Although Tidal Island lay in the South Sea, the mountain wind was still quite chilly at night.
Altaïr and Sajji, however, could not feel the cold after consuming far too much spice at dinner. Many spices also doubled as medicinal ingredients, and eating too much of them made a person sweat.
The mountain wind howled outside the cave. Inside, the Hunter and the Felyne slept soundly beside the dying campfire without so much as a blanket.
The night passed peacefully. By morning, the fatigue from trekking dozens of kilometers through the mountains the previous day had vanished, helped along by the enormous pot of calorie-rich food they had eaten the night before, a meal so nourishing it could almost be called "medicinal cuisine."
Altaïr felt so good he could kill a Tigrex with his bare hands. Sajji was equally energetic, almost manic; he had polished his rocket launcher with his furry paws until it gleamed.
They helped each other gear up, then checked their equipment, items, and ammunition.
Afterward, they left the temporary camp. Following the map, they reached a cave entrance not far away and descended underground.
Tidal Island had an extraordinarily complex network of underground cavities. Although they had been on the island for less than a year, they had already gained considerable experience exploring its cave systems.
They moved and climbed with practiced ease. With the map to guide them, it took barely half an hour to reach the spot where the transport team had encountered the Monster.
Iron Pickaxes and other tools, abandoned in the miners' panic, still lay scattered across the ground.
"Those guys really have some nerve, coming this deep to mine," Altaïr said as he glanced at the map.
The map charted the surrounding area only as far as this point. Everything deeper underground was blank. He put it away and began examining the nearby traces.
First, he needed to confirm that their target truly was a Taikun Zamuza.
Information on a quest form was never enough. Clients were often mistaken about what they had seen.
It was not that they deliberately concealed the truth. Ordinary people rarely had the chance to see a Large Monster in person, so their lack of knowledge was only natural. In the panic of an attack, mistakes were to be expected.
They had once encountered a case where a Yian Kut-Ku had been mistaken for a Rathalos. After all, both were red, walked on two legs, had two wings, could fly, and breathed fire, right?
Mistaking a Yian Kut-Ku for a Rathalos was one thing. Mistaking a Rathalos for a Yian Kut-Ku was quite another.
For their own safety, it was always best to verify the target themselves.
Lamp in hand, Altaïr made a circuit of the area and quickly found several clues.
Scratches left by something sharp and hard dragging across the stone floor; fragments of coral reef rock covered in fungal growth; marks on the cave walls as though boulders had struck them; and a faint odor of brine mingled with mildew...
Everything matched his impression of a Taikun Zamuza.
Slightly relieved, Altaïr signaled to Sajji and followed the trail deeper into the cave.
Another half hour passed.
The route contained no especially narrow passages, making travel easy. That was only natural. A Taikun Zamuza measured nearly ten meters long, so anywhere it could pass could hardly be cramped.
With no landmarks, the Hunter's sense of direction and depth gradually grew unreliable. They could only estimate that they were now at least three or four hundred meters below the cave entrance.
Although the entrance had been halfway up the mountainside, they were now deep underground. To avoid getting lost on the return journey, Altaïr left markers along the way pointing back in the direction they had come.
Sajji, walking beside him, suddenly stopped. "Something's moving, meow."
Altaïr immediately extinguished the lamp, signaled for Sajji to keep watch, then pressed an ear to the ground and listened carefully.
"Clack, clack, clack..."
The distinctive footfalls of a Carapaceon traveled through the ground to his ears.
"Found it," the Hunter murmured.
The Felyne nodded. Together, they unloaded the crates of rockets they had been carrying and kept only as many as they could take without hindering their movement. They could return to restock once they ran out.
Sajji tightened the ammunition belt across his chest. With a row of rockets hanging from his body and a rocket launcher slung over his shoulder, he looked far more formidable than usual.
"Boss, I'm ready, meow."
Altaïr gave a quiet grunt of acknowledgment, took out a bottle of Psychoserum, and drank it.
The potion took effect quickly. Within a few breaths, his senses of hearing, vision, and smell rose far beyond ordinary human limits.
