"Waaaaah!"
The Fanged Beast, covered in long crimson fur, swung nimbly between the treetops but did not attack immediately. Whether it was toying with the people it had cornered or simply waiting for the right moment to strike was impossible to tell.
The smiths, carrying axes, saws, and other logging tools, stood back-to-back and watched the Monster circling them through the trees.
Anyone who joined an expedition team, even an ordinary construction smith, had at least some experience in the wilderness. The Monster had them on edge, but they were not so panicked that they lost their heads and scattered.
After all, they had a Hunter to protect them.
What they did not know was that Lambert, their guard, was every bit as nervous.
Under normal circumstances, this should have been a routine escort assignment.
Senior Altaïr and the others had swept through the nearby forest more than once. By all accounts, the area around the riverside logging camp should not have harbored a Large Monster like a Lolo Gougarf.
At worst, Small Monsters such as Ludroth might occasionally harass the logging team. That was why a Hunter accompanied them.
Since the assignment was so simple and Lambert held the lowest Hunter rank, jobs like this usually fell to her.
She had carried out more than a dozen similar missions since construction of the outpost began. Despite her reclusive nature, she had even grown familiar with the logging camp's smiths, and nothing unexpected had ever happened.
She had begun to find the work a little dull. Now that trouble had finally come, she understood that "boring" was the best outcome she could have hoped for.
"This one's fast. I can't guarantee I'll be able to protect everyone," she said in a low, hurried voice. "When I give the signal, run as fast as you can. The camp isn't far. Once you reach it, you'll be safe."
The smiths were tense, but they all nodded. One of the older men could not help asking, "Lambert, aren't you coming with us? You can't fight a Monster this big, can you?"
Moving as discreetly as possible, Lambert lightly tapped the body of her instrument to prepare a melody. "It moves too quickly through the trees. I'll stay behind and hold it off for a while. Don't worry. I've already fired the SOS flare. The senior Hunters will be here soon."
The concerned smith hesitated, then nodded his agreement.
Perhaps tired of playing with them, the Lolo Gougarf suddenly fired a stream of webbing while still bounding among the branches, intent on trapping them all and finishing them off at once.
Lambert seized the moment and slammed her Hunting Horn down with all her strength.
"BWAMM!"
A concussive wave of sound burst outward. The thick stream of webbing hurtling toward them lost all momentum and broke apart.
To the smiths, it was as though an invisible wall of sound had formed in front of them and blocked the attack.
The Lolo Gougarf clearly had not expected this. It gripped the tree trunk with one claw to steady itself and pounded its chest with the other, unleashing a series of furious roars.
Then it kicked off the trunk with both legs and leaped straight at them.
Lambert hurled the Flash Pod she had been clutching and shouted a warning to the smiths at the same time. "Now! Run!"
The Flash Pod struck the Lolo Gougarf in midair. Blinded and thrown off balance, it crashed clumsily to the ground.
The smiths froze for an instant, then snapped back to their senses at Lambert's urging. Grabbing their tools, they turned and fled.
Lambert seized the opening and dashed forward to reach the fallen Lolo Gougarf. She swung her Hunting Horn with all her might.
For the past two or three months, she had strictly followed the diet and exercise plan Isis had devised for her. Since she was also still growing, her physical conditioning had risen to an entirely new level.
She still ranked near the bottom of the Hunter community, where nearly everyone was built like a mountain, but the Hunting Horn in her hands could no longer be dismissed as a mere musical instrument. Driven by the full force of her swings, it could finally pass for a "long-handled Hammer."
Of course, she knew perfectly well that raw strength was not her true gift.
She hammered the Monster's head again and again. Partly, she wanted to deepen its stupor and keep it pinned to the ground for as long as possible. More importantly, each blow helped her rapidly weave a melody.
So what if Monsters' heads were not meant to be used as musical instruments?
