After receiving Altaïr's command, Morgan, crouched on a distant rocky ledge with his Bowgun set up, quickly removed the current magazine and loaded two Paintball rounds.
He trained the muzzle on the agitated, confused Black Diablos and waited for the right moment.
By then, Altaïr had closed to within fifty meters of the "Demon King." He stopped, turned sideways, and slipped behind a rock.
Next, he took out a Sonic Bomb and loaded it onto his Slinger.
Once he was ready, he made two more hand signals to coordinate the timing with the distant Gunner.
The "Demon King" was still advancing slowly. The distance between the two Diablos continued to shrink, and the Black Diablos grew increasingly restless.
Now!
Altaïr extended his Slinger past the edge of the rock and fired the Sonic Bomb at a point just ahead of the "Demon King."
Morgan had long been ready, his finger resting lightly on the trigger. The instant the Sonic Bomb detonated in midair, he fired.
"Bang! Bang!"
The high-frequency blast drowned out the roar of the Bowgun as two rounds tore through the air.
According to the intelligence Sid had provided, the battle-hardened "Demon King" had already learned how to deal with Flash Pods, but Sonic Bombs remained effective against it.
After all, there was no escaping high-frequency sound, and a Diablos's extraordinarily keen hearing made that kind of interference impossible to ignore.
The "Demon King," closer to the point of detonation, was stunned exactly as expected.
The Black Diablos was affected as well, but the greater distance left her merely dazed and disoriented rather than incapacitated.
Two Paintball rounds streaked through the air and struck her squarely in the head, splashing her face with pungent paintberry juice.
Her abnormally violent temperament from the hormonal changes of pregnancy, the pressure of the "Demon King's" terrifying size and strength, the Stinkmink pheromones drawing her in, the dizziness caused by the Sonic Bomb...
Assailed by all these factors at once, the Black Diablos was already in a confused frenzy, as dangerous as a Barrel Bomb with its safety removed.
The two Paintball rounds, their origin concealed by the noise, became the pebble that set off the Barrel Bomb.
The last thread of reason snapped. Nothing remained in her bloodshot eyes but pure aggression and the urge to destroy.
She had no thought to spare for where the noise had come from, who had fired the two pungent rounds, the faint mating urge stirred by the Stinkmink pheromones, or her fear of the "Demon King." Everything else fell away.
All she wanted now was to smash something. What? Whatever stood out most in her field of vision!
The Black Diablos roared. Her powerful hind claws shattered the rock beneath them, and like Isis launching into Storm Rush, she exploded into a full-speed charge over an astonishingly short distance, racing toward the still-stunned "Demon King."
Harder carapace, stronger defenses, greater raw power, all of that was secondary. The true reason a Black Diablos was so much more dangerous than an ordinary Diablos was the near-physics-defying speed with which she could launch into a charge.
Anyone but an experienced veteran would have no hope of dodging a charge like that, let alone the chain of charges that followed...
Yet at that moment, every Hunter was silently cheering for the enraged, pregnant Monster.
Hit harder! If only she could impale the "Demon King" with one blow!
The "Demon King" was extraordinarily resilient. Even though Altaïr's Sonic Bomb had detonated in a nearly perfect position, it remained stunned for only six or seven seconds.
That was enough. By the time its mind began to clear, the pair of pitch-black horns was already before its eyes.
The "Demon King" could only lower its head on reflex and use its thick, bony skull to protect its chest and neck from being pierced by those horns. Then the impact came.
Although its size and strength far surpassed those of the Gold Crown Black Diablos, it had only just recovered from being stunned and was defending in haste, while she struck at full speed.
There was no question which of them would win that collision.
The Black Diablos immediately knocked the "Demon King" off balance. Had it not reacted quickly enough to steady itself, she would have sent it crashing to the ground.
Before the "Demon King" could regain its footing, the Black Diablos roared and drove forward, forcing it back step by step.
If she could truly knock the "Demon King" down, the slow recovery of such a massive Monster would give her time to inflict serious damage.
"Don't just push! Lower your head a little more and lift! Break its balance!" Isis muttered from the bushes, as though her advice could somehow reach the Black Diablos.
