Joseph
Height: 166 cm
Weapon type: Bow
Preferred weapon: Prominence Bow
Preferred armour: Jaggi
Armour pigment: Green
Monster: Daimyo Hermitaur
Age: 21
Place of origin: Tanith Village
Hair colour: Dark Blonde
Hair style: Unkempt, Chin Length.
Eye colour: Blue
Trivia: Can't remember the order of the alphabet.
"Hey, guys!" Sean yelled at the group.
"I got an idea!"
"What is it?" Zach asked.
"We go to the arena!" Alicia announced.
"Ah, I see." Anthony said "We must be going there to get coins for armour."
"Or to get experience with different weapons." Alexandra pointed out.
"Or to get the best times." Callum added.
"No." Sean replied "It makes money."
"Oh yeah... that is your personality isn't it." Joseph realised.
"I don't know why we were surprised to be honest." Ben questioned "We should've expected it. It's a fairly obvious joke that could've been seen coming with a basic understanding of this character."
"Well… this series does update sort of biweekly so the reader quite easily could've forgotten this, especially considering Sean's minor role in the previous chapter. They have better stuff to read, we're just means of advancing the plot in this barely-passable mush that could be considered a story." Riko stated.
"Um… that's a little harsh…" Anthony complained, feeling his self-esteem lose hp.
"But true."
Then, acknowledging their patheticness in this expansive and cruel world, they went to the arena.
The space for fighting was fairly open.
When they arrived they saw a hunter facing off against what looked to be two insects. One small and one large.
They were fighting side-by-side.
The hunter looked quite battered, wearing Stygian Zinogre armour. He was carrying around a Switch-Axe.
The fight continued on for slightly longer, the hunter tiring out.
When watching the fight, Ben observed that the hunter didn't seem to know how to use the weapon.
"What's up with that guy?" Ben asked
"He hasn't used Sword mode once. He should be able to by now. Does the arena take away phials or something?"
"Hmm?" Alexandra asked "You don't know how the arena works?"
"Eh… never seen much point to it myself, apart from getting to fight new monsters…"
"Allow me to explain!" Anthony yelled, desiring screen time to give himself a purpose.
"The arena works by giving hunters a select choice of sets. Usually five are available for selection. Of course, unless a hunter has mastered every weapon, they wouldn't be able to go for their preferred weapon(s) on every arena quest. So, the arena also doubles as a way of trying out new weapons the hunter may potentially be interested in. It can also be a way of fighting new monsters in a low risk environment or getting in practice against them. By completing these quests you get coins. These coins can be used, to convince smiths that you're worth their time to build nifty, guild-licensed armour. There's also the allure of getting the best times, which will be displayed for the whole world to see. Having good times and nifty armour get you mad street cred and frankly, make you look incredibly sexy to people interested in your gender."
"Ah… I see…" Ben replied, overwhelmed by exposition without a single paragraph break.
Anthony wasn't done yet, though
"Most hunters don't have too much reason to hunt there, as hunting outside means that you get to keep your carves. In the arena, you don't get to keep the parts from the monster you killed, nor can you trap them. Though, there are some hunters who do nothing but arena quests, as you have no need to build gear."
Ben looked back into the arena.
The hunter had worked out how to use sword mode, but were barely attacking.
The larger monster grabbed the hunter with their tail.
The hunter desperately tried to struggle their way free.
The monster didn't take kindly to this resistance and started moving its tail around wildly, slamming it onto the ground repeatedly. The hunter was caught up in this, taking major damage.
After this was over, the hunter was thrown into the wall.
The smaller monster tried to rush at the downed hunter, only to be tranqed by other hunters entering the arena.
The larger monster offered resistance towards the fight ending prematurely, but was inevitably tranqed.
The damaged hunter was carted off.
The crowd was silent.
"Well…" Sean got up and started to move "We should go get registered for our fights."
The first fight up was Anthony.
He had chosen a LBG with Kecha Wacha armour.
His opponent was a Purple Gypceros.
