Altaïr's expression was grim. Just moments ago, he had been thinking that if the Estrellian Subspecies before him couldn't pull out any new tricks, he could wrap up this fight without issue.
Then he'd executed a flawless combo with Sajji, and it had looked like they were about to bring the opponent down, pushing it to the brink of death, when the creature suddenly exploded with desperate power.
Though the size of the wings on its back made it unlikely to lift that nearly twenty-meter-long massive body into the air, the visibly intensified aura and the dramatically increased activity of the Star Butterfly around it made one thing clear: this thing had just become far more troublesome to deal with.
Altaïr forcefully suppressed the unease in his heart. In this state, the opponent's physical capabilities might see a noticeable boost, but its combat experience couldn't suddenly increase.
"It's just swapped to a sharper blade, that's all." Though his words were meant to reassure himself, inwardly he was on high alert. Altaïr held his Long Sword at an angle and accelerated his charge toward the opponent.
Without any visible movement from the Estrellian Subspecies, the Star Butterfly around it began shooting out one after another, hurtling toward the Hunter.
Altaïr's pupils contracted.
The creature had gotten smarter. No, to put it more accurately, it was also learning as it went.
Three to five Star Butterfly rushing in at once looked dangerous, but against weapons like the Long Sword, Dual Blades, or Insect Glaive, tools that favored agility, it was just a matter of a few swings.
But if one came every second or two, the interval rhythm possibly changing at any moment, it would throw his swinging rhythm into chaos. While not enough to let a strike break through his guard, his charging footwork inevitably slowed.
Taking advantage of Altaïr's occupied blade as he cut down the Star Butterfly closing in on him, the Estrellian Subspecies lunged again.
What caught Altaïr somewhat off guard was that the Estrellian didn't pounce directly at him, but landed roughly seven or eight meters to his side.
This move left Altaïr unsure of the Estrellian's purpose, and he couldn't help but focus his mind and heighten his vigilance.
His caution was warranted. The Estrellian, having landed its empty pounce, didn't pause, immediately launching into a wide-range Tail Sweep.
Seeing this, Altaïr decisively executed a Foresight Slash retreat, further widening the distance and slipping out of the attack range of the Tail Sweep.
This baffling attack maneuver was honestly a bit stupid, but Altaïr couldn't laugh at all. Instead, a chilling, hair-raising dread crept over him.
He remembered vividly: the very first move this creature had used against him was a lunging Claw Swipe followed by a Tail Sweep.
He had evaded the lunging Claw Swipe with Foresight Slash, then surged forward in a backflip to dodge the subsequent tail sweep, simultaneously cutting into the blind spot behind the Estrellian Subspecies to launch a fierce assault.
This thing had clearly memorized his counter-strategy and was now deliberately devising a countermeasure.
No matter how he evaded this Tail Sweep, it maintained a distance of nearly half a body length from him. If he wanted to exploit the moment to dash behind it again, it wouldn't be nearly as easy.
Of course, this countermeasure still seemed somewhat crude, but that capacity for active learning...
Altaïr gritted his teeth and continued his charging approach.
Against an opponent with such extreme learning ability, you had to relentlessly launch strong attacks, forcefully suppress it, and give it no time to think or learn. Otherwise, it would only become more and more troublesome. The Estrellian Subspecies began releasing Star Butterflies one by one again, trying to disrupt his charge as before and slow his footwork.
Altaïr had no better option; he could only steel himself and keep charging forward. Just as the lead Star Butterfly was about to strike his face, forcing him to draw his blade and slash, Sajji suddenly burst from the ground ahead of him.
"Meow!" With one Felyne Hammer blow, he smashed that Star Butterfly flying.
Altaïr had no time for praise. He continued his charge, only for a second Star Butterfly to come rushing at him head-on.
At that moment, Kagetsu's boisterous shouting rang out from behind him. "Glint! Ram it!"
A dazzling flash of gold streaked in. The beautiful Kinsect, as if forged from pure gold, attacked from the side. Its sharp, massive mandibles clamped onto the Star Butterfly with an iron grip, shoving it clear out of his charging path.
Altaïr's charge accelerated further. The distance between him and his target was now less than ten meters. Facing the third Star Butterfly flying straight at him, Altaïr naturally wasn't about to stop now.
The opportunities his companions had fought to create for him, he could not afford to waste them!
At the very instant the speeding Star Butterfly was about to strike his chest and abdomen, Altaïr suddenly dropped low, shifted his center of gravity downward, and executed a sliding tackle, slipping right beneath the Star Butterfly.
The Claw Swipe sweep the Estrellian Subspecies had prepared for him was also evaded in the same motion. He slid directly beneath the Estrellian's body, straightened up, and in one fluid motion rose into a sword slash.
Had Serl been here, he would have recognized it instantly. This was his signature Sliding Slash.
But even with Altaïr's exceptional coordination, he could not make a Long Sword, over two meters long including the hilt, feel as agile and nimble as a Sword and Shield.
The angle of this slash was somewhat awkward, the force slightly lacking, and the cut not particularly deep. But this strike, aimed close to the throat and vitals, thoroughly terrified the Estrellian Subspecies.
It immediately pushed off with all four limbs, trying to put distance between itself and the Hunter.
