[Alfheim Online, Sylph Territory, The Deep Woods]
[Malzeno's POV]
If you could sum up today's boss battle in a single word, I'd be stuck between 'Rattled' and 'Angery'. This Monster Hunter event drew in quite the crowd but given how new it was, I had only a few leads to some of the monsters added thanks to Argo. That being Rathalos and Nargacuga. Thereby confirming we received the short straw in the preverbal lottery.
"Hmph, I got this overgrown bear!" Jun, the hopeless hero he was, lunged at Redhelm, his greatsword twirling into a flaming corkscrew toward the great beast as it brought its right arm backward.
"I wouldn't recommend attack-too late," I cut myself off as the Redhelm lunged, striking Jun's skill head-on. The flames nicked at the beast's nonexistent health bar, the force of the punch connected to Jun's chestplate, flinging the poor boy halfway across the arena, leaving him paralyzed.
"If you see its arm shimmer red it'll cause an immediate stun without a proper shield!" Siune relayed before me, moving back when Redhelm swung its arms left and right, reaching farther than its normal counterpart as Tecchi barely managed to withstand the swings while I kept my distance, drawing back three arrows tinged in a ice-blue substance.
Buckshot pierced between the group, striking one of the forearms as small deposits of ice formed before shattering in its face. "Ice and fire are its only weaknesses, the forearms are breakable too!" I added my share of intel, coating and firing a multitude of arrows that did little damage but annoyed Redhelm into making a massive leap over Yuuki's and Nori's attacks. "Cra-!"
Diving, I barely rolled out of the way of its butt slam that threw rocks in every direction, it snarled and took a swing at me until I took flight and dove overhead, evading the grab as I sunk Threaded Needle through its nape, followed by another Buckshot into its thick, red mohawk.
It spun around with a sweeping claw as Tecchi slammed his tower shield in time to the swing, giving me ample time to fire a charged up Thunder Crash straight to the chest of Redhelm while the powerful downward swing from Nori's Tremor broke apart the ground beneath. But we all saw those eyes glow brightly as a deafening roar left its jaws, spinning at a velocity no bear should as Tecchi was thrown back a few inches behind his shield into me while Nori was left with three deep wounds in her torso, paralyzed also.
"Keep your distance and attack from an angle, Tecchi continue to guard and draw its aggro!" Siune actively took charge, which was quite impressive given how she'd rely on Yuuki for orders.
The purplette in question ran alongside the Undine, both thrusting their weapons forward against the left forearm as it struck Tecchi's shield, myself flying overhead to rain down Deluge, pockets of rime bursting across the deviant's hide. Their combined skill threw it sideways.
"Switch!"They chimed as Talken's burning orange spear dug against the head of the beast, Fatal Thrust erupting out the back of the scalp and straight into Jun's line of sight.
"Tank this, you ass!" He let out his wordless cry, dragging his crimson greatsword through the earth to carve across Redhelm's stomach in two long strokes, Jun hopped back, avoiding a lunging grab as the monster stared at its empty paws in time to see Jun swat it across the face like a ball to a baseball bat. "All yours, Nori!"
"On it!" She did a similar start-up skill to Jun's, flinging a wave of debris straight into Redhelm only to gasp and barely evade in time with her wings when Redhelm charged, swinging franticly in her direction.
It spun on its heels, creating a strong air current to swat my arrows from the sky as Yuuki drew her blade across its arms, diving towards a right hook to slash a third time, then into the left cross, completing Vertical Square as she performed a backflip over a charge, running across its back.
Grinding to halt, Redhelm turned sharply and slammed a fist into the ground, tearing out a large boulder aimed for Siune who didn't hesitate to pull back her rapier as it glow light blue, her eyes as steely as any hunter. Above, Threaded Needle pierced the boulder as she smirked and thrust her arm forward, moving across the grove at a blinding blur of blue ripples.
Flashing Penetrator dug against the right forearm, Redhelm blocking her thrust as it snarled down at her, slowing raising its left while she continued to push the tip of her blade against its scarred, blood-red arm.
"Talken, Malzeno, double pierce!" Yuuki waved toward the boss.
Without a word, Talken twirled his spear, charging straight at Arzuros's flank while I flew straight toward the boss, whipping out from my coat Renegade. Loaded with Frost Coated bolts, I unleashed a devastating torrent of arrowheads into the left forearm, causing the ice to form over the club-like arm, slowly Redhelm for Talken to Twin Thrust the frozen limb into shattering, the combined force stunning the beast.
Dazed, Siune pushed her whole weight into her rapier, piercing the right arm as it split the thick, dark scales, weakening it and throwing Redhelm backwards, both its arms broken as it recoiled in anger.
