"We can't destroy the caves!" Aero reasoned to six swords suggestion, "without the cave the Betors will go somewhere else when the weather turns cold again and that makes it hard to keep track of them as all hunters do." six swords conceded to this reason, "besides the reason, there are so many is the lack of demand.
"lack of demand?" rapier asked confused as he put together a message to send with the flying creature she owned.
"hunters kill as needed," Aero responded loosening his clothing, his skin was starting to get irritated, "either for material or safety, betors aren't dangerous during the winter and the leather/fur is only useful for making a few none necessary things."
"since no one needs these things there are many missions for betors which causes their numbers to go like this!" six swords nod in understanding, "how do you know that?" Aero refused to be outdone by people so he studied a lot of things about hunters and came to a few conclusions, but he wasn't going to say that. "I like knowing things and I tend to have many questions?" true ask Tova always had questions about her lessons.
"Okay, so what can we do?"
"We still have to kill a lot of them but we probably won't get paid for it." Aero pointed out thinking about what little he knew about betors behavior. "they'll start hunting nearby to regain their strength, during that time well be weaker than usual." they could lower their numbers by a good amount turn the odds in their favor a bit more.
"Okay so we have a plan but how do we do this?" the leather/fur of betors was pretty thick if it wasn't how bad it reacted to their skin it would be armor. but that didn't mean that couldn't bypass it, just meant they were in for a good fight. "okay, I don't think they'll be waking up today so that gives us a bit of time to start making some traps!" which aero wasn't looking forward to, he's never like doing things in a roundabout way. oh, he would prefer facing the issue right away and putting an end to it.
'my lord this would be a chance to practice a different mindset!' always trying to be helpful the helper pipped up knowing many ways to set up traps. 'also I've calculated a basic healing melody, it will accelerate the natural healing of your body.''
'oh that's good, definitely be useful.' but he focuses on setting up all kinds of traps. all with lethal intentions, they made sure to make use of the natural terrain while the motion wasn't that steep tripping would still lead to some very bad injuries.
"So when do you think they'll leave their caves?" six swords asked as they used the last of what little they brought climbing the motion the second time, they also used the chance to inform everyone of the situation. Yes they were very sore but they couldn't stop working or a small town was going to disappear. "that depends on how much they eat before going into hibernation and the weather." aero didn't know more than that, they could be here a few days or a few months, he wasn't going to let the latter happen.
"if they don't start coming out in a few days we're going into the caves," he promised his mother he wouldn't be gone more than two weeks and he was keeping that promise. but for now, they had to set up camp, "so any hobbies?" rapier asked as they dug out a fire pit.
"I will not be courted anyone who hasn't beaten me in a fight!" aero cut off that line of conversation.
"noted any hobbies besides violence." aero paused and blinked most of the chicks he met got a little peeved if he cut them off like this, he had yet to meet someone who brushed it off like that. "like for example me and my lover like dance when we're together but alone he prefers his drums. which I'm not sure about when we get to point of living together because these things are loud."
"th-there methods of soundproofing a room," he brief studdered a more than caught off guard. then realizing this woman was older than him more than he expected because everyone his age was single, "using some sap along with the right kind of wood you can dampen the sound coming into and out of the room." he learned this at the academy it's what they use to give the students more privacy as most rooms were a wall away from each other, unlike Aero's room.
"huh, I should look into that, because he loves his drums and I have yet to resist his pouting. which I have to do if we move in together or he's walking all over me." she then proceeded to use seven petals to tell them so much about this guy she was dating, Aero wasn't sure if he was feeling more annoyed or jealous listening to this. but at least six swords were doing her work for camp this night.
"well that's not good!" first thing in the morning after reliving himself he spotted something creating towards their camp. "definitely not good!" it was a betor, 7 feet long 4 feet tall, with four claws crawling towards the camp. it made little noise as he crawled closer the thick fur peaking between the scales flowing in the slight mountain breeze.
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taking in the situation and the path it was going on aero deiced he probably wouldn't need to interfere. it was on the path of a trap they laid out, one of the more dangerous ones. "good chance to see if these are effective," that didn't stop him from getting ready to jump down and kill that thing if it came down to it.
as it slowly neared the trap aero whistled a small melody, feeling its power flow into his legs as he prepared to pounce. *AGGSSH!* the Betor cried out as the rope wrapped around its tail at the same moment the large rock the other end of the rope was tied to was knocked over the ledge. both went over the edge pretty quickly he heard them falling much longer than he saw them falling.
"well that worked," with empowered leaps Aero bound over the camp where six swords and Raiper were ready for a fight. the trap was supposed to be loud so they knew if it caught something. "well I guess it starting!" aero stood guard as they quickly got dressed for the day, they then set out instantly finding several more betor roaming the area.
"let's push them down the mounting side," both females snapped towards Areo. "sound efficient and maybe a little cruel." turned to look at her, "what point is there not to push them off the cliffside!" they didn't need to keep the creatures in good condition, they were all going to get his with decay powder. as for respecting the lives of the creatures aero did respect them as lives, he would have to take! this is something all hunters had to accept. they were taking lives with each mission.
