Watching the two Monsters locked in a tangled, brutal fight, Isis could no longer hold herself back. "Aren't we going to help?"
"Help? Who are we helping?" Altaïr glanced at her in amusement.
"Help the..." Isis began, then faltered.
In nature, there was no such thing as right or wrong. That very morning, they had fought a fierce battle against the Lolo Gougarf. The Toxic Glowbugs it had thrown had bitten her all over the head, and the welts still had not completely subsided.
The wound on its body was still oozing blood, and she was the one who had inflicted it.
Why did she want to help it now? Was it because of the tragic story she had imagined after seeing the claws of those Lolo Gougarf cubs? Or had she been swept up in the thrill of that incredible, all-powerful strike the Lolo Gougarf had unleashed?
Or was it simply because the mysterious Monster was ugly, foul-smelling, and thoroughly disgusting?
"All right, don't overthink it," Altaïr said, interrupting Isis's inner struggle. "The other reasons don't matter. Just tell yourself that taking down that mysterious Monster will help our mission.
"Find a reasonable excuse for what you want to do, then go ahead and do it."
After muttering, "It's for the mission!" to herself a couple of times, Isis felt considerably better. She cracked her knuckles. "So, when do we go in?"
Altaïr sighed.
He wanted to say they should wait until the two Monsters had worn each other down a little more, but he knew Isis would never be able to wait that long.
"Thinking it through, the strength this mysterious Monster has shown so far doesn't seem sufficient for it to terrorize the entire Mangrove Forest single-handedly.
"If that's the case, there may be 'several' similar Monsters in the Mangrove Forest, perhaps even a whole 'pack.'
"Given that possibility, ensuring the Lolo Gougarf survives would indeed help our investigation..." After reasoning this out under his breath, Altaïr nodded firmly.
"Saving the Lolo Gougarf is a good idea too. Go in whenever you see an opening."
With a shout of "RAAAH!" Isis leaped out from behind their cover and charged onto the battlefield, her Large Shield and Gunlance at the ready.
Altaïr also left cover and began circling around. With the Lolo Gougarf drawing the mysterious Monster's attention from the front, he could attack calmly from its flank and rear.
Morgan stared at the two of them, speechless.
Taking your own advice already, huh? If you wanted to go along with her, you could've just done it. You didn't have to mutter that whole speech just to find yourself a reasonable excuse.
Morgan grumbled inwardly, but his hands moved just as quickly. His Piercing Crab Heavy Bowgun unfolded in an instant. Although the two Blademasters had started moving first, his shots struck the target before they could even reach the Monsters.
To avoid friendly fire, he used Normal Ammo, which had the most stable trajectory. Lv3 Normal Ammo offered decent power and a large magazine capacity, making it suitable for a wide range of situations.
The two Monsters were in the thick of their fight, so the thunder of the Heavy Bowgun naturally caught their attention.
The Lolo Gougarf reacted especially violently. After all, it had clashed with these Hunters earlier that very day. Even though it had failed to gain the upper hand, their relationship was unquestionably hostile.
Now, while it was locked in bitter combat with a powerful foe, those Hunters had suddenly appeared. Its first thought was that they intended to exploit the chaos, gang up on it, and settle the score from their earlier fight.
Panicked, it reacted a fraction too slowly. It could only raise its claws to shield its body before the mysterious Monster spun around and sent it flying with a tail swipe.
The mysterious Monster also heard the Heavy Bowgun firing, but having never faced humans before, it had no idea what the sounds meant. Its simple mind could not even connect them to the searing pain of Bowgun Ammo piercing its body.
At that moment, it saw only one enemy: that damned Lolo Gougarf!
It planted its forelegs on the ground and roared, its thick limbs tearing through sand and soil. Its gaping, blood-red maw resembled a bottomless pit as it lunged forward with enough ferocity to devour everything in its path.
Sent flying by the Monster's tail, the Lolo Gougarf tumbled once and struggled back to its feet.
Ahead, the Ravenous Dragon Beast charged with wild fury; behind, the treacherous Hunters watched eagerly, waiting for an opportunity to strike. The Lolo Gougarf had no confidence in defeating either side, let alone both while caught in a pincer attack.
Despair began creeping into the Lolo Gougarf's heart, but what happened next completely defied its expectations.
The Hunter who had cut it the deepest during the day, the one who could "fly," turned her back on the Monster and took up position in front of the Lolo Gougarf.
