It descended, crashing through its surroundings. The wildlife scattered away.
The beast's purpose was to hunt other beasts. Before it was an adversary, with the same purpose as itself. They stared each other down, readying themselves for the fight.
Two with the same purpose couldn't exist in this place. Both recognised that, which compelled them to fight.
Two beasts were standing there.
To make sense of this battle, let's turn back time by a few hours.
"There's been Nergigante sightings all over the first zone, and it seems to be coming this way. So an urgent quest has been put up to deal with it before it causes much more damage." Judah told the group.
"What's that?" Laura asked.
"An elder dragon that hunts other elder dragons." Explained Luke.
"Sounds cool. I wanna fight it. Now."
"That's weird. Never heard of any of those around here." Fen replied.
"Yeah, that's because there usually aren't any." Luke thought a little. "It might've been drawn in by something further in."
"Can I go fight it now?"
"Just wait." Judah turned to the rest of the group. "Hunting this will almost undoubtedly give us a hunter rank above fifty. The question is who will go. Oh, and we're bringing four members this time, not the usual three."
"Wow." Zara started clapping. "You're telling me you think it might be a good idea to bring the maximum number of hunters to an incredibly dangerous fight against an elder dragon? That's amazing! Tough decision making like that is why you're the captain!"
"Z-zara." Mary tried to think of a kind way to phrase her thoughts. "I know that this is what you do normally, but it feels a bit too heavy this time."
"Oh. Sorry."
Most of the group widened their eyes in surprise. The only exception was Laura, having tuned out of the conversation while her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of fighting.
"I didn't get any sleep last night because of those two idiots forcing me to read through that entire magical girl thing, followed by having to go look for that bow idiot. At this point I'm starting to hallucinate a tiny bit."
"I never thought I'd hear a genuine apology out of you. The tiredness is really doing a number on you, huh?"
Zara grabbed Isa's cheeks with the intent of tearing them off, resulting in them being pulled almost painfully.
"Why is the cause of the problem herself acting like she's completely uninvolved?"
"Back to the selection. Fen, since we're still using your hunter rank, you have to go."
"That's fine."
"And-"
Laura jumped in front of him. "Me next."
"I was just planning on asking you."
"The answer is yes."
"I got the impression. Now, for the last one I was going to ask Zara, but she's unfortunately unable to."
"That's understating it."
"I'll do it." Spence announced, pointing his thumb towards himself. "It's been a while since we hunted together, right captain? So I'll show you how strong I've gotten since then."
"Didn't you just fight a Rajang a few hours ago?"
"I'm the type of guy who can fight two things in one day. Besides, I recover quickly. So come on, let's go."
"The answer's still no. You should probably just rest."
"That's lame. What's the real reason?"
"Because I don't think it's that good of an idea to bring two loose cannons to this hunt."
"Huh? Who's the first?" Laura, the first loose cannon, asked him innocently.
"Moving on." He glanced around. "Some support with a hunting horn would be useful, but-"
"If I went I'd probably die!" Jean gave an incredibly wide smile.
"...Yeah. I think we can rule out everyone who fought the Rajang." He turned to Luke. "You've got the best knowledge about monsters here, which will definitely be an asset. So can I count on you?"
"Oh, so I'm the last pick."
"No, I was considering either you or Zara for the final slot. We need someone smart to balance things out. I just had to shoot the others down first."
"So I was second to her."
"How hard are you going to try to put yourself down?"
"I'm sure that you'll be fine at it." Mary appeared behind him. "Judah, you're strong. I'm sure that you won't let anything bad happen to him, will you?"
He felt like her eyes were piercing directly through him.
"Ah. Yeah. Sure." He replied, while thinking. "Is that a threat? It sounds like a threat."
The four of them set out, heading in the direction the Nergigante was approaching from.
"So, mind filling us in on what we're up against?" Fen asked.
"Nergigante. An elder dragon best known for hunting other elder dragons. Also known as the extinction dragon, or the great equaliser, in some places. It typically only feasts on other elder dragons."
"Oh. So you think it's going for whatever elder dragons might lay beyond here?"
"It is a bit strange, since there's been no reported sightings of any here previously. Now that I think about it, maybe letting it go could lead us to some yet to be discovered elder dragons, but I think the destruction that would cause in the process heavily outweighs any benefits."
"Still not sure why it only goes for elder dragons. Is it some kind of monster gourmet?"
"Bioenergy."
"Bioenergy?"
"Something that every living thing has. Elder dragons tend to possess the highest amounts of it. Really, any strong monster has a lot. It requires a high amount of bioenergy to sustain itself, so it usually doesn't waste energy going for anything that's too weak."
"So is there a reason for all the energy?"
"Regeneration."
"Seriously? It's immortal?"
"I wanna fight it even more now!" Laura yelled.
"No, it can just regenerate. Spikes cover its body, while it fights it grows more. More spikes mean it's more dangerous. From accounts I've read of hunters who've returned alive from fighting one, the most important thing is to cut the spikes the moment they grow. When they turn dark, they get more durable. In one of the accounts, the hunter failed to stop it from covering its entire body in dark spikes and uh… well, maybe it's for the best I don't recount the rest of that story. He lived, though."