"Che…" He thought "I just had to be pitted against one of these things, didn't I?"
The purple rubber bird was released into the arena and began screeching its lungs out.
It rushed forward.
Anthony quickly grabbed the bowgun and began to fire normal shots.
The Gypceros closed in and Anthony got ready to dodge to the right.
However, before Anthony began to dodge the Gypceros shot out a ball of poison.
Anthony had no way out.
The Gypceros was close, too close for Anthony to turn the other way and dodge.
While he could go through the poison in normal circumstances, there was a problem.
He had no antidotes.
None.
The box hadn't given him any and he couldn't bring any in.
The moment he hit that poison he'd be standing for a minute at most.
The Purple Gypceros' poison was fast acting.
Anthony's only option was to go through the Gypceros.
He rolled forward.
He was to the left of the Gypceros.
His roll cleared the left leg and he was able to stop before the right.
But, when the Gypceros ran past its tail stretched out.
Anthony was ready for this though, as he pulled out his bowgun.
Fire shots.
The Gypceros flinched and stopped the attack.
Anthony landed and got ready for his next move.
He went over the shots he had.
Normal shots, sleep shots, para shots, flame shots, crag shots and pellet shots.
He loaded in some pellet shots.
Running up to the Gypceros, he irritated it with pellet shots.
He wasn't sure of a plan yet, but the Gypceros was being held back.
Suddenly the Gypceros' crest was struck.
Once.
Twice.
On the third flash, Anthony realised what was about to happen and tried to turn away.
But he was too late and was blinded.
He tried to fumble his way backwards, only to be hit from behind.
He tumbled forward.
"Luckily I wasn't poisoned…" He thought "Still hurts like shit though…"
He loaded in para shots and moved closer.
The Gypceros fired off a poison ball.
Anthony dodged around it, but the Gypceros spun, extending its tail.
Anthony turned to the Gypceros and hit it with para shots, stopping it.
He then switched to crag shots. He had only been given three, as a means of adding to the challenge.
He fired off one, but in his rush he forgot about the slight left deviation on his bowgun, missing the crest.
He reloaded and fired another.
This connected, destroying the crest.
The Gypceros screamed in pain.
Anthony switched to sleep shots.
But, when he looked up, he saw a poison ball over his head.
He tried to dodge but it connected, knocking him down.
He was poisoned.
He could feel it damaging his body despite it only having been a few seconds.
He didn't have long.
He blasted the Gypceros with sleep shots, knocking it unconscious.
It fell to the ground and already Anthony had set out bombs.
Not bothering to change ammo, he shot the barrels, detonating them.
The Gypceros was engulfed by the flames.
It didn't move.
Anthony tried to catch his breath.
"Was it dead?"
"If it isn't dead, the fight will continue. If the fight continues for much longer… I'll faint…"
"What… should I do…"
When the Gypceros wants to play dead, its crest flashes faster and faster before it gets up. But, this Gypceros' crest had been destroyed.
Anthony had no way of telling if it would get up. But he had to make sure it was dead.
His sense of time had already dulled.
How long had he been poisoned?
How long had it been since the explosion?
How long did he have left?
This fear drove him into attacking.
He loaded in a crag shot and placed the gun to the Gypceros' head.
He started to pull the trigger only for the Gypceros' eyes to suddenly snap open.
It thrashed around, knocking Anthony backwards.
"I knew it…!" He thought.
The Gypceros charged, trying to take the advantage.
Anthony loaded in normal shots.
He fired at the Gypceros.
The Gypceros absorbed the bullets, not slowing down.
The Gypceros fell just short of Anthony.
Anthony quickly loaded in his remaining crag shot and put it to the Gypceros' head, pulling the trigger.
The Gypceros tried to bash him with its tail, stretching towards around its back and towards Anthony.
Both attacks connected.
Anthony fell backwards, an explosion came from the Gypceros' head.
Anthony ragdolled backwards.
He was unconscious and needed medical attention urgently, but had won.
