Altaïr's eyes snapped open.
Utter darkness surrounded him. He could not see a thing. He instinctively tried to raise a hand and rub his eyes, only to find that his limbs would barely respond. Every muscle in his body burned with searing pain.
A faint hiss escaped him. Fighting through the pain, he lifted a hand to his face and rubbed his eyes a couple of times. He felt no covering or foreign object, yet he still could not see anything.
Had he gone blind?
The thought had barely crossed Altaïr's mind when a pair of luminous feline eyes appeared before him.
"Boss, meow!" Sajji cried, throwing his arms around Altaïr's head. "You're finally awake, meow!"
Altaïr managed a strained smile and patted Sajji's head. He wanted to reassure him, but his throat was so dry that he could barely speak.
"I'm... fine..."
Hearing Altaïr force out the words, Sajji quickly loosened his grip and helped him sit up against the nearby rock wall.
Sajji handed him a Mega Potion, then turned up the alchemical lamp hanging from Altaïr's belt just enough to cast a sliver of light across their cramped refuge. Altaïr took the bottle and drank slowly. As the potion took effect, the pain throughout his body gradually subsided.
"Where are we... and what's the situation?"
The potion soothed his throat, while the Honey in the mixture restored a little of his energy. Altaïr set the empty bottle aside after rasping out the question.
Sajji lowered his voice. "We're still in that Taikun Zamuza's nest, meow. After you lost consciousness from the electric shocks, I used the Rakna-Kadaki Model-4 to restrain it and tried to drag you back to camp, meow.
"But it cut through the rope with its pincers before long, meow. I didn't have time to get you out of the nest, so I found an opening in the rock wall and crawled inside, meow.
"The tunnels in here have been dug out like a maze, meow. I found this crevice, dragged you in, and blocked the entrance with rocks. It searched around but didn't find us, so we should be safe for now, meow.
"Oh, right... Everything happened so fast that I couldn't grab your blade, meow. It should still be where we fought earlier. I'm sorry, meow..."
Sajji lowered his head as he spoke.
"What is there to apologize for? You saved me again." Altaïr rubbed Sajji's head.
He sat upright and gave himself a quick examination.
Nearly all his injuries had been caused by the electric shocks. He had no broken bones or anything of the sort, which was probably the best news he could have hoped for.
That said, the Regios Armor Set offered no protection against Thunder. Its metallic properties actually attracted electrical current and intensified the shocks (-15 Thunder Res).
Wearing it to Hunt a Monster capable of wielding such powerful currents was practically asking to die, but who could have guessed that a crab would be able to discharge electricity...?
Altaïr gave a bitter, self-deprecating smile and drank another Potion.
At least he had brought plenty of medicine this time. Sajji had already poured two Potions down his throat while he was unconscious. Burns caused by electric shocks responded relatively quickly to treatment, and the medicine they had left should be enough to restore him to decent condition.
Whatever he decided to do next, recovering as much as possible had to come first.
After finishing the Potion, Altaïr took out some rations and slowly began to chew.
Potions merely accelerated the body's natural recovery. Mending wounds required a great deal of nutrition and energy. The rations tasted awful, but they provided everything his body needed.
Seeing Altaïr's condition improve, Sajji finally breathed a sigh of relief. He took out some dried fish and began tearing into it.
Once they had eaten their fill, Altaïr extinguished the lamp at his waist. The narrow crevice, barely large enough for one person and one Felyne, sank back into darkness.
The darkness would reduce the chance of their hiding place being discovered.
Altaïr lay down again. As he recovered his strength, he quietly discussed their options with Sajji.
"Boss, while you were unconscious, I snuck out for a look, meow. That Taikun Zamuza couldn't find us, so it went back to the cavern where we fought it. It looks like it's waiting for us, meow.
"Sneaking out without making a sound won't be easy, meow."
"...Mm. It is blocking the only passage to the surface. We're deep underground, so we can't even fire an SOS Flare."
"Could we hide here for a few days, meow? If Isis and the others don't see us return, they'll probably come looking for us, right?" Sajji suggested.
"That's too passive." Altaïr shook his head. "On paper, this mission isn't difficult. It will take at least four or five days for them to realize something is wrong, and our food and water may not last that long.
"Besides, this crevice is right beside a tunnel the Taikun Zamuza dug. If it passes this way a couple more times, it will probably discover us. We can't stay here for long.
"If it traps us in this tunnel while we have no weapons at hand, we're as good as dead."