"Yeah, how else would he have told the story?"
"Just barely. But he was still alive. Technically."
"Really out to inspire confidence today, man."
Contrary to Fen's words, Laura seemed even more excited now.
"Overconfidence can be more deadly than anything." Judah told Fen. "Having a bit of fear is fine. That's what I was taught, at least. The strategy is to keep targeting the spikes as they grow in, and slowly wear it down. But first…"
He looked around.
"There's absolutely no way to tell where it is."
The group looked around the area for a while, finding no sign of it.
"I'm quite loath to say this after just talking about overconfidence, but I think the best option would be splitting up. When one of us finds it, we'll send off a signal so the others can quickly regroup. That sound fine?"
"I just feel bad for whoever has to find it first." Fen remarked.
"I hope it's not me, but it probably will be." Luke added.
"Don't be so pessimistic. One in four chance, right?"
"That's still pretty high."
"If it's a one in four chance for a guy like you, then it's probably like a four in four chance for me." Laura bragged. "Maybe even five, if I'm really into it."
"Thanks?"
"For what?"
"Let's stay focused. We'll each take a flare of a different colour, so we can easily tell who found it. So who wants-"
"I'll take red." Laura interrupted. "Because it's the strongest colour."
"Blue for me." Fen took one.
"Yellow." Luke took another, leaving Judah with only green.
"Okay. That was easier than expected, I guess. Let's get going."
Luke and Panzer continued on their path. He stopped, observing what was just ahead.
"These tracks… I don't recognise them at all. There's a pretty good chance this is it. Panzer, can you tell where it went?"
Panzer lowered his head to the ground, using the nostrils at the top of his head to sniff around. He began to slowly walk off, following the trail.
"To be honest, I was dreading the possibility of getting to it first. But now that I think about it, maybe taking a moment to observe the Nergigante could be good. Just for a little bit before the fighting begins. Okay, let's hurry. I don't know if I'll get another chance like this."
Luke continued to follow behind Panzer in anticipation.
Judah pressed forward, but noticed that his partner was slowing down.
"What's wrong, Titan? You're even more scared than usual. What am I asking what's wrong for, I already know."
He removed his helmet, trying to comfort him.
"It'll be alright. My job is keeping you safe, remember? No matter what we're up against, I'm sure I can work out how to guard its attacks. It'll be the same as always."
This still didn't fully seem to convince him, so Judah needed to do something else. He rolled Titan over onto his back. Both recognised what was about to follow.
Judah began to give the fanged wyvern a belly rub. Titan's arms flapped around, an indicator he was enjoying himself.
"Well, now that I think about it, I'd be surprised if there was anything out there that could face something like this without being even a little concerned. I'm a bit worried too, so maybe I'll just keep doing this for a bit longer to take the edge off."
Judah got completely lost in playing around with Titan.
Laura dashed through the mountain path. She searched everywhere, even overturning every small rock on her path.
"Crush! Kill! Destroy! Get out here already! I'm gonna be the one to kill you! Me!"
She seemed to possess not even the slightest concern about fighting the Nergigante.
Laura continued to rampage through the mountains aimlessly.
Fen and Fang continued up the trail. After a few minutes, they reached some tracks.
"Hmm. I'm no expert with these, but I guess this is as good a lead as any. Can you track it, Fang?"
The Lunagaron barked.
"Good boy."
Fen followed behind him while thinking.
"Thinking about it, the others might be at a disadvantage since they won't be able to do this. Should I send the signal now and save them some time? No, I don't know how far away it is. There's a chance they could run into it before me."
Fang suddenly stopped as they entered a wider space.
"Hey, what's u-"
Fen paused completely, looking at the monster before him. Spikes adorned every possible inch of the beast's body.
"Hmm." Fen thought. "All that talk about Heart Fighters yesterday reminded me of the even older books we had. That one series that was a predecessor to it. I can't remember it that well, but Jor was really into it, wasn't she? The main character's catchphrase is the only thing I can really recall. I feel kinda like that. I must be the unluckiest pretty boy in the world, right about now."
He continued to study it.
"Well, I can say without any doubt that I've never seen anything like this before. How about you?"
Fang barked in a way that denied his question.
"Yeah, thought so. Well, no sense waiting around. You ready?"
This time it was a bark of affirment.
"That's what I like to hear, man."
Fen fired off a blue flare, signalling his location to the others. The elder dragon took notice of them, and after a few seconds of studying them began to move towards them.
"Hey, he's coming over here. Guess we're strong enough for him to consider eating. Isn't that a nice compliment?" Fen paused. "So you think he's after me or you?"
Fang looked like he was about to bite him.
"It was a joke. I already know it's me."
Fang was ready to attack him, but decided there was a more pressing matter at hand first. Done with joking around with Fang, Fen finally turned to address the elder dragon in the room.
