Altaïr sprinted to the edge of the battlefield, then stopped dead.
The once-beautiful little plaza covered several thousand square meters and had been paved with stone imported from the ElDe Region, with sculpted fountains and exquisite greenery completing the scene. Now it lay in utter ruin.
Not a single paving stone remained intact. At the plaza's center, the ground itself had been torn up several layers deep, scarred everywhere by raging flames, craters from cannon fire, and vast, glaring bloodstains.
Most of the buildings surrounding the plaza had also been destroyed, making Altaïr's heart sink even further.
The homeowners' financial losses were none of his concern. What mattered were the Ballista and Cannon emplacements housed within those buildings. Those siege weapons were crucial to inflicting meaningful damage and controlling the battle.
The Hunters now clashing with Guanzorumu were no longer the original squad, but only a few hastily assembled survivors, the remnants of a defeated force.
Haifa wore a bandage around her forehead. Together with a short, stocky Lance user, she formed the main force holding Guanzorumu at bay.
Altaïr was not very familiar with the Lance user. He knew only that the man captained the third reserve team.
Come to think of it, the Hunters he had seen being wheeled to the emergency clinic on Felyne carts seemed to have belonged to that same third reserve team. Besides those two, Kane, the High Rank Heavy Bowgun user commanding the battle, had even switched to a Heavy Bowgun suited to spread ammo and joined the close-quarters fighting, an extraordinarily dangerous position for a Gunner.
His field command duties appeared to have been temporarily handed over to Nymera, who possessed the greatest mobility.
The battle had reached a point where combat-ready Hunters were desperately scarce. Anyone who could still stand had returned to the fight of their own accord. A commander was no longer essential; by comparison, another powerful combatant in serviceable condition mattered far more.
But it seemed... it was not all bad news.
While the Hunters had suffered grievous losses, the Egyurasu "royal guards" surrounding Guanzorumu had likewise been wiped out over the course of the long battle.
What had begun as an ambush had been forced into a grueling battle of attrition.
At this stage of the fight, Guanzorumu had exhausted its minions, while most of the Hunters' siege weapons had fallen silent. All that remained for the two sides to pit against each other was sheer tenacity.
And in a contest of tenacity, the Hunters of the Great Desert would not lose!
Steeling himself, Altaïr activated Demon Mode and accelerated toward Guanzorumu at the center of the battlefield.
Guanzorumu had lost all its former majesty. The relentless bombardment of dozens, perhaps hundreds, of cannon shells, along with several times as many rounds of heavy Ballista Ammo, had left it covered in wounds.
The massive gash across its chest and abdomen had repeatedly torn open during the battle, and blood had never stopped flowing from it.
The prolonged blood loss had drained much of its stamina. The once-overwhelmingly arrogant Elder Dragon was now panting heavily with exhaustion.
In Demon Mode, Altaïr moved faster and faster, crossing the distance of less than a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
Haifa, who was struggling alongside the Lance user to hold Guanzorumu at bay, felt a surge of joy when she saw Altaïr enter the battlefield.
Then she immediately realized that he had no intention of keeping his distance and maneuvering around it. He was charging straight at Guanzorumu from the front, looking crazed enough to have decided to throw his life away.
Alarm jolted through her.
Had something happened to Isis and driven this kid to seek death? Just as Haifa frantically tried to think of a way to stop him, Altaïr rushed within earshot and shouted, "Mobile warfare, I'll draw its attention!"
The three Hunters engaged in close combat around Guanzorumu froze in unison.
Haifa and Kane were both High Rank Hunters, while the Lance user was a seasoned 5★ veteran with ample combat experience.
Who among them did not know that mobile warfare was the best option when no one could pin down a formidable foe directly?
There were two forms of mobile warfare. The first required flawless coordination among the combatants. They attacked in rotation, constantly drawing the opponent's attention in different directions, leaving it unable to respond to everything at once, and running it ragged.
This tactic, which demanded exceptional teamwork, was poorly suited to highly intelligent Monsters such as Elder Dragons. An Elder Dragon would quickly spot the weak link, ignore the distractions, and pick the Hunters off one by one.
Unless every member could face Guanzorumu head-on, the tactic was meaningless, and that was clearly not what Altaïr meant.