Sajji's ears drooped. "Then what do we do, meow?"
After another silence, Altaïr spoke. "There isn't any clever solution. We make some noise, draw it away, and escape while we have the chance.
"How many rockets do you have left?"
"I still have one with me, meow. But we fled in such a hurry that I left Rathian Model-1 back in the cavern..."
"That's fine. Can you rig the rocket to detonate after a delay? Set it off deep in the tunnel. When that thing goes to investigate, we'll slip out."
Sajji considered the idea, then nodded firmly. "That shouldn't be a problem, meow."
With that, he pulled out the last rocket, opened its casing, and bent over his work.
Altaïr closed his eyes and resumed meditating, quietly recovering from his injuries and rebuilding his stamina.
Sajji finished modifying the rocket in short order. When he saw Altaïr meditating cross-legged, he squeezed onto Altaïr's lap, curled into a ball, and began to purr softly.
—--
More than an hour passed before Altaïr opened his eyes.
He opened and closed one hand, assessing his condition. "I should be ready."
Sajji opened his eyes as well. "Time to move, meow?"
"Mm."
"Then I'll go set up the rocket, meow." Sajji shifted aside several rocks concealing their hiding place and scampered out.
Altaïr remained in the crevice. He downed a bottle of Psychoserum, then began adjusting the fastenings on his full set of armor.
Sajji soon returned. The Hunter and Felyne huddled inside the crevice again, then rebuilt the pile of rocks to conceal their cramped shelter as thoroughly as possible.
"Thirty seconds, meow." Sajji began counting down in a low voice.
"Three, two, one..."
Boom! An explosion thundered from deep within the tunnel.
Moments later, a commotion came from the direction of the main cavern. It did not sound like limbs striking the ground, but like a cannonball howling through the air.
Beyond the rocks concealing the crevice, a blinding flash of electricity streaked past and vanished, as though something had flown by at tremendous speed.
It was the Taikun Zamuza!
"Move!"
The Hunter and Felyne shoved aside the rocks hiding their shelter and sprinted into the tunnel.
The passage had clearly been excavated. Its walls were smooth and straight. The Hunter and Felyne ran as fast as they could and soon returned to the large cavern where they had fought earlier.
Without breaking stride, Altaïr snatched up Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] from where it lay. He and Sajji kept running at full speed.
The escape tunnel was just ahead. At that moment, however, dazzling electrical light burst from an opening in the cavern wall.
Driven by some unknown electromagnetic force, the Taikun Zamuza hurtled toward them in a manner no living creature should have been capable of, drifting sideways to block the escape route.
It raised both pincers high and clacked them together with a click-clack, click-clack, as though mocking their audacity.
Of course it wouldn't be that easy...
Altaïr sighed inwardly, but said aloud, "Sajji, I'll hold it off. Find an opening and run."
Sajji shook his head frantically and was about to refuse when Altaïr continued, "Don't worry. I have a good plan. There isn't time to explain, so trust me."
Sajji looked up and met Altaïr's confident gaze.
He knew this was no time to argue, and Altaïr had never lied to him. At last, Sajji gritted his teeth and dashed on all fours toward the passage leading to the surface.
"Be careful, Boss, meow! I'll fire an SOS Flare once I'm back on the surface. Support will be here soon, meow!"
The Taikun Zamuza shifted its footing to intercept the fleeing Felyne, then stopped abruptly. The Hunter opposite it had already raised his blade, every trace of his attention focused on the Monster.
The Taikun Zamuza immediately grew wary. Compared with the small creature fleeing past it, the one before it was the true threat.
Once he was sure Sajji had escaped safely, the confidence faded from Altaïr's face. A different, more feverish smile replaced it. Holding his sword in one hand, he seized the edge of his chest armor with the other and pulled hard.
The heavy chest plate, its fastenings loosened beforehand, came free and struck the ground with a sharp metallic clang!
The Taikun Zamuza visibly froze. It cocked its head and studied the bipedal creature "shedding its shell" before it, forgetting even to attack.
Altaïr pulled off his helmet, unfastened his armguards, and stripped off his lower armor. Piece by piece, the Regios Armor Set landed on the ground around him.
"Since this armor can't stop its attacks, it's nothing but dead weight." Clad only in a close-fitting undershirt, Altaïr raised Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] once more.
"Instant death on contact? Then let's see if you can even touch me."
(Translated by yourtl.app)