"Attack!"
Altaïr, Haifa, Nymera, and Kane all roared at the same time.
It was not a command directed at anyone, but a cathartic outburst from deep within.
Disregarding the risk of being trampled, the tall, sturdy Haifa forced herself into a half-crouch and squeezed beneath Guanzorumu, raising her Great Sword and settling into a charging stance.
Kane, the High Rank Heavy Bowgun user, looked as though he wanted to shove his weapon straight into Guanzorumu's mouth. He pressed its muzzle against the Monster's head, entered Crouching Shot mode, and opened fire at full speed.
Nymera and the other Gunners involved in the fight could no longer afford to worry about keeping a safe distance. They charged onto the battlefield one after another, pouring all their Bowgun Ammo and arrows into the bound Guanzorumu. They would not stop unless a Bowgun's barrel burst or a bowstring snapped.
His armor shattered, his body wounded in multiple places and already pushed to its absolute limit, Altaïr's limbs went weak the instant Guanzorumu was struck in a vital spot by the portable Dragonator and then immediately restrained by the One-shot Binder. He nearly collapsed to the ground.
But he gritted his teeth and held on.
They had already played all their trump cards. If they could not defeat Guanzorumu or force it to retreat during this assault, mustering another sufficiently powerful offensive would be extremely difficult.
Even if he could manage only one more slash, he absolutely could not fall before victory!
A Blademaster's "Spirit" was a power born of will and conviction. As he straightened once more and held his Long Sword at an angle, the Spirit Gauge that had begun to dissipate rapidly condensed until it was solid and piercingly sharp again.
He continued to gather Spirit Gauge energy and build power. One second, two seconds, three seconds... This time, he charged longer than usual. The opening was brief; he had to stake everything on this attack.
Charged Spirit Roundslash! Crimson lightning coiled around Tyrant Blade [Solar Eclipse] as it sliced across the side of Guanzorumu's neck, carving open a long, narrow wound.
Assaulted from all sides, the battered Guanzorumu raised its head to the sky and loosed a long howl, as though calling for something. The Hunters had no time to wonder why. At a moment like this, all they could do was maintain their relentless assault.
As the Spirit Roundslash ended, Altaïr's momentum surged to a new peak.
His highly compressed Spirit Gauge sheathed the blade's edge in a dazzling crimson glow.
He did not follow with his habitual Spinning Crimson Slash to cap the sequence. Instead, though he risked losing his Spirit entirely, he compressed the Spirit Gauge even further and once again poured everything into his blade.
He forced himself into the stance for a Spirit Blade Thrust and continued to charge... Just then, a series of sharp, piercing cries rang out from the edge of the battlefield. The Hunters' faces went pale. Those were the cries of the Egyurasu.
With that earlier howl, Guanzorumu had forcibly summoned the Egyurasu from the nearby city districts.
"Gunners! Intercept the Egyurasu!" Nymera yelled, swinging her Bowgun toward them.
Guanzorumu's intention was easy to guess. The moment those Egyurasu reached it, they could burn through the ropes with their breath attacks and help it break free.
At that point, the tide of battle would turn.
The Gunners raised their Bowguns and Bows, aiming at the approaching Egyurasu. They shot down some of them, but many flying at higher altitudes broke through the barrage and reached the airspace above Guanzorumu.
They spewed flames from their mouths and dove.
The inferno engulfed Guanzorumu's body. Such heat was little more than a bath to Guanzorumu, but the ropes binding it grew brittle beneath the scorching flames.
With a violent lunge, Guanzorumu broke free from the One-shot Binder ropes.
At the sight, the Hunters all but ground their teeth to dust, yet they could do nothing except scatter and retreat. Only Altaïr remained before Guanzorumu, silently charging his attack.
He knew, of course, that retreating was the wise decision, but he no longer had the strength to pull back.
If he broke off his charge now, he probably would not even have the strength to remain standing.
Having broken free, Guanzorumu did not immediately launch a counterattack. Instead, it held its head high and fixed its gaze on the Egyurasu clustered around it.
It was not the look one gave companions, but the stare of a predator eyeing food, as though it wanted to swallow them all in one bite.
And that was precisely what it tried to do.
Guanzorumu suddenly lunged, its bloodstained maw gaping wide as it tried to snap up the nearest Egyurasu.
