Nine hunters and eight hunters stared up at the mountain before them.
The promised Death Mountain.
The place that connected the second and third zones, and where most expeditions drew to a close.
"So, just to be sure." Judah began. "Let's run over the plan one more time."
"Do we have to?" Asked Isa in return. "We're already late cause of Zara."
"Well, if someone had told me that we were going today before I went through the entirety of my regular morning routine then that certainly would've helped. Hell, one of you could've had the decency to pack for me while I was passed out."
"I thought you said you'd kill us if we touched any of your stuff?" Luke asked back.
"Yeah, and I still would've. But I would've appreciated the gesture before doing that."
"This isn't getting us anywhere." Spence cut them off. "I'll spell it out for you idiots in the captain's place since you don't seem to be getting it. It's called Death Mountain. Get it? That means things die on it."
"Doesn't the same go for everywhere?" Mary asked before the rest could yell at him in response.
"Yeah, but especially here."
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I can explain things just fine. Well, there's not that much to go over. We'll proceed with Isabel, Luke and I leading the way. Mary, Spencer and Fen will provide the rear-guard. The rest will guard the middle. Remember, we're not here to fight anything. If anything comes to attack us our priority should be repelling it, not killing it. We have to get through as quickly as possible."
"Well, it should only take a few hours from what I've heard." Remarked Fen.
"I still wish we could've worn fancy coats for this part."
"No, we don't know how dangerous it could get, so we're using the old fashioned method. Lots of hot drinks."
Jean looked to Fen pleadingly, who just shrugged in response.
"Okay, so now that all of us are here… we're missing one."
He finally noticed that Laura had already set off, having gotten bored with all the talking. The group ran to catch up with her.
The way was even more frigid than any of them could've expected. But, apart from that, it wasn't so bad.
The sky was clear, the wind wasn't too bad. The group continued on in the formation they'd decided on.
Isa and Irontusk led the way. Judah and titan trailed behind, ready to fight whenever necessary.
Panzer trotted behind them, Luke sitting on his back while looking through his scope.
"Anything yet?" Isa asked.
"I'd tell you if there was."
"But I'm getting bored. This place isn't-"
"Don't say it."
"Say what?"
"That… y'know."
"No I don't."
"Whenever you say something like that you immediately get proven wrong."
"Like, in general? That's just superstition."
"No, I mean in your specific case."
"Does it really happen that much?" Judah interjected.
"The first time she did it we got attacked by the Deviljho."
"Oh."
"What were the rest?" Asked Isa, having no memory of this.
"Only twice so far. The second was just before Laura appeared on the way there."
"Hey, even if you're right, we got new group members both times. It wasn't all bad."
"I really wouldn't take my chances in a place called Death Mountain."
"That's wise of you." Judah affirmed his decision.
"I think the cold is making you both go crazy. How would me saying something cause bad things to happen?"
"Just don't."
"Maybe I won't, maybe I will, not like you can stop me."
In the middle of the group, a far less productive conversation was taking place.
"I spy… something white!" While walking alongside Tama, Jean declared a bold challenge to the others, inciting them to guess what she laid her eyes upon. In some locales, this game of champions came to be referred to as "I spy".
"This is the thirty-nineth time you've made this exact joke." Zara pointed out, not bothering to move from staring into the sky atop Arachne's back.
Laura made a focused expression.
"Is it… snow?"
"Damnit, you got it again! Ok, new round. I spy… something white!"
"Give it up for round forty."
Laura went back into thought.
"Maybe… snow?"
"And I thought I'd win for sure this time. This time for sure!"
"I hope the cold kills one of us. It doesn't have to be either of you. I'd be perfectly fine with it being me."
The rear guard didn't have anything more interesting going on than the rest.
"Why do you think all the monsters that we pass by keep watching us instead of attacking?" Spence walked at the front with Storm.
"To save energy, probably." Fen answered from his left while walking next to Fang. "In a place as cold as this you can't just run around recklessly. Even if you survive, a fight that you don't win is a serious risk. There's too many of us, that's why they don't bother trying." He looked at Mary and Kasa, walking at the back of the group. "Well, even if one of them was foolish enough to try it, Fang and I would be sure to stop them in their tracks in a heartbeat."
Mary wasn't sure whether he was winking or blinking at her and didn't really want to ask.
"Let's just hope one doesn't."
"We'd get there first."
"Huh?"
"I'm saying I'd get there first. Lightning is faster than a heartbeat."
