If the preceding battle had made the Lagiacrus sense danger, made it feel that something was wrong,
then the brutal beating the Hunters delivered after bringing it down made it truly, viscerally aware of the killing intent coming from these terrifying bipeds.
Such unmistakable killing intent was relatively rare in nature. Generally speaking, only creatures occupying a higher ecological niche displayed such clear predatory desire when hunting.
Am I... prey?
Finally realizing this, the Lagiacrus's heart filled with the urge to flee. Enduring the searing pain of the Hunters' weapons relentlessly striking its body, it twisted and scrambled back to its feet.
Its body, already covered in wounds yet still remarkably agile, writhed as it slithered toward the distant canyon entrance.
The ground within the canyon was not the rough, gravelly sand one might expect, nor were there the shrubs and vines common in forests to serve as obstacles.
For a large amphibious creature like the Lagiacrus, this damp cobblestone ground was arguably the easiest terrain to traverse. Its serpentine slithering gait allowed it to move even faster than many terrestrial Large Monsters.
"Stop it!" Altaïr sheathed his weapon and sprinted at full speed, yet still couldn't catch up to the rapidly slithering Lagiacrus.
The slower-moving Isis had even more trouble keeping pace. The group could only watch helplessly as, in the span of barely ten seconds, the Lagiacrus slithered swiftly from deep within the canyon all the way to the vicinity of the entrance, on the verge of bursting through the narrow pass.
All they could do now was drive their legs harder and pray that Sajji's preparations would prove effective.
A resounding "Boom!" erupted. The flash of explosive fire and the billowing black smoke made it momentarily difficult to tell exactly what had happened at the narrow pass.
But at the very least, one thing was certain: the Lagiacrus, which had been slithering at top speed just a second before, had indeed come to a halt.
"GRAAWR!!" A piercing howl had barely begun when another loud bang followed.
Both Barrel Bombs seemed to have detonated directly beneath the Lagiacrus.
The proximity-triggered Barrel Bombs Sajji had set would only explode when stepped on by a Monster. Given the Lagiacrus's serpentine manner of "walking," with its belly pressed close to the ground, its underside naturally bore the brunt of the blasts first.
The explosive charge in these two triggered Barrel Bombs was not as staggering as that of a standard Large Barrel Bomb, but because the damage landed in such a targeted location, their practical combat effectiveness was no less impressive.
The Lagiacrus staggered and reeled. Had it not slammed into the rock wall beside it, which indirectly helped it steady itself, the creature that had just struggled to its feet less than half a minute ago might well have toppled over again.
Taking advantage of the few seconds the bomb blasts had bought them, the Hunters finally caught up.
Isis slammed her Large Shield down, blocking its path, while Altaïr immediately readied his Long Sword and began charging his strike.
Its chest and belly scorched black by the blasts, its head still dazed from the deafening explosions and shockwaves, the Lagiacrus shook its head.
Without giving it a chance to fully recover, Isis pressed the attack, launching a Rising Slash straight at the Lagiacrus's scar-crossed lower jaw.
The blow snapped the Lagiacrus's head upward, but it also jolted the beast back to full alertness.
It now understood with absolute clarity: if it could not bring down the Hunter before it, escape from this canyon would be impossible.
Ducking its head to evade Isis's follow-up slam and shelling, the Lagiacrus coiled its body and slid backward with a sharp whoosh, putting half a body length between them.
But this was no retreat.
Its body contracted, every muscle drawn taut; the unmistakable prelude to some kind of charging attack.
Isis drew a deep breath and popped a Might Pill into her mouth.
Beside her, Altaïr, still building power for his own strike, couldn't help glancing her way.
Isis did indeed possess monstrous strength far beyond that of ordinary people, but she had a clear-eyed sense of her own limits.
When to stand firm and when to fall back, she understood the distinction perfectly.
Against a Large Monster of the Lagiacrus's caliber, she was confident she could brace through its standard bites and claw swipes head-on. But this, a full-body charge that required it to recoil and build momentum, was clearly beyond what raw power alone could handle.
This time, however, she could not retreat. If the Lagiacrus slipped out of this valley, the rest of the Hunt would descend into chaos and uncertainty.
She took another deep breath, recalling all the lessons Instructor Altman and Lord Fabius had taught her about head-on impacts.
Channeling every ounce of her physical strength and fighting spirit into the Large Shield in her right hand, she let out a low shout and launched her own counter-charge.
At that exact moment, the Lagiacrus's body spiraled into a twisting motion, gathering even more force as it lunged forward.
Its fang-filled maw slammed into Isis's Large Shield with devastating impact.
From the very first instant of collision, Isis was losing ground. Gifted though she was, pitting human strength head-to-head against a Large Monster over twenty-five meters long was simply asking too much.