A resounding roar like a great dragon's bellow suddenly came from the edge of the battlefield.
"RROOOAAARRR!"
As though responding to a signal, the flock of Egyurasu surrounding Guanzorumu scattered in an instant. Guanzorumu snapped its jaws on empty air with a loud crack and froze, its crimson dragon eyes betraying almost human bewilderment.
At the edge of the square, Lambert, who had just sprinted over, waved the Wind Horn back and forth. "Sounds nice, huh? I learned it from you!"
With no choice now but to attack, Altaïr bared his teeth in a fierce grin as Guanzorumu's attention shifted away.
The crimson Spirit Gauge, previously condensed and stable, gradually grew violent. Tyrant Blade [Solar Eclipse] shook with it and emitted a series of shrill metallic screeches.
Guanzorumu sensed the acute threat and looked back. It was about to unleash a blast of dragon flame and reduce the reckless fool before it to ashes.
With a furious "Meow!" a tiny figure burst from the ground beside its head.
Wielding steel claws in both paws and with Beast Mode active, Clawdia looked even more like a "Monster" than Guanzorumu itself.
Utterly disregarding the risk of being swallowed whole, Clawdia leaped directly onto Guanzorumu's head and unleashed a frenzied barrage of raking claw strikes at its eyes.
Guanzorumu instinctively shook its head in response.
"Now!" Haifa roared, charging straight toward Guanzorumu's face.
She too had staked everything on the blow, including her own life. She poured all the momentum of her charge into a full-force upward swing of her Great Sword.
The Great Sword's vicious claw blades slammed into Guanzorumu's lower jaw. A blast of fighting spirit as fierce as a desert gale erupted on impact.
Blade Dragging Slash! Caught completely off guard, Guanzorumu was sent reeling backward by the strike, exposing the wound on the underside of its body.
Altaïr had poured every ounce of his strength and spirit into building power and compressing his Spirit Gauge until his consciousness began to blur. Now he let his body move on its own.
The Long Sword in his hand became a single, straight streak of light as he thrust it forward.
Though it was only a Spirit Blade Thrust, a setup move hardly known for its power, it plunged deep into the wound in Guanzorumu's chest until nearly half the blade was buried.
Dragon Element energy detonated deep within Guanzorumu's chest, wrenching agonized howls from it and throwing its reared-up body off balance.
Riding the momentum, Altaïr leaped into the air, a dazzling streak of blade-light flashing down like a thunderbolt splitting the sky.
Spirit Helm Breaker! Spirit Helm Breaker!
In the blade-light's wake, the wound burst open and blood gushed forth. Yet even after this ultimate attack, his movements did not stop.
At that moment, he felt as though he no longer wielded the Long Sword. Instead, the sword, into which he had condensed every last breath and ounce of strength, pulled his body along.
The blade traced two intersecting lines too fast for the naked eye to follow, then swept around in a full Spirit Roundslash.
Each slash was stronger than the one before, leaving several bone-deep gashes running from Guanzorumu's head and neck down to its chest.
Pitch-black dragon blood rained down on Altaïr, staining his golden armor an ominous dark hue.
Gravely wounded, Guanzorumu wailed and toppled backward to the ground.
The Hunters roared at the top of their lungs and surged forward in a mob.
Even rookies like Lambert ignored the terrifying pressure unique to Elder Dragons, pushed their way to Guanzorumu's side, and began hammering away with their Hunting Horns.
For the first time, a flicker of fear crossed the eyes of this incomparably arrogant Elder Dragon.
Shielding its vital points with its massive dragon wings, it struggled awkwardly to its feet amid the encircling Hunters.
With a violent thrust of both wings, the resulting wind pressure sent the frenzied Hunters flying. Guanzorumu seized the opening and launched itself into the air. Braving concentrated volleys of Bowgun Ammo and arrows, it climbed unsteadily into the sky and vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
The Hunters' cheers and roars echoed above the city.
"Hahahaha! Kid, you really came through in a big way this time!"
Laughing boisterously, Haifa pushed through the celebrating crowd and came to Altaïr's side. She was about to say more when she realized that he had collapsed unconscious. Even his breathing had grown faint.
"Oh, shit! Don't tell me you're dead, kid!"
(Translated by yourtl.app)