Chapter 9- Overlord of the forest
It continued to move silently across the forest, managing not to step on any stray twigs that could alert their prey's attention. Stealth and silence was a key to them in order to catch them unnoticed. To them, it seemed much quicker than just attacking them out in the open. It stopped as the rest of its pack continued and looked at their prey. Those three humans didn't seem to notice their appearance and were just obliviously following the trail of that huge Grimm that rocked its way around this forest. It won't be long before food would be at their grasp again.
Just then, the female turned her head towards its line of sight. It ducked, hoping that she won't approach where it was hiding otherwise they would be alerted by their presence and that their chance would slip. Luckily, she didn't. It looked up and saw that she continued to follow her compatriots. It felt relieved that it wasn't caught, but that didn't mean it would not get caught the next time it's nearly spotted. It continued to follow its pack, which was now approaching the target location.
...
The three hunters continued amongst the path that Horned Overlord had left. Glynda had noticed the seriousness in Ozpin's face, suggesting that he wants to find this as much anyone else. In truth, Glynda has never seen Ozpin this serious before. She had to think of the reasons what made him this way and, so far, only three came to mind. One: the safety of the students was the main reason they were doing this, two: something personal that she has no intention of finding out but will eventually and three: the fact that this Grimm is the last of its kind and he wants to kill it as much as the next person. Glynda has known Ozpin for years now and that those two possibilities would at least be the most likely reasons why Ozpin is fixated on hunting down Horned Overlord.
She fixed her gaze around the area; a sea of red trees surrounded them like walls along the path of devastation they were taking. So far, after finding the path again, Grimm started to show up less. Maybe it was because they were approaching Horned Overlord's nest and that caused the Grimm to subject them to fear and stay far away from the nest as possible.
Instantly, her eyes caught a glimpse of something. A pair of glowing blood red eyes illuminated in the darkness within the sea of trees near them. She went to take in a closer look but saw that the eyes vanished back into the dark. The huntress looked worried. They were being followed, not knowing what was following them but, nonetheless, they were still being stalked.
"You okay?" a voice asked her. Turning her head, she saw Qrow with a quizzical look on his face.
"It's fine," she replied, "just feeling a bit paranoid."
"Well, cut it out."Qrow told her, "You have to focus."
"Right," Glynda apologized.
Qrow nodded and continued walking. Glynda went over to follow him but, took a glance at where she saw the red eyes. Nothing was there anymore. Being up all night might've made Glynda more paranoid and the things she was possibly seeing were all just illusions created by her drowsiness. Nevertheless, she continued to follow the path towards Horned Overlord's location.
Ozpin inspected the trail he and his friends were following. Nothing proved that all of this damage was caused by an enraged dinosaur Grimm. Even so, his instincts told him that Horned Overlord was close by and that finding him there would bring him closer to stopping this.
Ozpin never had a real goal in such a long time. Beacon was already established, he had already trained world-class hunters and he had managed to keep Beacon running for almost twenty years. Certainly, Ozpin's life had been full of achievements, but all of them he had already achieved. Currently, there was nothing now for him to do, but the opportunity to stop the three Ancient Grimms did not slip from him. He had wanted to accomplish this goal for a long time, being given a chance to get amends for that one mistake he had committed back in his youth. Now that he has fix on Horned Overlord and Tyrant King and soon he'll have a location on Winged Master, his journey on destroying these creatures will finally be over.
Ozpin caught a sound. He heard the sounds of something huge approaching. He immediately gestured Glynda and Qrow to hide behind a nearby tree while he scoped the area. Activating his sword, he cautiously took a step forward to see what awaited them. Ozpin knew it had to be Horned Overlord and there was no doubt that this would soon be a tough battle. His heart raced as the footsteps grew louder. He raised his blade as he took the last step and saw a huge tail covered in white, bone-like plates come swinging at him. Ozpin ducked and saw where the tail was connected and as soon as he did, he was soon frozen in place.