"First of all, that's a weird comparison, how do you even compare those two things? Second, since when were you at least as fast as lightning?"
"Well, not yet. But we're getting there."
"If you're getting to the point of being lightning that means you're still slower than it."
"Yeah, but…"
Spence couldn't think of a comeback.
"Look, I only noticed this a little while ago, but don't you think we overlap way too much?" The speed-focused glaive user with a monster that happened to be a blue-coloured fanged wyvern asked.
"No. I don't really care." The speed-focused axe user with a monster that happened to be a blue-coloured fanged wyvern lied in response.
"Let's just settle it like this. When a monster attacks us the first one to deal with it will be the winner. That sound okay?"
"I said I don't care. You have fun."
"This is a really dumb thing to fight over, you two. You both have a lot of differences like… your roles."
"Struggling that much to find a difference really isn't helping here." Fen told her.
"Ah, here comes a monster now." Spence said.
Fen turned his head almost instantly. The only thing he saw were Spence and Storm staring at him annoyingly.
"Hmmm? That was a quick turn for someone who doesn't care."
"T-that was just in case it was real. We're supposed to be defending ourselves, you know? Not playing some stupid game."
"Why am I getting so riled up over this?" Fen thought after making his excuse. "Just act cool. This isn't your style. Actually, I'm more mad that this idiot managed to trick me than I am about getting my status as the fastest one challenged."
At the same time they were bickering, or perhaps because of it, something began sliding towards them.
"Oh, look. I think something's approaching." Mary moved her arm to point to it. Before her arm was even half stretched out, those surrounding her launched themselves forward like bullets fired from a gun.
Spencer propelled himself with blasts of air while Fen accelerated. The two free-falling stars collided with the target seemingly simultaneously.
The Snowbaron Lagombi was stopped in its tracks. The four of them finally slowed enough to be visible for just a brief moment. The two pairs readied their next attack while staring the other two down in an attempt to intimidate them. They became a blur once more.
The flurry of attacks engulfed the target. Mary's thoughts finally caught up with what was happening.
"It's- we're not here to fight! Just leave the bunny alone!"
Her voice didn't seem to even come close to them. Before she could decide on another course of action, something stormed past her.
Out of the corner of their eyes, the four attackers spotted something descending.
"Snow!"
They stopped in place, lacking the context for Laura's choice of battle cry. She crashed into the snow sword-first, obscuring the vision of all involved.
By the time things cleared up, the Lagombi had disappeared from view.
"The bunny…" Mary muttered.
The five of them were lectured by Judah about following orders afterwards.
As they progressed, Luke spotted something.
"Ah. I think the light's reflecting off something over there."
"What is it?"
Isa snatched the bowgun from him, looking through the scope.
"Hmmm."
"What do you see?" Judah asked.
"Just snow. How the hell do you zoom this thing in?"
Luke grabbed the bowgun back. "Don't take it from me, I hate that. Especially when you don't know how to use it."
He zoomed in.
"There's nine people down there, all in coats…" He paused. Judah grimaced slightly. "Is one of them a bird? I can't tell cause of the hood covering the face but… no that's definitely a beak."
Isa grabbed the bowgun once more.
"Yep, it's definitely them! So the cause of that reflection was the Starward Diamond himself."
"I just told you not to take it. And what do you mean by that?"
"I'm talking about the rifle guy. Cause y'know. No hair. It's funny because of that, right? Because he's got no hair on his head."
"Don't make fun of Bal like that. That doesn't even make sense anyway, his hood is up."
"The Starward Diamond defies all logic."
Judah sighed. "So Lotus is back."
"Oh, right." Isa replied. "You still think it's like that."
"...Like what?"
"I need to find something else to focus on right now."
"I am still confused."
She walked over to the cliff.
"Hey, dipshits!"
Judah's confusion reached its peak, preventing him from reprimanding her for her rudeness.
Her yells caused those behind them to finally notice the group in the distance ahead of them and caused the group in question to stop moving.
The three in the middle reacted first.
"Oh, so there they are." Jean remarked. "Of course they get to wear nice coats. I'm jealous."
"You want someone to point out that you can't actually see them properly, right? That's what you want me to do, isn't it? I'm not doing it."
"That's good enough for me." Jean stopped looking through the gap between her thumb and finger and pulled out a telescope.
"Oh, I was totally right about the coats, though. I'm so jealous."
Before Zara could respond, a yell of "Snow!" momentarily cut off her hearing. She covered her ears in a desperate attempt to cope with the ringing. As her senses finally recovered she wasted no time in complaining to the cause.
