Altaïr considered himself a fairly self-aware person. From the very beginning, he had never considered joining the fight on the main battlefield.
Not out of cowardice, but because he didn't want to be a burden.
Those defense force knights, though not Hunters, were no ordinary soldiers either.
The Defender Set and Defender Lance they were equipped with were basically on par with gear for a three to four-star Hunter. Moreover, the design philosophy of the Defender Set emphasized versatility and durability, and in terms of Guard alone, it fully met the standards of 4★ Armor.
Saying each of them was the equivalent of a 4-star Hunter wouldn't be entirely accurate, after all, the knights' training was completely different from that of a Hunter's, focused more on group combat; sending one to Hunt a Rathian alone would be asking too much.
But a four-man knight squad could basically suppress an ordinary 4★ threat level Monster, something no ordinary military soldier could achieve.
Yet just moments ago, under a single burst energy attack from the Apex Estrellian, two squads of defense force knights were all struck down, their fates unknown and combat capability lost.
They had seen it clearly from outside the battlefield: the instant the attack erupted, nearly all those knights raised their shields and established a defense in time. Yet even so, the outcome was still total annihilation.
Setting aside complex discussions of tactics or technique, the fact proved that even heavy 4★ Armor combined with a large shield's defense could not withstand an Apex Estrellian's burst attack.
What was even more terrifying was that the attack had no blind spots in a full three-hundred-sixty-degree radius. There was simply no dodging it; unless one could detect it in advance and run out of its range, the only option was to endure it head-on.
Facing such an attack directly, among the three of them, probably only Isis could remain standing, though even she would likely be severely wounded. As for himself and Nymera, their fates likely would be no better than those defense force knights.
Facing such a dangerous opponent, joining the battle could hardly be called a clever decision.
But since he had already made up his mind, he had to find a suitable path between "ensuring his companions' safety," "not recklessly making things worse," and "providing effective support."
"Isis!" He called out, stopping his companion who was about to plunge headlong into the fray, and asked urgently, "Is there any way to make an Estrellian fall over more easily?"
Isis froze for an instant and answered offhandedly, "Its main center of gravity is on its front legs. When I'm wrestling with bacon, lifting its front legs makes it easier to push over."
"..." Altaïr's brain took a second or two to laboriously process bizarre words like "bacon" and "wrestling."
"...Alright then. You'll act as the attacker and target one of its front legs. Pay attention to Lord Fabius's commands; whatever he says, you must execute immediately."
"Understood!" Isis gave a thumbs-up and charged into the battlefield.
"Nymera, you don't need to worry about anything else. Just keep a safe distance and clear out the Star Butterflies!"
"I understand."
The two companions moved into action at once. As for Altaïr himself, he did not join the battle immediately but ran swiftly toward a position hidden at the edge of the battlefield, where the Professor, Kagetsu, and the others were located. "Kagetsu!" Altaïr shouted as he ran.
"Huh?"
"Draw monster essence and inject us. Give Lord Fabius the extract of defensive reinforcement. For the three of us–"
"Extract of strength reinforcement, right?"
"No. Extract of speed reinforcement." Reaching Kagetsu, Altaïr corrected her without hesitation.
He understood clearly that at their level of strength, dealing meaningful damage to the Apex Estrellian would be difficult. The true attacker in this fight was up in the sky.
The slight increase in power from injecting an attack extract would be negligible. Better to enhance their mobility, so they could at least run faster at critical moments.
"Understood!" Kagetsu nodded firmly, gripping her Insect Glaive, a face-death expression on her face as she prepared to follow Altaïr into the most perilous part of the main battlefield.
"What are you doing?" Altaïr raised a hand to stop her.
Blocked by Altaïr, Kagetsu looked bewildered. "Aren't we going to draw monster essence? We're too far from here; I can't apply the pheromone. My Kinsect won't be able to distinguish where to extract from."
"Extract from that." Altaïr pointed behind her.
Hiding behind the Professor and the others, striving to make itself as small as possible and lower its presence, the Estrellian hatchling cocked its head.
"Ji-ao?"
"…That works too!" Kagetsu raised her Insect Glaive and pointed it at the Estrellian hatchling.
Sensing the keenly directed malice, the hatchling shivered and tried to bolt into the jungle. Altaïr's voice stopped it in its tracks. "Come back!"
Through all these days spent with Isis, the Estrellian hatchling had learned to understand a handful of simple Common Tongue words. Chastened, it turned back around.
