Altaïr shouted and waved his hand less than thirty meters from the Guren Shen Gaoren.
Given the Guren Shen Gaoren's colossal size, standing over forty meters tall, that distance was practically at its feet.
Altaïr's shout was loud enough that even a Monster with poor hearing should have heard him.
Of course, the most important factor was the pheromone-laced smoke released by Dango. According to Senior Maki, those pheromones could draw the attention of even an Elder Dragon.
With all those factors combined, Altaïr believed he should have caught the Guren Shen Gaoren's attention.
But things did not go as planned. The Guren Shen Gaoren did not pause or even glance his way. Its pace never changed as it continued onward.
The corner of Altaïr's mouth twitched.
Even if a fly or mosquito buzzed past someone's ear, they would instinctively turn their head. In this thing's eyes, was he worth less than a mosquito?
Fine, it did not matter how much presence he had, but he had not expected Dango's pheromones to be completely ineffective.
That meant they had lost their most important means of luring the target.
Altaïr looked toward the Professor nearby. His expression was equally grim.
The Professor signaled for him to halt the operation for now.
Altaïr quickly made his way over.
They were not entirely out of options, but every alternative involved greater risks. He wanted to hear the Professor's opinion first.
"We're already very close to the sea. We can see the coastline from here," the Professor said.
"This Guren Shen Gaoren's destination is clear. It's heading for the ocean, though I can't say what it plans to do once it arrives."
The Professor studied the two eager young Hunters. "I know what you're both thinking.
"Attacking it to draw its attention would be the most direct method, but also the most dangerous. You must judge your actions carefully.
"A Shen Gaoren will flatten anything that blocks its path to its goal, whether it's a boulder, a fortress, or a Hunter.
"With its destination right in front of it, attacking now would be far too risky. You could provoke it in an instant.
"I suggest waiting until it reaches the shore and finishes whatever it came here to do before beginning the operation."
Altaïr and Isis exchanged a glance, then nodded.
They slowed their pace and followed behind the Guren Shen Gaoren, eating to restore their stamina while observing its movements from a distance.
The Guren Shen Gaoren's pace remained as steady as ever. After crossing the last stretch of beach formed from solidified lava, it entered the sea.
"Rumble...!"
The sea boiled violently, and immense clouds of thick white steam billowed upward, obscuring the giant Carapaceon's body.
Even the Hunters standing more than a hundred meters away immediately felt the air grow humid and stifling.
"It doesn't look like it's drinking or eating," Altaïr said, unable to contain his curiosity. "What do you think it's doing?"
"It should be using the seawater to cool itself," the Professor said, adjusting his thick glasses. "I thought earlier that this Guren Shen Gaoren's temperature and activity levels were far too high, like a volcano on the verge of erupting.
"Perhaps it spent too long in the volcano's core area and accumulated too much heat inside its body.
"As an amphibious Carapaceon, Shen Gaoren never evolved the ability to shed heat rapidly. It has to use seawater to cool itself before the rising temperature and pressure begin harming its body."
Understanding dawned on Isis's face. "It's just like how my Gunlance needs to cool down, or it'll explode!"
"...More or less."
The Guren Shen Gaoren soaked its red-hot body in the seawater for nearly fifteen minutes, keeping thousands of square meters of the surrounding ocean at a constant boil.
Occasional steam explosions sent columns of scalding water dozens of meters into the air, shrouding a vast stretch of coastline in thick white mist.
"The sound of the seawater boiling is fading," Altaïr said softly.
The steam obscured their vision, leaving them to judge the situation by sound alone.
"Mm, it should be nearly finished cooling down," the Professor said as he wiped the moisture from his glasses. "Next, it should return to the volcano's core area. You can decide when to begin luring it."
Altaïr took out the map and glanced at it. He had traced the Shen Gaoren's route from the scholars' maps, allowing them to roughly estimate its current position.
"They aren't far apart now. There's less than thirty kilometers between them," Altaïr said, measuring the distance with his fingers.
Isis leaned closer. "Should we let it walk back a little before we start luring it? That would shorten the route, right?"
"Yes, but that would bring them closer to the volcano's core area, and it would save us only a few kilometers." Altaïr carefully checked the direction with his compass. "We'll begin the luring operation as soon as it comes ashore."
"Alright!"
"Boom! Rumble!"
The earth shook and the mountains trembled as warm seawater washed over the coast. The colossal shadow deep within the white steam rose from the sea and returned to shore.
