"Have the supply support personnel deliver this to Darren!!"
Noah reached back and removed the Greatsword strapped to his back—its design clearly different from ordinary Fire Wyvern weapons. When he handed it to the hunter beside him, he did not even dare to glance at it, afraid that he might regret the decision.
"Huh? Th-this is the Huntsman's graduation gift to you—his acknowledgment of you! Just like that—"
"Just like that! I… A weapon like this can only truly unleash its real power in the hands of the right hunter. When my teacher learns of this later, he will surely approve of my decision!"
The hunter looked at the firmness in Noah's eyes and knew that he had already made up his mind. He stopped trying to persuade him, accepted the magnificent Greatsword—its main body red with faint streaks of silver—with both hands, and quickly dashed off the command platform. Reaching the edge of the cliff, he leapt down. A sharp whistle rang out as a wingdrake flew forth, catching the grappling hook the hunter had launched and swiftly carrying him toward the battlefield.
...
After awkwardly evading the attack of the mimetic tentacles, Darren used the broken sword in his hand to deflect the splintering bone fragments. Beside him, the Gunlance user who had come to provide cover once again suggested that he withdraw.
In the past, Darren had always been the one ordering his teammates to retreat while he stayed behind to deal with the monster alone. At this moment, he was still somewhat unaccustomed to being the one urged to pull back.
Yet he was also keenly aware that, with his weapon broken, continuing to fight an Elder Dragon armed with nothing but a shattered blade was nothing short of seeking death. No matter how unwilling he felt, he could only accept reality and begin retreating toward the outer perimeter while dodging Nakarkos's attacks.
"Darren! Catch!!"
Suddenly, a voice came from the sky. Darren looked up, and under the moonlit night, a magnificent Greatsword was falling straight toward him.
The hunter delivering the weapon did not linger. After tossing down the Greatsword, he gave Darren a thumbs-up and continued hanging from the wingdrake's talons as it flew back.
Darren shifted his body to the side. Driven by gravity, the magnificent Greatsword plunged straight into the sea of bones, leaving only a section of the hilt exposed.
Reaching out, he pulled the Greatsword free. As battle energy surged, a wave of scorching heat spread from the blade of the Greatsword.
As soon as he got his hands on it, Darren judged that this Greatsword had absolutely been forged with Elder Dragon materials as its core. Looking closely, wasn't this the Sunblaze Dragon Greatsword Noah had been showing off to them from time to time back when they were on the Ancient Tree—the one named "Blaze Wing"?
This had been forged from the upper scales of a juvenile Sunblaze Dragon, supplemented with many Fire Wyvern materials and rare ores.
Later on, it had been upgraded using materials such as scales from the Sunblaze Dragon at each of its growth stages, obtained through trades with the Fire Wyvern Grimalkyne leader, making it not inferior in the slightest to any weapon forged from Elder Dragon materials.
For a hunter, a weapon is their second life. Yet at this moment, Noah had lent his own second life to him—so he could not let down the other's expectations!!
Darren silently swallowed the only Ancient Max Potion in his pouch, restoring his condition to its best state in an extremely short time. He slung the Greatsword onto his back and rejoined the battle once more.
A precise draw slash cleaved apart the fireball flying toward him. He watched with his own eyes as the flames within that enormous fireball were absorbed by the Greatsword; then, with a backhand motion, he delivered a precise offset rising slash that split apart the tentacle blocking his path. After that, bracing against the fire-element attacks of the mimetic tentacles, he forced his way back into the vicinity of Nakarkos's main body.
"This is!!"
The Ancient Wyverian girl who had taken over Aiden's position and was providing support attacks looked at Darren's new weapon. Though she was astonished, her feet did not slow; she quickly withdrew from the attack range of Nakarkos's main body, making room for Darren and Aiden.
With a different weapon, Darren's combat state improved by leaps and bounds. He no longer needed to worry about sharpness; when charging and swinging, he also did not need to deliberately spend extra effort searching for weak points in Nakarkos's bony armor. He did not even need to think about how to recover after bouncing off due to insufficient sharpness.
