Author's Note: And welcome back, faithful readers, for the long-awaited 4th installment of Legend of the Black Fang! Yet another story update several months in the making… My apologies for keeping you loyal fans waiting. But after many revisions, a stroke of inspiration, and beating the schnitzel out of more monsters, I finally managed to finish this one! I've also taken the liberty of doing some minor revision of my past chapters, so feel free to check them out! Many thanks to Wood Dog and Ysavvrl (at least I think that's how you spell it) for your in-depth reviews! Your advice has been taken to heart!
"Watch out!"
Leaping across the lava-lit landscape, the Stygian Zinogre lunges straight at us with a black lightning-charged claw. Not wanting to get squashed, Lorica and I hop out of the way as the impact sends bits of volcanic rock flying in all directions. However, with Felyne-like reflexes, Ira rolls sideways with a smirk on her face.
"Attacking right off the bat, are you, wolfy? That's awfully tenacious!" With a loud click, she loads up her firearm. "Heh heh heh…I like tenacious!" Six shots fire out in rapid succession, striking the beast's shoulder in a burst of white sparks. But the beast is hardly fazed. It skids around in a half-circle, ready to pounce. One swiping advance leads into the second, drawing every closer to the indigo-clad Ira who, ironically, seems to keep her cool. "Come at me! I dare ya!"
A full body tackle does just that, but hits nothing but air. The gunner rolls to the side again, loading more shots into her firearm. "Eat some o' this!"
A large projectile fires out in an arc, landing squarely on the hellhound's back fur—
B-B-BOOOM!
—And promptly explodes on impact into a spectacular cloud of fire
"HAH HAH HAH! Like my Cluster shot, you son of a—"
AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I'm no expert in monster speak, but I'll take 'deafening roar' as a no.
Hunt 4: Underworld of Hurt
"Heads up, Bone Head!"
Our foe then turns to face me and Lorica, staring us down. Instead of charging at us again, it just stands in place, charging up the fur on its back. Now, I haven't really fought that many Zinogres before, Stygian or otherwise, but as a rule of thumb, when a monster starts gathering energy, that's not a good thing. It had to be stopped. Ira unloads more of her initial Thunder-infused shots, but something told me that wouldn't be enough.
"Demon Mode!"
Right diagonal slice to the chest! A horizontal one with the left! Two upward slices, and then finish up with a cross slash! With each attack delivering a dose of the Zin's own black lightning medicine, I can't help but feel a little confident. But off in the distance, I hear the golden-armored Gunlancer shouting, "Fang! Get out of there!"
"Huh?"
Looking up, all I can see is Zinogre muzzle, twisted in devilishly toothy smile. My whole field of vision goes black as a surge of sable sparks erupts underfoot, sending me flying.
"AAAAGH!"
Cue the extra-loud THUD!
With me flat on my back, 4 red crackling orbs then start closing in overhead. 4 very painful-looking orbs.
"Th-this doesn't look good!"
"Not so fast!"
As the crimson ball lightning closes in, a golden blur flies through the air and blocks their path.
"You holding up down there, Fang?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine."
"Good!"
Lorica redirects her attention to the enemy and dishes out 3 good stabs to the snout, followed by a small explosion.
"Now don't get reckless. You can get a few free hits in that charging stance, but you need to back away before it unloads!"
"G-guess I learned that the hard way, huh? Sorry 'bout that."
"Just be more careful, OK?" She extends her hand and pulls me back onto my feet. "My old teammates weren't, and, well, things didn't turn out so good."
"…Didn't turn out so… What does that—"
A loud shout cuts me off. "YO! Goldie-o and Bone-liet! If you got time to yap, then help me fight this thing!"
…OK seriously, where does Ira come up with all these weird nicknames? Off to my left, she reloads her rifle atop a large slanted rock and fires off another shotgun barrage of bullets.
"Eat Pellets, you devil dog!"