"Hey there, gourmet. These parts aren't for you to mess around in. Better get going, or else-"
Before he could follow up on the threat, the Nergigante roared.
"Alright, I think I get what you're trying to say."
It raised its right arm, before crashing through. The two dashed out of sight in different directions. The Nergigante dragged its arm through the ground before spinning around to spot Fang circling around it.
As it turned, Fen shot himself towards its tail. Several rapid slashes followed, causing it to jump away in the direction of Fang. Much smaller than the Nergigante, Fang dodged around it while attempting to claw at it.
The group repeated similar exchanges a few more times, Fen and Fang using their speed to skirmish with the Nergigante while getting a feel for its movements. As he rapidly circled around it, Fen observed the spikes growing around its body.
"That's what he warned us about. They're definitely getting longer. Well, it's simple. Just gotta nip it in the bud."
The pair rapidly dodged around while slashing at the areas where the spikes were growing. The Nergigante stomped down, trying to crush them, but they narrowly avoided it. Fen backed off, while Fang charged into it. He bit at its legs, tearing through the spikes, before dashing past.
Covering himself in spikes would give him an advantage in attack power, but against an opponent like this it made more sense to prioritise speed, so he stuck to fighting on all-fours.
As Fen moved around the side to get at the tail, it swung around. It took him less than a second to recognise it moving towards as he flew through the air, an even shorter amount of time passed before he worked out that colliding with a tail moving towards him at breakneck speeds might be bad.
Fen adjusted his axe's position to the best of his ability in the time allocated, using another blast to shoot himself upwards. The spikes grazed his right leg, knocking him completely off balance and sending him sprawling in the air. As he began to descend, the Nergigante spun around and leapt into the air. From the corner of his eye, Fen noticed a gigantic fist aimed for him.
"That looks like certain death to me."
He still just barely had a grip on his axe, which he swung around to face it. The punch connected with his weapon for just a microsecond, before he pulled the trigger to launch himself away from it. Lacking the ability to land properly, he crashed into the ground.
Fang barked multiple times as a warning. Not taking the time to regain his senses, Fen rolled to the side. He just barely escaped the full weight of the Nergigante crashing into the ground.
He got back and rejoined Fang, trying to catch his breath. The fanged wyvern stared at him judgingly.
"I was just getting warmed up. This guy's strong, okay? So stop looking at me with those eyes."
Fang didn't do as he was told.
"If you weren't so lovable I'd really hate you."
He prepared to draw his axe.
"I think I've got a better feeling for how it moves now. So let's do thi- what's that sound?"
He kept thinking.
"It's definitely getting closer. Where is it? Fang and the Nergigante are looking up. So it's something falling? But what? Did a flying wyvern get knocked out of the air or something? Yeah, that's definitely a scream or yell of some kind. Doesn't sound familiar. So what is it?"
He eventually recognised it as a warcry.
"Got you now!"
A great force crashed into the right side of the Nergigante's head. Fen was only able to make out its horn flying off.
The dust cleared, Laura standing there.
She scanned her surroundings before spotting Fen and Fang.
"Hey. This one's the Nergigante, right?"
"Most people would confirm their target's identity before landing an attack like that. Where did you even jump from?"
She pointed up a nearby cliff. There were no openings that Fen could see, nor could he properly see the top.
"Not worth caring too much about, I guess."
The Nergigante roared, furious at the damage inflicted upon it. As soon as they were able, its enemies charged.
Laura ran directly for its head, while the other two split up. The Nergigante was unable to follow them as they darted out of its line of sight.
It swung for Laura. She rolled underneath the fist before hitting with an overhead slash. As the Nergigante recovered, it caught Fang in its line of view for just a moment before being slashed at. Fen crossed past it in the same moment, taking out some of the spikes on its back.
The Nergigante roared again, the sound powerful enough to stop its attackers completely. Only Laura was undeterred, unleashing an even more powerful slash than the first.
The Nergignate flinched from the pain as the sword carved through its chest. As it hit the ground Laura pulled the sword around, preparing yet another. The Nergigante dragged its right arm through the ground. Laura saw it coming from the moment the attack began, but was unable to move herself out of the way in time.
The attack hit directly, with force that felt like it was about to split the air. Laura flew through the air, but slammed her blade into the ground. The whiplash seemed to barely affect her. She just sheathed her sword and turned to the Nergigante, grinning confidently.
"It'll take more than that to kill me."
Fen landed nearby, before sighing. "You're seriously not cute at all."
"Huh?"
As they were readying themselves for another skirmish, a distraction appeared to draw their focus away. Another signal rose through the air. This time, a yellow flare. The colour that Luke chose.
They paused for just a moment, before having to move again to dodge around the Nergigante charging at them.
"What's he using that for? It's right here!"
Fen neglected to answer for a moment.