"We're not playing that game anymore. I know that you're not the best at thinking but being minutes behind the rest of us is a new one."
"Huh? Oh yeah, that. Honestly, I just felt like yelling something out and that's the first thing that came out. Kinda forgot we were doing all that before."
"Wow. I don't care that much. Just don't do it again."
"Can't guarantee."
"What's even the point?"
"It's fun."
Fen looked over. "Seems like they're yelling over there."
"Yeah. Kinda weird." Spencer replied.
They stared at each other for a moment.
Mary's question of "Are you really doing this again?" was what set the two of them off, both trying to shout loud enough to drown the other's voice out completely.
From across the ravine that separated the two groups, the Starward Diamonds listened in.
"Bal, identify the source of the noise."
"Sure, Lotus." The group's tactician looked through his bowgun's scope.
"Oh, it's the DBA. I wonder how they got behind us. Maybe they set out late? Sorry, it seems like your plan to coincidentally arrive in the third zone at the same time has gone to waste."
"You don't have to say that part aloud. Just tell me what they want."
"Well, my guess as to what they're saying is as good as anyone else's. Judging from their faces it doesn't really seem like anything urgent. I think it's safe to assume that they just started yelling stupid things for fun."
"I see."
"Nothing worth getting worked up over, right? So let's get going."
"What kind of leader do you think I am, Bal?"
"...One who doesn't do stupid things. At least, I'd hope so. I really want that to be the case. Please?"
"Let's say that we leave. What then?"
"We keep going."
"And just admit defeat to Judah? As if!" He turned to the rest of the group, commanding them with a presence resembling a great lion. "Everyone, assume the group yelling formation! This is what we've practised for!"
Fen and Spence's competition showed no signs of stopping any time soon.
In the middle of the group, the three had all stopped to move.
"Snow!"
"Stuck up pricks!"
"Nice coat!"
Isa turned to Luke.
"C'mon, you join in too."
"What? Why would I do that?"
"It's fun. Even the monsters are joining in by roaring. I'm pretty sure they're doing it over there too."
Luke turned to Judah to look for support, only to find out that the captain's brain had already shut down completely.
"I'm fine."
"Come on."
"No."
"You know you want to."
"No I don't."
"Yes you do."
"I might."
"Oh, that was easier than expected."
"It took three tries, though."
"And that's less than I expected."
"What should I even say?"
"I dunno, you'll figure something out. Just the first thing that comes to your head."
Luke took her advice to heart, snatching the first unassorted thought that appeared in his mind and turning it into a brave yell.
"Isosceles!"
As if to answer him, an ear-splitting roar pierced the air. A Velkhana burst out of the ice in the ravine, flying out in an attempt to find the cause of the noise.
Isa turned to Luke with a silent stare of shock. The rest of the group (with the exception of Judah) did the same. He could even feel the eyes of the Starward Diamonds pointed to him.
"C-come on, it wasn't just me!"
The Velkhana roared once more. The hunters had disturbed it. So it was planning on eliminating those pests. It was that simple.
It went to attack the Starward Diamonds first, since they were closer.
Isa snapped her fingers in front of Judah, managing to shock him back into reality.
"Hey, what should we do?"
"Sorry, I was completely out of it. First, let me see-"
He paused for just a moment, taking everything in.
"We're going over to help them. Let's find a way over."
Judah studied the situation as he moved.
"Mary's group."
"Yes?"
Spence and Fen were finally focused.
"Do you think it'd be possible for you to get across the gap? The rest of us can catch up after."
"Kasa can definitely make it. As for you two-"
Both yelled in unison. "We'll do it!"
"I really shouldn't have asked."
As the others ran to find a way around, those six took off. Kasa flew through the air with Mary on her back, easily clearing the ravine.
Unable to fly, the others had more of a challenge ahead of them.
Storm leapt into the air and started to glide down with Spence on his back.
Fen simply launched himself using his accelaxe, while Fang attempted to leap across.
He failed to make it, but managed to dig his claws into the ice and start clambering up. Fen also failed to clear the gap, but put his previous experience climbing up walls with his axe to good use. Both made it across and began to fight the Velkhana.
Storm's descent was too fast for him to arrive at his intended destination. Recognising this, Spence jumped from his partner's back. This was not an act of sacrifice. He shot himself through the air to land at the cliff's edge. Upon landing he wasted no time in turning and lowering his glaive so that Storm could grab onto it.
He just barely grasped the weapon. Spence let out a sigh of relief and went to pull him up.