The resonance chamber roared and the metal strings rang clear. The melody shifted with fluid precision, never jarring, as complex phrases took shape at a speed that would have baffled most Hunting Horn users.
She first played a melody that stimulated her body's potential and further enhanced her mobility. Then she unleashed two of her favorite Echo Waves point-blank against the Lolo Gougarf's head.
The Lolo Gougarf had only just recovered from the blinding flash. Its eyes rolled back, and it nearly lost consciousness again.
Unfortunately, the attacks still fell a little short. The Lolo Gougarf shook its head vigorously, planted its long, thick arms against the ground, and flipped itself upright.
It had begun the encounter by toying with its prey, but being knocked down and beaten had driven it into a fury. With an enraged cry, it slashed at Lambert, intent on tearing the Hunter before it to pieces.
Lambert immediately rolled backward and barely evaded the claw. Before she could regain her footing, another claw came slashing in from the side.
She had no choice but to raise her Hunting Horn and block. Fortunately, the strike was swift but lacked real force. It sent her stumbling back several steps, leaving her arms numb and her chest aching from the impact, but she managed to parry the blow and steady herself.
The enraged Lolo Gougarf pressed its assault with a flurry of claw strikes. Lambert continued to backpedal, keeping her distance as she circled it and swiftly wove her melody.
Just as the Lolo Gougarf lunged in for another bite, she gave a low shout and swung her Hunting Horn upward, striking the Monster beneath the jaw. The high-frequency shockwave building inside the resonance chamber erupted on impact, penetrating muscle and bone to rattle the Monster's brain.
A violent buzz filled the Lolo Gougarf's skull. Blood seeped from its nostrils as it staggered backward, leaving itself wide open.
Lambert did not rush to press the attack. As a Hunting Horn user, her priority was to seize the opening and weave her melody.
Many people joked that the Hunting Horn was merely a long-handled Hammer. If she swung it like one whenever a Monster left itself open, however, she might as well use a proper Hammer.
As it recovered from the brief stun, the Lolo Gougarf realized that this opponent was no easy prey.
It sprang backward dozens of meters on all fours. Then it fired two strands of webbing from the glands in its wrists and anchored them to the ground ahead, one on either side. Bracing its legs and leaning back, it pulled the strands taut and gathered its strength.
This was the move Senior Altaïr and the others had described.
Lambert narrowed her eyes.
She swung the Hunting Horn diagonally upward, then slammed it down, deliberately dispersing the Echo Wave primed inside the resonance chamber as she began composing a new melody.
The vibrations within the Hunting Horn intensified, compressed again and again as her performance continued. Once everything was ready, she hoisted the Wind Horn onto her shoulder. Every muscle in her body tensed as she fixed her gaze on the Lolo Gougarf's movements.
The Lolo Gougarf, likewise ready to attack, launched itself forward under the tension of its webbing. At that exact moment, Lambert swung the Hunting Horn down from her shoulder in a diagonal arc.
"BOOM!"
High-frequency sound waves carrying terrifying force slammed into the airborne Lolo Gougarf.
The technique resembled the "Sonic Barrier" she had used at the start of the fight to deflect the webbing, but the two were not quite the same.
At her current level of skill, Lambert could not completely neutralize the force of the Lolo Gougarf's attack. She could, however, disrupt its balance in the middle of its pounce.
The Lolo Gougarf crashed headfirst into the ground. All the tremendous momentum imparted by the taut webbing was borne by the Monster's own body, breaking several of its bones and leaving it unable to rise for the moment.
A fierce grin spread across Lambert's face. She was about to swing her Hunting Horn again and weave a devastating offensive melody when two figures emerged from the forest.
Watching the Lolo Gougarf writhe and howl on its side, Isis scratched her head. "Did we... maybe not need to come?"
Altaïr glanced at Lambert standing beside the Monster, then drew his sword. "A Lolo Gougarf appearing here isn't normal. We don't know what's going on yet. Let's finish this quickly."
(Translated by yourtl.app)