The canine in question is hit head-on, but only slightly stumbles. The wolf flips twice in midair, and four more red orbs form. They start to home in on at the pink-haired hunter, but she handily dodges each one as they come her way.
"Hmph! That all ya got, wolfy?!"
The answer to that question: no. The monstrous hellhound leaps straight at her, crashing down, backfirst. The impact zone immediately erupts in debris, bolts of black lightning, and what appears to be tiny shards of broken armor.
"IRA!"
Wasting no time, Lorica and I run to her side in a panic. But as the saying goes, you can't keep a good 20 foot tall dog down.
WHAM!
A large 5-taloned paw slams the ground right in front of me, followed by another hammering its full weight down on Lorica's shield. With both hands, she's able to keep from being pancaked, but it still brings her to her knees.
"URRF! Well this is… heavier than I thought…"
I take both my blades and swing them into the crushing claw to try and throw it off balance, but it doesn't do much. If anything it did less than before: no sparks and barely any penetrating power. Something's not right here.
"Th-this is… getting difficult…"
OK, I'm not sure what's going on, but I sure as heck am not going to give up. C'mon blades, you've pulled through before, so don't fail me now!
With all I've got, I go for another swing… With the same result. OK, forget this!
"HYAAAAA!"
Forgoing my weapons, I go for a full-body tackle myself to get my purple-haired partner out of harm's way. This time, it gets the job done, knocking the both of us off to safety
"Haah… haah… Thanks!"
"A-any time!" Using both hands, I help her get back on her feet as the beast charges at us again. As we side roll in opposite directions, Zin then skids around, tail sweeping through the air. However, despite almost being crushed, the golden-armored girl quickly reacts and retaliates… with a Lightning Blaze suppository.
"I'm not done yet!" She presses a button on the handle, and… ouch. It doesn't matter how big and tough a monster you are, but a Gunlance blast in the backside would be a world of pain for anything on the receiving end. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. (…No pun intended.) So unsurprisingly, that, uh, anal assault sends the craven canine running away into the next area.
"W-way to go, Lorica!"
With crisis temporarily averted, we get a much-needed breather to assess our situation, in particular, the status of our downed gunner, lying motionless in a shallow crater nearby. Things… didn't look good. Her indigo-hued armor was cracked all over, her pink ponytail a tattered mess. The only thing left in remotely decent condition is her rifle, which appears to have been knocked out of her hands from the impact into a pile of rubble. …This can't… Not again….
"…Ira? Ira! You… alive?" …There is no response. I try shaking her shoulder a couple times, but she just lays there. I try searching for other signs of life… But find none. "Don't tell me… D-don't tell me that—" At least at first. "HUNH?!—MMPH!"
Her hand shoots up, grabbing my face with her gauntlet. She opens her eyes and, after spitting out what appears to be a bloody tooth, speaks out. "…Heh. As if that'd happen. I may not be kicking, but I'm alive alright." …Must say, that girl's got moxie.
Lorica helps her up to a sitting position, while I dig out a yellow vial of Max Potion from my pouch to help Ira recover. She promptly partakes and soon shakily gets back on her feet, much to our relief.
...Hmm. Now that I think of it, I haven't really gotten into how these things work, so I guess now's as good a time as any. As you might expect, these Potion items—Mega, Max, Ancient, what-have-you—help in restoring the consumer back to peak fighting condition. It does this by basically turbocharging the body's natural healing abilities. But as quick as it may be, its effects aren't immediate, though that should be obvious as such a miracle drug couldn't exist in real life. What'd you think this was, some sort of video game? No, where these things really shine are their painkilling properties. While the healing takes place, the fast-acting painkillers kick in, letting a hunter jump right back into the fray as needed. That said though, these things aren't perfect. They can't really treat heavy bleeding or broken bones, new injuries still hurt like heck and there is the occasional side effect of involuntary arm flexing, but all in all, not bad for what amounts to a soup of bugs and mushrooms.
