As Jhen Mohran swung its neck, the Dragonship clamped between its jaws was nearly lifted completely out of the sand sea.
Several crew members were thrown overboard unprepared, with the unluckiest one falling directly into the Elder Dragon's mouth, their fate unknown.
Realizing he had been tricked by Jhen Mohran, the Admiral displayed agility belying his age. In a few leaps, he crossed the severely tilted deck and reached the Dragonator's activation mechanism.
Grabbing the copper hammer with one hand, he forcefully triggered the device.
At the ship's bow, the pre-loaded Dragonator spun rapidly forward, propelled by high-pressure steam, drilling deep into Jhen Mohran's upper jaw.
Though Jhen Mohran routinely consumed minerals from the sand sea, developing tough hide inside its mouth, it couldn't withstand the mechanically powered Dragonator.
Amid spraying blood, the thrusting Dragonator pried open the Elder Dragon's clamped jaws, pushing the Dragonship free from its maw and back onto the sand surface.
Maddened by excruciating pain, Jhen Mohran roared wildly and thrashed violently, capsizing numerous Sandships still tethered to it via One-shot Binder ropes.
Many hunters secured to their respective Sandships by safety lines were yanked off the dragon's back into the sand sea.
Altaïr faced the same fate, but just before his safety rope dragged him down, he swiftly drew his knife and severed the line. At the last moment, he grabbed onto a firmly embedded Ballista Ammo, barely stabilizing himself on the monster's back.
As Jhen Mohran's struggles continued, Altaïr could only press low against its body, desperately clinging to the bolt shaft with both hands, completely unable to check on others.
Only after half a minute did the orally wounded Jhen Mohran calm slightly.
Altaïr finally rose cautiously, supporting himself against a protruding rock carapace.
Scanning around, he counted fewer than five hunters remaining on the dragon's back; Serl among them.
Serl spotted him too, but before they could assess each other's condition, a hunter near the head shouted, "Look!"
Altaïr and Serl immediately turned, following the pointing finger.
During the earlier ambush, Hozan-maru's bow had sustained severe damage. The deployed Dragonator remained jammed at a crooked angle, unable to retract.
Worst of all, one of its balance rods had snapped, leaving the entire vessel tilted sideways, impossible to right quickly or reactivate.
Jhen Mohran clearly noticed this.
It ceased swimming, heaving its half-buried body from the sand sea, and began crawling step by step toward the overturned Dragonship.
The hunters paled. A motionless Dragonship meant nothing before a super-giant Elder Dragon; it needed only to crawl forward to crush the centuries-old vessel.
"Any blast barrels left?!" Altaïr yelled hoarsely.
"Barrels! Right, barrels!" The Hammer user who'd earlier struck the great gong jolted to awareness. He looked around, but unfortunately, few hunters had managed to stay on Jhen Mohran's back during the recent turbulence, and the massive bombs that had been painstakingly transported onto the creature's back had long since rolled off.
"There should be more on the sandship! Have them send it over... this is our only chance!" Altaïr shouted, then yelled toward the few remaining functional sandships nearby.
One sandship that still carried bombs accelerated at full speed toward them, no longer caring about maintaining a safe distance.
An Insect Glaive user on the dragon's back immediately controlled his Kinsect to extract essence from Jhen Mohran's wounds, enhancing his physical abilities before leaping directly from the creature's back.
He landed with a roll and sprinted toward the sandship without breaking stride.
Serl drew his blade. "We'll buy some time!"
"Alright!" The formidable-looking Hammer user charged toward Jhen Mohran's head alongside him, hoping to distract the beast by attacking its head wounds and halt its advance.
Given the current situation, Altaïr naturally abandoned any foolish thoughts about mining.
With the dragonship disabled, the Anti-dragon Bombs were their only means of dealing significant damage to Jhen Mohran, and they likely had just one opportunity; it couldn't be wasted.
The placement of the bomb was crucial.
He ran from Jhen Mohran's spine all the way to the back of its head, finally discovering a particularly large and deep wound near the neck area.
The gash was so deep that he could jump inside completely without being visible. Perfect for planting a bomb, though the space still seemed slightly insufficient for the entire explosive.
He needed to expand the wound further!
With this thought, he tossed aside the round shield from his right hand and drew the carving knife from his waist, which was similar in size to the off-hand sword.
Clashing the blades together to activate Demon Mode, he leaped directly into the wound.
Blade Dance!
Executing the Blade Dance in such a confined space was extremely awkward, but he desperately swung his dual blades anyway, the splattering blood and flesh fragments nearly coating him entirely.
The Insect Glaive user who had retrieved the bomb finally climbed back onto the dragon's back. His gaze swept across and quickly noticed the "gushing" wound. Without pausing to catch his breath, he hurried over carrying the massive bomb.
On top of Jhen Mohran's head, the Hammer user and Serl, who had been attacking relentlessly, finally saw some results.
Jhen Mohran paused its advance, shook its head, and convulsed, ejecting several clumps of sand from the blowholes on its back that came crashing down toward the head area.
Serl dodged one sand clump, while the Hammer user responded more boldly; he directly swung his hammer to shatter an incoming sand mass.
Before they could relax, more sand clumps came raining down.
"I'll hold here! Go cover their bomb placement!" the Hammer user roared hoarsely. "Don't let these sand clumps detonate the bomb prematurely!"
"Right!"
Serl immediately rushed toward the neck area.
Seeing Altaïr drenched in blood while wildly dancing inside the wound, Serl froze for half a second before quickly realizing what his companion was trying to achieve. After quickly gauging with his eyes that the wound was large enough to fit an Anti-dragon Bomb, he shouted, "It's ready! I'll detonate it! Retreat now!"
The Insect Glaive user nodded and hurried over to the Hammer user to notify him to retreat.
Altaïr, who had been fully executing the Blade Dance within the wound, found it difficult to stop immediately. It wasn't until Serl blocked him with his shield that he finally halted his sword strikes.
Serl grabbed his clothing and helped him climb out of the wound.
Together, they fully inserted the Anti-dragon Bomb into the wound. After disarming the safety, Serl quickly pulled the fuse and was about to retreat when a shadow suddenly approached from above.
"Watch out!" Altaïr yelled in warning.
Serl looked up and noticed the mass of sand falling toward them.
A disarmed bomb was highly sensitive; even a small stone could trigger it, let alone a large clump of sand falling from the sky.
The bomb would detonate prematurely, and they had no time to escape the blast radius. Without a second thought, Serl dashed in front of Altaïr, grabbed him, and leaped off the dragon's back while turning to raise his shield.
The next moment, scorching flames engulfed them.