Chapter 55: So This Is the Long Sword!

Discarding a familiar weapon to wield another he had never handled before; if any other choice existed, he would never have entertained such a mad idea.

Let alone the fact that he had never learned the Long Sword in the first place...

But! He knew the Great Sword.

These two might seem unrelated, yet he had once heard Lady Marydan tell a story about something.

She said that many years ago, when she was still just an apprentice, the Long Sword did not exist as an independent weapon but was a branch of the Great Sword. (MH1 era)

Some Great Sword Users abandoned the powerful yet slow Charge Slash, began pursuing faster, more fluid sword forms, and gradually distilled a technique called "Qi Refining," becoming the first batch of Long Sword Users.

Only after years of evolution did the Long Sword techniques finally take shape, forming a multitude of styles that completely transcended the Great Sword framework.

Putting aside the sword techniques specifically crafted for the Long Sword, returning to the basics and using the Long Sword as a Great Sword should theoretically be possible, right?

Others might find this difficult, since the Long Sword weighs less than half of a Great Sword, but he could even perform a Charge Slash with a One-Handed Sword.

Why couldn't the Long Sword do it?!

Having grasped this, Aolang hesitated no longer; he cast aside the One-Handed Sword and small Shield in his hands, somersaulted through the air to dodge the Great Sand Dragon's attack, and reached the Long Sword, snatching it up in one grab.

As he rose, without a moment's pause, he hoisted the Bone Curved Blade onto his shoulder and began a Charged Attack.

Ho, this feeling; while not as steady as a proper Great Sword, it was far more powerful than a One-Handed Sword!

Iron Mountain Lean broke the charge, shifting his motion; he twisted his waist, held the Long Sword vertically behind him, and entered the Strong Charged Stance.

This move couldn't be executed with a One-Handed Sword, but with the Long Sword's weight it seemed possible; power of a magnitude completely different from when using a One-Handed Sword coalesced within his body.

"Hey!" he shouted at the Great Sand Dragon, which had charged and missed, taking a few extra steps forward, "Look here!"

The Great Sand Dragon, of course, could not understand his words, but with its attack missing once more, already irritable, it heard the commotion from behind and instinctively turned around.

Aolang chuckled; the power accumulated to its limit was released at that moment.

The Long Sword in his hands descended in a vertical slash with a posture that lacked the heavy momentum of a proper Great Sword but was far more swift and decisive.

In a flash of blade light, the tip of the Long Sword had already struck the ground.

After a delay of less than half a second, a massive wound split open on the neck of the Great Sand Dragon, which was halfway through turning; dark red blood gushed forth, washing away much of the remaining mud around its chest and neck.

The Long Sword User, who had stumbled to his feet, looked up at this scene, stared dumbfounded for two seconds, then vigorously shook his head.

A One-Handed Sword User is releasing a Strong Charged Slash with my Long Sword; how could I have such a hallucination? Did I just smash my head on the collision?

The Great Sand Dragon, suddenly struck by a heavy blow, howled in pain and staggered backward several steps.

The frustration of having scraped for ages with a One-Handed Sword without breaking the defense vanished completely at this moment; Aolang, his mood inexplicably high, held the Long Sword vertically before him like a Great Sword and stepped forward steadily.

Immediately, he felt something was wrong.

The Great Sword is so heavy that it must be held this way; otherwise, the body would likely lose balance dragged by the Great Sword.

But the weapon in his hand was a Long Sword, wasn't it?

Realizing this, Aolang decisively changed his sword-holding posture; he held the Long Sword diagonally at his side and launched a charge.

He did not head straight for the front of the Great Sand Dragon, since the hardness and thickness of that armor were too absurd; striking it with the Long Sword would be no different from using a One-Handed Sword, and the blade would still bounce off.

So he chose to leverage his speed advantage, circling around to the rear of the Great Sand Dragon.

The Great Sand Dragon's attention was completely drawn to him; while Aolang circled around its side, the Great Sand Dragon was also struggling to turn.

But Aolang did not care; he only needed to reach the attack position slightly before the Great Sand Dragon.

Although the Great Sword and Long Sword have long since diverged into two completely independent weapons, there is one move where the actions of both are almost identical—the Vertical Slash.

Recalling the Step Slash motion used by that Long Sword User during the earlier ambush, Aolang successfully converted part of the charging momentum, but he did not immediately execute a Vertical Slash with the Long Sword; instead, he entered a Charged Attack stance.

In less than two short seconds, the Great Sand Dragon had already turned around, and Aolang's charging preparation was complete.

Charge Slash!

This strike landed on the side of the Great Sand Dragon's head; the armor here was quite thick, so the effect of the attack was relatively limited.