However, there's another symptom that I get the feeling would need something other than fungi stew to fix. While scanning my body for injuries, I notice something… weird.
"I'm… sparking all over."
As does Ira. "Same here. What's up with that?"
Lorica quickly answers, "I do know Zinogres have power over electricity, at least the regular ones. Get hit by strong enough jolt, and it'll leave you stunned. But this thing's different. Those black sparks… They remind me of—"
"What my blades generate, am I right?"
"Yeah, that and the Deviljho. Does that mean—"
"Mmm-hmm. Those black sparks, they're the telltale sign of Dragon element at work. Somehow, this Stygian version must've found a way to harness it!"
"Well," Ira interrupts, "thanks for the lesson, Fang-face, but I think I'd rather know what this stuff's gonna do to us!"
"I'm… actually not sure, but I know there's a way to make it subside. Of course, we could just wait for it go away over time—"
"Yeah, I'm not waiting for that." Cutting me off, the pink-haired hunter promptly grabs her Bowgun and begins walking off.
"Ira?! W-wait! Hold on a sec!"
"Hey, I dunno about you, but I'm all set to keep going, and I just got body slammed by Wolf-zilla. So hit me up with another Cool Drink, and let's get a move on already! Or have ya just gone Bone-less?"
"Actually, Ira, I was going to say that you're heading the wrong way. The trail of butt blood's over here."
"Oh. Right. …I knew that."
Hot on the Zinogre's sanguine trail, the three of us continue on, descending deeper into the volcanic depths into a secluded valley. And living up to her words, our fervent Gunner does seem to be holding up just fine. …Except for one thing…
"Umm… Ira? Are you sure you can keep going? Your right arm doesn't look too good." I think the technical term is "dislocated".
"Huh. Now that you mention it, it does look a little outta place. Hold on..." Using her other arm, she grips her right shoulder and—
CRACK!
"There we go!"
…Snaps it back into place. "H-how did you—"
"I fixed your back and you're still confused?" Yes, yes I am. "That was just a little trick I picked up a long time ago. My family's part of this international trading company. Kinda like a caravan, except lots more boat travel and pointy-eared guys. People's bones'd get outta place all the time 'cause of all the heavy lifting, so it came in pretty handy."
So her chiropractic skills extend to limbs as well. …That actually is good to know. …Of course, that probably also means that she could just as easily mess up someone skeleton, but… OK! Not gonna think about that right now. After all, there's a hellhound to hunt.
AWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Directly ahead.
So once again, Lorica and I charge ahead, hunting implements at the ready, while our Gunner attempts to provide some covering fire. ...Emphasis on "attempts". She gets her shots off just fine, but…
"What the—?! None of 'em hit?! What the heck is wrong with me?!"
I'll admit, that took me by surprise too. This maybe my first hunt with Little Miss Intermittent Explosive Disorder, but she hasn't missed a shot yet. That doesn't mean that the rest of us won't hit our mark though! Lorica unleashes another trio of well-placed stabs, which visibly dig into the monsters flesh. Targeting the newly-opened wounds I follow that up with a jumping uppercut of slashes! …But it felt like hitting a brick wall. ...So, that's what's happening with me, huh? Guess there's only one thing to do.
"Lorica!"
"Yeah, what is it?"
"I'll need you to cover us for a little bit!"
"Not a problem! But what exactly are you—"
"I'll explain later, I promise!"
"OK then, but be quick! I don't know how long I can keep this thing's attention!"
And with an affirmative nod, I start scouring the area for any signs of plant life. I know it seems weird, and let's face it, it kind of is, but I can assure you that I haven't gone temporarily insane.
Behind me, the frenetic sounds of battle rage on. The green-eyed Gunlancer fires off multiple shells, while our resident Gunner fires off… some more fowl language. And yes, I do mean "fowl".