"Hoooommmmm..."
A deep, prolonged roar, lower and more muffled than a horn and powerful enough to make their chests vibrate, emerged from the massive dragon skull protruding through the white mist.
"A Carapaceon can roar, meow?"
The Professor glanced at Sajji and corrected him. "Carapaceons don't have vocal cords. That roar is produced by the Shen Gaoren's organs resonating with the giant dragon skull."
"Boom!" One of its massive feet landed dozens of meters in front of them, smashing a huge crater into the rocky ground smoothed by years of wave erosion.
The Guren Shen Gaoren set off again.
Without exchanging a word, Altaïr and Isis charged forward in perfect coordination, each choosing one of the Shen Gaoren's legs to attack.
Seeing Altaïr pull far ahead, Isis instinctively reached to lock the stabilizer and perform a Blast Dash.
Altaïr anticipated her intention, turned his head, and shouted a warning. "Use the most efficient method you can to keep attacking and build up damage. Save your shells!"
Isis pouted but moved her finger away from the shelling trigger.
Altaïr reached the Shen Gaoren's feet first.
After being cooled by the seawater, the Shen Gaoren no longer sprayed magma from the gaps in its joints with every step.
But that did not mean it was safe to approach.
Under its immense weight, every step triggered violent tremors that made it nearly impossible to keep one's footing. Its moving limbs were especially dangerous, and the windows in which they could safely attack were extremely brief.
Altaïr seized an opening and rushed forward. He drew his Long Sword and performed a Step Slash, striking the Shen Gaoren before him.
Clang!
The blade bounced off, just as expected.
It did not feel like cutting into a living creature. It felt more like striking stone. No. With the Sharpness of Tyrant Blade [Heaven Swallower], even granite should have cracked beneath the blow.
The thickness and hardness of this creature's leg shell far exceeded his expectations!
He could say without exaggeration that this was the hardest-shelled Monster he had ever encountered, bar none!
Now that he had closed in and the surrounding mist no longer obstructed his view, Altaïr finally noticed that the Shen Gaoren's red-hot shell had turned a deep blue-black after being cooled by the seawater, so dark it was nearly pure black.
Scorching lava, rapid cooling in seawater, and that faintly translucent blue-black color...
Obsidian?!
While cooling itself in the seawater, had this creature solidified the magma flowing across its body and plated itself in armor made of incredibly hard obsidian?!
Was it accidental, or had the creature done it deliberately...?
"Heya!" The sound of Isis attacking another leg came from nearby.
The Glavenus Gunlance was far heavier than his Long Sword, and every blow against the Shen Gaoren's leg armor rang out with a crisp metallic clang.
Even so, she failed to breach the Shen Gaoren's leg shell or leave any noticeable mark.
The slowly advancing Shen Gaoren never seemed to notice the Hunters at its feet.
To it, the damage caused by Altaïr and Isis's attacks was less significant than the ground's recoil with each step...
The result was disheartening, but neither of them grew discouraged.
If a few simple slashes were enough to harm it, why would anyone need to build a fortress to withstand this creature's migration?
Just as the two braced themselves for a sustained assault, the Professor shouted from behind them.
"Stop attacking!" An unmistakable tension filled the Professor's voice. "Abort the luring operation! Both of you, fall back!"
Though puzzled, Altaïr and Isis immediately broke off their assault, withdrew from the target, and returned to the Professor's side.
The Professor spoke far more urgently than usual. "That thing isn't a Guren Shen Gaoren! It's another special individual we've recorded before!
"That blue-black shell of extraordinary hardness... We called it Teppeki, but we never understood what caused it to appear. So this is how it happened...
"The two are no different in essence. We simply observed the same creature in different states under different circumstances..."
Altaïr frowned. "Professor, whether it's Guren or Teppeki doesn't seem to change our plan."
"No, its identity doesn't matter." The Professor's expression grew complicated. "But what if I told you it isn't returning to the volcano's core area as we expected?
"Instead, it's heading straight toward the other Shen Gaoren."
P.S. The distinction between Guren Shen Gaoren and Teppeki Shen Gaoren is extremely vague. Their moves are essentially identical. Even setting aside the color of the magma on their bodies, their shells are the same color, and both carry an Akantor skull on their backs, though this story replaces it with a Jhen Mohran. Here, treat them as the same creature in essence, with Teppeki and Guren representing two different states.