Monster Hunter 1. Chapter 1: Initiation

Chapter 1: Initiation

"_In a world where survival is key, there is only one rule that every hunter must follow: hunt or be hunted."- Macha Training School's motto_

O======II==============

The cold wind blew on Jerox's face as he slowly waited for his target to show up. He was still shivering, despite having numerous hot drinks. Hiding behind the rock a few yards away was his best friend, Azroth. His jet-black hair was tied into a long ponytail that stretched all the way to his waist. His hand was on the grip of his weapon, the Bone, which was the longsword that the training school had given to him. Sensing that he was being watched, Azroth looked at his friend. Seeing that his friend was growing impatient, Jerox grinned.

Suddenly, Jerox heard the sound of footsteps coming their way. Looking back at the path, he could make out shapes heading their way. Soon after that, a pair of Giaprey appeared with their leader, the Giadrome, leading the way. It then halted and began to scan its surroundings, as though it had sensed danger.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Azroth leapt out of his hiding place and slashed at one of the Giapreys upon drawing his blade. Jerox then unsheathed his weapon, the Bone Axe, and stabbed at the other Giaprey. Noticing that its comrades were in danger, the Giadrome turned to face the closest threat, Azroth, and proceeded to pounce on him. Azroth barely managed to notice it and rolled away just at the nick of time, with the large creature landing on the spot he was on before.

Managing to finish off the Giaprey, Jerox proceeded to assist Azroth by distracting the Giadrome. Shifting his axe into its sword form, he swung his weapon upwards, striking the creature's left leg. The creature stumbled backwards and seeing that Jerox was the bigger threat, jumped backwards and spat out a white ball towards him. He was soon covered by snow and before he realized what was happening, the Giadrome pounced on him, removing all of the snow covering him and sending him face first on the snow-covered ground.

Realizing that his friend was in trouble, Azroth quickly finished off the remaining Giaprey with a slash on its throat and proceeded to slash at the Giadrome's head. The creature narrowly avoided the attack and fired a white ball at Azroth, who rolled away and sprinted towards the creature. The Giadrome then quickly stepped backwards while raising its head and arms and in the blink of an eye, it snapped at him and sent him flying backwards, landing on his back with a sickening crunch.

"Azroth!" yelled Jerox, after seeing the scene unfold. Turning around to face the creature, he gritted his teeth in anger and proceeded to sprint towards it. The Giadrome fired a white ball at him, which he simply dodged by sidestepping before he unsheathed his weapon and stabbed at the creature. He then slowly lifted his weapon and with a push of a button on the weapon's grip, the weapon produced a huge explosion, sending both of them stumbling backwards. Blood poured from the creature's gaping wound and before it could even react, Azroth appeared beside the creature and brought his weapon down on the creature's head, breaking its beloved crest and sending it sliding towards the wall of the mountain. With one last cry, the creature dropped its head and gave out its last breath.

Satisfied with their victory, Azroth dropped onto the cold ground and lay there. Jerox quickly rushed to his aid and taking out a Potion, he placed it on Azroth's lips and slowly let the liquid flow down to his throat. In a matter of a few seconds, Azroth's back pain vanished and he was on his feet.

"We should probably carve out the materials and get back to the village," said Azroth, who pulled out his carving knife and began to make his way to the Giadrome's corpse. Sighing, Jerox brought out his own carving knife and proceeded to carve out the creature's skull.

O======II==============

"Congratulations! Both of you have successfully graduated from this prestigious training school!" said Blake, the pair's instructor. He then handed both of them each a piece of paper detailing their success. "You are both now free to wander around as official hunters! Feel free to stop by if you have the time!"

"Thank you, Master!" said the two boys in unison.

"No… From this day onwards, I'll just be Blake, okay?" said the instructor.

"Yes… Blake!" said Jerox, satisfied that his days of training were finally over.

The duo then exited the building and after a few steps, Jerox took one last look at the training school. It seemed to be in the process of having an expansion. There were wyverians and humans working around every corner. Occasionally, a few Felynes dropped by to deliver some materials. Smiling with contempt, Jerox departed the school's gates and took a wide glimpse at his hometown, Macha Village. There were various gates scattered around the huge gates surrounding the village. The village guild stood in the center of the village with a quest board next to it. Various huts were scattered around the village with a few having some gardens. The Elder's Dwelling stood by the north exit of the village, which led all the way to the Tundra and the Snowy Mountains. Suddenly, he felt a hand grip his shoulder and he turned around to find Azroth looking at him with his deadpan gaze.

"You okay?" asked Azroth.

"Yeah!" replied Jerox. "I just feel so… so new! Don't you feel it as well?"

