Hunt 13: Flame Kaiser

It's been 3 days since Zedept fought Calvis and got another lead on Alatreon. Along with Lyra and Raylin, they head to Imperial Volcano.

Somewhat of a Forest: Early Night

Zedept, Lyra and Raylin are walking through a small forest area. "How much longer until we reach Imperial Volcano?" Lyra asks. "About 2-3 more days." Zedept replied. "Can we rest for the night? We haven't stopped walking since early morning." Raylin complained. Zedept stopped walking. "Stay here, I'll be back in a minute." Zedept said. Lyra and Raylin stopped and Zedept went ahead. 5 minutes later, Zedept returned. "We seem to be away from the main hunting grounds of the monsters here so we can rest here for the night." Zedept said. Raylin sits down. "Thank you, my feet are killing me." Raylin said as she rubs her feet.

Lyra sits and leans against a tree. "How's your leg?" Zedept asks. "Even though it's been 4 months since the injury, it still hurts after a while." Lyra said. "It's my fault for making you walk so much." Zedept said. "Don't worry, I know that this involves Alatreon and I'm determined to find this monster as well." Lyra said. "At least let me take a look at it." Zedept said. "Ok." Lyra said. Zedept examines Lyra's leg.

"It seems to have healed completely but you can't do a hard hunt yet." Zedept said. "You should become a doctor after we hunt Alatreon." Raylin said. "No thanks, I'm a hunter, not a doctor." Zedept said. Lyra starts to laugh and then Raylin follows. "What's so funny?" Zedept asks. "I was just remembering when dad took us out hunting and you was doing something similar to this and you said the same thing." Lyra said.

Zedept blushes a little. "But that doesn't explain why you're laughing Raylin." Zedept said. "I was laughing because she was laughing." She replied. Zedept walks over to a tree and sits/leans on it. "Let's get some rest." He said as he leans his greatsword on him with his right hand on the handle. "Hey Zedept." Raylin said. "What?" Zedept asks. "What's the name of your greatsword?" She asks. "Now that you mention it, dad never did give a name to that greatsword." Lyra said. Zedept sighs. "When I returned to the village to get this greatsword, the elder gave me a note from Master saying that its name is whatever I decide to name it." Zedept explained.

"So what did you decide to name it?" Lyra asks. "Shikaiza." Zedept replied. "Shikaiza." Lyra and Raylin said in unison. "Got a problem with the name?" Zedept asks. "Not at all." Lyra said. "Nope." Raylin said. "Good, let's get some rest now." Zedept said and then closes his eyes. Lyra and Raylin does the same thing and they all fall asleep.

Late That Night

Lyra wakes up and sees that Raylin is up. "Raylin? Why are you up?" Lyra asks. "Just doing some quick maintenance." Raylin replies quietly. "Why at this time of night?" Lyra asks. "I'm used to doing maintenance at night back at dad's workshop." Raylin replied. "Ok, just don't be up to late." Lyra said as she yawns. "Before you fall back asleep, I want to ask you something." Raylin said. "What is it?" Lyra asks.

"Do you like Zedept?" Raylin asks with a little blush on her face. "Of course I like him, he's an old friend from childhood." Lyra said. "That's not the like I'm talking about." Raylin said. Lyra's face started to turn red. "Oh you mean that like?" Lyra asks. "Yeah the like like." Raylin said. "I don't know." Lyra said as her face turns red.

"What about you Raylin?" Lyra asks. Raylin's face turned red as well. "A little bit." Raylin replied hesitantly. "So the question remains, who does he care for more." Lyra said. They both look at a sleeping Zedept then at each other. "Let's go back to sleep." Lyra said. "Yeah, I'm done with my maintenance anyways." Raylin said and they both went back to sleep.

3 Days Later

Zedept, Lyra and Raylin arrives at Imperial Volcano. "Is this it?" Raylin asks. "Yes, this is Imperial Volcano." Zedept said as they stare at a very tall volcano. "Let's find the path to the top." Lyra said. Zedept nods and the look around and finds the path leading up to the top.

Imperial Volcano Summit

They arrive at the summit. They look around and Lyra spots a small cave entrance. "That must be the entrance to the shrine." Lyra said. They start to walk towards the cave entrance when the volcano erupts out of nowhere. "Why is it erupting? I thought you said it was inactive?" Raylin asks. "It is inactive." Zedept said. "Didn't Haben and Calvis warn us about a dragon guarding this shrine?" Lyra asks. "So this must be it." Zedept said. A loud roar came from the lava. They back away to avoid being burned. The sound of wings flapping can be heard coming from the lava.

They see a red dragon with 4 legs, 2 curved horns and a red mane. "What is that dragon?" Raylin asks. "It can't be." Zedept said shocked. "You know this dragon?" Lyra asks. "It's the Emperor of Flame, Teostra." Zedept said. The girls look at Teostra. "Can we beat it?" Raylin asks. "I don't think so." Zedept said. Lyra draws out her long sword. "We won't know unless we try." Lyra said. Raylin loads her bowgun. "Let's go Zedept." Raylin said. Zedept smiles and draws his greatsword. "Alright ladies, let's hunt this legendary dragon." Zedept said. Zedept and Lyra charge it. Teostra does a long flamethrower from his mouth. Zedept blocks it while Lyra runs closer to him but is stopped by his heat aura. "That's a strong heat coming from him." Lyra said backing off.

