As soon as the Dual Blades user finished speaking, a rustling sound came from within the fog.
Hunters are formidable not only in physique; all of their senses are likewise beyond those of ordinary people. Only with such powers of perception can hunters carry out a series of hunting missions in dangerous regions no one has ever set foot in.
Therefore, although this commotion was slight, the hunters present all precisely caught these faint sounds.
As they quickly backed away, they each drew their weapons and readied their guard, their eyes constantly sweeping their surroundings.
Suddenly, a Glavenus tail blade burst out from the pile of bones, the flash of the blade tracing a bright arc as it chopped down in an instant.
Fortunately, the hunters present all reacted at once. The Long Sword user used a precise counter to evade while his feet moved quickly; with a fast upward scoop slash he swung at the upper part of the tail blade. The spirit blade split open the scales and left a gash, yet, strangely, no blood appeared at the wound.
The others, who had avoided this strike by diving or rolling, had just gotten back to their feet when they saw thin tongues of flame ignite around the area where the tail blade had struck.
"This is bad, fall back!"
The Long Sword user's heart tightened as he received the order, but his hands did not slow. With a diagonal slash he sprang up and leaped back as he swung horizontally, and after landing he quickly rolled backward again to open up the distance once more.
In that split second, a chain of flames exploded around the Glavenus tail blade, embers falling onto the Long Sword user along with the hot wind. However, these few sparks were not enough to break through the defense of his armor and failed to cause any damage.
These maneuvers, like dancing on the tip of a blade, had long since become hunting instinct for the seasoned Long Sword user. His muscles had already formed the corresponding memory; he had long grown accustomed to this tense yet exhilarating way of fighting.
As for Long Sword users who were not used to it, they had either long since switched weapons or had already met their end in a monster's jaws.
"Is that Glavenus? Why would there still be a Glavenus here?"
The fighting aura on the Dual Blades user's body surged, and in an instant he entered Demon Mode, just as he was about to charge forward.
But just as he was about to move, another figure burst out from the pile of bones beside him!
The ferocious Lagiacrus skull, wreathed in a scarlet aura, looked down at the Dual Blades user from on high. The deathly pale electricity-storing shell suddenly surged with power, a great current crackling, and amid the hollow clatter of colliding bones, this newly appeared monster opened its bloody maw and lunged to bite at the Dual Blades user.
"Trying to take me out first?"
In Demon Mode, all of the Dual Blades user's abilities were greatly boosted under the blessing of his fighting aura. This method, similar to Rajang's, of strengthening oneself at the cost of stamina made the Dual Blades—a weapon that in theory was not suited to hunting large monsters—shine with a different kind of brilliance.
As his footwork shifted, the Dual Blades user quickly sidestepped to dodge, then drove his right-hand short sword in a rapid thrust, stabbing into the gaps between the monster's bones.
Immediately afterward, the muscles of his arm tightened; using the short sword for leverage, he sprang up, flying to above the monster's head. In a flurry of Dual Blades, he spun and slashed all the way down along the monster's body.
A great number of bone fragments blasted away, and as the Dual Blades collided with the quartz on Lagiacrus's electricity-storing shell, a shower of sparks exploded out.
His companions quickly moved up to cover him; while forcing back the Lagiacrus skeleton, they successfully caught the Dual Blades user.
Perhaps because it had met with unexpected resistance, both the Lagiacrus skeleton and the Glavenus tail blade withdrew back into the bone pile with a wriggling motion.
A massive silhouette slowly stepped out of the mist, its huge skeletal carapace sending a chill down one's spine.
Within the deathly pale skeletal carapace, the recently withdrawn Lagiacrus skeleton and the Glavenus skull that had pulled back its tail blade stuck their heads out once more under the eerie blue light flickering between the bones.
The Dual Blades user could not believe that a monster so unlike any living creature could exist in this world.
This monster roamed at will through the "sea" formed by piled-up bones, its two ferocious "wyvern heads" silently roaring at their party.
On one side was thunder and lightning, and on the other was fire.
Two completely different elemental energies appearing on a single individual at the same time—was that something a normal living being could do?
Nakarkos, the Deviljho of the Elder Dragons, is an amphibious creature of water and land; its figure can appear in any corner of the world.
Because of its endless greed and that brutal nature which refuses no prey, it regards every living being in the world as its quarry.
From large monsters of every kind down to ordinary birds and beasts, it will not spare any of them. One could say that its existence, like Elder Dragons such as Shagaru Magala, is something the world itself despises.
However, as the embodiment of greed, it was yet also an indispensable member of the world!
"Get ready to blow the Wyvern-Summoning Whistle—something like this is no longer something we can fight!"
This time, the Wyvern-Summoning Whistle was not for inviting the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern to help in battle, but to rely on the Fire Wyvern's ability to fly so the hunter team could withdraw safely. After all, right now this thing had, right before their eyes, pulled back the "head" wrapped in the Glavenus skull into the pile of remains.
When it appeared again, it had already become the head skull of a Rathalos. Frenzied flames gathered in its "mouth," a massive fireball brewing as the battle was about to begin again.
Suddenly, a streak of bright yellow thunder-element energy shot out from the side with immense force, shattering a great mass of bones and interrupting the "Rathalos's" brewing attack.
Immediately after, amid flickering lightning, a figure wreathed entirely in blue currents abruptly appeared, and under the pull of the single horn atop its head, yet another overwhelming bolt of lightning came crashing down.
From the sky, a piercing dragon roar rushed toward them. A Lunastra, trailing blue-violet flames, dove down at extreme speed, violently ramming into the other "wyvern head."
"It's Kirin and Lunastra!"
"Retreat! Battles between Elder Dragons aren't something we can take part in!"
Back then, a single breath of flame from Teostra had shattered their dream of capturing an Elder Dragon.
The hunter team that had later taken part in the Yama Tsukami interception battle understood all too well the absolute gulf between them and Elder Dragons.
The four young hunters who once held unrealistic dreams had long since grown old; now, they no longer possessed fervor but steadiness.
Without any reckless hesitation, they blew the Wyvern-Summoning Whistle while putting away their weapons and moved away from this dangerous area.
Behind them, thunder, fire, water, and dragon-element energy intertwined without pause.
Whether it was Kirin or Lunastra, at this moment, facing the Nakarkos that was continuously unleashing all manner of elemental attacks, they actually felt as if they were facing "thousands of troops and horses."
The corpses of all kinds of monsters, in Nakarkos's hands, were displaying combat power far surpassing their original ecological positions.
At this moment, Nakarkos was like a "necromancer" manipulating monster remains, attempting to bury these two Elder Dragons beneath the high-ecological-tier monster corpses it had managed to barely obtain over the years.
However, the Dragon's Graveyard at this moment had still been established for too short a time and could not yet fully display Nakarkos's true strength, and so the battle came to a stalemate.
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