The True Purpose of the Air Sac Carapace and the Interrupted Battle

As they chased each other, the two dragons unconsciously arrived at a more spacious area above the canyon.

This area was more advantageous for the Female Fire Dragon to dodge, while Xingyan didn't care about such trivial matters.

He was determined to hunt down this Female Fire Dragon.

With a spin, Xingyan spat a fireball towards the Female Fire Dragon. To be precise, it was a fireball made of lava. Dispersing it would be the worst choice, so the Female Fire Dragon had to dodge to the side to avoid the heavy fireball.

But this was just a diversion. His massive tail swept across the ground in that instant, and Xingyan's true killing move was the strike that followed closely behind the fireball!

Friend, have you heard of the Draw Sword Slash?

The Draw Sword Slash, also known as the Draw Sword Technique, is not the kind that increases the critical hit rate of the first strike from a sheathed state, nor is it the Draw Sword Technique [Force] that increases stun and exhaust values, but rather a direct engagement—cough cough!

In short, there are many schools and techniques for the Draw Sword Technique in reality. It is essentially a technique for sneak attacks or emergency self-defense from a seated or lying position. In the world of Monster Hunter, Hunters also use giant Long Swords for the Draw Sword Slash, which is called Iai.

Unlike ordinary scabbards, the scabbard for the Draw Sword Technique is curved, and the trajectory of the swung blade tip is also curved. It's a bit like the principle of leverage. Power is built up before the draw, and the scabbard itself creates resistance. Therefore, at the moment of adjusting the posture and truly drawing the sword, this accumulated power can be brought along, making it faster and stronger.

The Dragon Slayer's Sword Tail naturally wouldn't have a scabbard, and Xingyan's short front claws couldn't hold a matching scabbard, but that didn't mean he couldn't perform the move.

Yes, the Tail Bite Great Spin is actually also a form of Iai, and the principle is the same.

But this Female Fire Dragon wouldn't give Xingyan a chance for a blatant Tail Bite Great Spin. However, it didn't matter; the move he was now using against the Female Fire Dragon also applied the principle of the Draw Sword Slash.

His huge and heavy tail swept across the ground of this wasteland, and during this sweep, Xingyan continuously built up power by using the resistance from the ground. He then concealed this strike within the expelled fireball.

Fluid and seamless, it was merely a matter of a light turn, and the strike arrived before the Female Fire Dragon—much faster than it had imagined.

Sweep fire!

Crack.

Amidst the Female Fire Dragon's sharp and high-pitched roars, Xingyan shouldn't have heard the sound of cracking, yet he seemed to have heard it—the sound of his Sword Tail severing the sharp spike on the Female Fire Dragon's tail.

"Yiia!!!"

Not panicked, even though the Dragon Slayer's great sword was only 0.01 millimeters away from it, the Female Fire Dragon remained terrifyingly calm. It didn't fly higher or dodge left and right in a panic; instead, it turned around and swooped down along Xingyan's extended Sword Tail!

Heavy!

This was the first thought in Xingyan's mind. The Female Fire Dragon had actually stomped on the side of his body with its pair of thick hind legs, as if a speeding train had suddenly crashed into him. Not only did it make Xingyan stumble, but it knocked him down!

How is this female dragon so heavy!

Bang!!!

Another inexplicable explosion sounded, but this time Xingyan heard it—or rather, his head, which was desperately twisting to try and bite the Female Fire Dragon, saw it.

His carapace had exploded.

Uh, it should be said that the Air Sac Carapace had exploded.

The moment the Female Fire Dragon crashed into him.

Under Xingyan's control, the carapace, which had been compressed with a large amount of air simply to reduce its own weight, exploded upon impact. Shattered carapace, shattered minerals condensed on the surface of the carapace—a one-way explosion, aimed solely at the crashing Female Fire Dragon.

Xingyan himself was not harmed; he was merely pushed by the recoil of the explosion, which was one of the reasons he was now overturned.

"Gyaa!!!"

This time, the Female Fire Dragon instinctively flapped its wings and flew upwards. Xingyan also saw clearly that the side of the Female Fire Dragon's body that had collided with him was as if it were covered in nails and metal shards. The already damaged wing membrane looked even worse, with shattered carapace and hard minerals embedded between its dark green scales.

