More than 10 five-shot cannons scraped together from everything they had, some of which had even come along with the ship and been dismantled from it, were launched in the roar of gunpowder.
Because of Ahtal-Ka's proactive interception, the Research Commission's side had ample time to take aim.
Therefore, those shells all accurately passed over Ahtal-Ka and fell one after another onto Yama Tsukami's body; this kind of all-round coverage directly interrupted Nergigante, which was currently addicted to pummeling.
Enraged, it planned to give these dragon-disturbing ants a lesson.
When fighting, clearing out the small monsters nearby first was common sense for an Elder Dragon.
Only, after Nergigante let out a roar and was just about to charge over, it discovered the existence of the Admiral at first glance.
An Elder Dragon's memory was no joke; the Admiral, who had a small body yet had left Nergigante with a deep impression in battle, was naturally remembered by Nergigante.
After all, it was the Admiral who had once single-handedly defended against it and had even inflicted a certain amount of damage on it; Nergigante's instinctive calculating ability regarding energy expenditure and gain once again damnably surfaced at this moment.
Very obviously, something like the Admiral, from which basically not many energy fluctuations could be sensed yet which could still injure it, was clearly one of the existences Nergigante hated most.
With such a big fellow being besieged in front of it, Nergigante really did not want to expend extra energy to go looking for trouble with the Admiral and the others.
Only, under the artillery coverage, Nergigante for the moment could not find a suitable chance to intervene and could only fly in the air, waiting for the artillery barrage to end.
"Restraint shots, fire!!"
On the specially made ballista, those 1.5 m long crossbow bolts bearing barbs adjusted their firing angles under the hunters' control; along with the firing of six restraint shots, these bolts, driven by powerful kinetic energy, passed through Yama Tsukami's tar-like outer skin and directly pierced into the "mountain" interior, jamming in place.
The ropes into which large amounts of Ahtal-Ka silk threads had been woven instantly pulled taut under the drive of mechanical winches, tightly binding Yama Tsukami's enormous body and fixing it in place.
They did not know how long these restraint shots could hold, but it was very clear that this moment was their time to attack.
"Charge!!"
The hunters jumped down from the high platform, using every method they could to speed up their charge, and in a dense mass like mayflies shaking a tree, they charged toward Yama Tsukami.
Yama Tsukami, which was currently wrestling with Ahtal-Ka, naturally noticed the figures of the members of the Research Commission.
But, having reached this ecological niche of its, it naturally looked down on such ants; even in that ancient civilization of the past, only a few of the very top combat forces could make it feel dread, and as long as it avoided those areas where top-grade apparatus had been deployed, even those man-made giant beasts could only manage to repel it.
So, as for this newly born human civilization of the present, even though it had been cut off from human civilization for too long and had not encountered it for over a thousand years, Yama Tsukami still looked down on it somewhat; after all, this civilization of now was still far from reaching the heights that ancient civilization had once attained.
Only, very soon, the performance of the members of the Research Commission refreshed its perception.
The Huntsman, who was the first to rush over, stepped on the body of Annihilation No. 1 and leaped high, jumping onto the tentacle that was tightly entangled around Annihilation No. 1; gripping Blazing Wings with both hands, after taking a deep breath, the blade actually faintly glowed red.
In the next second, the Huntsman actually used a greatsword to unleash Spirit Helm Breaker, a move that only Long Sword users could perform!!
A powerful downward slash came down, and along with the bursting energy, the dense fire-element energy of Blazing Wings erupted on Yama Tsukami's tentacle.
The intense pain made Yama Tsukami's tentacle, which was about to completely destroy the metal wire on Annihilation No. 1's neck, loosen.
Taking this opportunity, Ahtal-Ka directly broke free from Yama Tsukami's restraints; its enormous metal dragon head lifted high, and under Ahtal-Ka's fierce tugging on the wires, it brought the huge horn smashing hard into Yama Tsukami's forehead.
A dull metallic sound rang out, making the brains of some hunters who were still in the charge but had not been paying attention give a jolt; they subconsciously covered their ears and stopped their charging steps.
Yama Tsukami painfully shut its eyes, and its wide-open mouth let out a hoarse roar.
Its head felt as if it had been heavily hammered by a great hammer; this sort of absolute physical attack had even penetrated its external defenses and directly affected its interior.
But in the next second Yama Tsukami's mouth closed again, only it was not closed by its own will.
Rather, the Wyverian hunter, whose Kinsect had already gathered enough energy and prepared its state, stepped on the Kinsect and flew into the sky; the Insect Glaive in his hand, like a spear, fell from the air under his determined control, broke through Yama Tsukami's defenses, and stabbed into its head.
It looked just like a thin needle being inserted into the head; regardless for now of whether the damage was high or not, at least the pain was there.
The performance of the Huntsman and the Wyverian hunter encouraged the hunters and let them see that even without relying on large apparatus, it was still possible to inflict damage on such a gigantic creature.
One after another they howled as they launched attacks at Yama Tsukami's tentacles and white belly.
At this time Ahtal-Ka also continued to press the advantage, and Nergigante, which had found an opening to attack, likewise charged up again.
Up in the sky, Logan and the Flame Dragon couple, who were circling as they recovered their strength, saw this and likewise abandoned the idea of stopping Yama Tsukami from taking off again; they dove down, wanting to join in the attack.
But who would have thought that in the next second several exhaust holes suddenly opened in the membrane on Yama Tsukami's abdomen, a large amount of gas gushed out, and its mouth suddenly opened, yet no breath was seen.
The Commander, who had not joined in the attack, saw this and immediately felt that something was wrong.
"Retreat!! Get away from Yama Tsukami!!"
Although they did not know what was going to happen next, the Commander still trusted his own intuition and immediately issued the order to retreat.
At this moment, the hunters who were already caught up in the fight, although they obeyed the order, did not retreat very quickly.
In the next instant, several dozen blue electrified light spheres with diameters reaching 1 m flew out from Yama Tsukami's mouth.
Logan, who was in the middle of a dive, instantly halted his movement and let out a dragon roar, calling to the likewise diving Flame Dragon couple.
Others might not know what those things were, but Logan knew very well that those were super-large Great Thunderbugs that coexisted symbiotically with Yama Tsukami and bred and grew inside Yama Tsukami's body.
Under normal circumstances, these Great Thunderbugs at most could only be used to clear out small fry; in battles between Elder Dragons, these super-large Great Thunderbugs were not worth mentioning.
After all, these Great Thunderbugs had completely adapted to the living environment inside Yama Tsukami, and once they left Yama Tsukami they would very quickly explode; that bit of explosive power could only inflict considerable damage on ordinary monsters.
But if they were paired with that gas sprayed out by Yama Tsukami, then it was another matter.
That gas was different from the one Logan had ignited; it was a kind of explosive gas unique to Yama Tsukami that carried a large amount of dragon-element energy!!
Sure enough, as the super-large Great Thunderbugs turned from blue to yellow, then electric current ran wildly and they exploded directly; the ignited explosive gas instantly went off, with strands of black and red mixed within it.
Astera instantly was met with its second great earthquake.
Some hunters who were slow in retreating flung themselves backward and pounced toward the ground, trying to avoid as much as possible the impact of the explosion by throwing themselves down.
The Admiral and the Huntsman, however, made another choice: one held up a shield, the other raised a sword, and they each stood in front of some hunters.
The Wyverian hunter, falling from high in the sky, stumbled under his feet and failed to land steadily; just as he thought he was going to take the blast head-on, the Commander, holding a one-handed sword, rushed over and raised his shield in front of him.
In the next moment, the explosion appeared!
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