"Alright, let's run the possibilities here. Case A: He fired it off by accident. In that case, going over there will be a waste of time. I guess it's possible, but I can't fully see it happening. Case B: One of us has gotten the wrong monster. These spikes definitely match his description, though. And I doubt that he'd be mistaken about a monster's identity. Still, there's a chance. Case C: There's something else requiring attention at his location. It'd be nice if it was just some important information to help us win. But knowing my luck, it'll probably be some threat on the same level as the Nergigante. Or maybe worse? Let's not get too optimistic here. Well, if I had to bet… option C it is."
All of these thoughts took less than a second. He turned to Laura.
"Hey. We're gonna go check what's up. Can you hold it off for a bit?"
"No."
"What? I thought your thing was being strong?"
"I can't hold it off. I can kill it, though."
"...Okay. Just fight it."
"No, I'm going to kill it."
"Sure, have fun."
He began to run with Fang. The two ran at top speed, Fen using his axe and Fang just lagging behind.
To make sense of this mystery, let's turn back time by a few minutes.
A few minutes earlier, Panzer was tracking the Nergigante. They both looked up, seeing the blue flare.
"Oh, that was quick. I guess we would've been following it for a while if we'd caught up by tracking it. Okay, let's go."
The pair abandoned tracking and headed directly towards the source. They took a few turns before pausing. A shadow descended. Luke's breath caught in his throat.
The first thing he took notice of was the spikes coating the creature's body. Next were the battle scars beneath those, having failed to fully heal. Then his eyes finally reached the horns, the left one clearly broken off.
He and Panzer obscured themselves from its view to the best of their ability, almost on instinct. Just a moment later, the Nergigante began to look around. As if looking for something.
"So that's it. It matches the reports exactly, but it looks so much tougher when I see it like this. Why is it here, though? We're not even close yet. If I had to guess, maybe Fen sent out the signal when it was flying away? Or maybe he just spotted it. Well… he and Fang shouldn't be far behind."
"Let's keep observing for just a bit, okay? Just until they catch up." He told his anxious partner. Luke crouched there for a short while, taking in the elder dragon.
"I thought it was strangely calm at first, but now that I look closer it's completely tense. I guess it could be because Fen fought it for a little bit, after all. Or maybe it's looking for something strong around here. So does that mean whatever brought it here is close by?"
More time passed.
"He's really not showing up. Did he get lost? You'd think someone other than me would've spotted it. Oh, well. I think I'll just give up hope. Of course this had to happen the one time that I was fully prepared to pretend that I'd just arrived at the same time they did."
He sent off his own signal, connecting the two threads of this story back together. Hearing the sound, the Nergigante finally spotted them.
It studied the pair for a moment, before losing interest.
Somewhat irritated, Panzer jumped forward and started to slide down. He headbutted the Nergigante upon landing. This seemed to do minimal damage, but was enough to provoke it.
The Nergigante's overpowering voice stopped both of them in their tracks instantly, before it got ready for the fight to begin.
Its first instinct was to attempt to crush Panzer. He managed to dodge around its arm, headbutting the arm in the chance presented. Luke watched the spikes on the creature's body grow out as the fight progressed.
Knowing his purpose, he took aim. The Nergigante felt something strange on its left arm. A moment later, it detonated.
Luke's plan for dealing with the spikes was to use sticky ammo, or anything else explosive that he could apply in this situation. In confusion, the Nergigante almost fell over, but managed to keep standing.
This exchange repeated a few times as it continued to clash with Panzer. The explosions irritated it.
It stretched its arm out, grabbing Panzer. He was completely helpless to prevent himself from being lifted. In shock at this, the Nergigante's enemies were unable to predict its next move.
Panzer was flung through the air towards Luke. He processed this far too late, rolling down the side of the cliff to escape. Even after reaching the bottom he had no time to check on Panzer's condition, being immediately attacked by the Nergigante.
"This isn't good. There are still three problems. First. When I've got its full attention I can't shoot anywhere except the front. My attacks still seem effective, but I'm worried about the spikes growing where I can't reach. Second. I'm getting more tired as I keep dodging around, but it's not giving me any time to catch my breath. Third. I'm too worried about Panzer to focus!"
As he expected, it took only a short while for him to make an error. He tripped on uneven ground while turning, becoming defenceless as he fell. He could tell that the Nergigante wouldn't pass up this chance. It went to crush him with a punch. Luke's mind kept whirring, trying to find an escape.
It proved unnecessary.
The punch was blocked by a man in heavy armour.
To make sense of this late arrival, let's turn back time by several minutes.
Still in the midst of playing around with Titan, Judah suddenly heard the signal. His heart felt like it was replaced with a rock.
He and Titan began to run.
"I'm so embarrassed. What a failure of a captain I am! What if one of them gets hurt? It'll be all my fault for getting distracted so stupidly!" His mind kept wandering. "What'll happen? To start, someone will get injured. Then my position as captain will come into question. After that, they'll probably throw Titan and I out. Maybe they'll just kill us. Or something even worse…"
The vivid image of Titan running in an appropriately sized hamster wheel appeared in his mind.
"No! Anything but that! We've got to hurry, so it never comes to that! I'm sorry, everyone!"
He rushed off. A short while passed before he saw the yellow flare go up, forcing him to redirect himself.
