"Well, that's how it turned out for us." Mary finished giving her recap of how the hunt went. "How about you?"
"Ah, yeah. About the same." Isa lied "It was no problem."
"Yeah, seems like it went pretty well." Zara commented, looking over at Spence "He's like an entirely different guy to how he was earlier. How'd that happen?"
Spence had been following Judah around since they got back, eager to learn more.
"That's how he is normally, I think." Luke said "He was acting weird earlier, but I guess he's over it now."
"Maybe a little too over it." Isa said, leaving the rest in varying degrees of confusion. "Well, in other news. Shouldn't we be getting ready to go?"
"But we just got here." Luke replied.
"Yeah, but there's no sign of who either of us are looking for. So we might as well try the next place, right?"
Silence.
Zara decided to ask a question. "Hey, real quick. What's your hunter rank?"
"Three. No, wait. It's four now."
"Got it. Second question. Are you stupid?"
"Huh!? You wanna start something? I can crush you without a second thought, little woman."
"You can think?"
Luke backed away, getting scared. Mary had a realisation.
"I forgot a very important part in my explanation before."
Both of their heads snapped towards Mary, startling her. She continued regardless.
"See, the reason why there's less hunters further out isn't just because it's more difficult. Well, not entirely. What stops everyone from going there is that each zone has its own hunter rank requirement for a group."
"Huh. That's annoying. So what, we have to get it to the level needed all over again?"
"Yeah."
"This system sucks. So how much for each one?"
"The first zone, our current one, was hunter rank fifteen. But you already knew that. The next requires a rank of thirty."
"...This system really sucks."
"I know. For zone three, it's fifty. Then four has seventy five and finally five has one hundred and fifty."
"Why does it go up so much towards the end?"
"I don't know."
"Gah. That's seriously pissing me off."
"What did you expect?" Zara asked.
"To just run all the way to the end and back in uh… I dunno, a week or two?"
"Um…" Judah tried to interrupt without alarming anyone, but had the opposite effect. "My hunter rank's somewhere around forty."
"Oh. You tryna flex or what?"
"Not that. I'm saying that if you all join me then you can cross into zone two, at least."
"You sure?" Luke asked.
"I think I've spent long enough out here, just getting stronger. The two of you showing up made me think. I've got a responsibility to look for him as well, you know?
The three of them exchanged silence. Judah looked up to see Zara staring in confusion.
"So when were you gonna bring that one up?"
"Ah. Well, y'know, I just thought of it now, so I didn't really- I mean... I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologise, I don't care that much, I'm just kinda surprised."
"Thanks?"
Spence didn't really get why Judah was going with them due to having completely missed the explanation, but he was pretty happy about it.
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter much." Zara continued, "I might as well go with you anyway."
"Oh. That's helpful, thanks." Judah replied with a smile.
"So you do care about others after all." Isa smirked at her.
"Not really. But I don't think anyone else'd be willing to put up with me, so might as well stick around."
"Oh."
"Anyway, I guess we should decide roles."
Silence.
"We have those?" Spence asked.
"Clearly not."
"Well uh, we never really thought about it before." Luke told her. "What kind of roles would we even have?"
"Well, no matter what, you need a captain."
"I vote myself." Isa said.
"I don't think that's how it works." Mary replied.
"Huh? Who else would it be?"
"Judah's probably the best suited to it."
The rest were slightly shocked to hear that coming from Spence.
"Why?"
"Cause he's the strongest here."
"That… yeah that makes sense."
"That'd be a bit much, wouldn't it?" Judah's voice sounded uncertain.
"I think he's right." It was impossible to tell whether Zara was saying this because she believed it or just because she could tell he was afraid of having the responsibility. "You'd probably fit it well."
"You're the most experienced too." Mary added.
"Fine then. No choice."
He reluctantly shook his head, trying to affirm it to himself.
"Mary's also pretty good at leading." Luke thought aloud "So maybe we should make her vice captain."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Just as before, there was no way of telling whether Zara wanted the best for the team or to watch the person in question squirm.
"Sure." Mary seemed to react slightly better. "Okay, we can't keep making everyone leaders. What other roles could there be? Wait, I've got one. Spence, you're the cook."
Spence tilted his head out of confusion.
"Ohhh." Isa said "Good point."
