Hello everyone! This is Ashton.
Before reading this story, I would like to warn you that English is not my first language, so if there are any mistakes, errors with my grammar, feel free to let me know about it, I'll fix them.
First of all, the correction of the previous chapters is in progress (grammar, spelling, which I must admit was horrible).
This chapter will be shorter than usual mainly due to lack of time to translate more. My holiday is over, so the next chapter will be the normal size (between 5 and 6K words).
For those who are interested, I'll talk more about the pace of publication in my end notes.
Enjoy Reading!
Chapter 6: An Unexpected Encounter.
The morning had been hard for Ashton, the night long and laborious between rude awakenings on the verge of tears, and periods when he was unable to get back to sleep.
An exhausted yawn left his jaw as he waited at a table for Ryuu to bring him his meal.
It had been a week since he'd arrived in Orario, and like every morning, the inn was empty except for the waitress and her usual customer.
"Are you planning to go down to the dungeon again?" the elf asked.
"I need money to pay for my room. I don't think Mia Grande likes deadbeats. "Replied the young man.
The main reason for his choice was both the lack of money and the duty he saw behind the idea of killing the beasts. Despite his release from the dream, he was still a hunter and still had the blood in him that called for the hunt.
"Right. She tends to kick out the free-loaders. "
After the usual exchange, Ashton prepared to go downstairs. As always, he had his cleaver and his sword, but also his pistol and his new cutting equipment.
Another long day was ahead of him...
The goddess, Freya was bored as she looked down on the city of Orario from the top of Babel, a glass of wine in her left hand.
She was considered the most beautiful woman in the world, and even in heaven, there were few who could match her. Her charm left men and women speechless, unable to respond and her slender figure was complemented by her flawless silver hair. She was what could only be described as beautiful.
While most of the time she was content to watch Babel as a mere observer from the top of her tower, there were times, such as this, when she would don a cloak and sneak out of Babel to watch the world from a more direct view.
She liked to investigate the souls of adventurers and citizens with her innate ability. Her favourite place was the fertility hostess, lead by a former adventurer of her Familia. The goddess often went there in the morning and in the evening to have a good look at the different people who were there.
With a small smile on her face, she pulled on the cloak, letting Ottar know that she was leaving for a while, before heading into the city. As she walked through the streets, heading towards the fertility hostess at this early hour, she noticed a lone figure walking down the street towards Babel.
There were few people around at that hour, let alone someone in an all black and grey outfit.
Was it a thief or a criminal?
She looked at the soul of the form, then remembered the image she had seen a week before. It was etched in her mind, the mad beauty of the soul she had glimpsed beneath the folds of mystery. Freya had had extraordinarily little time to look at him, but still remembered perfectly the madness she had seen.
Between the shadows she followed him. The blanket of morning darkness was giving the goddess a hard time spotting the moving form. When at last he turned into an alley.
As she was about to follow him, she missed the man who had stopped in the middle of the alley and bumped into him causing her to fall on her rump. The man who had stopped turned and looked at her for a long time before kneeling down in front of her and holding out his hand. She took it graciously and let herself up, putting back the hood that had fallen off during the fall.
She did not expect this, most people would be charmed, unable to do anything but blink at her beauty. She could examine her soul in detail.
The image itself shook the goddess' very being, her heart pounding, becoming hot from within. It was different, with two different colours inside. Most would have a soul of shades of grey or even white or black for the more extreme. But... nothing made sense about the young man's soul.
The first colour was a richly coloured red, similar to a pool of blood that had flowed on the ground and fed the earth. She knew that red meant death and blood that had been spilled by the person. The brighter it was the more noble the reason. This colour was like a lighthouse in the middle of the night. A single black dot broke the flaming monotony like a stake stuck in the side of an animal.
The second was grey, the purest form of grey she had ever seen in her life and meant nothing less than that the soul was the most neutral in its actions she had ever seen. He was neither good nor even bad.
The youth did not exist in any of the accepted castes of common sense. He was simply... there.
She blinked, as the young man eyed her warily. The Goddess remembered his face and his attire; she had disregarded the newcomer as far less interesting than her recent discovery Bell Cranel.
