“Myla! Tail!” Valen shouted as a gigantic limb crashed down beside him, shaking the ground beneath his feet. A quick glance at his teammate confirmed that she had managed to dodge the strike intended for her and he quickly exhaled in relief. Then he turned back to his opponents.

A giant tail with a metal-like blade was ripped from the ground, ready to strike again. A giant oversized knife, two armored legs to support it, and a strong jaw, able to un-rust it at a moment’s notice: The Glavenus, one of the most infamous monsters simply due to its deadly appendage, was trying its best to rid its territory of invaders. It had almost succeeded several times but Valen was glad they were able to keep up with it… Until the problem arrived.

Golden scales rattling like a bunch of swords being ferried on a cart, two wings powerful enough to blow them away, and a sharp horn that would cut through their armor should it hit them. However, the scales were still the most dangerous part of this second enemy, able to be thrown at a moment’s notice and would tear their armor asunder should they hit their mark. It was the signature of the Seregios, a Wyvern that proved troublesome for even the most experienced of hunting teams.

The newcomer was by far the more troublesome of the two, as for some reason it spent more time attacking the group of hunters than the brute wyvern. The flying menace dodged the tail swipes expertly and only made a token effort to attack the Glavenus. Valen shook his hair, the few visible brown locks of his hair swinging, then put himself in a defensive stance, weapon held out on the side.

Suddenly the Seregios swept its tail at him, and Valen leapt over it. In the same motion, he pulled the trigger on his weapon while adjusting his grip, triggering the transformative mechanism inside it. The axe head slid down, while the blade pivoted at the tip to settle on the opposite side, then locked. When he scored a hit on the wyvern’s head, an otherwise small cut had come to fruition as a large gash as a result of the Switch Axe’s larger Sword form.

He backflipped to dodge the retaliatory swipe from the Seregios’ horn, his opponent screeching in fury. Then he released the trigger, causing his weapon to slide back to its previous, more wieldy axe form.

‘That was way too close,’ Valen thought. ‘I got an opportunity here but I doubt I’ll get another like that soon. Also, the strike did even less damage than I expected. If we get out of this, I’ll need to upgrade my equipment… Maybe even from one of these two if we’re lucky.’

He took a deep breath, his opponent distracted momentarily by the other monster. The weight of his Switch Axe in his hands was reassuring, as was his armor, which looked more like a long yellow trenchcoat than typical plate. However, the residual energy of the monster it came from protected him nonetheless. The large spongy mane he harvested from this peculiar leviathan was a sturdy material, but he could clearly feel its limits now.

A loud clanging distracted him as he glanced to the side where it came from.

The Glavenus had attempted to bite Edwin, but the shield his teammate was wearing on his right arm prevented the beast from doing much damage. He retaliated with a sudden thrust with his opposite arm, the green lance it held biting and piercing the armor of his opponent. Purple ooze dripped from the new wound, staggering the blade-tailed monster. Valen hoped that the monster would be slowed by the poison that entered its blood, but he felt like more of the weakening substance would be needed to make a difference.

Edwin was holding his ground, his armor protecting him from the few fireballs the wyvern attempted to spit at him. The Rathian scales it was made from absorbed the heat well, being crafted from the remains of another fire-inclined wyvern for this exact purpose. Their wearer was doing a good job of holding the attention of the Glavenus, despite their new predicament. He was undeterred and held his ground, in spite of the occasional splatter of blood that fell from his few wounds.

“Thanks for the save Valen, that tail slam would have definitely crushed me into paste!” Turning around, the mentioned hunter looked at his female colleague.

“No prob, Myla!” He nodded at her, noticing that she had her hammer ready to strike, the chunky weapon in her hands seeming like it weighed nothing at all. He knew how heavy it really was, as she’d let him try lifting it, only to taunt him when he’d gone red in the face after he’d only raised it a meager foot. He got his revenge when she proved her clumsiness with his own weapon, the swipes more liable to hit herself than any opponent. In the end, they shared a good laugh at how they clearly were trained only in their own weapons.

Her brown armor was paradoxically not the best at absorbing the heat from their original target, but the bulkiness compensated by helping absorb glancing blows of the giant tail. The sturdy carapace of the Barroth it was made from was tough enough that few things could slice or stab through it.

“Stickies! Go for it!” The shout spurred Valen to action before two barks of a bowgun sounded behind him, and two sizzling tubes struck the Seregios in the face. The monster desperately tried to unlodge them by shaking their head, but the projectiles were stuck fast, clinging on like demented, sparking geckoes.

Valen was already moving when the explosive ammo detonated, capitalizing on the monster’s flinch with an overhead cut at its head. That knocked a score of sharp scales free, allowing Myla to follow up with what would have been a brutal uppercut if it had connected. Unfortunately, the Seregios barely managed to avoid it, dodging backward, but the Hammer wielder was undeterred. She used the momentum of her weapon to roll away, putting distance between her and the wyvern before it could dash back in to strike.

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“Good shots Flynn, too bad he recovered in time.” Valen said.

Flynn nodded, more to himself than Valen, the hood of his armor partially covering his face from the glare of the midday sun as he reloaded. He was wearing the lightest armor of the group, but the white hide of the Khezu it was made of was sturdy enough that it didn’t need to be bulky. That suited its wearer fine, as it gave Flynn the crucial mobility he needed to position himself on the battlefield.

