Chapter 8: Rumble in the Highlands
Paolumu, as a species, were generally considered weaker than Seregios. White bat-like flying wyverns who can inflate their neck, they were the mid-tier monster of the Coral Highlands, above the Tzitzi Ya-Ku but below the Legiana, the apex monster of the region.
Of course, that just meant Jaune was perfectly fine, if a bit humiliated, being flattened by the monster's inflated neck.
"Stupid balloon bat!" he shouted underneath the monster's surprisingly soft fur. Thankfully, his armor stopped him from being crushed by the Paolumu's weight. If he was not in the middle of a battle, he might have even called his position comfortable.
Wriggling his sword hand free, he jabbed it several times on the Paolumu's neck. The monster's dense fur and rubbery skin mitigated most of the damage, but Jaune managed to penetrate deep enough to score a few cuts.
Eventually, the monster lifted itself off him. Its neck sported several new cuts. Most were shallow, but some were deep enough that the blood was flowing freely, causing the Paolumu's beautiful white fur to be stained crimson. It glared angrily at Jaune, floating itself away as it prepared to blow compressed air at the hunter.
Jaune beat it to the punch. As soon as it reared its head back, he flung a rock at its nose. The stone flew into one of the Paolumu's large nostrils, who flinched and snorted at the inanimate object that suddenly invaded its nasal cavity. It stalled in midair, held aloft only by its inflated neck.
Once more, Jaune sensed opportunity. He aimed his clutch claw and fired at the monster's head. But with the Paolumu's thrashing and his own excitement, his grapple shot hit its neck. The Paolumu had finally dislodged the stone and had begun to move. With no time to move to the head, Jaune slashed its neck twice, the sword cut its way through the monster's fur and skin and left behind two deep gashes. The rubbery inner membrane held firm, however, and the neck still stood inflated despite the wounds.
Not a second later, the monster roared in anger, forcing Jaune to cover his ears and drop to the ground. Almost immediately he dived to avoid the Paolumu's thick tail, before rolling backwards to dodge the body slam.
The slam brought him and the monster at eye level. Smirking, Jaune poked its face, angering the Paolumu further, and he was forced to run from multiple successive tail slams. The sheer force of each slam cratered the ground and generated small earthquakes.
"Gah! I was kidding! Kidding!" He shouted as he tried to keep his footing level and escape from the Paolumu at the same time.
A blast of wind caught him as he ran. Stumbling, he turned around to see the monster right on top of him. Without thinking, he bashed his shield on its face, but to both of their surprise, the Paolumu blinked and was startled backwards.
Eyes were precious for many monsters and heavily protected as a result. But evidently the Paolumu didn't get the memo, its large eyes a target to any hunter who wished to hunt it. Thankfully, most hunters found it ugly cute and were content to leave it alone.
Jaune was like most hunters, but that did not stop him from stabbing it in the eye.
Blindly and wounded, the monster stumbled back. Jaune pressed his advantage. He held his sword with two hands and stabbed it deeply into a wound on its neck. Finally, he pierced its skin's rubbery inner membrane, the tough material that allowed the Paolumu to inflate its neck. A fierce burst of air blew out of the gaping wound that Jaune made, knocking him back but creating a fountain of blood and wind that send the Paolumu tumbling. It flew through the air like a deflating balloon, crashing through trees and destroying coral formations as it passed by, the sharp coral gashing it further. Jaune himself dropped to the ground to avoid the onslaught.
The monster flew higher and eventually went over a cliff, out of sight. Checking his map, Jaune allowed the scoutflies, small glowing insects that the Commission taught to follow various objects and monsters, to pinpoint the Paolumu's location. It was two cliffs away. Groaning, Jaune thanked the scoutflies and started the long climb up.
It didn't occur to him to call for a wingdrake, but that's just Jaune.
The erratic flight found the monster slamming into the edge of the Coral Highlands, close to the Commission's northwest camp. Near a sheer cliff face the monster lay, desperately trying to suck in air but failing. Crashing through coral reefs and jagged rocks opened new wounds on the monster. It was close to defeat.
Panting, Jaune took out a shock trap and a few tranq bombs, intent on finishing the fight quickly.
Suddenly, a low rumbling was heard all around him, almost like a song, but not made by anything close to an animal or a monster that he knew. He felt the song in his bones, traveling up his body like a wave.
Then the earthquake started. The ground shook violently, dislodging rocks and threatening to collapse the cliffs that were all around them. Jaune held onto the Paolumu for dear life, the monster having cowered and ducked under its wing for protection.
Just as quickly as it began, the earthquake stopped. Jaune raised his head. There were new rock formations that sprouted from the ground. New cracks have also appeared all around them, making the already precarious cliffs even more unstable.
Him and the Paolumu looked at each other, the monster no longer agitated, and he let go to give the monster space. The Paolumu eyed him with its good eye.
A sudden beating of wings above made them pause.
A Legiana was hovering above them, looking around. Gulping, Jaune slotted a dung pod on his slinger. A surprise Seregios was one thing, but as a rookie hunter Jaune was technically not allowed to fight even the Paolumu yet, let alone apex monsters.
