With a twist of his wrist, Jara braced his Insect Glaive against the ground. Leveraging the inertia of his wild sprint and the leverage of the pivot point, he vaulted into the air.
Unlike most agile Insect Glaive users who could leap three to five meters high, for Jara, the height of his jump was exactly as long as his staff.
Sending his excess fat barely over a piece of rotten wood that had been collapsed for years, Jara landed and continued his frantic sprint. Only seconds later, the Tigrex hot on his heels smashed that same rotten log into splinters, pursuing with a roar.
Also running at high speed and following closely behind the man and the wyvern, Altaïr's expression was somewhat numb.
He had lost count of how many trees, and several massive boulders, the Tigrex had snapped or crushed.
Does this guy feel no pain at all? After so many impacts, it should have sustained at least some injuries, right? Or is it so consumed by rage that it simply doesn't notice?
Altaïr marveled at the sheer sturdiness of the Tigrex's body. Seeing the distance between them begin to widen, he hurried to quicken his pace even further.
In this operation, his role was not critical; he was primarily serving as Jara's deputy to provide cover if an accident occurred, thereby increasing the margin for error.
But even so, he had to keep up. If he couldn't even catch the two ahead of him, how could he talk about providing cover?
"Get ready!" Jara's loud shout came from ahead.
Altaïr's spirits lifted. They were approaching the location of the first trap, and he could finally contribute some strength!
Thinking of this, he drew his sword from its sheath, shook the blade to trigger Demon Mode, and further accelerated in pursuit.
Simultaneously, Jara dove and leaped over a small mound hidden beneath the fallen leaves of the forest. After landing and rolling, he did not continue fleeing forward. Instead, he whirled his Insect Glaive and spun around.
The Tigrex, following closely behind, failed to notice the anomaly on the ground. One wing-claw stepped heavily upon it.
Hidden under the leaves was a pre-set Shock Trap.
Shock Traps and Pitfall Traps are the two most common trap mechanisms used by hunters. Among them, Shock Traps are divided into two types.
The old-style, or traditional Shock Trap, uses Genprey paralysis fangs as the core material, utilizing high doses of paralysis toxin to paralyze monsters that step into the trap.
In recent decades, however, another type of Shock Trap appeared. This version replaces the Genprey paralysis fangs with Thunderbugs, paralyzing the monster through a sudden burst of powerful current.
The raw materials for the latter are more widely distributed, making them easier to craft and more stable in effect; they have gradually become the mainstream choice.
This was the type Jara and his companion were using now. The moment the Tigrex's wing-claw stepped into the trap, high-voltage electricity surged through its entire body.
Already possessing low resistance to lightning, the Tigrex's muscles underwent violent spasms. It lost its ability to move in an instant, let out a silent roar, and was paralyzed on the spot, unable to budge.
Jara, having turned around early, brandished his Insect Glaive and charged toward the Tigrex's head with a laugh.
"Take a taste of my Chubby Tornado Slash!"
The Insect Glaive, known for its lightness and flexibility, was swung by him with a sense of massive weight. The violet-black toxin coating the blade at the head of the staff slowly seeped into the Tigrex's body with his continuous attacks.
In the short term, this small amount of toxin would not have a significant impact on a monster of the Tigrex's size, but as the dosage accumulated over time, the effect of the poison would truly manifest.
Altaïr, having activated Demon Mode, also arrived behind the Tigrex immediately.
The target part he chose was still the Tigrex's hind legs. Attacking here would not interfere with his teammate attacking from the front, and once enough trauma was accumulated, it could effectively impact the monster's mobility. Moreover, it was relatively safe.
For a skirmisher, there was no better attacking position than this!
He opened with a standard Long Sword Fade Slash. Even in a paralyzed state, a Tigrex's hitzone quality does not improve; in fact, the flesh becomes even harder because the muscles are tensed from spasms. The effectiveness of this single strike was naturally mediocre.
Altaïr gritted his teeth and clicked his tongue.
It wasn't because of the poor attack effect, having fought the Tigrex yesterday, he had anticipated this. What truly annoyed him was the "feel" of swinging the sword.
To close the distance quickly, he had activated Demon Mode in advance. Under Demon Mode, his highly activated muscles twitched incessantly.
Though the attack frequency of a Long Sword is not as slow as a Great Sword, it certainly cannot compare to Dual Blades. This gave him an uncomfortable feeling that his rhythm was mismatched.
He had discovered this problem long ago and had been thinking of a solution.
