At the edge of his vision, azure lightning flashed.
With explosive booms from the air compressed and torn apart before it, the Taikun Zamuza shot toward him as a wheel of electric arcs.
Here it comes.
Altaïr unleashed Instant Slash at the same moment. His figure flickered as he thrust nearly ten meters forward, carrying him clear of the Taikun Zamuza's electromagnetic charge.
The Taikun Zamuza hurtled past without stopping or even slowing, then vanished into one of the inconspicuous openings in the rock wall.
Without a moment's pause, Altaïr raised his blade and returned to his focused stance.
Barely two or three seconds later, azure lightning appeared inside the cave mouth directly ahead. By the time the crackling blast reached his ears, the thunder-wreathed Taikun Zamuza was already upon him.
Instant Slash.
The Hunter's figure flickered, evading the Taikun Zamuza's electromagnetic charge once more.
The Taikun Zamuza vanished again after its attack missed, and Altaïr raised his sword into the same focused stance for the third time.
Let's see how many times you can come at me!
In the dim cave, dazzling arcs of lightning repeatedly crossed the solid, unwavering gleam of his blade, forming one brilliant cross after another.
Fully focused on countering the attacks, Altaïr had no time to count how many times his opponent had charged, but he could clearly feel the intervals between its assaults growing longer.
First two or three seconds, then four, then five...
After evading yet another of the Taikun Zamuza's countless charges with Instant Slash, the lightning around its body finally dissipated.
The hovering, spinning Taikun Zamuza dropped back to the ground. The gill plates on either side of its abdomen opened and closed as though it were panting heavily, and its steps had grown unsteady.
Clearly, even the Taikun Zamuza found repeated electromagnetic charges at such extreme speeds exhausting... and dizzying.
Repeatedly using Instant Slash to evade its attacks had taken a considerable toll on Altaïr as well. Since he had taken a Mega Dash Juice beforehand, he still had stamina to spare, but no potion could remedy mental fatigue.
Fortunately, over the past year, he had worked hard to temper his will and hone his mind as part of his swordsmanship training. This much strain remained well within his limits.
"Looks like it's my turn again."
Altaïr went on the offensive. Exhaustion left the Taikun Zamuza half a beat slower. He sidestepped its descending right pincer, lunged into the Monster's reach, and unleashed a flurry of wind-swift slashes.
As body fluid sprayed in every direction, the Taikun Zamuza hissed in pain and retreated, trying to gain enough distance to regroup.
Altaïr had no intention of giving it that chance. He brought his blade into a reverse guard and twisted his body, gathering strength and Spirit as he advanced while constantly adjusting his distance and angle.
Its greater size soon allowed the Taikun Zamuza to open a gap of six or seven meters, a comfortable attacking distance for it.
It raised both pincers slightly, preparing to counterattack.
Now!
Altaïr released his attack at that exact moment. The muscles of his waist and back, wound tight against the direction of the strike, sprang loose and unleashed all the power stored during the charge.
His body became a whirlwind, spinning forward in a motion that nearly skimmed the ground. He slipped beneath the guard of both pincers, and his whirling blade carved deep into the Taikun Zamuza's comparatively soft abdomen.
Charged Spirit Roundslash!
This blow was far more powerful than the rapid strikes he had used earlier in pursuit of speed. The heavy, razor-sharp edge of Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] tore clean through the protective carapace over the Taikun Zamuza's belly.
This time, it was not the orange-red body fluid from before. Vivid green blood unique to Carapaceons spilled across the ground.
The Roundslash interrupted the Taikun Zamuza's attack and sent it reeling backward.
At that moment, the Hunter's momentum reached its peak. Riding the last of the Roundslash's inertia, Altaïr took another long step and spun into the air.
Wrapped in crimson Spirit, the blade accelerated with him and struck the Taikun Zamuza's upturned belly again with force equal to... no, greater than the previous Roundslash.
Spinning Crimson Slash!
Two intersecting slash marks opened a massive cross-shaped wound, exposing the writhing, pulsing organs within.
That was the Taikun Zamuza's heart.
Overwhelmed by the consecutive heavy blows, the Taikun Zamuza lost its balance and toppled onto its back with a shriek.
"Looks like you don't have a fourth layer of shell!"
A vicious grin twisted Altaïr's bare face. He sheathed Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] as quickly as he could, switched it into Great Sword mode, and hoisted it into a charging stance.
By chaining Tackles through the charge stages, he also drove closer to the fallen Taikun Zamuza.
By the time he reached its side, he had already entered the final True Charged Slash stance. The glow of his fighting spirit blazed brighter, then erupted into golden-red flame as his charge reached completion!
The overturned Taikun Zamuza had left the wound in its abdomen completely exposed. Altaïr was certain this True Charged Slash could shatter its heart and kill it in one blow.
True Charged Slash!
There was no need to hesitate or wait. The instant his power peaked, Altaïr brought his blade down.
The Taikun Zamuza seemed to sense death approaching. Driven by a desperate will to survive, it thrust its powerful, agile legs against the ground and sprang upright as though launched by a spring beneath its shell.
Its pincers instinctively crossed in front of its body and collided with the descending blade.
"Crk, crack!"
With a sharp, brittle snap, the Taikun Zamuza's spiraling right pincer broke in half, but it succeeded in blocking the Hunter's nearly fatal blow.
The recoil through the hilt jolted Altaïr's wrist with numbing pain and nearly tore the weapon from his grasp, but he gritted his teeth and held on.
Altaïr retreated several steps to recover his balance, then raised his head and fixed his gaze on his opponent once more.
