As Altaïr plunged through the collapsed opening into the cavern below, the first thing he felt was the cold.
The vertical drop was only twenty or thirty meters, nowhere near enough to account for such a drastic change in temperature, yet the air below was almost freezing. Every breath he exhaled formed a cloud of white mist.
Something was clearly wrong. Altaïr tightened his grip on the rope to slow his descent and used the enhanced vision granted by the Psychoserum to scan his surroundings.
The cavern was enormous, covering nearly ten thousand square meters. It was almost large enough to be a small plaza.
Its floor was unnaturally flat, as though some force had smoothed it rather than nature. Ice filled many of the hollows in the ground and rock walls, making them even slicker.
Then his gaze locked onto the terrifying black-and-gold Monster at the center of the cavern.
It was a Large Flying Wyvern more than twenty meters long. Its body looked forged from obsidian, and countless sharp spines covered its hide, glowing with brilliant golden light that dazzled the eye in the dark cavern.
Such a conspicuous appearance proved one thing. This creature stood at the apex of the region's ecosystem. It had no need to hide its presence because nothing here could threaten it.
The horn jutting several meters from its head and the tail hammer nearly as thick as its torso were both spiraled. A casual sweep of the tail hammer tore a massive crevice through the hard stone floor and sent debris flying.
If it could crush rock that easily, a direct hit would tear a human body apart in an instant.
Altaïr suspected the creature's horn or tail hammer had caused the earlier localized collapse.
He landed on his feet and sidestepped several paces. Kagetsu slid down the rope right behind him and touched down at his side.
"Holy crap, what the hell is that?!" Kagetsu might only have been a 3★ Hunter, but her unusual abilities often led the Guild to deploy her as a "force multiplier." She was far from inexperienced.
"I swear, if that thing's Threat Level is below 6★, I'll eat it raw!"
Altaïr gestured for her to keep quiet.
The Monster had not noticed them yet. It was too busy frantically chasing a pitiful little creature ahead of it.
The filthy, disheveled Uruki was Star Jasmine, their primary target for this mission.
Altaïr agreed with Kagetsu's assessment. The Monster was unquestionably at least High Rank, and engaging it head-on with their current fighting strength would be unwise.
Their best option was to rush in before it noticed them, grab Star Jasmine, and run back the way they had come.
Fortunately, they had left Isis above, which meant they would not have to climb slowly back up the rope.
With his plan decided, Altaïr gave Kagetsu a series of hand signals.
Kagetsu nodded and released her Kinsect.
Ideally, the Kinsect would distract the Monster. Unfortunately, that attempt failed at once.
Little White circled several times in front of the Monster's head, but the creature behaved as though it could not see the Kinsect at all. It continued relentlessly pursuing Star Jasmine as he fled for his life.
Altaïr narrowed his eyes and studied it for a few seconds. The Monster had eyes, but its pupils were a dull, lusterless gray-white, without even visible irises. Was it blind?
That would hardly be surprising. In the near-total darkness of an underground cavern, its eyesight could easily have degenerated.
He turned his attention to the two enormous earflaps on either side of its head, each almost as large as its face. Hearing appeared to be the creature's primary sense.
Altaïr immediately switched to his second plan, removing the Flash Pod from his Slinger and loading a Sonic Bomb instead.
At Kagetsu's direction, Little White left the Monster's head and flew to its thigh. The Kinsect slipped its proboscis through a gap in the creature's carapace and drew blood to extract its essence.
Once the extraction was complete, Little White flew back and transferred the extract into Kagetsu's arm.
Altaïr could not help feeling a little disappointed. If Kagetsu had brought Glint, the friendly Elscarad, he might have gotten a taste of the Monster's essence too.
As the extract entered her body, Kagetsu felt her mobility rise by more than a full level.
The Monster's blood was incredibly potent.
Kagetsu gave Altaïr a thumbs-up to signal that she was ready.
Altaïr adjusted his helmet, drew a deep breath, roused the power in his blood, and activated Demon Mode. Then he charged forward at full speed.
He made no effort to muffle his footsteps. The noise immediately caught the Flying Wyvern's attention thanks to its exceptionally sharp hearing.
It turned its head toward him, its expression fierce, and "looked" his way.
But looking was all it did. Rather than attack Altaïr, it turned away and resumed its pursuit of Star Jasmine, as though it had locked onto him alone.
Altaïr could not imagine what Star Jasmine had done to make the creature pursue him so relentlessly.
Without breaking stride, Altaïr snatched up a fist-sized rock and hurled it at the nearby black-and-gold Flying Wyvern.
Thunk!
The rock had struck the magnificent single horn crowning the Monster's head.
The black-and-gold Flying Wyvern stopped mid-stride.
The rock had done no damage whatsoever, but it had certainly stirred the creature's fury. A faint golden glow flickered across its enormous spiral horn, shaped like a drill, as it slowly turned around.
"Now!" Altaïr shouted, accelerating.
Empowered by the Monster's essence, Kagetsu moved with greatly enhanced speed. In just three or four seconds, she caught up with the fleeing Star Jasmine, grabbed him, and slung him onto her back.
"I'm getting out first!" she called as she accelerated away.
"Watch out!" Altaïr yelled in warning.
Kagetsu's pounding footsteps drew the Monster's attention, but this time it did not turn around. Instead, it raised its massive tail hammer and slammed it violently into the ground.
At first, Kagetsu was not worried.
Nearly twenty meters still separated them, roughly the creature's own body length. There was no way its tail hammer could reach her from there.
She quickly realized she was wrong.
The instant the tail hammer struck the ground, a burst of golden lightning erupted from its tip. The stone behind the black-and-gold Flying Wyvern froze on impact, then shattered. A terrifying chill wreathed the golden energy as it tore through the ground and shot straight toward the fleeing Insect Glaive user.
"What is that?!" Kagetsu screamed.
Fortunately, her many encounters with High Threat Level monsters had honed her reflexes in a crisis. As the energy closed on her back, Kagetsu planted her Insect Glaive against the ground like a pole, vaulted upward, and twisted through the air.
The energy passed beneath her and slammed into the distant rock wall.
A thick layer of frost spread across the stone, then the golden arcs within it detonated with a roar and blasted a massive crater into the cliff face.
Kagetsu landed with her heart pounding. Half scrambling and half crawling, she raced up the slope at the edge of the cavern and seized the dangling rope.
"Isis, pull! Help me!"
In the upper cavern, Isis had been waiting anxiously for the signal. She grabbed the rope and sprinted backward, hauling Kagetsu out of danger.
Still below and now locked in combat with the Monster, Altaïr sucked in a sharp breath.
A breath attack? Did I just see it fire a breath attack from its tail?!
Before he could pursue the thought, the black-and-gold Flying Wyvern charged straight at him at full speed.
Once Altaïr confirmed that Kagetsu had escaped, his only remaining task was to find a way out himself. He raised his Slinger and fired the Sonic Bomb he had prepared.
Monsters with keen hearing were often vulnerable to high-frequency noise. Given the creature's massive ears, Altaïr expected the Sonic Bomb to work.
But his plan failed.
Far from being incapacitated by the piercing sound waves, the black-and-gold Flying Wyvern grew even more enraged and unleashed a furious roar.
The golden glow across its entire body grew brighter, especially in the gaps between the plates of its tail armor.
In the next instant, light flashed.
Altaïr's vision blurred. The black-and-gold Flying Wyvern had been at least thirty or forty meters away, yet it was suddenly right in front of him.
(Translated by yourtl.app)