The second form of so-called mobile warfare was not much different from conventional tactics. A designated frontliner drew the Monster's attention while the others seized their chance to attack.
The only difference was that this frontliner did not pin down the Monster through direct confrontation, but relied primarily on evasive movement.
Haifa and the others had wanted to use this tactic for some time, but their lineup consisted of a Great Sword user, a Lance user, and a Heavy Bowgun user, all with limited mobility. None could shoulder the demanding role of an agile frontliner.
As an unorthodox Long Sword user who could enter Demon Mode whenever and wherever he wished, Altaïr had agility to spare.
But that meant placing the greatest burden on a young Hunter who was not even twenty.
Without giving the three a chance to hesitate, Altaïr had already reached the front.
Such a head-on charge, virtually a taunt, naturally caught Guanzorumu's attention. It lowered its body, and a pillar of dragon flame erupted from its jaws, sweeping toward the approaching Hunter as it turned its head.
While battling the Hunters, Guanzorumu had also been learning constantly.
By now, it had realized that attack range mattered more than raw power when dealing with these nimble, bipedal creatures.
With no time to hesitate, Haifa and the others could only scatter to either side. Faced with the sweeping pillar of dragon flame, Altaïr did not rush to evade, but held to his charging path.
He knew Guanzorumu's reaction speed all too well. If he tried to evade even a second or two early, Guanzorumu would adjust its attack. He had to wait until the final instant. Now!
A heartbeat before the sweeping pillar of dragon flame engulfed him, Altaïr held his Long Sword at an angle, used the momentum of his charge to leap, and arched backward through the air, clearing the breath attack.
The radiant heat of the dragon flame seared his back, but with his body already covered in severe burns, he barely registered the sting.
He landed without losing any speed and continued forward. In the blink of an eye, he reached Guanzorumu's chest and swept his blade upward across its lower jaw, opening a shallow wound.
The Dragon Element energy imbued in his weapon erupted with the strike, piercing Guanzorumu's astonishingly hard scales and corroding its flesh.
Watching from nearby, Haifa's mouth fell slightly open.
Was that a precision dodge modeled on Dual Blades' Demon Mode, or had a Long Sword user just performed the special evasion of an Adept Great Sword? Haifa could not tell; the boy never fought by the book. After that single slash, Altaïr showed no hesitation. He did not even look at Guanzorumu's next move before pivoting and sliding several meters backward, narrowly evading a lightning-fast bite from the side. With a backhand counter, he drove his blade upward into Guanzorumu's lower jaw once again.
Foresight Slash! The two rising slashes had inflicted little meaningful damage on Guanzorumu, but landing nearly identical moves on exactly the same spot twice went beyond mere provocation.
It was an outright insult! Malice flared in Guanzorumu's eyes as its foreclaws and wing talons struck in rapid succession.
Altaïr had never faced an onslaught like it. Only a quadrupedal Elder Dragon with two wings could have attacked with such speed.
Stand there and trade blows? He was not arrogant enough to believe he could face an Elder Dragon head-on, even one already badly wounded.
Without a second thought, Altaïr spun and leaped backward, evading the sweep of its wings as he bounded away to create some distance.
Foresight Slash – Whirl!
Guanzorumu's foreclaw followed right on his heels. Altaïr immediately set his blade in the Tempered Spirit Blade's Defensive Stance and parried, borrowing the impact to drive himself farther back before following with another Foresight Slash.
Through this chain of evasions, he finally escaped the reach of Guanzorumu's foreclaws and wings, if only for the moment.
The enraged Guanzorumu was about to resume its pursuit when the deafening roar of a Heavy Bowgun firing spread ammo in rapid succession erupted behind it.
At the same moment came the shriek of displaced air as a fully charged Great Sword crashed down in a heavy blow.
"Roar!" Guanzorumu howled in pain and prepared to turn.
In front of it, Altaïr suddenly sheathed his weapon and beckoned with one hand. "Come on! Try to bite me to death!"
Guanzorumu could not understand human speech, but it clearly sensed the undisguised provocation.
Rage overwhelmed its reason. Ignoring the punishing attacks from the High Rank Hunters at its sides, it lunged at Altaïr with no regard for the consequences.
(Translated by yourtl.app)