It took another while before he finally caught sight of anything important.
Luke was completely on his own, fighting against a giant spiked dragon. His mind entered a state of panic beyond what he previously assumed possible as Mary's earlier words echoed back to him.
Before he even realised that he was moving, he was standing between the two. The creature bashing his shield was what snapped him back into awareness.
"Thank you, Judah."
"Hmm? Oh, you're welcome."
It took a few more seconds for him to get adjusted to his surroundings.
"Where's Panzer?"
"He got thrown up there by it a bit ago. It's been attacking me non-stop, so I haven't gotten the chance to check on him."
"Go now, then."
"Sure."
Luke ran to the side of the cliff and started looking for a way up. It targeted him again, forcing Judah to throw himself between the monster and the gunner once more.
"It seems to only be interested in you."
"Should we swap places, then?"
"Are you alright? He's your partner, it's best if you do it."
Luke paused at this reply. A few seconds passed before Judah felt the need to snap him out of it.
"Go and check on him, already."
"R-right."
Judah was finally able to turn his full attention back to the elder dragon.
It tried to reach up the cliff, but he jumped in its way to block it. Titan crunched down on some rocks, getting ready to attack. No longer at risk of being bombarded, the Nergigante finally started paying attention to Judah.
Luke finally reached Panzer. He was slowly freeing himself from the hole in the wall that he got stuck in. With some slight assistance, he finally got free.
The two slid down, rejoining Judah.
"Now that I think about it, we've never hunted together, have we?"
Judah paused, going back through his memories. "You're right. That's strange. Guess we picked quite a target to start with."
"Yeah, you don't have to tell me. Well, we're two pairs of attention-drawing defenders and hidden attackers, so I think how we should go about this is clear."
The Nergigante went on the attack before any more words could be exchanged. Luke and Panzer ran to the side while Judah remained to intercept it.
It rammed its horn into him. He blocked, taking the full force of the attack on but refusing to take a step back, before retaliating with some rapid pokes.
Luke ran in a circle around it. As he'd feared, the spikes on its legs and back had already hardened. He began to shoot regardless, hoping to break through them.
Titan's mouth finally heated up and he rammed himself into the Nergigante's left leg, to limited effectiveness. Panzer charged into the other side, getting slightly more of a reaction.
The fight played out in this way. Judah attempted to draw most of its attacks. Whenever it would get distracted by another, they would quickly get away until it returned its focus to him. Occasionally, Panzer would take over the role of defender for him, but he was far less effective at avoiding damage due to his size.
Luke had an idea.
"Make sure it doesn't move for just a moment!"
He aimed his gun into the air, and carefully aimed before firing. The projectile arced around. A cluster bomb connected with the spikes atop its back. Several more followed, breaking through them completely.
The Nergigante roared, now enraged.
While the rest were still recovering from this, something descended from above. Fen slashed at it while he fell past it. Fang followed just behind, biting a chunk out of it. Before anyone could react to this entrance, Fen quickly summarised the situation in a single yell.
"There's two of them!"
He ran away from the Nergigante's retaliation after this.
"Huh?" Judah asked.
"There's another one where I just was, which the meathead's dealing with right now. When I saw Luke's flare I came to check it out, and it's just like I feared. They better pay us double for this."
In the space of less than a second, everything connected inside Luke's head. All the things that were bugging him about this finally resolved themselves.
"They're looking for each other. Because they want to fight."
"Go on." Judah instructed him.
"I was trying to work it out before I started fighting. They both must've come here looking for elder dragons, but noticed the other first. They're fighting over food, basically. That's why this one was looking around when I first spotted it. So-"
In the next moment, Fen and Judah spoke simultaneously.
"Then why don't we give him exactly what he wants?"
"What if we used that to our advantage?"
"I wasn't done talking. But I was going to suggest that too, yes."
"So how are we going to do that?" Fen asked.
"Well… I think I've already got an idea of how to make it mad."
Laura clashed with the Nergigante before her once more. The two of them paused, hearing something approaching.
Panzer charged through. Just behind him was the Nergigante. It's intent wasn't to reach him, but one atop his back. Luke continued to agitate it with explosions. Judah also held on, shield raised.
Fen and Fang raced just ahead of the group, guiding them to their destination.
Only Titan lagged behind, unable to keep up with the frantic chase.
The arrangement was a slightly strange one, but Judah had insisted on going to guard Luke. It was clear that the explosions agitated this particular Nergigante greatly, but when Luke suggested that he and Panzer lead it alone Judah got incredibly afraid for some reason.
Every time the Nergigante got too close while chasing, he would guard the attack and poke at it. While this went on, Luke kept firing every time it looked like it was about to lose focus.
Panzer had proven successful in staying ahead, but was losing steam rapidly. He wasn't meant to charge over such a long distance. The goal was close, but it felt further than the distance he'd travelled to get there. He almost faltered for a moment, but stomped his foot into the ground. A final burst of energy spread through him, allowing him to charge once again.