Under Altaïr's pressure, it let Kagetsu direct her Kinsect to draw extract from its body.
Thankfully, it didn't hurt much.
With the extract injections complete and feeling noticeably lighter in all four limbs, Altaïr next had Kagetsu draw the extract of skin and muscle hardening from the hatchling's back.
Altaïr picked up the Kinsect known as Glint. "If I take it to Lord Fabius like this and let it inject him, do you think it'll understand what I mean?"
"…It will." Watching the Kinsect perch obediently on Altaïr's arm, Kagetsu felt a complicated mix of emotions.
"Good."
Altaïr spoke no further. He immediately activated Demon Mode. Under the stacked effects of the Kinsect extract and Demon Mode, his sprinting speed shattered all limits, his charging pace even outpacing a Kinsect in flight.
In less than ten seconds, he broke from the battlefield's edge and plunged into the most fiercely contested central zone. He raised his arm, the one the Kinsect was perched on, and pointed toward Fabius.
"Go!"
The golden-gleaming Kinsect obediently launched into flight and landed on Fabius's back.
Locked in furious combat with the Apex Estrellian, Fabius had no attention to spare for this. He let the Kinsect crawl all over his back until it finally, after a long search, discovered a spot on his rear thigh uncovered by rigid plates. It drove in its proboscis and completed the injection.
Feeling the extract flood into him and the changes in his body, Fabius spared a moment to glance in this direction.
Truth be told, he would rather face a formidable foe alone than have these young Hunters recklessly throw themselves into the fray.
Still, at least the young ones were not the sort of hotheaded fools who rush in with wild, relentless attacks. They had even had the sense to direct their Hunting partners to drag away the severely wounded. So he did not scold them and tell them to leave. "Go back to your master, draw more extract, and inject the others." Without stopping to consider whether the Kinsect could understand him, Altaïr gave the quick order and began sprinting at full speed around the Apex Estrellian.
He noticed that after that last energy burst, the Apex Estrellian had reverted to its original "normal state."
Coupled with how it had somehow siphoned the Hunters' fighting spirit energy before unleashing that blast, it was clear that such a devastating wide-range energy attack could not be deployed at will.
Lord Fabius had noticed this as well, which was why he had warned everyone to avoid charging-type techniques, lest their energy be stolen by the Apex Estrellian again.
Compared to the energy-saturated "awakened state" it had been in before, the Apex Estrellian should be somewhat easier to handle right now.
Realizing this, Altaïr decisively released Demon Mode, letting the fighting spirit within his body dissipate so the Apex Estrellian would have nothing to draw upon.
Unlike Isis, who locked onto a specific body part to attack, he circled at high speed, landing a few half-hearted, shallow cuts with ordinary sword technique just to divide the opponent's attention.
This also took some pressure off Fabius, who was confronting the monster head-on, while Altaïr searched for the right opening.
The Apex Estrellian's ability to command Star Butterflies was clearly far stronger than that of the Estrellian Subspecies they had Hunted before.
Even while locked in fierce combat with Fabius, it could release several Star Butterflies, directing them to circle around and ambush Hunters from behind or launch the same kind of suicidal explosive attacks they had seen earlier.
This vexed Fabius endlessly and even cost him a few minor injuries.
But with the younger Hunters joining the fray, that annoyance was finally resolved. Nymera picked off most of them from a distance.
The occasional one or two that slipped through the curtain of fire were dealt with by Altaïr's high-speed guerrilla strikes before they could reach Fabius.
The battle settled into a stalemate, and the longer it dragged on, the more it favored the Hunters.
Once the two Estrellian Subspecies were dealt with, more Hunters would have their hands free, and the Apex Estrellian would be forced to endure the relentless siege of even more Hunters, all while the heavily-armed Airship loomed watchfully from above.
Unwilling to simply wait for death, the Apex Estrellian lowered its head, enduring several jabs from the Lance, then shoved past the Hunters around it and charged toward the ordinary Estrellian at the edge of the battlefield.
Sensing the danger, the Estrellian scattered and fled, but one was still overtaken and pinned to the ground by the Apex Estrellian.
One bite was all it took to sever the hapless Estrellian's neck. The luminous wings that stretched between its carapace plates dimmed instantly, turning ashen and dull, robbed of all their luster.
At the same time, the Apex Estrellian's entire body surged with renewed energy, and those dazzling crimson dragon wings unfurled once more.