Chapter 15: Taking the Initiative

Aolang silently sheathed his Weapon.

The so-called Dragon Cannon is the most powerful attack move of the Gunlance, without exception; its principle is to explosively release the energy and heat accumulated within the barrel in one burst, with shocking power.

The drawback is that both the preparation time and the Charged Attack time are very long, making it impossible to use frequently.

Detonated deep within the oral cavity by such an attack, even a Sand Dragon King would likely not withstand it; this ordinary Sand Dragon before them had its mouth blown to pieces the instant the Dragon Cannon fired, and a plate-sized bloody hole was blasted into its throat—it was already thoroughly dead.

Asa, holding his Heavy Bowgun, slid wordlessly down from the sand dune, "I say, big brother, I haven't even fired a single shot yet?"

Aolang couldn't help but say, "I've only swung my blade once."

Nuri popped out the Thermal Magazine, the hissing Iron Knight Gunlance stuck in the ground beside him, and shrugged, "No help for it; this is how we Gunlance users are. If we don't start with a Dragon Cannon when the battle begins, we always feel like we've lost out."

"You damn fool!" Shaji jumped up in anger, kicking Nuri's thigh, "We took so much care to lure it over alone; what if your shot startled the other Sand Dragons in the sand depression, meow?!"

"Sorry, sorry." Nuri chuckled dryly, "I got carried away for a moment. I won't use a Dragon Cannon on the next one, won't use it."

"Is that because you don't want to, meow? Isn't it because you're waiting for the barrel to cool down, meow!"

"Ahem, that was my fault just now. Anyway, let's be careful from now on and don't make too much noise." Nuri chuckled dryly, "Asa, go back to the top of the sand dune to keep watch. Aolang, let's hurry up with the carving. Shaji, just rest for a while."

"Be careful with the Wyvern Liver, now. Process it well and bring it back; you can earn quite a bit more." Asa reminded him while climbing up the sand dune.

"Got it." Nuri made a "understood" gesture. "Aolang, you carve the scales and fins; nothing else has much value.

Leave the liver to me; I'm more familiar with this work."

"Good." Aolang nodded and drew his Carving Knife.

The Sand Dragon's liver, the so-called Wyvern Liver, is a high-grade ingredient eagerly tasted by gourmets and the wealthy. If one can bring back a fresh, intact one, it can earn a lot of money.

But that usually requires a cold storage on a fishing boat to achieve. Don't forget they are in a scorching Desert, and they still have a mission to complete; bringing back something fresh is unlikely.

What they can do is finish the carving as quickly as possible, dig a hole in the sand after removing the Wyvern Liver, let the sand absorb the fresh blood and excess moisture, and if conditions allow, use methods like smoking or salting to delay spoilage.

In this way, the Wyvern Liver brought back after the mission ends will still have a large portion unsuitable for eating, and the taste will be far inferior to fresh ones, but it can still sell for several hundred z per portion.

If the liver of every Sand Dragon can be properly processed and brought back, the income from selling Wyvern Livers will almost catch up to the mission reward.

After spending some time and finishing the carving work, the three of them changed locations and lay in ambush again. The Gold Bait, Shaji, grumbled as they set off once more.

The second Sand Dragon also died cleanly and decisively.

Even though Nuri did not use a Dragon Cannon this time, having been stunned by a Sound Bomb and then pinned down and swarmed by three Hunters and one Hunting Cat, this Sand Dragon still never managed to stand up again before it died.

After processing the corpse, Aolang looked at Shaji, "Shall we continue?"

This was the first time he personally experienced the role of a Hunting Partner. From the start of the mission until now, the greatest contributor to their safe and easy resolution of two Sand Dragons was not any of the three of them, but Shaji.

Shaji, however, shook his head, "This trick might not work well anymore, meow. The Sand Dragons are already on guard. When I brought the second Sand Dragon over just now, the others almost came out with it, meow.

Trying a third time, I'm afraid it won't succeed, meow."