Tyrant King was nonchalantly feeding on the corpse of an Ursa Major it just happened to cross paths with. It didn't bother to look around since it was enjoying its meal too much. It didn't even know that there was a man in a green coat that was holding a sword right behind it. Ozpin stiffened himself up and slowly took a few steps back, trying not to arouse the dinosaur Grimm's attention. Glynda and Qrow, upon seeing Tyrant King come into view and seeing Ozpin slowly walking back, drew their weapons and put themselves in a defensive stance. Ozpin reached them just in time just as Tyrant King turned its head to examine the area.
"What the hell is Tyrant King doing in this forest?" Qrow quietly asked, trying not to get the attention of the giant dinosaur Grimm.
"I don't know, Qrow." Ozpin managed to answer, "But I suggest we leave now. If both of those dinosaur Grimms were to show up now, it would be catastrophic."
Glynda and Qrow nodded and Ozpin gestured them to follow him. The debris of trees would be harder for them to navigate quietly, especially since there are plenty of branches enough to bring the dinosaur Grimm here if it were to hear them. They tried making their way through the broken trees quickly and as quietly as possible; the only thing on their minds was to leave before tyrant King could finish its meal.
Ozpin then quickly told Glynda and Qrow to stop. Qrow was riddled with confusion while Glynda looked back. Tyrant King didn't follow them nor did Horned Overlord and Glynda began to wonder. If Ozpin were to stop them, it would be because of danger or an approaching threat. Glynda glanced at Ozpin and saw what he was staring at. Her eyes widened and she realized what it was.
...
Finally, the time has come. It took them all night but they did it, they finally caught up to them. It was glad that its pack was able reach them after a night's worth of chasing and now, it can begin with the feast. Their weapons could prove to be a match for it as well as its pack, but nonetheless, they will emerge victorious and earn the feast that they so truly deserve after months of constant starvation.
...
Ozpin's gaze was met by a lizard-like face, standing a few feet away from them since they tried to escape. The creature was not alone however; it was surrounded by other members of what he presumed to be its pack. The creature had the body of and head of a lizard and it was walking on its two's, with its front arms bearing formidable, serrated claws. As for the claws on its feet, one on each toe was curved in an upright position in the shape of a sickle. And, like most of its kind, its skin color was jet black and some parts of its skin were covered in thick bony plates.
The creature roared at Ozpin, saliva flying out of its mouth and splattered all over Ozpin's face and glasses. Ozpin quickly backed away making the creatures approach them slowly.
"What the hell are these things?" Glynda asked, raising her wand.
"I thought these guys were supposed to be extinct." Qrow mumbled inaudibly.
"Hey, Qrow! You have any idea what these are?" Ozpin asked.
"They're called Serraptors." Qrow explained, "They're also dinosaur-like Grimm but aren't considered as Ancient Grimms because of the following: One, they aren't the last of their kind and two: They're not class six Grimm but only class five and three which is the most obvious: They're not huge!"
"Well, that explains why these guys have such a huge pack." Ozpin said. While he was saying that, a Serraptor lunged forward and tried to bite him. Luckily, it missed by a millimeter (as in the jaw was so close to biting the sleeve of his shirt) but it still caused Ozpin to flinch.
Now with all the sudden commotion going on, the group failed to realize that Tyrant King also heard the sudden cries of the Serraptors and it dropped what it was eating to go after the group.
"Um, Ozpin, Qrow, we got company." Glynda said as the ground below them began to tremble.
Tyrant King charged forward, mouth agape and teeth as sharp as ever. Ozpin managed to decapitate the Serraptor it was up against and narrowly avoided the Ancient Grimm by diving near a tree. Glynda also avoided the Grimm by back dashing to the left, but Qrow wasn't so lucky because as Tyrant King charged forward, Qrow didn't have time to dodge and ended up having Tyrant King hit his scythe as he was killing Serraptors which caused the side of the scythe to hit him square in the face.
The pack of Serraptors began to scatter and lunged at Tyrant King in all directions while the dinosaur Grimm itself tried to fight them all off. As some Serraptors were tossed aside, they began to focus their attacks on Ozpin's group. Ozpin, Glynda and Qrow continued to fight off all the raptor Grimms that attacked them while avoiding the erratic movements of Tyrant King shaking off the Serraptors on its back and sides.