But she readily admitted that she had been wrong, that she had missed the chance to observe such a special soul. She could feel the enigma he represented to the depths of her body, but above all she felt a strange sensation.
"W-What is your name?"
It sounded like a desperate request.
"I thought I told you already, Goddess Freya. " He said calmly. "I am Ashton Warden. "
She remembered well that he had told them, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Freya had put it out of her mind and regretted it.
"Do you need anything? "
The goddess shook her head unable to think straight.
"N-no. Sorry to have bothered you. "
She turned and hurried away, leaving a confused hunter alone. She had fallen in love many times with her children and adventurers, but for the first time in her life, the goddess of love and beauty had been charmed by something other than a body or a mind.
After Ashton's strange encounter with the Goddess Freya, he had arrived at the gaping hole in the ground. The gods and goddesses of this world were strange, they had that form of humanities that the ancients lacked.
That made them equivalent to the members of their familia. How could they be so... human, despite their obvious superiority?
Ashton shook his head.
He looked behind him at the sunlight for a moment before looking down at the entrance to the dungeon; there would be plenty of time to think about that later.
In a breath he spoke calmly.
"Ashton joins the hunt. "
The corpses of monsters littered the floor, their blood painted the walls, guts and blood spilled everywhere. And right in the middle of this madness, stood Ashton scanning his surroundings, before he finally deemed himself monster free.
He had quickly reached the tenth floor, then passed it to reach the eleventh, then the twelfth and finally the place where he had stopped before, the thirteenth floor.
He found it hard to understand why adventurers were stuck on the upper floors when they were relatively simple.
Even the next floors were not difficult. If one paid proper attention to one's movements, there would be no harm in the hunt.
According to what Ryuu had told him, it was from the fifteenth floor onwards that the minotaur began to appear, and that's what happened.
Ashton shook his head and looked at the new arrivals; four minotaurs, covered in coarse hair that acted as armour. One carried an axe, while the other three held huge claymores that could easily dismember an adventurer, or conversely, break limbs.
The hunter slid his saw-cutter and unfolded it before running forward. In one swift motion he slid to the ground between the bovine's legs and struck him in the side, cutting him in half, the second was already attacking with his axe forcing Ashtons to stoop to avoid the blow, bored by the redundant fight he had already fought against the Kobolds, he threw a lunge of his weapon striking directly at the mana stone in the centre of the bastard's stomach.
The other two stared at him, growling. The walls began to shake.
"Backup? "
Using the Old Hunter Bone, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke and reappeared facing the monsters. With a horizontal slash, he struck the creature's skull and took advantage of the weight to throw himself at the latter, using the corpse as a support platform, before lodging his saw blade in the throat.
"Hm... Nothing particularly useful... "
As he examined his winnings, a dozen hellhounds popped up from the corner of the hallway.
"Boring..." the young man growled.
The hunter crushed the gem of one of the corpses, causing it to disappear, before moving back into position. As the first canine jumped on him, he threw his whole body forward and let loose a sharp swing of his weapon. The saw tore through the flesh, bone and bodies of the dogs as if they were tissue. Blood spurted to the ground as half a dozen of the pack were violently cut down. A wave of terror swept over the dogs, who had no more time to react before the saw fell on their lives.
Ashton sighed with contentment as he withdrew his blade from the carcass where it had been lodged. A slight smile covered his features as he wiped the blood from the metal.
He had finally cleared the entire floor of its inhabitants. He hadn't bothered to do it on the first floors, where the monsters were quickly reappearing, but did it more on the deeper floors, finding a real interest there.
The entrance to the sixteenth floor was in front.
This floor was identical to anything he had seen before. Bedrock forming a series of labyrinthine tunnels, all of which were lost in crossings. The air was humid and prevented him from effectively spotting enemies by using his sense of smell, which was hampered by the closed-in smell of the place.
As he moved cautiously through the silent corridors, always on the alert, he heard the sound of steel. Silently he crept along the walls towards the source of the noise.
Just before he could move towards it, it was as if the ground itself was shaking.
"An earthquake? "he thought as he slowed his pace.
Ashton knew that the beasts capable of causing ground movement were the most dangerous and the one that could easily cause carnage.