The Nergigante was surely catching up with them. He kept on going, running like he never had before. With the last of his energy, he finally reached the other target.
Laura turned to them as Panzer entered view. Her expression shifted as the Nergigante entered.
"Huh? There's two now!?"
"Oh yeah, I guess she's the last one to find out." Fen commented.
Laura looked ecstatic over this twist.
The two Nergigante's locked eyes with one another. A moment passed. Then they crashed into each other. This was the opponent they'd been searching for. Only one would get to continue onwards.
Unable to participate, Laura's motivation immediately dropped.
"I feel dead now. So. Why are there two?"
"Because they want to fight each other."
"They came all the way out here to do that?"
"No, they were both coming this way. I guess they only noticed the other when they got here."
Laura didn't answer, only focused on the fight. Titan finally managed to catch up to the rest of the group.
"Oh yeah, I had an idea on the way here." Fen announced. "It'd get pretty confusing if we just kept calling them both the Nergigante, right? The one that I encountered first is missing its right horn, while the second is missing its left. So we'll just call them Left and Right. Pretty simple."
Luke observed the fight for a moment.
"One of them doesn't have any horns, though."
"Huh?"
"Ah, yeah. That was me. While you were busy getting them and stuff I broke the other one off."
"Let's just go with One and Zero." Judah suggested.
"That sounds better." Laura replied.
"I would've said that if I'd been aware of the changes." Fen seemed slightly embarrassed at having been wrong.
The two monsters continued to tear through each other. One slammed Zero into the wall, shattering some of its spikes. In response, Zero grabbed the enemy's single remaining horn and used it to throw it. Zero chased after, punching it into the ground.
One grabbed it and launched itself into the air. It spread its wings to gain extra height, before slamming back down into the ground.
Zero got back up and backed off slightly. The two circled each other, before roaring. One went for a punch first, Zero followed suit. The spiked fists collided with the enemy's face simultaneously.
Luke, Fen and Judah all seemed excited by this spectacle. Only Laura was unmoved.
After several minutes of heated battle, Zero went for a dive attack which tore through the area. In the wake of this destruction, its focus wavered for a few moments. Within that small space of time, One grabbed its lower jaw with its left hand. A second later, it grabbed onto the upper jaw with its right.
Holding its opponent down, it began to pull with all its force. Zero struggled in vain. A terrible crack echoed across the area just a few short moments later.
One dropped the newly lifeless object to the ground before roaring in victory.
Luke, Fen and Judah's enthusiasm quickly died off while Laura began to cheer.
One turned away from them.
"Guess he's completely uninterested in us now." Fen remarked.
"Then we've got to do something." Judah got up. "Luke, can you fire some more explosives?"
"Right!" He reached into his ammo pouch. He paused. His right hand frantically searched around. Then he closed his eyes. "I- uh. I ran out."
"Well I guess with how many shots were necessary to keep its attention that makes sense."
"So what now?" Fen asked.
"We just charge. Nothing else to it."
As Judah finished giving this speech, One began to take off. They hurried after it. Luke began firing, but the shots that connected seemed to have little effect.
"Wait a minute." Judah thought. "Where is Laura? She's definitely not here, so where-"
His question was answered before he could finish it.
As One flew into the air, Laura jumped off a nearby rock. The questions of how she got up there so quickly or what plan she had, if any, received no answers.
With a great roar, she slammed the side of her greatsword into One's right wing. Taken by surprise, it lost its balance completely.
Fen and Fang reached the edge of the cliff first, watching One plummet to the ground. He could just barely see the outline of Laura hanging on.
As they collided with the ground, it shattered, revealing an area hidden beneath.
The first thing Laura saw was water. They had reached an underground cavern. One was the first to hit the ground. Laura made contact a moment later. The water was shallow enough to stand in.
The wildlife in the cavern scattered in response to the two intruders from the world above.
Laura stood back up. Her only focus was the opponent before her.
"You've got some nerve stealing my target like you did there. I was just starting to enjoy myself. But it's fine. You're stronger, right? So that makes up for it."
Her gaze reached the light pouring in from the opening above, before returning to her opponent.
"I don't think they'll be interrupting for a while. That's perfect."
Laura pulled something out of her bag. A red potion. She chugged back the demondrug. She then did the same with an armourdrug. After the glass was emptied, she crushed it. The shards of glass didn't even seem to graze her.
An extremely wicked grin spread across her face.
"Let's have a bit of fun."
One seemed to only realise the true power of the one before it at that moment. This hunter was worth defeating. Worth consuming to further its own strength.
Before she could do anything, it slammed into her with its full force. The two crashed into the nearest wall.
One paused, studying its opponent.
"That one almost hurt."
With a mighty swing, she knocked the Nergigante back as though it weighed nothing.
To make sense of Laura Ford, let's turn back time by several years.
The Hunter's Guild classifies monsters in three categories. Low-rank, high-rank and master-rank, formerly known as G-rank.
Monsters of the same species can be assigned different ranks depending on their personal strength. One theory on what leads to such a disparity between them is differing levels of bioenergy. Those born with more are destined for greater power, while those born with less will be stuck at the lower ranks.
