Four days of gruelling, back breaking and tireless work from Valerie later and they were still just sitting around and waiting. Despite her efforts, Samantha barely lifted a finger due to the huntress’s ruthless efficiency and controlled but still rampant monster murdering mania. Laying on her stomach across one of their favourite tree branches with a leg dangling below, the bored shadow user tried not to fall asleep from an absolutely tedious siege. The first couple days saw more Duvolf being sent out to hunt although they quickly met the same fate as their predecessors. With each subsequent group they got younger, more inexperienced and hungrier as the den descended into further starvation. Fights between Duvolf broke out, all of which ended with a frustrated howl from Whitebone who was clearly growing more outraged by the hour. On the third day, the Alpha made another appearance examining the whole pack and selecting a random Duvolf to follow into the cave depths. The fear ridden monster heeded their leader’s orders and was never seen from again.
On the fourth morning, Samantha awoke to no change, the monsters howled, Valerie vigilantly watched, and she was bored. The pair of adventurers were set to wait out another week or so with provisions they brought as well as cooking up some of the Duvolf meat which was just barely edible. Samantha wondered, after being treated to the miracle that was Joanne’s cooking, if she was beginning to become a bit of a food snob. Back in the mine they were lucky if the days gruel had the echo of a memory of taste and yet, here she was turning her nose up at perfectly adequate Duvolf jerky. Her boredom was also incomparable, just a year back she spent nearly every day practicing and figuring out her escape from the mine while dreaming of the outside world.
“A year huh.”
It dawned on Samantha; it had been almost a full year since her escape. Her sense of time was still severely off but, they were just a single season away from a full year having passed. It was, all things considered, quite a bountiful and exciting period when compared to the rest of her life. Ever since leaving the mine she experienced innumerable and unforgettable moments starting with meeting Valerie, training under James, moving to Capital City, becoming friends with a host of people who truly cared for her and getting a job as an adventurer.
“Suppose that makes me sixteen.”
She muffled out, her cheek pressed into the rugged bark. Papa always stressed the importance of birthdays as milestones to show how mature one was and all the things they could accomplish. Samantha wasn’t exactly sure when her birthday was, the only dates she cared about were the kind you could dip in chocolate. Still, it had probably passed already, Papa was very good at numbers and stuff like that although she couldn’t remember when exactly he said her birthday was anymore. Samantha sighed, wondering how her Papa was doing or, if he was dead, how his bones were doing. Was it wrong that she didn’t feel sad about him disappearing? Probably, she thought, but what was there to do about it? One day he was there and then the next he was gone such was life. It’s not like it matters, come the end of the world everyone would be gone and who knows who would inherent the land next. Maybe it would be monsters like Whitebone or perhaps fish people, probably fish people. If the world was going to end, then why did any of this matter? Why did she need to be here? To be an adventurer?
“I want to enjoy life.”
Samantha announced out of the blue. Ultimately, she did want to see the world before it ended, to experience new things and try new foods. Who knows she may even find love like in the cheesy books Albert kept hidden away in a drawer at the back of the library. The bored girl turned her gaze towards Valerie who stood atop a higher branch dutifully surveying the Duvolf den without a hint of boredom.
“Hey Val, do you want to get married?”
The odd question broke the huntress from her vigilant watch. She would have given a non-committal or sarcastic answer like Joanne had done each time a patron or Granny asked her, but Valerie had no reason to lie.
“I don’t know, probably. If I found the right one I suppose.”
She shrugged and returned to her watch duties.
“We could get married.”
Samantha said not clear on the point of marriage bar a legal agreement of some kind, but aware people placed a great deal of importance around the milestone. It was not because she wanted to have people shower her in gifts. It wasn’t, okay? Spending more time with her best friend was also a bonus plus the jewellery, those fancy rings people wore were real snazzy in the shadow users opinion. The statement caught Valerie off guard however and she laughed not at the idea of marrying her best friend but of any life they could have as newlyweds.
“Only if you take my last name.”
She giggled out. Snapping her fingers, without make a sound, Samantha pointed a finger gun at Valerie and replied.
“Not on your life.”