Switching back to NTB, I landed next to Talken, nodding back to him while Siune stretched her arm. The bluette looked to be trembling with excitement, smiling back at us. "Perfect, now its main arms are damaged it'll deal greater damage!"
"Sweet!" Yuuki slapped my back sharply, making me jump. "So, what now hunters!" She teased with a wink.
"Short, sweet, and simple," Dragging an arrow across the ground to ignite it, I held it back as far as the string would allow me. "Unleash everything you've got!"
"Got it!"A thunderous roar met our own, seeing Arzuros raise both paws before burying them into the ground.
With the right claw, a large boulder was uprooted, followed by the left. The rocks tumbled through the grove toward us as I loosed the arrow, Dragon Pierce doing its namesake and blast the first boulder to fragments while a blur of violet shot toward the second, cleaving it in two with Snake Bite, Yuuki diving away from the deviant's right swing.
Tecchi struck the ground before the enraged beast as the claws slammed against the face of his towering shield, each, powerful blow causing a ripple of air pressure as his feet inched back with every blow; a fourth broke through his defence, knocking him backward as his shield fell away, unveiling the brilliant amber light surrounding his mace.
The upswing cracked against Arzuros's jawline with Upper Swing, sending saliva and sparks flying through the air while the big guy fell. From behind Tecchi, Nori lunged, twirling her hammer behind her back in a dark green halo. Down came her heavy hammer with Tremor, shattering the ground below as the ravenette gasped, seeing the Arzuros grab and divert the hammer's fall to the side, striking her exposed side with a right hook, flinging her across the grove, paralyzed.
It turned only to howl in pain, Jun dragging a crimson slash down its back, carving a vague symbol of a lightning bolt through its thickened scales and dark fur, Lightning tossing Arzuros forward and straight into the blinding strike from Siune's rapier, Oblique's electrified pink glow sending ripples through the beast's skull.
She kicked off its stomach, evading a grapple, twirling to slash at the left forearm, rolling backward when Arzuros jumped, bringing its body down like a gavel, sending a shockwave that made our footing unstable, claws beginning to dig up rock and stone.
Another massive boulder sailed toward me, my hands moving at a quickened pace to pierce as many ice and fire arrows I could coat into its weakened forearms. I barely flinched when the mass of rock plummeted toward me as Talken spun his spear from the ground up, obliterating it with a thrust skill as I was showered in debris, loosing another Buckshot as the arrows splintered against Arzuros's hide while it roared, tongue lapping against its jaws.
It swatted Tecchi, the backhand scraping against his shield while it charged, ignoring Nori's and Jun's flanking manoeuvre. I felt my gaze land on the swordswoman beside me, then to Siune who flew overhead. This'll work. "Yuuki, back-to-back?" I remarked.
She didn't need to say it as her blade took on a violet glow. I took the lead, quick-changing to Renegade, loaded with a fresh belt of frost arrows. The Arzuros ground its claws into the mud, raising both arms to grab me as my wings threw me overhead, seeing its crimson eyes burrow into my sharp grin, levelling the iron-sights on its ugly maw.
A hail of arrows pummelled it, leaving it reeling as Yuuki sailed in from below, slashing with four powerful slashes, Horizontal Square causing the beast to flinch as its wounds only multiplied across the arms. Yuuki pivoted, allowing my back to slide against hers, releasing Blast Scale with NTB, the twin impact tearing across Arzuros's left thigh.
I ducked, feeling Yuuki leap overhead to carve a horizontal stroke across both forearms, then another overhead slam to its scalp, dazing the beast long enough for me to slide between her legs, Thunder Crash exploding with a ring of fire erupting from the deviant's worn body.
Yuuki thrust her obsidian blade through the left forearm with Rage Spike, the anchor point and forward momentum slinging her over a right jab, booting the monster in the snout in time to evade my volley of fire bolts from Renegade. She landed, driving the tip of her sword through its stomach in five, high-velocity strikes that led into parallel, vertical slants that ended with her using my back as a springboard to evade the powerful, paralysing claws for a devastating vertical strike.
A shockwave of golden light expelled from her blade, completing Howling Octave and leave Arzuros recoiling and dazed, it looked worn out. Our heads spun around to the only other monster hunter with us."Siune!"
The bluette looked amazed by our performance, to be in this situation again, to fight such a powerful monster must've been such a rush. Which only made it more fitting she'd be the one to end it. From one hunter to another.
Siune guided two fingers across her silver rapier, the thin edges turning a dazzling snow-white in her grasp as she gave it a flourish, standing with a firm, low stance as her body shot across the grove. Arzuros dug out two more boulders, flinging them even as Tecchi created an ear-piercing screech with his mace and shield to distract it.