"What ya doin', ya Gargwa-ntuan idiot?! Get back in the battle! Don't you dare Kut-Ku out on us!"
As anyone with a pink-haired hothead shouting out them would do, I face her, about to protest when… I find exactly what I'm looking for, a few feet behind her.
"Yeah! That's right! Get back over here, Bone Head! Just what were you doing running off like a— HEY! LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M SCREAMING AT Y—" Her tirade is put to an abrupt halt as I shove a few light-blue berries straight from the vine and into her mouth. "WHAT THE HECK DID YOU THAT FOR?!"
Chomping on some of the fruit myself, I quickly start explaining so as to not get a gun butt skull-bashing. "Those were Nulberries. They may not seem like much, but they can cure a slew of things! Namely, Blights."
"Blights?! What're ya even talking about?!"
"The sparks that we saw! That was a condition called Dragonblight! The effects vary from person to person, but it generally weakens hunting performance! In your case, I think it was throwing off your aim!"
"So that's what it was? You really are quite the brainiac, Bone-iac."
BLAM!
GAAAH! Right in the midriff again! "Now what was THAT for?! I was helping you!"
"Yeah, and now I'm helping you. That's a Demon shot. Figured you'd like a side of attack boost with those berries. Go wild."
"Oh, uh, thanks, I appreci—GWAAAAH!"
And of course, by "appreci—GWAAAAH!" I mean, "there's a girl in golden armor flying towards us; it'd be best to get out of the way." Lorica tumbles past us, stopping only upon reaching a steep cliff face. But despite how painful that looked, she props herself back up on her weapon, seemingly unfazed. "You two seem to be well. Definitely less electrified than last I checked."
"True that, Goldie. Bone Wonder here's quite the botanist."
"…What's she talking about, Fang?"
"Nulberries beat Dragonblight. It's not something you see very often, but it's good to know."
"So that's what you up to… I didn't think this place would have any around here!"
"Well they're pretty hardy and volcanic soil is great for plants. I'd be surprised if there weren't any growing somewhere."
"Wow! You really do know your stuff, Fang!"
"Eheheh, it was nothing really… "
"Yeah, yeah, you two, we get it." Ira, eager as ever, reloads her firearm. "Now let's get back to it!"
She was right. Straight ahead, the giant hellhound is slowly walking toward us, howling up at the red-tinted sky. Looks like its charging up again. In that case…
"Demonic Bladestorm!"
With a running start, 1! 2! 3! Slashes to its hide! It tries to lean in for a bite, but I parry it away.
1! 2! 3! 4! More to the beast's left shoulder! It retaliates with a claw swipe, which I manage to roll under.
Spinning in place, I land another 5 slices, drawing more of the beast's blood before quickly hopping back.
In the corner of my eye, I see Lorica running up, weapon in hand, about to deliver a painful electrically-charged stab to the face, but she abruptly stops a few feet short. "Both of you, run! Right now!"
Ira and I both comply, narrowly avoiding the crimson lightning bolts that strike a split-second after.
"Whoa! What was that?!"
As always, my green-eyed comrade is quick to answer my question. "The Tyrant's Judgement; it's something I saw the regular Zinogre unleash several times in the past. Don't worry about trying to hit it for now! Just focus on not getting hit!"
"You got it!"
"If ya insist, Goldie."
Another howl to the sky, and more tyrannical judgement rains down all around us. …Man, this lightning's really going to make things difficult. There's got to be a way to stop it, but I—
"ACK!"
OK! Dodge first, strategize later!
More bolts keep coming left and right with no discernable pattern in their strikes whatsoever. What may seem as a viable escape path at one moment may be a literal dead end the next. A killer workout if there ever was one. Seriously! Running back and forth on uneven ground, weight lifting (if you've got a heavy enough weapon), not to mention the 130-something degree temperatures. Feel the burn, anyone?
