For a brief second, Altaïr wondered if the Monster that had lunged out from beneath the ice was merely holding the juvenile in its mouth as a protective gesture.
But as he watched it tilt its head back and begin to chew, a bloody scene where flesh and bone flew and severed limbs rained down upon the ground, Altaïr knew he had been overthinking it.
Most creatures have an instinct to protect their young; even those that do not rarely go out of their way to prey upon them.
Yet the brutal Monster before him, shaped like a giant shark but possessing four legs, clearly belonged to that rare group of exceptions.
The taste of its own kind's offspring satisfied it; if given the chance, it would gladly eat a few more.
"So this is the Zamtrios." Altaïr cautiously sized up his opponent.
There was no need to doubt the innate cruelty of a Monster that treated its own young with such savagery.
Compared to its juvenile form, the adult Zamtrios had lighter skin, a pale cyan-blue similar to sea ice.
Its body was more streamlined, and its four limbs had evolved to be more complete, long and lean even, suggesting its movements would be far more agile than those of the round, stout juveniles.
There was one other obvious difference: unlike the juveniles, the adult Zamtrios's head was not covered in sharp bony spikes and plates.
For a Hunter, this was undoubtedly good news; otherwise, it would be like the Monster was wearing a helmet, making frontal attacks a massive headache.
Altaïr held his Long Sword at an angle and slowly backed away a few paces.
He noticed that the Zamtrios's cyan-blue hide was riddled with gashes and scars.
This brought to mind the descriptions from the field guide. Zamtrios are highly aggressive and fiercely territorial; these scars were likely the marks left behind from battles with other Monsters over territory.
This meant that unlike a creature like the Duramboros, which had a mild temperament and rigid attack patterns, the Zamtrios would be hyper-aggressive; it was the type of Monster that excelled at combat.
To Altaïr, this was actually good news.
Compared to thick-skinned, heavy-hitters like the Basarios, Duramboros, or Uragaan, he was much better at dealing with Monsters that had high offensive power but were relatively weak in terms of Defense.
The Hunter kept his eyes locked on the Monster. Under the pressure of his focused intent, the Zamtrios, which had rather poor eyesight, finally took notice of the "insignificant little animal" beside it.
To prevent losing his target later, Altaïr pulled out a Paintball and hurled it at the Monster.
The Paintball exploded against the Zamtrios's back, coating its high, triangular dorsal fin in pungent dye.
This way, even if the Zamtrios dove beneath the ice, as long as its dorsal fin broke the surface, it would leave behind a scent and trail that would be easy to track.
The stinging scent of the Paintberry enraged the Zamtrios, whose sense of smell was extremely keen. It took a deep breath, and in the next second, a terrifying sonic boom swept outward like a tidal wave.
"Gyaa-oooooohhhhh!!!"
Faced with the wall of sound, Altaïr couldn't help but clamp his hands over his ears. Even so, under the suppression of the roar, he felt his entire body stiffen, making it difficult to move.
It was hard to imagine that a "shark" could produce such a horrifying noise. Altaïr gritted his teeth and endured it; among the many Monsters he had faced, perhaps only the roar of a Tigrex could definitively suppress this fellow's voice.
He really should have tried harder to talk Haifa into lending him that Earplugs Talisman.
After the gargantuan roar, the Zamtrios shifted its center of gravity backward, its limb muscles tensing. Noticing these movements, Altaïr immediately identified the creature's intent to attack and sprinted to the side at the first opportunity.
Sure enough, after a brief moment of building power, the wide-mouthed Zamtrios launched forward like a shell from a cannon, initiating a direct charge attack.
The Hunter, having dodged in time, brushed past the Monster as its bloody maw snapped shut beside him; the crisp "crack" of its jaws was enough to make one's skin crawl.
An incredibly violent temperament, an astonishingly loud roar, and that frenzied charge attack where it bit as it lunged.
This guy is practically a weakened version of a Tigrex.
Altaïr chuckled low. Not only was he not intimidated by that rampaging presence, but he was actually becoming excited.
Right now, I don't have the strength to solo a Tigrex, so I might as well use you for practice!
Altaïr immediately activated Demon Mode and gave chase to the Zamtrios, which had failed its charge attack and hadn't yet managed to brake on the slick ice.
Before his opponent could stop and turn around, he struck first. A simple yet exceptionally swift Step Slash descended vertically, landing squarely on the Zamtrios's shovel-shaped tail.
The steel blade successfully breached the tough, blue-green hide, carving out a wound that sprayed blood.
