Hello! Just a little word before you get to reading.
I meant for this chapter to have battle music to it, but I couldn't find anything that fit with it.
So, I decided on the metal cover of Nergigante's theme by Falkkone. You can find it on Youtube if you want music for this chapter.
Enjoy!
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The Elder's Recess seemed to hold it's breath as the Hunter made his way forward, the crystal floor crunching under his Girros Greaves.
The black sword made various clanking sounds as it continuously met with the rest of Eclipsen's equipment as he moved.
A small bow was strapped to his back, along with the silver arrow that the Third Fleet had titled 'The Sealing Arrow'.
The Hunter grew increasingly nervous as he grew closer to Nergigante's nesting area, and the entirety of the Recess seemed to grow more silent as he moved.
Only the clanking of his sword and the crunching of his footsteps met the Hunter's ears.
The silence was so invasive that Eclipsen began to open and close his fist in a repeated pattern, adding a metallic clicking noise to the plethora of noises he was already making.
He grimaced as the Sealing Arrow sent another itching sensation into his chest. He had not bothered to ask the Third Fleet Master about the side effects of the Arrow, especially with the Frenzy Virus bound to his very cells.
It still worried him though. The Arrow seemingly radiated with the pure intent to disable it's target, even when it was not in contact with a bow.
He knew the feeling of a haunted weapon all too well, as his own black sword emitted the last remnants of Fatalis' hatred. He had grown used to the Black Dragon's rage, and made it his own during battle.
The Recess became completely still as Eclipsen approached the threshold of Nergigante's territory, marked by a familiar regenerating crystal deposit.
Eclipsen drew the black sword with a trained proficiency, griping the leather of the sword tightly in his right hand.
He allowed the demonic will of Fatalis seep into the back of his mind, igniting his own battle rage and activating the Frenzy Virus in his system.
The Hunter took a deep breath before stepping forward, allowing the crescent edge of the black sword to drag across the crystal encased ground.
He spotted Nergigante's black mass easily, but noted that it was moving much less tham usual. In fact, it seemed to be consuming something.
He stopped dead in his tracks and tore his binoculars from his item pouch, crouching in order to get a better view.
His crimson eye widened in horror at the sight before him.
Nergigante lay comfortably on the ground, facing away from the entrance to it's domain. In it's claws was a deceased Kushala Daora, its metal hide torn away to reveal the flesh, bone and muscle beneath.
Nergigante dipped it's head, ripping into the dead body of the Steel Dragon and consuming the meat like a beast, for lack of a better word.
"She eats fucking Elder Dragons!"
Eclipsen nearly shouted into the silent environment. The Recess seemed to answer his exclamation with the sad whistling of the wind, a symbol of the fallen Kushala Daora.
Eclipsen growled as he shoved his binoculars back into his item pouch and marched forward in a fury.
-Transition-
Nergigante happily tore away at her meal, licking her teeth with every bite.
She had been starving for months, and had quickly assaulted the old Kushala Daora when he stumbled out into the open.
The nearly ancient Elder Dragon stood little chance against her as she unleashed her starvation fueled rage on him, reducing him to a mangled corpse before dragging him back to her den.
After that, she wasted little time in prying open the old dragon's metal scales and feasting on him.
She had eaten nearly half of the old dragon when a familiar sound rang through her nest.
Nergigante's newly sharpened senses quickly detected the Hunter's approaching presence, along with a new smell that she couldn't place.
She growled angrily as she pushed away her meal and faced the Hunter, easily noticing the crimson aura cascading off of his frame.
The black sword in his hand sent a chill colder than ice down her spine and she took a step backwards at the sight of the enraged Hunter.
This was not the Hunter she had faced previously, but an entirely different entity.
It radiated a darkness that only the sun could hope to burn away, and even then the shadow would persist.
Nergigante let out a warning growl as the Hunter approached, dragging the unsettling blade across the ground as he advanced.
For the second time she had faced him, Nergigante was afraid.
-Transition-
Eclipsen took his steps carefully, now wary of the beast he was facing.
He took the black sword in both hands and lept forward, managing to cut into Nergigante's scales.
It recoiled upon connection, quickly retaliating by swinging it's claws wildly in the general direction of it's opponent.
Eclipsen quickly retreated from the range of the attack, opting to take a more evasive approach this time.
He dashed to the right side of Nergigante, lifting the black sword and putting nearly bone-shattering effort into carving into the Elder Dragon's right side.
Nergigante let out a yowl as it stumbled to the right. Eclipsen took the opening and leapt into the air, using the crescent edge of the black sword to hook onto his target's half-grown spines.
