In a shockingly identical set of uninteresting woods a hunter stepped over roots and fallen leaves careful not to make a sound as she searched for her quarry. It was surprisingly easy to convince the McDale’s to leave the hunt to her, none of them were warriors after all or had the expertise to track animals like she did. She felt the ground, listened to the wind, tried to smell and taste the air for any signs of her prey taking in all she could. Nothing, not a hint of the beast so far but Daniel was sure he’d seen it rush back into the woods after attacking his brother. Valerie sympathized with the man’s boiling rage; she wasn’t quite sure what she would do if her uncle were in such a state. She shook her head, idle thoughts did nothing but distract her from tracking the beast, she needed absolute calm and focus. Suddenly from out of a tree a dark figure dropped in front of the huntress and yelled into her face. This resulted in a swift and merciless punch to the surprise attackers face causing them to fall back and clutch at their nose while rolling on the ground. Valerie looked down at Samantha deciding maybe she would keep her worries to just direct family.
The self-named “stealth expert” elected to remain in the trees canopy and watch for any signs of the monster, clearly however that task wasn’t as exciting as she imagined. Stepping over the prone girl, Valerie shook her head again and continued the hunt hoping the disturbance wouldn’t alert the Duvolf. Though he had only caught a glimpse of the beast, Daniel described his brother’s attacker as a large dog with multiple heads. A strange thought entered the back of Valerie’s mind from the description and her mind flared with a burst of information. A Duvolf was like a wolf but double the size, double the mean and double headed. It had tough fur that could block sword strikes and a vicious maw strong enough rend a full-grown tree out of the ground per head. Given the wounds on Tucker and the fact he was still alive, it was most likely not fully grown, Valerie theorized from the details popping into her head. She kept the description to herself however as she wasn’t quite sure where the information had come from and didn’t want to rile up the McDale’s anymore than they already were. While they suffered possibly the worst day of their lives, Valerie was feeling quite elated that her Aspect of the Hunt finally showed its true colours giving her basic backgrounds on monsters she had yet to encounter. It was quite handy although she realised a glaring fault, knowing what a monster was wasn’t the same as knowing how to beat it nor did it confer any physical benefits. She also had to question the validity of the information after all fur stopping sword strikes was ludicrous. How could hair block a warrior’s weapon? A dragons scales made sense; they were like lots of little interlocking shields, but loose fibres just didn’t seem likely to stop a sword.
Walking cautiously and planning out her strategy, the huntress heard a rustle from something large not too far off and caught sight of the swish of a pair of long furry tails. She turned to warn Samantha off, but shadow user was already gone, a shift from the trees above the only indicator she had returned to her post. Perhaps stopping abruptly and ripping her knife from its sheath was all the warning Samantha needed. Valerie didn’t realise she had done it until finding her blade already gripped tightly in her right hand. Shrugging, she slowly edged her way forward finally locating the beast in all its vicious glory. It was the size of a horse covered in shaggy brown fur with white patches dotted across the pelt as well as a set of ravenous teeth and gleaming sharp claws to match. It was currently hunched over a fresh kill, its dual heads biting and tearing at a deer carcass while occasionally snapping at one another for a larger portion.
Crouching low, Valerie eased up to within spitting distance of the canine watching for any signs it would detect her. Reaching into her pocket she fished out a single throwing knife and swapped it into her right hand. Breathing deep, she let the power within guide her as she reared back then threw with all her might. A heartbeat and a yelp later, a knife was jammed into one of the Duvolf’s eyes on its left head. The creature howled in pain and threw itself onto the ground trying to tear the projectile free using a blood-soaked claw. Ecstasy filled Valerie watching the dumb animal roll around completely blind to its surroundings. With adrenaline drowning her reasoning, she leapt from her hiding spot and rushed towards the beast. Had her uncle been present he surely would have scolded her savagely for the idiotic move. Raising her hunting knife high, Valerie sought the beasts’ heart to end the fight before it even began. Unfortunately, the unharmed head caught sight of its assailant and rolled back onto its paws while the other head shook violently still trying to free itself of the embedded blade. Missing her opportunity, the huntress was left exposed and forced to take up a fighting position while the two headed monster snarled in anger at her. The combatants circled each other, one assessing their opponent’s capability while the other focused solely onto a throat they wanted to tear open.
In a flash, the raging beast lunged for Valerie fangs bared and claws extended ready to rend flesh from bone. Using the beasts new blind spot to her advantage, she dodged out of the way while slashing with her knife. The attack come up short as the beast shifted its weight and circled back to attempt another lunge. Ready for the pounce, Valerie reached into her pocket again grabbing a handful of knives and immediately tossing them with the full power of her aspect. The Duvolf turned its heads away and allowed the knives to strike harmlessly against its side. She knew the monsters pelt would be tough but to stop her aspect empowered knives that easily shocked the huntress. Unlike her first throw they hadn’t been as precise or powerful but still not leaving a single scratch was outrageous. The creature didn’t wait for a follow up and ran around the huntress seeking an opening while nipping at her side causing the girl to play keep away. In a dangerous gambit, the Duvolf dipped low to try and cripple its afternoon meal, but she jumped just out of harm’s way ending up on the beats flank. Flipping her knife backhanded, Valerie raised herself up and thrust the blade into the creature’s side.
A dull thwack rung out as the attack struck but to her horror did not penetrate past the fur surrounding the beast. While a monster’s endurance was already considerably higher than regular people or animals, she had forgotten the one true wrench in every would-be slayer’s plan: magic. Everything had it and this particular monster instinctually used it to reinforce the fur around its body turning the many fibres into a steel wall that was not so easily penetrated. Valerie reflected on this fact as she was frozen solid due to the shock, her mind racing for a reason for the failed attack. This lapse in judgement gave the monster all the time it needed to twist itself around and open its jaws wide for a killing blow. The huntress stared into the open maws, her short life flashing before her eyes. Had it really been that boring?