Based on this, a certain professor hypothesised that the same could be true for people. A person born with a greater amount of bioenergy would excel over those born with less.
Due to a lack of methods for measuring bioenergy, there was no way to verify or disprove this.
However, there were some cases out there that supported the existence of such a rule. Laura Ford was one of them.
Growing up she always had above-average strength. It only breached the realm of extraordinary when she was twelve years old. On the day that both of her fathers were shocked to see her swinging a greatsword around.
Becoming a hunter was inevitable. After all, her most prominent trait was her strength.
When she fought, she did so with an unparalleled wildness and bloodlust. Her surroundings blurred as she only became focused on fighting.
It should be obvious what followed, shouldn't it? A wild beast can never be anything more than what the name implies.
A wild beast will always devour what's in front of it. Whether that's an enemy or a loved one, that logic cannot change.
It was only just a few moments. Less than a dozen. She lost herself completely in the fight for that short period of time. That was more than enough.
Laura looked down, clutching onto her bloodied blade. On the ground a man, also wielding a greatsword, lay injured.
Her breathing was ragged. Any semblance of thoughts had long since scattered. This was the direct result of her being what she was. No one's fault but her own. She knew that.
The sin of her existence bore down on her, threatening to crush her completely. That's why she ran from it all.
All the way to the Frontier Grounds, where she could be free. The place where nobody had to know what she was.
Laura Ford's true power couldn't be used with others around. That is to say that Laura Ford was completely incompatible with others. Her strength served only to disrupt everything around her.
She had no need to fight alongside a monster like the rest. For she had one of her own. The type that would devour anyone she let near it. One that screamed for freedom from inside her body.
It was only in a moment such as this, isolated from the rest of her group, that she could be herself once again. The strength that was pressed down by guilt and fear was finally let loose. As a result of that relief, she couldn't help enjoying herself.
The battle continued.
"Look at all this blood! Covering you, covering me, staining the water! Is it yours, or is it mine? I can't tell! Isn't that great? That's what fighting's all about!"
She used another great swing, cleaving through part of One. She dodged around one of its punches and slammed the sword into it, before following up with a slam from below. Its attacks finally connected. The spikes pierced through her armour, almost impaling her through the stomach. She continued attacking, as though she couldn't care any less. All the while, she kept laughing.
This was glee. Joy, elation, relief, euphoria. Every word that could be used to describe a state of happiness was applicable to her at that moment. She wildly charged in to keep on fighting.
But it wasn't enough. Something was still off. Laura stopped attacking for a moment to leer at it.
"Hey, you. Can't you take this a bit more seriously? It'll be boring if I win too easily."
One seemed baffled by her words.
"That little guy said something before, didn't he? Right, right. You get stronger the more spikes you get. So hurry up and grow them out already. I won't break them. See, I want to prove that I'm the strongest. Can't do that if I'm fighting a weaker version of you. So stop playing around and take this seriously, so I can beat your serious attempt down too."
One clearly took offence to her words, roaring at her. Its spikes began to grow more rapidly.
As the spikes grew, Laura could feel it grow more deadly. The pressure exuded by her opponent only grew more overpowering. Yet, she refused to break them. For the anticipation of how strong it would get had her more excited with each passing moment.
Eventually, it reached completion. The two were covered in blood, on their last legs. A single move could decide the match at this point. But One had been insulted. It wanted its opponent destroyed. On its own pride as a dragon that hunted dragons.
The cavern was just barely spacious enough.
It roared again. Then began to fly backwards, preparing itself.
Laura could tell that an attack was coming, something using all its force. Dodging was an option. Not one that she had any interest in taking. She raised her sword over her shoulders.
"Come on."
One went for a divebomb. Laura smashed her sword into the ground.
The two attacks met in the middle.
Her sword hit its right wing, in the same spot that she'd struck earlier. This is what allowed her to cut through it like it was nothing. Whether it was luck or instinct was impossible to know. What was clear was her victory.
One crashed nearby, bleeding heavily. Its spikes were all broken off in the attack, leaving it vulnerable. Not that it mattered in its current situation.
Laura stepped towards it.
"There are three reasons you lost. A, I'm strong. Two, I'm stronger than you. And third, I'm the strongest being there ever has been! Thanks, though. I haven't had this much fun in a while."
She smiled again before swiftly delivering the final hit. One closed its eyes, completely defeated by this beast that devoured beasts.
By the time the rest had found a safe way into the cavern, the fighting had already concluded.
Judah paused slightly, seeing the blood filling the water. Luke was unable to do anything to do anything but stare in shock, his brain whirring to work out how she'd been successful."
Fen surveyed the surroundings.
"I was right about you not being cute."
Judah finally decided on what to say.
"Good job dealing with it, Laura. I'm ashamed that we weren't able to find a way down sooner, but I guess it didn't matter that much."
In spite of the battle she'd just gone through, Laura seemed completely relaxed. She turned slowly to face the ones that had just entered.