"Kind of. But we are now officially hunters! So that means we finally get to partake in quests!"

"Maybe… But we still have to join the Guild if we want to actually have access to more quests!"

"Definitely!" replied Azroth, who tightened his hand into a fist. "Are you ready for this?"

Jerox looked at him and with a smile, he replied, "Let's do it!"

And so, the two made their way to the Guild and entered it. They then stood dumfounded upon seeing the inside of the Guild. On the left side sat three receptionists who were busy interacting with a long line of hunters dressed in their colorful armors. On the right side stood a lonely Guild guard, who was decked out in the Guild's trademark clothing. Two sabers were tucked on his belt which seemed to glow with the purest of lights. He glared at the line of hunters, as though they were all capable of committing a horrible crime.

After minutes of waiting in line, the two finally managed to reach the cheerful receptionist who greeted them both nicely.

"Can I help you?" asked the receptionist.

"As a matter of fact, you can. We would like to become part of the Hunter's Guild!" said Jerox happily.

"Ah! So you must be new to this, huh? Well, I'm sorry but we can't allow you both to be part of the Guild," said the receptionist. After hearing those words, Jerox's smile slowly faded.

"What do you mean we can't be part of the Guild?" asked Jerox.

"I'm not done yet. What I meant to say was that the both of you can't join the Guild without having the Initiation quest," said the receptionist.

Before Jerox could utter another word, Azroth asked her kindly, "What is this initiation quest that we must do?"

"Please hold on one moment!" said the receptionist, who then pulled out what appeared to be a folder of quests. As she flipped through the folder, Jerox looked around and began to notice that the Guild guard was now glaring at him. "Ah! Here we go!" said the receptionist, who then pulled out the paper and laid it down on the table. Azroth then took the paper and examined it. He then looked back at the receptionist.

"So all we need to do to prove ourselves is to slay a Great Baggi, right?" asked Azroth.

"Yes, of course," replied the receptionist.

"I have a question… What's a Great Baggi?" asked Jerox. The receptionist threw him a questioning look.

"Give us a minute," said Azroth, who then pulled Jerox to a corner. "What do you mean by your question?"

"What I mean is that I have never heard of the Great Baggi before," said Jerox, who rubbed his head in embarrassment.

Azroth stared at him for a second before he replied, "You must have been sleeping in Blake's class if you have never heard of it. A Great Baggi is a carnivorous bird wyvern that lives in the Tundra. It is known to spit a liquid that could cause you to sleep."

"I see. So all we need to do is slay the Great Baggi and we'll be in, right?" asked Jerox. Azroth shook his head, confusing Jerox.

"I believe that it's not that simple. For one, the Great Baggi is stronger than the Giadrome that we fought earlier today. Another thing, we need to return here with a Bird Wyvern Gem as proof," replied Azroth.

"So all we need to do is get a Bird Wyvern Gem. A piece of cake!" said Jerox.

"Naïve as always, eh? If there's one thing that I remember from that lesson, it's that the item is a rare drop from breaking its crest. And a crest isn't simple to break if you are facing one of the most experienced creatures that could easily turn your day upside down," replied Azroth. Jerox then began to frown as they made their way back to the receptionist.

"We'll do it!" said Jerox. The receptionist then took out a stamp and stamped the paper, signifying the beginning of the quest.

"Good luck on your quest!" said the receptionist.

"Thank you very much… um…" said Azroth.

"Oh! My name is Maricela. You may call me Mars," said Mars, who grinned at them.

"Thank you very much, Mars!" said Azroth, who smiled back, causing her to blush slightly. The two then departed the building, with the paper at hand and a look of determination stitched on their faces.

Before heading for the northern exit, Azroth decided to purchase some materials from a nearby store. After buying some hot drinks and potions, they finally made their way out of the village into the cold regions.

O======II==============

**A/N: And that marks the beginning of my new series, Monster Hunters: New Frontier! If you feel like writing suggestions, comments, complaints, etc…, then please feel free to review or just PM me! Until next time, see ya!**


	2. Chapter 2: Strange Encounters with th

Chapter 2: Strange Encounters with the Felyne Kind

"_With every hunter is a trusty partner. That, my student, is what we call a Felyne"-Blake, instructor of Macha Village's training school_

O======II==============

Jerox slumped to the ground upon reaching the campsite. He had been told by Azroth to pick up some firewood while he set up the campsite and thinking that he had the easier job, he accepted his task. However, while collecting some firewood, he had to fend off against the pesky Vespoids that buzzed around. If that wasn't bad enough, he had also narrowly avoided becoming a Tigrex's next meal. But just when he thought that he was safe enough, he was assaulted by a Bulldrome after stumbling upon its territory. He quickly ran around the frosted forest, hoping that he would lose the angry creature along the way. And so he had finally reached the campsite after a couple of hours of trying to find his way back. Azroth was calmly waiting for him while whetting his Bone sword.