Glynda began shooting purple blasts of Dust energy using her crop in a wild fashion, hitting almost anything around her. Few of those were Serraptors while the rest were trees. The collapsing trees toppled over, crushing a few Serraptors as more of them began leaping out of the forests and debris to charge at Ozpin and his comrades.
"Damn! There's no end to these bastards!" Glynda yelled, shooting more blast at the raptor Grimms.
"I've read that this kind of Grimm used to hunt in large packs but this is just ridiculous!" Qrow remarked, slicing an unlucky Serraptor with Cutting Rose.
"All this commotion should've attracted other Grimms. Why haven't any new ones shown up?" Ozpin asked.
"Beats me! Serraptors isolated themselves from all the other species and only show themselves when they have to hunt. I think Tyrant King being here is disrupting the Serraptor's hunt and are trying to get rid of it so that they can continue trying to kill us!"
"Sounds good enough to me!" Ozpin hacked another Serraptor using his sword but it just caused more to appear. "Glynda's right! There is no end to them!"
Instantly, the earth below them trembled again but it wasn't from Tyrant King, it was entirely new creature coming at them. Tyrant King, who was busy tossing away a poor Serraptor, looked overhead and saw a path of trees shaking and collapsing.
"Qrow, something else is coming!" Ozpin said worryingly.
"On it." Qrow replied. Swiftly, he jumped on top of Tyrant King's tail and made his way to the top, swatting and slicing a few of the Serraptors that passed by. Once Qrow made it to the top of Tyrant King's head, he saw the path of destruction headed this way.
"We got company! And it's somebody we're supposed to see!" Qrow yelled from on top of the Ancient Grimm's head.
Suddenly, the path of destruction made its way here, exploding the wall of trees next to them to reveal another dinosaur-like Grimm with Triceratops like features. Its design obviously fitted that of a Grimm's but instead of the all black skin that was decorated with scatted bone plates, it instead sported huge bone plates that enclosed its body from the tip of its tail to its face, giving the Grimm armor-like defences.
"Shit! It's Horned Overlord!" Qrow shouted. Horned Overlord, without warning, slammed itself into Tyrant King's body knocking Qrow and a lot of Serraptors off the Ancient Grimm's body as Tyrant King toppled over.
Glynda raised her crop and pointed it at a falling Qrow. Qrow suddenly glowed purple and descended at a much slower rate, allowing him to touch the ground without landing face first.
"Thanks." Qrow said.
"No problem." Glynda responded, "But, Horned Overlord's right here. What're we going to do?"
"The damn Grimm's entire exterior's covered in armor so there's no point in damaging it!"
"Then we can't kill it?! How're we supposed to kill a Grimm that's in full body armor?!"
"Calm down, you two!" Ozpin called, "Grimm bone plates aren't as tough as they think. Maybe my sword can cut through its defences."
"It's worth a shot. Glynda, what do you think?" Qrow asked. Glynda simply nodded and raised her crop. "Let's get him!"
Charging forward, the three started to land blows on the armored Grimm. Ozpin made perfect strikes to damage the armored beast but they all bounced off. He tried a different approach which was simply striking the Grimm's body with a series of hard blows. That didn't help in anyway and Ozpin's sword broke due to extreme damage.
Glynda also had trouble damaging the Grimm as all of the blast she shot at it only hit the armor, causing no damage whatsoever to the Grimm's body. She then decided to try a different technique. She made a lifting gesture using her crop and most of the debris began lifting itself up with a purple hue emanating on themselves. Glynda then directed all of the debris to launch towards Horned Overlord, which they did. Upon contact, the debris of wood broke apart on Horned Overlord's body, making no dent on the armor, something that irritated Glynda.
Qrow, unlike the other two who were damaging the armor, tried to find an opening or weak spot on the Grimm's body. When he saw something that looked like a potential opening to actually hurt the Grimm, to his disappointment, it still did no damage. Qrow was getting frustrated and desperately tried to find an opening. He found an unarmored spot on the neck and tried to attack there. Using his weapon's double edged mode, he began to try and chop the Grimm's head off through the neck. It also did little to no damage as the flesh seemed too thick to cut. Feeling tickled, Horned Overlord shook him off and tossed him to a nearby tree.