The debris didn't deter Siune, Jun throwing himself before the first to crash through with a single cleave, Nori swatting the secondary rock flying. I and Talken rolled back, evading the lumbering swipes from Arzuros, a glaring white figure zipping by.
Arzuros turned in time to witness Siune digging her heels into the dirt, eyes burning as brightly as her rapier, letting out her own, wordless cry as her rapier struck its center and mangled forearms with ten blurred slashes and thrusts, the light arching and curling deeper through its thicken hide left weakened and withered.
The 10-Hit skill, Over Radiation. Her final thrust curved under the Arzuros's jawline, plunging through the underside and through its scalp, the force was great, a tremendous wave of white light expelled from the final blow as it threw its head back, a roar growing strained and faint as it stumbled toward Siune who's eyes remained fixated on her target, watching it sway left and right.
With one final growl, the deviant collapsed onto its side before us, body lax and almost diluted in colour before turning bright blue, shattering into a thousand pieces. It took me a few seconds for my exhale to come, falling onto my backside.
"Holy crap, we actually beat it... Oh wow, we actually beat a deviant," I chuckled, and soon the rest let our their own various cries of triumph, Siune exhaling as I did when she lowered her rapier, falling to her knees with a bright smile tilted at the sky, eyes closed.
"That was so thrilling that my legs gave out... hah hahaha!" She laughed out-loud. "A truly breath-taking hunt!"
"Woohoo, we did it, our attacks were perfect, Mal!" From behind, Yuuki's body slammed into mine, grappling my torso with her arms as I saw her beautiful expression poking over my right shoulder, looking to me with a sparkle in her vermillion eyes. "You and Siune were totally in the zone!"
I gave a modest shrug, "That's just the veteran hunters life brought forward, no biggie," Holding up an 'OK' hand sign, I then received the best reward possible. Not money, exp, or even a rare drop. No-no, the wonderful girl around my neck kissing my cheek that sent a delightful shiver down by whole body. "A pleasure as always to lay down my life for the cause, Cupcake!"
"Ugh, I could've done without seeing that, be lovey-dovey away from us single people!" Jun half ranted-half-pouted out of envy for us. I just cackled and leaned into Yuuki while she stuck her tongue out at him followed by a giggle.
"Hey, you made the same bets we made, so you're gonna live with the consequences, Little Red," Nori's teasing grin only furthered Jun's despair.
Yes, in true friendly fashion, all of them, even Siune, had placed bets on how long it would take for myself and my lovely girlfriend to finally hook up. You may be curious about the betting pool. Well, thankfully after nearly twenty-straight-minutes of teasing remarks, Nori provided the valuable evidence to us... for a fee.
It was set after the girls had learned about Yuuki's feelings towards me, so the estimated time required some expert predictions. The winners were Nori, Asuna, Yui, Sinon, Argo, and Siune, obviously due to them being more clued in on details than most. Then, to make matters extrafun. The others were, Talken, Tecchi, Jun, Lizbeth, Silica, Klein and his guild, Agil, Cliffheart, Thinker, Yulier. The only exception was Kirito due to Blackie being... less than perceptive on that front.
Despite this... very wide net of people, I sighed happily. "Ah, I've taught Nori so well in the ways of gambling," That resulted in Yuuki flicking my forehead. "Ow-what, I didn't bet on us...for once,"
"So much for 'it wasn't obvious to us', that just made it worse," Yuuki wasn't overly keen on the knowledge there was a pool going for us but she got over it quickly as she expected nothing less from her friends.
"Say, Siune," The bluette turned to look at me as I shared in her smile, reaching over with a fist. "Have to end this quest off right, don't we?" She knew what I meant when I saw her eyes light up.
"Hehehe, of course," She extended a fist, bumping it to mine as I imagined a red, decorative stamp over my own vision.
"Quest Complete!"
[Unknown]
[No POV]
The skies swirled with black clouds, converging all around the ruins of a castle or a grand hall that had become overgrown and withered beyond recognition besides this single chamber left exposed to the storm above.
Residing within this domain, a darkness festered and gathered around a once regal protector, a champion. Now, a fallen knight of a forsaken kingdom, flashes of scarlet festering throughout its body and across its corrupted armour.
It let out a snarl, akin to a metallic echo, sending a cold shrill through the ruins and beyond.
[To Be Continued...]
[Author's Notes]
So that was probably easier than what Deviants are actually like, I should know, Arzuros buried me many times. It's fun to show Siune's love for monster hunting alongside Malzeno's. But their hunt has only just begun as we'll soon be digging into the real plot behind this arc. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; see ya in the next chapter!