"What took you so long?" asked Azroth as he discarded the worn-out whetstone. Jerox flashed him a glare before he proceeded to light the campfire.

"Next time, I'll be the one doing the setting of the campsite and you do the collecting of firewood," muttered the worn-out hunter, who managed to get the fire going after a few seconds.

"Well then, I take it that you've made a plan to track down the creature?" asked Jerox.

"Of course! We just need to wait for the right opportunity to strike. We should probably have a meal before that," replied Azroth, who pulled out a raw piece of meat taken from one of the unlucky Anteka that they had encountered while finding a spot to place their tent. He then began to cook the meat in his portable BBQ spit and after a certain amount of time, he removed the meat and seeing that he had made a Well-Done steak, he reached for his bag and pulled out one of the Hot Peppers that he had purchased from the village. He then combined it with the steak and made himself a Hot Steak, earning him a look from Jerox.

"What exactly is that?" asked Jerox, eyeing the suspicious piece of meat. Azroth frowned upon hearing the question.

"Did you even learn something from school? This delicate piece of meat," he said, showing him the sizzling piece of meat. "This piece of meat is what hunters call a Hot Meat. This meat can help the hunter ward off the cold and it can also warm them up," he explained.

"Oh! So I won't need this Hot Drink then?" asked Jerox.

"You might need to save that for later. You'll be seeing why," said Azroth. He then began shoving the meat in his mouth while Jerox consumed his own hot drink in silence.

O======II==============

Moments later, the two began making their way across the Tundra with their sharpened weapons and other hunting supplies. Occasionally, they would find a few Popos wandering around the area. They decided to ignore them and they continued on with their journey. Upon reaching what appeared to be a clearing, they found what they were looking for: an unsuspecting pack of Baggi. Drawing his longsword, Azroth made his way towards the closest Baggi and slashed at the creature vertically, causing blood to spill out of its wounds and a roar of pain emerged from its throat before Azroth finished it off with a swipe on its throat. Jerox then ran towards another one and immediately brought his axe down on the creature's back upon unsheathing his weapon, making the creature stumble back. A third Baggi then pounced on his back, causing him fall to the ground. The creature was felled when Azroth swiped at the creature's legs, causing it to fall. He then finished it off with a thrust of his sword on its throat. He then proceeded to help his comrade back to his feet and they both resumed their killing spree. Soon, the whole area was littered with the corpses of the Baggi. Azroth then decided to drink a potion which then healed his wounds.

"I doubt that it would take it this long to come to the aid of its comrades," said Azroth.

Suddenly, a loud roar caused the two to immediately draw their weapons and soon enough, a new creature entered the clearing. This creature was slightly larger than the others that they have fought. It had a crest on its head, signifying that it was the leader of its pack. It seemed to have come from a battle as it was covered with various wounds all over its body. Its crest was slightly cracked and the creature had drool dripping from its mouth. Upon sighting the hunters, it began to charge towards them. It then swung its body around, causing its tail to whip at Jerox, who was sent rolling away after being hit. Azroth then attempted to take a swipe at the creature's head but it anticipated this and it immediately jumped backwards. It then raised its head and howled, causing both hunters to prepare themselves for what was about to come. Just as the creature lowered its head, its pack of Baggi came charging from everywhere, causing both hunters to immediately ready themselves for battle.

Azroth's sword suddenly emitted a red glow which soon covered his entire body. He then slashed at the first two monsters that came at him, causing both of them to stagger backwards. As more creatures rushed at the glowing hunter, he immediately greeted them with a second swipe that struck down one of the first ones that had attacked him and decapitated a second creature. He then unleashed a barrage of swipes at the other creatures, slowly reducing their numbers to a mere dozen. Seeing that the Great Baggi was charging towards him, he immediately slashed horizontally at the creature's legs, causing it to topple over. He then sheathed his weapon before blood began to burst out of the leader's wound.

Meanwhile, Jerox dealt with the other half of the pack. He swiped his axe upwards at the closest Baggi, opening a gash on the creature's chest. Switching his weapon to its sword form, he slashed at the next creature which ended up falling on top of another one of its pack mates. He then struck two more creatures which attempted to pounce on him, sending them flying off in the process. He cursed under his breath as most of the creatures that he had felled began to rise back on their legs. He then switched his weapon to its axe form and began to unleash a combo of attacks at the wounded creatures. Most of them fell dead while some of the others continued to advance towards him.