Tyrant King, who slowly rose up after being knocked aside, turned his attention towards the Triceratops Grimm and roared at him. The other Ancient Grimm returned the roar and charged forward, landing a blow on the Grimm's stomach. Tyrant King stumbled a bit but returned the hit biting Horned Overlord's horns and flipping the Grimm over. The Serraptors could do nothing but watch, seeing as a fight that devastating could kill them in a matter of minutes. Without hesitation, the pack leader called them to retreat and the rest of the pack complied.
"You know guys," Qrow said as he got up from his position, "I think we should follow what those Serraptors are doing and bail!"
"Leave?! But killing Horned Overlord was our mission!" Ozpin yelled.
"Look at that guy, Oz!" Qrow yelled, pointing at Horned Overlord who was busy tackling Tyrant King with its horns, "He's a walking fortress that can hardly be hit! We can't kill something if that something is impenetrable!"
"I agree with Qrow. We should bail Ozpin." Glynda said.
"Alright! We leave, but we all have to find a way of hurting that Grimm, all right?" Qrow and Glynda nodded. "Good. I'll signal the Bullhead to pick us up on a safe spot."
And then, the three hunters ran, leaving the two Ancient Grimms to settle their problems on their own.
...
Back at Beacon, Stephen was pacing back and forth inside SMG's dorm room while the rest of his teammates were busy doing their own things. Gavin was quietly reading something on his scroll while Marco meditated.
Inside Stephen's mind was full of distraught. Ozpin had been gone for hours on end and no one else seems to know where he is. He feared Ozpin might've been assassinated by someone or that he had an accident that no one knew about. To him, what happened to Ozpin was already like a big mystery to Stephen, the only thing that was missing were clues to his whereabouts.
"Hey Stephen, you have to relax." Marco said as he meditated, "Ozpin probably went out for a walk or something. I'm sure he'll be back."
"What if he doesn't! What if some Grimm out there probably got to him and killed him while he wasn't looking?!" Stephen reasoned.
"Unlikely." Gavin said, "The guy always has his cane so he'll always have some sort of weapon with him while he's out."
"All what we're trying to say is that Ozpin's fine." Marco assured.
"Just asking though, why do you need to see him?" Gavin asked.
"I just had a question in mind and I was wondering if he could answer it as all." Stephen replied.
While they discussed, someone knocked on their door which interrupted their discussions.
"Who could it be this time?" Marco asked.
Gavin opened the door and was surprised to see Ruby standing in front of him. In her arms was a small box with a ribbon attached to it.
"Hi Ruby." Gavin greeted, "What's up?"
"I, um, just came to give you this." Ruby said, holding out the box, "Happy Birthday."
Gavin was suddenly caught off guard by the greeting. A lot of people don't really remember his birthday except his teammates and he was a little surprised and awkward to hear Ruby to greet him like that. She even gave him a present to go with it.
"Um, thank you Ruby but how'd you know?"
"Stephen told me. Also, sometimes you leave your door open and I saw your calendar so I decided to get you something for your birthday and, you know, greet you as well."
"Did you tell your friends?"
"Actually, I was all caught up on doing this that forgot to tell the others that it was your birthday. I'm really sorry about-"
Gavin stopped her. "There's no need Ruby. The people back at Sphere hardly remember my birthday so I'm normally used to the lack of greetings but thanks for the present and the greeting Ruby."
Ruby smiled. "You're welcome Gavin." She turned to leave them and proceeded back to her dorm. Gavin shut the door and was already greeted by the teasing smiles of his fellow teammates.
"What're you two thinking?" Gavin asked questioningly.
"Nothing..." Stephen and Marco said as the rolled their eyes slowly.
Gavin just sighed. "You two get on my nerves sometimes."
End of Chapter 9
a/n: Hey, sorry about the SUPER long delay. Had problems writing this chapter and I had to rewrite most of the story so that the story would have a whole new feel unlike its previous chapters. Anyways, today marks the anniversary of the first day I started writing this fic before posted it here on this site and its so nice to know that this story has become such a big part of me being writer. Also, shoutout to my friend and fellow writer Gavin (I have no idea what his name is on this site) and he is also shares the same name with the character of the same name. As always, reviews, follows, favs and other comments are always appreciated.