It didn't work, so he tried pulling him up again.
It still didn't work. His plan's one oversight was overestimating his own strength. So now he was stuck on the ground, with the risk of Storm falling into the abyss at any moment.
Spence struggled with all of his might, to no avail.
Just when it seemed like all hope was lost, a hand reached down to help him lift Storm up. Spencer turned his head.
"Michael?"
The cook of the Starward Diamonds grinned back at him.
"Can't have you falling into the abyss before we've settled our fight."
The two men pulled the fanged wyvern up together.
Still to no avail. They continued struggling, barely making it any further than before.
"This is a lot more difficult than I was expecting." Admitted Spence.
"Yeah… how much does that monster weigh?"
"Hey, don't bring that up, just keep pulling."
The two of them nearly passed out before Sol came over to help them, getting Storm up the side of the cliff rather easily.
"Thanks, living suit of armour."
He and Storm finally focused on the fight. While they were out of it, the battle had progressed.
Fen and Fang were already attacking the Velkhana, much to the other pair's dismay. Joining them were Kalo and Milla, rapidly slashing at it.
A scientific genius wearing a heavy coat over a lab coat presented himself before the Velkhana.
"I've observed enough to understand all of your moves. I can predict every single of your actions now! I-"
The Velkhana swung its tail around, swatting him away.
"I predicted that!" He yelled as he flew through the air.
"You guys seem a lot weaker than before. What's up?"
"We brought these coats to stop us from worrying about the cold." Bal explained. "But it means we can't fight as well as we usually do."
Mary chimed in on the explanation. "Using armour gives you different skills and such. It might not be obvious, but-"
"Of course I know that, you don't have to explain it."
"Oh, sorry."
"I totally get it. If I didn't have this armour I wouldn't have the skill that makes me immune to losing. Now, that's enough wasted time. We'll keep you safe until the captain arrives."
Spence and Storm picked up the pace, ignoring the protests from the others about how they didn't need protecting and how being immune to losing wasn't a real armour skill.
He vaulted into the air, slashing at the Velkhana. It took notice of him and Storm as they approached. The elder dragon danced away from their attacks and attempted to knock the hunter from the air.
As it did, Fen closed in. He dashed near the Velkhana's chest and wildly slammed his axe upwards, carving through. Fang followed directly behind him, sinking its fangs into its chest.
The Velkhana roared, forcing the two of them away.
Fang roared back at it, beginning to stand on his hind legs.
The two roared once more while covering themselves in armour of ice simultaneously. Both of the now-enraged monsters lept towards the other.
Not wanting to fall behind, Spence and Storm renewed their determination to attack.
In response to being slashed simultaneously from below and above, the Velkhana dashed away and used a blast of ice breath.
Even as those four were knocked away, more hunters swarmed it.
While the Velkhana was more powerful than them, especially in their current state, their overwhelming advantage in numbers more than made up for this.
Lotus ran towards the Velkhana. It dodged away from him. Lotus fired his gunlance at the ground, launching his entire body off the ground. The Velkhana created a wall of ice between them, but Lotus swung his weapon around. It took one blast to redirect himself away from the wall and a second to set himself back on course to the monster.
Surprised by his speed, the Velkhana was unable to do anything else to defend itself before it reached him. A searing blade cut through its armour as Lotus flew past. The pain prevented it from moving for just a moment.
"Now! Go for it!"
At his command, Kalo dashed in. He soared over the Velkhana while slashing at it.
Kasa flew slightly above the ground and rained down fire, forcing the Velkhana away. It used ice breath to drive her out of the air, lunging forward once they were on the ground.
Two shields moved between its attack. Sol stood there, blocking the Velkana's claws. Before it could follow up with any more attacks, a flurry of wild slashes prevented it.
Milla took a few steps forward, cutting to drive it back. It used its ice breath at a short distance to create a wall between them.
Even after this it still wasn't safe. The scientist ran towards it, pulling out a gun and firing. The shot seemingly did absolutely nothing, but he appeared proud of himself regardless. The Velkhana swatted him away once more, but this time he flew back towards it at an unbelievable speed.
"I predicted that, too. Now that I've got you with my magnesis, this is as good as over. Please feel free to-"
His speech was cut off by sticky ammo attaching to multiple points on Velkhana and detonated.
"Hey, Bal! I wasn't done!"
"Sorry, DPSG. But it was about to attack you while you were talking, so I think it was the right choice."