The Taikun Zamuza staggered as well. Blood poured from the wound in its abdomen, and its breathing was noticeably weaker than before. Still, it had not fallen. One decisive strike was still needed.
"Tch."
Altaïr slung his weapon onto his back, unlocked its mechanism, and switched it back to Long Sword form.
The Great Sword possessed devastating power but was slow to maneuver. Since his opponent could still fight, the more agile Long Sword was the safer choice.
The Taikun Zamuza steadied itself, raised both pincers, and released a series of piercing shrieks.
The blue lightning that had faded after its repeated electromagnetic assaults began wrapping around its body once more. The current jolted the Taikun Zamuza back into agile, powerful motion.
Just as Altaïr expected it to unleash some kind of devastating attack, the Taikun Zamuza lowered its head, dug into the ground, and burrowed underground.
Fleeing? Or was it preparing another electromagnetic surprise attack?
No, neither!
The arcs of electricity faintly flickering through the earth made it clear that the Taikun Zamuza had not truly left, nor was it using electromagnetic levitation to enter one of the cave's "high-speed tunnels" as it had before.
It was charging toward him underground!
Altaïr immediately sprang back. As he passed the chest armor he had discarded earlier, he hooked it with the tip of his blade and flung it in another direction.
The chest armor struck the ground with a sharp clatter. Whether drawn by the noise or by the metal itself, the burrowing Taikun Zamuza was misdirected. It veered away and charged toward the distant armor.
"Boom!"
Both pincers, wreathed in high-voltage arcs, burst from the ground. They launched the chest armor into the air as the unleashed electricity blanketed a wide area.
Altaïr's heart hammered. If that attack had come straight at him, even if he had dodged the initial strike as the Taikun Zamuza emerged, the electrical discharge would have paralyzed him instantly.
The Taikun Zamuza surfaced and slowly turned around.
The electricity around its pincers did not fade after the attack missed. Instead, it intensified as though wringing every last trace of energy from its body, then became a dazzling azure radiance that enveloped its entire form.
The Taikun Zamuza raised both pincers high. Two spheres of lightning, bright enough to blind, condensed at their tips.
Altaïr understood. This was the last and strongest attack of a "glass cannon" already riddled with cracks.
Against such an attack, the obvious choice was to retreat as quickly as possible and put as much distance between them as he could.
Reason told Altaïr the same thing. Yet just as he started to step back, a sharp sense of unease stabbed through his heart. Instinct told him something was wrong.
No!
When the Taikun Zamuza surfaced, it had been a full twenty or thirty meters away from him.
By any "normal" logic, it should have closed the distance before launching a powerful attack.
Its earlier leaping shock, electromagnetic surprise charge, and underground thunder-pincer attack had all followed that pattern.
This time alone, it had begun charging its attack without approaching him first.
Could its wounds have left it so dazed that it had forgotten to close the distance? Altaïr would never gamble on blind luck. The only reasonable explanation was that it did not need to get any closer.
This move's range was likely far greater than he expected, large enough to blanket the entire cave and leave him nowhere to hide.
Even... its earlier burrowing attack might not have chosen the wrong target at all. It might have used that attack to put distance between them!
Realizing all this in an instant, Altaïr kicked hard off the ground and charged straight toward his distant opponent.
This time, the Taikun Zamuza's attack also required an exceptionally long charge. As the seconds passed, the crackling spheres of lightning between its pincers grew steadily larger.
The crackling din of electricity faded, leaving only a silent yet utterly destructive pale-blue radiance that grew brighter by the moment.
If he failed to interrupt the attack, he would be the one to die!
Altaïr clenched his teeth and ran faster than he ever had before. In only two breaths, he crossed those dozens of meters and reached the Taikun Zamuza.
The Taikun Zamuza seemed completely oblivious to him, its pincers continuing to manipulate the lightning between them, heedless of everything else.
The two spheres of lightning, swollen to their limit, were slowly converging. The moment they touched, the terrifying current containing all the Taikun Zamuza's power would erupt.
With no time to gather power or prepare, Altaïr drove his sword straight forward as soon as he reached it. Wreathed in crimson Spirit, Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] became a streak of steel that plunged into the crossed wound in the Taikun Zamuza's abdomen and pierced the heart beating frantically within.
Yet the Taikun Zamuza did not stop. The pincers controlling the lightning spheres continued to draw slowly together.
Using the momentum of his charge and his embedded blade as a fulcrum, Altaïr vaulted into the air above the Taikun Zamuza's head.
The nearly merged lightning spheres were less than two meters away. At such close range, even the charge radiating from them should theoretically have paralyzed him on the spot.
Yet the keen sword wind whirling around the Hunter as he swung his blade scattered the arcs leaping through the air.
Altaïr twisted in midair to adjust his posture, and Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] descended in a vertical stroke with enough momentum to cleave through anything.
Spirit Helm Breaker! Spirit Helm Breaker!
Sword-light flashed, and the Taikun Zamuza was cleaved completely open from head to abdomen.
Blood and entrails sprayed outward. The descending blade ended the Taikun Zamuza's life, but at that same moment, the two lightning spheres brushed against each other.
The devastating current was on the verge of detonation.
Altaïr landed on his feet without pausing. As his blade danced, he released the still-condensed Spirit Gauge even further, turning it into countless invisible blades that shredded the two lightning spheres.
Spirit Release Unsurpassed Slash!
Sword wind and thunderous light exploded together. Caught in the current, Altaïr lost consciousness once again...
P.S. In this story's Monster Hunter physics, even energy constructs can be cut.
(Translated by yourtl.app)