Warning:There is a part which mentions wounds and blood, though they aren´t gruesome nor too much descriptive. So it isn´t enough to be M, but it is a bit more violent than the last chapters. Since this is a Monster Hunter fanfiction, where men fight beasts with swords,lances,etc, it will be common for me to mention wounds(of the monsters) and sometimes injured hunters(though I won´t overdo the description). However, rest assured that I won´t go into detail about the carving process, since it would be M rating.
(Kokoto Village)
Rick was checking the job´s board inside the tavern when suddenly a piece of paper caught his attention:
``Mission type: Hunt.
Rank:4 stars.
Payment:6000 gold and a light crystal.
Area:Old Swamp.
Description:I need to gather some lesser ores for my smithy, unfortunately a white wyvern in hindering my job. A bloodied Khezu has made home in the cave where I gather stones and I can´t handle it alone, so please slay the beast and you will be rewarded(...)´´
``Yahoo!´´ the man jumped in joy with paper the in hand, catching everyone´s attention. ``Gueez…what´s wrong with him?´´ Ignavus mumbled at the other side of the room. ``Don´t tell me, you found it, didn´t you?´´ Derek walked towards the rubber knight with a faint smile on his face. ``After months I finally found a Khezu to kill, now it´s my chance! I have to talk to the old man before someone else does!´´ Rick said and rushed towards the door. ``Well…that´s good news´´ Derek admitted to himself, though he sighed remembering the young huntress he had saved three months ago. ``I wonder what happened to Yoru…´´ he thought walking towards the balcony.
After a month searching for the huntress, Rick told his friend that was useless to continue searching and that if he didn´t accomplish any more jobs his reputation would fall and the money he earned would end. After some consideration and a lot of time alone, Derek decided to follow his rival´s suggestions and returned to hunt. He pushed his limits bit by bit every mission, fighting many wyverns and other creatures as he searched on the area. However, he never found anything about the woman and when he contacted nearby villages they said that they never saw a red haired huntress. This didn´t stop his motivation, that was as big as his desire to fight the legendary dragon.
(Old Jungle)
Rick kneeled at a cave´s entrance where he saw some footprints, ``Hum…this is certainly a wyvern, though I never saw a Khezu besides the descriptions of the books´´ he thought raising from the ground. A very large metal hammer was attached to his back by some ropes, he loosed them and grabbed the giant weapon with both hands as he walked towards the cave entrance. After an exhaustive training Rick managed to finally wield one of the heaviest weapons available for hunters, weighing even more than a common greatsword. The hunter discovered that his main weakness was mobility, the greatshield coupled with the lance was a heavy burden to carry against fast creatures. Now, he could run with the hammer draw but had to take care to not be hit while swinging the massive weapon. He trained every day rolling again and again with the hammer in hand until he could dodge three times straight with easy.
Water drops were the only thing that could be heard inside the rocky formation, water poured in a constantly on the rubber knight´s head as he looked at the sides. Then a larger drop landed on his helm, the hunter touched it with his hand and stared at the liquid. It was thicker than water, viscous like…like…With a grim realization Rick looked upwards as a white figure clashed on the ground.
It was a Khezu, the monster Rick was supposed to hunt and that now was hunting him. The creature had a gash on the ring side of it´s head where a sword was stuck and a bit of blood was coming out. The hunter hit the monster´s head on the left side with a swift movement of the hammer, the creature groaned in pain and walked backwards giving the opportunity for the hunter to recover. He finally noticed the wound in the monster´s head, ``A hunter´s knife? Someone must have failed… ´´ he thought sad. Sure, a hunter´s live was extremely dangerous, but that´s why the humans had contracts with the felynes where they would give felvine(the cat´s favorite herb) and one third of the reward(for each rescue) in exchange for first aid to every hunter that fell unconscious. Rick didn´t doubt that a cat was hiding nearby watching his fight ready to call the others should he fail. Of course, that didn´t mean he could be careless against such powerful creature, he could die before the felines have time to attend him.
``Come on eyeless larva! I am not shocked by your trap!´´ the hunter taunted preparing his hammer for a hard strike. Ironically, the monster fired it´s famed electricity ball at the man, the sphere crossed the ground and went straight to the hunter. Rick´s eyes widened in surprise, he rolled out of the way but the attack caught the hammer´s tip, the electricity spread across the weapon and reached the hunter´s body. He grunted injured but soon the pain ceased, his rubber armor absorbed most of the electricity before it could really damage his body. ``Hehehe, now I'm shocked! But that´s not enough!´´ he grinned .