"I knew that, obviously. And don't abbreviate my name. I've already told you I hate that!"
"No, I don't think you ever have."
The Velkhana went to attack DPSG again, but was cut off by Fen and Fang barging into it. Rapid slashes followed.
The Velkhana tried to crush its attackers with its claws, but they proved too quick to be stopped. It flew into the air, aiming to ascend out of reach. While this worked to stop the wolves, it noticed the scientist hurtling through the air towards it.
His magnet spike was barely avoided. After missing he began to fall, but reactivated the weapon's power to pull himself back up. The Velkhana let out a short blast of ice breath, creating an ice wall in the air which he slammed into.
The scientist's glasses cracked from the impact, he plummeted to the ground. The glaive users watched this.
"Are you thinking what I am?" Asked Michael.
"I'm not thinking about a single thing."
"That's what I like to hear, man. Let's do this!"
Storm jumped into the air, failing to get near the Velkhana. The two hunters then vaulted off his back, using their glaives to propel themselves towards it.
Seeing no reason to change tactics, the Velkhana froze the air solid once more. Instead of stopping or avoiding it, the two met the object in the air. They kicked off it, gaining speed.
The two fools approached the elder dragon bearing only insect glaives and the grins on their faces.
Michael sent out his kinsect to attack it. The first attack having failed, the Velkhana tried it again.
The ice it created in an attempt to crush them continued to prove ineffective. It was too slippery to stand on and even if not for that it descended too quickly to be of any use as a platform. All it could be used for was to stop for a moment and recharge their glaive. Those two were likely the only hunters there with enough aerial manoeuvrability to be able to use the Velkhana's blocks of ice against it.
They encircled it in the air while landing slashes in passing. This process repeated itself a countless number of times, until they finally arrived at the decisive move.
The DBA's glaive user was directly below the creature's head, while the Starward Diamond's glaive user was directly above. Their eyes met for just an instant.
They hadn't discussed anything even remotely resembling a plan before this. This coordination was only possible because of their shared wavelength. Both of them being idiots, neither had any idea what these attacks were leading up to until that very moment.
The transmission of information was instantaneous. The electricity of their brains fired through the air and connected faster than the speed of light.
Both men understood exactly what to do. The next move had wordlessly been agreed upon in a space of time so small it could hardly be processed by anything, the Velkhana no exception to that rule.
They kicked.
It wasn't an ordinary kick, but one boosted by their insect glaive's aerial boost. But, nonetheless, it was still a kick.
Spencer kicked clockwise, while Michael kicked anti-clockwise. The Velkaha was struck from both directions simultaneously.
In most scenarios, kicking a monster couldn't be anything other than a joke. Theoretically it's more than possible to defeat a monster with kicks alone, but in the interest of time most don't bother. But even despite everything, or perhaps because of who they were, the two men kicking it managed to cause the monster to fall.
The Velkhana crashed into the snow, much to the shock of the observers.
"Ah, wait a minute." Spence said after taking in his victory.
"What?"
"How do we get back down?"
"Well I think gravity's gonna sort that for us."
"Yeah, but safely."
"Oh shit, you're right!"
Michael stared at the ground with alarm, before his expression relaxed.
"You almost got me for a moment there."
"What are you talking about?"
"It's snowy here. Why would falling onto snow hurt?"
Spence had very clearly not considered this until now.
"You're right! We're geniuses after all!"
The two high fived just before they hit the ground. Contrary to their expressions, they felt like their legs were about to shatter.
"What are you two doing!?"
"Captain, I just found out that falling onto snow hurts. In case you're ever in need of that information."
"I know that. I'm asking why you kept chasing it into the air."
"It was a cool attack, stop complaining." Spence told him.
"As I said earlier, we're not here to kill it. We just want to repel it."
"I don't remember you saying that."
"He wasn't here yet when you said that." Michael explained.
"Oh, fair enough then. But what's your excuse, Michael?"
Michael paused for a few moments, before giving a thumbs up.
"Fighting spirit."
"Not even close to good enough."
Michael felt imminent danger, so he looked for a way of escape. His eyes shifted around. His brain ran at full capacity. All in search of the one answer that could rescue him from the oncoming bombardment of criticisms.
"Ah, ain't that Judah over there?"
Lotus' head shifted to the direction that Michael pointed in.
"Oh, he's here."
His captain's words confused Michael greatly. In actuality, he hadn't seen the other group at all. He was only attempting to distract Lotus so he could escape.
