The recent events have been too serious, so this chapter will now be about something completely unrelated.

Rumours passed around Dundorma that soon the Guild's second strongest hunter would be arriving. Lion Hart, a swordsman shrouded in mystery. None knew where he came from, he just simply appeared one day, brought in by Fallon herself. Someone who doesn't even show up to any important events, but keeps his position on results alone. A cryptic warrior, whose life seemed shrouded in darkness. It was said that the reason he was here now is because after just having fought a Savage Deviljho that appeared down in the Sunken Hollow, he refused to take the airship and travelled back by foot, presumably for more training.

The lone figure moved through the streets, headed for the guild headquarters. As he passed through his face remained hidden from view, allowing him to slip through the crowds undetected. Still, for someone of his fame, this wasn't a perfect method.

"Hey, you with the hat, stop right there!" A man yelled out from behind

The figure continued onwards, as if not having heard it.

"I know you can hear me! You're that lion guy, aren't you? The second strongest in the guild!"

There was still no response.

"If I can take you down, then that proves that I'm stronger than you! You were an idiot to walk around in public like this! Now, prepare yourself!"

The man charged forwards with a knife. The figure continued to walk, before spinning around just before the attack connected. A second later, the attacker was on the floor, the knife clattering away.

The hat had now been blown away, revealing an emotionless face, with brown eyes and blond hair reaching down to his neck. The crowd that had parted as a result of this disturbance now noticed that the man had been taken down without even needing to draw his weapon, it was still sheathed.

Cheering began, but Lion seemed unconcerned with this, just continuing to walk down the same path he was taking before. He made his way into the building, through the headquarters, before finally reaching his room, where he was alone.

Lion then collapsed onto his bed, gasping from nervousness.

"Godamnit… I don't want to deal with this anymore. It's all such a pain."

To explain this situation, it's necessary to flashback to earlier. But this time, from inside Lion's mind.

As he walked down the street, Lion felt incredibly annoyed.

"Godamnit… what's with those airship guys. I just had to go get something before we took off and they ditched me. Didn't even explain why either, all I heard was something about training. Then I had to run all the way back, since Fallon'll get mad if I take too long to report back. Man, I'm real tired. Just gotta get back to the HQ and I can finally sleep."

He heard a voice behind him, but tried to ignore it. As he continued, it was pretty obviously directed at him but he still continued onwards. He then heard the sound of running towards him.

"Seriously? I'm just a random dude on the street. You could be attacking anyone, how do you even know who I am? What's even the point of this? Is this dude crazy? This is way too terrifying."

At the last second, he turned to predict the next movement. There didn't appear to be any change, this was a straightforward charge. So all he had to do was move around it. He stepped to the side slightly and got ready with his sword. At the perfect moment, he swung around, connecting with the head. The impact was momentary, leading to the attacker collapsing to the ground.

He only then noticed the sword was still unsheathed.

"Ah, guess I just… forgot to unsheath it in the rush."

The clapping then started.

"Well this is probably better, so whatever." He then turned to head to the HQ as fast as possible, attempting to ignore all the stares.

It was only when he got inside that he realised he'd lost his hat, but he couldn't care anymore.

This is what led to the current scene of him collapsed on his bed.

He lay there for a good few minutes, just trying to think of anything else, before realising he'd have to go report at some point. A few minutes later he managed to force himself up.

He dragged himself towards the room where Fallon was.

As he stepped inside, he felt like he had to get more serious.

"Have you successfully hunted the Savage Deviljho?" Fallon asked.

"Yes." Lion began before giving a report of the fight, omitting as many details as possible due to really wanting to avoid being here much longer.

"I see."

"Well, anyways, I'll be leaving now."

"Wait a second."

"Why am I not surprised?" Lion thought, before turning around to speak "What is it?"

"Another important quest just came up, over in the Flooded Forest. A giant Duramboros showed up, I need you to take it out quickly. Everyone else is out on other jobs right now."

"Can't you go yourself?" Lion thought.

"I can't go. I'm busy." Fallon was able to tell exactly what he was thinking, much to his shock.

As he left, Lion mumbled out a "Sure, I'll take it."

A few minutes later he was on an airship, headed towards the forest at top speed.

As it flew over the trees, he was able to already see the Duramboros from a distance. It certainly extraordinary. He waited until the airship landed at the base camp, before starting to walk towards it, figuring wasting his stamina before the fight would be pointless.

He finally came into the range of the monster, before he noticed that some hunters were already present fighting off.

"Must be here to delay it." He thought.

As he walked forwards, one of the hunters noticed him.

"We've got this, you don't need to interfere." He told Lion.

Lion was incredibly confused by this, from both how clearly not under control this situation was and how the hunter sounded completely sure it was despite this.

"Wait, do you seriously not recognise him?" Another hunter asked. "He's Lion Hart, one of the strongest hunters. We're probably better off leaving it to him."

The first hunter reacted with surprise to this.

"Wait like, for real…?" He looked at Lion for a few seconds longer. The hunter continued analysing him, but as he did he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

"Now that I look closer…" He thought "This guy seems seriously powerful! That stance that leaves no openings! He feels ready to fight at any time! There's not even a trace of worry or uncertainty surrounding him!"

"Why has this guy just been staring at me for so long?" Lion thought "This is seriously weird. I don't wanna deal with this, I just wanna go home already."

As he finished thinking this, he remembered where he was. A few seconds later, the Duramboros came crashing through, forcing all the hunters to scatter in different directions to avoid it.

A huge cloud of dust was kicked up, but Lion could still see its outline clearly. However, the monster seemed to be unable to see any of them, thrashing about wildly.

