Altaïr downed another Potion and sat cross-legged beside the now-murky pool, steadying himself as he waited for Clawdia's report.
Isis crouched at the water's edge, her expression tense with worry.
Although Clawdia was indeed the most skilled among them at moving underwater, sending her deep into an unknown underground river to track a Lagiacrus still filled Isis with unease.
Ten minutes passed, and Clawdia still had not returned.
The unease in Isis's heart grew stronger. She knew Clawdia could hold her breath underwater for quite a while, but even so, she would struggle to stay down for ten full minutes.
The fact that she had not returned yet likely meant something had gone wrong!
At that thought, Isis suddenly stood up, ready to jump into the water.
Fortunately, just then, Clawdia's dripping wet head broke the surface. Relief washed over Isis, and she quietly drew back the foot she had already half-lifted.
"The situation's better than expected, meow. After it smashed through the rock wall, the crack really does lead to an underground river, and the current's not strong, meow.
"The good news is, you don't have to swim far before it opens into a much larger cave, meow."
As Clawdia spoke, she lifted her head to survey the surrounding mountains and pointed toward one of the ridges. "It went that way, meow. If I'm not mistaken, the cave is inside this mountain, meow.
"There's a place to get ashore, and there's air to breathe, meow. But whether there's a passage leading directly outside is uncertain, meow."
"Is it still in the water? Or has it already come ashore?" Altaïr pressed.
"Still in the water, meow. Its injuries are severe, and it's exhausted, meow. It's drifting in the water, catching its breath, meow. At least, that's how it was when I came back, meow."
Altaïr and the others quickly exchanged opinions and soon reached a decision.
"We'll all pursue it together." Altaïr looked at his companions and said, "Isis, Nymera, Sajji, once you reach the spot, head straight for the shore and prepare for battle.
"The fact that the Lagiacrus hasn't come ashore is actually good news. A Lagiacrus can only generate electricity by vibrating the organ on its back while it's on land, then stores that electrical energy in its dorsal spines.
"Once it discharges a few more times in the water, the electrical energy stored in those spines will be depleted. At that point, it will have to return to shore to generate power and recharge.
"We'll seize that opportunity and finish it off in the cave in one fell swoop!"
Those around him nodded, donned their breathing masks one after another, and leaped into the pool.
The underwater conditions were just as Clawdia had described. Because of the earlier breach, the water levels between the underground river and the pool remained balanced. The break had not caused a violent surge of water from one side to the other; overall, the currents could still be called stable.
The only issue was that the underground river, or rather the passage connecting the pool to the cave, was completely filled with water. Ordinary people did not possess the Sea People's ability to dive and swim hundreds of meters.
However, with the breathing masks and after their basic underwater movement training, even someone like Isis, who was not adept at aquatic action, could swim through this waterway with relative ease.
While diving through the pitch-black underwater passage, the Hunters were all on edge. If the Lagiacrus suddenly came charging down the channel, they would be trapped with nowhere to go.
To prevent that, Clawdia, the strongest swimmer among them, had set out first and entered the cave ahead of them to keep the Lagiacrus occupied.
Under Clawdia's cover, the group made it through the waterway without serious incident and entered the cave.
The light inside the cave was still dim.
Only the Brightmoss on the rock walls and certain fluorescent algae in the water gave off a faint, cold blue glow.
But perhaps because they had just emerged from the near-total darkness of the waterway, the Hunters actually found the cave quite bright.
The body of water inside the cave was far more spacious than the previous pool. It could even be called a small lake.
By the glow of the algae in the water, they could faintly make out Clawdia darting nimbly around the injured Lagiacrus.
The Lagiacrus kept lunging to bite her but failed time and again. Yet it was unwilling to waste precious electrical energy on a wide-area discharge, leaving it looking harried.
Seeing that the Lagiacrus had not yet noticed their position, Altaïr waved his hand in the "surface" signal.
Isis and Nymera swiftly paddled forward and swam for shore.