"Hey, Fen. I like this one. Make me some armour from it."
"...Who am I to refuse?"
The group returned with two Nergigante corpses, surprising everyone at Valrag.
For having taken out both, they received more of a reward. Judah and Fen's hunter ranks shot past fifty, with Luke and Laura not that far behind.
Fen, Luke and Laura went off to design her new armour, while Judah relayed the news to the rest.
"So it's finally time to leave." Spence remarked. "I was getting kinda bored of this place anyway, so that's fine by me."
"Terrence said he was coming back in a few weeks, didn't he?" Asked Mary. "Wouldn't it be better to wait for a bit? We've already been here six months now, it won't make much of a difference at this point."
"It's because we've been here six months that I wanna get going. Besides, he said to keep going so that's all the more reason. What's the worst that could happen?"
He paused.
"It feels like something's missing. Usually I'd get a sarcastic comment when I say something like that. Like someone pointing out that I'm not in charge here."
"Yeah, Zara's still sleeping."
"Huh? I didn't even notice her leaving."
"A few hours ago she said 'I'm entering snooze mode' out of nowhere and then collapsed."
"Huh, wonder what could've caused that?" Isa asked.
No one answered this either. Jean suddenly perked up.
"Oh, do you want me to fill in for her? I've been practising a little."
"Why would you practise for that? No, it's fine, though. I'm just getting away with it while I still can."
Judah decided it'd be best to refocus.
"We'll be heading out for the third zone tomorrow morning."
Both of the twins seemed excited.
Mary had an uneasy smile.
"Well, I guess there's no choice."
"What's your problem?" Spence asked.
"I don't have any problem with it. It's perfectly fine, okay? …We should just be wary. I doubt the way there is called Death Mountain for nothing."
"Don't worry." Jean assured her. "We've got numbers on our side. At least three of us should make it."
"...I'm just gonna start packing."
The next day, the armour was finally completed.
"Here." Fen presented a suit of armour. "I made the version for guys, just like you asked."
"...It's still got horns on it."
"Yeah, of course. The most defining trait of the Nergigante is those horns. The horns have gotta be there in the armour."
"I asked for no horns, though."
"Look, you seem to not be getting it. The purpose of wearing armour made from something is to show that you bested that creature. Without the horns it could be anything. But even if they've never seen a Nergigante, people will see those horns and be able to tell that it was something dangerous. There's no point without the horns."
"They're a weak point. What if I get grabbed by them?"
"Why would that happen?"
"We saw it happen during their fight."
"Oh, so you were paying attention after all. Damn, there goes trying to fool you. Still, you'll just have to fight better. Sacrifices need to be made to look cool."
"No."
"What do you mean 'no'?"
"This."
She raised her greatsword, aiming to cut the horns off.
"As if I'd let you!" Fen drew his accelaxe.
"I'm the one wearing it, what does it matter to you?"
"It matters because I'm the one who made it!"
The two's battle escalated, forcing Judah and Mary to step in to drive them apart.
Luke watched the scene, but his mind kept drifting.
"I'm still so curious what brought them here. Having one show up here is unheard of, two at the same time is even more far-fetched. It must've been because of something going on further in, but what? Maybe some elder dragon we've never heard of? I guess the only way to find out is to keep going."
To make sense of what he was wondering about, there was no need to go back in time. The answer lay in this very moment, in a place he had yet to see.
Four hunters chased after a Kirin.
The thunder emperor of myth was unable to escape from them, getting quickly.
An inescapable hell of attacks followed it everywhere, its repeated attempts to repel them proving ineffective.
Victory was all but assured for the hunters. All four of them recognised that, getting careless in their approach.
Something was above them.
Out of the corner of their eyes they could just barely spot something red hovering above. The chances of someone being struck by a meteor or any other falling object are impossibly low, but never zero. In their ignorance, the hunters completely overlooked the distant spot that was growing larger.
It was only once it was directly over them that they finally took notice. The blazing trail of red collided into the ground where they stood, shattering its surroundings. Even sound was destroyed by the impact.
The leader of the group was the only one that managed to remain standing, just barely. His senses were still shaky. He could just barely spot someone stepping out from the dust.
A man in full Desert Seltas armour. The new arrival swung his arms forward, equipping himself with what appeared to be sharp gauntlets.
The leader barely had time to process this before a punch tore through the air between them, colliding with his chest. In an instant, he was knocked to the ground.
"Sorry, but we'll be taking this."
TO BE CONTINUED
This concludes the first arc of this story. Everything until this point was just an introduction, but with every major character having at least shown up, now I can get started on the parts I'm really super ultra looking forward to writing.
The chapter following this is a character glossary. I started off writing some short character profiles for just the main cast that I was planning to put at the end of this chapter, but things spiralled out of control when I decided to include the rest of the characters, as well as more detailed information about each of them. Putting all of that information at the end of a chapter would be ridiculous, so it's on its own now.
Honestly this wouldn't have taken nearly as long to release without it, I started losing steam on writing the profiles after the first dozen.
See you on the other side, with any luck.