With the Village Chief's endorsement, the Hunters no longer had any reservations.
Morgan set up his Heavy Bowgun, loaded it with Sticky Ammo, then lined up a row of primed rounds at his feet for quick reloads.
With Isis in the lead, the three Blademasters slid down the rope one after another to the bottom of the cave, then crept quietly toward the "large rock" at its center.
Sajji and Clawdia did not join the fight. They remained beside the Village Chief to guard him.
The dust and haze blanketing the cave floor would severely impair their vision, which was another important reason Altaïr had left them out of the combat team.
When Altaïr had explained this earlier, the darkest expression had belonged not to the battle-hungry Clawdia, but to Morgan, who was preparing his ammunition nearby.
He could not help feeling frustrated at being lumped together with the Felynes because of his height.
After quietly approaching the reef-covered rock that concealed the Monster, Altaïr and Isis looked at Theo, signaling him to make his move.
Theo gave them a thumbs-up, unstrapped the barrel-like object from his back, and, with dizzying speed, retrieved liquids, powders, and granules from glass vials and small bottles stashed all over his person: inside his clothes, along his belt, in a small pouch on his thigh, and even beneath the straps on the back of his shield.
He opened one section of the barrel and poured in the ingredients one after another.
A suspicious hiss immediately rose from inside the barrel, accompanied by green smoke and sparks.
Altaïr's scalp prickled. Was this thing about to explode already?
Then he watched Theo lift the barrel in both hands and shake it vigorously, like a bartender mixing a cocktail.
Crackling came from within, and the smoke and sparks billowed even more fiercely, startling Isis into raising her Large Shield.
The entire process, from mixing the ingredients to completing the reaction, took only about half a minute. As the activity inside the barrel subsided, a satisfied smile spread across Theo's face.
"It's ready!"
"What's ready?" Altaïr could not help asking in a low voice.
Theo carefully released the latch. The barrel's lid immediately popped open with a soft hiss, releasing the pungent smell of gunpowder and a cloud of scalding white steam.
"A potent alchemical explosive." Theo winked at the pair, then poured out a large glob of glue-like material.
The sticky mass was still reacting violently, swelling and bubbling without pause.
He shoved it into the deepest crevice he could find at the base of the "large rock," then turned and ran. "Move, move! That stuff is unstable. It'll explode in ten to fifteen seconds, tops!"
"Why didn't you say so earlier?!"
Altaïr fumed, and Isis was angry enough to want to punch Theo twice, but this was hardly the time to teach him a lesson. The two scrambled away from the "large rock" and sprinted for the edge of the cave.
Theo had already covered his ears. Altaïr and Isis crouched low as well and braced for the blast.
After several heart-pounding seconds, a piercing red light flashed beneath the large rock, followed by a burst of searing flame. The deafening explosion and its shockwave shook the entire cave.
"BOOM!"
The Hunters had reached a safe distance in time. Protected by their armor, they escaped injury, though the blast left them badly shaken.
The "large rock," conservatively estimated to weigh nearly a hundred tons, almost overturned in the explosion. Altaïr stared in astonishment at its sheer power.
That blast was almost as powerful as a Large Barrel Bomb G, but a bomb that size was nowhere near as portable. Hauling one any real distance required a cart.
Altaïr suddenly understood why Theo used a Sleep Status Sword and Shield and wore the Somnacanth Set to strengthen sleep buildup.
Theo's fighting style probably involved using hit-and-run tactics to put a Monster to sleep, then piling Barrel Bombs underneath it while it lay helpless.
Alchemy was exceptionally versatile, and explosives were far from the only thing it could produce. Theo could probably refine all manner of deadly poisons as well. Would he pour poison down a Monster's throat while it slept? What an underhanded tactic.
The potent alchemical explosive jolted the Monster concealed beneath the coral reef rock from its slumber.
It exposed the grotesque mouthparts hidden beneath its body and let out a silent roar.
What kind of Monster was this? Its massive body was covered in seashells and seaweed found only on the ocean floor, along with countless quivering sacs that looked ready to burst at any moment.
Several pairs of short, thick legs extended from beneath its hill-like body, but the most striking feature was an enormous claw several meters wide and shaped like a giant hammer.
Altaïr immediately realized that this monstrously deformed claw had left the drag marks they had seen by the riverbank earlier.
On the other side of its body, a much slimmer claw resembled a sickle.
Its stance and those distinctive claws left the Hunters with only one possible conclusion.
It was a grotesquely deformed giant crab.
"Boom! Boom!" Morgan, positioned above the pit, was the first to attack.
Several Sticky Ammo rounds slipped past the crab Monster's guarding claw and struck its grotesque mouthparts with precision.
After a brief delay, the rounds detonated simultaneously.
Even the strongest Monster was vulnerable inside its mouth. In the flash of fire, several humanlike teeth were blown loose, but the creature seemed completely unfazed. It lumbered forward, continuing to close in on the Blademasters.
"Don't take it head-on! Find its weak points!" After shouting the warning, Altaïr accelerated and circled around the crab Monster's flank.
Isis rushed to the Monster's front and shelled its face to draw its attention.
The Monster screeched, slowly raised its massive hammer-shaped right limb, and brought it crashing down at her.
Under normal circumstances, when facing a Monster for the first time, Isis would block its attack with her Large Shield to gauge its strength.
This time, she did not. She sidestepped while continuing to fire, using the recoil from her shelling to circle toward the crab Monster's left side.
She had confidence in her own strength, but the Monster's swollen right limb was piled high with coral reef rock and had to weigh between ten and twenty tons. No matter how strong she was, she could not withstand that crashing down on her.
By contrast, the Monster's sickle-shaped left limb was much slimmer. She planned to stay just outside that limb, where it would be difficult for the Monster to put much force behind an attack.
Just as Altaïr had predicted, the Monster was slow. As it laboriously raised its hammer-like right limb to strike, Isis began her sidestepping maneuver.
A full two or three seconds passed before the bloated limb finally slammed down. Isis had already cleared its reach, and she seized the opportunity to smash her Gunlance into the Monster's head.
A metallic clang rang through the cave.
Surprise flickered in Isis's eyes. She had expected the carapace to be extremely hard, like the stone shell of a Basarios.
In reality, it was far more fragile than she had imagined. Her blow had gouged open a sizeable gap.
The shell was thick, but not particularly sturdy. It was even softer than ordinary stone, much like loose, porous coral. No, it was not merely similar. The Monster's carapace consisted entirely of accumulated coral reef rock!
She shouted her discovery to her companions.
Altaïr had just driven his blade into one of the Monster's joints. It had not bounced, but the coral reef rock had nearly trapped the entire blade. At Isis's shout, everything clicked into place.
"That rock carapace isn't part of its body!" Altaïr yelled as he wrenched his sword free. "It uses mycelium to anchor the rock in place, forming a protective shell around its body! Ordinary mountain stone is too dense for the mycelium to take hold. That's why it went into the sea to find porous coral reef rock!"
"So what do we do?!" Theo had circled the crab Monster several times without finding a single place to land an effective blow.
"Concentrate our attacks! Crack it open and carve out several deep fissures!"
As he spoke, Altaïr slid the Tyrant Blade [Solar Eclipse] into its scabbard, combining the two into the weapon's Great Sword form.
A blunt weapon such as a Hammer would have been ideal against such thick stone armor. A heavy Great Sword could still do the job, and it was far better suited to the task than the sharper but comparatively slender Long Sword.
"Once we've opened the fissures, you handle the explosives and blow that rock carapace off its body!"
"Oh? Explosives? Now that's something I'm good at!"
(Translated by yourtl.app)