Isis held a piece of cheese larger than her fist, taking bite after bite between mouthfuls of her rations.
She had gotten it from Alma, who had originally planned to use it as an ingredient in the Felynes' meals. But since they had decided to begin the Hunt at the last minute, there was no time to set up a stove and cook anything hot. They would have to make do with high-energy food.
Alma had already found a hiding place nearby, positioning herself where she could survey the entire battlefield and offer the Hunter tactical advice if necessary.
The mine offered plenty of makeshift cover, and her professional training would allow her to take care of herself.
Isis sat on a rock beside the mine entrance, quietly chewing her high-calorie food as she waited. Before long, Clawdia came running out.
"I found it, meow. It's asleep in the pit below, meow," Clawdia reported rapidly, unable to hide her excitement. "No doubt about it, it's a Kuarusepu, meow. It looks just like the reference illustrations, meow. It's huge, meow!"
Isis picked up the pace and finished the rest of her food in a few bites. Then she clapped her hands together and stood. "Good. Fighting underground would put us at too much of a disadvantage. We need to find a way to lure it out."
"Mew!" Dango poked his head out from the back of her collar as if to say, "Leave it to me!"
Isis pushed him back inside. "Not yet. You can only release that gas a few times, so conserve it. Let me see whether I can lure it out another way."
She looked around and noticed a wooden shed nearby. It appeared to be a storage room for the miners' tools, so she jogged over to inspect it.
Just as she had expected, plenty of tools remained inside. When the Kuarusepu attacked, the miners must have fled in such a panic that they left much of their equipment behind.
She took two Iron Pickaxes and slung them across her back. She searched for blasting powder as well, but found none. Dangerous materials like that were usually kept somewhere more secure.
Still, the Iron Pickaxes would be enough.
Isis carried one to the entrance, selected a rock that looked relatively solid, and brought the pickaxe down with all her strength.
CLANG!
The tremendous impact split the rock. A harsh metallic sound, utterly unnatural in origin, rang through the empty mine and traveled along its tunnels and layers of stone into the depths below.
"Time to get up," Isis muttered before swinging the pickaxe down again.
Iron Pickaxes made for ordinary miners could not withstand her strength. After seven or eight blows, the first pickaxe's head was badly deformed, and its handle snapped in two.
Isis had anticipated that. She drew the second Iron Pickaxe and continued pounding the rock.
Just as the second pickaxe was about to break as well, a low rumble like a cave-in sounded from deep within the mine.
Isis tossed the pickaxe aside and retreated to an open area. She appeared relaxed, but her muscles were slightly tensed, ready to react to the Monster's attack.
Clawdia unsheathed her steel claws.
Isis was the only Hunter on this Hunt. Without a powerful attacker or Gunner to support her, Clawdia would have to assume some of an attacker's responsibilities and take some of the pressure off Isis.
The tremors beneath the ground intensified.
Isis had been staring intently at the mine entrance, but the moment she felt the ground shake beneath her feet, she broke into a sprint.
She sensed that the Kuarusepu was not crawling out through the mine tunnel. It had burrowed through the thick bedrock and was about to emerge from underground.
With a deafening boom, its conical, helmet-like head burst through the surface, encased in thick layers of mineral scales. Long teeth shaped like swords effortlessly shattered the massive rocks that tumbled into its enormous maw.
Before this Monster, supposedly solid stone behaved like water, and the Kuarusepu surged from the ground like a giant whale breaching the ocean's surface.
Its long body twisted and unfurled in midair, tracing a high arc before crashing heavily to the ground in front of the Hunter.
ROOOOAAAAR!!! Furious at having its sleep disturbed, the Kuarusepu unleashed a terrifying roar that echoed throughout the mine.
Prismatic mineral clusters covered its body like dorsal spines. They vibrated violently and clashed together as it roared, adding a piercing metallic overtone to the cacophony.
The Hunter had to cover her ears to prevent the dreadful noise from causing irreversible damage to her hearing.
Nearby, Alma stood frozen behind a brick building.
Her body trembled uncontrollably. It felt as though an invisible giant hand had clenched her heart and lungs, leaving her unable to breathe.
"More than thirty meters long." On paper, it was merely an unremarkable statistic. Only those who saw the creature with their own eyes could understand what that size truly meant.
Over the past two years, she had accompanied her teacher Sheila to many places and had seen several Large Monsters with her own eyes.
Yet none of them had possessed an oppressive presence comparable to the Monster before her.
So this... is the kind of opponent High Rank Hunters have to face? Can a human truly defeat something like this alone?
BOOM! The instant the terrifying roar subsided, Isis deployed her Gunlance, pulled the trigger, and answered with cannon fire.
The explosion and the flash from the Gunlance's muzzle drew the Kuarusepu's attention. It opened its huge, crusher-like mouth, extended its long, serpentine neck, and lunged at the opponent before it.
Isis let out a low shout, turned side-on behind her Large Shield, and drove forward with all her strength. The shield slammed squarely into the Kuarusepu's conical head shell.
THUD!
Insta-Block.
Her precisely timed countercharge and nearly perfect guard absorbed much of the impact. Although the Kuarusepu's head drove her back several meters, she held her guard.
After deflecting its opening attack, Isis immediately pressed forward without the slightest pause.
Experience had taught her that when facing a Monster of such immense size and astonishing strength, a Hunter had two options: stay completely beyond its reach or press in close, directly beneath its eyes and nose.
At point-blank range, a Large Monster struggled to bring its full power to bear. Only there could a Hunter confront it head-on.
She raised her shield and fired two shells directly into the Kuarusepu's face.
The Glavenus Gunlance belched fire. Its Wide-type shells struck the scales on the Kuarusepu's head, scattering countless sparks.
According to the research data, young Kuarusepu have extremely soft scales and hides. As they grow, they remain underground and constantly devour minerals. Those minerals become embedded in their developing scales, eventually forming composite scales of astonishing hardness and thickness that scholars call "mineral scales."
The Kuarusepu's head was encased in layer upon layer of these mineral scales. Wide-type shells could not penetrate them well enough to inflict meaningful damage.
Even so, the Kuarusepu drew its head back and retreated half a step.
Isis's gaze sharpened. The data had been correct. Although the Kuarusepu could use the special ore deposits on its back to absorb sunlight and lightning, converting that energy into searing rays and electric shocks, its own resistance to heat and electricity was poor.
The shells had dealt almost no damage. It was the fire from the muzzle that made the Kuarusepu flinch.
In that case...!
Isis swung her Gunlance through a Quick Reload while flipping a custom lever on its grip, locking the Glavenus Gunlance's cooling system.
"Clawdia! Test each part's hitzone!"
"Got it, meow!"
The human and the Felyne charged the retreating Kuarusepu together.
Watching from her distant hiding place, Alma's eyes widened.
Though the Hunter was utterly dwarfed by the Kuarusepu, she had met the Monster's attack head-on, driven it back, and immediately launched a counterattack.
For the first time, the sight gave Alma a clear and concrete understanding of the word "Hunter."
They were called "Monster Hunters" because those terrifying Monsters were their prey.
Her instinctive fear of the Large Monster gradually ebbed. Alma adjusted her glasses, and behind the reflective lenses, her gaze steadily hardened with resolve.
A Handler's job was not to hide off to one side and watch while a Hunter fought.
She had to find something she could do.
* * *
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