But despite that, the three of us fare fairly well in the not-getting-zapped department. The newly-recovered Ira manages to sneak in a shot or two every so often, while Lorica blocks all the ones she can't get out of the way quick enough. So far, so good, until—
FWOOOM!
Remember what I said a couple sentences ago? Now I'm really feeling the burn, courtesy of randomly erupting geyser of magma. Can you say,
"Uwaah! Hot! Hot! HOOOT!"
Let me tell you, human beings don't mix well with places of fire and Powderstone.
In the midst of their evasive maneuvers, my teammates take notice but are too far away to anything but shout "Look out!"
Clutching my burned side, I couldn't roll out of the as per the usual. My mind was screaming to, but my body wasn't going to have any of it. With my options narrowed, there's only one thing left to do: brace for impact.
I hold up my blades in a futile attempt to soften the blow…
ZZZZT-ZZT-ZZT…
…Which actually turns out to not be so futile after all. Looking down at my weapons, I see they're the ones sparking instead of me. They… absorbed the attack. Completely. …That's never happened before. Certainly didn't against ol' Pickle Tail. Maybe it was just too powerful? Who knows. But no matter! I'm not about to look this gift Kirin in the mouth. As the crimson storm subsides, an idea that may just be crazy enough to work begins forming.
"What the?! How did ya do that, Fang-face?!"
"I don't know exactly, but I think I've just had another eureka moment!"
"HUNH?! WHAT DID YOU SAY?! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO REEKS, BONE-HEAD!"
"What?! I said 'eureka"! What does my smell have to do with anything?!" …Last I checked, I smelled just fine…
"…Oh, I see. Never mind then. Continue."
"Do either of you have a Pitfall Trap on hand, by any chance?"
With an eerie synchronicity, they both answer "No! Why do you ask!"
"I need to be able to reach its back somehow! I'd wait until we've knocked it down, but no luck with that so far!"
"Well, where there's a will," Lorica responds, "there's a way!"
She takes up Lightning Blaze once again and thrusts it repeatedly into our Stygian foe's front paws between intermittent claw swipes. It growls in pain, but shows no sign of falling in the slightest. It just enrages it even further, doing a backflip in air,
WHAM!
Before slamming tail-first back down to earth. But this time, it hits nothing but rock, which the Gunlancer quickly takes advantage of.
"Take this!" With a swift downward thrust, she pins the beast by its tail with her weapon. "Now's your chance, Fang! Do whatever you have to do!"
…Not quite what I had in mind, but it definitely works! Using the taloned-tail as a ramp, I run up to its sparking back fur with all I've got.
"Let see how you like this, Zinogre!"
And I plunge my blades deep into its hide. The rectally-ravaged dog immediately rears back in pain, moving erratically to try and literally get me off its back. All the while, a massive amount of draconic power surges from out its body and into my weapons. Just as I thought! If it worked on that lightning bolt, it should have a similar effect on the source! My body is soon shaking all over as my swords glow with absorbed crimson energy and… swarms of little insects start to fly off the Zin's back. …Didn't see that coming. "Wh-what in the world are these things?!"
"Bugs! Lots of them!
"Uh, I kinda figured that, Lorica! But what are they doin—GACK! Ugh, I think I got one in my mouth." …And that's the second time something like that's happened. Sure hope this doesn't become a pattern.
"They're the source of a Zinogre's powers! Normally they gather up Thunderbugs, but this one must've taken on a different species! Ones that absorb Dragon energy!"
"So basically, the big bad wolf gets its strength from the world's worst flea infestation?!"
"Pretty much!"
And just when I thought I couldn't get weirded out any more. Hunting. Your world is truly is strange one, I'll give you that. However, crazy as that was, not even that could prepare me for what happened next.
Black bolts soon start arcing to every mineral-rich rock nearby, as the beast beneath me continues to thrash around. And before I even have time to think "What in volcanic blazes is this?!", a large black explosion blasts me several feet away from me target.
