"ROAR!"
Like a giant Barrel Bomb detonating, the terrifying roar reverberated among the dunes.
The distance weakened the blast enough that it did not leave Nymera stunned and helpless. Instead, it jolted her out of her frozen state.
Run! It was the first thought that surfaced in her mind, and the only one.
Abandoning all thought of concealment, she spun around at full speed and pushed off with both hands to accelerate as she slid down from the dune's crest.
At the bottom of the dune, Hibiki, equally shaken by the roar, had already broken into a run. Just as Nymera was about to reach the base, he passed directly in front of her.
Nymera planted both hands and feet, using the momentum of her descent to launch herself into the air and land perfectly on Hibiki's back.
Less than ten seconds had passed since the roar sounded.
Before Nymera could even sigh in relief, the terrifying beast had already crossed more than two hundred meters and pounced onto the crest of the dune where she had just been hiding.
Its massive body blocked the fading sunset glow, casting a shadow over their heads.
Nymera instinctively looked up and once again met those draconic eyes burning with dark crimson ferocity.
Ignoring everything else, Nymera lowered herself flat against the Palamute's back. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck while clamping her legs tight, anchoring herself firmly in place.
No further command or reminder was needed. For a well-trained Palamute, that action was the clearest possible signal.
With a low growl, Hibiki drove his powerful legs into the sand, gouging out a series of shallow pits as he and the Hunter on his back blurred into an afterimage.
"BOOM!"
An instant after they bolted, the Tigrex leapt down from the top of the dune and crashed like a meteor onto the spot they had just occupied.
The soft, fine sand gave way beneath the impact. The Tigrex pitched and slid sideways as it landed, but it did not care in the slightest.
Its muscular, grotesquely thick limbs churned up vast clouds of yellow sand, the airborne dust nearly obscuring its entire body.
Then the ferocious beast burst from the billowing sand with its enormous maw wide open, bearing down on the Palamute and Hunter just ahead.
Hibiki stole a glance backward. When he saw the enormous mouth, large enough to swallow both him and Nymera whole, less than twenty meters behind them and still closing, terror nearly made him wet himself.
Already sprinting flat out, Hibiki somehow found another reserve of speed. His pace surged beyond anything he had ever achieved.
The distance between them and the gaping, bloodthirsty maw behind finally stabilized, but they still could not shake it.
"Find large dunes!" Nymera shouted into Hibiki's ear. "Its body is too big and heavy; it can't turn as nimbly as you! Weave between the dunes!"
As she spoke, she tossed items from Hibiki's saddlebag one by one to lighten her partner's load as much as possible. At the same time, she watched every turn and shifted left or right to keep her center of gravity aligned with Hibiki's. In her panic, she could not even maintain her usual half-literary, half-colloquial manner of speaking.
Their constant changes of direction quickly paid off.
Just as Nymera had predicted, however extraordinary its strength, a Tigrex that large could not completely overcome its own inertia.
The gap between them gradually widened.
An ordinary Monster would have given up the chase by now. Persisting in hunting prey faster than itself served no purpose except to waste precious energy.
Yet that terrifying Tigrex refused to relent.
As Hibiki made another sharp turn around a sand dune, the Tigrex abruptly abandoned the turn and charged straight up the dune instead.
The moment it reached the crest, it kicked off fiercely with its hind legs. Its colossal body soared into the air as its folded azure forelimbs spread wide. Twisting in midair to change course, it half flew, half glided straight toward the desperately fleeing Palamute.
No matter how fast one ran on the ground or how nimbly one turned, there was no matching a Flying Wyvern soaring through the air.
That held true even for the Tigrex, a species so little known for flight that many people forgot it could fly at all.
Hibiki ran for his life, but the hard-won distance was about to vanish in the blink of an eye.
At that very moment, Nymera turned around on Hibiki's back and hurled a Flash Pod at the diving Tigrex.
The Flash Pod, its fuse pulled in advance, detonated less than two seconds after leaving her hand.
With its gaze fixed on its target mid-dive, the Tigrex took the sudden burst of intense light full in the eyes and was instantly blinded. The flash-induced vertigo shattered its sense of balance, sending it crashing headfirst to the ground.
It tumbled and rolled several more times through the dunes before finally grinding to a rough stop.
Nymera had pulled Hibiki into a sharp turn the moment she threw the Flash Pod, narrowly avoiding being crushed to pulp by the fallen Tigrex.
