After the whole racist fiasco, the rest of the day went on without further disruptions. Now with the shop closing up on 16:30, I was tasked with washing the dishes while Jane handles the mugs. Barry is tidying up the place out front with Matt who seems to be going over the earnings for today.
"So umm, are Barry and you huntsman?" Jane abruptly asks me.
"Well I guess you can say that we're unofficial huntsman in a way." I write on my notepad.
"Unofficial? What do you mean by unofficial?" Jane tilts her head curiously.
"You see, we did train to be huntsman when we're older but we didn't really have the funds for proper education so we couldn't get into any academies and scholarships weren't a thing back then. We have the experience and skills of an amateur huntsman but we're not formally one since we lack our licenses." I bluff to Jane.
"Oh cool! Are both of your semblances super strength?" Jane asks with awe in her voice.
"Hehe about that…none of us have our aura unlocked let alone have a semblance." I answer Jane. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say as I heard Jane freezes up in place. Her eyes gain a distant gaze and I have to wave in front of her before she manages to produce a proper response.
"EEEHHHHHHH!" Well…a half proper response. Before I could ask if she's okay, Jane apparently gains the strength of Nora and lifts me off my feet shaking me around like a stuffed animal.
"HOW? Tellmetellmetellme…" I guess in the heat of things she has completely forgotten that I couldn't speak and refuses to let me go. "Hey Barry, I may need a bit of your help back here." I message Barry.
"What happened?" Barry asks back.
"I may or may not have accidentally broken Jane and now she's refusing to stop grabbing me, can you tell her to stop or something?" I ask as Barry soon enters the kitchen and laughs at the absurdity.
"Hey Jane I think you should stop." Barry says patting Jane on the shoulder only for her to snaps her head back at him and gives him the mother of all glares that even sends chills down my spine.
"Not until he tells me his secrets!" Jane shouts as Barry slowly backs away from the slightly psychotic girl. "Sorry man, women are fucking scary" Barry says giving a thumb up from the side before grabbing himself a coke from the fridge. I'll make sure you face punishments for your betrayal traitor!
"Dearie, Onyx is mute remember?" Matt sighs having just arrived in the kitchen while putting away his apron.
Jane looks at me carefully, then my notepad, then back to me before embarrassment paints her face red like a tomato as she drops me. I got up and motion that it's okay despite how funny it is to see Jane trying to apologize only to stutter over and over again.
"Sorry about Jane over there, she has always been a fan of huntsman since her childhood and can get quite obsessive. Which begs the question, are you boys huntsmen?" Matt asks Barry and I.
"Not really, we're not physically nor legally qualified to be huntsman. We both have excellent hand to hand combat skills but we didn't go to an academy and our auras are locked." I explain to Matt.
"No wonder I didn't see any auras flaring back there. Still, what you did was no small feat without aura, maybe you could save up for a late graduation. There are rare cases that if someone really excels in combat and knowledge then an academy can personally take them in despite the age gap." Matt says as I take note of it, maybe we could make our way into Beacon through that. Combat isn't a big deal but what frightens me is studying, even away from Earth I cannot escape the horror that is calculus.
"Anyway I should probably get this over with before I completely forget about it." Matt says, taking out 2 envelopes.
"Here's your boys cut for the day. You've done more than what I can ever expect so don't be humble and say that you don't deserve it." Matt smiles handing the envelopes to Barry and I.
"Umm Matt, about the 4 dickheads we hospitalized, did they cause troubles here before?" Barry asks remembering how Matt and Jane whispered with each other.
"Unfortunately yes. Those delinquents have been harassing our faunus customers. Usually they would just mock or taunt people, I didn't expect those pricks to actually assault anyone let alone a child." Matt frowns.
"Oh and by the way you'll have the next 3 days off. We're thinking of renovating the place a bit and that we don't open at the weekends." Matt informs us as Barry changes back to his outfit.
"Oh right, you have to fill out a form at the apartment for registry when we get there." I tell Barry on the way back as he nonchalantly shrugs and begins whistling.
"Sooo…Any idea on what to do before we start working again?" Barry asks after a while.
"Do you even need to ask? We're going to be grinding of course and I'm pretty sure a new quest is going to pop up soon." I answer Barry.
"Actually how much did Matt give us?" Barry asks while glancing at the envelopes.