Luke agreed. The other two were just confused.
"Shouldn't I be something cooler? Like… guy who fights at the front or guy who fights in the air?"
"No. You're the guy that cooks now."
"Okay. You be navigator then."
"That'd work, yeah." Luke said "She was useful enough with finding this place."
Isa rubbed the back of her head.
"Okay." Zara said "I can be the doctor."
"Huh? You know about that stuff?" Luke asked "That's surprising."
"Is it?"
"Well, you never brought it up."
"We've known each other for a day. I don't just reveal everything at the drop of a hat."
"Fair point. That just leaves me."
Silence.
"It's fine, you don't have to force it. I know I'm not that useful."
"Shut up with that." Isa replied "I'm just thinking of a good one. Let's see here… gunner!"
"Is that a role?"
"Yeah. You're the guy who shoots a gun."
"But the rest aren't really combat focused, they're more how useful someone is."
"Firing a gun is useful." Spence explained "Because the enemy gets shot."
"Yeah, even I know that."
"Then there's no problem, right?" Isa smirked "So no reason to be complaining."
Luke did not know what kind of face to make.
"Sure."
"Okay. Last thing." Judah paused, "Does anyone have an idea for a name?"
Realisation spread through the others.
"Uh, we never did consider that." Mary admitted.
"Expedition for bringing those assholes back." Isa said.
Luke shook his head.
"No, we shouldn't have the word expedition as part of the group name. That's just weird. Also it's too long."
"Then you think of something better."
He thought for a few moments.
"Finding Gilmore."
"No." Spence replied less than a second after he finished speaking.
"Why?"
"Cause. It's got the same letters as the Frontier Grounds. That'd be stupid. And confusing."
"Seriously?"
"Okay, I got how to make the name good this time." Isa smiled confidently "DBA."
Everyone looked at her in confusion.
"Which stands for the drag back those assholes expedition."
"Shouldn't there be a t in there? And an e at the end. Wait, why did you include the expedition part again?"
"It'd sound weird with those. And besides, it's fine if it's not included in the just the letters version."
"...That's called an acronym."
"What?"
"Okay," Mary tried to stop things before they turned into an argument. "I think that might be our best option. Anyone else got any ideas?"
Zara shrugged.
"Then, it's decided." Judah announced. "No reason to not get ready to go now, I guess."
The group set out from the outpost a few hours later. Six hunters and six monsters trekked through the forest. Isa led the way, using a map to find the next zone.
The Deviljho from two days ago still hadn't been hunted down. Therefore, the group remained mostly silent, hoping to pass through the area uneventfully.
The ones who had lost to it before eyed the trees, searching for any sign of movement.
A distant, distinct roar came from where they were headed.
"That's it, right?" Spence asked.
"Yeah, obviously." Zara turned to Judah "What should we do?"
"That's a good question. I don't have any doubt that trying to stop it would be right, but whether we can right now is a different question. Let's go and take a look first, then work out what to do."
The rest nodded, advancing towards where they heard it.
By the time they arrived, it was already quiet.
The Deviljho was on the ground, a man not one of them recognised stood behind it. He was fairly thin and tall, wearing light armour and glasses. His most noticeable feature was the scar that ran across his face.
He spotted them and changed his expression to an uneasy smile.
"Ah, were you here to hunt it? My apologies, it began to attack me so I had no choice but to retaliate."
A sense of disbelief.
"You beat it just on your own?" Mary asked.
"I am alone, yes. Well, I think it had already been somewhat weakened before. It didn't have much life left in it. That's why I was able to survive. Ah, I suppose I should've started with an introduction instead of shameless bragging, no? My name is Apollo."
That seemed to snap Judah out of his thoughts.
"I- uh, we're the DBA. We weren't here to fight it, we were just heading to zone two."
"I see." He paused, as though working out his next line. "I'm a guild knight, so I was just heading the other way on some business. I was uninformed that there was a Deviljho around, which would've been helpful to know. Oh well. It worked out for the best, didn't it?"
"I guess."
Spence had an idea.
"Wait, being a guild knight means that he's pretty high up, right?"
"Can you not make us look stupid in front of him?" Zara asked.
"Okay, but still. That means he might know about who we're looking for, right?"
Everyone else went "Oh."
"And who might that be?" Apollo asked.