Nergigante immediately began to use the energy it had gained from its meal to flail wildly, trying to dislodge the Hunter from it's back.
Eclipsen braced as the beast raged about the area for an extended period of time, nearly trampling its meal as it moved like an infuriated bull.
As the Elder Dragon began to slow in it's movement, Eclipsen lifted the black sword and plunged the weapon into Nergigante's back.
He jammed the handle of the blade to the left, feeling the familiar click of the weapon making contact with Nergigante's spine.
The beast roared as it fell to the side, flailing in a half defensive half offensive measure.
Eclipsen quickly rushed between it's wildly swinging claws, unleashing a flurry of powerful strikes on the belly of the beast.
He started with a stroke to the right, leaving a large gash in Nergigante's scales. He followed with a downward swing, then an upward one. Thirty more strikes followed the initial attack, leaving the Elder Dragon's scales in tatters.
Eclipsen wasn't fast enough to dodge when Nergigante flew off it's side and sent a paw into his side.
He grunted as he flew through the air, unable to maneuver thanks to the pain in his already sore abdomen.
He collided with a crystal tower with enough force to shatter the structure, then slammed into the ground with a cracking that he assumed to be a rib or two.
-Transition-
Nergigante roared in triumph as she saw the Hunter hit the crystal tower. She was more eager to be rid of him than usual, mostly due to her still present hunger.
Nergigante yelped when the Hunter leaped out from behind the hill that the crystal tower had stood on and slammed his weapon into her nose.
She recoiled, quickly swiping at the place where the Hunter had been. He then reappeared next to her leg and swung his sword.
He hit her foreleg with the ferocity of a wounded animal, shattering the spikes growing there in the process.
Nergigante quickly turned her body and slammed her tail into the ground, sending small crystal shards into the air.
Before she had the time to register it, her tail was severed from her body. The disconnected limb flew into the air and landed with a thump, still spewing what little blood it had left onto the ground.
The Hunter reappeared in front of her, prepared to attack.
Nergigante quickly went into panic mode, lifting her horns and slamming them into the ground in front of her.
The Hunter managed to dodge just in time, but was unable to dodge the next swipe of her paw.
Nergigante failed to feel any joy in watching the Hunter roll across the ground. She somehow lacked her usual hatred for the Hunter.
It confused her greatly. How she could feel such a feeling of admiration for this Hunter, who had fought her so many times before.
She felt that they were equals, despite the difference in gender and species. Nergigante growled in an effort to banish the admiration from her mind.
She watched as the Hunter lifted himself from the ground a third time, his black sword glistening in the light.
-Transition-
Eclipsen fought the pain in his chest and stood. Nergigante stood silent, waiting for his next attack.
He was determined. He wouldn't fail a second time. Not to her.
He leapt forward, gripping the black sword in both hands. Nergigante responded by lunging forward with her paw raised high.
He ducked under the strike, sliding under the Elder Drgaon. He quickly used the crescent edge of his blade to stop his movement, instead using his momentum to hook onto Nergigante's foreleg and circle around her.
Nergigante recoiled when Eclipsen's boot slammed into her eye. He then used her cheek to launch into the air, allowing gravity to do it's work.
He cut a deep gash into Nergigante's other cheek, angering her.
Eclipsen then noticed his fatal mistake. Nergigante's spikes had grown and hardened, changing from a toothy white to a dark black.
She leapt backward, launching herself into the the air on the last limb she had on the ground.
Eclipsen acted quickly, as he knew that it would spell his death if he didn't.
He tossed the black blade aside, ignoring the sting of Fatalis' consciousness being ripped from his own.
He tore the bow off of his back and drew the Sealing Arrow, pulling the string back so far that the bow creaked under the weight.
Nergigante stopped on her third wing movement, having noticed the unsettling aura of the Sealing Arrow.
Eclipsen flashed a menacing grin, showing off a pair of canines that could easily be described as fangs.
"Eat this, you son of a bitch!"
The arrow let out an inhuman wail as it was thrown into the air. It moved with a coating of black wind around it, forming a spiral shape as it flew.
It pierced Nergigante's chest with a howl that was surely not it's target's. Nergigante yelped as she plummeted to the ground, shattering the spikes on her back.
She quickly rolled backward, putting herself back on her paws.
Eclipsen watched with dismay and disbelief when Nergigante got to her feet and roared.
Eclipsen glanced at the black sword, which lay a few feet away. He wouldn't be able to get to it in time.
The weapon hadn't worked.
Or at least, thats what he had thought. After finishing her roar, Nergigante fell to the ground as if it had died on the middle of the display.
