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The group advanced towards the tower, almost silently.
A Rathalos had been sighted flying towards it. If this was the one they were looking for, this would be their last battle.
The only reason Maria ended up still joining was to make sure the rest all stayed alive.
David hadn't talked to any of them after that. He just disappeared, only to reappear once it was time to go find the monster.
They climbed up the tower, finding their target waiting at the top.
Purple smoke surrounded the Rathalos.
"Let's crush this thing, so we can finally avenge them!"
The others didn't respond with any sound, they just got ready to fight.
The monster roared at them.
David charged forwards first. The Rathalos was too fast, getting around him quickly. He swung his tail down, trying to crush David.
Allen attacked as the tail swing barely missed. In retaliation, the flying wyvern swung his claws at his enemy.
They connected, poisoning him. Doug and Beatrice attempted to attack, but missed. The Rathalos swung his tail around, knocking them away.
Troy stabbed at the monster, blocking the attempt to strike back. A fireball pushed him back.
David tried attacking again, cutting through the enemy. Just like with the Deviljho before, there wasn't even a reaction.
The gunners continued to fire. Maria observed the situation while she did so, more focused on the positions of the others than the monster.
Allen went for another attack, but was dodged and counterattacked with ease.
"This thing's just like the Deviljho… How is it even this stupidly powerful? No, it might just be worse. The same tactics won't work this time, he's not as dumb."
He looked downwards, frustrated at this situation.
"Hey… I thought you were supposed to give me the power to crush these guys. This isn't enough. I need more. Much more. So hurry up and give it to me. I'll eat as much as I need!"
He took more chunks of monster flesh and ate them, consuming without a care for anything.
The effects of the frenzy became noticeably stronger. The purple overflowed.
He looked up. The Rathalos turned to face him in response.
In an instant, the distance was closed. He slashed straight through, before it could even react.
Caught off-guard, the Rathalos finally seemed to be affected by something.
"We're not strong enough if we're normal! We need more of the virus! Devour more! Until this thing's crushed!"
David followed without thinking. The rest followed with more hesitation.
They were now able to keep up with the Rathalos. Frustrated by this, he flew into the air, trying to escape their reach.
Maria and Nate kept firing, shooting him out of the air. He crashed down, being surrounded.
The hunters tore away at the monster furiously, refusing to relent. The Rathalos roared and managed to get back up, knocking them away. They still didn't stop attacking, no matter how many times he knocked them away.
In a few moments, the increase in power from the virus allowed them to overwhelm their enemy. No longer caring about pain, they pressed on. A few moments later and it was over.
The hunters continued to slash at the Rathalos, even when he had already stopped moving.
The frenzy finally disappeared as Allen realised it was over.
A wordless victory. It truly was over.
"That was the last one, right?" Nate asked.
"Yeah." Maria replied "It's over. All of this."
Allen stared down at the corpse wordlessly, unsure of what to do. The rest turned to leave, descending the tower.
David stood by his side, awaiting the next order, not fit to leave with the rest.
Allen finally started to leave, before freezing once more. The rest spotted it at around the same time, causing them to freeze as well.
A Molten Tigrex surrounded with purple smoke ascended the tower, before spotting them.
"There's… more?" Nate asked what everyone was thinking.
The moment stretched out forever, before finally breaking as Allen yelled out more orders.
"Crush the extra one without mercy! Even if it kills you, take it down!"
They all charged at it. The Tigrex roared in response, forcing them to slow their attack. Taking advantage of this, it rushed towards them, blowing up the ground as it ran.
Troy was hit by it and knocked away, before noticing another strange smoke rising from where he was hit. A few seconds later it exploded.
"What the hell!?" Maria yelled as she saw this.
"It's got blastblight!" Allen yelled back "Don't let it touch you!"
The Tigrex's rampage continued, trying to strike fear into its opponents. The only response they had was trying to overcome it.
More flesh was consumed. As much as possible. Allen felt his mind slipping away, but he forced himself to focus.
The Tigrex flung rocks at them which exploded upon contact. The group was undeterred, continuing to attack.
David slashed at its side. Doug slashed at the other side. Troy impaled it. Beatrice crushed it. Allen aimed for the tail.
The pride of the explosive predator was being shattered. But it was unable to do anything about it. The power the other side had gained was too overwhelming.
Just like Allen had always wanted, he was the one crushing the monsters this time.
The Tigrex continued to attempt to think, before even this got cut off. What cut it off was Doug's blade digging into its eye.
A roar, followed by wild thrashing around. It took a bite forwards.
This wild attack took a chunk out of Doug's side, sending blood everywhere.
The world froze once more. Allen continued to attack, while the rest stopped.
Doug was the only one to speak, murmuring "It's not going… to end here." before eating all the monster flesh he had left. He managed to get back up, the missing parts not seeming to affect him anymore, and charged forwards.
He was no longer fighting like a human, more like a puppet with its strings being dragged around wildly, with no care for the damage it would take. Against this, the Tigrex was even more powerless. It tried the same tactics as before, but they were ineffective. Whether it hit him or not didn't even make a difference.
All the others could do is watch. For whatever reason, Beatrice still moved forwards anyways.
"Hey, Doug, what are you doing!? You can't just keep taking hits carelessly like that or you're gonna die! You need to-"
As she was talking, she tried to grab him.
In the next second, she was slashed by him.
More blood flew into the air. Once again, the rest were stunned into silence. The only ones not frozen were Doug and Allen.
Doug slashed again, trying to get rid of her as quickly as possible.
The rest all rushed in. Troy shielded the next attack. Annoyed, Doug moved around the shield faster than he could respond and attacked, taking his right arm off.
"What the hell's gotten into you!?" Nate screamed, before he became the next target.
Maria pushed him out of the way of a swing that would've taken his head off.
"Can you not recognise us anymore!?" Nate continued "Can you even tell who's who!?"
He raised his guns, barely able to hold things together.
"Don't come any closer! Or else… or else I'll shoot!"
It wasn't even clear if Doug could hear him at this point. The possessed one dashed forwards.
"He's not gonna stop!" Maria yelled at him "You need to get out of the way!"
Nate started firing, unable to move himself from that spot. The bullets were easily dodged. The frenzied hunter leapt upwards, ready to deliver the strike.
It never arrived.
Nate opened his eyes, seeing Troy standing there between them. The blade impaled him through the chest, but he still managed to stand. Doug struggled to pull the blade out to attack again, to no effect.
Troy then grabbed him, trying to hold him in place.
"Fighting's no good. So let's just… be at peace. I'm tired of fighting…"
With those words, he closed his eyes.
Doug still struggled to move.
Maria and Nate tried to process this scene of chaos. David just watched from the side, having been unable to do anything the entire time.
In the meantime, the Tigrex took this chance. It sprinted away. Allen attempted to catch up, but was hit with some rocks. He continued running, but they slowed him down too much. The Tigrex leapt off the tower, landing at the bottom with a thud.
It got back up, shambling away. Allen ran back to the rest, when he finally saw what had happened.
His response was simple.
"What are you three doing? It's escaping. We need to go kill it."