Altaïr's heart began pounding wildly once more.
He had seen claw marks like these before, identical claw marks.
Three-claw marks themselves were not rare, but ones of this size were practically unheard of. The length of the claw marks carried even more specific information.
Claw marks two to three meters long were easy enough to leave. When two Large Monsters fought and tore at each other, a clean head-on hit could inflict that kind of wound.
But this immense set of claw marks, spanning the Tigrex's entire back, did not look like the result of a casual swipe.
It more closely resembled a wound left when the victim had been pinned beneath the attacker, claws sunk into its flesh with unhurried ease, as if preparing to disembowel it.
Another key point was the creature that had endured the wound.
The Tigrex before him measured an estimated eighteen to nineteen meters in length. While not exactly a gold crown-sized specimen, it still clearly exceeded the average for an adult Tigrex. The condition of its scales, claws, and fangs also made it clear that this Tigrex was in the prime of its life.
In other words, this Tigrex was not an aged, weak, or sick individual that could be bullied with relative ease.
A creature capable of so easily defeating it, subduing it, pinning it to the ground, and tearing open its back, leaving behind such claw marks... Altaïr's thoughts grew chaotic. For an instant, the idea even surfaced in his mind of calling off the fight and trying to track this Tigrex, to see whether there was any chance of finding more clues.
No sooner had the thought formed than reason swiftly extinguished it.
A Tigrex was not an opponent against which he had the luxury to "hold back." The outcome of this battle was still undecided. Only after giving everything he had to hunt and kill the opponent before him would he be qualified to think about anything else.
Forcing down all thoughts unrelated to the battle at hand, Altaïr dashed several steps and reached the side of the Tigrex's head.
He held his Long Sword horizontally before him, the tip leveled straight ahead. After a brief moment of charging, the blade, wreathed in crimson Spirit, shot forward in a swift stab, opening a bloody hole behind the Tigrex's jawbone.
Having lost its balance when it crashed to the ground, the Tigrex struggled to get up for a moment. But that did not mean it had completely lost its ability to fight back. After taking the thrust, it reflexively twisted its head sideways and bit down at the Hunter right beside its jaws.
At that very moment, however, Altaïr had already vaulted into the air, using his blade as leverage.
Because he had forced his way into "blue demon mode" early and by an "unorthodox" route, Altaïr's focus was sharper than ever. He seized complete control over every muscle, every ounce of fighting spirit, and even the Spirit swirling along his blade.
He twisted his body in midair, and through that movement, stacked force through his entire being, layer by layer.
Sensing imminent danger, the Tigrex instinctively jerked its head away, trying to evade the attack.
But Altaïr adjusted with the Tigrex's movement, and with sheer force of will, altered the angle of his blade in the instant before the slash landed.
And then, the arc of the blade descended.
The dazzling sword light cleaved a jagged breach through the night, and scalding dragon blood gushed forth like a fountain.
The angle of this slash was unexpectedly perfect. In its attempt to flinch and dodge, the Tigrex had exposed the vulnerable side of its neck.
With Altaïr's last-moment adjustment, the strike tore through the protective scales and muscle of the Tigrex's neck, slicing open the artery hidden deep beneath.
This wound was nothing like the previous ones that had only damaged the muscle layer.
Continuous blood loss would drain a Large Monster's stamina in a short time. As long as he forced it to keep fighting at high intensity, denying it any chance to rest and recover, it would grow weaker and weaker.
So Altaïr immediately abandoned his strategy of targeting the head. He shifted his blade and charged toward the gushing wound on the Tigrex's neck, intending to widen the injury before the Tigrex could rise.
The Tigrex clearly recognized this potentially fatal threat as well. It instantly twisted its head, willing to shield the neck wound even if that meant taking attacks to its equally vulnerable head.
Unable to find another attack angle as perfect as before, Altaïr felt a slight pang of regret, but his movements showed no hesitation.
He swung his blade at full speed, leaving one crisscrossing wound after another on the Tigrex's head. At the same time, the Spirit Gauge he had spent in his earlier attacks began to condense again.
