1324

A few months passed, the group travelled from place to place.

"Yo, David." Nate began as he spotted him "What's up?"

"Not much." David replied, sitting down at the table where the rest were.

"I was hoping you'd at least have something." Maria replied. "It's too boring around here."

"Isn't boredom a good thing?" Nate asked. "It means that nothing bad's happening."

"I mean sure," Allen replied "But that also means we've got nothing to do."

"I'm ok with that." Beatrice replied, half slumped over on the table.

"Wait, that's weird for you." Maria pointed out.

"I was hunting all last night. So now I'm too tired to do anything."

"Then just sleep."

"But that's a waste of time I could be using now."

"But all you're doing is sitting around being tired."

"Yeah. What's your point?"

Maria seemed annoyed by the lack of progress, so David decided to change the subject.

"Oh yeah, where are the other four at?"

"Well Lock and Claire are probably going around trying to pick up chicks, like usual." Maria explained.

"...Huh."

"What, got a problem with her liking girls?"

"No, it's not that. I figured she was obsessed with Olivia."

"That's because I am." Claire answered, suddenly appearing behind them.

The only one actually surprised was Nate, who fell out of his chair.

"When did you even get here?" He asked from the floor.

"Just now. So anyways, as I was saying. Olivia is an existence above all other lifeforms, while I might flirt with other women to pass the time, they're nothing compared to her."

"...Isn't that cheating, though?" David asked.

"Well it would be, if I was actually dating her to begin with."

"Our leader's usually pretty smart," Lock explained "but she's unfortunately also the type who's more dense than what most humans consider possible when it comes to love, so even after all this time she still hasn't picked up on it."

David thought for a few more seconds, before going "Yeah, that figures. Well still, that leaves two more unaccounted for, so what are they up to?"

"Well I dunno where Olivia is right now," Nate started explaining "But Doug just said something like 'Something dangerous is coming' and started staring off into the distance. It's weird, right? That's weird, even for him. I mean, in the first place, what bad thing would that even be? You gotta be more specific. Bad things are subjective, I don't get what you mean. Second off, don't scare me like that. Cause like, he's probably just sensing nothing, right? Nothing bad could actually happen here. Like, ever. Completely safe. Nothing to worry about. So-"

The rest of the group had already stopped listening to his worried rambling.

Someone burst through the door.

"A Lao-Shan's gonna crash into the town!"

Nate passed out immediately.

The entire hall went into a panic. The dawn hunters made their way outside, seeing that the town wasn't much different.

"Well, looks like we'll have to get outta here quick." Maria thought aloud.

"That'll be pretty difficult in all this chaos." Allen noted. "We should go find the other two, quickly."

"I just wanna sleep…" Beatrice complained.

Troy was carrying Nate on his back.

"Ah. There's Olivia." Claire pointed to a ways into the crowd, her Olivia-sensor having just been set off.

The captain spotted the group as well, moving forwards almost excitedly.

"Yo. You ready to fight a Lao-Shan Lung?"

There was an uninterrupted minute of silence and looks of horror from the rest of the group.

A dozen or so minutes later, they found themselves standing outside the town as the elder dragon slowly approached.

"Looks like I was right." Doug pointed out.

"I really wish you weren't, though." Nate responded, having only just woken up. "So, why are we even fighting this thing?"

"Someone has to."

"So why us?"

"Cause no one else would. Besides, don't worry. If I didn't think we could win, then we'd be running like the rest."

"Well, sure. If you say so."

"Don't worry about it so much." Lock told him "We're only fighting an Elder Dragon the size of a mountain."

"Don't use a reassuring tone like that just to make me more scared!"

"Anyways," Olivia continued "This thing isn't gonna wait around all day, so let's get to dealing with it."

The group split up, taking positions.

The path back to the town was narrow. The gunners stood above the ground, weapons ready, while the rest readied the cannons and ballistas.

The Lao Shan Lung finally drew near to them.