"by the Zaltess your right but it just didn't feel right!" six swords loudly complained while rapier agreed with her. but with less volume "as hunters we have a certain rule to abide by but protecting people is worth more than a rule." they weren't happy about it but the females agreed to the battle plan to knock creatures off the mountainside.
it wasn't two flowers before they were aching, more in the bones than their muscles. the betors proved to be smart each one noticed they were being driven towards the edge and this led to them having to use more than one melody. 'this could be so much easier if I could blow up the side of the mountain!' he was tired and in pain, it's aggravating him on a level he's rarely reached before. trying to calm down he stuck his hairless head under a small stream of freezing mountain water
'why not?' the helper softly asked. aero quickly explained a major rule for hunters. nature conservation they were forbidden to causes massive damage to nature and their environment. at best a large fine is what you're getting, at worst jail for years until you die of old age. you don't get to die another way. 'i see, I will add this to consideration when calculating melodies!' aero nodded stretching to keep his blood flowing while his team rested up.
"AH!" rapier cried out in pain as a Betor bit into her leg, aero and six swords disengaged from the Betor they were fighting to assist her. with two slashed of her blades six swords cut the muscles keeping the beast mouth close allowing aero to help pull her free. right before grunting with effort threw the beast into the other two. after that he and six swords had no other choice but to make quick work of them to defend rapier.
"yeah, it's not that bad," aero said after the helper examined the wound. he knew the basics of keeping a wound from killing him until he reached a town of something. he hated his lack of knowledge on the matter and tried to learn more to improve himself. but the complexity and number of terms proved to be his undoing when it came to medicine and medicine alone. it was eternally frustrating, but aero has accepted that he will never be a perfect being.
"time to stop for the day," the hunters at the bottom of the mounting could deal with a few betors that got that far. they carried rapier back to camp where they looked over her injury again, " she not going to be able to complete the mission." aero sighed agreeing with six swords, then took some time to think. at best it would take four days for them to walk her down the mounting and then come back up. in those four days, the number of awake Betors was going to increase greatly.
'my lord I may have a solution!' aero perked up because he needed her moved to a safer location, her fighting style required lots of mobility. her injured leg put her in a lot of danger. ' you could teach her the new medley.' that was a great idea since he didn't have it memorized he had to have the helper walk him through it. something that made his pride ache but he pushed through it and instructed rapier to whistle the surprisedly harsh tone.
"AH!" the moment the melodies were completed she grabbed her leg in painful suspire. "wow!" aero was ashamed that he jumped back as he noticed her vein bulging towards her wounds. she gasped in pain as said wound started to quickly heal. when she pulled the bandages away they used, they could see the wound slowly closing.
"how do you feel?" aero asked keeping an eye on the wound.
"starving!" her stomach made a noise that aero could have mistaken for a beast. a very large beast at that. rapier on the other hand wished to be melted down into a pile of goo as aero reached into his food and handed her two things of dried gell. which she ate with embarrassing speed. aero was impressed.
it was two 20 petals and four jells for the wound to fully heal, they didn't have her standing for a bit to let her leg recover. while they did that six swords brought up an interesting topic. "are you going to register that melody?" aero paused where he was wiping the blood from his staff.
"I probably should! it would be a good idea." also a great way to make people Knowlege his skill. he knew some people still doubted what he could do, but he didn't care that much instead it would be a great way to let other guys know what they were all capable of. they rested the rest of the day before getting back to work, it was dark but betor were still hunting. a simple melody gave them light at the end of their weapons, six swords were very bright as you would expect.
They hunted down several more creatures before stopping for the night and resting more, they had no rude awaking that morning and were able to try and hunt more betors but they had wised up to their presents and were making themselves scarce. "we only took twenty down, how could they notice this soon." aero grumbled to himself, he knew that betors were cleaver creatures but not this clever.
finding nothing they decided to have second meal now, only then did they get their rude interruption in the form of a stampede. "by the zalts! I'm out!" they reached grabbed their things as they scrambled to their feet before booking to down the mountain. 'really smarter then I anticipated,' this stamped was staying far enough back that they could take the moment to shot back a melody. "I'm not dying like this!" aero wasn't as loud as six swords but was agreeing with her.
"we! can't! keep! this! up!" raiper shouted through her tired and aching lungs, her legs were even more so tired. if not for stubborn will and years of training she would have collapsed 10 petals ago. she couldn't believe she's been chassed for almost two flowers, she felt far too tired to keep going much longer.
"what can we do?" six swords shouted at they contained to race down the mountain, her legs were so heavy that she couldn't fully lift them anymore. she was stumbling she knew it wouldn't be long before she tripped. if she tripped she would die, she would go home to her family to her boyfriend. she wanted to see his smile when he heard about the soundproofing technique. she wasn't going to cry, she was going to keep going she was going to see him smile again.
"need a plan!" aero would love to say he was outlasting the girls but that would be a weak lie. he would not take pride in a lie, that would not be something worth taking pride in. instead he tried to figure out some kind of big plane.