1325

It was a few days after the events at the mountain.

The only ones to return were their group. The rest were wiped out by the unexpected appearance of apex monsters. The Zinogre they defeated was only one of them.

There were too many funerals to count afterwards.

"So? What did you call us out here for?" Maria asked Allen.

"Wait, before that." Allen replied "Where are Nate and Claire?"

"They're busy."

"I need them to be here, too."

"Why? So you can spout your shit about leaving humanity behind or whatever again? This isn't the time for that… not that there even would be a time for it to begin with."

"We have to act now, or things like that'll just happen again. This is the time for it."

"You don't get it at all, do you-"

"Ok, that's enough." Lock cut in "Arguing like this won't do anything. Allen, whatever shit you gotta say, pick a better time to do it."

"It's fine," Claire said as she walked in "If he's got something to say then he might as well say it."

"Hey." Beatrice asked "Are you really okay?"

"Of course not. But if I just spent all day inside my room grieving, Olivia'd probably get mad at me, since it's not like that'd help."

Everyone stared at her, not sure how to respond.

"Well, Nate's a different story. I don't think we can force him out against his will. So we'll still have to wait."

"No, I'm good." Nate replied as he suddenly appeared, making Claire jump. He didn't take notice "I mean… I'm still scared. And just shocked. But… with whatever that power you used back there is, I don't have to be sacred anymore, right? So whatever it is… I'm in."

"That's good to hear." Allen replied "So, unless there's any objections, I'll begin."

The entire group had been gathered.

David sat and waited to hear the full story, not having heard it yet.

Doug was definitely there, but seemed distant.

Troy was even quieter than normal.

Maria stared at him uneasily.

"Well to start, why don't you explain what the whole deal with that was?" Lock suggested "Cause to be honest, I'm a little confused. See, when I see someone knocked off a mountain I usually expect them to die, but clearly that didn't happen here, so what's the deal?"

"Right, that'd probably make sense. After I got knocked away by the Zinogre, I ended up landing on a part of the mountain not that far below, so I didn't fall that far. That didn't exactly save me from being heavily injured by its attacks though, so I was still gonna die unless something happened."

He paused for a second.

"The corpses of frenzied monsters were everywhere around me. They must've been killed by other monsters. At that moment, I was just running on instinct. And the thing my instincts told me to do… was to eat the monsters."

Reactions of surprise, as he'd expected. Even David, who'd done the same thing, was shocked.

"It worked. I guess eating them was the way to close the gap between how they react to the frenzy virus and how we react, since I went into a similar state. My wounds patched themselves up. So I took some more of it, then climbed back up. You saw the rest, didn't you?"

"...Well it did look kinda like it, so I guess that makes sense." Beatrice replied.

"Yeah. It's the same. Increased strength, speed and endurance. Wounds also seem to patch themselves up. The only change is that we're more in control, and it wears off after a little while. It's a perfect weapon."

"Something like eating diseased monster flesh doesn't sound too safe." Maria replied.

"Well, we're still alive, so it should be fine."

"...That's not reassuring at all. You're probably saying all this to try and get us to use it too, aren't you? Is there really a need, it's not like things like that Zinogre are gonna be showing up for a while."

"Unfortunately, that's not really true."

"Huh?"

"The Zinogre was what they call an apex monster. Monsters that overcome the virus and get stronger. Super dangerous things, usually only top-ranked hunters are called in to deal with them. None were spotted before they sent the hunters up there, but we all know how that turned out. The thing is, the Zinogre we fought wasn't the only one."

"How many?" David asked.

"Three more were spotted leaving the mountain. I mean, it makes sense, I doubt that even that Zinogre could've taken out that many hunters on its own."

"So then…" David continued to ask "What are they? Who are our enemies?"

"A Seregios, Deviljho and a Rathalos."

"Wait," Maria interrupted "You're seriously planning on fighting them?"

"You aren't?" David asked.

"Of course not. Let's just leave it to the high-ranked hunters. We've got no reason to fight something that dangerous."

"No, we do."

"What?"

"Don't you remember Olivia's orders? She said to stop the spread of the virus, no matter what. Well, it's already too late to stop it from getting off the mountain, but at the very least we can stop it from spreading much further. So… for her sake, we have to take out the apex monsters."

She would've snapped at him if he didn't seem so genuine when he said it.

"So, now that I've gotten all that out of the way, who's with me?"

"You're right" Claire replied "That must be… what she'd want. So I'm in."

"Me too." Beatrice added "Well, for me it's just that it'd be better to do something than sit around doing nothing about this."

"Yeah." Lock continued the chain "We have to do something about shit that dangerous."

"I'm pretty scared of whatever the deal with the frenzy is." Nate said, "But letting those monsters run free would be worse, wouldn't it? So… I've gotta."

