Among the many requests an up-and-coming adventurer can accept while job searching in their local guild there is one that has been hotly debated for its relatively low rank threshold but potentially excessive difficulty. Unlike the extermination contracts which require at least one rank higher than rookies, the Alpha Elimination brand of job has no such restrictions and could be taken day two of a member’s adventuring career. The first contract is almost always a boring, tedious or forgettable request by design although no guild affiliate would ever admit to the unwritten rule.
Alpha Elimination contracts are, as the name suggests, the subjugation of a monster who has grown too powerful either through a mutation or by gathering a hoard of other monsters under its employ. Most often these monsters are the result of an external curse granting them new abilities or drastically increasing their size. The far more dangerous variants are those who are biologically similar to the base species but were born with a genetic abnormality. For beast type monsters it could be a difference in fur colour, a heightened sense of smell or the addition/loss of limbs and appendages. While sometimes minor, these changes could make the Alpha stand out to appear a more attractive as mate however typically these differences would cause ostracization leading to the affected monster becoming a runt or exile from their pack, more often they are simply eaten at birth. A living example was one Maji the Battleboon, current mentor to a prince of Maroch and long-standing ally to house Reynaldo. The simian’s heightened intelligence and longer than average lifespan meant he was able to live alongside the Reynaldo’s for almost five decades while learning their particular fighting style. Although the Maroch native was an exceptionally docile monster compared to most Alpha’s any that survived their first few weeks of life would soon grow into a menace. Growing amongst their peers, these monsters would learn to utilize the changes that make them different, make them better and eventually leads to their status as Alpha.
Monsters are not an independent race by nature and have been documented to form ecosystems when left to their own devises. Alpha’s upset this ecosystem due in part to their abnormalities, but also because it is a fundamental fact that monsters cannot help but expand and destroy. If left unattended, an Alpha could amass power and followers allowing it to conquer entire regions which it would then populate with its own spawn who in turn could produce an Alpha of even greater strength. This concept is known as the Mamoulian Cascade, after a famous monster researcher who posited a theory of ever-increasing threat of annihilation. The theory follows that, in a closed environment with no outside factors, monsters will eventually produce Alpha’s who in turn will produce greater Alpha’s and so on until reaching the Omega, a creature of such gargantuan power nothing beyond the divine could combat it.
It was this concept that helped to push the Adventurers Guild into a world spanning organization and lead to the longstanding rule that Alpha’s must be killed no matter the cost and also forbade the active breeding of such creatures in captivity. For highly dangerous or widespread Alpha’s, a raid would be organized gathering numerous adventurers into a militia to combat the threat. Alpha’s that were sighted early into their development or after suffering a major blow in the course of their rapid expansion could potentially be eliminated by a single adventurer or team however the Guild would need ample proof of skill as well as a thoroughly documented history of monster subjugation. Valerie and Samantha technically fit both of these categories.
Prior to the pair of adventurers heading out for the elimination contract, a scout party had gone ahead to survey the suspected alpha citing. That team had been specifically contracted just to observe and report on a local Duvolf packs size by the guild itself, they were not to make any attempts to combat the monsters unless absolutely necessary. Thankfully no such altercation occurred, and the team was able to report the pack was some twenty to thirty strong with the majority being a number of young tended to and raised by the collective. It was this reconnaissance that revealed the presence of the Alpha which confirmed the Guilds suspicions and led to them posting the special request. There was a certain degree of haggling when it came to most jobs, this one however was fully funded by the guild and was non-negotiable. Valerie and Samantha didn’t mind about the pay, decent as it was, they were just concerned with the difficulty rating and how involved they would be. From the look of the Alpha’s hunting grounds they were certainly in for an interesting hunt.
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The Creeping Hollow was an area neither was familiar with but marvelled at the scenery. Unlike the many uninteresting, horrendous smelling, or even cursed forests they had worked in this one was a genuine sight to behold and a regular tourist destination. The hollow was a region of great towering pine trees that grew on average to around seventy metres in height. Their dark bark seemed to soak in the light creating a bleak and dimly lit expanse which when coupled with the persistent gentle mists that obscured the earth formed a landscape that looked as inviting as a bear trap. Samantha loved it, not just for the spectacle but also because her aspects were able to flourish and truly give her a chance to experiment with her new class. Valerie meanwhile couldn’t see the monsters for the trees and imagined all the hiding spots on offer to the vile beasts. Thankfully they didn’t have to rely on hunting at ground level.
With Samantha’s help, the huntress was able to climb up the sturdy bark reaching the fifty-metre range where the tree’s branches began to appear. She couldn’t make out the ground below her but that wasn’t needed when their initial reconnaissance began. They first tried to scout the Alpha’s home but ran into a problem, given the forests large landscape, there was no way they could locate it on their own. It took them a day’s journey by cart to get to the town near the forest and then another few hours to walk the rest of the way. The Creeping Hollow consumed more than half the province and the two adventurers would be old and grey by the time they surveyed all of it. Luckily, they didn’t need to find the Alpha directly, they just needed to follow a single Duvolf’s trail to their home.
The monsters believed they were the uncontested kings of this forest and were undoubtedly going to act like it. After a full day of observation, they found a lone hunter as it searched for a suitable meal, the confident gait with which it strode around disgusting the huntress. Tiger’s Will on the other hand felt unrestrained desire as the knife’s hunger grew at the sight of the monster, a feeling that was directly transmitted to Valerie and coloured her thoughts red. She was forced to stifle her own desires to gut the filthy mongrel even if she knew how good it would feel to let out all her pent-up anger. Being visited by the Gentle Sword left the huntress furious and she needed an outlet desperately. Still, that did not excuse wanton massacre or reckless endangerment of herself or Samantha just because she was a little cry baby who couldn’t manage her emotions. The Gentile Kingdom lacked any concept for therapy but if it did exist and Valerie had gone to a session she would most likely be considered a ‘problem child’ with abandonment issues who needed to take costly prescription drugs daily.
“I am spending too much time with you.”
The huntress said to Samantha shaking off the perplexing thought. Having a completely non sequitur idea was the sort of thing the shadow user would do and clearly she was rubbing off on Valerie more than she liked. How long until she ended up getting her own cloak?
“More like not enough.”
The ‘problem child’ of all problem children whispered under her breath as they continued to monitor the Duvolf scavenger.
“What was that?”
“Nothing! So, about the puppy?”
Expertly deflected Samantha, both thought although the shadow user fully believed it. Valerie gave the issue no more consideration as she focused again on the Duvolf, barely visible within the mists. Even if she was trying to restrain herself, there was a hankering she couldn’t quite get rid off not just from Tiger’s Will. All that time working in Joanne’s kitchen made the huntress desperate for just a single monster killing outing, to feel the rush of gutting one of the disgusting beasts. She would have gone mad had the former adventurer not promised to consider taking Valerie on as a disciple in return for a few favours. She just hoped it wouldn’t involve learning how to cook or dress like a girl for the opposite sex to gawk at.
“I really need to kill something.”
Valerie announced which Samantha whole heartedly agreed with. Which was an entirely normal thing for a pair of teenagers to think and any argument to the contrary was simply untrue.