"Hit it with everything we've got!" Olivia ordered, starting a bombardment against the elder dragon.

The gun and cannon fire rained down upon it, yet it barely slowed down. The giant's advance continued.

Seeming frustrated, it slammed its body into one of the walls.

Claire saw the giant draw near and jumped off first, followed by David and Nate. The weaponry was destroyed about a second later.

They landed directly in front of it. Nate's immediate response was to run off, while David drew his sword.

Doug watched this happen.

"Well, I was getting bored up here, anyways. One of you take the cannon for me."

"Wait!" Maria cut in "You can't just not follow the plan as you plea-"

Not listening, Doug dropped to the ground.

David turned his head as the charge blade user ran up to the monster. Claire just sighed.

"Oi! Olivia! Shouldn't we retreat or something?"

The captain scanned the environment, quickly thinking.

"It's fine for now, since we don't have enough cannons! Hack away at it all you want, just be careful that it doesn't get a chance to hit you back!"

David and Doug alternated between attacking and jumping backwards to avoid the dragon's steps. Claire just stayed at a distance, poking and shelling it.

The monster wasn't slowed down in the slightest. It was already almost past the first set of weapons.

The group retreated over the bridge, as the monster passed underneath.

Allen glanced to the side for a second, getting an idea. Beatrice seemed to have the same thought a few seconds later.

He leapt off the bridge onto its back, followed by Beatrice. They started hitting the monster's back, before losing their balance and falling off a few seconds later.

"What are you idiots doing?" Claire yelled, while Olivia silently observed. She had an idea.

"You two and Troy, follow me for a sec. The rest of you keep firing!"

The group went back to base camp, leaving the rest behind.

By the time the dragon had advanced slightly further, they returned, holding bombs.

Olivia looked around.

"Lock! I need you to do something for a second!"

The archer ran up to the bridge.

"Shoot these."

"...Sure." He readied his bow.

"I meant after they're thrown."

"Oh, that makes more sense. The same tactic as Allen thought of back then, huh? Well it's not like I doubt I can do it, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to get a little serious here."

He took his eyepatch off, revealing that both his eyes were perfectly fine.

"...Huh?" Went Allen.

"What?" Lock responded.

"Your eyes are both fine."

"Yeah. What about it?"

"So why were you wearing the eyepatch? Was it just to look cool?"

"As if I need to fake looking cool. It's for training. If I can hit shots only using one eye, then that'll only make me better for when I'm using both eyes."

"That makes no sense, but it's so cool that I am physically incapable of caring."

"Can you idiots stop wasting time?" Beatrice interrupted "I know it's slow, but we don't have all day here."

The barrel bombs were thrown. Lock shot off an arrow, piercing the side of one just as it hit the enemy's back.

It roared, finally seeming to be affected by something they did. Even so, its march continued.

"We're going for it again." Said Olivia, before running off, getting the others to follow.

The cycle repeated, they reached the next bridge. They readied the bombs again.

Doug suddenly yelled "Get off the bridge, quick!"

The Lao Shan rose upwards. The bridge was no match for its size, being destroyed quickly. The hunters atop were sent flying away, unable to avoid or stop it.

For the first time since the hunt had begun, the mountain dragon stood up on both legs. That beast towered over everything.

Staring upwards, David fully understood the difference between it and normal humans. No, he'd understood it since the start. Everything he'd done was just trying to change that. But in the end…

He felt someone hit him on the back.

"What are you just standing around for?" Allen asked.

"...Weren't you just caught up in that attack?"

"It'd take more than that to kill me. Well more accurately, I was able to sorta dodge it in time. I can't say if the others were so lucky, though."

They quickly regrouped. For once, Olivia wasn't smiling. The tone had completely shifted.

"I wasn't even hurt that badly, I'm fine to keep going." Olivia explained, before falling over a few seconds later.

"You're the worst injured out of any of us." Claire explained, refusing to let her go any further.