Understood.

Xingyan completely understood now.

This wasn't some Air Sac Carapace at all; this was Reactive Armor, wasn't it?!

Reactive armor is a layer installed on the exterior of a tank that reacts to attacks from anti-tank weapons.

Simply put, it's an explosive armor. When an anti-tank missile hits the tank, the reactive armor explodes upon impact, disrupting and destroying the missile and reducing the damage to the tank.

The same principle applied to Xingyan, so it was Reactive Explosive Carapace?

It wasn't gunpowder that exploded, but compressed air, which could even be expelled directionally outwards, launching the keratin layer covering the carapace and the accumulated hard mineral secretions outwards like bullets. From this perspective, it was a bit like a Shaped Charge Mine.

He now fully understood why the Female Fire Dragon had seen through his plan, struck him with its venomous tail, and yet hadn't pursued the advantage. He also understood where the things on the Female Fire Dragon's scales came from, how its wing membrane was damaged—and how its eyes were blinded.

When the venomous tail struck Xingyan's side, the Air Sac Carapace had exploded, shooting sharp minerals and carapace fragments towards the attacking enemy. During this process, the Female Fire Dragon was in a mid-air vertical roll, and its head and eyes, which happened to be below, received the flying shrapnel.

This was indeed an unexpected bonus.

Staggering to his feet, Xingyan couldn't help but grin. The battle-hardened Female Fire Dragon had used its techniques for dealing with other Dragon Slayers against him, but it hadn't expected that he wasn't a normal Dragon Slayer at all, and had fallen right into his trap.

Die!!

Strike while the iron is hot!

Without time to charge, the Female Fire Dragon, without even looking back, clearly intending to escape, was met by Xingyan leaping up for a flying slash!

The sharp blade cut through like a hot knife through butter. The knife was truly hot, and the Female Fire Dragon was not butter—but even its normally hard carapace couldn't stop Xingyan.

The remaining half of the Female Fire Dragon's tail, which had its venomous spike, was left behind as it struggled to fly towards the sky with its damaged wings. It wasn't a clean cut at the tip like in the game, but a diagonal, elongated section of its venomous spiked tail.

The Female Fire Dragon escaped. Even though it let out a truly tragic roar in the sky from the pain of its severed tail, it flew away without looking back. It even flew a bit faster due to the reduced weight.

As expected of a veteran monster, even its escape was a little more decisive than an ordinary Female Fire Dragon's.

Looking up at the Female Fire Dragon flying further and further away, Xingyan didn't bother to chase. He knew he couldn't catch up—this Female Fire Dragon would surely fly back to its nest, and these Female Fire Dragons that escaped from the Ancient Tree Lair often nested in the same area.

This meant that even if Xingyan spent time and effort traversing the dangerous Great Sand Sea to catch up to the Female Fire Dragon, he would be surrounded and attacked by a pack of them.

Foolish.

These damn Flying Dragon Species!

Xingyan thought resentfully. What he had worried about had become a reality. A dragon had defecated and urinated on his head before flying away—it was just a metaphor, but the result was the same. When the Female Fire Dragon couldn't win, she'd fly into the sky and make a run for it. How utterly despicable!

Does having wings mean you can do whatever you want? Huh?!

He ferociously tore into the half-severed tail left on the ground. Xingyan wasn't picky. As an important part of a Female Fire Dragon, even a section of its tail contained a lot of Life Energy, not to mention things like Poison Glands.

He wasn't afraid of ingesting the venom. Once it entered his stomach, it was no longer venom, but protein, Life Energy.

Xingyan was considering whether to transform himself into a Poison Fire Element. That way, his hit-and-run bleeding tactic would have an additional status effect: poison. A righteous Dragon Slayer might need such a useful tool.

I think I won—while eating, Xingyan's mind suddenly, belatedly, realized this.

Did I, did I win?

He felt like he'd taken a beating, his body was poisoned, and he was feeling a bit dizzy now. A sense of fatigue was gradually creeping up on him.

After all this effort, even his hard-earned carapace was mostly gone. In the end, he couldn't even eat a whole Female Fire Dragon and had to settle for a half-tail to satisfy his craving... Did he really win?

