The "Demon King's" gaze settled on the Hunters.
Unlike most Large Monsters, which arrogantly regarded Hunters as "harmless little creatures," wariness flickered in the "Demon King's" bloodshot crimson eyes.
It remembered these creatures. They looked tiny, not even as long as one of its horns, yet had proven unexpectedly troublesome in a real fight.
One of them had come to "pester" it several times before, yet it had never managed to kill him. Now several more had appeared at once. Furious as it was, it dared not let down its guard.
Leaving the dying Black Diablos where she lay, the "Demon King" shook itself and fixed its gaze on the Hunters before it.
The vigilance and caution in that stare gave Altaïr a headache.
Compared with a reckless madman that charged headlong into everything, a seasoned and wary "Demon King" was clearly a tougher opponent.
Their plan to catch it off guard and suppress it with a coordinated assault was obviously off the table. Altaïr decisively changed strategies.
"Fall back! I'll lure it to the pass!" Altaïr shouted, relaying his orders to his companions while drawing the "Demon King's" attention.
Isis had just reached the "Demon King" and had not yet brought her weapon to bear. She quickly retreated, then accelerated away once she was out of its sight. Serl also sheathed his weapon and sprinted off. They had preparations to make.
In the distance, Morgan held his fire. The "Demon King's" attention naturally settled on Altaïr.
It lowered its center of gravity, scraped the ground with its hind claws, and coiled to spring.
At the same moment, Altaïr raised his Long Sword, leveled its tip forward, and entered a Focus stance.
He was not aiming for raw power. After charging for barely more than a second, he flashed forward.
The short-range, teleport-like movement clearly exceeded the "Demon King's" understanding. Before it could react and launch its charge, the Hunter had already slipped beneath its head.
Instant Slash!
The Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] swept upward, then slashed diagonally down, opening two inconspicuous wounds beneath its jaw and along its neck.
For a Monster of the "Demon King's" size, the two cuts did not even qualify as scratches. Yet the fact that its vital areas had been struck left it shocked and enraged.
Imagine a tiny creature smaller than your palm, a bat, for example, suddenly flashing from before your eyes to your throat and scratching you twice, leaving two bloody marks.
Even if such an attack did not truly injure you, it would still be enough to send a chill down your spine.
"Roooaaar!"
The "Demon King" roared, reared its upper body, and swept one rock-rending claw at him.
Altaïr had expected it. He stepped sideways and sprang into the air, twisting acrobatically past the Monster's massive claw with barely any space to spare. Pulling off such a precise evasion in so dangerous a moment sharpened his focus even further.
Without hesitation, he activated Demon Mode the instant his feet touched down and sprinted at full speed.
The enraged "Demon King" roared and bounded after him.
The oasis was not an open, level stretch of sand. Huge boulders and rocky platforms rose everywhere. Many routes were spacious enough for a Hunter, but squeezing through them took some effort for a Monster the "Demon King's" size.
With the terrain on his side, Altaïr kept a narrow, hair-raising lead over the "Demon King."
Over the past few days, they had familiarized themselves with the oasis and made extensive preparations around it. The "pass" Altaïr had mentioned was one such place.
It ran between two rocky platforms for some forty or fifty meters, narrowing to just six or seven meters at its tightest point. It was a miniature canyon.
The "Demon King" could pass through easily enough if it folded its wings tight, but there was no room for it to turn around.
By the time Altaïr charged into the path, two Large Barrel Bombs G had already been placed at the bottleneck.
The bombs had already been primed. Now even a small impact would detonate them.
Altaïr nimbly slipped between the Barrel Bombs. After a few more strides at full speed, he dove to the ground and lay flat.
At the same time, the "Demon King" pursuing close behind him entered the path.
The Large Barrel Bombs, big enough to hold Francesca without her head poking out, looked no different from small roadside rocks to the "Demon King."
It could smash through boulders several times larger with a single headbutt, so why would it think to avoid them?