"Well, it's two guys actually. Both of them have the surname Gilmore though, I think."
Apollo's eyes seemed to light up. In a single instant, he closed the distance between himself and Spence.
"Do you possibly mean Joseph Gilmore? That man? Now that I look closer, your eyes resemble his. Greatly. The exact same. You're related, right? That must be it. It is, isn't it? How interesting."
Isa stepped between them.
"Back off a little. We're just asking questions."
Apollo took this in for a second.
"My apologies once more. I was just quite absorbed in the conversation. Well, neither of you have answered yet. Are you related? Ah, are you both his children, perhaps?"
"Does it matter?"
"So you are."
Isa made an annoyed expression.
"Well, I suppose I may as well speak anyway. Yes, I do know him. Very well, in fact. I suppose I could say I owe your father a great deal. Ah, I think I remember where he is now. If you like, I could lead you to him."
The group went silent. Not one of them knew how to respond.
"Didn't you have guild knight work?" Zara asked.
"It's not that vital a matter, it can wait a bit. Now, hurry up. You're here to find him, right? So you wouldn't want to just pass this up. Come on."
Isa looked at him. "Hey, question first."
"What is it this time?"
"What did you use to beat this Deviljho? I'm not seeing any weapons on you."
He was silent for a moment, just smiling.
"Are you scared of something? I won't bite. You don't have to try delaying things."
"Then hurry up and show the weapon you used on this thing."
He continued to smile.
"Does it matter?"
She smiled back.
A moment later Isa swung her hammer towards his face full forwards. Apollo had no time to react as he was knocked to the ground.
The rest of the group didn't react until he landed, before they finally processed it.
Spence was the first to react, yelling out a "What the hell!?"
In the same way that her brother possessed an instinct for combat, Isa possessed an instinct that let her tell when someone was lying. Whenever someone was hiding something, she felt uneasy. No matter how small or insignificant it was, she would always feel that same discomfort, for better or for worse. Though, it was easy enough for her to see that something was fishy about Apollo even without that.
"This guy's clearly bullshitting! His entire thing's weird!"
"Hey, now…" Apollo complained from the ground "That really did hurt."
Blue energy surrounded him as he got up.
"Just what would you have done if I was a normal human?"
This time it was Isa's turn to be surprised.
"Run for it."
"Seriously?" Luke asked "That's messed up."
"No, I don't mean that's what I would've done, I mean let's do that now!"
"Oh, right."
"Not so fast." Something appeared around Apollo.
The twins were in complete confusion, while the other four seemed more horrified.
No one there could ever recall having seen it before, but they had heard more than enough about it. They didn't know anything detailed or anything specific. They weren't even aware of what they had to fear. But a warning came back to all of them.
"If you ever see a person surrounded by blue, capable of feats ripped from fiction, then you should run."
He began to recite strange words.
"What I once held, vanished beneath moonlight. Chosen by the sun, I shall offer you all that remains. But be warned. For all that lies within my hands is rot- Necrosis Nectar!"
Apollo gestured his hands towards the nearest target. The blue inexplicably turned into a liquid, flinging itself through the air. Isa almost dodged, but part of her got splashed.
She paused, trying to work out what she was feeling. She finally remembered.
"Is this poison!? I forgot to bring antidotes again."
"You only just worked it out?" Apollo replied, smirking at her. "Yes, that's exactly it. Toxicity is mine to command."
"How the hell does that even work?"
"Is it the prey's place to question the predator's methods?" He turned to the rest of the group, giving them what seemed to be a genuine smile this time. "Now, rejoice. You'll have the honour of being remembered as the valiant sacrifices that helped me defeat this Deviljho."
He fired off poison at the entire group.
"We don't have to fight, do we!?" Judah tried to yell loud enough to stop the combat as he blocked with his shield "I'm sorry that she acted so rash like that, but still, we don't have to try killing each other."
"It's too late for that. About ten years too late."
"But it's only been a minute."
"Not that. It's not that at all. Are you stupid? You're stupid. It's those eyes. Those damn eyes. I despise them. Detest them. That blue."
"Just calm down, we can still talk things-"
He barely blocked some more poison being thrown his way.
"There's no point. Stop talking already. Don't you know something this basic? When a warrior like me shows their manifestation, it means that something's sure to die."
TO BE CONTINUED