"You got about 175 Lien and I had 210 Lien." I answer after checking the contents.
"What? How is that fair?" Barry asks indignantly.
"You weren't the one who had to cook for about 100 people Barry. If anything you should be glad that you made that much being a waiter, must be because of the tip from our little show." I deadpan at him.
{Elsewhere}
"Has the cookies jar been refilled?" Summer asks Qrow seriously.
"Yes, Summer." Qrow groans.
"Has the shower been filled to the brim with hair care products?" Summer asks Qrow again.
"For the last time Summer, yes! The lawn is mowed, the house is cleaned, you took MY flask and burned all of the inappropriate books." Qrow yells in annoyance only to be immediately silenced by a death glare from Summer for nearly waking up Ruby and Yang upstairs.
"Honey it's just a mission for a week or two, I'm sure Qrow is more than capable of handling the girls." Tai reassures Summer.
"It doesn't sound like a normal mission Tai, what if you know…" Summer sighs.
"Summer, we're one of beacon's greatest teams and you're the second best huntress in history second only to the grim reaper Maria Calavera herself." Tai soothes Summer.
"You're right, how strong can these titans be right?" Summer says with a smile again.
"That's the spirits, now come on, the bullhead will be leaving in an hour." Tai says prompting Summer to hurry up.
"We've never been to Mistral before, I wonder what it's like." Summer says on the way to the airport.
"Actually I've been there once, nice weather, friendly people and exotic cuisines. It's practically a vacation paradise if it's not for the dense Grimm population lingering in the wilds." Tai says.
"Oh? What were you doing there at the time?" Summer asks Tai.
"Well I was visiting some of my friends who happen to be there. They were a rowdy bunch and I can't believe they convinced me to do it." Tai says shuddering at the memory.
"They made you do what? You sound like you killed someone back then." Summer asks expecting a punchline but it never came, Tai still has a haunted gaze fixed on his face as he goes through the traumatic flashbacks.
"They killed the innocent Taiyang, Summer. He died the moment I read that filth." Tai says somberly.
"You're joking right? How can a book be that bad?" Summer asks Tai getting more worried as he continues to tremble.
"For your sake and mine, PLEASE do not touch "Shinobis of passion" under any circumstances and Brothers forbid never let Ruby touch that filth, FILTH!" Tai screams a little too loudly catching glances from pedestrians.
"Oookay…" Summer draws out awkwardly as they continue to walk to the airport in silence.
{Back with Onyx and Barry}
[New Quest]
Perimeter Sweep
Description: Life's never dull with the abundant Grimm population on Mistral, stop being a lazy bum and clear those suckers out.
Objective:
-Clear the area surrounding Little Ivywood of Grimm (0%)
Bonus objective:
-?
-?
Reward: 3500 EXP, 20 Grimm essences
Bonus Reward: ?, ?
"Hey Barry, it's quest time." I call out to Barry who was making himself a sandwich in the kitchen.
"What *nom* is it about." He asks back.
"Just clearing the premises of Grimm nothing much. Though I wonder why this one has 2 hidden objectives." I answer.
"Maybe there's 2 mini boss nearby? Whatever it is I'm just glad that there's more exp, I still hit like a wet noodle at the moment." Barry says.
"Maybe I could make you some gear if the Grimm drop enough materials or just buy you some from the store, that axe looks like it'll last another 2 weeks tops." I suggest.
"Hmm…I'll think about it, for now let's just finish this quest." Barry says, opening the door as we make our way out of town. Another short 20 minutes later and we're already out of sight and deep inside the emerald foliage. I bring my paw to my mouth for a loud whistle as my 10 beowolfs gather beside us. We decide that it's better if we split up to cover more grounds as Barry take 5 beowolfs while I take the other 5. This side of Mistral is quite peaceful to be honest, it takes at least 10 minutes for each of us to find any Grimm and even then it would be a stray beowolf or two sometimes a boarbatusk. The only mildly interesting find was an ursa den I found. Of course we wouldn't stand a chance against 10 ursa charging us at one if not for how ridiculously convenient where their den was located…right on top of a methane gas reserve. One well-placed shot later and the people of Little Ivywood was treated to a spectacular firework show. Only 2 ursa survived the initial blast which Barry finished off for some EXP of his own.