Its twin wings on its back flared, and the wing-like protrusions extending from every joint across its body quivered in response. Propelled by these wings, its massive body, weighing over twenty tons, whooshed backward in a leap of a full thirty to forty meters.
"Not a chance!"
Having fought so hard, with his companions' help, to finally close in on his target, Altaïr was not about to let it escape so easily. The instant the Estrellian Subspecies began its leap, Altaïr simultaneously raised his left arm and fired the Clutch Claw.
The steel-forged talons sank deep into the crevices of the shattered armor on the Estrellian's head. The mechanism's high-speed winch reeled in, and Altaïr was carried along with the backward-leaping Estrellian Subspecies.
Having never seen a Hunter use the Clutch Claw before, the Estrellian Subspecies had never anticipated the Hunter possessing such a capability. Before its four feet could touch the ground, Altaïr had already climbed onto the top of its head with the Clutch Claw's aid.
The Estrellian Subspecies was visibly panicked, its four-legged landing somewhat unsteady. Altaïr was not about to let such an opportunity slip.
He clamped his legs around the Estrellian's neck, gripped his Long Sword with both hands, and drove it deep into the wound on the Estrellian's head.
Then, throwing all his strength, including his own body weight, onto the hilt, he wrenched the blade downward with brutal force.
The sharp sword carved downward, starting from the Estrellian's head, cleaving through layer after layer of armor, muscle, and even arteries, all the way to its chest, splitting open a gargantuan wound over two meters long, flesh and blood flaring outward. Struck by this devastating blow, the Estrellian Subspecies convulsed violently throughout its entire body, wailing as it crumpled limply to the ground.
Purple-red blood gushed forth, soaking the young Hunter's armor, then seeping through the visor's grating and onto the Hunter's face.
Altaïr had no time to wipe it away. He flipped himself up, scraping the blade across his pauldron to clean off the bloodstains while burnishing and polishing the sword.
In a single swift stride he was before the head of the collapsed, struggling Estrellian Subspecies. The hilt reversed in both hands, he raised the Khanga Rebellion high, point aimed downward.
Giving his opponent no chance to retaliate from the brink of death, he aimed precisely for the neck wound he had just carved open and drove the sword down with brutal force.
The keen blade pierced through the Estrellian Subspecies' neck, sliding deep through the gaps between vertebrae, severing the spine and pinning its head ruthlessly to the ground.
The massive body convulsed, life draining away rapidly.
As the final spark of vitality in its eyes faded, the purple wings covering its body also lost their luster, turning a near-black dark purple and drooping limply.
Altaïr leaned on the hilt, head bowed, panting heavily.
Finally over with... no, was it truly over?
"S-Senior Altaïr!" came Kagetsu's stammering voice.
Altaïr looked up.
One after another, Estrellian emerged from the dark night forest surrounding them. Among them were individuals with orange-red carapaces like the juvenile they had first encountered, and others with pale armor like the Subspecies he had just slain.
As far as the eye could see, at least five... no, six Estrellian had them completely encircled.
Hundreds of Star Butterflies hovered in the air, their buzzing droning loud enough to nearly deafen the ears.
Just as despair bloomed in their hearts, heavy footfalls sounded from within the forest.
Dawn, clad from head to toe in an armored carapace as solid as a city wall, strode out from the trees. Beneath his thick visor, his voice carried a low metallic echo: "Looks like we made it just in time."
Nymera rode her Palamute Hibiki by his side, the magazines she'd divided off from Brandley and Heath now hanging within easy reach.
Then, from another direction, Olivia and Serl strode out from the forest shadows. Their weapons were stained with the same shade of purple-red blood as what coated Altaïr.
Niro, trailing behind the pair, clamored noisily: "Tch, if I'd known there were so many over here, I wouldn't have wasted so much effort capturing that white one!"
"Nine against six! The advantage is ours!"
"It's a brawl!" Seeing all her companions had arrived, Kagetsu raised both arms high and cheered.
Altaïr couldn't help but pull the corners of his mouth into a grin.
But just at that moment, a flock of Star Butterflies with dark-red wings, each a size larger than the ordinary individuals, flew out from the massive Ruins Passage beneath the colossal tree.
Thud. Thud.
Heavy footfalls resounded. A majestic behemoth, its entire body armored in a dull gray like limestone, strode slowly forth amidst the throng of innumerable Star Butterflies.
If the juvenile Estrellian gave an impression of elegance, and the larger Estrellian Subspecies gave an impression of ferocity, then this creature before them... the first impression it gave was terror.
Without a doubt, this terrifying leviathan, nearly twenty-five meters long, was the leader of the group, a being of a higher order than the two types of Estrellian they had seen before.
"N-no, it's just six becoming seven!" Niro had cold sweat trickling down his forehead, but he kept his mouth stubbornly shut with bluster out of habit.
Yet every Hunter present, himself included, knew in their hearts... this was not an opponent they could handle.
Boom! Boom!
From the distant horizon came two muffled thunderclaps, a sound like deafening roars that drew the attention of every living creature present.
Altaïr's first thought was: Thunder?
But Nymera, far more familiar with and sensitive to the sounds of firearms, immediately recognized it as the report of heavy Cannon firing warning shots.
She followed the direction of the sound, looking over in joyful surprise. Against the skyline, where the faint white of dawn was beginning to show, a large Airship was sailing toward them on the wind.
(Translated by yourtl.app)