"Unnh… What in volcanic blazes was that?..."
"Who knows, Fang-face, maybe your blades bit off more than they could chew. But forget that right now! It's getting away!"
Once again, Ira was right. With a light at the end of this pseudo-tunnel, the Zinogre makes a beeline for it with jagged, limping movements… at a surprisingly quick pace.
"After it!"
With my weapons blown out of my hands, I take them up once again and—
Z-ZAP!
Get shocked by a sharp jolt! Just holding onto my blades hurt as sparks kept burning into my hands. Are they overloading or something? …Eh, doesn't matter! C'mon, Fang, you can do this! You've felt much worse pain before! This is nothing!
Now it's an uphill battle, hunter vs. beast in heated footrace. It may be the last leg of this hunt, but after everything that's happened, the three of us were on our last legs ourselves. Ira runs full steam ahead, holding nothing back, but in doing so, I can see her stride is still adversely affected from her injuries. Lorica, being the heaviest armored of our group, brings up the rear, breathing heavily, but stubbornly perseveres. As for me, I'm basically just running on pure adrenaline and willpower at this point.
Our Stygian foe also soldiers on, limping past a strip of land in between two lakes of magma, but it stops in its tracks upon reaching a near-vertical slope. At first, it appears completely spent, but it promptly proves that wrong with a ridiculously high leap into the air. "Are you kidding me?! Haah…" My hands feel like they're on fire, but I can't let that get to me! C'mon! Just a little further!
We continue the strenuous ascent, treading quickly yet carefully across a precariously steep narrow passageway hundreds, if not thousands of feet above ground level. Don't get me wrong, that in and of itself is nerve-wracking, but nothing was going to stop us now! Coming to the end of the path, we then realize that things have literally have come full circle. We come face-to-snout with our target at our former landing site: the mouth of the Ignis Mons. Both sides are panting exhaustedly, but neither is willing to back down, staring each other down in the light of the lava falls. One way or another, it ends here.
The wolf, despite being drained of its draconic powers, leaps at us ferociously, fangs bared. This seems familiar. But I'm not about to get eaten again! My fellow hunters dodge off to the side, but not me. I hop back right as it impacts the ground and…
"You're finished!"
I plunge both my black sparking blades straight into its face!
AWwwWOOoooOOOooOOOooo….
The burning sensation in my hands begins to fade, as all the energy my swords absorbed stream through the beast's body and into the ground. That causes the Zin's body to convulse, tail flailing erratically, kicking up loose pebbles left and right. As it does so, I can spot a shining rock the size of my fist flying out of its mouth, before the beast collapses lifelessly to the ground.
"Nicely done!"
"Heh. Gotta admit, that was pretty cool there, Fang-face."
QUEST COMPLETE!
Looking back around, I see that said rock landed near the feet of Ira, who promptly snatches it up. "Wait a sec… Is this… It is! AAAAHAHAHAHAAH! PERFECT!"
Guess it's safe to assume that's the Skymerald she's looking for.
DESIRE SENSOR THWARTED!
And so the hellhound hunt came to a close. Usually this is the point where we carve off our spoils, but we were in the mood to just collapse ourselves for a while. We were exhausted. Really exhausted. Like hit-on-the-head-by-a-giant-hammer-a-thousand-times exhausted. Despite the heat, we were perfectly content to take a minute or 30 to take a long-deserved breather. And we would've if it weren't for what happened next.
"Uh, do you two feel that?"
"Huh? What are you talking about, Lor—WHOA!"
RM-RM-RRRRM-RRRMM…
Not even a minute after our victory, the ground beneath us starts rumbling. Hard.
"Wh-what is g-going on here?!"
"I-I'm n-not sure, Lorica, but…" Off in the distance a huge red-hot geyser shoots up, spraying bits of melted rock all around us. "I th-think this p-place is g-gonna blow!"
"SAY WHAT?!"