Suddenly, a white blur appeared out of nowhere and began striking down the other creatures with a bone club. Upon landing on the ground, the creatures that were struck by the mysterious warrior fell dead. Jerox studied the newcomer's appearance. It had an unknown creature's skull for a mask with two feathers sticking from either side. It had a colorful array of bracelets on it and a necklace of teeth wrapped around its neck. The creature then looked at him and in a blink of an eye, it had reached the hunter's position within a split second and it had its bone weapon out. But instead of bashing the hunter, the strange creature began to sniff him and poked around his armor. It then leapt off of him and ran towards the Great Baggi.

The large creature had already knocked down the hunter and was prepared to finish him off with a bite aimed for the hunter's throat when the strange being struck it on its head and sent it stumbling. Seeing the newcomer as a threat, the Great Baggi spat out its signature blob, intending on knocking the newcomer out but with the speed of lightning, it had easily evaded the attack and it proceeded to bash the Great Baggi's head with its bone weapon. A sickening crunch could be heard as the weapon connected with the creature's skull. Its crest flew off its head and landed right next to Azroth. As he slowly recovered from being knocked down by the creature, his eyes were suddenly drawn to a glint from the crest. As he took the broken crest and studied it, he found what they had been looking for: the Bird Wyvern Gem that was lodged inside the crest. Taking his carving knife from his pocket, he carefully dislodged the gem from the crest and immediately inserted it inside his Giaprey sack.

Meanwhile, Jerox proceeded to help the strange creature by striking at the Great Baggi's legs while the strange creature kept on bashing the large creature's head with his hammer, disfiguring the creature even further. It then decided that it had enough and upon jumping back, it shot at the masked creature with its ball of tranquilizing liquid. However, the masked creature easily dodged the attack, only to discover that the creature had used this as a distraction to escape the hunters and the newcomer. But just as the large creature began fleeing, it suddenly stopped upon carelessly stepping on a shock trap by Azroth. Wasting no time, the hunter mercilessly unleashed his spirit combo on the creature, killing it after one last slash on its neck, completely decapitating the creature. Jerox then hurried towards its corpse and began carving it, thinking that the gem was lodged somewhere within the creature.

"Where is it?" asked Jerox as he continued to carve away at the creature's corpse. Upon feeling a tap on his shoulder, he looked back to find Azroth grinning with his Giaprey sack on his hand. Reaching inside the sack, he pulled out the shiny gem, causing his mouth to open wide open in disbelief. A sudden sound of the breaking of bones made the duo look back on the corpse where the masked creature had ripped one of the fallen creature's ribs in half. It then pulled out what appeared to be a miniature version of a whetstone and began to sharpen it. As the duo continued to watch it, the rib was soon turned into a miniature carving knife, which it then used to cut bits of the creature's hide, which it then fashioned into a small sack. It then took the corpse's sleep sac, which it then threw towards Jerox who caught it with his right hand. Facing the two hunters, the strange creature removed its mask, revealing it as a Felyne which shocked both of the hunters. It then bowed and left the two hunters staring with looks of bewilderment drawn all over their faces.

O======II==============

"What exactly just happened?" asked Jerox after arriving back at camp. It was only hours earlier that the duo had recovered from the shock that they had received and realizing that they had finished their quest, fired a signal flare which caught the eye of one of the Guild's air balloons.

"I believe that the Felyne had won that hunt. I don't think we deserve to be in the Guild," replied Azroth, whose face showed a glimpse of sadness upon realizing that the creature was capable of giving the Great Baggi its wounds.

"I guess it's true," said Jerox. "Let's rest for now. We have a long way back to the village and we'll need all the energy that we can get to report to the Guild."

And just like that, the day ended with the duo feeling despair over the fact that they couldn't take down the Great Baggi without being helped by the Felyne.

The next day, as the duo packed up their belongings, they walked towards the pathway back to the village, only to find what appeared to be an eerie carriage made of bones blocking the path. Two Popos waited in front of it, impatient to get away from the base. On the driver's seat, much to their surprise sat the felyne from the other day.

"Hunters take long in packing belongings. Me think Guild wait longer. Please hurry-nya!" said the felyne, surprising the duo even further. "Me Kota!"