"How many Sand Dragons are left in that depression?" Nuri walked over and asked.

"There should be two left, meow."

"Understood." Nuri looked at his two companions. "Two Sand Dragons; the three of us taking them on together should be no problem. What do you two think?"

"We can do it!" Asa gave a thumbs-up.

Aolang nodded as well, "I think there's no problem either."

"Hmm..." Nuri pondered for a few seconds. "Here's the plan: I'll take care of one, and you two coordinate to deal with the second."

"Alright!" Asa agreed readily. He hadn't even had time to fire a few shots before the battle ended, and now he was in high spirits.

Aolang, however, raised a different opinion at this moment. "You two brothers coordinate more skillfully. How about I tie up one, and you two seniors quickly finish off the other, then come help me?

I use light Weapons, so I'm more agile. I may not guarantee a quick kill, but self-defense is definitely no problem."

Nuri frowned in thought. Putting other things aside, Aolang made a very reasonable point: the two brothers coordinated skillfully, so there was basically no need to worry about mutual interference.

But Aolang was different from Asa. Just now, they were hitting a "stationary target," which wasn't a problem, but having the two of them coordinate to flank a freely moving Sand Dragon might indeed create an awkward situation where one plus one is less than two.

After hesitating for a moment, he still agreed to Aolang's proposal. "My Dragon Cannon has finished cooling down. We will finish off one Sand Dragon in the fastest time possible.

When you are fighting the other one, pay attention to self-defense and don't rush in recklessly."

"Okay."

The three of them and the cat, having discussed the next battle plan, moved closer to the sand depression.

As Shaji had said, the consecutive disappearances and failure to return of their companions made the Sand Dragons foraging in the depression wary.

They crawled out from under the sand, wandering in the depression and looking around in all directions, as if waiting for their companions to return.

"Indeed, there are two of them. However, they have come out from under the sand, so we can't use Sound Bombs anymore." Nuri squinted, sizing up the prey in the depression. "Let's charge head-on."

After exchanging glances with his companions, the three of them nodded in unison. The next second, they all stood up and charged down from the sand dune.

Aolang, wielding light Weapons, was much faster than the other two. While Nuri and Asa were still half-squatting and sliding down the slope, he had already reached the bottom.

Using the momentum of charging down the slope, he leaped into the air and delivered a full-force jumping slash to the top of one Sand Dragon's head.

"Sssga—!"

That Sand Dragon cried out in pain, stepped back two paces, shook its bloodied head, and fixed its dull, lusterless eyes on the Hunter who had launched a surprise attack.

Although its vision had degenerated, its keen perception of electric fields and vibrations allowed it to instantly and accurately determine Aolang's position.

Spreading its fin-limbs and letting out a hiss, it opened its shark-like huge mouth and lunged forward.

Aolang, who was prepared, immediately rolled to dodge, then accelerated and ran toward the Sand Dragon's side and rear.

He wanted to draw this Sand Dragon as far away as possible.

Besides the Sand Dragon he had surprised and slashed, the other Sand Dragon was also attracted by the sudden appearance of this fellow. Just as the latter was about to chase after him, Nuri finally arrived.

As the defender, his method of attracting Monsters was more wild and direct.

"Wooooohhh!!!"

Holding up his Great Shield and roaring, he slammed into the side of the second Sand Dragon, body and shield together, making it stumble, while his Gunlance fired continuously in his hand.

Asa also joined the battle at this moment.

To improve attack efficiency, he did not hide at a distance to snipe; instead, holding his Heavy Bowgun, he moved in close.

Using Spread Shot at this moment would get him beaten up by his older brother, so he used Normal Ammo; at close enough range, Normal Ammo could still deliver a formidable attack.

Under their joint assault, the second sand dragon was left behind, which greatly reassured Aolang.

Next, he only needed to focus on dealing with the opponent before him.

A prolonged fight? Dragging out time until his companions arrived for support? Sorry, he had only said that with his mouth.

What he truly wanted to do was kill the opponent before his two companions could.