Bear School Astartes

The trio and a cat followed the guidance of Lann’s vision and began swaying back and forth along the two-hundred-meter-long spine line of the Molten Mountain Dragon, hoping to find the opening on its back shell.

Although the Hunters’ physical qualities are generally superhuman, this was on the back of a living volcano, so their mobility efficiency was somewhat affected.

After ten minutes, the trio and a cat finally climbed to the dorsal spine position corresponding to the chest area of the Molten Mountain Dragon.

Right at this spot, Gaffi, who reached there first thanks to its nimble body, bounced up excitedly!

”Here, meow!”

Standing at a not-very-obvious rocky opening, it shouted to the three still climbing below.

”There’s a very obvious anomaly down here, meow!”

”Aha!”

Wende shouted with enthusiasm, speeding up his movements.

Before long, the three people climbed up to the cave entrance.

It was an empty cavity here, carved out from a steep rock wall, extending diagonally downwards.

And a red-hot cone-shaped substance was emitting heat at the bottom of the cavity.

The air on the Molten Mountain Dragon’s back was already a high-temperature environment, but around this cone, the nearby air was still baked into a change in air refractive index.

”What’s that?” Aiden asked with a frown, ”Some kind of organ of the Molten Mountain Dragon? Or the accumulation of high-heat material in its back shell?”

The Molten Mountain Dragon’s secretion is like magma; once it cools, it solidifies into basalt and obsidian, akin to magma.

On this ancient dragon, it would be hard for anyone but specialists to distinguish between organic and inorganic matter.

”It’s an organ,” Lann stated with certainty.

Although in ecological research, Lann felt that the researchers of the Dragon-man Race should be more professional than himself, he was still a bit confident in his knowledge of individual biology.

”And it’s a heat dissipation organ. Haha, we should have thought of it sooner, even the Molten Mountain Dragon needs to maintain its own heat balance, right?”

Lann patted Aiden’s shoulder beside him, speaking with a bit of pride.

”This is definitely its ’weakness’! This Molten Mountain Dragon is too old, with too much power accumulated in its body, but if we destroy its heat dissipation organ...”

”Let me try!”

Before Lann could finish, Wende had already drawn his Pulse Scimitar from his back and jumped down eagerly.

Lann tried to grab him but failed.

”No, wait...”

The bone knife flickered with blue electric light as it cut through the air, leaving a thin, sharp light-red aura trace.

Aerial Iaijutsu Slash!

With a ”squelch,” the bone knife charged with electricity smoothly sliced into the burning red-hot cone.

It was apparent that this organ was not sturdy, as Wende could cut into it without causing much resistance to his sword blade.

And after the Aerial Iaijutsu Slash, naturally, the Air Blade Grand Spin!

A perfect arced knife trail flashed through, and the irregular cone’s narrower upper section was almost shaved off by Wende!

It seemed effortless.

Wende muttered, ”So hot... I should have brought a cold drink.”

The temperature here had clearly surpassed normal levels by an unknown amount, and even a Hunter’s body could only endure it for a limited time.

Unless one drank a Cold Drink to keep the body continuously cooled, Wende estimated that there wouldn’t be many Hunters who could stay by the Molten Mountain Dragon’s heat dissipation organ for a full ten minutes.

For those wearing armor, the temperature here is akin to being ’roasted.’

Luckily, these heat dissipation organs are easy to destroy, and it shouldn’t take more than five minutes to smash one...

Wende thought to himself, but in the next instant, he felt the temperature around him rising sharply!

He instinctively sensed danger and wanted to use the Keen Dodge to evade.

However, a sound of the grappling hook’s projectile came from above first.

”Hold on!”

Without missing a beat, Wende grasped the Pulse Scimitar with one hand, while his left hand shot the grappling hook towards the sound from above.

The claws of the two grappling hooks precisely caught each other in mid-air.

Then Wende bolted upwards with force, while Lann simultaneously pulled him up.

In less than a second, Wende rose seven or eight meters from the cavity’s bottom.

And a second later, the irregular cone with its top shaved off by Wende became twice as bright!

Like squeezing a pimple on human skin, magma surged fiercely around the Molten Mountain Dragon’s heat dissipation organ, spraying outward.

Meanwhile, in the valley outside the cavity, the seemingly unstoppable Molten Mountain Dragon, that had been advancing silently, suddenly let out a deep, resonating roar.

”Roar~~”

Its body trembled and shifted as a result.

Lann, Aiden, and Gaffi pulled hard on the grappling hook to drag Wende out before the cavity closed.

”You were too reckless, weren’t you?”

After getting Wende out, Lann said with a hint of annoyance while untangling the grappling hook.

”Not too bad, didn’t act too recklessly.”

But Wende, who had just come up from the underground magma, remained calm and shrugged.

Gaffi seemed the same, apparently accustomed to its partner’s style.

”I’m wearing armor made from Rathian materials, which has excellent heat resistance. Even if trapped in this cavity, I’d be able to dig my way out. The linear distance from this cavity to the outside isn’t far.”

Wende casually uttered something incredible.

Digging a path in an all-magma rock wall with a sword seemed simple to him.

However, Lann couldn’t refute anything, since in this world’s style, it seemed reasonable for monsters to be able to move briefly in magma.

And for Hunters equipped with materials made from these monsters to do the same wasn’t surprising.

Wende’s style, should it be called the courage of a skilled person?

But his prowess certainly lived up to that style.

After untangling the grappling hook, both of their launchers retracted the ropes.

At this moment, the valley outside was still echoing with the Molten Mountain Dragon’s low roar.

The Acid Wing Dragons that had been circling on its back, waiting to feast on carrion, were shocked to death by this super-sized ancient dragon’s roar.

They fell like rain.

The survivors scattered in chaos.

The once serene valley, filled only with the Molten Mountain Dragon’s footsteps, the collisions with protruding rocks, and rocks shattering sounds, suddenly plunged into great turmoil.

Winged Dragons also skimmed across the Molten Mountain Dragon’s back, hanging Hunters below as they left.

Yet the trio and the cat had a small celebration amidst this chaos.

Because the Molten Mountain Dragon, which had always been like a real volcano, indifferent to threats and walking towards its own demise, finally reacted to these little creatures’ actions.

”Great harvest,” Lann whispered. ”We found the weakness, now we need to launch an attack.”

And after dealing with the Molten Mountain Dragon’s crisis, he could focus on dealing with that ’compatriot.’