Samantha Hunt? As if. What was wrong with being Mrs Valerie Trapper? A fine, respectable, DIGNIFIED name that anyone would be happy to have. The two fell back into a resigned silence as the hours ticked by. At around noon Samantha got up and stood on her branch, a rope tether and shadow chain keeping her from toppling. She leaned out trying to see if she could peer into the cave and catch sight of Whitebone or his, hopefully already rotting, corpse. Valerie caught sight of her friend and tried to warn her off leaning at such a steep angle.
“Careful Samantha, you’ll snap the branch if you go too far out.”
As if on que, a creak emanated from between the pair. They had used this single tree as a vantage point during the entirety of their siege and it seemed the bark was finally giving out. Valerie and Samantha locked eyes, trying to guess which of the two was on sturdier ground. Unfortunately, the huntress’s height and weight advantage proved detrimental as her perch was the one to finally give out. A loud snap was the only warning Valerie got before she was tumbling to the ground, the rope connecting her to the branch pulling her down with the heavy log. Samantha acted quick and shot a shadow chain out towards her friend while using her limited control to force the chain to reach for her hand. The momentary shock wore off and Valerie gripped onto the lifeline with her free hand while ignoring the shiver that coursed down her arm causing goosebumps to appear. She tore her knife free from the sheath using it to slice through the rope in one smooth motion.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Free of her added weight but still falling, she placed her knife between her teeth, biting down and feeling the serrated back rub against her tongue. She held onto the chain for dear life and prayed to any divine above that this would not be how she died. The branch shattered as it collided with the ground, thankfully Valerie was saved from such a fate slowing down and stopping withing inches from impact. She floated off the forest floor with her momentum arrested for a fraction of a second. Long enough to make out the shape of a snail who looked up at her with complete indifference like this was the least exciting thing it had seen that day. In the next instant her shadow tether pulled her back up, springing like a bungee cord.
“I got you!”
Samantha yelled out, straining against her chains to pull Valerie back up. She unfortunately, succeeded, wrenching the huntress through the air at high velocity. It was at this time that Samantha’s branch also decided to give out having been forced to bear the sudden weight of two monster hunters. Due to the angle of her pull, the sudden upward force and then immediate slack, Valerie was not yanked above the tree line but instead sling shot away. She flew horizontally through the air while the shadow chain dissolved in her hands, she tried to reach out and grip onto anything but moved too fast to find any purchase. She saw death coming towards her in the form of a low hanging tree branch poised to skewer her. Time froze for the huntress as she rocketed towards certain doom.
“I’m going to die.”
This thought passed through her head not for the first time in so any months. Like Samantha, Valerie felt overwhelming discontent dying a pointless death. She wanted to do so much, see so much and kill so many monsters.
“If I was faster. If I was better.”
Her last thoughts drifted to her own inadequacies real or not didn’t matter when the end drew closer. Or so she thought, as her wishes were granted by the crimson blade between her teeth glowing and filling her veins with power. Before colliding with the spear like branch, she thrust her hands out grabbing onto and twisting away from being impaled. She forced herself up and over the branch before kicking off as her momentum reduced but was not entirely negated. She leapt from tree trunk to trunk, never staying longer than a hairs breadth while gradually losing speed and height as she fell with style. Landing in an open area, Valerie tucked into a sideways roll before rising back on her feet completely fine.
Flabbergasted at what she had just done, Valerie checked over her body like it wasn’t her own. The way she moved it was like she had the agility of a cat. No, not a cat, she realized, of an Octolot. It all made sense now, this was it, this was the power of her class, to take some trait from a monster and apply it to herself. The Octolot had been as quick and lithe as a normal cat and now Valerie could copy that same dexterity. It exhilarated the girl so much so that she failed to notice where she landed. A low growl from all around ripped Valerie from her reverie and she was finally able to notice the pack of starved Duvolf that surrounded her. She had hopped, skipped and jumped right into the middle of their den, wearing the bloody pelt of one of their own no less. Many eyes focused on her and she felt an overwhelming sense of danger which she summarized in typical Valerie fashion.
“Bollocks.”