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Before the beast could chomp down it was interrupted by a rock crashing into the animal’s already injured head, the blow driving the throwing knife further into its eye socket. Seeing the beast struck forced Valerie to her senses and she backed off from the monster while it frantically searched the perimeter for the second morsel on its plate. Another rock came hurtling out from the side and glanced the beasts front right paw. The end of a whispy dark tendril snaking back into the shadows was all the evidence Valerie needed to confirm Samantha finally decided to join the fight. Howling in fury, the Duvolf charged at Valerie once again focusing on one enemy at a time. The huntress prepared to meet the rush head on when a familiar cloaked figure decided to interrupt the flow of the fight for the second time. Swinging in on a shadow tendril, Samantha looked poised to kick the beasts’ side but instead she swung over and past the monster while reaching her hand out to grab at the knife still lodged in the left head. With her momentum carrying her, she soared out of reach of the Duvolf ripping the blade free along the way and tearing a gouge in the animal. Wracked with a new rush of pain the monster thrashed around violently biting at the air and searching for Samantha.
Within the flailing movement Valerie caught sight of something, a tuft of hair between the monsters two necks that was different than the rest. That same odd sensation filled her head again and she knew that spot was weaker than the rest of its fur. If a Duvolf ever developed the mental capacity to control their mana and put all of it into their fur they would find themselves turned into a statue unable to move a muscle due to the rigid strands of hair. For this reason, Duvolf’s naturally reinforced the less flexible and larger areas of their bodies while neglecting the joints. This lack of armour was most prevalent in the base of their necks between the two heads an area few could reach unless they could restrain the dual maws simultaneously. Flipping her knife forward, Valerie ran towards the raging beast and shouted out to her comrade.
“SAMANTHA! PIN IT DOWN AND SEPARATE THEM!”
Broken from its rage, the monsters three good eyes focused on Valerie as it prepared to leap at her once again, however its feet simply refused to move. Shadow tentacles from all around gripped and tugged at the canines’ paws, even holding down its tails. Struggling violently the Duvolf ripped free from its bindings only to find more tendrils waiting to capture the beast again. When Valerie was only a foot from the monster, both heads focused their hatred upon her and reared back to strike. The huntress matched the creature, setting both hands on her knife and bringing it down to her stomach ready to thrust up. Time seemed to freeze, danger and death surrounded her on both sides, yet she felt excitement like she had never experienced before. She forced almost all the mana in her body into the weapon causing it to glow a brilliant light. Letting out a guttural roar, Valerie thrust up between the Duvolf’s split heads as they descended upon her. At the last second another flurry of shadow tendrils whipped out of the darkness and ensnared the beast’s jaws forcing the heads further apart and opening the way to its weak point. The blade struck true piercing the monster and sinking deep into it flesh. Both heads let out a pain filled roar of their own pushing them to break from their bindings and try to bite down on the huntress again. Before either could sink into flesh, Valerie leapt over the monster her right hand still clinging onto the knife embedded into her target. Straddled atop the Duvolf, she placed a foot on both heads and yanked her knife free from the monster’s neck. Its reprieve lasted barely a breath before she sunk her weapon back into the weak point before tearing it free again. She stabbed into the flesh over and over and over while the monster cried out in pain unable to free itself of the torment.
It struggled valiantly but the combination of shadow tendrils binding its legs and the madly cackling girl repeatedly stabbing at its neck was simply too much for the beast to bear. Valerie continued to plunge her knife into the Duvolf even after it finally collapsed. Again and again and again and again went her blade as it dug a hole in the monsters flesh. She finally stopped when Samantha casually walked up to the dead monster kicking one of its heads to check if it was dead. Breathing hard, the huntress stared down at her red hands the ecstatic feeling still coursing through her veins. A sickening thought flew threw her mind to give the monsters blood a taste which finally tore her from her stupor. Stepping off the beast, Valerie only now noticed the numerous shadow tendrils that kept her tied to the Duvolf ensuring she didn’t topple off.
“Thanks for… thank you Samantha.”
“No probs Val.”
Looking at their handy work, the huntress marvelled at the sight but knew if she tried to fight this monster alone, aspect or not, she probably would have died. She would need to work on her reckless ideas if the two were to keep travelling this monster infested world. They would also need to start working on some playbook for how best to take down these creatures, that fight was far too haphazard and couldn’t be repeated. That would have to be for later though as neither could take their eyes off the dead creature. It was their first real accomplishment since starting their journey and it felt right, felt like exactly what they were put here to do. Or in another more accurate sense, both couldn’t help but silently agree it was fun executing this monstrosity, the thrill above all was intoxicating. Samantha grinned and raised her hand up for a high five waiting patiently for the huntress to reciprocate. A voice at the back of Valerie’s head that sounded oddly like her uncles cautioned this feeling and to not feed into it. The only problem was, she didn’t have to listen to her uncle or that voice anymore. Laughing, she met the high five and both locked hands, a vicious and mischievous smile adorning their faces respectively. As they were about to head back, a wicked thought entered Valerie’s mind.
“Hey Samantha, you mind helping me lift this thing? I have an idea.”
Valerie stepped around the beast, tearing her knife from its back in the process. Although it was already dead and wouldn’t be learning to reinforce itself any time soon, the pelt of a Duvolf was still quite handy to have. Monsters had an unfortunate downside in that their flesh, bones, horns, teeth and so on retained whatever mana they put into them. Unfortunate for the monsters that is as it made them not only a necessary nuisance but also a valuable commodity and she couldn’t call herself a proper hunter if she didn’t have any furs to trade.