Their weapons had not been modified for underwater combat and had been flooded during the dive. Sand and silt might even have seeped into their internal mechanisms.
They needed to strip their weapons down as quickly as possible, flush out the silt, and drain the water to prevent misfires or even burst barrels when they fired.
Altaïr and Jara also surfaced to breathe.
Once the algae in their breathing masks had replenished their oxygen, they both dove straight back down, heading toward the melee between Clawdia and the Lagiacrus.
Just as Altaïr got close to the Lagiacrus and was about to launch an attack, Jara pulled him back.
Jara turned and made a "be careful" gesture before twisting his body and moving closer to the Lagiacrus.
Altaïr felt a bit helpless; he knew the older Hunter was just worried about him.
Their previous underwater battle had proved that even if Altaïr reacted immediately, he could not escape the Lagiacrus's discharge range before the attack went off.
If he suffered a similar attack again, he would likely be electrocuted just as easily.
He moved his limbs, suspended himself in the water, and glanced around.
Soon, he noticed that the lake was dotted with numerous rock pillars, large and small. If he had enough explosives, blowing these pillars apart at the right moment might perhaps deliver a fatal blow to the Lagiacrus.
Of course, such a plan was nothing more than wishful thinking.
Where would he get enough explosives to instantly snap a rock pillar several meters thick? How could he guarantee the explosives would detonate properly underwater? How could he ensure the Lagiacrus would just happen to be next to a pillar at the right moment? These were all problems he could not solve right now.
But he thought of another way to use those rock pillars. After estimating the distance between himself and the nearest pillar, a hint of a smile touched his eyes. He surged confidently toward the Lagiacrus and began his assault.
This time, he did not recklessly cling to the Lagiacrus's head and slash wildly. Instead, he moved to its side and casually picked a wound where the carapace was broken, swinging his blade there.
Due to water resistance, swinging a blade underwater was indeed far less convenient than on land. Fortunately, he had already found a technique to compensate for the lack of striking power underwater.
By "cushioning" his strikes, he traded slower attack frequency for passable impact force.
Compared to his previous ferocious assaults on land, this tepid, death-by-a-thousand-cuts approach was far less likely to draw the Lagiacrus's attention.
Its focus was almost entirely on Clawdia, who kept stabbing at its eyes and nostrils.
Even Jara drew more of the Lagiacrus's notice than he did. At least Jara's stabbing attacks were faster, and the frost clinging to his weapon also caused the Lagiacrus discomfort.
Altaïr carried on like this, hacking a few times here and never getting greedy, swimming away to reposition before the Lagiacrus noticed him, then slashing a couple more times elsewhere.
Bit by bit, he accumulated Spirit Gauge.
Under the combined assault of one Felyne and two humans, the Lagiacrus, already heavily wounded and unable to find even a moment's proper rest, finally reached its limit.
Its body contracted as it began charging electricity, extracting the stored energy from its dorsal spines and transforming it into leaping arcs that spread across its entire form.
The two Hunters and Clawdia beside the Lagiacrus immediately ceased their attacks and scattered. Jara, worried, swam straight toward Altaïr.
During the previous underwater discharge attack, Altaïr's reaction and judgment had been flawless, yet he still could not swim out of its range. That meant he had no counter for this move.
This time would likely be no different. Jara had already prepared himself to drag a paralyzed Altaïr back to the surface again.
What happened next, however, exceeded his expectations.
Altaïr kicked off the Lagiacrus's body, stretched his left hand forward to part the onrushing water, and spun his body forward, surging a great distance before immediately firing his Clutch Claw.
Underwater, the Clutch Claw's speed and range were naturally affected, but it was still many times faster than they could swim.
A heartbeat before the electric arcs erupted, the steel-forged claw successfully hooked onto a protrusion of the nearby rock pillar. As the rope rapidly retracted, Altaïr shot out of the arcs' expanding range with a sharp whoosh.
(Translated by yourtl.app)