The Monster's footsteps, which had been barely audible unless he pressed his ear to the ground, now sounded close enough to be right beside him. The lightless cavern took on a deep-blue clarity, as though illuminated by moonlight. Even the faintest traces on the floor stood out, and he could distinguish scent trails lingering in the air.
Every scrap of information told him the Monster was in the cavern ahead.
Without a word, the Hunter and the Felyne slipped forward. Two turns later, the passage suddenly opened onto a vast cavern.
It was almost perfectly circular, a little over one hundred meters in diameter.
Faintly luminous minerals studded the walls, providing light throughout the cavern. To Altaïr's Psychoserum-enhanced vision, it was practically bright.
Such a regularly shaped cavern could hardly have formed naturally. Altaïr spotted numerous impact marks and hollows in the walls, left by some enormous object pounding against them.
Had the cavern been "constructed" into this shape? Was that something Taikun Zamuza did?
The thought flickered through Altaïr's mind, only for the orange Carapaceon in the center of the cavern to seize his attention.
How could he put it? The transport team leader's description had been perfectly accurate.
It was unmistakably a Taikun Zamuza, with its orange carapace and pair of signature giant claws. Yet this one's claws were... far more developed than those of the one they had encountered before.
Nor was its body covered in a rock carapace. Only a few pieces of stone clung to its left claw. Its right claw alone was completely encased in coral reef rock, making it nearly as large as the creature's torso.
That grotesquely lopsided impression of power sent an inexplicable chill down Altaïr's spine.
After peering into the cavern and studying the target for a moment, Altaïr did not enter and launch an immediate attack. Instead, he withdrew with Sajji.
"Something feels wrong." Altaïr frowned. "That thing should be a Taikun Zamuza, but that eerie pressure... Did you feel it?"
Sajji shuddered. "A little, meow. Ms. Meow-It-All explained back then that a Taikun Zamuza protects itself with thick layers of coral reef rock as a defensive measure, meow.
"Judging by the coral reef rock covering its claws, this one can build a rock carapace without any trouble, meow. Yet it hasn't..."
"Not because it can't, but because it doesn't need to." Altaïr finished Sajji's thought for him.
"...We need to be careful, meow."
"Yeah. Stay sharp," Altaïr said quietly. "The Taikun Zamuza's body itself isn't especially resilient. Keep your attacks measured and dodge its strikes carefully."
After briefly discussing their tactics, Altaïr and Sajji reentered the cavern.
This time, they made no effort to conceal their presence. Sensing the disturbance, the Taikun Zamuza shifted its legs with a series of clicks and turned toward them.
The instant it began to turn, Altaïr exploded forward. Within seconds, he crossed the distance from the edge of the cavern to the Taikun Zamuza's side.
His blade flashed from its sheath. Step Slash!
It was the simplest and most fundamental Long Sword technique, but simple did not mean weak. With proper footwork and the weapon's own weight behind it, Step Slash could still strike with considerable force.
The Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] was heavier than an ordinary Long Sword. Its blade slammed into the Taikun Zamuza's side, leaving only a narrow gash in its orange-red carapace.
So hard!
Altaïr was startled.
Even disregarding the Dragon Element, [Heaven Swallower]'s destructive power and Sharpness far surpassed those of the original [Solar Eclipse]. It could cleave through Flying Wyvern scales with ease.
Judging by the Taikun Zamuza they had hunted before, he had expected a single strike to open a broad wound.
Was its abnormally high Defense the reason it had no need for a rock carapace?
While he was still stunned by the hardness of its shell, the Taikun Zamuza did not stop once it had turned to face him. Instead, it accelerated and spun through another full rotation.
Its enormous right claw, nearly as large as its body, traced a perfect circle across the stone floor before hurtling toward the nearby Hunter.
Sensing the danger, Altaïr abandoned any follow-up attack and retreated with Foresight Slash.
The massive claw swept past less than a meter in front of him. The resulting blast of air shoved him back another four or five meters before he managed to steady himself.
Altaïr's eyes widened in astonishment.
What kind of strength was that? The wind from a single swing could send a person flying. If the claw struck him, wouldn't it launch him from one side of the cavern to the other?!
(Translated by yourtl.app)