She vaguely cursed; her knife still clenched between her teeth. A serene quiet fell upon the den for a brief second as neither Valerie nor the monsters made a move. Then a young upstart with patches of white surged forward, their yet to be honed instincts driving them forward to try and rip Valerie’s throat out. Without a thought the huntress dropped to the floor, her feet still on the ground while the rest of her fell backwards stopping just before hitting the dirt. The young Duvolf sailed over head, its underbelly exposed to Valerie. Taking the opportunity, she spit out her knife, expertly grabbing it and forcing the weapon up to drag across the Duvolf’s stomach. It did not puncture through the creatures think fur however, even at a young age the pelt was strong enough to resist weapon strikes. As the Duvolf landed, Valerie smoothly rose back to her full height and stared the offending beast down. With how she was now compared to when she first fought one of these things she was undoubtedly the more dangerous combatant. In a one-on-one contest she would come out on top almost every time. Ofcourse these were monsters, they did not play fair.
Several more Duvolf lunged for Valerie and the huntress was forced on the back foot, relying on her instincts, skills and the Octolot boost to evade. She bobbed, weaved, and pivoted on her feet always coming away by the skin of her teeth. She shot out with attacks of her own, yet none were ever able to pierce the pack. After tossing away a scraggily monster for the umpteenth time there came another leaping through the air towards her. Valerie tried to dodge but felt sluggish, the power of the Octolot vanishing as a slight hunger formed within Tiger’s Will. She had a time limit, what an absolutely fantastic moment to find out. With the beast rapidly approaching she fell back on an old classic. She tossed the skinned Duvolf pelt at her attacker sacrificing defence for a quick distraction. Rolling out of the way she avoided the wild scramble of the leaping Duvolf as it fought to untangle itself. Without a chance to catch her breath, she caught sight of another beast charging straight for her, both heads foaming with fury and hunger. It wasn’t an easy shot, but it was straight enough she could throw her knife into the monster’s weak point and maybe debilitate or, if she was really luck, kill it entirely.
Flipping her knife and rearing back, she focused hard and hoped her strength would be enough, she would need a lot more to finish this fight. Once again Tiger’s Will answered her call and glowed just as she sent it flying. In the blink of an eye the spinning blade was soaring through the air faster and with more force than it had ever been injected with before. The charging beast was struck directly in its weak spot as the powerful blade continued spinning unimpeded by any flesh or bones in its way. Tiger’s Will landed with a resounding thud, sinking itself partially into the ground as both sides of the bisected monster landed around the huntress.
“Holy Sh-”
Valerie tried to say but was cut off with the emergence of another Duvolf. Lacking a weapon, she could old pivot out of the clumsy strike and retaliate with a punch to its flank. The admittedly half effort swing pushed the monster back several feet and cracked bones at the point of impact. Valerie stared in amazement while the rest of the attacking Duvolf suddenly grew wary, backing off slightly from the sight of one of their brethren halved and another crumpled like an old tissue. There was an influx of strength bulging out from the huntress’s muscles and drastically increasing her lethality. The hunger within Tiger’s Will had also been satiated again after killing the Duvolf. If the Octolot granted her speed and agility, then the Duvolf hunters she killed increased her strength by several degrees. It was only temporary but if one could give her the edge to split the double headed beast in two, then she had more than enough fodder around to finish off the pack, or so she hoped.
Things would not be so easy however with the arrival of their leader emerging from the cave mouth to tower over Valerie. Its far meeker followers backed off to give the white wolf space to strut their stuff. The beast and the huntress stared each other down, one hopped up on hunger and righteous fury for the death of its kin while the other was feeling empowered by those same dead beasts and would use every ounce of her strength to tear the alpha down. A faint rational voice in the back of Valerie’s mind told her she still may not be enough, it was a good thing then she wasn’t alone. An ear-piercing screech arrested the attention of all monster’s, bar Whitebone, as Samantha swung in from out of nowhere dipping low to rip Tiger’s Will out of the ground. At the peak of her swing, she let go of her “rope” and flipped mid-air landing heroically next to Valerie. The shadow user tossed Tiger’s Will up for the huntress catch and unintentionally strike her own heroic pose. All that was missing was an explosion of fireworks to complete the outrageous entrance.
“Together?”
Samantha asked.
“Together.”
Valerie affirmed as she pointed her knife at the mutant Duvolf. If there was one thing the pair learned combatting Joanne, it was they were far greater together than apart and they would make sure this Alpha knew exactly how good they were.
“Whitebone!”
Hearing its name for the first time ever vocalized perked the monster’s ears up. Valerie wasn’t sure where the words came from, but she was absolutely confident it would be a killer way to start the fight.
“You might be the Alpha, but us? We're the Apex!”