She couldn't even steady her footing. Merely holding her Defensive Stance together without letting it break consumed every last shred of her strength, and she was shoved relentlessly backward, shield and all, sliding across the ground.
Yet her performance was already astonishing. Had it been a less durable heavy-armor fighter in her place, they wouldn't have merely lost their Defensive Stance. They would have been sent flying the instant the impact hit.
Altaïr's eyes were locked on the wound at the side of the Lagiacrus's neck. The instant the Monster pushed Isis past him, he unleashed the attack he had been building all this time.
He burst forward, hugging the ground, his Long Sword carving a perfect arc of light through the air. The Spirit Gauge-laden blade bit precisely into the wound.
Charged Roundslash! The sensation that traveled back through the hilt, a crisp, gristly give, told him he had likely severed some cartilage.
But his attack was far from over. Riding the lingering inertia of the Roundslash, he accelerated his spin, launched himself into the air, and whirled into a second strike.
Spinning Crimson Slash! Two consecutive, explosively powerful strikes sheared away a large chunk of the Lagiacrus's nuchal scales, the hood-like plates flaring along the sides of its neck. Reeling from this grievous wound, the Lagiacrus's whole body slackened for an instant. Isis, who had been desperately maintaining her stance against it, felt this momentary lapse. With a roar, she drove her legs forward, muscles screaming, and forcibly halted the still-surging Lagiacrus in its tracks.
"GRAAAHHH!!"
What should you do after suddenly gaining the upper hand in a clash of strength? Commit everything, of course, and counterattack in one furious surge!
Bellowing, Isis rammed her shoulder and head against the Large Shield, feet churning against the ground in alternating strides, pushing with all her might to drive the Lagiacrus, which had been on the verge of escaping the canyon, back the way it had come.
The Lagiacrus, barely mustering some strength through the agony of its severed nuchal scales, tried to muscle back, but Isis would give it no chance to rally.
The Glavenus Gunlance, having just finished cooling, was brutally thrust into the Lagiacrus's half-gaping maw, pinned open by her shield, as she simultaneously squeezed the trigger.
"Wyvern's Fire!!!"
"B-B-BOOOOOM!"
With almost no force wasted, the violently erupting explosive flames and shockwave poured entirely into the Lagiacrus's mouth, blasting its throat, tongue, and oral cavity into a mangled mess.
The colossal head, along with its entire upper body, was hurled backward by the force, sending several of the crown-like fangs growing from its lower jaw flying in shattered fragments.
"Hrah!" Isis roared, advancing with her Gunlance brandished. The badly wounded Lagiacrus, cowed by her shout, stumbled several steps backward.
Altaïr grinned, brandishing his Long Sword as he pressed forward alongside Isis.
Realizing that fleeing the canyon through the pass was now impossible, the Lagiacrus instinctively chose the only remaining escape route within the gorge: the pool of water at the valley floor.
Even if that pool was too narrow and shallow for it to stretch its body out fully.
But underwater was its domain, a place where it could at least evade Nymera's Bowgun Ammo.
The Lagiacrus turned its head, twisted its body to accelerate, and tried to hurl itself into that pool as quickly as possible.
But at that moment, a One-shot Binder with a massive barb came flying in, piercing the still-intact nuchal scales on its other side.
The tough rope, braided from Monster sinew, snapped taut instantly, forcefully jerking the rapidly slithering Lagiacrus to a halt.
The tethered Lagiacrus struggled like a giant fish on a hook. A terrifying pulling force, measured in tens of tons, traveled along the rope and slammed into the base of Rakna-Kadaki Model-4.
Even the reinforced ground stakes were no match for such tremendous force. Almost the instant it snared the Lagiacrus, Rakna-Kadaki Model-4 was on the verge of breaking apart.
"It's not going to hold, meow!"
The Lagiacrus's struggles were far more violent than anticipated. Sajji strained desperately at the winch reeling in the rope, head craned back, mewling shrilly.
"Almost there! Almost there!" On the path between the Lagiacrus and the pool, Jara was frantically setting up a Pitfall Trap.
Once the mechanism triggered, the ground collapsed into a large pit, the adhesive net snapped open, and the Pitfall Trap was set.
Just then, Rakna-Kadaki Model-4 beneath Sajji was finally torn apart under the Lagiacrus's mighty dragging force, ripped from the ground along with its ground stakes.
The furiously struggling Lagiacrus's body suddenly went slack, losing its balance in an instant. It tumbled gracelessly across the ground for two rolls, and before it could even fully scramble to its feet, it continued its frantic, desperate lunge toward the nearby pool.
Whether it had sensed the trap or simply gotten lucky, the Lagiacrus scrambled up and shot right past the Pitfall Trap, diving headfirst into that pool.
(Translated by yourtl.app)