"According to the stories, if you break his horns, his heat aura goes away." Zedept said. "Gotcha." Raylin says as she aims for his horns. Raylin fires but Teostra ducks. "He ducked!" Raylin said shocked. "Lyra, let's distract it while Raylin tries to shoot his horns off." Zedept said. "Understood." They said. Zedept and Lyra charge. Teostra does a claw slap and Zedept blocks it. Lyra slashes at his legs while ignoring the heat aura. Teostra charges at Lyra but she dodges it and then her leg starts to hurt her. "Lyra!" Zedept and Raylin said. Teostra does a flame breath again and Zedept runs in front of Lyra and continually blocks the attack. "It's hot." Zedept said in his head.

"Raylin, fire clust shots at his head!" Zedept yelled. Raylin fires 4 clust shots and they all hit Teostra's head and they explode. Teostra roars and jumps back. "One of his horns are gone." Lyra said. Teostra' right horn has been blown off. Teostra roars and gets angry. "His heat aura has gotten bigger?" Raylin asked shockingly while loading her gun. Teostra jumps at them and they all dodge. Tiny flame particles appear around them and Teostra. "What's going on?" Lyra asks. "Crap, everyone move now!" Zedept said. Raylin jumps behind some rocks but Lyra's leg prevents her from moving. "I can't move!" Lyra yells.

Teostra slams his mouth close and explosions happens around him. Lyra screams. Lyra opens her eyes and sees Zedept over her and banged up. "You… ok?" Zedept asks. "Yeah but what about you?" Lyra asks. "I'm alright." Zedept said in pain and breathing heavily. "No you're not, that explosion really damaged you." Lyra said. "I've been through worse." Zedept said. "That was a lie, that explosion really took a lot out of me." Zedept said in his head. Teostra goes to run Zedept and Lyra over when explosions happen at his head and it knocks him over. Zedept and Lyra looks over towards Raylin and sees that her gun was fired. "Thanks Raylin." Lyra said.

Raylin gives a thumbs up and continues to fire clust shots at Teostra. Zedept picks Lyra up and carries her towards Raylin. "Rest your leg." Zedept said. "But you're injured." Lyra said. "It's ok cause I have Raylin watching my back." Zedept said as he walks back towards Teostra. "I'm out of clust shots." Raylin tells Zedept. "What about crag shots?" Zedept asks. "I got about 20 left." Raylin replied. "Use them wisely." Zedept said. Raylin loads some. "Gotcha." Raylin says. "Be careful Zedept." Lyra says softly. Teostra charges Zedept and Zedept dodges but Teostra does a turn and heads towards Zedept.

Zedept turns and sees Teostra heading towards him but an explosion knocks him off course and makes him run into a wall. Zedept charges Teostra. "Take this!" Zedept yelled as he thrusts his Shikaiza through Teostra's chest. Teostra roars and then falls over. "Is it over?" Lyra asks. "Looks like it." Raylin says as she puts her bowgun away. Zedept pulls out his greatsword and falls to his left knee while panting hard. Lyra and Raylin walks over to him with Lyra having her right leg bent while leaning on Raylin. "We…. did….. it." Zedept said. Lyra and Raylin smiles at Zedept and he smiles back. Zedept gets up and places Shikaiza on his back. They walk over to the small cave entrance and they find a shrine-like area in the back of the cave. "Here it is." Lyra said.

They look at the picture and the text that was under it. "Oh mighty Alatreon, Master of the Elements, Bringer of Destruction, please hear our plea and leave this land, we make this shrine in honor of your mighty power, please leave our land in honor of you oh mighty Destroyer." Zedept read. "So Alatreon is the monster you two are looking for." Raylin said. Zedept looks around the shrine and notices a hidden compartment. "What's this?" Zedept asks. "What did you find?" Lyra asks. "The wording is different but I can read some of it, just give me a few minutes." Zedept said. After reading the wording, Zedept figured some of it out.

"From what I can make there are 4 pieces of papers that were given to guardians to protect the location of Alatreon's worship area where the location of where Alatreon is resting is located." Zedept said. "Do you think that the piece of paper that the Novastag leaders gave you is one of the 4 pieces in that wording?" Raylin asks. "It would make sense." Lyra said.

Zedept falls and leans against a wall. "Zedept!" Lyra and Raylin yell as they knee down. "Looks like I pushed my body too far this time." Zedept said exhausted. "Don't you dare die." Lyra said. "I'm not that injured Lyra." Zedept said. "Are you sure? That was a nasty hit you took for her." Raylin said. "I just need some rest." Zedept said. "Alright, go ahead and rest up." Lyra said. "You deserve it after all." Raylin said. Zedept smiles and falls asleep. "Good night." Lyra and Raylin said.