Michael would never learn whether Lotus spotting them first was because of sheer genius, pure love or simply him possessing very good eyesight. He didn't even have time to ponder on it at that moment as his captain sprung into action without any hesitation.
"We're doing a Quartet Apocalypse!"
"I've been waiting for this." Vicke replied, pointing her axe at the monster.
"I guess there's no choice if you're ordering it like that." Stanley started to close in, his expression unchanging.
"No, wait up." Bal went against the flow. "That's a really bad idea. Remember where we are right now? If we-"
"I don't want to be questioned right now, I want action!"
"I thought the plan wasn't to kill it, anyway?"
Lotus refused to listen, rushing towards the Velkhana while charging up their glaive.
Quartet Apocalypse was a far simpler technique than its overly fancy name implied. The four members of the Starward Diamonds possessing explosive attacks would use them simultaneously. The axes would use their final attacks, while Lotus and Bal would use wyvern's fire.
The axe users closed in, switching into their more powerful forms. The Velkhana was still slightly dazed from the fall, making its movements sluggish.
Lotus closed in, swinging his charged up gunlance into it.
Three blasts went off simultaneously, engulfing the Velkhana. The impact felt like it shook the entire mountain.
Those attacks were deadly individually, when combined they became something that even the greatest of monsters would have difficulty escaping alive. But, something was off with this one. The Velkhana managed to survive.
The attack was only at seventy-five percent power, after all. It wasn't a quartet if there were only three.
Lotus turned to Bal, still standing by.
"What did you sit it out for?"
"I was trying to tell you that an impact like that would probably cause an avalanche up here. Well, it doesn't seem like my gun was needed for that."
It was only after hearing his words that Lotus looked up, spotting the snow descending.
"Oh. You should've warned me better."
The rest of the group headed down the mountain at a hurried pace.
"Is there even that much of a need to hurry?" Zara asked. "From the sound of that explosion I can't imagine they're having much of a problem."
Of the rest of the group, Laura was rushing forward in anticipation of fighting the Velkhana, Jean was practically skipping along because she thought this fight could be fun, Judah was in a hurry to keep everyone else safe from the threat and Luke was just observing its movements through a scope while atop Panzer's back.
That left only one even capable of hearing her question. Isa turned her head to answer, but stopped before any words were formed.
"What? What are you stopping like that for? It's annoying, so-"
"Turn around."
"Fine."
Zara finally saw the avalanche approaching them. She was so surprised that there was only one possible comment she could make.
"Oh, of course."
The others finally took notice of the snow falling towards them. Laura's first instinct was somewhat predictable.
She ran towards the avalanche, her sword raised.
"What are you doing?" Zara asked.
"I can't let this thing win!"
Despite her claim, Laura had no way of stopping the avalanche from winning. She was swept away.
"Hey, captain." Isa turned, ready to ask him for orders, only to find Judah missing from her view. She turned some more, seeing him running towards the snow as well.
Judah planted his shield firmly in the ground, prepared for any attack.
"Don't worry, everyone. This body of mine was forged for keeping others safe. I'll be the one to stop thi-"
His dramatic speech was cut short by the avalanche immediately knocking him off his feet.
"Never thought I'd see the day." Zara commented.
Jean began laughing uncontrollably.
"Hey, this isn't the time." Luke told her. "Haven't you got a way out of this?"
Jean's laughter slowed down until it reached a stop.
"Have you? You're supposed to be the genius."
"No, I haven't."
"Then that's it. We can't do anything to stop this. So we might as well laugh as much as we can about it."
Luke stared into her eyes, considering this philosophy that seemed content to let the world burn. He spent so long contemplating that both of them were caught in the avalanche.
Isa, Irontusk, Zara and Arachne were the only ones who tried running, but weren't able to get very far before being caught.
"Should we run?" Sol asked.
"You'd be the greatest runner in all of history if you could escape that." Bal replied.
"It's fully possible. Women can do anything they want." Milla informed him.
"Then escape it."
"Don't want to."
"Well, I've got a plan to stop it anyway. Hey, Lotus. I think we should be able to melt that snow with enough firepower."
"That'll probably go over our quota for environmental damage, though."
"Are you saying that this isn't over it already? Look, quartet apocalypse got us into this mess, so I can't see why it won't get us out of it."
"I see, that's not a bad idea." Lotus raised his gunlance, before noticing something wasn't right. "Oh. It's completely overheated."
"I'm not ready for another blast yet, either." Vicke added.
"Looks like we're done for." Stanley continued to smile while observing this.