"That thing really pisses me off, though." Beatrice complained "How can you just do almost nothing the entire time then do this much damage with one attack? It's stupid. So I'm gonna go hit it until it dies."

She tried to use her still-working arm to lift her hammer, to not much success. But that didn't stop her from continuing to try.

"Stop, already." Troy told her. "You can't fight with a broken arm."

"Ah, shut it. You broke one too, what are you planning to do?"

"I only need one arm to use a lance."

"You're just as much of an idiot as me."

"Neither of you are fine." Lock cut in "Just leave it to me."

"You can't even move!" Beatrice yelled back.

"I don't need to."

"This is getting stupid." Maria pointed out "Olivia, can't we just leave already?"

"We said that we'd protect this place. If we give up, it'll all be destroyed."

"Is it really worth continuing, though?" Claire asked "Only about six of us can still fight. I mean… it's more than half, but y'know."

Olivia continued "Well, I guess more than protecting the town or whatever, I just wanna beat this thing. It's annoying. Strutting around like it owns the place. That's part of my reason, I guess. Sorry for being so selfish about things. Well, I won't force any of you to go fight if you don't wanna..."

Claire turned around, lighting up yet another cigarette. A few seconds passed. She slowly exhaled.

"Let's go kill this thing, you bastards!"

The cause of her sudden burst in energy was a phenomenon that in another place, at another time, would be known as "gap moe".

"Well, I was gonna be bored if we just pulled back, anyways." Doug thought aloud, as he joined.

"And I'm not really in the mood to get shown up by some puny seven meter tall dragon." Allen said, following. "You come too, David."

"Sure."

"Hard to just say put with everyone all pumped like this." Maria sighed, becoming part of the march.

"Wait…" Nate thought aloud "Does that mean I've gotta join this too? Like… go drop my cool one liner and then fight that thing with everyone else…? That thing that towers over everything?"

He agonised over it, before noticing the rest were leaving regardless.

"Agh, fine! I get it! I don't care if it's a god or whatever anymore! Just don't leave me behind!"

He ran after them.

"Wait…" Olivia interrupted their dramatic moment "Have you even got a plan?"

The group expectantly looked at Claire, who just went "Not really."

"Aren't you the leader now?" Nate asked.

"I just decided on fighting it a few seconds ago, your first mistake was expecting me to think."

"Well anyways," Olivia explained "While next up is the last stop before it breaks into the town, not all hope is lost. I checked it out before we started. You see, that spot also has a dragonator hidden in the walls."

With that, everyone's eyes lit up.

The group made their way towards the final area, running the entire way.

"Hey," Allen began "You're not really great at planning, right?"

"I guess. So what is it?"

"Lemme take over with giving orders and stuff."

"...Sure thing, if you insist."

"Don't assume all of us are just gonna follow whatever you say." Maria added, sounding distrustful.

"It'll be fine." David told her "Allen's good at this kinda stuff. Trust me."

"That's really not anywhere near convincing, but sure thing."

They finally arrived.

The area was empty, but they could hear their target's slow approach in the distance.

They spread out, getting to the weaponry available.

Allen briefly checked the last line of defense, before he found what he was looking for.

"Hey. Nate. Over here a sec."

The gunner approached.

"You know what this is?" Allen asked.

"Uh… not really."

"This is our dragonator. Well, we haven't got the time to test it, but from the looks of things hitting this'll make it pop outta the wall below us. So… I'm leaving this to you."

"Wait, why would you ever trust me with anything?"

"Well the rest of us are all gonna be busy fighting up front, so pulling back to activate would just waste time. I could leave it to Maria, but she doesn't seem as likely to listen as you, so…"

"So it's just process of elimination."

"Sorry, but there's no point lying to you, right? But yeah, I'm leaving it to you to find the perfect moment to use this thing. There's probably only gonna be time for one shot, so make it count."

"...Sure."

Allen walked up to the front, where the monster was nearly in firing range.

"Now then… You ready to show this thing that it can't just tread over us humans like it pleases?"