Blaze Wing swung wildly. Exaggerated fire-element damage paired with deep, gaping wounds made Nakarkos—who had felt much more at ease during Darren's brief absence—once again experience the sensation of being cut by a small knife.
But these bugs were simply too small, and also extremely agile. For a time, aside from continuing this stalemated fight, Nakarkos truly had no particularly good way to deal with them.
As for retreating, Nakarkos had not yet been injured to the point where it needed to retreat.
Daylight gradually brightened; the battle had lasted a full day and night.
At this moment, only four hunters remained on the battlefield still fighting Nakarkos.
The other hunters had either exhausted themselves, or, in the long, high-intensity battle, had—during a moment of daze—taken Nakarkos's frontal attack head-on, and had no choice but to withdraw due to injury.
To be honest, the Recommended Team hunters' performance had truly already exceeded everyone's imagination up on the command platform.
Wearing Radiant Fire Wyvern armor evaluated as High Rank and using weapons with insufficient sharpness, they had actually relied on just ten people to fight Nakarkos—an Elder Dragon of this level—for a full day and night. They had even fought until the shells and bolts were all spent, and they were still fighting!
The terrain of the Dragon Graveyard had already been completely deformed!
On the battlefield, the Ancient Wyverian girl was panting heavily. She had in fact already reached her limit; the only reason she could still remain on the battlefield was thanks to the full set of Elder Dragon equipment she was wearing.
Originally, she had thought that within the Recommended Team, only Darren and Aiden were worth paying special attention to. Unexpectedly, however, the main attacker of the support squad—the youngest member of the Recommended Team, a Long Sword user only seventeen years old—was still able to barely keep up with the rhythm of the battle.
Leaving aside his current combat strength, just judging from this level of potential alone, this Long Sword user would probably become another monster comparable to Darren in the future!
As information about the young hunter surfaced in the Ancient Wyverian girl's mind, she accidentally took a solid whip strike from a tentacle.
Watching the Ancient Wyverian girl take the hit, then nimbly get back up, drink a potion, and continue rejoining the fight, Aiden—who had momentarily pulled back from the main combat zone to catch his breath—felt the corner of his mouth twitch slightly beneath his mask.
Anyone else would need to prepare to withdraw after taking a single hit. Only this woman in Elder Dragon equipment could simply drink a potion and continue fighting. For a moment, he did not know whether he should feel envious or something else.
Up on the command platform, Noah's eyes were bloodshot. Although Darren, after switching to a new weapon, was able to pose a much greater threat to Nakarkos—and had even forced it several times to abandon targeting others and focus entirely on dealing with Darren—the impact caused by the Recommended Team's losses was also very real. When there had been ten people at full strength, the situation had been evenly matched; now, with only four remaining, it was still evenly matched. This battle was simply far too grueling.
The thought of retreat that had been buried deep in his heart resurfaced once again, though it was not yet very clear.
But as the Long Sword user and the Ancient Wyverian girl withdrew from the battlefield, Aiden could only barely hold on. With the battlefield essentially becoming a one-on-one between Darren and Nakarkos, Noah knew full well that they could not continue any longer!
Darren's weapon was indeed already sufficient, but his armor was still as fragile as paper in front of Nakarkos. The risk was far too great. No matter how much hope Noah placed in Darren, he could not take this gamble!
"Withdraw!"
"Roar!!"
In the sky, scorching Cataclysm Flame descended from above, landing behind Nakarkos's main body while it was completely unguarded. The exaggerated heat incinerated the bone fragments on Nakarkos's body that had not yet been replaced after the prolonged battle, directly striking its main body.
This sudden sneak attack instantly broke the balance of the fight between Nakarkos and Darren. Through a moment of carelessness, Nakarkos actually took the full brunt of this Cataclysm Flame Breath head-on.
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