Nadia showed the caution expected of a veteran High Rank Hunter.
During her previous attack, she had fired several Paintballs between bursts of Flaming Ammo, marking the Chameleos with a fresh scent trail.
In its current state of "internal dehydration," the Chameleos could not easily wash the Paintberry scent from its body, at least not until it reached a water source. That ruled out the possibility of it abruptly changing course for another source of water and causing the Hunters to lose track of it.
It also meant they did not have to rush after it, giving them time to recover and make adjustments.
That was mainly for Isis and Altaïr. The stamina-draining toxin had left them utterly depleted and hypoglycemic. Even after eating rations and drinking Energy Drinks, they needed a few minutes to recover.
The group also used the break to redistribute their Herbal Medicine.
Sajji and Clawdia each kept only one dose. Nadia, fully confident in her abilities, also kept one for emergencies and gave the rest to the two Blademasters.
Together with the four doses Kral and Tala had handed to Isis before evacuating, the two Blademasters once again had an adequate supply of Herbal Medicine.
In the coming battle, they would have to fight while engulfed in poison mist. Their success would depend on whether they could severely wound the Chameleos before their medicine ran out.
After only a few minutes of rest, Isis sprang to her feet.
She raised her fists and threw several punches at the empty air, each one cutting through it with a sharp whistle. The force behind them showed that most of her stamina had returned.
Altaïr's limbs still felt sluggish. He could only console himself with the thought that Isis's Talisman was responsible.
Forged from Deviljho materials, the Talisman made her grow hungry faster, but it also accelerated her digestion and absorption. Naturally, that meant her stamina recovered faster as well.
It made perfect sense.
Following the scent lingering in the air and the drops of diluted Paintberry juice on the ground, the Hunters made their way to the sinkhole Tala had described.
By then, the entire sinkhole was shrouded in an unnaturally dense fog.
The good news was that not even the Chameleos could leave while somehow keeping the fog inside the sinkhole thick and stable. They could therefore be certain that it was still there.
The bad news was that it had clearly replenished the water in its body. Drawing on the water pooled at the bottom of the sinkhole, it could produce dense fog without restraint and turn the area into its home ground.
It could now freely conceal itself in the fog, dull all five of the Hunters' senses, and spread toxins through the mist. Every ability that made the Chameleos so troublesome was at its disposal.
Staring into the dense fog, Altaïr looked uncertainly at Nadia. "What do we do, Senior Nadia? Do we just go down?"
Nadia considered the situation for a moment. "We go down, but not all at once. One of us will descend first and act as bait, drawing the Chameleos into attacking.
"Once it reveals its position, the other two will rush in from both sides and pin it down. Then we'll launch an all-out offensive.
"Remember, we have two primary targets: the horn on its head and its tail.
"If we can completely destroy both, we can strip away its ability to turn invisible.
"If it has any sense, it'll retreat and leave a region where it isn't welcome."
Nadia's plan was simple and clear. Altaïr and Isis nodded together to show that they understood.
"I'll be the bait!" Isis tightened the straps of her Armor. Serving as bait came with the job for a heavily armored vanguard.
Nadia smiled and shook her head. "No, I'll be the bait this time.
"It should have recognized the threat I pose during our last fight. My visual tracking is also sharp enough that, even with this fog in the way, I'm confident I can evade a surprise strike from its tongue and use the attack to locate it.
"Once I light it up with Flaming Ammo, you two move in and keep it pinned."
"What if it doesn't attack with its tongue and simply releases its deadly poison?" Altaïr asked, pointing out a weakness in the plan.
Nadia smiled. "Then I can estimate its position from the direction in which the poison fog spreads and confirm it by sweeping the area with Flaming Ammo."
"Understood. I don't have any other questions."
"Good. Let's begin." Nadia gave them the signal to get ready, then vaulted over the edge and leaped into the sinkhole.
Altaïr froze at the sight.
According to Tala, the bottom of the sinkhole lay a little over twenty meters below. Its walls were steep, making it difficult to descend safely without a rope.
Even if Nadia could use the trees inside the sinkhole to break her fall, the fog still blocked her view. Had she really just jumped straight down?
Apparently, skill really did breed courage.
Before Altaïr could settle on the quickest way down, the report of Nadia's Bowgun rang out from the fog-shrouded bottom of the sinkhole.
Bright flames pierced the dense fog. Though blurred, they were enough to reveal the shots' trajectory.
Not far from the two Hunters, the Chameleos flickered in and out of view amid the fog and the flames erupting from the Flaming Ammo.
"Charge!" Isis shouted as she sprinted toward the Chameleos. At the same time, she popped two doses of Herbal Medicine into her mouth and held them there. Then she jumped into the sinkhole and fired a shell in midair, blasting herself toward the Chameleos in the fog.
Altaïr stared after her in silence.
He had no words.
Nadia had jumped because she trusted her skill and technique, confident that she could adjust during the fall, break her momentum, and land safely.
Isis, by contrast, simply trusted her body to survive a fall from that height without injury.
From a certain perspective, her body truly was sturdy enough to disgust even a Monster...
"Seriously..." Altaïr sighed in exasperation.
He was not as confident, but this was clearly no time to climb down at a leisurely pace.
Following Isis's example, Altaïr put two doses of Herbal Medicine into his mouth, took a running start, and leaped into the sinkhole.
The wind howled past his ears.
A free fall of more than twenty meters would take just over two seconds. There was no time to hesitate. As soon as he felt himself dropping, he fired his Clutch Claw toward the Chameleos in the fog.
The claw needed time to reach its target, and the winch needed time to reel in the cable. By the time the Slinger on his left arm pulled taut, only a few meters remained between him and the ground.
Altaïr grunted and hauled back with all his strength.
Together, the Slinger's winch and the force of his pull arrested his descent. The cable then swung him through the air toward the Chameleos in the fog.
Come to think of it, Isis had used much the same principle when she leaped into the sinkhole, relying on the recoil from her shelling to halt her fall.
Could she actually be a genius?
There was no time to dwell on it. The Chameleos's ugly, oversized head was right in front of him.
Even Altaïr had not expected his shot with the Clutch Claw to be so accurate. It hooked directly onto the single horn at the front of the Chameleos's head.
Still reeling from Isis's sweeping shelling strike, the Chameleos had no time to react before Altaïr came flying into its face.
Its bulbous eyes swiveled toward the Hunter clinging to the side of its head, nearly overflowing with confusion.
It had just revised its entire understanding of Hunters. Apparently, every last one of them could fly...
"That saves me some trouble, at least."
Planting both feet to brace himself, Altaïr grinned fiercely and drew the Taikun Katana from his back. He swung it with both hands, driving its pale, sickle-shaped blade precisely into the wound Isis's earlier strike had opened in the horn.
Every muscle in his body tensed at once as he wrenched the blade downward.