(Old desert)
It was dawn in a vast desert plain, a hunter was walking alone, a bag and deformed shield were the only things the figure carried. Some would throw the shield away or don´t even care about what´s inside the self made bag, but not the red huntress. The ores were heavy and the shield of little utility in the current state, but like the first hunters in the world, stones and circles made the path towards civilization and so the huntress thought they would forge her way to greatness. It was her second day on the desert, soon she had to drink the second potion since she drunk the first one on the first day. Yoru thought for many hours when she was suppose to use the first drink to use the potion´s benefit at maximum. Noticing that her armor would get hotter with sunrise she decided to use the first drink when the fire orb appeared on the horizon. To further increase her time, she entered the limits of the desert three hours before dawn and experienced the hard but bearable cold of the desert.
The sphere´s shinning spears of light emerged on the horizon and little by little the ground received the warmth of the fire tyrant, now timid but that soon would become ferocious as a dragon´s fire. Yoru sighed, her time was running out, if she don´t find the sword today her only option is to return to the forest or find another weapon since it took an entire day to reach this point. She drunk one of the cool drinks and checked her map again, now that there is light, and read the annotations. ``According to this, there should be cavern around…Ah!´´ the huntress fell through the sand.
Darkness filled the woman´s head like a silent assassin, her body laid emotionless on a sand covered ground. Her bag´s content was spread across the ground, the last flask broken in the process, the only thing intact were the ores, the map, three green herbs, a blue herb, a piece of clothing and the shield wrapped around the huntress´ arm. Something stirred across the cave´s shadows, another movement from the other side, two more and then a snarl. Yoru´s eyes opened in a flash, her instincts telling she was in danger. She quickly got on her feet, but felt dizzy and fell on her back. Five creatures appeared from the shadows, they looked like the blue velociprey, but had a brown sand scheme to their skin. The middle one was almost twice the size with a crown like bone in the head.
Genprey were close relatives to the velociprey, they had raptor like appearance with fangs that could cut an aptonoth´s skin like butter. Also, the claws were covered with a potent neurotoxin which could paralyze hunters with one or two cuts. The leader, Gendrome, lead the other genpreys to hunt in packs across the desert areas, even an experienced hunter needed to take against these creatures because of their team work and combined attacks.
Yoru bit her lip, her whole body hurt from the fall and she was having a hard time just keeping her eyes open. The gendrome got closer and closer with its pack, the head lowered as it prepared to jump. The huntress tried to get up again but failed, the other genprey walked to the sides, circling her as the leader snarled. ``I defeated your blue brother before! There is no way I will be beaten!´´ she defied the creature standing with her hand on the kneels. ``I will…find the sword…and when I get it…!´´ she looked upwards but stopped talking when she saw the creature jumping. She stepped to the side and hit the back of the drome with the shield with all her strength. The monster turned its head for a bite but the huntress jumped back and then forward hitting the creature´s head. Yoru jumped back to take a breath, the drome shook its head a few times before focusing again, the leader snarled and then charged. Yoru raised her shield to block the attack but the drome jumped to the side and raised its claws to scratch the huntress.
Blood drops fell on the ground, Yoru fell on the ground with a thud as the gendrome roared into the sky. She raised her head to see her enemy, the left eye closed with a scratch running down from the eye to the cheek. Blood ran from her face and her left shoulder. The gendrome continued to roar, mocking its fallen prey and angering even more the huntress. The huntress felt something deep inside her, a feeling she faced only once in her life. Fear of death, when she was attacked at the jungle she felt the same thing, the despair that comes to everyone that see death in the eyes. For some, shame fills their mind while for others life itself appears before them as a thunder´s flash. But Yoru didn´t feel any of these emotions, only one thing filled her mind in that moment, something humans despised because it is what links creatures they hunt and themselves. Survival. The only thing the huntress wanted to do was to kill that monster, escaping was impossible at that point. She wanted to give the monster the same coin, the same injuries and despair. Anger filled her body, giving her strength beyond any drug or potion available for hunters.
``You…bastard…ugh! I am not dead yet…´´ she murmured crawling towards the creature. ``For my sake, for my honor…I won´t… let you win!´´ a blood tear fell on the ground as pain run through her shoulder as a red river. She gathered all her strength in her left arm and then stroke the monster´s leg with the shield. The gendrome felt the sudden pain and his leg shaking. It looked down to see the huntress hitting the same spot again, making him topple and fall on the ground. Yoru managed to get on her kneels as the monster tried, without success, to raise from the ground. With a dark look on her face she raised her fist high in the sky, this was the last thing the creature saw before everything became darkness. With many shield strikes the monster´s bones were smashed making a "crack" sound with every hit as the creature roared in pain. With one last roar the Gendrome´s body fell limp in the ground.