I also learn another interesting fact that Grimm from different regions have different attributes. These ones seem to drop more materials and EXP than the ones on Patch yet drop little to no Lien. A beowolf is worth 40 EXP, a boarbatusk is 50 EXP and an ursa is worth 340 EXP. I managed to kill 14 beowolfs, 3 boarbatusk and 8 ursa while Barry killed 27 beowolf, 5 boarbatusk and 2 ursa.
Onyx gained 3430 EXP
Barry gained 2010 EXP
Gained a total of 125 Lien
Gained 3 Ursa pelt, 14 lesser Grimm bone shards, 20 Beowolf pelt, 4 lesser Grimm essence.
Barry Blue
Title: Amateur hunter
Level 13
Race: Human/Great one hybrid
Exp: 47/1000
Hp: 655/811(+2/min)
AP: 0/0
Atk – 131/73
Def – 50
Str – 29
End – 30
Vit – 23
Dex – 36
Int – 15
Wis – 15
Luck – 45
Onyx
Title: Foolhardy, Onii chan
Level 23
Race: Grimm – Alpha Beowolf
Exp: 742/1000
Hp: 938/ 1000(+1.5/min)
AP: 443/500 (+0.75/min)
Atk - 46 (+47) =93/ 46 (+112) =158
Def - 49 (+27)=76
Str - 55
End - 43
Vit - 55
Dex - 33 (+3)=36
Int - 17
Wis – 17
Luck - 17
Points – 0
Lien – 4967
Essence points – 26
"Hey Barry I think I gathered enough materials to make you a new weapon. Have you thought of what you want?" I ask Barry.
"Hmm…can you make me a big iron like yours? Barry says, eyeing Lunar Fang.
"Well I'm thinking along the lines of a melee weapon plus I'd need dust crystals for firearms. Besides, Lunar Fang was made with a boss essence so what I'd make you would pale in comparison." I explain to Barry.
"Well the axe right now is decent but it's not my forte, can you make something that would focus on dexterity but rely a little bit on strength?" Barry says after some thoughts.
"Oh I know, I could make you a small machete like the painting guardian curved sword, of course it'd be a little bigger to pack a punch but it'd still be quite light, how does that sound?" I suggest to Barry.
"Sounds good to me, by the way how much more until we finish the quest?" Barry asks me. I bring up the quest window and show it to Barry, apparently we're nearing the 80% mark, shouldn't be much longer. Still though, I have no clue what the side quests might be…
And that's when shit went south as an inner part of me screams trouble…one of my beowolfs died.
"Umm Onyx why did you freeze up, what happened?" Barry asks me with concerned.
"One of my scouting beowolfs just died." I tell Barry, hastily reloading Lunar Fang.
"And what? That doesn't sound that bad." Barry shrugs.
"Barry, I think you don't know what I meant. Nearly every Grimm are neutral towards us if we leave them alone which is what I instructed the scouts so what killed it wasn't a territorial Grimm. And if it was a huntsman then I would've sensed their emotions signature which means…" I leave the rest for Barry to finish as he slowly realizes the weight of the situation.
"Wherever it was, it found the mini bosses!" Barry exclaims.
Wracking my brain for the last known location of the beowolf, I gather the rest of my Grimm an rush there alongside Barry. The sight of crushed trees and gigantic paw marks didn't put my mind at ease in the slightest. After 5 nerve racking minutes, we arrived in a clearing littered with broken weapons. The culprits behind the death of my minion stood before us, well it's actually culprit seeing how one of them is asleep and the other is actively munching on the dissolving remain of my scout.
Judging by their appearances I can deduce that they must be another variations of the damned soul. The one on the right is an ursa that stands towering over us at 10m and it's…sleeping? Well that must be the damned soul of sloth although it's kinda weird how it sleeps standing up. Apart from its abnormal size, there are no other notable differences about it from a regular ursa.
The other one though…straight up fucking nightmare fuel! Standing at 8m though smaller than the ursa, it is by no means less intimidating. 4 enormous limbs that look like they can punch mountains, hundreds of tiny arms attached haphazardly to its grotesque body, I would be surprised this isn't Merlot's wet dream. Atop its head, a creepy grinning bone mask glares at us with its nuzzle filled with teeth like a squid mouth. What's worse is that this abomination has ANOTHER mouth below with more eyes than a deathstalker above it!