First fight, Anthony vs the Purple Gypceros. Cleared.
Next up was Callum.
He had brought in a great sword, as he wanted to try out something different. He was wearing Gigginox armour.
Callum struggled his way into the arena, weighted down by the oversized sword.
A Bullfango charged towards him.
Callum reached over his shoulder to grab his weapon.
At which point he remembered why he used dual blades.
Great swords.
They're heavy.
Too heavy for Callum to attack with.
Callum didn't know what to do until the Bullfango hit him, knocking him flying.
He fell to the ground, only to be hit by another Bullfango.
The Bullfango started juggling him for a while.
The great sword was knocked out of its sheathe as Callum fell to the ground.
Callum shakily stood up.
He looked at the great sword and saw a Bullfango charging towards him.
He grabbed the sword, slightly moving it.
The Bullfango continued to charge.
It got close and Callum wildly swung horizontally.
The Bullfango received the slash to the face and collapsed to the ground, dead.
The other Bullfango hit Callum from the side, knocking him flying backwards again.
Alexandra looked confused.
"Wait a minute… Why can't Sanchez help him out? I could understand it with Anthony's fight, not much Wave could do against the Gypceros, but Sanchez could easily solve this."
"He can't get in." Zach answered.
"I-I thought he was supposed to have transcended space-time…?"
"Well yeah, but it's against the rules to have outside interference. Sanchez may be a potential destroyer of worlds, but he's a potential destroyer of worlds that respects the rules!"
"The hell does that statement even mean!?"
Callum fell to the ground, his weapon far away.
He saw the Bullfango charging towards him.
He stood up.
The Bullfango closed in.
When it was in range, Callum used his trump card.
Punching it in the face.
The Bullfango fell to the ground and Callum started kicking it while it was down.
The Bullfango let out a death cry as the final kick was landed.
Callum let out an almighty triumphant scream.
Callum's breath was ragged and he was bleeding heavily, but he had won.
Against the first two Bullfango.
Forgot to mention, the quest was to hunt fifty.
At which point, forty-eight Bullfango surfaced.
Callum was stunned.
"Now you might find yourselves asking 'Should I charge at him?', and the answer… might surprise y-"
Was all that he had time to say before the Bullfango charged relentlessly, nearly killing him.
Second fight, Callum vs 50 Bullfango. Failed.
The third fight was Riko, using a lance.
He walked into the arena.
Looking at his opponent, he drew his weapon.
It was a Malfestio, a giant owl-type creature.
Riko surprisingly hadn't fought one before, so he had no idea what he was doing.
He was pretty sure that it could inflict sleep.
The giant bird flew at him.
Riko raised his shield to block the creature and stuck his lance into it when it was stopped.
The Malfestio reared its head from the pain and flew into the air.
Riko jumped back, due to the Malfestio being directly above him as it landed.
When it landed it spread dust everywhere.
Orange… coloured… dust.
Riko thought that it was weird, but attacked anyways.
And found that he completely missed.
He was disoriented until he was hit by an attack from behind.
He was knocked forwards slightly, but regained his bearings and turned to face the creature.
Riko charged at it, straight into the orange dust.
He then suddenly turned and started charging towards the opposite wall.
"W-What?"
He was facing the wrong way again, not sure of what he was doing.
"Riko!" Joseph yelled from the side "You're confused!"
"No, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing with my life."
"No, I mean the Malfestio has made you confused! Your actions are inverted."
"What? How does that work? How was I unaware of this?"
"I dunno. But just do the opposite of what you want to do."
"Wait… shouldn't being confused mean that I can't attack? Because not attacking is the opposite of attacking?"
"I really dunno."
Riko turned around and started to run towards the opposite direction of the Malfestio, so he ran towards it.
Suddenly however, he started really doing what he meant to do due to the confusion wearing off and had to make his intention what he intended to do.
He closed in on the Malfestio, at which point a blue beam came out of its mouth.
"What now?" He thought, before the blue beam hit him.