Besides, the bottleneck was already narrow, leaving it nowhere to dodge, so it naturally plowed straight into them...
"BOOOOOOM!!!"
The power of the Large Barrel Bombs G was no joke. The blast wave sent Altaïr, who had already flattened himself against the ground, tumbling several times.
The only drawback of such a hunting item was its weight and bulk. Under ordinary circumstances, a Hunter could not carry one, much less pull it from an Item Pouch and slap it onto a Monster's face. It had to be set up in advance.
But once placed in the right spot, its power never disappointed.
Even the thick-skinned, extraordinarily tough "Demon King" was brought to an abrupt halt by the explosion. The blast threw its head and upper body high, leaving its head a bloody ruin.
Its head had struck the Barrel Bombs, after all...
The Hunters' assault was not over. As the "Demon King" reeled backward and howled in pain from the blast, Serl appeared on the rocky platform above the bottleneck.
He hoisted one Barrel Bomb with a grunt and hurled it down, then quickly followed it with the second.
Two thunderous blasts rang out in succession.
One Large Barrel Bomb struck the "Demon King" in the back and the other hit its left wing, blasting two more charred wounds into it.
Dazed by the explosions, the "Demon King" sensed danger and lowered its head to charge out. Just then, a figure rushed into the path.
Isis charged past Altaïr with her Large Shield raised. Before the "Demon King" could take a step, she planted the shield against its head and stubbornly held it in place.
Then she roared, swung her Gunlance into action, and joined Altaïr, who had doubled back, in a frontal assault.
Behind the "Demon King," Morgan slid to a stop and instantly deployed his Heavy Bowgun into a Crouching Shot stance. Freeze Ammo wreathed in icy blue mist burst from the muzzle, blasting sheets of frost across the area behind the "Demon King."
The narrow pass left the "Demon King" unable to turn, while the simultaneous assault from front and rear left it trapped between them.
The "Demon King" was about to endure the Hunters' attacks and force its way straight ahead when a sharp "Meow!" rang out. Sajji burst from the ground beneath it.
With quick, practiced movements, Sajji operated the prepared Rakna-Kadaki Model-4 (One-shot Binder), deploying and anchoring it in the blink of an eye.
A giant barbed ballista bolt sank into the inner side of the "Demon King's" thigh at nearly point-blank range. The carapace was thinner there and the flesh relatively soft. More importantly, the position gave the Monster little leverage, making the bolt difficult to tear free.
As the rope snapped taut, the "Demon King," hemmed in by the Hunters and unable to summon a sudden burst of strength, was yanked back once more.
Serl still had two Large Barrel Bombs G on hand, but with his companions already fighting at close range, he decisively abandoned the throw rather than risk friendly fire. He sprinted a few steps, leaped from the rocky platform, and landed on the "Demon King's" back.
Gripping a ridge of carapace with one hand to steady himself, he drew a Carving Knife from behind his waist with the other and repeatedly stabbed and slashed at vital spots: the wounds across the "Demon King's" back, the gaps between its carapace plates, and the nerve-dense areas near its spine.
Under Serl's mounted assault, the "Demon King" convulsed in agony. With a violent reflexive arch of its body, its immense muscles ripped the One-shot Binder from its inner thigh along with a chunk of bloody flesh.
The searing pain across its body drove the "Demon King" into a frenzy, but without the One-shot Binder pulling against it, it could finally move its legs. Enduring the Hunters' attacks, it surged forward.
Unwilling to let the "Demon King" escape so easily, Isis braced her Large Shield, lowered her center of gravity, and roared, "Dragon Blast!"
Altaïr had been preparing to launch a fierce attack of his own, but he immediately sheathed his weapon, turned, and ran.
After a brief two-second charge, a massive golden-red fireball erupted from the muzzle of the Glavenus Gunlance. Even with the Large Shield protecting her, the searing residual flames scorched Isis's weapon arm and her unarmored face.
The explosive flames engulfed a considerable portion of the Monster's body and knocked the "Demon King," already unsteady from its agony, to the ground.