Unfortunately, the frenzied Black Diablos could neither hear Isis's sideline advice nor manage a more skillful response. The "Demon King" stamped its hind feet down, sinking its claws deep into the rock, and finally halted its retreat.
It violently wrenched its head sideways, using its dark-red horn like an enormous crowbar to twist the Gold Crown Black Diablos, a full size smaller than itself, off balance.
However, any Diablos capable of reaching Gold Crown size was far from a pushover.
Just as she began to lose her balance, the Black Diablos turned with the motion and swept her hammer-like tail in from the side with enough force to shatter rock.
The "Demon King" reacted too late. The tail hammer slammed squarely into its skull, and even Altaïr, standing some distance away, heard the carapace over its head crack.
He clenched his fist.
That single tail hammer had inflicted as much damage as the Hunters could have dealt after hacking away for quite some time.
Yet that same blow also knocked the "Demon King" free of the mating urge induced by the Stinkmink pheromones.
Blood vessels spread across its murky eyes. Two streams of scorching white vapor burst from its nostrils, and its dark-red carapace seemed to take on the scarlet hue of blood.
The "Demon King" was enraged!
"ROOOOAAAARR!!"
It roared wildly and lunged forward, its mountain-like body meeting the Black Diablos as she charged again with her horns lowered.
"BAM!"
With a sound like two wooden clubs smashing together, only countless times louder, the two Diablos collided again.
This time, the Black Diablos was clearly losing. Outmatched in both size and strength, she gave ground beneath the "Demon King's" pressure and was on the verge of being flipped over.
Just then, a streak of flame shot in from the distance and erupted into a fireball six or seven meters across beside the "Demon King's" hind leg, near the base of its tail.
It was Morgan's Supernova shot.
The "Demon King's" carapace could withstand extreme heat, but it could not ignore the physical force of the explosion.
Howling in pain, the "Demon King" lost the balance behind its all-out assault. Its body lurched violently, and its footing fell into disarray.
The Black Diablos, who had been straining against its pressure, seized the opening and drove the "Demon King" into a nearby rock wall.
Rocks came crashing down as her jet-black horns plunged deep into the "Demon King's" chest and shoulder, gouging open two wounds that poured blood.
The "Demon King" went mad with rage. Ignoring the searing pain, it lunged again and used its single horn, fangs, wing claws, hammer-like tail... every part of its body to grapple and tear at the Black Diablos in the most primitive, savage way possible.
"Hey, isn't that a rather blatant bit of interference?" Alva could not help muttering.
By habit and professional principle, scholars deliberately avoided interfering with Monsters fighting in the wild.
Isis gave him a strange look. "We're on a Hunt. Of course we're going to stack the odds in our favor."
The corner of Alva's mouth twitched.
He understood that perfectly well. A Hunter's Hunt and a scholar's field observation followed completely different rules. Since he was serving as a Handler here, he naturally would not interfere with the Hunters' actions. It merely left him feeling a little conflicted.
Stone fragments flew, and dust billowed.
Under the "Demon King's" relentless assault, the Black Diablos inevitably began losing ground again, but she proved far more tenacious than the Hunters had expected.
She charged the "Demon King" again and again. Even battered and bloodied, she never once considered ending her counterattack or fleeing.
At last, the "Demon King" flipped her over again, drove its dark-red horn through her chest and abdomen, and pinned her to the ground.
"ROOOOAAAARR!!"
The "Demon King" shook its head and pulled its bloodstained horn free. Planting one foot on the Black Diablos, who was still struggling but no longer had the strength to rise, it raised its head and unleashed a victor's long howl.
"What an unpleasant creature," Isis muttered under her breath. She rose, rolled her neck and shoulders, and stepped out of the bushes.
From his position high above, Morgan switched to a belt of Freeze Ammo. Altaïr and Serl also emerged from their hiding places and approached the "Demon King."
As the "Demon King" turned its gaze toward them, Serl raised his sword and shield, a teasing note in his voice.
"With the Demon King as our opponent, doesn't this feel a little like we're heroes in some storybook?"
"Not that noble." Altaïr glanced at the dying Black Diablos. "We're just Hunters."
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This chapter was translated through YourTL.app, which can also translate novels for readers when no English version exists.