Unlike Altaïr, who was still debating how to fight the Kushala Daora, how far he could afford to go, and how to keep the two Divas safe without enraging it enough to provoke even graver consequences, Shalan showed it no such caution or courtesy.
Their perspectives were fundamentally different. To Altaïr, the Kushala Daora was a powerful Elder Dragon, a walking calamity. Defeating or repelling it head-on was out of the question; even holding it off for a while would be a monumental task.
To Shalan, however... a Kushala Daora? Nothing but a red-nosed clown, meow!
That was why she had opened by hurling a Flash Pod, an extremely effective tactic with a high chance of enraging the Kushala Daora.
Now Altaïr had no choice but to engage.
He drew a deep breath, activated Demon Mode, and charged the Kushala Daora with his blade in hand as the Elder Dragon shook its head.
At the same time, through song and the accompaniment of the "musical instrument," the Divas finished the prelude and prepared to enter the main melody.
The platform atop the Tower was not very large, barely three or four thousand square meters. With Demon Mode active, Altaïr closed on the Kushala Daora in the blink of an eye. Just as he stepped in to swing his sword, he slammed into an invisible wall and was thrown back.
"That's the Kushala Daora's Dragon Wind Pressure, meow!" Shalan yelled. "You can't even touch it unless you have a way through, meow!"
Altaïr nearly choked. Couldn't you have mentioned something that important earlier?!
"Meow!" Shalan raised the large conch, blew it with all her might, and struck an adorable pose.
Altaïr had no idea what she was doing, but he soon felt a strange blessing settle over him. The wind-pressure barrier blocking his path weakened somewhat.
"The blessing from this melody will cancel out part of the wind pressure, meow! You'll have to handle the rest yourself, meow!"
Almost at the same moment, Lambert, up on the "stage," swung her Hunting Horn again.
As the sound waves spread, Altaïr felt his spirits lift as his physical strength and focus sharpened slightly. It was Heroic Melody, Lambert's specialty.
With both blessings active, the gale sweeping the Tower's summit no longer hindered his movements. Even so, they still seemed insufficient to break through the Dragon Wind Pressure surrounding the Kushala Daora, a barrier infused with some special energy.
Still, Altaïr decided it was worth trying.
The Divas' song seemed to let him "see" the paths of the wind. At first, he had dismissed the sensation as a hallucination. Now he realized it was probably heightened perception, similar to the blessing carried by a Hunting Horn melody.
Invisible currents whirled around the Kushala Daora like a seamless barrier. As the Windproof Blessing took effect, however, small gaps appeared in that barrier. The currents moved like the blades of a rapidly spinning windmill. Even at that speed, there were spaces between them.
Maybe I can... find an opening and break through!
Altaïr retreated two steps and raised his sword into the Focus stance, its point leveled forward. He focused his Spirit and began gathering power as he sensed the wind pressure's flow.
Now!
Amid the wind and rain, the Hunter's figure blurred and vanished.
When he reappeared, he was already before the Kushala Daora. The trident-shaped point of Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower] tore through the Elder Dragon's steel-hard scales and sank several dozen centimeters into its chest.
For a creature the size of the Kushala Daora, the wound was shallow and far from serious, but it was enough to cause pain.
"Roar!"
Its furious cry drove the storm around the Tower to even greater violence, and thunder rolled in rapid succession across the cloud-choked sky.
At that moment, Lambert began to sing. She slammed her Hunting Horn down with all her strength, and her hoarse yet resonant voice seemed to answer the thunder across the heavens.
"Come! Let us sing the Song of Souls! This is the melody of life!"
"Hah... Ah!"
The Young Diva's chant rose, piercing and clear. Rather than faltering beneath Lambert's voice, it wove itself around that rougher sound as a harmony, like a gale accompanying thunder.
"This is the land of souls, where all things begin and to which they return..."
As the song rose toward its climax, the storm seemed to slip from the Kushala Daora's grasp.
The Dragon Wind Pressure around the Elder Dragon suddenly vanished.
"Roar!"
The Kushala Daora howled in shock and fury at the loss. A wild grin spread across Altaïr's face.
Devouring Demon was out of the question. It was a desperate technique that wagered his life. Beast Soul Possession, however, was perfect. As for the harm its berserk fighting spirit would do to his body... that no longer mattered!
"Roar!" As though answering the Kushala Daora, Altaïr bellowed back.
Pitch-black fighting spirit blazed around Altaïr. His keen blade shredded the wind and rain and carved through the Elder Dragon's scales.
Three threats assailed the Kushala Daora at once: the sudden failure of its power, the Hunter's frenzied assault, and the faint presence deep within the Tower that the Elder Dragon feared.
The Kushala Daora spread its immense wings, beat them powerfully, and shot nearly a hundred meters above the Tower's summit.
Forced to halt his attack, Altaïr gripped his sword with both hands and stared through the wind and rain at the massive silver-gray silhouette overhead.
The Kushala Daora's wingbeats quickened. The currents that had inexplicably scattered fell back under the Elder Dragon's control and rapidly formed a colossal tornado visible to the naked eye.
Altaïr's expression changed drastically. If the vortex fully formed, no one atop the Tower would have anywhere to hide.
He turned toward the two Divas, ready to warn them to flee into the Tower before the tornado finished forming. Shelter inside the Tower might still offer them a sliver of hope.
Both Divas, however, were lost in their song. The melody did not stop; it swelled, growing still more impassioned and resounding.
"Come! Let us chant the Song of Souls! These are the eternal words!" Lambert swept her Hunting Horn upward with enough force to seem intent on shattering the thunderclouds themselves.
"The eternal, unchanging words..." The Young Diva raised both arms as she joined the chorus, her long golden hair streaming in the wind and rain.
The Kushala Daora poured all its power into the attack. In mere seconds, a terrifying vortex dozens of meters wide and more than a hundred meters tall took shape.
The Kushala Daora howled in triumph. The raging tornado was about to descend, sweep everyone from the Tower's summit, and tear them to shreds.
At that very instant, a crimson bolt split the heavens, punched through the thunderclouds, and shattered the tornado before striking the Kushala Daora.
The once-mighty Elder Dragon shrieked as it plummeted. After falling two or three hundred meters, it barely regained control, then fled into the distance on unsteady wingbeats without daring to look back.
The Divas' song had also reached its end. As one, they turned to face each other and clasped hands.
"The breath of the liberated heart..."
"The breath of the heart..."
"From within myself, I send it to you..."
"From you, it returns to me."
As the final notes faded, the storm ceased abruptly. The thunderheads blanketing the sky scattered with astonishing speed, and clear moonlight bathed the land.
"Meow, that scared me half to death, meow." Shalan shook herself, spraying Altaïr with water from her fur.
Altaïr deactivated Beast Soul Possession and Demon Mode, sheathed his weapon, and tilted his head back to gaze at the sky.
The star-filled night was so clear that it felt unreal, as though the gale and tempest had been nothing but an illusion.
P.S. The song performed here is adapted from "Mezame no Sho ~ Tamashii o Yadosu Uta" ("Chapter of Awakening ~ Song That Houses the Soul"), a vocal arrangement of "Proof of a Hero" associated with Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G. The lyrics in this chapter are an adaptation rather than a literal translation of the official lyrics.
* * *
You can also read Warhammer: Wait, Do I Have to Sit on the Golden Throne Too? here on Webnovel. Thank you for reading.