's agility in such rapid back-and-forth movements. Even so, Altaïr still failed to fully escape the Tigrex's attack range.
Realizing the Hunter was about to slip past, the Tigrex ignored its own shifting balance and roared as it swept a foreclaw horizontally, aiming to swat the dodging Hunter away.
The sheer force of that claw strike was beyond question. A direct hit, even if his Armor kept it from killing him outright, would very likely rob him of all mobility.
Fortunately, Altaïr was prepared as well. At the very moment the hooked Wyvern Claw was about to strike his body, he channeled his charging momentum into a leap, his body spinning through the air as he evaded the claw.
The two passed each other by.
The Tigrex's limbs clawed at the ground, skidding into a sharp turn. As Altaïr landed back on solid ground, he likewise drew the Long Sword from his back, readying himself for the assault.
In truth, there were safer ways for him to evade the Tigrex's charge.
He could have fired a Flash Pod loaded in his Slinger, or he could have run at a ninety-degree angle to the Tigrex's charging path from the very start, preventing it from turning in time. Either would have sufficed.
Yet he had deliberately chosen the most dangerous response because he wanted to seize the initiative in the fight to come.
After that perilous, extreme dodge, the rampaging fighting spirit of his demonized state settled back into stability. A flash of blue light glinted in his eyes as his blue demon mode activated.
Having already entered Archdemon Mode earlier in the fight, he now deactivated Demon Mode, which greatly drained his stamina, caused muscle spasms, and severely hampered his "concentration."
In a few swift strides, he charged before the Tigrex and opened with a descending Step Slash aimed straight at its head.
The Tigrex, having just turned around, never imagined it would be the one under pursuit. Caught off guard, the bone-white blade of Tyrant Blade [Solar Eclipse] slashed straight across its snout.
The scales on the Tigrex's head, hardly thick or sturdy, split open. As the blade bit deep into flesh, dark crimson arcs of electricity burst from the sword, further scorching and corroding the wound.
As a fairly primitive Flying Wyvern, the Tigrex proved markedly susceptible to Dragon Element energy. This came as a pleasant surprise to Altaïr, who had originally brought Tyrant Blade [Solar Eclipse] simply to familiarize himself with his new weapon.
Struck painfully on its sensitive snout, the Tigrex instinctively flinched its head back. Yet immediately, it was enraged by its own recoiling reaction and lifted its claws with a low growl, swiping down toward the Hunter before it.
Facing the Tigrex's attack, Altaïr did not dodge as he usually would. Instead, he raised his Long Sword horizontally in both hands, lifting it to meet the blow head-on.
"Clang!"
Wyvern Claw and blade collided, scattering sparks. The Dragon Element energy hidden within the sword erupted once more. Seizing the moment, Altaïr angled his blade upward and forced the Tigrex's claw aside.
Then, with a flip of his hands, he released the force his muscles and joints had accumulated while absorbing the claw strike, swinging his sword back in a devastating overhead smash.
Tempered Spirit Blade!
This strike packed far more force than the preceding Step Slash, and Tyrant Blade [Solar Eclipse], with its thick, heavy blade far weightier than a typical Long Sword, was perfectly suited to such overhead smash techniques.
The Long Sword, famed for its swiftness and sharpness, delivered crushing, momentum-heavy blows in his hands, forcing the Tigrex's head downward with the impact.
Still, to think he could suppress the Tigrex with just these two strikes would be to sorely underestimate this "absolute ruler."
After stubbornly taking the sword blow with its head, the Tigrex did not yield further. Tilting its head, it shook off the Long Sword lodged in its scalp, thrust its massive, trap-like jaws forward, and snapped with tremendous force.
"Crack!" Sparks even flew between its clenched wyvern fangs, but it bit down on empty air.
Sensing the danger, Altaïr spun backward just in time, using Foresight Slash to evade the Tigrex's bite, then thrust his blade upward in a forward slash, carving another wound beneath the creature's chin.
With these harrowing exchanges, Altaïr's fighting spirit surged higher and higher. Along the blade of Tyrant Blade [Solar Eclipse], a faint, ethereal Spirit Gauge rapidly coalesced, finally crystallizing into a gleam of crimson light.
Almost there.
After executing a reverse fade slash into a backward leap, evading the Tigrex's instinctive biting counter, Altaïr swiftly retreated several steps. He angled the scabbard diagonally at his waist and sheathed the blade, entering an Iai stance.
At the same time, the battle-hardened Tigrex realized that those "little scratches and nips" were putting it at a disadvantage. It needed to overwhelm its opponent with a much more powerful attack.
It also leaped back a body length, shifted its weight rearward, raised its right claw high, and tensed every muscle, storing power. Then it lunged forward, slamming its Wyvern Claw, packed with all its strength and bodily weight, down upon the Hunter standing motionless in place.
This was an attack that absolutely could not be blocked head-on. But Altaïr did not rush to act. He had entered the Iai stance early, not merely to evade the Tigrex's next attack, but to launch an offensive entirely his own.
In the instant before the Tigrex landed, its Wyvern Claw poised to pulverize him into paste, Altaïr's blade flashed from its sheath.
The two passed each other once again.
The spinning blade seized the exact moment the Tigrex touched down, slicing horizontally across the joint of its right foreclaw, the first part of the beast to hit the ground, and carving out a terrifyingly deep wound.
The sudden, searing pain caused the right foreclaw bearing the Tigrex's full weight upon landing to spasm, sending the creature stumbling.
It frantically adjusted its limbs, trying to stabilize itself, but the Hunter would give it no such chance.
The Spinning Crimson Slash followed ruthlessly, hacking into the Tigrex's hind claw as it tried to share the beast's weight, utterly destroying its already precarious balance.
Howling, the Tigrex tumbled and fell to the ground.
Altaïr, Long Sword held across his body, rapidly closed in, ready to unleash a full-force assault on the downed creature. But in this crucial, precious window of opportunity, his movements abruptly halted.
On the Tigrex's back, now exposed as it flipped over, lay a horrifying set of claw marks that ran the entire length of its body, the wounds tinged faint pink and not yet fully healed.
(Translated by yourtl.app)