O======II==============

**A/N: That marks the end of this chapter! A new character has appeared and boy, does he speak like a cavema-er, cavecat! What does this mean for the two hunters? Will the Guild ever know the truth? What monster is the next target? Find out next week in MHNF!**

**P.S. If you feel like submitting an OC, feel free to PM me! And please check out my Minecraft story while you're at it! If you ain't a fan, then you don't have to… But if ya don't care, then I guess I can't do anything about it… or can I?**


	3. Chapter 3: Proposition

Chapter 3: Proposition

"_There are many types of hunters. There are those who seek fame and fortune. And then there are those who seek to become powerful."_- _Macha's Village Elder_

O======II==============

"Here's the last whelp!" said Jerox, handing the slimy Khezu hatchling over to Azroth, who took it and carefully placed it inside the delivery box with four other whelps before closing the lid shut and firing a signal flare, which signaled the completion of their mission. He then walked over to where Jerox was bandaging his wounds.

"That last one had left quite the nasty mark on your hand," said Azroth, after examining his friend's wounds.

"Why the Guild would need these things I would never know!" yelled Jerox, who threw the bandages onto the first-aid kit.

"Just be thankful that this quest will provide you enough money to buy a new weapon!" said Azroth, who pulled out his newly upgraded longsword, the Bone Katana 'Dragon', and began to sharpen it.

"You got that right!" replied Jerox.

It had been a couple weeks since the two hunters were successfully initiated into the Guild as its official hunters. The felyne, Kota, turned out to be one of the missing members of the village and upon returning, it was immediately taken by the Guild to be given back to a client that had been looking for it. The boys were rewarded handsomely for their "efforts" and were immediately initiated into the Guild without the need of the Bird Wyvern Gem. They then began to take on various quests, which made their ranks rise to the second rank. As they continued on with these quests, one of them had begun to have doubts about their teamwork.

O======II==============

Just recently, a group of three hunters had visited the Guild, causing a flock of female admirers to crowd towards their table. These hunters were one of the seven famous groups that had the highest ranks in the Guild. Known as Team Wyvernkillers, they were known to have slain an Azure Hypnocatrice and a White Espinas at the same time in only twenty minutes. They were the best in terms of teamwork and could easily support one another with a series of combos in their arsenal. Their leader, Fez, was one of the most versatile great sword wielders in the main guild at Minegarde Town. Wielding a great sword made from the materials of the first White Espinas that he had slain, he was known to end the lives with a strange grin on his face and a blazing trail of purple fire. The next strongest member of the group was the felyne, Bana, who was known as the second strongest felyne in the records of the Guild. Wielding a blade made from the scraps of an Amatsumagatsuchi, he was able to knock down ten wyverns at the same time with his excellent swordsmanship and a strange way of identifying a monster's weak spots. The last member of the group was an armored figure who seemed content at hiding his true form. Wearing armor made from the giant elder dragon, the Jhen Mohran, the figure would charge into the battle with nothing but his switch axe made from the materials of a wandering Ceadeus that was causing trouble at a certain village. Together, they were known to be the second best team in the Guild.

One day, as the three came strutting along the Guild building, they had stumbled upon Azroth who was busy practicing with his spirit attacks. Even though he had already cut down various amounts of training dummies armed with the toughest materials in the village, he felt as though it wasn't enough. It was then that he noticed the trio watching his every move. Fez then entered the training room and began to approach him.

"That's quite a fine way of fighting that you're doing there. Care to put it to the test?" he asked, as he brought out one of the Bone Blades that were hanging on the walls. He then tested the weapon out by swinging it at the closest training dummy, splitting it in half with just a half-hearted swing. Afterwards, he turned his attention back to Azroth who stood there dumbfounded. "So… how about it? Do you want to spar?

O======II==============

After half an hour of sparring, both Fez and Azroth were gasping for air. There were a lot of broken weapons and training dummies scattered around the room. One of the Guild personnel who happened to drop by had seen the mess and began muttering a series of curses upon taking in the sight before him. He then left the room muttering about the famous and their standards of living.

"You're not half-bad!" said Fez, who struggled to stand upright. On the other side of the room, Azroth laid sprawled on the wooden floor with many broken planks of wood scattered in his wake.

"They were both almost on par with each other in terms of skill!" said Bana. "Although I'd still say that Fez was a bit better!"

"I was wondering. How would you like to join our group? We could use a skilled fighter like you around," said Fez.

"I don't know. Give me some time to think about it and I'll get back to you," replied Azroth. And just like that, he was now caught in a dilemma of whether or not he should leave his best friend and join the second highest-ranking team in the world.

O======II==============

"What's going on?" asked Jerox, upon entering the Guild Hall. There was a crowd gathered around the infirmary area which caused the boys to wonder about the event. Making their way through the crowd, the boys were shocked to find a severely injured man lying on a bloody mat. He began coughing up blood and his breaths grew labored with each passing second.

"What did this to you?" asked Jackson, the guard of the Guild Hall with the serious look on his face. The dying man looked at him and with final breath, he uttered his last dying word: Rajang. Suddenly, the whole room was filled with silence upon hearing the word. Jackson then pulled the blanket over the man's head and said a prayer to the gods.