He backed off to give it some space for a second, figuring it was best to wait until it stopped randomly attacking, before he noticed someone blindly charging in. It was the same hunter from earlier.

"Even if you're strong, I'm not about to let you show me up!"

"Are you an idiot?" Lion thought.

The hunter raised his sword just in time to block a stomp from the Duramboros. He now found himself about to be crushed if he slipped. The hunter yelled in surprise.

"What did you expect?" Lion thought, before reaching for his sword.

"I wonder if he'll be alright?" Fallon thought "Maybe it was a bit too much to send him out again so fast. He's not exactly mentally the strongest. That's why I have to let him sit out all the major events after all, he crumbles the moment he gains the attention of a large crowd."

Fallon contemplated this some more "Well, despite his shortcomings, there is one thing for certain. Of all the hunters who work under me, he is the strongest. By a pretty large margin, in fact. So, he'll probably be fine."

Lion moved forwards, almost silent.

A second later the Duramboros' leg was sliced at. It wasn't enough to sever it, but it did stop the attack on the hunter. Without hesitation, Lion spun around and went for the other leg.

The monster stumbled back slightly, now focused on Lion. It swung around with its hammer, the attack being rolled around. Lion then swung upwards. The Duramboros managed to stand its ground, then going for a headbutt, but this was also easily dodged.

However, he was now where the monster wanted. It began to spin, going so fast that he wouldn't have any time to escape it by the time he'd notice what it was doing. It continued to speed, picking up even more speed while refusing to leave an opening, before it finally spun out, leaving no room for anyone who was in range to survive.

Assuming it had won, the Duramboros got back up, ready to focus on the next hunters. But, as it turned, it noticed something that should've been impossible. Lion was stood directly in front of it, unharmed. He'd seen it coming.

The Duramboros roared and went for another charge, knocking over trees as it advanced. Lion saw this and dived off to the side before the monster could even get near him. The Duramboros stopped itself and started wildly thrashing about, being unable to see its opponent any more.

It then felt slashing at its legs again, responding by slamming its tail into the ground. There was no response, but a few seconds later it felt its back being slashed at. It understood. Lion had jumped onto the tail and made a run straight for the weak spot on the back. He continued slashing as the Duramboros violently shook around. When this didn't work, it started to spin again. In response Lion stabbed the monster's back, using his sword to desperately hold on. His grip wasn't strong enough, causing him to still be thrown off, while the sword remained up there.

The Duramboros now seemed to have the upper hand. Lion stared it down. A second later the brute's assault began, confident that he wouldn't have a way out of this.

It charged forwards, leaving him no time to dive away. Lion met this with a dash straight towards it. He slid underneath, barely dodging a stomp from the left leg. He then continued onwards, as the Duramboros readied a tail slam. This was also just barely dodged. Lion got back up, ready to jump on the tail. The Duramboros wouldn't allow this, beginning to spin to prevent him from grabbing on. This continued for a few seconds until it hit top speed, launching it's full weight towards Lion tail-first.

Even more of the environment was destroyed in this attack. The Duramboros didn't care much so long as it won. It got the feeling that if it let this fight continue it'd surely lose. Which is why the feeling of despair swept through it when it saw Lion once more, unharmed. He had perfectly dodged the attack.

The Duramboros was still recovering but it rushed to get up before he could reach. This failed, leaving it open for Lion to just grab on. The Duramboros finished getting up as Lion clung on. Not wanting to waste time, Lion waited for the monster to pause for a second and sprung forwards, running up the back. However, towards the end he lost his footing, sending him flying forwards. Refusing to stop here, Lion reached out. He just about managed to grab onto the sword he'd left there. His momentum was still too great to stop, so he went with it, dragging the sword down the Duramboros' side. He went past the back then reached the head. The Duramboros stared up at him while roaring in pain but Lion didn't hesitate, slashing straight for the head.

In only a few seconds, the end of the fight had been decided. The remainder of the collosal wyvern crashed into the ground while Lion sheathed his blade, breathing out a sigh of relief.

"That was terrifying. I never wanna go through that again. Can I go home now?"

As he thought this, the other hunters noticed his victory, now moving closer. It seemed like they were going to surround him, so Lion hurriedly retreated to his airship, mumbling something about how he had work to do.

As he walked away, one final voice called out. The hunter from before.

"Hey! What can I do to get strong like you!?"

Lion turned back, pausing to contemplate this. The hunter was silent in response. Everyone was silent. The silence continued. Ten seconds passed. Thirty seconds passed. A minute passed. The crowd was starting to get impatient. Another minute passed. They had no idea how long he was going to drag this out for. The Duramboros was still dead. Yet another minute passed. Lion finally spoke.

"Don't get hit."

With that, he spun around again, walking away at double the speed he had been going before.

The eyes of everyone behind him flared with renewed determination.

"That was probably good enough, right?" Lion thought as he refused to turn around again "I mean, I just kinda made it up on the spot. It's not like it's that deep. Though I guess it's not wrong either, not getting hit is important, otherwise you die, so… yeah it's good. Wait… did they notice how long it took?" He continued to have his mind consumed by this until he reached Dundorma again and collapsed into his bed, not wanting to ever wake up again.

When he woke up a few hours later, he found that a hunt request had been slipped under his door.

It was a request to take out an Amatsu in the Sacred Pinnacle. Alongside it, a note.

"You're the only one I can leave this to. Everyone else is out on jobs. Try and complete it as soon as possible, to reduce any casualties. I expect a report by evening."

Lion finished reading this and sighed. "I'm never getting a break..." He then grabbed his sword and quickly suited up, headed straight onto the next battle.

TO BE CONTINUED