He then felt really tired.
Then the tiredness won and he fell collapsed to the ground.
The Malfestio moved towards him.
It got ready to attack, only to have a lance enters its stomach.
It was confused as Riko got up and pulled his lance out, only to attack again and again.
The Malfestio didn't know this due to its lack of understanding of how the hunting world worked, but the hunter it was facing off against was wearing Nerscylla armour.
It took the offensive, hitting Riko with its wings.
The attack was blocked.
However, the Malfestio had also released some dust.
The dust took effect on Riko and he flinched slightly, but continued attack.
"Heh, you stupid thing. You think that'll still work?"
But it did work in the end, as the Malfestio jumped to Riko's left and Riko ended up attacking to his right.
"Oh… Huh, how about that."
He thought before being knocked away.
Now, the dust was gone.
Riko charged at the Malfestio, which was on its last legs.
It tried to use the sleep beam yet again, not understanding what it was doing wrong.
"Heh… You're still too inexperienced. That'll be your undoing!"
Riko closed in.
The Malfestio swung its tail around in one last attempt at attacking, but Riko was able to jump over it.
He lept onto the back of the creature.
He pulled out his hunting knife and with all his might he drove into the skull of the oversized owl.
The Malfestio fell to the ground with a final cry.
Riko stood up victorious.
Third fight, Riko vs the Malfestio. Failed.
"Wait a minute, what!?" Riko yelled.
You received outside help.
"WHEN!?"
When Joseph explained the confusion status to you.
"Does that even qualify!?"
Yes, it's clearly stated in the rules that the contender(s) can receive no form of outside assistance until the fight has ended, not even verbal.
Riko looked at Joseph, who was already running.
Riko pursued after him, a being of pure rage and beat him to a bloody pulp, the scene much representing a rage filled teenager on steroids "fighting against" (massacring) a feline boygirl surgeon.
While Riko was arrested and Joseph was given a load of potions so he could fully recover in time for his fight, Ben went to the arena.
This time he was fighting in the water arena.
He had chosen a long sword.
"Wow, this'll be over fast!" Alicia yelled "He's in his element right now, having a water monster and all!"
Zach stared at her sadly.
"What?"
Ben flailed around in the water.
The Gobul appeared and charged at him.
Ben just about flailed out of the way.
He tried to attack the Gobul, only for it to dodge.
Ben kept on wildly swinging his weapon around, despite the Gobul already having swum away.
"Ben…" Zach began "Ben can't swim…"
TO BE CONTINUED
So yeah, another chapter another author's comments.
One thing I should clear up from last chapter, things aren't normal if you know the lore.
So His Immenseness was the leader of the guild in my story, but not the games. Also Dundorma's turned into a city and is the hunting capital in my version of events.
My reason for this is that we have no idea where the guild leader or the guild is located.
I still want my story to have stuff to do with the main guild leaders. So… unoriginality activate.
Originally I planned on having this chapter be one. So all nine fights in one chapter.
If that had happened, I would've had to either abandon the concept of a biweekly schedule (I'm doing that for the time being BTW) or have really short fights.
So enjoy this three chapter mini-arc. Like most people in life, it was an accident and will most likely cause regret to its creator later on.
Both the Gypceros fight and Bullfango fight are sort of based off real experiences.
The Gypceros fight was thought up when I was soloing multiplayer quests in Gen (because I'm hardcore/Gen makes it really easy) and I broke the crest.
I knew to back off because I wasn't poisoned, but the lack of telegraph on the revival surprised me.
Bullfango was based off the next fight I had, against a Plesioth.
I was trying to escape a hipcheck and a Bullfango charged into me, knocking me backwards and causing me to scream "YOU ARE AN ACTUAL CANCER!" as my hunter was hit by the giant derpy land shark.
The great sword thing had been in my head since day one, though.
The Malfestio fight was originally gonna be its own chapter, separate chapter. But it was put here when I realised I was in for the long haul.
That'll do it for this half month, see you with the next three fights.