Hoo~ hoo~
The airflow stirred by the swirling Dragonbone Hammer continuously dispersed across the deck.
"Hiyah!"
Pazhizhi roared, and the white-glowing Dragonbone Hammer was thrown, shooting out like a cannonball.
A heavy hammer could be used like this?
Li Fan was truly enlightened.
The Sky-rending Dragon, looking up, saw something falling from above and observed it intently.
After a moment, its inhalation and energy accumulation stopped. It raised its right wing-gun and held it horizontally in front of its body, protecting its head.
Clang! The falling Dragonbone Hammer landed on the wing-gun, creating a small dent on the shell's surface before sliding onto the platform made of Hekstone.
Bang! The hammer body struck, creating a pit and sinking into the platform, causing a web of cracks to spread.
Pazhizhi stepped onto the railing with one foot, observing, "Such a high level of head protection. Have you fought hunters before?"
"Pazhizhi, if you throw the Dragonbone Hammer, who will help me activate my abilities?"
Guxing said helplessly.
Hearing this, Li Fan deduced that Guxing intended to use his teammates' attacks to activate the Fireblight Field from the Felyne food and the Rage ability of the Arzuros armor.
"Why don't you take off your helmet? I'll punch your face a few times. My straight punches are quite strong,"
Pazhizhi said, rubbing his fists.
"I can help!"
Yuduola suggested.
"The Great Sword is a cutting weapon, so perhaps not,"
Li Fan whispered as a reminder.
"No need to trouble yourselves. Just experience the power of the Sky-rending Dragon's attack,"
Guxing waved his hand.
"Isn't that too dangerous?"
Li Fan couldn't understand.
"Fighting with fear of a monster's attack will only make it more dangerous. It's better to truly experience the damage a monster can inflict first. Then, even the most terrifying attacks will only be perceived as pain,"
Guxing explained his understanding.
This theory sounded somewhat similar to Yuduola's...
Despite his surprise, Li Fan felt there was some logic to what the other person said.
The monsters' fierce and violent attacks were indeed terrifying and easily instilled fear.
But in reality, they only translated to pain.
Since the source of pain was the same, as long as one could withstand it and survive, there was no need to fear the form the attack took.
Beep~ Beep~ Beep~
Dhiru blew the Demon Horn, then switched to the Hardening Horn and continued playing.
Xik took out Demon Dust and Hardening Dust, scattering them on the deck.
"Ugh... that sounds awful,"
Pazhizhi gritted his teeth and said.
"We're almost there, everyone..."
Before Xik could finish speaking, Guxing stood on the railing, his armor erupting with purple ghost fire, and leaped forward.
"I'm going!"
"Isn't that distance not enough..."
Yuduola said with some concern.
Hoo~ Purple ghost fire gathered beneath his feet, forming a ball.
Guxing stepped lightly on it, and the ghost fire ball exploded.
Using the shock of the explosion, Guxing leaped forward again.
Wasn't this the move the Magnamalo used when traversing the air!
Li Fan hadn't expected the ghost fire entanglement ability, activated by the Magnamalo, to be used in such a way.
The shocked team members quickly turned their attention to Pazhizhi.
"Uh... I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I don't know any strange moves like that,"
Pazhizhi explained helplessly under their gaze.
"Let's go too,"
Li Fan stepped onto the railing, reached out, and threw a Wirebug.
"Yeah!"
Yuduola released a Wirebug, its silk stretching taut.
"Okay, meow!"
Dhiru, carrying the detonator, leaped onto Li Fan's back.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
With the elastic pull of the taut silk, the team leaped off the airship.
They landed on the surface of the Hekstone platform, where a faint red glow pulsed.
The Sky-rending Dragon's eyes flashed with hostility towards the three humans and one Felyne who had trespassed into its lair.
However, to the humans, who were completely disproportionate to it, the giant airship capable of causing explosions was the true threat.
Whoosh! Swish!
Small stones by Li Fan's feet quickly rolled forward, and a strong gust of wind surged across the platform.
"It's like we're not even being considered..."
Yuduola sighed, watching the Sky-rending Dragon inhale and accumulate energy again.
"Perfect. If the Sky-rending Dragon doesn't even consider the hunters, Dhiru's approach will be easier. Dhiru! It's up to you now,"
Li Fan, on the contrary, saw it as a good opportunity.
"Okay... meow!"
Dhiru, with a trembling voice, took hesitant steps forward, bending down to approach.
"Dhiru, you can do it, right?"
Li Fan asked tentatively.
"Mmm... I can, meow!"
Recalling the arduous training of practicing throwing explosive barrels, Dhiru's fighting spirit was ignited.