Life simply had a habit of throwing at him situations that were above his pay grade and evidently, the Third Fleet Master had a penchant for bending the rules.
Jaune aimed the dung pod and fired. It hit the Legiana. However, it looked like the Legiana was about to leave the locale anyway, as it barely reacted to the dung pod's stench before it flew away. A second later, a large group of Legiana flew past, creating powerful gusts of wind that made Jaune cling tightly to the items in his hand.
'That's a lot of Legiana,' he thought, grateful that none of them thought to land and make a snack out of the wounded Paolumu. Or him. 'Where are they going?'
He had no time to ponder the question, however, as guttural growl nearby caught him attention.
It was an Odogaron, the dog-like fanged wyvern that was the apex monster of the Rotten Vale. Located directly beneath the Coral Highlands, Odogaron sometimes climb up to the Highlands looking for a meal, and the hunter and his downed Paolumu were easy meals indeed.
Except, thought Jaune, it was not the typical bright red coloration of an Odogaron. Dark blue and black, it had red smoke and electricity coming out of its mouth.
What the hell. He was most definitely not ready to face an unknown subspecies of an apex monster. The unknown Odogaron made a more audible growl, and Jaune backed away, pulling the Paolumu back with him hoping the new monster would leave them alone.
It did not.
With a roar, the Ebony Odogaron lunged.
"A-lister, it's targeting you!"
"Watch out for the comet!"
"It's that tornado move, direct it over there!"
The battle with the Behemoth was easily the most frantic that the hunters Commission had ever participated in. The monster was both fast and powerful, its incredible physical and mystical power pushing the hunters to their limits and utterly changing the Elder's Recess with every attack.
Field Team Leader opened another pouch of Dust of Life and spread it around the area, the potent healing powder mending the wounds of his fellow hunters. He unsheathed his greatsword, just in time to dodge a sweep from the titanic monster. Seamlessly, he swept his greatsword forward, using his momentum from the dodge to slash at the monster's arm.
Excitable A-lister jumped forward next. Figuring the Behemoth would be too powerful for a small shield to be of any use, he switched his weapons from his sword and shield combo to a longsword. He stabbed downward at the wounded arm, forcing the monster to jerk its arm back. It retaliated with a body slam, but the A-lister saw the attack coming and slid backwards, slashing with his sword at the same time.
The Sapphire Star, wearing Dodogama sunglasses, took to the role of the tank, getting the Behemoth's attention and letting the rest of the hunters attack it uninterrupted. Wielding the lance, he blocked or deflected the Behemoth's strikes, countering its attacks with well-timed thrusts and stabs.
The Behemoth brought its other arm down, sending a wave of energy through the ground. Everyone but the Sapphire Star was forced to dodge, who blocked the hit instead. Before the Behemoth could react, he tucked the lance under his arm and charged forward, catching the monster off-guard.
"Everyone, now!" shouted Field Team Leader. He, Cool Fiver, and Excitable A-lister moved, using the clutch claw to latch onto different parts of the Behemoth. He grabbed onto the monster's shoulder. He hit it hard with his greatsword, embedding the giant blade into the monster's flesh. Using his entire body, he punched it down, the greatsword creating a terrible wound that ran through the monster's body.
Cool Fiver clawed the face. At first, she tried to redirect the Behemoth towards a wall, but the monster's titanic size meant it barely budged. Instead, she revved up her switch axe and plunged it deep into the monster's face. The monster roared in pain and tried to shake her off, but she held on. Clinging tightly, she allowed the built-up energy in switch axe to explode, greatly damaging the Behemoth.
The A-lister jumped down quickly after the clutch claw. Instead, he took a running start before stabbing the monster in the arm. Using that as leverage, he jumped and executed a powerful downward slash on the wound that Field team Leader made. His attack cut through the Behemoth's thick hide easily, further aggravating the wound and sending the monster crashing to the ground.
They continued their onslaught, damaging it even further. But the monster eventually recovered. With a mighty roar, it stood on its hind legs and opened a tear in the sky.
"What's happening?!"
"That's the Ecliptic Meteor!" exclaimed Cool Fiver. "We're dead if we're caught by that blast! Including you, Sapphire Star! Quick, get behind those comets it left behind earlier!"
The Sapphire Star stopped poking the Behemoth's crotch area and ran to his fellow hunters.
They made it just in time. Not even a millisecond later, the powerful meteor crashed, utterly destroying the area and disintegrating even the comets that the hunters hid behind.
When it was finished, the Behemoth was gone. Everything else in the area was also gone, leaving behind only molten ground.
"Where did it go?!" asked Excitable A-lister.
Field Team Leader let out his scoutflies. The tiny insects gathered around him for a moment before heading further into the Recess.
"It went deeper inside the Recess," he said. He took out a potion and a ration bar and ate them. "Let's go, we can't let it recover and get away."
He started to move, but the Sapphire Star tapped his shoulder.
"What is it?"
The Sapphire Star took out his map and pointed to a certain area.
"The Confluence of Fates?" panted Cool Fiver.
