Astera, which had already endured devastation several times, shook once more in this explosion.
The large waterwheel hanging on the waterfall, which had originally still been barely holding, had every support beam break apart, and those lodgings that had been built against the mountain and converted from ship cabins likewise collapsed just like that.
It could be said that regardless of the final outcome of this battle, Astera had been beaten back to its original, undeveloped state.
At present, only the distant plantation, the Celestial Pursuit on the mountaintop, and the Weapons and Felyne Pavilion, which served as the canteen and had itself been built with very sturdy materials, still remained intact.
In a burst of black mist, a big black hedgehog hung its limbs down lifelessly and let itself fall freely into the sea.
It had been there for every explosion, and every time it had been one of the dragons closest to the blast.
The tearing pain in its body was far inferior to the sense of spiritual dejection coming from within Nergigante.
As a close-combat-type Elder Dragon, what it hated most was this kind of thing, being pushed far away by all sorts of energy attacks.
Could there not be a thoroughly satisfying close-quarters brawl?
With such resentment, Nergigante used the seawater to cool its body while waiting for its injured parts to heal.
The Dragon-element energy explosion did not bring dust that lingered very long; after it quickly dispersed, Yama Tsukami could be seen, as though venting, gripping tight the heavily deformed Annihilation No. 1 of Ahtal-Ka, and the restraint shells that had originally bound it had all broken, so Yama Tsukami once again regained its ability to move.
At this moment, on Annihilation No. 1, many of the golden threads used to control each component had been destroyed in the explosion; in many places it could only barely keep from falling apart, and the parts that could still be controlled by the threads were unable to withstand Yama Tsukami's attacks.
Moreover, that close-range explosion just now had left Ahtal-Ka, inside Annihilation No. 1, with its head still somewhat dizzy; the walking fortress, which required precise manipulation to control, naturally could not display its original performance.
Thus, at this moment, Ahtal-Ka made a bold decision.
Taking advantage of Yama Tsukami's attention being fixed on that lump of metal, the back of Annihilation No. 1 suddenly opened, and Ahtal-Ka, pulling on the threads, quickly slipped out of Annihilation No. 1.
The instant it steadied itself after landing, it decisively dismantled and discarded Annihilation No. 1, directly abandoning those parts that had been entangled by Yama Tsukami.
After quickly assembling the remaining parts, several large metal lumps, under Ahtal-Ka's swings, smashed onto Yama Tsukami's body like meteor hammers.
For a moment, Yama Tsukami, which was being smashed and forced to retreat again and again, had its attention once more drawn by Ahtal-Ka, and only then did the hunters, who had likewise been affected by the explosion, gain time to catch their breath.
"Quick, take all the wounded to the safe zone! Everyone else return to 2F, load the shells, and get ready to fire the remaining restraint shells!"
The Admiral, panting heavily, loudly gave the order. Having taken an explosion head-on in order to cover his teammates, he had indeed consumed quite a lot of stamina, and in the corner of his eye he noticed that the Commander's condition seemed somewhat bad, as if he had already passed out.
The white mist all around, which had originally been scattered by the explosion, gathered once more; those hunters who, because they had not managed to evade the explosion in time and had suffered quite serious injuries and were drinking potions, suddenly discovered that the wounds on their bodies were rapidly healing.
This speed of healing was much faster than when they drank potions, so some hunters who had originally been too badly injured to regain the ability to move in a short time soon possessed the ability to move, shook off the arms of their companions who were supporting their bodies and told them to seize the time to build a new defensive line, while they themselves limped toward the previously prepared "safe zone."
There, many emergency-use medicines had been stored, and the location was relatively safe, allowing them to regain combat capability in a short time.
Perhaps it was because it had grown annoyed at being smashed by Ahtal-Ka, or perhaps it was because these hunters who had been constantly harassing beside it had actually recovered their condition very quickly, and it noticed that this mist in the air seemed somewhat unusual.
After Yama Tsukami's tentacle slapped away an iron ball that was smashing toward its forehead, it suddenly opened that mouth full of huge teeth.
Its abyss-like huge maw expanded to the maximum, and a powerful suction appeared, accompanied by Yama Tsukami's wailing hum.
In an instant, everything in front of Yama Tsukami was being sucked into its body at an extremely fast speed, with Ahtal-Ka's iron balls bearing the brunt.
In Ahtal-Ka's reddening compound eyes, the parts of its walking fortress were just like that sucked into Yama Tsukami's body.
It was not that it had not pulled on the threads in its hands, wanting to reel the iron balls back, but this exaggerated suction directly snapped its threads, and in the end it could only watch with its eyes wide open as those iron balls, each with a diameter of several meters, entered Yama Tsukami's belly.
"Chirp! Chirp!!"
Ahtal-Ka had never been this angry; that endless fury almost burned away the sanity on which it relied to survive. At this moment Ahtal-Ka even had the impulse to rush into Yama Tsukami's mouth and dig all the walking fortress parts back out.
Dragon Inhale!
It was the way Yama Tsukami fed, and also Yama Tsukami's strongest move used to clear out small fry.
Not only was the attack range large, but that suction was also exaggeratedly strong.
It could be said that once a hunter was sucked into the belly, it was no different from being dead.
Fortunately, the Research Commission, which possessed information on Yama Tsukami, had already considered this signature attack method of Yama Tsukami in the initial response measures, and thus successfully avoided the first wave of suction.
When Yama Tsukami turned its head intending to shift its attack direction and eat all these hunters into its belly—
Suddenly a violet poisonous mist breath appeared out of thin air.
The little Chameleos appeared in the distance, doing its utmost to press its body low, its four limbs gripping the ground tightly, resisting the suction while continuously spitting violet poisonous mist.
"Wait! Why are you there, gwa!!" The sudden appearance of the little Chameleos startled Mother Chameleos; clearly, before the battle started, she had already told the small Chameleos to stay in the safe area beside the Celestial Pursuit. How had this unfilial child taken advantage of her inattention, run onto the frontline battlefield, and even taken the initiative to attack Yama Tsukami?
Was it really this bold?
Mother Chameleos increasingly felt that this unfilial child had not inherited any of their Chameleos temperament.
The little Chameleos had no time at all to guess what its mother was thinking; it had completely suffered a disaster it should not have suffered and had no choice but to take action.
Watching the Elder Dragons battle had pumped the little Chameleos full of hot-blooded excitement, and it had originally planned to rely on its invisibility to see if it could spit one or two mouthfuls of poison from the side, just to count as having participated.
Unexpectedly, after Yama Tsukami triggered the explosion, it actually still had this Dragon Inhale move.
Caught right inside Yama Tsukami's attack range, the little Chameleos had a sudden idea and planned to force Yama Tsukami to stop Dragon Inhale by producing a large amount of toxin and making Yama Tsukami swallow it.
Only, the little Chameleos was still too young; this dose of poisonous mist, to Yama Tsukami, could simply be swallowed, and would not cause much of a problem.
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