The roar seemed to catch the pack´s attention, the genprey stopped walking in circles and faced the one who defeated their leader, it almost looked like the boss said ``Kill her´´ to its minions. Yoru raised from the ground holding her shoulder, more blood drops stained the ground as she observed the pack.
A flute blew through the cave, echoing like many war drums in unison. A giant object raised behind the pack and a different note echoed catching the genprey attention and making them turn around. Yoru felt a small burst of strenght and the pain going away(though she was still bleeding), she looked at the source of the sound and her mouth fell in disbelief at what she saw. A hunter wearing plate armor, in the stomach section blue scales added extra protection to the vital organs, orange and sand colored fins could be seem at the shoulders and the top of the helm. He was holding a hammer like object with a hole on the top, he stomped the ground many times as the sound came from the weapon ``Let´s dance!´´ the hunter said as his prey rushed towards him, he smashed the first one with the weapon, spun around so he could get a better grip and then swung the hammer horizontally hitting two more. The last monster jumped at him but he moved the weapon vertically, breaking the creature´s bones and sending it to the side.
Yoru blinked many times, ``That hunter killed them without any effort´´ she though amazed but then fell on her kneels. The pain returned stronger than before, her breathing became heavier and sweet drops joined the bloody ones. The hunter raised the helm´s visor and cleaned his forehand with his free hand, ``Hey! Are you ok?!´´ he left the weapon fall on the ground and rushed to the huntress. ``Who…are you?´´ she asked lifting her head with effort. The man kneeled in front of Yoru and then noticed the gash on the shoulder and the blood coming from the eye. ``You are bleeding!´´ he exclaimed searching a bag on his back where he stocked a potions and a whetstone but when he grabbed a flask with a green substance Yoru´s eyes widened. ``N-No!´´ the red haired huntress clumsy slapped the man´s hand spilling part of the liquid on the ground. ``Let me help you or you won´t make it!´´ the hunter insisted. With a long grunt the huntress stood on her feet and looked at the hunter´s eyes. ``I don´t*cough* need your potions…I have my own herbs…´´ she mumbled stumbling towards her bag. With another grunt she kneeled and grabbed the only blue herb she had and proceeded to chew it. ``An herb won´t close that wound! Let me patch it!´´ the man insisted.
Yoru spitted on her right hand the now chewed herb, she placed it on her left shoulder but screamed when it made contact. Gritting her teeth, the huntress rubbed her blood stained hand through the wound some times and then stopped. The man observed the breathless woman with a mixture of indignation and surprise. ``She is applying the antidote herb directly at the wound so it won´t get infected! But there is still the wound itself, if she don´t keep it close it will reopen later. I must help her! But she is so stubborn! Maybe if I play my hunting horn…´´ he thought, ``Don´t touch that hammer! Agh! I know it healed me before!´´ she shouted while chewing green herbs.
The truth was Yoru didn´t want to be saved by another hunter. She didn't want to be dependant of others since that only brought sadness before. How could she tell her dream was to kill a dragon if she wasn´t able to endure a few wounds of a lesser monster? No, she couldn´t do that. To the huntress, to be a monster hunter is to survive using one´s own resources, not a potent potion brought by a fellow friend on the battlefield. This was her dogma, which she adopted from Haikan, to be self sufficient. She finished eating the last herb, gulped and sighed. She still felt a good deal of pain on the shoulder and eye, but it was a bit more tolerable. She glanced at the piece of clothing she brought with her, remembering how she got it.
During her first day in the desert, Yoru found an unoccupied hut with nothing inside but a common bloody knife, it was just an empty circular canvas kept together by three wooden sticks. But the hunter knew better, she used the old knife to cut pieces of the canvas and the sticks. The sticks were used to make a bonfire in the same night and the tissues to wrap the herbs she gathered before in the forest. The huntress kept an extra tissue, larger than the others to wrap herbs and fruits in the future.
The tissue wrapped around her shoulder, Yoru took a breath to regain her strength and then raised from the ground. ``What´s your name?´´ she asked not looking back, ``You need…´´ the man tried to say, ``I don´t need your help! Huh,huh…I asked your name´´ the huntress shouted placing her hand on her wounded eye. ``Elvis´´ the man told crossing his arms, that woman was really stubborn. ``Thanks for the help, I will remember that. Name´s Ruby´´ she lied about her name. The huntress didn´t know if he was a hunter from Kokoto, but even so she decided to not let Derek find her until she killed a dragon. ``What the hell a low rank hunter like you is doing in these parts? I thought only 3 stars up were allowed to venture this far´´ Elvis said suspicious by the fact a one rank hunter was hunting in a desolate area. ``Attacked by the big boss over there´´ she pointed towards the Gendrome´s body, Elvis looked at the corpse without much interest. ``And where´s your weapon? Lost during the battle?´´ the hunter asked. ``I came here to find a new sword, since a vermin stole my last one a week ago´´ she answered. ``So you telling me you fought a Gendrome without a weapon? Hahaha! You gotta be joking me!´´ Elvis laughed but when he looked back at the huntress he noticed she only had a small, half broken shield. ``Wait! Are you serious?!´´ he asked.