After a couple of hours, the man was buried in the village graveyard together with his already deceased wife. There were many people who mourned for the man's death. The man, as it turned out, was the former village hunter that had once defended the village from a Hungry Deviljho in the past. However, he soon grew old and with his strength slowly fading, he stepped down and handed his hunter status over to his daughter. There were many who questioned him about this but in the end, the Guild approved of this decision and appointed his daughter as the current village hunter. His daughter now stood in the back of the mourning crowd with a grim look on her face. She then turned around and walked away from the procession. Noticing this, Jerox decided to follow her, leaving Azroth to offer his condolences to the young lady. As he approached her, she turned around and noticing him, she stopped and stood there.

"I'm very sorry for your loss," said Jerox. The young lady nodded her head before heading towards her home. Leaving her to grieve over her father's tragic end, he walked to the smithy.

The blacksmith, a wyverian with the appearance of a man in his forties, was known to the village as Caleb. He was well-known to the village as a master of being able to upgrade a weapon into perfection. All of his works were proudly displayed around his shop, which were then picked up at a later time. Seeing Jerox approach, he stood up from his stool.

"It's just sad to lose a valued member of our community. He was a good man and a great listener," said the wyverian, who then took a sip of his bottle before dumping the rest of its contents onto a sink nearby. "So anyways, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you can make me the Rough Edge switch axe," said Jerox, as he poured the contents of his bag onto the table. There on the table were two light crystals that he had obtained while on a mining quest along with the eight pelagicite ores. A huge pearl sat in between the items, which he obtained in an auction just a week before. The wyverian began to study the items before looking back at the hunter.

"Do you have the goods?" asked Caleb, who began making a gesture with his fingers. Smiling, Jerox brought out a pouch and placed it on the table. The wyverian then took the pouch and dumped its contents onto the table. After counting the zennies, he smiled and said, "Come back tomorrow for the weapon! It should be finished by then. It's been a pleasure doing business with you!" said the wyverian before he shook hands with the hunter.

O======II==============

The next day, after taking his newly-crafted weapon, Jerox made his way to the Guild Hall, where he saw Azroth talking with Mars. Seeing that Jerox was already there, Azroth then approached him.

"The Guild has received reports of Lady Camellia being missing," said Azroth. Jerox looked at him questioningly, which made Azroth notice until he realized why he was given that look. "Lady Camellia was that lady you chased yesterday." Upon hearing those words, Jerox's face turned red but soon recovered upon realizing the situation.

"Where was she last seen?" asked Jerox.

"Some witnesses have stated that she was last seen heading towards the direction of the Snowy Mountains."

"Isn't that the where the Rajang was last sighted?" asked Jackson, who had been listening in on the conversation from his post. Upon hearing this, Jerox began to pale in color.

"Shouldn't we save her?" asked Jerox. The others shook their heads.

"I'm sorry but that won't be possible. Since the Guild banned all quests for the all ranks, with exception of the G-Level Hunters, in that area, you will be stripped off your hunter status permanently if you dare to interfere in their hunt. It would be best if you'd just try to take the quests from other areas instead," said Jackson. Jerox then gritted his teeth in anger before departing the Guild Hall. However, before Azroth could confront him, he heard his name being called and turned around to find Team Wyverkillers waving at him. Sighing, he decided to head towards them.

O======II==============

Later that night, as two of the Guild guards patrolled the village gates, a silhouette slowly began making his way towards the guardhouse. Pulling out a throwing knife, he flung it on the left shoulder of the first guard, which made the man cry out in pain, alerting the other guard who was then knocked out by being struck in the back of the head by the blunt side of a huge weapon. Upon pulling out the knife and realizing that it was coated with sleep herb's essence, he was powerless to stop the drowsiness that soon overcame him. The silhouette then began to open the gate and soon, he exited the village within a few minutes, the gates shutting behind him. The figure then began running towards the direction of the Snowy Mountains, with a switch axe strapped onto his back.

* * *

**A/N: Ooh! Quite the ending to this chapter here! I wonder what will happen next week! Well, I wouldn't want to give away any spoilers for now so you, my beloved readers, will just have to stay tuned for more! See ya next week!**


	4. Chapter 4: Tragic Losses

Chapter 4: Tragic Losses

"_Illegal hunting and/or poaching of any kind is strictly forbidden and any attempts in doing so will result in the permanent removal of your hunter status."-Guild's No. 1 Rule_

O======II==============

The sounds of the village alarms caused Azroth to wake up and investigate the situation. After exiting his room, he made his way towards the center of the village where a large crowd was gathered. Various members of the guild stood guard around them while watching for any signs of trouble lurking around. Standing in front of the crowd was the Guild Manager and the Village Elder. He then scanned around the crowd looking for any familiar faces and found Mars standing not too far away from him. He then hurried over to her just as the Village Elder cleared his throat.