(If you're wondering what exactly I'm describing, search "RWBY angler Grimm" or not unless you want to have a good night sleep.
Damned Soul Of Sloth
Level – 32
Hp – 6344/6344
AP – 0/0
Atk - 432
Def – 150
Damned Soul Of Gluttony
Level – 37
Hp – 8430/8430
AP – 0/0
Atk - 876
Def – 0
"Hey Onyx, are we fucked?" Barry asks me with his eyes still glued to the monstrosity.
"Most likely…yes" I answer as the gluttonous beast finish eating the beowolf and turns to us.
"Any plans to fucking kill this shit?" Barry asks already lighting some molotovs.
"I have one though it's extremely idiotic. Hopefully it will be so stupid that it works. Barry I want you to do everything in your power to piss it off. Light its ass on fire, hurl insults at its mother, anything to aggravate it." I tell Barry as the beowolfs retreat on my order, they would be of no use in this fight anyways.
"WHAT?" Barry wanted to ask me more but I was already making my way to the demon.
"Ah well fuck it, CHEW ON THIS MOTHERFUCKER" Barry yells as he toss a Molotov straight in its face.
Successful hit on Damned Soul Of Gluttony 300 DMG (8130/8430)
The beast roars at the feeble attack and uses one of its large arm to swipe at Barry who barely manages to dodge. It opens both of its mouth and lets loose a cloud of toxic gas before raining acid upon us. Since we were in a field of all places there weren't much place to take cover and both of us got hit by the disgusting fluid. Well this shit is definitely not coming off anytime soon.
Onyx suffered a hit (250-76) = 174 DMG
Barry suffered a hit (250-50) =200 DMG
"YOU BETTER HAVE A FUCKING PLAN ONYX." Barry yells from the distance trying to get the goop off his clothes. Well I wouldn't call what I'm about to do a plan per say, more of a gamble with my life. As I approach the monster, it begins to sic its arms at me, the large on slamming down onto the ground sending shockwaves towards me while the little ones try their best to grab/maim me. Fortunately, intelligence is something it lacks as the attack actually backfired, hitting the small arms while I casually weave to the side. I draw Grimm talons lunge onto the creature's back, using them like ice picks as I stab my way towards its head.
Successful hits on Damned Soul Of Gluttony (93 X 6) = 558 DMG (7572/8430)
And while all of this attack on titans shit is going on, Barry is still far off throwing insults after insult at the monster. "YOU'RE A FUCKING MAGGOT WHO ISN'T EVEN WORTH THE PILE OF SHIT YOU'RE CRAWLING IN. YOU EMPTY-HEADED ANIMAL FOOD-TROUGH WIPER! I FART IN YOUR GENERAL DIRECTION, YOUR MOTHER WAS A HAMSTER, AND YOUR FATHER SMELT OF ELDERBERRIES!" Thankfully, those have their intended effects enraging the beast making its attacks less coordinated and predictable. Now I was directly behind its neck as I ready to further taunt in when it suddenly snaps it 180 degrees back and tries to eat me. I use my claws as substitute for my knives which the thing decide to eat out of sheer rage, biting into itself somehow not suffering any damage. Reaching my destination which was the Grimm's mask, I flip it the bird before delivering feral slashes right into its eyes blinding it for good.
Successful critical hits on Damned Soul of Gluttony (20 3) =1218 DMG (6354/8430)
That was the final push needed to get the Grimm to flail around wildly with complete disregard for its surrounding. *crunch* Oh yeah it's all coming together. That crunch wasn't the sound of its fist impacting with me…It was the sound of its fist hitting…The damned soul of Sloth in the face. And oh boy does it look pissed that someone interrupts its nap.
Successful hit on Damned Soul Of Sloth (876 – 150)= 726 DMG (5618/6344)
Finally after 3 minutes of thrashing around, it manages to grab me but I wasn't worry in the slightest. It brings me to its lower mouth now having a smug grin plastered on it and glares at me with its multiple eyes but that smugness was soon replaced by confusion for I too am giving it a shit eating grin. I slowly point behind and it was foolish enough to turn around just in time to see a huge fist flying towards it. It was at this moment that it knew…It fucked up. *BAM*
Successful hit on Damned Soul Of Gluttony 432 DMG (5922/8430)
And my work here is done, the beast after getting socked in the face was too disoriented to hold me as I break free from its grasp and exit the combat area. I run to Barry's side and we sit down together to enjoy the spectacle.