As he expected, the Zamtrios wasn't the type of Monster with formidable Defense.
In that case...
Just as he was about to unleash a follow-up offensive, Altaïr noticed the Zamtrios's muscles tense for a split second. This caused him to instantly abandon the idea of a continuous assault; he pivoted his body and pushed off for a retreat.
Foresight Slash!
As he swung his blade horizontally and danced across the ice to put some distance between them, the Zamtrios whipped around suddenly and swung its sharp claws, raking the very spot where the Hunter had been standing a second before.
"Screeech–!"
Ice shards flew. Altaïr's gaze swept over the deep claw marks left in the hard ice, and he did the math in his head.
The power is significant, but not to an exaggerated degree. If this were a Tigrex, the surrounding ice would probably have shattered under that claw.
The inertia of his pivoting retreat, combined with the tensing of his muscles, transformed into forward momentum. Having evaded the attack, Altaïr didn't pause for a moment; he lunged forward with a burst of speed, his blade sweeping upward in a rising slash toward the Zamtrios's rounded nose.
The Foresight Slash hit home, opening a bloody wound on the tip of the Zamtrios's snout.
The tip of a Zamtrios's nose is densely packed with nerves; its sense of smell is sensitive, and its sense of pain is equally so. Struck by the sudden attack, it subconsciously recoiled.
Altaïr seized this opening, which could hardly even be called a flaw, and unhesitatingly held his Long Sword vertically before shifting it diagonally behind his shoulder, entering a charging stance.
The Zamtrios was equally fast to react. While its body was recoiling, it chose to further tense its limb muscles, likewise entering a charging state.
It's that direct charge attack again.
Altaïr made the judgment in his mind, but he did not choose to evade. Instead, he continued to condense Spirit Gauge and gather strength, waiting for that fleeting, critical moment.
"Roar!"
Just as the Zamtrios exerted force with its limbs and prepared to pounce forward, Altaïr released his attack.
In a flash, the Hunter's body became an afterimage, vanishing from in front of the Zamtrios as the two once again crossed paths.
Timing it for the exact moment the Zamtrios's hind legs exerted force and were about to leave the ice, his Charged Spirit Roundslash, wreathed in Spirit, swept through horizontally. It carved a deep incision into the joint of the creature's rear ankle.
Stimulated by the intense pain, the injured hind leg went into a spasm, losing its strength, while the other hind leg continued to exert an explosive burst of power.
It was like having a wooden stick jammed under your foot the moment you started to sprint; the Zamtrios's balance was instantly disrupted, and its center of gravity was completely sabotaged by the momentum of its own strength.
It instinctively tried to steady its body, but how could it be easy to stabilize one's center and regain balance on slick ice? Caught off guard, the Zamtrios tumbled to the ground.
With his mind set entirely on the offensive, how could Altaïr miss such a perfect opportunity? He immediately entered Demon Mode, rushed in front of the fallen Zamtrios, and began swinging his blade at its triangular head with maximum speed.
Crimson Slash combo!
In the distance, atop a low ice cliff only a few meters high, Haifa was shouting incessantly as she held her binoculars.
"That kid's timing on the Charged Slash was pretty good; he tripped it in one hit... wait, what?! It's already down, so hurry up and keep using Charged Slashes! Why the hell are you just hacking away wildly?!"
Karin glanced at her and said coldly, "The Monster is down and he went into Demon Mode. Is there a problem?"
(Translated by yourtl.app)
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TL NOTES — LORE SECTION
Some terms and creatures referenced in this story may be unfamiliar to readers new to the Monster Hunter universe. The following entries provide additional context.
MONSTERS
Uragaan — A Brute Wyvern with a massively enlarged, shell-covered chin that it uses as both a weapon and a shield. It is renowned for its exceptional physical defense, rolling across the ground to crush prey and deflecting most conventional strikes. Hunters often struggle to find effective openings against its armored exterior, making it a particularly grueling target for raw damage builds.
SKILLS & TECHNIQUES
Step Slash — A Long Sword technique consisting of a rapid, evasive step combined with an immediate vertical slash. It allows the hunter to reposition quickly while maintaining offensive pressure, and is especially effective against Monsters that have just overextended in a charge.
Charged Spirit Roundslash — An advanced Long Sword technique executed from a charged stance. The hunter releases stored Spirit energy in a wide horizontal arc, dealing high damage and, when timed precisely against an enemy's attack, triggering a perfect counter that replenishes the Spirit Gauge. Considered one of the Long Sword's highest-damage outputs.