As the Lagiacrus drew closer, the hunters could clearly see that the red spines on its back, set into an electric carapace, had already begun to release surges of current due to the heightened activity of its cells. As its body kept swimming, it left patch after patch of electrified water in the swamp's currents.
"Get ready to brace for the impact!"
The Admiral stood at the very front of the party, shield in hand, while the others each took up defensive stances, ready to meet the Lagiacrus's charge.
All around them was shallow water, a natural advantage for an electricity-wielding Lagiacrus, so the reef island beneath their feet was the only area where they could force it to keep fighting on land.
The Admiral and the Huntsman were still fine; with their strength, even in an exhausted state, each of them could handle a Lagiacrus on their own—maybe not kill it on the spot, but driving it back would still be easy.
But for the remaining two hunters, the room to maneuver on this reef island was truly a bit too small.
As the roar of the Lagiacrus rang out, its massive body drove the water in the shallows into rolling waves that kept surging up over the reef island.
By now, the hunters could clearly see the gaping maw of the Afflicted Lagiacrus, as well as those scarlet eyes, incomparably savage and bloodthirsty in its Afflicted state.
Just as they were about to clash at close quarters, several dark shapes streaked across the sky, and a number of searing fireballs fell from above.
The Lagiacrus, which had been about to leap up onto the shore, crashed back into the shallows amid explosions of flame and its own anguished howls.
The sudden attack startled the already-tense hunters. The Admiral looked up on reflex and saw several Ancient Tree Fire Wyverns diving down from high above, unleashing a merciless barrage of flames on the three Lagiacrus without so much as a word.
"Get clear!"
His shout had barely left his mouth when the others were already diving backward, away from where they had just been standing, leaving only the Admiral—who had been a half-beat slow to react because he'd looked up to check the situation—to raise his shield helplessly and brace against the shockwave from this round of explosions.
"Tch, have the Ancient Tree Fire Wyverns gotten even stronger? Or am I really just a bit tired if my arms are actually going numb?"
As a top hunter who had spent years operating in the Ancient Tree, the Admiral naturally had a clear grasp of the general strength of the Ancient Tree Fire Wyvern packs. In his estimation, even though this blanket of fireballs was being unleashed jointly by several Rathalos, with his strength—and given that he was not taking the hits head-on but only dealing with the shockwaves—at most it should have forced him to step back a few paces.
Yet unexpectedly, after blocking several times in a row, he not only got driven back quite a few steps, but his right hand holding the shield even felt a little numb.
"They're clearly not those Tempered Rathalos, so why?"
Watching the Lagiacrus get beaten back step by step under the Rathalos pack's pummeling, the Admiral also pulled out of their battlefield, stowed his shield, and started doubting himself.
Just then, the sound of wings stirring the air came from beside him, but the airflow it produced wasn't all that strong. From that slightly restrained gust alone, the Admiral knew who had arrived.
"Didn't think what's happening here would actually alarm you! Yo! Long time no see, Boss!"
The Admiral turned, lifted the visor of his helmet, and looked at Logan, who was standing on a reef with his wings folded, greeting him with practiced ease.
Logan gave the Admiral a glance, nodded slightly, and then, face unchanged, turned his eyes toward the battlefield in the distance.
He also didn't feel like saying much about how the Admiral addressed him.
At the beginning, the man had called him "old friend." Later, once he'd gotten familiar with the cats, he started following them and calling him Boss Fire Wyvern.
Over the years, he had even dropped the "Fire Wyvern" part altogether.
Those who knew him understood that he was the Admiral of the Research Commission; those who didn't might even think this guy was some high-ranking member among Logan's followers on the Ancient Tree.
Of course, when the Fire Wyvern Grimalkynes called Logan "Boss," it was an honorific for the dragon they placed their faith in.
But the Admiral's "Boss" was simply a shortened form that came with familiarity.
Up in the sky, Flame Rathalos and several Tempered Azure Rathalos were still soaring, while down in the swamp, six Rathalos had each picked their own target and were carrying out a righteous two-on-one. Even though the two sides occupied roughly the same ecological niche, and the Lagiacrus even had the boost from its Afflicted state—
When faced with the mutated Ancient Tree Fire Wyverns in a one-against-two situation, they still didn't have much ability to fight back.
At this moment, the electric carapaces on the backs of the three Lagiacrus were shining brilliantly, with large amounts of current constantly arcing between them. Sheets of crackling lightning nets and balls kept shooting up into the sky, trying to knock the Rathalos out of the air.
It had to be said: among Rathalos's natural enemies, the only large monster that could not fly yet still dared come ashore to fight Rathalos over prey, the Lagiacrus really did have a certain advantage against them.
Rathalos were naturally weak to the Thunder element, and striking from high altitude was the combat method they excelled at. But the backs of the Lagiacrus were covered in electric carapaces and red quartz-like electric spines, leaving the Rathalos with virtually no place to attack—and those quartz electric spines also possessed considerable fire resistance.
This made an ordinary Rathalos feel as if it were facing a giant porcupine it had no way of dealing with. And with the Lagiacrus's solid mobility on land, there were times when the Rathalos living along coastal bays could only watch helplessly as their prey was openly snatched away by the Lagiacrus.
Of course, this applied only to ordinary Rathalos.
For the Ancient Tree Fire Wyverns, aside from the newly joined young Rathalos, the rest all possessed extensive experience in group battles against Lagiacrus.
Years ago, they had fought a prolonged territorial war against a Lagiacrus pack along the coast of the Wildspire Waste, and with an overwhelming numerical advantage, these few Lagiacrus could not stir up even the slightest trouble.
One Rathalos would provoke, and another would attack during the brief downtime after the Lagiacrus discharged electricity—unleashing a blast of flame. And since this was still a shallow-water zone, the Lagiacrus could not escape underwater and could only take the hit head-on.
Under this kind of rotation barrage, even if the damage was low, it accumulated into something quite significant.
But in this otherwise well-coordinated combat, that young Rathalos was always out of sync.
Its combat instincts were still those of an ordinary Rathalos, relying mainly on melee with flame as support. In a team fight like this, it couldn't quite get its footing.
This also dragged down the strong Rathalos paired with it, making the fight feel increasingly frustrating.
Seeing the youngster getting impatient again and wanting to dive straight down, the strong Rathalos felt its head ache. In the end, it could only choose to actively adapt to him.
Since this young Fire Wyvern preferred close combat, it would satisfy him.
Its much broader wings beat fiercely as the strong Rathalos dived at even greater speed. Flame began to gather in its jaws, and just as it was about to enter the Lagiacrus's attack range, the flames at its wings and tail flared, and a thick pillar of fire poured down from above.
However, this attack had far too long a windup. With such an obvious movement, the Lagiacrus below had already avoided in advance.
But could a flame attack that even an Ancient Tree Rathalos needed to charge truly be that simple?
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