The elite hunter nodded. The scoutflies agreed with him, some of them hovering over the area in the map that marked the spot where the energy of the Elder's Recess was at its highest, where Xeno'jiiva once absorbed all the bioenergy that came from all the elder dragons lured from the Elder Crossing.
"That doesn't sound good," commented Excitable A-lister. "Xeno'jiiva's corpse is in there and it's chock full of energy. We can't go in there unprepared."
The Sapphire Star and Cool Fiver nodded.
"I need to change armors," she said, holding up her tattered Anjanath helm and chest armor. "I've been saving my Deviljho armor because it still doesn't fit properly, but this monster is really unlike any we've faced before. With a few quick modifications I can make it work."
"Me too," said the A-lister. "I'll be switching to a heavy bowgun for range support."
The Sapphire Star commented that he'd also like to change armors. His Nergigante armor had protected him immensely, but he figured the strange ability of Teostra armor to keep weapons perpetually sharp would allow him to participate more in the damage dealing while still remaining defensive.
Field Team Leader looked at his team and nodded.
"Alright, let's head back to camp to rest up and prepare. We'll need to bring everything we've got into this next fight. Let's get a few other hunters to help us bring barrel bombs, the mega ones."
Jaune was stuck in a cave. The Ebony Odogaron bowled over the Paolumu and attacked him immediately, causing him to drop all the items he was holding and run for the nearest cave, a short climb up a cliff.
Outside, he could hear the Paolumu flapping away and fleeing, leaving him alone with the apex monster.
Granted, the cave was beautiful. Jaune remembered the Handler mentioning that the cave was a fishing spot for the Piscine Researcher, and indeed there were a multitude of fishes and amphibians swimming in its waters. But the earlier earthquake had blocked the other exit with heavy rocks. The only way out was through the one he came from, where an angry dog monster was sniffing for him.
He dared to poke his head out, only to immediately rein it in when a blast of red energy nearly hit him in the face. The Ebony Odogaron was still waiting for him to come down. He dug around his pouches for anything that could help him escape. He had flash pods, screamer pods, a few stones, and dung pods with him, along with the usual potions and ration bars.
Nothing that would help in a direct fight, but if his objective was to escape…
Jaune took a deep breath and hoped his plan would work. He slotted a flash pod into his slinger. Aiming for the mouth of the cave, he closed his eyes and activated the device.
The flash pod burst with searing brightness. The accompanying yelp told Jaune it had worked. The Ebony Odogaron would not be able to see anything for a few seconds.
'Right, here goes nothing,' he thought. He slotted a screamer pod and shot it near the monster. An item that let out a very loud burst of sound when it impacts a hard surface, the screamer pod was originally meant to force burrowing monsters out of the ground, but the Ebony Odogaron's heightened senses meant it was also vulnerable to it.
The screamer pod hit the monster's side, letting out a scream that temporarily deafened it. The Ebony Odogaron stumbled around the clearing like it was drunk, trying in vain to find the hunter that blinded it and made it deaf.
A swell of hope welled up in Jaune, but he pushed it down. He slotted his final item into the slinger, a dung pod. Aiming for its face, he fired, the dung pod hitting the Ebony Odogaron on the nose. Its sense of smell went into overdrive, sending the monster in a mad dash to escape the stench.
Only, instead of running away to the other areas of the Highlands, the monster ran to the edge of the cliff. Its self-preservation instincts kicked in, and it stopped just before it fell into the Rotten Vale below, a long, long way down.
Jaune cursed. The monster was nowhere near far enough to allow his to escape before the items wore off.
Then, he noticed the cliff.
The Ebony Odogaron had begun to recover from its sensory overload. Shaking its head, it blinked away the spots in its eyes as its ears regained their hearing. Only its nose remained unusable, but a quick wash will fix that later.
That was when something clawed the side of its face. Jerking in surprise, the Ebony Odogaron could do little before Jaune punched it with the clutch claw, redirecting it to face the cliff.
"Take this!" he shouted as he unloaded all of his stones into a single powerful shot. The attack was enough to force the Ebony Odogaron to stumble forward, over the edge. Once again, its instincts kicked in, barely able to stop it from falling.
It whipped its head back at the hunter, eyes glowing with intense anger and hatred, but before it was able to roar, the hunter grabbed its side and pushed.
The last thing it saw before the haze of the Rotten Vale claimed it was the hunter's blond hair.
Jaune grabbed a rocky outcrop to stop him from falling. His heart was pounding in his chest, unable to believe that his crazy idea actually worked. Technically it almost did not, he simply wanted to force the Ebony Odogaron away from the area with the dung pod, the other pods were only used to give him the opportunity to take the shot.
Pushing the monster off the cliff was an unplanned but not at all unwelcome twist.
He whopped in joy for a second before realizing that he was still in the wilderness and vulnerable to any other monster, and so ran as fast as he could to the northwest camp.
Author's Note
A more action-packed chapter this time around. I wanted to add more things, but I'm keeping to a 2000-3000 word count, so I'll put them in the next chapter.
Thanks for reading!