Bal sighed. "I shouldn't have been hopeful."
"Don't worry, man! All you need to deal with something like this is fighting spirit!" Michael yelled this at Bal before sprinting towards the avalanche, his fists raised. He did manage to punch the snow, though it didn't do much.
The rest of the group were swept away, along with the Velkhana.
As it continued down the mountain, the Velkhana pulled itself out of the snow and roared. As if spurred on by this, four of those caught freed themselves in turn.
"We still haven't settled this." Spence pointed his glaive towards the Velkhana.
"Yeah. We got kinda distracted there, but it's time to finally settle it." Fen pointed his axe towards the Velkhana.
"We'll be the ones to win!" Both men yelled at the other in sync.
The charged forwards. Fen swung for the Velkhana. Spence then in turn swung at him.
The axe blocked the glaive.
"Hey, what are you doing? The competition was about fighting this, not each other!"
Realisation dawned upon Spencer's face.
"Oh, you're right. Totally forgot. Then in that case…"
He slammed his glaive into Fen's axe, vaulting up to attack the Velkhana. Annoyed by this, the axe user launched himself into the air.
The two pairs of monsters and hunters ensnared the monster with a flurry of attacks, each desperately trying to outdo the other. They pushed their speeds to the limit, leaving even that elder dragon with no room to move.
No matter how it fought back, it was unable to stop those claws from tearing through it.
Their fight continued until they reached a problem. They were sliding towards a cliff. Even those caught in the snow seemed to realise the predicament they were in.
The snow reached the cliff, tumbling into the abyss. The ones caught it tried their hardest to stop moving.
Their attempts proved successful. The hunters and monsters just barely stopped on the cliff's icy edge before falling into the unseen abyss.
Luke stood up, slightly shaky.
"I can't believe that actually-"
The ice he was standing upon broke as he spoke, as though to spite him. The only action he had the time to take before falling into the abyss was widening his eyes.
"Kasa, go after him!"
Mary's partner heard her order properly, but was still stuck in the snow, trying to free herself. Mary ran over to attempt to help.
"This is too slow. She's not going to be able to fly in time! What should I do? No, what can I even do?"
The others rushed to find a way to save him. It was only those two that immediately decided upon an answer.
The blurs of Spencer and Fenris threw themselves into the icy abyss.
They used their weapons to accelerate their descent, rapidly catching up with Luke.
They were the ones who gained the majority of the Velkhana's ire, so it flew down the cliff to follow them.
There were no more notions of competition between those two men. They simply fell with great determination. There wasn't a thought in their heads about outdoing the other, their entire brains were entirely dedicated to preventing what was before them from being lost.
The two of them descended, grabbing Luke from each side. He hadn't even had the time to process his predicament by the time they reached him.
As they turned, they saw the Velkhana flying towards them.
"You're back for more?" Fen asked, thinking to himself. "This isn't good in the slightest. It's got the upper hand in this environment without a doubt. That's before even factoring in that we've gotta pull Luke up."
"Let's just run for it!" Spence yelled.
"What? You want to go down?"
"Of course not! We're going past it!"
"That's incredibly stupid. Ok, I'm in."
Spence used his spare hand to launch them towards it with his glaive. As they went up, Fen stuck his axe into the wall. A trail of crimson shot the group upwards.
The Velkhana closed in, intending to block them off. Spence was unable to swing his glaive properly, only having one arm free. Realising the problem, he simply opted to let go.
"Get out of the way already!" He launched himself into the Velkhana, swinging with all the might he could manage. The man and the dragon tussled in mid-air for a short few moments.
It tried to hit him with its ice breath, but Spence stopped his attack short. He vaulted off the Velkhana, hitting it with a blast of concentrated air. It lost control of its flying and began to fall out of sight.
Fen kicked off the wall, trying to climb vertically. He just barely managed to catch up to the two accelerating up the wall, grabbing onto Luke's arm.
The three of them finally shot out at the top, landing on the snow.
Luke's first instinct was to pull himself further into land, not wanting to repeat the same thing.
Spence and Fen both turned onto their backs, looking up at the sky while catching their breath. Fen then threw his axe aside, the heat emitting from it partially melting the surrounding snow.
The rest of the group gathered around, relieved that they somehow got out alive.
Spence was the first to sit up, looking over at Fen.
"That was pretty cool just now."
Fen stood up as well.
"Thanks. You knocking it down was pretty cool, too."
They stared at each other awkwardly.
"So who do we say won, in the end?"