It finally stepped close enough. The fight began.

The cannons and ballistas started firing instantly, but the enemy was no longer in the mood to just take damage.

It thrashed around, destroying the weaponry above it. The group quickly pulled back.

"Looks like we've just gotta rely on our swords. David, let's do this!"

"Got it."

The two swordsmen jumped down, staring up at their opponent. It finally seemed to take notice of them, staring down upon them.

Allen just grinned. "Let's cut it to pieces."

They both dashed forwards, slashing at it. The Lao Shan tried to strike back, but it wasn't able to hit them.

"Doug! Claire! You two help out as well!"

"It's not like I need you to tell me." Doug muttered, before jumping off the wall and slashing at it as he fell to the ground.

Claire also joined in. She jumped through the air, charging up a wyvern's fire, before bringing it down as she fell.

Maria continued firing from above.

Despite their efforts, the monster continued. It finally reached the wall.

The monster stood up once more and roared, just to let everyone behind that wall understand what they were facing.

"The hell is Nate doing?" Claire asked "Is he too scared to hit the switch?"

Contrary to the beliefs of everyone below, what was stopping Nate wasn't fear. It was instinct. Some part of his brain was telling him that if he activated the dragonator now, he'd regret it. He waited for the perfect moment.

The monster descended slightly, getting ready to destroy the wall. The ones on the ground continued slashing, but to no effect.

Finally, Nate's instincts told him it was time. The target was directly in front of the spikes.

The sound of the switch being hit rang out. Spikes flew out of the wall, straight into the monster. Its movements cut off.

Everything froze for a second. The hunters waited, hoping for things to stay in place.

Their hopes were shattered. The monster began to slowly move once more. It prepared to destroy the wall once again. Everyone was frozen.

"Don't give up yet!" Allen yelled "It's not over! That thing's gotta be almost done after that. Keep hitting it until it goes down! Don't let up, even for a single moment, until it's lying dead on the ground!"

With that, the group's energy was brought back from the brink of death. They roared forwards, hitting the giant with everything they had. The Lao Shan battered the wall repeatedly. The two sides raced to destroy their target first.

It was difficult to say which strike ended the fight.

Rather than one definitive strike to end things, it was more a jumble of attacks. Every one with as much weight behind it as the other, with the intent of being the one to bring the giant down. Regardless of the details, the outcome remained clear.

The elder dragon let out a roar and fell to the ground. The group paused, waiting for something to go wrong.

Nothing happened. Not a single other thing occurred.

Their celebration was cut off by them also collapsing from exhaustion. A few minutes later, they got back up.

"Did we… really do that?" Nate asked.

"Well unless this is just a shared delusion, then yeah, probably." Maria replied.

"I didn't need an answer, I was just celebrating."

"Then do it more directly next time."

Doug remained completely silent, presumably having passed out.

"See, Maria," David sat up "I told you Allen's good with this kinda stuff."

"I mean, I guess." We probably wouldn't have been able to do much without that dramatic speech at the end, so I'll give him credit for that much. He's alright."

"I think you mean that he's a super amazing valiant leader who you couldn't do without." Allen gloated.

"No, I really didn't."

"It's kinda different when you say it about yourself…" David pointed out.

"I know, I know. But hey, lemme do it a little. I didn't even think that defeating that was possible until we actually did it."

Claire got up, seemingly not listening, making her way back to where the rest were waiting.

"I guess we should follow." Maria said, going after her.

David was about to follow, until Allen caught his gaze.

His fist was held out.

"Looks like we finally did somethin' big. Ain't this perfect?"

David completed the fist-bump.

"Yeah. It sure is."

The Dawn Hunters were successful in their fight against the elder dragon. The town had been saved. This was an act crossing the line between hunting and heroism.

If this story had just been one about a small group of hunters rising to the status of heroes, then this would've been a more or less perfect ending note.

Unfortunately, time carelessly marched onwards.