Shaking his head, he headed towards the fight, and not a minute later, he arrived at his destination, seeing what could be described as a giant tiger of some sort fighting four members of the Loki Familia that he recognized as Tiona, Tione Aiz and Lefiya.
Although it was more powerful than the monsters, it seemed that they were in trouble because of the minotaurs on their sides and the large number of creatures attacking them in waves.
It was surprising that so many monsters were together. Ashton could even see some creatures that should have been encountered on the deeper levels.
The elf was able to finish her chant, only for a creature to turn towards her at that very moment.
The tiger lunged at her, forcing her to back away, though she did not dodge the claw. Blood spurted from the elf's mouth, knocking her off her feet, her eyes rolling back in her head.
"Lefiya?! "
The duo shouted and rushed towards her. Several minotaurs stepped in and blocked the way, while the tiger left the hand-to-hand fight with Aiz to attack the weak link in the group.
"Lefiya, get up! "Tiona shouted as she sliced a minotaur to its full height.
"GAHHH, get out of my way! "Roared Tione.
Tione and Tiona's path to their ally was blocked by the sheer number of enemies. No matter how many they sliced, the monsters kept coming back. The tiger was about to reach the woman on the ground.
The mouth opened and rushed at the elf before a pair of arms could prevent it from reaching her. Lefiya looked up, expecting to see the figure of Aiz come to her rescue but met a long grey cloak. A long, horrible-looking blade was on her rescuer's back.
Both hands held the fangs of the beast.
The hunter held the mouth with one hand and using his right hand, he shifted his entire body weight to the left, freeing up enough weight to strike a blow directly at the beast's temple, stunning it and causing it to recoil.
Then, before he could draw his saw, a band of gold and silver crossed his vision, the tiger's head separated from its body fell, Ais Wallenstein appearing before his eyes.
The swordswoman landed in a deft turnover before looking at Ashton and Lefiya.
"Aiz behind you! "shouted one of the Amazons.
Coming up behind the knight, three minotaurs had come to their senses, raising their grotesque wooden masses.
Drawing his cleaver saw, Ashton rushed forward and, passing the young knight, delivered a vicious cut tearing the body of the first monster, destroying the magic stone in the process.
He repeated the process for the second monster with equal violence, only for the third to strike him in the side.
The mace made contact with his arm, which he barely had time to raise to parry the blow. He grunted in annoyance and while pushing the weapon away from his assailant, he cut the minotaur's head in two, spraying a beautiful crimson fountain into the air.
As a monster was about to bypass him, he drew his pistol and fired the bullet into its skull before throwing his blade, passing through the body of another minotaur that was trying to get by the young woman on the ground. Linking his attack with the kinetic energy he gained, he sent the teeth of the weapon flying towards another monster, tearing out part of its stomach and spurting blood onto its coat.
He looked over his shoulder in a survival reflex and saw Aiz thrust his sword into the throat of one of the bull demons with finesse.
The fight lasted only a few more minutes before the last of the monsters fled. One of the Amazons ran towards the elf still on the ground.
"Lefiya, are you alright?" asked Tione, gently shaking the elf.
What came out of her mouth was something that barely resembled human speech, if you could call it that.
"T-Tione."
"We are here, Lefiya. " Tiona added, looking around at the group before her eyes settled on the hunter.
"You... "she growled. "What are you doing here?! "
"Tiona! "Aiz hissed.
Ashton shook his blade, removing the blood that had been applied to it and folding it behind his back. The hunter looked down at his body noticing a slight trace of blood on his coat. He shook his sleeve removing the stain before turning to the group examining the small group.
The girl he had rescued was called Lefiya, she had long golden yellow hair, round dark blue eyes and pointed ears. She wore a pink cape over a white shirt and a pink corset dress. A purple bow hung from her collar as she held her mage staff in her trembling hands.
The other two who had challenged her were Amazons. The one called Tiona had medium length black hair and brown eyes, my only notable difference with her sister was in the length of her hair. None of them wore more than a strip of cloth and a sarong.
"A bad outfit for fighting beasts. "Ashton thought.
They were not at all suited to a place like the dungeon by the hunter's standards.
The last person in the group was the only one he had any respect for.