No creature willingly exposed its vulnerable back to an enemy. This was, without question, a protective stance.
But... was she protecting me? The gash on the Lolo Gougarf's chest, deep enough to expose bone, was still bleeding.
Isis had no idea what confused and conflicting emotions were swirling inside the Lolo Gougarf at that moment. Even if she had known, she would not have cared much. She had not joined the fight to make peace with it.
Just as Altaïr had said earlier, she simply wanted to help. She could come up with a reason later!
Facing the unknown Monster as it barreled toward her, Isis raised her Large Shield.
In the past, when faced with a Large Monster's charge, she had only two options: dodge out of the way as quickly as possible, or begin charging early enough to meet it head-on and wrestle against its momentum with her own.
In a real battle, she did not always have enough time or space to build up speed when a charge came at her. Now, however, she had a new option!
Holding up her shield, Isis pointed her Gunlance behind her, disengaged the shelling recoil brake, and fired a shell!
"Boom!" A blazing burst of explosive flame erupted from the muzzle.
The Lolo Gougarf behind Isis was startled out of its wits. If Isis had not had the foresight to leave a safe distance of about ten meters between them, that shot would have blasted it right in the face.
Propelled by the immense recoil unleashed by the disengaged brake assembly, Isis shot forward.
Blast Dash!
From the mysterious Monster's perspective, it simply felt as though some small creature had gotten in its way. It paid her no attention at all.
But when that "small creature" launched herself into the air with a loud bang and flew straight toward its face, it finally sensed that something was wrong.
Even so, it did not back down. Instead, it opened its jaws wider, as though intending to swallow the oncoming creature whole.
The massive shield drove straight into the Monster's mouth. The moment her feet hit the ground, cold sweat broke out across Isis's back.
This Monster's mouth was simply too enormous. If her Large Shield and Gunlance had not both been specially reinforced and enlarged by the smith, and if the top of the shield had not been fitted with a blade point crafted from a Glavenus horn...
She might very well have flown straight into the Monster's mouth herself.
Even though her shield was temporarily wedging the Monster's massive maw open, Isis had just seen it dislocate its jaw to swallow an entire Bullfango whole and did not dare lower her guard.
She roared with effort, her spread feet carving two deep, conspicuous furrows through the sandy ground as she forced the charging Monster to slow down. At the same time, she thrust the Gunlance in her left hand deep into its throat and pulled the trigger with all her might.
"Wyvern's Fire!"
"BOOOOOOM!!"
The explosive flames and gases poured almost entirely into the Monster's mouth, causing its highly elastic neck to swell like a rubber balloon for an instant.
The blast forced the unknown Monster's head backward, bringing its charge to a halt.
Morgan was stunned by the sight. Even his Heavy Bowgun fell silent for several seconds. Honestly, this was the first time he had ever seen anyone stop a charge like that.
The immense force of Wyvern's Fire broke the unknown Monster's momentum and created an opening. Isis immediately launched a relentless assault.
Overhead Smash! Wide Sweep! Full Burst! Wyrmstake Cannon!
The Lolo Gougarf was equally dumbfounded.
It could not understand how a Hunter shorter than its own arm had managed to force that Monster to a halt, or why she had suddenly helped it attack its sworn enemy. For a moment, it was utterly bewildered.
Altaïr sprinted past it, causing every muscle in its body to tense with alarm once again.
If the Hunter who had just come to its aid had dealt it the heaviest blow during the day, then the man now sprinting past had landed the most hits.
"Charge!" Altaïr barked at the Lolo Gougarf, glancing sideways at it as he raced past.
He knew the Lolo Gougarf could not understand their language, but he wanted to try what Clawdia had mentioned about communicating through emotion.
Unfortunately, that failed too.
The Lolo Gougarf still seemed extremely wary of them. Instead of attacking alongside Altaïr and Isis, it leaped backward and put a good twenty or thirty meters between them.
Just as the Hunters reluctantly concluded that it was about to turn and leave...
It suddenly raised its hands and fired several strands of silk, anchoring them tightly to a massive boulder jutting out of the ground in the distance.
"Wraaaaaah!!"
The Lolo Gougarf roared with effort as it strained and, using brute force alone, tore the rock, which must have weighed several tons, straight out of the earth.
Then, using itself as a pivot, it began to spin, dragging the massive stone behind it like a gigantic flail.
As the boulder gathered speed and the Lolo Gougarf kept pouring strength into the spin, it became a violent, raging whirlwind.
(Translated by yourtl.app)