This… does not look good. "So, uh, a-anyone have any ideas?"
"Well, I guess we could just spread our wings and fly on outta here, but last I checked, NONE OF US ARE WYVERNS, BONE HEAD!"
Just then, another voice hijacks the conversation. "Luckily for you guys, I've got the ny-ext best thing!"
I could hardly believe it. "Is that what I think it is?!"
A large oval-shaped balloon casts a large shadow above us, as a Felyne drops down 3 knotted ropes off the deck's port side, shouting "GET TO DA AIRSHIP!"
It was like something out of a movie. "How did you cats get here so fast?! I thought you went back to town!"
"Actually, we stayed here purr-trolling the area! It's Guild regulation to stick nya-round during Volcano quests in case of an eruption! Get on!"
Didn't need to tell us that twice. Boarding the home-bound balloon-craft, we each escape disaster with not a moment to spare. As we fly off to safety, the lava overflows, covering the area with red-hot death. With a low, guttural rumble, it may not have been the most spectacular eruption, but it's definitely not something we'd want to stick around for.
Yep, that's right, we almost got baked that day. Not the best way to end a hunt, but hey, we're alive and I'm not complaining. …But still, I wonder what could've caused that to happen. Major tectonic coincidence, or ominous omen? I've never been the superstitious type, but that timing was just uncanny. …Oh well, that's to ponder for another day. Because as soon as we got back from our hour-and-a-half long trip, we had an altogether more pressing matter to deal with.
"Hey look! It's Fang! That's the guy who slew a Rathian with just one attack!"
"That scrawny kid in the middle?! No way! That's amazing!"
"Really now… Interesting. I must say he's… cuter than I imagined."
Not even 2 seconds out of the airship, and we're swarmed by a whole mess of people! My fellow hunters put forth their best effort to quell the crowd, Lorica through mediation and Ira with, well, mutilation, but they soon are carried away in the raging maelstrom of humanity. That leaves me at the eye of this hurricane, which, contrary to popular belief, is far from calm. As the deluge of people flows on, I could only utter a single sentence before being completely engulfed…
"S-something's… peeing… on my leg…"
Author's Note: And chapter complete! Now this is usually the part where I shamelessly plug myself, but not this time! I'm here to introduce a little post-story section I like to dub Fang's Factoids! Let's face it, I can't always fit everything about the MH world I want to in the main story without it sounding out of place, so this is where that extra stuff goes! Worry not, though, as the chapters proper will still be chock-full of juicy info! So without further ado…
And now it's time for… Fang's Factoids!
Factoid 1: Blights
OK, first factoid! There are currently 5 officially recognized conditions known as blights.As I mentioned before, the mysterious Dragonblight is a bit of a wild card, ranging in effect from weakening attack power to sealing off elemental properties in weapons, but as for the other 4, they have more consistent effects…
Fireblight: You're on fire. Simple as that. If you don't stop, drop, and roll, it could be the end of you. After all, flames searing into your flesh tend not to be good for your health.
Waterblight: You get waterlogged. With all that water weighing you down, you have to work harder moving around. That means it'll take more time for you to recover from strenuous activities like running or evading. Don't deal with it, and you'll be too tired to escape the impending sponge iguana, horned super whale, or what have you headed your way.
Thunderblight: Your body gets electrified. Electricity messes with your nervous system, interfering with your brain telling your muscles what to do. Get shocked enough, and you'll end up incapacitated for a short period of time. And when you're fighting giant monsters that want to eat you, that little span of time could make all the difference between life and death.
Iceblight: You start getting hypothermia. With your body temperature lowered, more energy is expended to keep you warm enough to function. As a result, you run out of steam faster. As is the case with Waterblight, getting winded at an inopportune time could mean a world of pain.
And that's blights in a nutshell. Believe me, none of them are particularly pleasant to go through, so always pack some Nulberries with you, if at all possible. It may just save your life.
Until next time, happy hunting!