"Yeah, that." Doug replied "Though I don't care about that much, I just wanna kill these things."

Troy silently nodded, leaving one.

Maria deliberated, looking at the others.

"If it's for Olivia's sake… then I guess it's worth it."

"Then, now that everyone's agreed, I'll give the order. All of you are to consume the fallen frenzied monsters, and rise above human limits, to take on greater threats."

"Wait." Claire said "You have to eat parts of monsters with the virus to transform… so how are we gonna get that?"

"Don't worry, I already took some from the ones we fought on Heaven's Mount. There should be enough for everyone."

"Seriously? ...Hasn't it gone bad by now?"

"I think that's the least of our concerns with something like this." Maria pointed out.

A few days of travelling, and they heard word of monsters in an area being scared away.

The group of nine investigated for a little while, before stumbling upon what they were looking for. A Seregios was feasting upon the corpse of another monster. Dark purple smoke surrounded it.

"Looks like it's the Apex." Lock observed.

"Then we're going with the plan." Allen replied.

Everyone gripped their piece of monster flesh.

"We'll overwhelm it from the very start, using the frenzy transformation. Don't give it any breathing room. Giving it any chances to come back is what we've gotta avoid, no matter what." Allen continued "I'll lead. The rest of you follow. Gunners, stay up here and keep it pinned down."

He paused, staring down at it.

"Let's crush this thing."

The hunters ate the infected monster parts. A change was felt.

Their bodies were stained purple. David once again felt that increase in performance, everything being enhanced.

Allen jumped down first, slashing at it from above. He landed, as the Seregios turned to face him. It was about to roar, but got cut off by David's attack.

The Seregios was about to attempt to attack him, but had a thought. It looked up, seeing Doug descending. It quickly flung himself at him, knocking him out of the way.

"Shit," Allen muttered, before switching to giving orders "Start firing!"

The Seregios was bombarded with gunfire, keeping it from flying. It dropped back down to the ground, which is when Claire attacked. A wyvern's fire burned at its sides, almost knocking the monster over.

It managed to stay standing and swung its tail around, catching her off guard. A scale was lodged, but she didn't even seem to take notice, continuing to poke at it.

As the monster looked in confusion, it was cut off by a hit from the side with a hammer. It ceased to think for a moment, giving the hunters more opportunity to attack.

The Seregios roared, but they were unfazed. It thrashed around, pushing the hunters away. As the monster tried to escape, Doug leapt through the air, cutting it off.

Not allowing things to repeat themselves, he swung his axe down on its head, knocking it to the ground.

The group surrounded it again.

"Target the wings!" Allen yelled "Make sure it can't get away!"

The attack continued, until the Seregios managed to get back up, pushing them back.

They expected it to run, but instead it took the offensive, charging straight for Allen.

Not having enough time, he was caught by the claw swipe. This knocked him back, but in the time that took, three more hunters got ready to attack.

David swung down his blade. Doug slashed at it. Beatrice slammed her hammer into it.

The Seregio took the hits, before shooting out spikes.

They connected with their target, but had no effect.

Unable to find any way of stopping its enemies, the raging wyvern found itself being overwhelmed. Still, that wasn't enough to stop it. A final burst of energy.

It began wildly attacking anything in its surroundings, refusing to surrender. The gunfire continued, but the rest were unable to approach, being forced on the defensive by its wild attacks.

Allen stood back up, staring the rampaging monster. He walked over slowly, grabbing his sword.

He focused. His breathing slowed down. The world came to a near halt, as he waited. Finally, the opening appeared.

A dash forwards, more like just kicking off the ground. He slipped between the gap in the monster's attacks, aiming straight for its chest. Then, he finally drew his sword.

A single slash, cutting straight through its chest. The Seregios almost fell, but managed to dig its claws into the ground.

"That didn't finish it off! One final charge!"

The Seregios saw the group of hunters charging at it, but it wasn't able to do anything to stop their attack. It stopped moving around the same time several blades pierced it.

The hunters paused. There was no celebration, they were more busy even trying to process it.

The frenzy virus wore off. Allen raised his sword.

"Two more left to go. Whaddya think of the frenzy? Wasn't a bad idea, right?"

"Well, I definitely felt stronger than usual, so it must've worked." Beatrice replied. The rest seemed to feel the same way.

Allen looked up at the gunners, who showed the same feeling, even if Maria seemed reluctant about it.

"Then let's keep going… I haven't really made any proclamations until now, so just give me this one."

"Do you have to?" Claire asked.

"Of course. Now then… starting from here, the Dawn Hunters will fulfill Olivia's last request, and eliminate all traces of the frenzy virus!"

A yell resounded, as the hunting group continued their quest into the night.