Even when facing one Elder Dragon plus two Elder Dragon–class monsters, fleeing without a fight was not the style of Nergigante.
Therefore, even knowing full well that this was an asymmetric battle with negative returns, Nergigante still roared as it charged forward, clashing head-on with Aki and the others.
However, as the fighting dragged on, Aki gradually felt that something was off.
This Nergigante looked as though every single attack carried overwhelming momentum, yet once the fight truly began, there was always a sense of not living up to its reputation. Its actual strength did not seem to match the infamy it bore among Elder Dragons—a name so hated that even other monsters recoiled from it.
It was clearly an opponent that even Logan had to take seriously, yet this battle inexplicably gave Aki the same feeling she had back in the Elder's Recess, when she had been merely "sparring" with a Lunastra that had just finished giving birth.
Something abnormal was definitely going on.
The strange sensation still put her completely on guard, and every strike she made left no room to hold back.
This fighting style caused Nergigante—who had its own plans in mind—to run straight into a Lunastra in flying wyvern form, and one that was right in its most irritable age at that.
While the battle on Aki's side raged fiercely, the fighting over at the Dragon's Grave was just as intense.
Nakarkos sensed the auras of Nergigante and Aki. Knowing full well that it was a being disliked by the world itself, its mind wavered for a moment, after which it immediately increased its energy output. Its combat state grew more and more frenzied. If not for Noah being inspired by the Radiant Fire Wyvern and beginning to issue relentless, no-cost-spared orders for the cannons and ballistae to fire continuously, then under such changes from Nakarkos, hunters from the recommended teams would likely have been forced out of the battle once again.
Within the jungle swamp, little Loren raised his head to look toward the battlefield where Aki was fighting, then turned to look toward the Dragon's Grave.
On one side was a battle involving his own kind. On the other was Nakarkos—the monster that had once beaten him awake, and which he regarded as an enemy he was destined to defeat someday.
The two choices tangled within his mind, leaving him, for a moment, unable to decide what he should do.
As time passed, the moon traveled from one end of the sky to the other.
Not only those fighting on the battlefield—even the people who had been watching the entire time from the command platform were beginning to feel mentally exhausted.
At this moment, a huge explosion instantly jolted everyone—whose minds had grown somewhat numb—awake. Noah and the others quickly turned around and rushed toward higher ground.
They saw that, at the place where Aki and the others were fighting Nergigante, a gigantic fireball was slowly expanding in midair. The exaggerated wind pressure was visibly snapping the trees below, and it was spreading outward in all directions at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Under the combined attack launched by the three dragons, a figure that was radiating heat all over and trailing wisps of black smoke fell out from within the fireball. Under Aki and the others' gaze, it dropped into the river channel below. After splashing up a towering spray of water, its aura rapidly dissipated.
This phenomenon left Aki somewhat at a loss.
She knew very clearly how tenacious an Elder Dragon's vitality was. Although this move that she and the Flame Wyvern couple used together was extremely powerful, and it had also struck Nergigante precisely, it still should not have been enough to deal with an Elder Dragon so easily, right?
Aki lowered her altitude, broke through the gale impact, and arrived above the water surface, carefully examining the situation in the water. But after examining it for a long time, she still did not see the slightest trace of Nergigante.
"Roar?" (Did it escape?)
Scorching Heat Rathian landed beside Aki. As the flames on her body touched the river water, large amounts of water vapor continuously rose with a sizzling sound.
Aki did not answer. She was not sure either.
Her own sensory ability was not particularly strong, and she had also never made contact with Nergigante. At most, she had only heard Logan and Mother Chameleos occasionally chatting, and had heard their various complaints about Nergigante.
Aki, unable to make up her mind for a moment, raised her head and let out a roar.
Very soon, those Radiant Fire Wyverns that had landed in scattered groups to rest and recover their strength took flight again, and began to patrol along the waterway.
The task of searching for Nergigante's whereabouts was handed over to the Radiant Fire Wyverns, while Aki and the others looked for a suitable place to land and began to recover their strength.
Regardless of whether Nergigante had truly retreated, on Nakarkos's side, they still had to make the corresponding preparations.
The battle with Nergigante ended just like that—starting with a show of force but fizzling out. Even Noah and the others on the command platform, who had been paying attention to this side the entire time, faintly felt that something was off. But very soon, before they could think too much about exactly what was off, something happened in the battle on Nakarkos's side.
As Nakarkos's attacks grew more and more frenzied, as the prolonged battle dragged on, the other hunters' condition became more and more sluggish. As the most active one, Darren was subjected to more and more targeted attacks.
Although for now it was still within what Darren could endure, the equipment on his body had already reached its limit.
After yet again using his sword as a shield to block a strike from Nakarkos's mimetic tentacle, in its Glavenus form, following that was an enormous fireball close behind. Even Darren, when he was not using a weapon like the Lance that carried a massive shield, still inevitably got blasted away by the impact of the explosion.
Relying on his powerful core strength to adjust his posture in midair, he rolled several times after landing to shed the remaining force, then quickly got back up and was about to charge forward again.
But along with a sudden lightness in his hands, a crisp cracking sound rang out.
The Radiant Fire Wyvern Greatsword in his hands had actually snapped in two just like that.
The broad blade was instantly missing half of its length.
This weapon—crafted using only Radiant Fire Wyvern upper-scale–grade materials—had, after continuously enduring a wide variety of Elder Dragon–level elemental energy attacks and remaining under true charged attacks the entire time, finally reached its limit. Under such intense combat, it completely collapsed.
At such a critical moment!
At precisely such a critical moment!
The main attacker's weapon actually failed!
This undoubtedly cast a thick shadow over everyone's hearts on the battlefield.
"Support!!"
Aiden's voice rang out across the battlefield. The support squad immediately moved toward Darren, while Aiden himself forcibly rallied his spirits, quickly swallowed a Max Potion, and once again charged straight toward Nakarkos's main body, taking over Darren's position as the primary attacker.
This sudden change on the battlefield was seen with perfect clarity from the command platform as well.
"Captain, should we cover the recommended team's retreat?"
Although they had failed to complete the hunt against Nakarkos, now that they had learned of the "relationship" between Nergigante and Nakarkos and confirmed the scholars' hypothesis, today's hunt could not be considered a failure.
After all, the Dragon's Grave was right here. As long as preparations were sufficient, they could come back to hunt Nakarkos at any time. Moreover, the investigation into Zorah Magdaros was imminent. If they consumed too many supplies here, then what would they do once the investigators determined Zorah Magdaros's route of movement?
Listening to the words beside him, Noah furrowed his brows tightly. He was unwilling—truly unwilling.
This was his first time commanding a battle. So many supplies had been consumed, and even the ammunition produced around the clock by the Cannons had been completely used up. Yet in the end, they were forced to give up because Darren's weapon was damaged. How could he possibly accept that?
However, it seemed that unwillingness alone could not change anything. High-level hunter weapons required enormous amounts of time and effort just to craft, not to mention the consumption of materials. As such, the logistics division had no spare weapons in reserve. At most, the other greatsword users only carried Great Jagras Greatswords. Surely they could not replace Darren's weapon with something of that level and have him continue fighting Nakarkos, could they?
If they did that, it would no longer be a hunt against Nakarkos, but rather him, as the commander, trying to get Darren killed.
Therefore, at this moment, if he did not want to retreat, then unless—
Noah reached back and touched the greatsword on his back. After several seconds of contemplation, his gaze hardened once more.
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