Taking advantage of the creature's dazed and disoriented state, Nymera and Hibiki did not dare pause for a moment. They raced away at full speed and vanished among the rolling dunes.
—--
At the same time, in Loc Lac.
Altaïr's eye twitched slightly as he looked at the workshop owner, who wore revealing clothes and had a pipe dangling from the corner of her mouth.
"Your prices... aren't they a bit too steep?"
The workshop owner propped one elbow on the counter, rested her chin on her hand, and blew a puff of smoke into Altaïr's face. "That's how rush orders work, little Altaïr.
A Tigerstripe Zamtrios is nothing like a Genprey. Its materials are a real pain to process. If you want guaranteed Armor quality on a tight deadline, our smiths have to set aside all their other work, assemble the whole crew, and work around the clock.
That means overtime wages, compensation for delayed orders, penalty fees–"
"Stop!" Altaïr raised a hand, signaling the workshop owner to say no more. He turned back toward Isis. "What do you think?"
Isis tilted her head in thought for a moment, then asked, "How will the finished Armor compare to the Lagiacrus Armor I'm wearing now?"
The workshop owner beckoned Isis closer, then stepped out from behind the counter.
Leaning in, she scrutinized the Armor for several long moments. The workshop owner tapped the pipe at the corner of her mouth and drawled, "Now that's master-grade craftsmanship. Normally, a smith of that caliber would only bother with High Rank equipment. How you secured his services... well, that's none of our business.
To be blunt, there are fine details we can't reproduce quite as exquisitely, but in terms of essential sturdiness, durability, and the Armor's functional effects, there won't be much difference.
Put another way, that smith drew out one hundred percent of the Lagiacrus materials' potential. We can reach about ninety-five percent.
Of course, if you apply the same technical gap to High Rank Armor, whose construction is far more complex, it's another story entirely. He might still reach close to one hundred percent, while we might only manage eighty percent or less."
"So you're saying that smith's talents were wasted on the Lagiacrus Armor, and you can get pretty close yourselves, but his work would be a whole tier above yours if he were crafting High Rank equipment?" Altaïr asked from the side.
"Correct."
"'Pretty close' still means falling short. Lower the price a little." Altaïr bared his teeth.
"A five percent discount, not a hair more." The workshop owner rolled her eyes. "You already own a master-crafted Lagiacrus Armor Set, yet you're rushing to have a Zamtrios Z Armor Set forged. That's because Tigerstripe Zamtrios materials offer excellent impact absorption and fire resistance, isn't it?
We'll emphasize those properties so the new set complements the Lagiacrus Armor you're wearing.
That said, if you wanted a better price, you could simply place a normal order. Why insist on a special rush job? Unless... have you two heard something?"
As she spoke that final question, the workshop owner narrowed her eyes and glanced sideways at Altaïr.
"We're simply overcautious and prone to letting our imaginations run wild," Altaïr replied evasively.
The workshop owner fell silent for a long moment. "Shortly before you arrived, the old man from the Artisans' Association was called away to a meeting. Something is clearly afoot.
This Hunter isn't a Loc Lac local, yet she's willing to stay at a time like this. We won't try to profit from you.
We'll keep to the original price. We'll work overtime and have it ready within three days."
"Then you have our thanks!" Isis set down the bundle of materials, a smile spreading across her face.
Lambert, who had been trailing behind them, sidled over on the sly. "I'm staying too. Could I get a discount as well? I'm looking to upgrade my Iron Horn!"
A flicker of exasperation crossed the workshop owner's face, but she still gestured to the side. "Set it down over there. Are you branching it into the Wind Horn or the Metal Bagpipe?"
Taking in Lambert's age and gear, the workshop owner recognized her as a rookie and thoughtfully added, "The former is essentially a reinforced version of the Iron Horn. The latter offers a broader selection of support melodies."
"Wind..." Lambert had just begun to speak when her gaze fell on Altaïr and Isis. After a moment of internal struggle, she murmured, "Maybe... I'll go with the Metal Bagpipe?"
Smack! Altaïr backhanded her across the forehead. "Make her the Wind Horn. That'll do. Sorry for the trouble, boss."
Having said that, he turned and shot Lambert a sidelong glare. "Who exactly are you planning to support? Stay in the rear, where you belong."
(Translated by yourtl.app)