Yoru felt pain in her injured eye, there was less blood now that she cleaned it but still hurt. She blinked a few times, then rubbed her eye with her arm and grunted a few times in the process. ``I can´t, I can´t…´´ she murmured staring at her bloody stained arm with eyes widened, she could see only her fist and the ground. ``I ca-I can´t´´ she continued to repeat, leaving Elvis nervous. ``You can´t what?!´´ he asked. ``I can´t see!´´ she turned, only a bit of blood covered her eye, her pupil was white where the drome´s claw hit her before. ``This can´t be! How that lowly beast do this to me?! What I am supposed to do now?´´ she talked alone while grabbing her helm with both hands. ``Let me see it´´ Elvis said walking forward, `` I said I don´t need your help!´´ Yoru argued . ``Maybe I can do something about it!´´ the hunter protested, ``My left eye is already blind! What you can do? Nothing!´´ the huntress turned and started to walk towards her bag. ``Your behavior will end killing you!´´ Elvis warned, ``I don´t care! If I can´t do this alone, I am not worth of returning!´´ she shouted back and then proceeded to walk away with her belongings. ``Not worth of returning? To where?´´ Elvis thought as the woman disappeared through a tunnel.
The truth was Yoru was still pretty much angry with the fact that someone saved her from certain death once again. It disgusted her, to the point she didn´t even feel the pain on her eye anymore. If someday joked by saying "Blind rage" in that moment, this same person would end like the Gendrome. The only way the huntress found to let her stress out was to focus it into something nearby and sadly Elvis was the only one around. A small part of her was grateful he saved her, but the other still hated the fact she needed help from someone else. The huntress didn´t want to be tricked anymore, not by kind words of a savior she just met. This suspicious, coupled with her desire to be the best, stirred the woman to don´t trust any other hunter.
Then Haikan came to her mind, that "dwarf" was very generous with her, giving a couple of precious tips and resources. He didn´t trick her once, at least until now. She trusted that the map he gave her was correct and that there would be a sword awaiting her, even though it was pretty rusted. ``A sword is a sword´´ she thought walking through the tunnel. Soon all turned dark, but the huntress continued without caring, she was used to move through the night and this was no different. ``My shoulder still hurts.I hope I don´t get an infection, dam…Why it had to hit my eye…?´´ she mumbled to herself grabbing the bloody tissue with her hand.
Back at Elvis, the man kneeled to inspect the Gendrome´s body, still not believing the huntress´ claims. He noticed there was no blood except for the bloodied eye of the beast, ``Eye by eye, tooth by tooth I guess…´´ he said to himself and then inspected the rest of the body. ``This femur seems to be in an odd angle…Wait, the bones are broken. Here too, and here and here…The bones pierced the organs creating a severe internal bleeding, woah! This one suffered a lot before its death! But a simple punch can´t do this, no…it is something else but what in the world she used?´´ Elvis spoke analyzing the corpse. The smashed shield came into his mind, ``You got to be kidding me!´´ his eyes widened at the sudden realization.
Despite the menacing appearance, hunting horns also were used to support comrades during jobs. When a hunter "plays" the horn, it produces a sound which affects human organs, making them work faster or better. Some say it affects mind itself, tricking the brain to work harder or to do specific tasks. The effects were diverse and new sounds were discovered from time to time. In some sense, a hunter wielding a hunting horn is very similar to a battlefield medic but at the same time a force to be recognized. These hunters generally are specialized with normal hammers and use the horn´s size to do a similar work. Elvis learned both the offensive and supportive capabilities of the hunting horn, but like any weapon, it had its disadvantages. For instance, the hunter needs several precious seconds to play a sound and is vulnerable meanwhile. Also, because of the sheer size of the weapon, one miss could cost one´s life. That´s why other hunters always have the task to attract the monster´s attention while the "medic" boosts their abilities.