"Doesn't really feel like I won, but it doesn't really feel like I lost either. It's weird."
"I feel the exact same. Yeah, I totally get it now! We were too focused on outdoing each other!"
Spence stuck his right hand out. Fen stared at it in confusion. After a few moments of nothing happening Spence used his other hand to grab Fen's right hand and lead it into a hand shake.
"What is this?"
"You've never shaken someone's hand before?"
"No? Why would you do that?"
"To show our bond. We shouldn't be competing, we're both guys who live at high speed! There's things only we can understand about each other."
"Ok, I kinda agree, but do we have to do it like this? And phrase it like that? Just to be clear I love women and women alone, so I don't want them getting the wrong idea here."
"About what?"
"Don't back out, you're supposed to kiss each other now!" Jean yelled from the sidelines.
"I mean that."
"Can you go back to hating each other?" Zara asked. "I kinda preferred it that way."
"Me too. I won't stand for this." Isa added.
"Wait, what's your problem? You never seemed even slightly possessive of your brother."
"It doesn't feel right seeing him happy."
"I should've known."
"Look, just let me go." Fen pleaded, trying to tear his arm away. "Why the hell is your grip so tight!?"
"Cause you're the only guy I've done this with!"
"Seriously, will you stop that!?"
"I can't! You're the first one that's made me feel this way!"
"Please, I'm begging you to stop saying words!"
"Hey, when you're done making Michael feel left out, can you two focus?" Lotus cut off their conversation. "Did you kill the Velkhana?"
"Dunno. It just fell."
"Then there's a chance it could come back. Let's keep moving."
"Wait, you mean both of our groups?"
"What else? To be honest, that landslide knocked us completely off course, we've got no idea where we are. So we're just going to keep heading in the general direction of the third zone and hoping for the best. In a situation like this, wouldn't sticking together be a good option? Or do you have some problem with that?"
"No, none. I'd… be honoured."
Lotus paused.
"It's not like I'm particularly interested in working with you, don't get so full of yourself. This just happens to be the most optimal choice for now. So don't get used to it."
Judah contemplated his answer for a few moments. "Yeah, I really wasn't planning on it."
"It looks like we're already dead." Jean remarked.
"W-why?" Mary asked.
"Cause this is paradise."
As the group continued in the direction of the third zone, the weather began to worsen. It took only an hour or so after the wind began picking up for it to turn into a blizzard.
They could barely see ahead of them and were beginning to run low on hot drinks. Jean's resentment over not being given the time to get special armour for this scenario grew even more. Even despite all this, the group pressed down.
"Wait, there's something ahead." Luke spotted a vague shape through his scope.
"What is it?"
"Like… some kind of building?"
"Why would that be out here?" Lotus asked. "Are you aware of what a mirage is? It sounds as though you're experiencing that in reverse."
"Wouldn't a reverse mirage be not seeing something that is real?" Bal asked.
"No, it's- Ok, I suppose what you're describing would be a reverse mirage. But what I'm describing is a mirage that occurs in the opposite conditions. Are you happy now? We're probably going to freeze to death so I hope you're happy with something so pointless being some of your last words."
"Hey, Luke. How close is it?"
"A few minutes away, I think."
"I think it'd be worth checking it out. No matter what it's like, there's a good chance that going there will be better than travelling through like this."
"Fine, then."
Judah nodded.
The group set towards that mysterious outline in the snow.
A hooded hunter walked past a cliff in the middle of that same storm.
From the depths below, a burning fury more chilling than the weather around it arose. The Velkhana wanted revenge on those that had cast it down there. In that moment of rage, it failed to notice that they'd already left. Instead it went to attack the first thing within its sight.
Red covered white.
It was merely a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Simple misfortune. They were a victim of chance.
That is, of course, referring to the Velkhana.
"I'm sorry, young one. I've still got unfinished business in this world, so I can't die just yet. Would you mind letting me go?"
With a single slash, the Velkhana had become aware of the overwhelming difference in strength between them. The pressure of a gargantuan beast emitted from this frail-looking hunter.
The Velkhana came to understand a new feeling that completely overpowered the anger. Fear. It feared this aged hunter. Its instincts were screaming at it to run, and it had no reason to argue.
The Velkhana flew out of sight in an instant.
The elderly man swung his sword to the side, flicking the blood that covered the blade onto the snow. Even more snow piled on top of it, covering it up as though this battle had never taken place.
He sheathed his long sword and continued walking into the mountain, using the weapon in the same manner as a walking stick.
TO BE CONTINUED