She had golden hair and eyes, a beautiful face, a slender body and a very good figure. She wore a breastplate and full protective gear. A sharp sword hung from her leg and having seen it in action, the hunter of hunters could tell that she knew how to use it.
Finally, he answered the previous question after the few moments of analysis.
"I heard sounds of fighting and came to see what was going on. If these are all your questions, I'll keep moving. "
Ashton turned away, not letting them answer any more. As he began to walk towards the stairs, he felt a curious look on his back.
"Is something wrong? "he asked as he turned around, surprising Aiz who hadn't expected him to feel it.
"No... this is just the first time I've seen someone wield a saw in combat... "
She looked at him with a relatively blank face
"With good reason" Ashton replied with the same type of face. "Even in Yharnam mother city of the cleaver-saw few are actually capable of using such a deadly weapon. "
"Really? "Aiz asked with interest.
The fight she had seen from the hunter had convinced her that the young man was not showing all he was capable of. The mere fact that he seemed to hold back from more bloodshed convinced her of that fact.
"Still, not to be disparaging, she doesn't seem to be hard to handle..."
Ashton shrugged.
"To the untrained eye certainly. But once you use it in combat, it is vital to know its movements perfectly so as not to find your weapon stuck in the flesh of a beast, or to lose your grip on the handle because of the blood covering the handle. It is a difficult weapon to use, but its effectiveness in causing death has been proven. "
Aiz felt his interest rise as he heard Ashton's explanation.
"I see... But why put fangs on it instead of just a blade? It would be more effective and prevent the saw from getting stuck in its victim. "Aiz questioned.
"Simple answer. To draw as much blood as possible. "
Tiona and Tione, who were listening, frowned.
"When a creature bleeds, it is afraid and will try to finish the fight quickly. It will make mistakes that can be used and will be more likely to throw itself into desperate assaults that are easy to predict. "
"Interesting... But it will also cause the effect of pushing it to fight beyond its limits to survive. "
" Right. It's a double-edged. "
Lefiya at their side watched the two talking, the fear she had felt gone, replaced by a deep amazement. She approached her two Amazon friends, muttering.
"This is quite surprising. "
"How so? "Tiona asked, looking at her.
"Normally Aiz never exchanges more than a few words with a stranger..."
"Now that you mention it, it's true. Even with us she is very reserved. "says Tione
"Do you think it's because the two of them look alike? "Tiona questioned, looking at Lefiya.
"Probably..."
As they seemed to be caught up in an intense conversation about weapons, and more specifically the saw-cutter, Tione intervened.
"Aiz. I don't want to bother you any more, but we need to get back upstairs. Loki will be worried if we don't get back. "
The sword princess pouted at her comrade's words.
"Already? "
"I'm sorry, but Lefiya has been injured and I don't want her to be put in danger. "Tiona added, staring at her.
"Well... Well..." said Aiz indifferently, resuming her doll face. She turned to Ashton. "Could we postpone this conversation for a while? "
"No problem. If you want to talk, you can find me at the fertility hostess or in the dungeon. I rarely go anywhere else. "
Aiz and Ashton nodded almost at the same time in greeting. Without another word, the hunter re-sheathed his cleaver and descended to the lower level, as the group of Loki Familia made their way to the surface.
Chapter finished rather abruptly, I wanted to publish something so as not to let wait a month since the previous chapter.
First meeting between Aiz and Ashton, two VERY socially awkward characters. Their relationship won't be "long" to set up, but it won't be done in one chapter and will be done over several close experiences (although I'd like to get them together as soon as possible).
As some could see, a second story appeared on my profile: Another Day In Hell, an Arknight OC fanfiction. I'll say it again here, The Hunt Beyond The Dream remains a priority and will continue to be published every two weeks, so until its conclusion.
I received a question from an anonymous person as to how many words I was planning to finish this story.
Answer: I don't know... At the beginning I was going for sixty to seventy thousand words, but I've already exceeded them on my draft, and I still have things to tell. So don't worry too much, the fiction should reach one hundred thousand words without too much trouble.
Well, I've been expressing myself a lot to say nothing really useful... But then again... That's just the way I am.
Other than that, take care, and we'll see you in two weeks for the next chapter!