His current line of thought was to combine the Spirit Blade Slash with Demon Mode. After all, whether it was Spirit or fighting spirit, both were essentially the utilization of internal energy. The high-frequency characteristic of the Spirit Combo was also quite compatible with Demon Mode.
As for how specifically to combine them, he had been experimenting. But now, he had just begun his localized assault and had not yet built up any Spirit Gauge; even if he wanted to try a Spirit Blade Slash, he couldn't pull it off.
Just as Altaïr intended to deactivate Demon Mode and settle for standard sword techniques, a scene from yesterday's battle flashed into his mind.
At that time, Isis had been sent flying by the Tigrex's tail sweep. He had been desperate to chase the Tigrex to delay its pace in attacking his companions, so he had activated Demon Mode.
In the urgency of the moment, he hadn't had time to think; he just swung the sword however it was most convenient. As a result, his unsheathing speed had been incredibly fast.
How did he do it back then? It seemed like a Rising Slash followed by a Descending Slash?
His body moved faster than his mind. Just as the thought occurred, his highly activated muscles under Demon Mode moved on their own, and two quick sword strikes "swish-swished" out.
"Huh?"
It felt quite smooth. At least smoother than starting with a conventional Overhead Slash.
Having used many kinds of weapons, Altaïr, who might not have achieved total mastery but certainly understood various swordsmanship techniques, quickly realized where this smoothness came from.
Normally, a sword strike is like a punch. Once the punch is thrown, the move is considered finished.
But after activating Demon Mode, it's a completely different situation. Under high-speed muscle tremors, before a punch is fully extended, it is immediately pulled back to prepare for the next punch.
It's like high-speed combination punches with a very high attack frequency, but the movements are hard to stop midway. The Dual Blades users' Blade Dance is built upon this spasm-like continuity.
Due to the length and weight of a Long Sword, it cannot be swung as fast as Dual Blades. But what if those "preparatory movements" or "follow-up movements" were also utilized?
Like the Rising Slash followed by the Descending Slash he just performed, in essence, it was just the Overhead Slash that Long Sword users practiced until they were sick of it.
As the most basic and direct sword move, an Overhead Slash requires the sword to be raised first. Using a Rising Slash to replace the action of raising the sword is usually difficult to do and results in a noticeable pause.
However, in the state of Demon Mode, such pauses are minimized by the muscle tremors.
To put it in the simplest terms: one move is split into two.
Altaïr performed the "Rising Slash to Descending Slash" sequence again to solidify the sensation. He was just about to open his mind and try a few more moves when he saw the Tigrex's body suddenly heave as it broke free from the electrical restraint of the Shock Trap.
Though he felt a sense of regret, Altaïr could only temporarily deactivate Demon Mode and back away. He could not attract too much of the Tigrex's attention right now, or he would disrupt Jara's luring plan.
Fortunately, Jara's continuous attacks on the head had firmly gripped the Tigrex's attention. After breaking free from the electricity, the first thing the Tigrex did was open its massive maw and snap forward.
Jara, well-prepared, rolled backward to avoid the "crunch" of the closing jaws and once again began running at full speed.
The prolonged chase, the tree-crashing, the Shock Trap electrocution, the toxins...
Having undergone this entire routine, the Tigrex was somewhat fatigued. Seeing its opponent run away, it immediately summoned its strength, let out a roar, and continued the pursuit.
(Translated by yourtl.app)
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TL NOTES: LORE SECTION
Some terms and creatures referenced in this story may be unfamiliar to readers new to the Monster Hunter universe. The following entries provide additional context.
ITEMS
Shock Trap — A deployable trap that immobilizes a monster through a burst of high-voltage electricity the moment it steps on the device. The modern variant uses Thunderbugs as its power source, replacing the older paralysis-fang design. Effectiveness varies by monster; species with natural lightning resistance or immunity are largely unaffected. Most monsters can only be trapped a limited number of times per hunt before building resistance.
Pitfall Trap — The other staple trapping tool alongside the Shock Trap. Rather than electricity, it uses a concealed net pit to ensnare a monster's legs, immobilizing it briefly. Generally more reliable against monsters that are immune to paralysis but less effective against those that can dig or fly out of range.
MONSTERS
Thunderbug — A small insect endemic to many regions, valued primarily as a crafting material. Its body generates and stores electrical charge, making it the core component in modern Shock Traps and several Thunder-element coatings. It is non-threatening on its own but commercially significant as a widely distributed resource.