Chapter 16

He still remembered the intelligence—or rather, the suggestion—from the Desert Fin's Dual Blade User senior: the Sand Dragon's weaknesses lay in its neck, belly, and back.

As a light weapon, the One-Handed Sword has weak destructive power; to inflict effective damage on a Sand Dragon of this size—or even larger monsters—it was essential to strike the weak points.

The back is too high to hit unless the opponent is down, and the belly is protected by ribs and fat layers; though the flesh is soft, the Hunter Dagger's length made it difficult to directly wound the internal organs.

Therefore, he locked his target on the Sand Dragon's neck.

Aolang accelerated his run, using his small stature and speed to circle around the right side of the Sand Dragon's neck.

As a creature shaped by natural selection, having successfully reproduced and even overrun the cruel Great Desert, the Sand Dragon naturally had no obvious weakness.

As if sensing the Hunter's intent, its head turned with him, its broad, flat triangular skull blocking most of the Hunter's attack angles.

Aolang did not abandon his plan; as the Sand Dragon's neck nearly rotated ninety degrees, its finned and webbed feet began to move, dragging its body to turn toward his circling direction.

Aolang suddenly stopped, reversed, and charged straight toward the left side of the Sand Dragon's neck—now fully exposed beyond the protection of its triangular skull.

The Sand Dragon could not turn fast enough; in the blink of an eye, he was right before it.

Aolang lunged forward, slashing his blade, cleanly carving a bloody gash along the Sand Dragon's left neck.

The Sand Dragon's counterattack came instantly; with its flexible cervical vertebrae, its triangular head swept sideways like a shovel toward him.

If struck by this, he wouldn't be cut in half, but he could easily be flung away, break several bones, or even lose combat capability on the spot.

Fortunately, Aolang was prepared; just before the Sand Dragon's head swung, he raised his Arm Shield in front of him, stepped back, and barely avoided the blow.

The Sand Dragon's rough skin scraped against his shield, leaving a scratch like a file.

Without a single moment of hesitation, Aolang landed from his backward jump, his feet springing like coiled springs; he tensed his muscles and tendons, using Inertia to leap forward again in an instant.

Now!

The Sand Dragon, still swinging its head, nearly delivered its own right neck directly into Aolang's blade; seizing this fleeting opening, Aolang swung his blade a second time.

Flying leap slash!

The timing was perfect, amplified by his forward leap; this strike cut far deeper than his previous ordinary slash.

The blade pierced through scales and muscle, then met a hard resistance—meaning the tip had briefly touched the Sand Dragon's neck bone.

The Sand Dragon let out a horrific shriek and staggered back half a step.

By Aolang's usual habit, he would have immediately pressed the advantage; but under the strange rhythm of his previous attacks, he did not strike right away—instead, he pulled his arm back, tightened his core, and gathered power.

Technically, this was a completely different concept from the Great Sword Charge Attack; the so-called "Charged Attack" with a One-Handed Sword leaned more toward rhythm control.

Yet in this instant, under Aolang's unconscious coordination, the Great Sword's technique of gathering full-body power was woven into his motion.

Because the One-Handed Sword was too light and small to fully "contain" this power, within barely a second, he felt the energy slipping from his control.

"Hah!"

With a low grunt, he unleashed the attack.

The first to strike was not his left blade—but his right arm's Shield.

The shield face slammed into the Sand Dragon's snout like a hammer, knocking its head sideways; immediately following came his left blade, charged with accumulated power.

Though a One-Handed Sword was famed for agility, he swung it with crushing force; this strike nearly severed the Sand Dragon's shovel-shaped sensory organs on its head.

The attack was not over.

As he rotated his waist, the blade reversed and slashed back; his right arm's Shield followed the blade's motion, rising like an uppercut to strike the Sand Dragon's jaw, hurling its head backward.

The throat's vital point was now exposed before Aolang.

No hesitation, no doubt—his final strike, a horizontal slash, cut across the Sand Dragon's throat.

Gushing blood drained the last strength from the Sand Dragon; it could not even utter a cry, its massive, herbivore-sized body collapsing to the ground.

Fatal Combo!

Aolang, the battle over, adjusted his breathing.

This was the first time he had successfully executed a full Fatal Combo in actual combat—and he had even infused it with a touch of Great Sword Charge technique, elevating the combo's power to a new level.

The feeling of seamless flow was strange, yet wonderful.

"Boom—!"

On the other side, amid the distinctive roar of the Dragon Cannon, another Sand Dragon, its chest pierced by a charred hole, also fell to the ground.

Aolang instinctively turned his head toward it; Nuri and Asa stared at him, equally stunned.

From the moment the three launched their assault until now, less than half a minute had passed.

To support Aolang as quickly as possible, Nuri and Asa had used every means at their disposal; Nuri had even deployed his recently cooled Dragon Cannon.

But they never imagined that Aolang, wielding a One-Handed Sword—not famed for raw power—would finish faster than their combined heavy weapon assault by several seconds.

"This is fucking unreasonable!" Asa blurted out after a brief shock, "How the hell did you do that? Did your Hunter Dagger secretly turn out to be some high-end weapon disguised as a Hunter Dagger?"

Even though they had already confirmed Aolang's weapon was the most basic, ordinary Ore Series One-Handed Sword, at this moment they still couldn't help doubting whether they'd misjudged it earlier.

"Lucky," Aolang said, wiping blood from his blade and sheathing his Weapon.

He wasn't being modest; successfully executing the Fatal Combo—especially the Charged Attack enhanced version—had indeed involved considerable luck and coincidence.

Under normal circumstances, he could never kill a Sand Dragon with a single combo.

Thinking of this, he drew his Weapon again, repeatedly practicing the motion, trying to memorize the feeling with his mind and body while it still lingered.

If he could master this technique, it might become his "ace in the hole" for a long time to come.

"Damn it, you're putting on airs now!" Asa folded up his Heavy Bowgun and walked over, laughing and scolding.

Nuri, calmer and more experienced, stared for a long while at the Sand Dragon's corpse before Aolang.

Only four or five wounds total—all concentrated on the neck and head—not a single one was "ineffective"; every cut plunged deep into vital points.

These couldn't be explained by mere "luck"—at least, he didn't believe they could.

He gave Aolang, who was bowing his head lost in thought, a long, deep look—and a strange premonition stirred in his heart.

This youngest newcomer in the entire Guerrilla team might one day grow into something extraordinary...

He grabbed his brother, who was laughing and crowding around Aolang, and whispered: "Don't disturb him—Ahlun's Little Brother must have gained some insight from that fight."

"Sahara, go to a high place to keep watch; we two will hurry to strip them."

"Oh, okay!"

When Aolang returned to his senses from meditation, Nuri and the others had nearly finished the stripping work.

He hurried over to help, "Sorry..."

"It's fine." Nuri waved his hand, "Gaining realization during battle is a great thing. How do you feel?"

Aolang pondered, "It's not easy to say. If the situation allows in a moment, could you let me handle the last sand dragon?"

"Sure."