Eclipsen stood speechless for a moment. The only thing he could do was stare at the body of the Elder Dragon.
Her body was unmvoving, lifeless. He couldn't even sense the Elder Dragon's presence anymore, when he normally should've easily been able to tell that an Elder Dragon corpse was in front of him.
He dropped the bow, listening while it clattered to the crystal infested floor. He took shaky steps forward, the amount of adrenaline having wrought havoc on his mental state. Along with the Frenzy Virus still actively working to enhance his physical state.
It took him a full four minutes to reach Nergigante's body, still shaking like a Palico kitten left in the rain.
He gently reached out, setting his armored claws on the Elder Dragon's snout.
It was cold. Colder than it should've been. As if the heat had been siphoned off somewhere else.
It was so cold he could feel it through his armor.
He continued to shake as he reached down and tore the Sealing Arrow from the corpse. It still made his chest itch, even through the pain he was currently enduring.
He slipped the arrow back into it's sheath, being careful not to prick himself with the arrowhead.
He moved forward, inspecting the body of the fallen Nergigante. He hadn't drawn his carving dagger, feeling that it was still somehow alive.
He dragged his clawed fingers around the scales of the corpse, feeling for any heat.
He noticed that it was slightly warmer near the stomach. He inched his fingers closer, noticing that the stomach was much hotter than the rest of the body.
It felt like something was alive inside of the corpse.
Eclipsen gagged at the thought. Something that had infested the poor Elder Dragon, eating it from the inside out.
He drew his carving dagger, gripping it in both hands. If it was a parasite, he would kill it.
He swiftly and easily plunged the dagger into the stomach of the corpse and dragged the blade to the right, opening a huge gash.
What he found almost made the experienced Hunter faint.
Inside the corpse, what could be described as a human version of Nergigante rested.
What should've been organs, blood systems and bodily liquids was instead a woman.
She slept peacefully despite her gory napping place. Eclipsen quickly discarded his thoughts and acted on instinct.
He reached into the corpse, lifting the woman out bridal-style. She was heavier than she looked, having made even the Frenzy enhanced muscles of the Hunter struggle to lift her.
He moved away from the remains, setting the woman down a few feet away.
He then moved to retrieve the black sword. Upon touching the weapon, he felt Fatalis growl at him for treating the blade poorly.
He ignored Fatalis' angered wailing and sheathed the sword.
After retrieving his bow, Eclipsen looked over to the dead Kushala Daora.
He drew his carving dagger again, deciding to not let the Kushala go to waste.
After harvesting what he could from the half eaten body, he moved on to the deflating corpse of Nergigante.
He harvested a good amount of materials, with at least eighty two percent of his item pouch being filled.
As he harvested materials from the two corpses, Eclipsen couldn't help but watch the sleeping woman from the corner of his eye.
She slept relatively peacefully, and he didn't dare wake her. For all he knew, she would gut him upon eye contact.
He was even more careful as he approached her. He gently inspected her for wounds, taking note of her strange bodily qualities while he looked for injuries.
Her body was covered in qualities that linked her to Nergigante.
She was relatively muscled, having strong arms and defined abdominal muscles. Her legs were also thick with muscle, reminding Eclipsen of a female hunter who could crush a watermelon between her own thighs.
Her arms had scales instead of skin, and her hands bore large white claws. The scales then spread down her armpits and onto her thighs, then wrapping completely around her legs at the knees. Her feet were also clawed, and bore a small extra toe at the back of her foot.
Two large wings were connected to her back on both sides of her spine. Upon opening them, they were at least forty inches wide with each wing, giving them an overall length of eighty inches.
The scales on her shoulders extended onto her cheeks and stopped there. Two horns sprouted from her scalp, and her keratin white hair hid a few spines that were easily spotted due to the black tips.
Her teeth were mostly normal, excluding the fang like canines she possessed. Eclipsen also bore similar fangs, mostly due to the Frenzy Virus that clung to his DNA.
Her rear bore a long tail identical to the one Eclipsen had just harvested, and was growing spikes as he inspected it.
Her stomach, inner thighs, privates and breasts were lacking the black scales, instead having normal human skin.
Eclipsen couldn't help but notice that she was well endowed with breasts just below a D cup.
Eclipsen ignored the exposed parts of the woman as he finished his examination.
She had no wounds on her, and she seemed completely healthy, if not a little malnourished.
The Hunter slipped his hands under her the woman and lifted her from the ground, grunting at the weight he was holding.
She was surprisingly heavy, given how slim she was. Though her muscled had already given Eclipsen a clue as to where the weight came from.
He adjusted the woman in his arms and began his trek back to the camp.