After taking several consecutive slashes, the Tigrex, lying on its side, finally managed to right itself. Its wingtalons, thick as massive pillars, pressed against the ground, supporting it as it stood back up.
It drew a deep breath, air flooding its lungs and causing its chest to bulge high.
"ROOOAAARRR!!!"
The roar condensed into a fan-shaped shockwave that blasted Altaïr backward, skidding him several meters away.
The thunderous blast pierced his eardrums and drove straight into his brain, locking his entire body rigid. Only when the roar subsided did his mobility finally return.
The repeated setbacks since the start of the battle, and especially the slash that had just inflicted a serious wound, had driven the Tigrex into a complete fury.
Rage burned through its mind. Its rapid, heavy heartbeat could be heard clearly even from a great distance.
With its heart pumping at high speed, blood flow quickened sharply. Crimson veins crawled across its eyes, while the blood vessels in its head, neck, and claws bulged prominently, revealing a deep, dark red hue.
A terrifying aura of brutality surged forth.
Due to the accelerated heartbeat and the swelling of its muscles under extreme strain, the Tigrex's speed and strength in its enraged state escalated to an entirely new level, and the danger of fighting it skyrocketed accordingly.
Yet at that moment, the corners of Altaïr's mouth curled upward, as if with irrepressible delight.
He noticed that as the Tigrex's blood pressure spiked to its limit, the blood gushing from the wound in its neck had visibly intensified.
An enraged Monster traded greatly increased stamina consumption for heightened physical ability. And with its neck artery ruptured, this creature's blood was already draining fast. The extreme blood pressure of its enraged state would drastically accelerate that process.
As long as he endured this most perilous phase of the fight, the scales of victory would tip in his favor!
"Haah!" Gripping his blade with both hands, his ears still ringing, Altaïr let out a great roar at the Tigrex.
No particular reason. He simply wanted to taunt it. If he could fill the Tigrex's head with enough rage that it completely lost all reason, so much the better.
Against an enraged Tigrex, such provocation proved remarkably effective.
Without a second thought, the Tigrex launched itself into a flying pounce, aiming to crush the detestable Hunter in a single bite.
Ready for it, Altaïr sprinted two quick steps sideways and rolled through the air, narrowly but cleanly evading the pounce.
But the furious Tigrex's assault would not end so easily. Having missed, it did not wait to steady its footing. Spinning with a skidding drift, it immediately launched a charge attack straight at the Hunter behind it.
Altaïr, who had studied this creature obsessively since childhood, knew full well that a Tigrex in a frenzied state, with its physical abilities vastly enhanced, could even turn repeatedly and chain several charge attacks in a row.
Simply dodging with rolls and dives could easily leave one unable to recover in time, only to be run over when the Tigrex whipped around at high speed.
So he chose a more direct approach.
Facing the howling, charging Tigrex, Altaïr backpedaled swiftly while raising his left arm and pulling the mechanism, firing a Flash Pod directly at it.
Perhaps blind rage had clouded its awareness of the Flash Pod, or perhaps it had never suffered such a trick from a Hunter before.
With the Flash Pod hurtling straight toward its eyes, the Tigrex made no attempt to react, continuing its full-speed charge with its bloody maw gaping wide.
The Flash Pod struck the Tigrex's snout, bounced once, and erupted with a light far brighter and more piercing than the midday sun, instantly robbing the Tigrex of its sight and leaving it briefly dazed.
Altaïr did not seize this chance to advance, for he knew very well that while the blindness might last twenty or thirty seconds, for a Large Monster of the Tigrex's caliber, the daze caused by a Flash Pod would be extremely short-lived.
Once the Tigrex recovered from the daze, even before its eyesight fully returned, it would launch an extraordinarily violent counterattack.
Right now, he carried more than just his own life on his shoulders; he could not take such a risk.
Suppressing the burning urge to attack with cold reason, Altaïr continued retreating a few steps to put a safe distance between them. He took out a Whetstone and began polishing his blade.
It was not yet time, not yet the moment to deliver the finishing blow.
(Translated by yourtl.app)