"Sooo…this was your plan all along?" Barry asks.
"Yup, normally multiple bosses fight is annoying as hell like Ornstein and Smough but then I realize that this is reality, friendly fire definitely exists here. So all we need to do is to get them to be pissed at each other and voila." I answer pointing to the 2 massive Grimm wrestling each other.
"Who do you think will win?" Barry asks as Gluttony gets dropkicked by Sloth.
"I'd say the 8m lovecraftian horror but then again that thing has no defense at all. So my bet is on Smokey the bear." I state my opinion.
"I agree though that piece of shit probably has a second phase bullshit but if we're talking about skills then its Smokey, I mean look at those moves!" Barry exclaims as Sloth proceeds to suplex Gluttony into the ground making me wonder how the fuck it knows how to do that in the first place. However, just as Barry predicted, Gluttony seems to have reached a threshold as it splits itself in half forming a third mouth showcasing a vortex of fangs. Then the next 15 minutes is just Gluttony awkwardly trying to consume Sloth but can't due to its size and Sloth tearing its own armor up from punching Gluttony's teeth. With a final haymaker, Gluttony's mask shattered as it gives one last dying screech before dissipating. Sloth wasn't that better off as it succumbs to the multiple laceration wounds and bleed out on the spot, its corpse soon dissipating as well. Huh, it ended in a draw although in Sloth's favor. Apparently their little scuffle also causes collateral damage killing the rest of the Grimm in the area, finishing the quest.
Defeated Damned Soul Of Sloth
Defeated Damned Soul Of Gluttony
[Quest completed]
Perimeter Sweep
Description: Life's never dull with the abundant Grimm population on Mistral, stop being a lazy bum and clear those suckers out.
Objective:
-Clear the area surrounding Little Ivywood of Grimm (100%)
Bonus objective:
-Defeat the Damned Soul Of Gluttony
-Defeat the Damned Soul Of Sloth
Reward: 3500 EXP, 20 Grimm essences
Bonus Reward: Sinful Soul Of Sloth, Sinful Soul Of Gluttony, 23 Grimm essence, Flesh Ripper, Amulet of Stalwartness
Onyx gained 9700 EXP
Barry gained 2800 EXP
Barry Blue
Title: Amateur hunter
Level 15
Race: Human/Great one hybrid
Exp: 847/1000
Hp: 455/1032(+2/min)
AP: 0/0
Atk – 131/73
Def – 50
Str – 33
End – 35
Vit – 26
Dex – 39
Int – 15
Wis – 15
Luck – 45
Onyx
Title: Foolhardy, Onii chan
Level 25
Race: Grimm – Alpha Beowolf
Exp: 8442/10000
Hp: 764/ 1000(+1.5/min)
AP: 443/500 (+0.75/min)
Atk - 46 (+47) =93/ 46 (+112) =158
Def - 49 (+27)=76
Str - 55
End - 43
Vit - 55
Dex - 33 (+3)=36
Int - 17
Wis – 17
Luck - 17
Points – 10
Lien – 4967
Essence points – 112
Due to reaching a growth milestone, you can now evolve your true form based on your preferences.
Yea no, as much as wonderful that sounds I'm not putting myself through a seizure…yet. I give my beowolfs the all clear to return with what they normally do before collecting the loot dropped from the bosses. The Flesh Ripper seems to be a black and red sickle chain, not really my style, maybe Barry can use it instead. While the amulet of stalwartness has a black rope tied around an emblem that is an ursa mask with a red paw print on its forehead.
"You got everything yet?" Barry asks.
"Yeah, there's also some important things I need to look into but I'll save it for later. You and I desperately need a fucking shower to get rid of this damn stomach acid." I complain as we begin our trek back to town. I sure hope no one is awake to witness the scene of 2 drunkish morons walking in the middle of the night smelling even worse than dog shit.
Author's notes: Finally finished this chapter. Sorry for the delay, I'd have finished it sooner if not for Online classes but I'll be free for Lunar New Year so expect frequent chapters by then. Here's a little heads up for the titan, it's going to be the one who supposedly destroy Oniyuri. Why? Because I find it hard to believe how in the original RWBY, an entire fucking village lost to 1 mr noodle arms horse man.