"We're sorry for disturbing your rest by gathering you all here. As you all know, there has been a recent incident that had claimed the life of a beloved hunter in our community," said the Village Elder, who paused, along with the whole village, for a brief moment. "And we all know that the culprit of his death was the lone Rajang. However, just a few minutes ago, we had received various reports of an attack on our gate guards. The culprit is unknown as of now but we need to be prepared for the next attack."

"And so, the Guild's central branch has now issued a manhunt order on the culprit. We know that this was caused by a human because of these knives found on the scene," said the Guild Manager, who then showed them all one of the throwing knives. "We have a reason to believe that this was done by a rogue hunter. As we all know, rogue hunters have caused a lot of trouble in the past and if it weren't for a certain hunter, our village would have been overrun by them. So now, all those who are found as a traitor to our village will be dealt with swiftly."

_Hmm… Rogue hunters, huh? Could it be that they were responsible for-, _Azroth's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden roar from just outside the village. All of the villagers then began scrambling towards their homes and locking themselves as the rest of the village, mostly hunters of the Guild, hurried to the source of the noise. There, just outside the village, stood a reptilian creature that stood on its hind legs. It was wrapped in an aura of dark red energy. Its eyes were a striking red covered with dark red haze. It had drool dripping from its jaws, which formed a large puddle below it. Upon seeing all the hunters gathered before it, it let out a loud roar and proceeded to attack them.

O======II==============

At the exact same time, a cloaked figure was climbing the snowy mountain. As he reached the top of the mountain, he heard a scream coming from the cave in front of him. The figure hurried towards the source of the noise and upon arriving, he found a young lady bound by ropes. There were four men laughing beside her while they took turns prodding her. One of them attempted to give her a kiss, only to receive a head-butt from the lady. The man's other friends laughed as the man continued his drunken antics in futility. After deciding that he had seen enough, the cloaked figure leapt off from the very spot he was on, reaching the ground in a matter of seconds. Taking a throwing knife, he flung it towards the drunken man, who fell asleep upon getting struck. The other three men immediately drew their weapons at the sight of their attacker.

"Who the hell are you?" asked their leader, a man with a gray beard and a scarred face. He wielded a green great sword made of various monster bones and fangs. The weapon was dubbed by blacksmiths as the "Valkyrie Blade" and was commonly used by most of the beginners. He wore an armor that seemed to resemble a beetle. This armor was dubbed as the "Obituary Armor".

"He doesn't seem like talking. Maybe we should pry out his vocal cords!" said the man next to the ringleader. The man was awfully thin who wielded a lance that was made with various insect parts. The weapon was commonly used by most G-Level lancers and was dubbed as "Darkness". He wore an armor that covered his entire body and it seemed to be made of various piscine parts. The armor was dubbed as the "Plesioth X Armor".

"Kevin's knocked out cold. We should be careful around this guy. Who knows what he could do," said the man who was tending to his sleeping friend. He carried a bowgun that seemed to be made from the Elder Dragon, the Kirin, which was dubbed as "Quickcaster". He wore an armor made from various parts of another Elder Dragon, the Yama Tsukami. The armor was dubbed as the "Carnage Shin Armor".

"I don't care whether or not he is dangerous! All I care about is why this guy is still standing here! Let's finish him off and get this over with! The boss won't like it if we fail to send him a new _pet_!" yelled the ringleader, who began making his way towards the cloaked figure.

As he prepared to slash at the figure with his great sword, the figure swiftly rolled out of the way before delivering a kick to his back, which sent him stumbling forwards onto a bone pile. The lancer then charged towards him, hoping that he would run the man through. However, the figure merely stepped out of the way, causing the charging man to run past his target and into a wall. He managed to stop himself short and was about to thrust his lance at his opponent when the figure brought his fist onto the man's jaw, sending many of his teeth flying, before following up his attack with a roundhouse kick. The man slammed his back onto the wall before slumping onto the ground unconscious. The gunner, after acquiring his target's range, proceeded to fire rounds of bullets towards the figure, who nimbly evaded every single bullet. As the gunner quickly reloaded his weapon, he fired towards the figure again, only to miss each shot. The figure then flung a knife towards the gunner, who swiftly dodged the move. He then realized his mistake a bit too late the "knife" turned out to be a plain stone and the real knife was hurtling towards him at blinding speed. With a whole lot of effort, the man managed to move out of the way, only for the weapon to make a cut on his cheek. Suddenly feeling the effects of the weapon caused him to slowly become drowsy. A few seconds later, the man fell unconscious on the ground. The ringleader then got back up and was about to bash the figure with his weapon when the figure noticed him and swiftly rolled to the side before drawing his hunting knife and stabbing the man on his leg. The man let out a cry of pain as he tried to remove the weapon lodged into his leg. Just when he was able to dislodge the object, he was met with the figure's fists, which knocked him unconscious.

