Isis accelerated as she closed in on the target.
Even so, she remained cautious. She did not use Blast Dash to charge straight at the target's face as usual, nor did she take the shortest path. Instead, she carefully skirted the bubbles scattered across the ground as she accelerated.
Although two years had passed, she still remembered her last battle against this Mizutsune.
That slippery foam had caused them plenty of trouble.
The wounds on its face confirmed that both of the Mizutsune's eyes were blind, yet it could still pinpoint her location and aim its water blade breath with precision.
The likeliest explanation was that Isis had burst some of the bubbles when she left the undergrowth. It could use the bubbles to sense its surroundings!
Both dead Mizutsune also bore obvious burn marks. Together with what Nymera had told her about Violet Mizutsune, a Rare Species capable of igniting bubbles, those burns made Isis suspect that the blind Mizutsune before her could ignite its foam as well.
For all these reasons, she had to avoid the bubbles whenever possible.
Altaïr was not there to help her suppress the Monster. On her own, Isis could not be certain she could fully contain a Mizutsune that had defeated two of its own kind while outnumbered two to one, so caution was essential.
"Watch the foam! Keep moving as you attack!" After taking a slightly longer route, Isis closed in on the Monster and brought her Gunlance down in a powerful slam as she shouted the warning.
Nymera did not respond aloud.
The target's ruined vision made it harder for it to locate her. That was her greatest advantage.
As long as Nymera avoided the bubbles and used her mobility to keep changing firing positions, she would effectively remain invisible to the Mizutsune's senses.
And...
Nymera's gaze swept rapidly over every part of her opponent's body.
Perhaps because it had already been blind in one eye and possessed such a violent temperament, this Mizutsune was probably the sort that constantly picked fights with other Monsters.
After losing its sole remaining eye in the battle against the Mizutsune pair, it had become even more frenzied and vicious.
Such relentless aggression had undoubtedly allowed it to accumulate combat experience quickly, making it stronger than an average member of its species.
But everything came at a price.
Its body carried too many overlapping wounds that could never fully heal. The scales around their edges might have grown thicker and tougher, but the wounds themselves remained weak points.
Now that it had encountered its hated enemies and was consumed by rage, blood-swollen muscles were stretching open wounds all over its body, leaving them even more vulnerable. As long as Nymera's shots were precise enough, she could inflict tremendous damage. (Soulseer Mizutsune's hitzones actually improve while it is enraged.)
Having reached that conclusion, Nymera decisively detached the high-capacity drum magazine of Flaming Ammo from her Rathalos Cannon.
Sustained Rapid Fire with Flaming Ammo offered formidable suppressive power, but it would also reveal her position far too easily.
Given the Mizutsune's agility, the formation would collapse into chaos if it slipped past Isis and attacked Nymera.
This time, she would use a different approach.
Nymera inserted a fresh magazine into the Bowgun, worked the cocking mechanism to chamber a round, raised the Rathalos Cannon, aimed briefly, and pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
A muzzle flash brighter than that of standard Flaming Ammo flared, and a streak of light shot out almost too fast for the naked eye to follow.
It was a round of Piercing Fire Ammo.
The shot struck a scar on the Mizutsune's flank with perfect accuracy. It punched through the thickened skin unprotected by scales, bored through layers of fat and muscle, and drilled deep into the Monster's body.
"Rrraaugh!" The blind Mizutsune whipped its head around and howled in agony.
Nymera noticed the bubbles floating through the air converging on her position.
Without firing again, she immediately released a Wirebug. Its Ironsilk yanked her several meters through the air.
She landed lightly without making a sound.
As expected, the Mizutsune's attention remained fixed on the spot where she had fired. Several enormous, eerily blue bubbles continued to converge there.
Nymera steadied the Rathalos Cannon with her left hand, drew a kunai from her waist with her right, and sent it flying with a flick of her wrist.
The kunai punctured one of the bubbles with perfect accuracy.
"Whoosh!"
Flame erupted and detonated several of the surrounding bubbles at once. Wisps of ghostly blue fire engulfed the place where Nymera had just been standing.
The blind Mizutsune also turned its head, opened its jaws, and fired a highly compressed water blade at the same spot. Even a large tree beyond that spot was severed cleanly through the trunk.
Had Nymera not used the Wirebug to reposition before those slow, seemingly harmless ghostfire bubbles closed in, she probably could not have avoided the breath attack that followed.
Just as she had thought. It was blind, but clever.
Nymera continued moving on light feet, firing Piercing Fire Ammo from every angle at the target's weak points and vital areas. The rounds combined extreme penetrating power with the intense heat the Mizutsune feared.
She fired once and immediately changed position, making it impossible for the blind Mizutsune to determine her bearing.
The Gunner's attacks posed enough of a threat to relieve much of the pressure on Isis, allowing her to attack more aggressively.
Shelling and blade strikes flowed together. With its heat-dissipation mechanism locked, Demon King Tyrant radiated enough heat to sear flesh as Isis slammed it again and again into the Mizutsune's head and chest.
Ghostfire blazed in the Mizutsune's empty eye sockets. It bellowed furiously and twisted its body. The sliding fluid coating its hide allowed it to prepare its attack with astonishing speed, and its enormous tail, thicker and stronger than an ordinary Mizutsune's, swept toward Isis with enough force to split the air.
This was not a blow she could withstand with an ordinary block.
Isis had just completed a Full Burst, but she remained perfectly calm. With a low shout, she dropped her center of gravity and raised her shield to meet the attack while driving the butt of her upright Gunlance into the ground.
Demon King Tyrant's barrel hinged open. Waste heat that had accumulated to the point of slowing its shelling vented in several visible streams with a sharp hiss.
Its shells and Wyrmstake Cannon reloaded in an instant.
At the same time, the butt of the Gunlance braced against the ground gave Isis a solid anchor. This Defensive Stance was far more stable than an ordinary block.
It was one of the results of her training in Kamura Village. It was not exactly a named technique, but it was an extremely practical trick.
Guard Reload!
"Bang!"
The enormous tail, thicker than Isis's Large Shield, slammed into the face of her shield. The tremendous impact jarred her and sent her sliding and hopping a full step backward.
Her thigh muscles tensed like coiled springs, harnessing the remaining force of the impact. She immediately leaped forward and brought her Gunlance crashing down in a powerful counterattack.
The blind Mizutsune had never encountered an opponent who could withstand its mighty tail strike head-on and counterattack immediately afterward. Its reaction came a beat too late.
The red-hot blade slammed squarely onto the top of its head as it turned back around.
A devastating Wide shell erupted at point-blank range, followed immediately by the Wyrmstake Cannon. The combined blasts knocked the Mizutsune into a backward stagger.
Isis certainly would not waste such a perfect opening.
She quickly advanced two steps to close the distance, then assumed a standard Defensive Stance with her shield upright and her Gunlance braced.
Astonishing energy converged in the muzzle. After a brief charge, it formed a dazzling golden-red fireball that surged straight toward the Mizutsune.
"Dragon Blast!"