Valen’s squad was a well-oiled machine at this point, having done half a dozen hunts together, the Glavenus being the hardest to date. Taking it down was within their ability… until the Seregios had decided to crash the party. At least it wasn’t one of the most feared ‘invaders’, like big old Deviljho, or Rajang. Those two were truly among the leading causes of death in the hunting world, ambushing a party that totally wasn’t ready for them. Seregios alone was bad enough, but fighting two apex predators at once shouldn’t ever be recommended.

Flynn threw dung pods to the sharp-scaled menace long ago, but no matter how many were thrown at its face, it simply didn’t want to quit. Even the hunters were starting to pick up the horrible smell by now. Valen was the one tasked to distract it as much as he could, being the most mobile after Flynn, but it was becoming increasingly hard, what with the monster trying to go for anyone unlucky enough to come into its reach. At least he’d managed to warn the others early enough for them to dodge out of range again.

However, the winged wyvern was winding up to throw a volley of razor-sharp scales directly at Edwin. With Valen’s shield already blocking a burst of flame from the Glavenus, he simply couldn’t take this one for his teammate.

“WATCH OUT EDWIN!” he shouted, hoping his fellow hunter would be able to deal with it.

The Sergios swung his tail, detaching a handful of scales that flew through the air like arrows let loose by the strongest of bowmen. Most of the projectiles harmlessly impacted the ground with small thwacks, but two found their mark. One hit Edwin’s side, piercing his armor with the sound of shrieking metal, but jammed in the metal before managing to bite into the hunter. The other went right through a gap in his armor; a little open spot at his neck.

With a low gurgle, Edwin toppled to the ground, lifeless.

Everybody stopped for a second, realizing what happened. Then they all clapped their hands to their ears as the Seregios roared in victory.

Once the ringing in her head died down, Myla quickly stowed her weapon and retrieved an extra strong dung bomb from her utility pouch, throwing it at the Glavenus, hard. Unlike the Seregios, the Glavenus clearly was bothered by the smell. It had been battered and bruised by the hunters and its opponent, and with the horrible smell coated all over its nose, it had clearly had enough.

Valen managed to grab the Seregios’ attention and distract it long enough for the Glavenus to leave. With a bit of luck, only having one monster to deal with would allow the rest of their team to deal enough damage to force it to retreat. Then they could… retrieve Edwin, and head for home.

A few more minutes of fighting ensued until the Thousand Blades Wyvern emitted a loud roar that made the hunters cover their ears followed by swinging his tail, detaching more of its sharp scales. Valen and Flynn rolled sideways to dodge them, but Myla was still recovering from her last attack. A scale lodged itself in her arm, the sharp point making her start to bleed profusely. However, while she was distracted by her new wound, she didn’t hear her teammates shouting at her until it was too late. Her attention snapped back to the Seregios… right before she got impaled on its horn with the horrible screams of tearing metal and agonizing pain. Blood dripped down its horn as it glared at its remaining quarry. Then it swung its head, bisecting Myla’s body and throwing the two halves into the undergrowth.

Images of another time and place flashed through Valen’s head. A horrible yellow hide, heavy roars loud enough to make his head feel like it was exploding. The crash of heavy footfalls clawing into the earth for purchase and rippling flexes of corded muscle. A monster just as furious as this one, and another hunt ripped to pieces.

It was too much for him. He dropped his weapon, turned tail, and ran, prioritizing survival over all else. Flynn shouted at him to wait… but in doing so, missed the tail swipe of the Seregios. A loud crack resounded as he was flung into the air some ways away, unconscious before he even hit the ground.

The Wyvern emitted a loud screech of victory, having defeated all of its opponents bar one, then immediately launched into the air towards the last hunter. Valen heard it taking to the sky, felt the displaced air from its beating wings, but didn’t look back. He couldn’t. He couldn’t look at that thing again, not with his mind screaming in panicked terror.

The wyvern flung its head, detaching some of its scales in the process. Its aim was true, piercing the armored leg of the hunter and making him tumble to the ground. Valen quickly rolled onto his back and began to backpedal as fast as his battered body would allow. Adrenaline coursed through his system. His eyes were wide and terrified, almost popping out of his head as the Wyvern landed before him with an impact that shook the ground. It advanced slowly, perhaps relishing its victory, or perhaps simply believing that exerting more effort wasn’t needed.

It screeched again, the sound piercing his eardrums and making him cringe and want to curl up like a terrified child, scared of the Jaggi under the bed. He couldn’t afford to stop and block out the sound, not with the monster so close. He had to get away. He had to! He… he…

The Seregios reared up and spread its wings, almost as if it was showing off its prowess to its prey. Here it was, the king of its domain, destroyer of all who might try to challenge it. What was Valen to it, an artist of razor-sharp blades that flew like graceful leaves on an autumn breeze? He was a dead man walking- well, crawling. He was done for, just like the others. Whole parties going down didn’t happen often, but stories of it happening weren’t uncommon. Overconfidence, a lack of information, or sheer bad luck could end a hunt in seconds, what with the power of the beasts that made the world their domain. Even the most skilled hunters could be killed by the sting of the hated Vespoid or the sometimes-useful Paratoad.

But Valen wasn’t one of the elite. He wasn’t even an A-lister. He was just trying to do the best he could, and his best hadn’t been enough. He’d panicked. He had run. He’d abandoned the last of his teammates to the fate that he was surely going to meet in seconds.

The Sergios seemed to agree. It prepared to lunge, to end it, and Valen raised an arm in front of his face in a futile attempt to shield himself. Then all he knew was an explosion in the sky, a flash of red, a burst of heat, and a piercing screech. Then darkness came for him.‘I’m sorry,’ he dazedly thought before he lapsed into unconsciousness.