However, few hunters would hunt alone with the hunting horn, using the healing capabilities before the fight and using the weapon like a hammer to finish off the monsters. Elvis was one of these hunters, he studied the anatomy of many monsters to know their weak spots and the resistant ones. Recently he started to search about the human body, he generally didn´t hunt in group, but knew that as a "medic" it is extremely important to treat his comrades. As far as he was concerned he didn´t need anything more, he was skilled in offense, boosts, had a powerful offense, the enemy´s weakness and knew how to heal his friends. The perfect hunter in a sense, at least this is what he thought.
``Well, it looks like my work is done, the genprey and gendrome are dead. I am lucky this wasn´t a promotion hunt or I would have failed. Gueez...I think I own her a part of the reward´´ he sighed rising and grabbing his weapon. Something moved in the shadows, like someone stepping in the sand, ``Who´s there?!´´ he asked, hunting horn in hand. A white cat with brown fur came from behind a group of rocks which were close to the cave´s wall. ``Sorry Miauh! Just doing my job´´ the humanoid cat spoke with arms raised. ``You scared the hell out of me!´´ the man sighed in relief lowering his weapon. ``Now let´s carve some materials´´ Elvis said walking towards the corpses.
Meanwhile, Yoru felt a cold breeze sweep through her body. ``There is an air current from the other side, maybe it is the exit´´ she murmured holding her shoulder. Soon light poured through the tunnel, allowing the huntress to see where she was going. There was another long cave with an opening in the roof. The ground was made of rock with occasional sand on some spots, right under the light a long sword was stuck vertically on the ground. ``There it is!´´ Yoru rejoiced walking faster, the happiness she felt almost nullified the pain on her body. When she reached it she took a look at the sword, the blade was covered with rust and bits of it were missing and the hilt hadn´t protection for the hand. But something caught the huntress´ attention, the sword was three times longer than her last sword, not very dissimilar to the sword Ignavus carried.
``If I find a way to repair it, it will be a great sword!´´ she thought already thinking on how to infuse her ores into the blade. ``But first, I must take it´´ she said grabbing the hilt. She forced her body backwards for a few seconds, grunting with the effort and the pain from her wound. ``Uf! Uf! Dam it! It is stuck and this wound isn´t helping either´´ she said gasping. Yoru tried again, this time with even more pressure, ``Get…out!´´ she mumbled with her blind eye closed. Nothing, the sword was still stuck. The huntress sat on the ground, huffing and sweating. ``I can´t believe it, after all this effort, my eyesight and a wound for nothing! Haikan was right, this sword is heavy, though he is much weaker than I. No! I can´t leave this place without a weapon! With this wound and only one eye I will surely be killed. But my last cool drink was cursed, this means I have just today to go back to the forest. What do I do?´´ she asked looking back at the sword.
It was still stuck, but it was slightly pending to the left. Yoru cleaned her right eye, she couldn´t believe her eyes. She raised from the ground with new vigor, though her arm still hurt. Grabbing the hilt with her right hand she felt the sword had loosened, she moved to the left and felt the metal scraping the rock, creating space. ``This is it! ´´ she thought smiling, she moved the hilt to the sides consecutive times. When she felt it had enough space she tightened her grip and pulled the sword. Yoru stood with her arm raised towards the sky with the sword in hand, ``I did it!´´ she shouted. Her happiness, however was short lived. The weight of the weapon pushed the huntress backwards, ``Ah!´´ was the only thing she managed to say before falling on her back. Back with Elvis, the hunter had just finishing carving some materials and putting them on a bag brought by the felyne. ``Meh, I guess it was too heavy for she´´ Elvis snickered looking at the tunnel.
Yoru sat on the ground, the sword laid on the ground. ``No wonder this was stuck, it weights a ton´´ she remarked looking at the weapon. The huntress grabbed the hilt with her right hand and tried to lift the sword but it was too heavy. Then, she raised from the ground and tried again with both hands, with some effort she managed to drag the sword for a few meters without much problem. ``Well, that´s better´´ she said letting the weapon fall on the ground, her shoulder was itching and she felt it becoming hotter and hotter. ``What now? I already used my herbs. Ugh, I better find something to cool it´´ the huntress looked at the sides, she heard water running through the rocks and went to the side of the cave. There was a subterranean lake flowing through the cave and part of it was visible. Yoru kneeled and then touched the water, it was cold. ``Maybe I can use it to clean my wound, but what if it is salty? It would burn like hell´´ she thought forming a cup with her hands and then tasting the cold liquid. ``No, it is fine´´ she sighed and then proceeded to undo the node of the fabric.
Meanwhile, two red eyes watched the huntress from the shadows. They stood completely still as Yoru finished cleaning her wound. The red dots disappeared in the darkness when the huntress turned to grab her "new old sword".