Altaïr carved a spinning path from the Brute Tigrex's head all the way to its tail, then kept turning a few more times after landing to bleed off the excess momentum.
That single pass had already left several small chips along the edges of the ice-blue Dual Blades.
Altaïr shook out his numb arms and muttered, "Tough as hell..."
The Brute Tigrex jolted awake at the stabbing pain. Before it could even make out its attacker, he had already flashed behind it, spreading another wave of loathsome damp cold and searing pain across its back.
Enraged at being toyed with, the Brute Tigrex sprang to its feet almost instantly.
Its exceptional cardiopulmonary capacity gave it speed far beyond that of other large Flying Wyverns. Altaïr saw only a blur, and the massive creature, more than twenty meters long, had already turned to face him.
Its chest swelled, and its blood-red maw, almost disproportionate to the rest of its body, opened wide.
What erupted a moment later sounded less like a creature's roar than the detonation of a Large Barrel Bomb combined with a piercing, high-frequency shriek.
The Earplugs Talisman around the Hunter's wrist activated instantly, while the Disposable Earplugs remained firmly lodged in his ears.
Even so, Altaïr felt his skull vibrate as though his head were about to burst.
Fighting the instinct to cover his ears, he immediately whirled his Dual Blades and spun aside.
"BOOM!"
An enormous obsidian-black claw slammed into the spot where he had stood an instant earlier. The bare rock shattered on impact, sending cracks spreading several meters in every direction.
That power...
Cold sweat trickled down Altaïr's temple as he narrowly avoided the blow.
That was just a casual swipe after its roar, and it hit that hard?
No wonder Madam Marydan had said that beside a Brute Tigrex, an ordinary Tigrex, despite its reputation as an "absolute powerhouse," seemed as weak as an unweaned cub.
Their speed and strength were simply on completely different levels.
He could no longer afford to conserve his stamina. Altaïr decisively swung his blades, stirring his Blood Rite, and activated Demon Mode.
"ROAR!!"
As Altaïr entered Demon Mode, the Brute Tigrex braced its upper body on both foreclaws, threw back its neck, and unleashed another furious roar after its first swipe missed.
The sonic blast compressed the air around its head into visible ripples that spread outward like a bomb's shockwave.
Altaïr was glad his caution had led him to double up on ear protection. Otherwise, that roar would have left his entire body rigid and briefly unable to move.
Against a Monster like this, even a single second of immobility could be fatal.
The moment the roar sounded, Altaïr spun into the air with his Dual Blades, relying on an evasive movement long since ingrained in his muscles to overcome the slight stagger caused by the blast.
As his feet touched the ground, blue light flashed in his eyes.
He had timed the evade perfectly, activating blue demon mode.
The failure of its roar to affect him surprised the Brute Tigrex for a moment. It had never encountered such a small creature that could withstand its roar.
Despite its surprise, the Brute Tigrex did not slow down in the slightest. Its pitch-black foreclaw came crashing down again with enough force to crush the Hunter in a single blow.
Unable to find an opening to attack, Altaïr could only evade with a short sliding sidestep.
He knew that against a Monster this fast, he had to avoid evasive moves with long recovery times, such as rolling or diving.
His judgment proved correct. When the Brute Tigrex's claw missed again, it did not pause for an instant. The foreclaw planted against the ground immediately swept sideways.
With the enormous claw passing nearly level with his thigh, Altaïr hurriedly backflipped over the attack.
He was grateful to be using the more agile Dual Blades instead of a Long Sword, and even more grateful that he had not recklessly rolled. Otherwise, the sweep would undoubtedly have sent him flying.
"ROAR!"
His feet had barely touched the ground when another wave of sound washed over him before he could fully regain his balance.
Before the shockwave had even faded, the crimson maw, wide enough to bite through a Rathian's neck, was already bearing down on him.
Again?!
Altaïr had never encountered a Monster that could roar three times in such quick succession. Now he understood why Madam Marydan had said that facing a Brute Tigrex made her wish she were deaf.
Intimidating its prey with a roar, forcing it to freeze, then immediately attacking the opening was probably the Brute Tigrex's primary hunting method.
As the blood-red maw lunged toward him, Altaïr crossed his steps and used Demon Flurry Rush to dash aside.
The enormous jaws snapped shut with a sharp "CLACK!" less than a meter away.
Giving the Hunter no chance to catch his breath, the Brute Tigrex spun in place after its bite missed, moving almost too quickly for an ordinary person to follow.
Its massive tail, covered in hard black armor ridged like a rasp, swept through the area.
This time, Altaïr had no better option. Just before the tail could swat him away like an insect, he threw himself flat against the ground.
The Brute Tigrex's enormous tail passed so close that it almost scraped his back, while the turbulent air tore loose chunks of earth and stone.
Without waiting for the Brute Tigrex to finish the motion, Altaïr planted both hands on the ground and sprang back to his feet after less than a second.
He looked up into the Brute Tigrex's ferocious face as it turned toward him.
"ROAR!!"
Altaïr felt as though an invisible wall had struck him. It was the pressure wave generated by the roar.
He staggered back several steps before regaining his footing, and a thought surfaced in his mind. How many was that? Four? Five?
There was no time to count. When he saw the Brute Tigrex preparing to pounce again, Altaïr kicked hard against the ground, his entire body blurring... then turned and ran.
The Brute Tigrex had only just woken up. It had most likely eaten its fill before going to sleep and was now at its peak, alert, energetic, and capable of sustaining a terrifying rate of attack.
Without a companion to divide its attention, Altaïr could hardly find an opening to strike.
Rather than risk a pointless close-quarters struggle, he needed to run and use the terrain to wear down his opponent's stamina.
It was the same strategy they had used during his first Tigrex Hunt, when Jara had led the creature on a chase all over the mountain.
Once it began to show signs of fatigue, Altaïr could start harassing it with hit-and-run attacks.
"ROAR!!"
The Brute Tigrex roared again after its pounce missed. Its pitch-black foreclaws sank into the ground as easily as if they were cutting through butter, and it shoved forward with tremendous force.
Rocks of every size shot toward the fleeing Hunter.
Even while sprinting at full speed, Altaïr kept glancing back from the corner of his eye to track the Monster's position and movements.
When he saw the stones hurtling toward him, he spun around and twisted like a nimble fish, weaving past the largest rocks one after another.
A stone the size of a coconut was about to strike him in the face when his blade split it apart. He let the remaining pebbles rattle harmlessly against his armor.
The protection of the Espinas Armor Set rendered such small stones insignificant.
After dealing with the Brute Tigrex's rock-flinging attack, Altaïr turned and resumed his sprint.
Naturally, the Brute Tigrex had no intention of letting the opponent who had dared provoke it escape. After throwing back its head and roaring for what might have been the hundredth time, it surged forward.
Its thick, powerful foreclaws tore into the ground, propelling its huge yet swift brown-black body after the fleeing Hunter.
In the distance, Sajji lowered a paw from his ear with an exasperated look. "Damn it, meow! My ears are ringing! How is this thing even louder than Lambert when she goes mad, meow...?"