1323

Some more time passed.

They moved between places.

"Ah, David." Olivia began "We still haven't hunted together, right?"

"Mm. Think so."

"Then let's fix that. Hmm… you haven't fought anything with Troy either, right? And for the last one… Maria, you come too."

Troy didn't show any response, while Maria just went "Oh, I'm with you again."

"Hmm…" Olivia continued, ignoring that "How's a Blangonga sound?"

"Alright." Maria answered.

"Yeah, sounds ok." David answered as well.

Troy didn't say anything, he just nodded.

"Incorrect." Olivia responded "The answer was... loud."

David was just kind of stunned. Maria stifled a laugh before quickly returning to her usual self, stunning him even more.

The way there was as awkward as expected.

Olivia kept trying to start conversations, but they only got a few lines in before being dropped. She didn't seem to care though, keeping her usual grin on her face the entire time.

They finally reached the mountain.

"So where's this thing usually hang around?" Asked David.

"Up top." Olivia answered, pointing to the peak.

"So we still gotta climb up." He sighed.

"Unless you're planning to fly?" Maria replied.

"Well I wouldn't really be against it, but it's probably safer to stick to the ground for the time being."

They began the trek up the mountain.

"Ok, so here's the plan." Olivia began thinking aloud as she walked.

"What is it?" David asked.

"The Blangonga's a fast one, and it commands a pack of Blangos. If we have to fight it alongside its pack, then it's better to deal with the smaller guys first, cause they'll be annoying. In which case… Maria and David. You take out the Blangos before helping me and Troy fight the big one."

"I'd be fine taking them out by myself." Maria argued.

"It'll be quicker if both of you do it. Though I suppose that with my switch-axe I could probably swap places with David. Whaddya think?"

David took a second to realise he was the one being asked. "Uh… it's fine, isn't it? The thing's fast, right? So you'd have an easier time keeping up than me."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking, just had to check if you're the 'don't care about efficiency, only care about looking cool and fighting big things' type."

"Why would I be?"

"I think everyone has at least some part of them that wants to be cool and special like that."

"It's not really my thing."

"Yeah, right, whatever you wanna bullshit about." Maria replied.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Isn't it obvious? You seem like the type who just wants to look cool. Even above your own life. It pisses me off. You probably can't even fight well, can you?"

"Looks like you're being challenged." Olivia observed, her usual expression still not dropping.

"Yeah, I guess." David replied in deadpan, before thinking "So you think I'm just showing off? I'll show you just how good I am at fighting."

They reached the top of the mountain. Maria suddenly froze and waited for the others to catch up. Nine Blangos, surrounding the Blangonga.

"Well, looks like we're going with the plan." Olivia thought aloud. "I'll leave it to you two to decide which side you wanna take. Anyways, let's go, Troy!"

The large man followed behind her, heading straight for the large monster.

David and Maria exchanged glances for a second, silently creating a rule for the competition. Whoever took out more enemies would win.

David barrelled forwards while Maria started shooting. He hit one with the side of his blade, knocking it off the cliff. Maria shot, taking out one.

David cut one down. Maria missed a shot, but quickly took out another.

Another one was sliced. Maria took another shot.

David took out a fourth. Maria took out a fourth. This left one.

It jumped at Olivia, who quickly turned around and cut it in half with her axe.

"Do your job properly!" She yelled, before noticing her surroundings "Ah. Well I guess you mostly did it, then. Sorry."

"Wait…" David thought.

"That makes it a tie…" Maria thought.

"I've gotta kill the big one to win!" They thought in unison.

In the meantime, the other two had managed to pretty effectively surround the enemy.

Olivia used a switch-axe to hack away at it, while Troy took its attention due to his height. He blocked the attacks pretty easily, poking with his lance in retaliation when he got the chance.

This set-up they had going was disrupted by David crashing in. The Blangonga was crushed by his blade, but quickly recovered and jumped away.

David recovered to pursue it, but before he could respond the monster jumped back in just as fast, charging straight into him. He was knocked back.

The fanged beast came to a halt, leaving itself open to an attack from Olivia, switching into sword mode. One slash connected before it went on the evasive, dodging around the rest. She didn't plan on letting escape, chasing after it, but got knocked away by ice being thrown at her.

Troy took her place, charging straight into the monster. It was knocked down for a second, before recovering, moving to try and escape.

David saw this opportunity and went for a charge of his own, but got dodged around. The Blangonga swung at his back, but he quickly managed to block, before slashing across its chest.

Maria continued firing relentlessly, now moving in closer to attack.

David bashed it again before moving in for a large slash, but completely missed and was kicked away. Maria took this opening to hit with a wyvern's fire, but the Blangonga also dodged around that, leaving her awkwardly standing there for a second with the gun held forwards, before she was also kicked away.

Both of them looked up at the target, seeming proud of itself for that one. This was then cut off by Troy slamming into it and finishing it off quickly with a powerful thrust.

The other two just watched in silence.

"Thanks for distracting it." Troy said to them.

"...Wait, he can talk?" David thought, before stammering out a "Yeah, no problem."

"Yeah." Maria agreed, seeming unfazed by him talking but still annoyed.

"Looks like your little duel ended in a tie." Olivia observed, walking up to the rest.

"Wait, you noticed that?" Maria asked.

"Well yeah. Acting all competitive and fired up like that isn't usually your style, so of course it stuck out."

"Well, I guess you're right…"

"So anyways, now that neither side won, that means whatever your argument was is over now, right? Neither of you are more correct. So just get along."

"Wait, was she planning this from the start?" David thought, now sort of scared.

Despite David's fear, neither of them could work out a comeback to that.

The other two went to go carve, while David and Maria stood around awkwardly.

"Well, it's not like I can go against her, so I'll just start. You might be an idiot with no regard for anything, but you're okay at fighting things, I guess."

"Would it kill you to be a bit less harsh?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's unfortunate, but whatever. You're not bad at fighting either, so look forward to working with you."

"Same. If I'm forced to."

"How reassuring."