"Alright, go for it! Yuduola! Once its chest cavity explodes, the Sky-rending Dragon will fall to its side. This is an excellent attack opportunity, we need to get closer in advance,"
After Li Fan laid out the plan, the team immediately began to act.
Just treat it as training, you can do it, meow!
As it was about to crawl closer, Dhiru suddenly felt its speed accelerating.
Its limbs even felt like they were leaving the ground.
Dhiru looked up and saw the swirling suction currents on the outside of the Sky-rending Dragon's chest, and the scorching heat waves emanating from within, and its heart trembled.
The Sky-rending Dragon before it was far more terrifying than the wooden training models.
I really want to run away, meow...
No, I can't! My adventure with Li Fan has just begun, meow!
To reduce the visual interference from the chaotic airflow, Dhiru pulled down its goggles to cover its eyes and continued to crawl rapidly.
A little closer! A little closer, meow! Right here!
Click! The Felyne's paw pressed the red pressure button, then lifted the detonator with both paws and threw it forward with all its might.
The small red explosive barrel flipped several times in mid-air and landed precisely on the grille in front of its chest.
Bang! Splatter!
The wooden slats of the red barrel shattered, and a mass of black gel-like substance emerged, adhering to the intake grille.
On the airship, Xik, holding a telescope, clenched his Felyne paws upon seeing this.
"You must succeed, meow!"
Gulp... Gulp...
Bubbles rose to the surface of the colossal Heavy-duty Dragonbone Oil, and its volume began to expand. The surging intake airflow had no effect on it whatsoever.
As the Heavy-duty Dragonbone Oil expanded, the inverted V-shaped grille was gradually blocked.
Sensing the reduced intake, the Sky-rending Dragon chose to increase its suction power.
However, apart from slowly collapsing into the chest grille, the situation with the Heavy-duty Dragonbone Oil did not improve at all.
In less than 20 seconds, the Sky-rending Dragon's chest was completely sealed.
On the Hekstone platform, apart from the sound of the wind, there was only the sound of armor moving.
Roar~ Roar~
The Sky-rending Dragon raised its neck and gasped, but it felt as though it was only inhaling and not exhaling.
Sizzle! The Heavy-duty Dragonbone Oil, now orange-yellow, liquefied and dissolved under the intense heat of the chest shell. A spark floated out from the surface and drifted with the wind.
The Sky-rending Dragon watched the floating spark and felt a sense of familiarity.
Boom! Crash!
A burst of dragon energy mixed with flames exploded in front of its chest, scattering a few silver fragments.
The Sky-rending Dragon's body tilted and fell to the ground.
Clang! Clang! Clang!....
Li Fan repeatedly swung his sword at the right wing-gun.
Each blow felt like striking a hard ore vein.
This is too tough...
Li Fan gritted his teeth and decided to increase the frequency of his slashes, shifting his goal from dealing effective damage to absorbing spirit energy.
When lacking sufficient strength, the longsword requires full swings to accumulate and level up spirit energy.
Li Fan's strength had long surpassed that basic level, allowing for more possibilities in its application.
Yuduola abruptly stopped and began to charge her sword against the head of the Sky-rending Dragon, which was gasping violently on the ground.
Ching! Ching!...
As the light on the Dragon Slaying Greatsword changed to white.
Yuduola shifted her shoulder, nudged forward half a step, then swung the Dragon Slaying Greatsword to the other side, continuing to charge with a strong charged slash.
As the power accumulated, the Hekstone beneath her feet began to crack.
With her power at its limit, Yuduola used a tackle again, swinging the Dragon Slaying Greatsword behind her.
Crack! The Hekstone platform beneath her feet seemed unable to withstand the immense pressure and directly shattered and collapsed.
However, Yuduola showed no signs of stopping. She slightly adjusted the angle of her slash and began to charge a true charged slash.
Sensing an unusual aura, Li Fan turned his head to observe.
He had expected Yuduola to perform at most a strong charged slash after the chest cavity explosion. He hadn't anticipated her attempting a true charged slash.
Similar to the Foresight slash and the Iai slash, the true charged slash was a move that the initial character could use.
While not difficult to learn in the Monster Hunter world, it placed extremely high demands on strength and physical fitness.
Furthermore, the physical burden it placed on the hunter was considerable.
According to Li Fan's understanding, the reason the strong charged slash and true charged slash could accumulate power beyond the limit and unleash attacks surpassing human capabilities was primarily due to the intermittent transfer of accumulated power to the hunter's body during the switch to the charging stance.
In simple terms, the hunter would become a temporary energy storage module for the Greatsword.
By transferring accumulated power to themselves, the Greatsword's accumulated power would be cleared, allowing for a new charge.
During the slash, the two energies would fuse and be unleashed together.
The burden arose from the fact that humans had a limit to the external power they could withstand.