But Aolang did not care; after rolling to dodge the Great Sand Dragon's counterattack, he began running quickly once more.

Ultimately, this was still his first time using a Long Sword; those Long Sword techniques were at most just striking poses that looked somewhat similar; as for how to generate power and the like, he knew absolutely nothing.

Rather than attempting things he did not understand, it was better to focus on this one move—utilize the Long Sword's relative lightness to move quickly, and once an opportunity is found, execute a Charge Slash.

The injuries previously inflicted by concentrating attacks on the leg wounds now played a critical role.

The Great Sand Dragon's turning motion had obviously become slower, which allowed him to find opportunities to circle behind and release a Charge Slash more frequently.

Another Step Slash, strengthened by a charge, struck the side of the Great Sand Dragon; the Great Sand Dragon, nearly dizzy from being circled, could not stop its body from swaying.

"So this is the Long Sword..."

Aolang could not help but sigh in admiration as he twisted his body into the Strong Charged Stance.

The Great Sand Dragon, covered in blood, endured the excruciating pain to steady its steps, then suddenly whipped its head around, biting sideways at the Hunter in the middle of charging.

Seeing this, Aolang immediately prepared to release the Strong Charged Slash early, colliding with the Great Sand Dragon's attack.

However, to the surprise of both him and the Great Sand Dragon, another figure rushed in swiftly from the side.

"This is not a Long Sword!!"

Amidst an angry, sharp shout, she swung the Shield in her hand and smashed it hard against the side of the Great Sand Dragon's head, actually smashing that head, heavy and hard as a giant rock, to swing toward the other side.

"Nor is it a Great Sword!"

Watching the female Hunter pick up her Weapon and return to the battlefield, Aolang's eye twitched violently twice.

What level of monstrous strength was this? That Great Sand Dragon was rolling its eyes...

Under the furious cover of his teammate, the preparation for the Strong Charged Slash was complete; at the instant the accumulated power reached its peak, Aolang brought the Long Sword down in a slash.

The dull, lusterless Bone Blade carved a conspicuous arc of light under the night sky; the next second, a huge spray of fresh blood gushed forth.

"Gu-ao-ao-ao—"

Amidst cries of pain, the Great Sand Dragon, finally feeling fear, struggled to steady its body, turned, and fled.

Aolang lowered the Bone Curved Blade in his hand and let out a long breath.

The female Hunter stared at the dense chips along the blade's edge, puffed out her cheeks, and glared at him.

How can one just hack and smash like that!

Aolang's gaze also fell on the large dent in the Shield on the other party's right arm.

The female Hunter looked down, let out a panicked "Eek!", and her puffed cheeks deflated.

"Let's call the Weapon matter even." Aolang wiped the blood from his Long Sword, held it horizontally with both hands, and offered it to the female Hunter.

"And, thank you very much." As the other party took the weapon, Aolang bowed deeply, saying, "If it weren't for your timely support, I might have already met my end before that Earth Dragon."

"No, no, you exaggerate." Seeing Aolang's serious attitude, the other person quickly bowed in return while untying the straps of the Shield on their right arm.

Taking this opportunity, Aolang took a proper look at the person opposite him.

The other party looked even younger than he had previously thought, definitely under twenty, and it was even possible they were younger than himself.

Their height was very tall, roughly estimated at one hundred ninety centimeters; their shoulders were broad and their frame large, yet unlike Teacher Haifa and Lady Marydan, they were not powerfully muscular. The whole person appeared tall and thin, with long arms and long legs.

Hair just past the shoulders was tied into a rustic small braid at the back of the head, giving the impression of an honest child.

During the few seconds he observed the other party, the young female Hunter had untied the straps and returned his One-Handed Sword.

"You are very skilled. You completed almost the entire second half of the battle alone. Even without me, you surely could have successfully driven off that Earth Dragon."

After the two exchanged a few polite words, Aolang rubbed his face, which had become somewhat stiff, and said, "Our ages should not differ much, so there is no need to use honorifics with each other.

My name is Aolang, a Two-Star Hunter from Luokelake, currently traveling."

The female Hunter nodded, her expression relaxing somewhat, and said, "My name is Mudi, from Dondorma. I suppose I am also a Two-Star Hunter."

PS: When I played MH2 in middle school, I wasn't very good at it. The Great Sword moves were too slow for me to handle, so I used the Long Sword, but I wasn't very good at that either. I just liked to sheathe my blade, run up to the Monster, draw and perform a Vertical Slash, then sheathe and run away, repeating the cycle. I could kill a single monster even if it took forty minutes...