But the Female Fire Dragon had undoubtedly lost. She was a veteran monster, experienced and battle-hardened, fully in control of her body and using her advantages to fight. Her combat experience was nothing compared to a dragon like Xingyan, who still fought with human intellect.

Yet, the Female Fire Dragon still lost. Her tail was severed, her wing membranes were full of holes, and she had lost an eye.

This was the cruel nature. Even with richer combat experience and a stronger body, unexpected events could still happen. It was completely unreasonable.

After gnawing away a layer of rock stained with the Female Fire Dragon's blood, Xingyan shook his head and summarized the battle—Intelligence was his greatest advantage as a Dragon Slayer, but in the brutal direct combat between dragons, he still needed to hone his skills.

Relying solely on intelligence wouldn't guarantee victory forever.

"Guak?"

Turning his head, Xingyan saw the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers jump down from the platform, looking worried.

"Roar." (I'm fine... Let's go home.)

There was no reason to be discouraged. Xingyan believed that the Female Fire Dragon wouldn't escape. She was originally a loser who fled to the Great Sand Sea after failing in competition, and now she had lost a tail. Leaving the Great Sand Sea now would be suicide.

Xingyan waited. As a seasoned Hunter... a Dragon Hunter, he possessed ample patience.

As long as that Female Fire Dragon was still in the Great Sand Sea and needed to hunt to survive, he would eventually hunt her down.

Compared to that, seeing the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers now, he suddenly realized a problem—were the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers running around all day wearing his explosive Air Sac Carapace??

The moment he realized this, Xingyan broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, he had deflated the airbags before drilling holes in the carapace and hadn't attached too many extra carapace pieces to the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers' sides, otherwise, things would have been serious.

But even so, the thought of the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers pecking at his carapace with their huge, blunt beaks when they were idle or wanted him to do something made Xingyan sweat even more... a psychological cold sweat. Dragon Slayers didn't sweat.

It was fortunate that these Air Sac Carapaces only detonated directionally when subjected to a sufficiently powerful impact. Otherwise, the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers' heads might not have been safe.

This was truly a dragon horror story.

He would have to have a serious talk with them later.

With heavy steps, Xingyan and the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers returned to their territory. As soon as they entered the nest, before Xingyan could even give the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers any instructions, he stumbled and fell to the ground.

The Female Fire Dragon's poison was starting to take effect. Or rather, it was a testament to Xingyan's strong life force and resilience that it had taken this long to exert its full power.

The real world wasn't like a game, where being poisoned just meant spitting bubbles or a slightly faster loss of stamina. Poison truly destroyed the prey's body, blood, nerves... Some smaller dragons or herbivores, once poisoned by a Female Fire Dragon, could even be directly killed.

However, these creatures usually lacked combat power, and the Female Fire Dragon couldn't be bothered to waste energy secreting venom on them.

The poison Xingyan had contracted came from a Female Fire Dragon that was transitioning towards becoming a Gold Fire Dragon. This transformation wasn't just a change in color; it meant a comprehensive upgrade, including its Poison Glands.

This was his first time being poisoned by a Female Fire Dragon, and he lacked any significant antibodies in his body.

"Guak!!!"

"Gugugugagagaga!!"

"...Roar..." (...Don't panic... This much poison can't kill me...)

As a large dragon, Xingyan knew his body well. The poison of a Female Fire Dragon, even a veteran one, wasn't strong enough to directly kill a Dragon Slayer. It wasn't a Purple Poison Princess Female Fire Dragon, but he was indeed exhausted. The consumption during the fight, the damage to his body from the poison, the energy required for self-healing...

An intense wave of fatigue was engulfing Xingyan's mind. He knew he needed to sleep well, needed time to heal.

So exhausted that he couldn't even finish speaking, Xingyan fell into a deep sleep. Before he completely lost consciousness, his hazy eyes could still hear the panicked cries of the Kulu-Ya-Ku brothers and see them anxiously hopping around in front of him.

(Stop hopping around like an idiot... you silly bird...)

A fleeting thought, and Xingyan was completely asleep.

While Xingyan was sleeping soundly and recovering from his wounds, the hunters' outpost also became lively.

This was because the advance team, which had been missing for over half a year, had suddenly returned.