The power transfer in a strong charged slash, even just once, would already place a significant burden on the hunter's body.
The true charged slash, a higher tier, involved two power transfers.
Each charged attack would be infused back into the body through the feedback of the slash's power. This method was relatively gentler and more balanced in terms of attack, but the maximum accumulated power achievable would be reduced.
Yuduola, however, chose the most extreme method.
That is, without releasing a single sword strike, she endured three levels of charge before unleashing it!
Li Fan was unsure why Yuduola was pushing herself so hard.
He could only speculate that it was due to the hatred stemming from her father being taken by an Elder Dragon.
Hoo~
As the charge level continuously increased, the surrounding debris and dust around Yuduola's body floated up, suspended in mid-air.
"Yuduola is bleeding from her nose, meow!"
Dhiru exclaimed in surprise and quickly searched for a healing potion.
But then she suddenly remembered that a nosebleed was not considered a serious injury for a hunter.
Ching! As a cold light flashed, a brilliant silver-white glow erupted from the Dragon Slaying Greatsword.
Even the flames burning on the blade turned a faint blue.
"Ugh! Hiyah!"
Yuduola shouted, and the entire Hekstone platform beneath her exploded.
The Dragon Slaying Greatsword first struck the ground with a smash. Yuduola leaped forward and, while rotating in the air, raised the sword again.
With a spin that involved both herself and the sword, the Dragon Slaying Greatsword, imbued with a dazzling light, slashed down from the air.
Bang! Creak! Boom!
The Hekstone platform shattered over a large area.
The upper half of the Sky-rending Dragon's body was entirely engulfed.
"It's been a long time since I've seen a female hunter this strong..."
Pazhizhi exclaimed in surprise.
"Uh... I should probably retrieve my little hammer first,"
Pazhizhi remembered that his Dragonbone Hammer hadn't been retrieved yet and quickly ran to the edge of the collapsed pit.
Just as his hand touched the hammer's handle, creak! A metallic scraping sound came from below.
The next moment, a three-toed claw covered in silver scales gripped the edge of the pit.
Pazhizhi looked at the Dragonbone Hammer, then at the Sky-rending Dragon's foreclaw.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!..."
Bang! Bang! Bang!....
Pazhizhi stood in a low stance and began to smash with his hammer.
With each falling hammer blow, a powerful shockwave radiated outwards.
Li Fan had only felt such intense tremors from the ground when he stomped forcefully.
Is this what a Seven-Star Hunter is like?
Just as Li Fan marveled, Guxing leaped from the edge of the pit and landed in the center of the hole.
Bang! A ball of ghost fire exploded beneath his feet, and he leaped high into the air.
The "Kagachi" Katana [Ghostly Heaven] was swung, slicing a straight, thin line through the air.
The Sky-rending Dragon's heavily injured left wing-gun suddenly rose, meeting the approaching blade.
Boom! Boom! Boom!....
Along the path of the spirit blade Guxing had carved, a series of dense ghost fire explosions erupted on the damaged left wing-gun.
Guxing intended to attack the undamaged right wing-gun. The Sky-rending Dragon raising its left wing to block indicated that it was well aware of the importance of its wing-guns.
Li Fan saw through the Sky-rending Dragon's intention.
"Hoo, hoo....."
Yuduola, radiating heat, supported herself with the Dragon Slaying Greatsword, bending over and gasping heavily.
Swish!
A crack appeared on the edge of the Dragon Slaying Greatsword's blade, and small fragments slid to the ground.
Yuduola's gaze sharpened, and then an expression of disbelief appeared on her face.
Screech! The Sky-rending Dragon's wing adjusted its spray angle downwards.
Boom! A flash of red light erupted!
Its body, which had fallen into the pit, suddenly rose with the boost of the tail flame.
Swish!
As its body righted itself in the air, several pieces of silver carapace slid down from the cracked indentation on its head.
Its vertical pupils swept across the Hekstone platform, finally focusing on Yuduola.
Boom!
Three red flames on its left wing-gun ignited simultaneously!
The sharp tip of the wing-gun flashed with a cold glint.
"Yuduola! Dive!"
Li Fan shouted as he released a Wirebug to pull himself closer.
Yuduola released her grip on the Dragon Slaying Greatsword, her hands empty, and began to run at a not-so-fast speed.
At this moment, the Sky-rending Dragon's left wing-gun was raised, its nozzle pointed downwards, spraying with full force.
Propelled by the three red flames, its suspended body suddenly plummeted downwards.
Whoosh!
"Release the Wirebugs!"
Yuduola, running slower and slower, heard Li Fan's reminder and opened her Wirebug case.
The Wirebugs that flew out converged with Li Fan's, intertwining.