"Please don't hurt me!" screamed the lady as the cloaked figure approached her, his bloody knife on his hand. He then cut the ropes that bound the lady before retrieving her equipment from the unconscious men's bags. He then looked away as she began putting on her armor.

A loud roar from above caused both of them to draw their weapons as they began to scan their surroundings. Suddenly, a huge beast dropped from the sky onto the area beside them. The newcomer was huge and bulky with a hair that spiked on the tip of its tail. Its body was surging with electrical energy and its angry eyes glowed with a reddish hue. It had landed on the first fallen man, crushing the victim's skull and body, killing him instantly. Upon seeing the duo, the creature let out a loud roar, which made the both of them stagger backwards. The cloaked figure's hood had come off, revealing him to be Jerox. _Of all the places that it could have gone into, it chose to head into this small area, _he thought to himself.

"Rajang!" shouted the lady as the creature proceeded to swing its fist while rushing towards them. The duo leapt out of the way as the creature punched the spot that they were on.

Seeing that they had escaped its attack, the Rajang proceed to charge towards Jerox, who dodged out of the way as the creature attempted to pierce him with its horns. The lady then began to glow red before striking the creature's leg with an invisible sword. The creature roared in pain as the young woman unleashed a combination of attacks at the creature. It then hopped backwards and after planting its limbs onto the ground, it fired a yellow ball of electricity from its mouth towards the lady, who dodged it at the nick of time. Jerox then brought his newly-made switch axe onto the creature's back, which caused sparks of dark red energy surging on the creature. This caused the creature to stumble before facing its next threat, the cloaked figure that had attacked it.

O======II==============

"His tail's cut!" announced one of the Guild hunters as he swung his long sword on the Deviljho's tail. Azroth saw this as an opportunity to strike the fallen creature. Suddenly, the creature quickly rose up and let out a loud, menacing roar, causing all of the hunters nearby to cover their ears, even Azroth. Only those with high-graded earplugs in their armor stood unflinching.

Seeing the nearby hunters who were covering their ears, the creature lowered its head and upon lifting his head, sent a massive boulder hurtling towards the hunters. Those who were able to recover were able to get out of the way but the unlucky ones were crushed by the boulders. It then jumped onto a nearby hunter and as the poor victim attempted to escape the jaws of the creature, he was killed as soon as the creature bit onto his throat, sending blood gushing out in all directions. It then sent the corpse flying before turning to face the next set of hunters. Wasting no time in its attacks, the creature proceeded to throw its body at the nearby hunters, sending all of them flying except for Azroth, who had rolled just at the nick of time. He then jumped backwards while slashing his sword on the creature's legs, sending it stumbling. The other hunters wasted no time in attacking the creature. Many lance-wielding hunters began to charge towards its legs, causing it to scar in many places. All of the range attackers began to let loose a hail of bullets and a rain of arrows onto the creature, wounding it even further. Realizing that it was losing the battle, it entered its rage mode and released a dark red energy at the nearby lancers, causing many of them to suffer the effects of its attack. Seeing the other hunters advancing towards it, the creature threw its body onto the advancing hunters, causing all of the hunters to either block its attack or roll out of the way.

"It's getting away!" yelled Jackson as the creature began to flee from the scene. Many of the hunters gave chase while the rest of them began treating the injured and retrieving the corpses of the gruesome battle. Azroth himself had stayed behind as he too was injured from getting struck by the creature's tail earlier. As he examined his sword, he noticed that there were cracks that had formed on the sword's blade. Sighing, he returned the sword onto its sheath, hoping that he would be able to make a new longsword for the time being.

It was not long after that the battle had finally ended with defeat. The creature had successfully managed to escape, which caused various confusion among the very ranks of the Guild. Many had wondered how the others couldn't have been able to chase after the large, bulky creature. However, this was soon forgotten after the village learnt of the losses of a majority of their own. The village was soon filled with the cries of mourning while the Guild had cancelled all quests until the creature would depart the vicinity. Upon hearing of the terrible news, many of the hunters began finding ways to make a living until then. Some had resorted to helping out with the rebuilding of the village gates, while others took on more simple jobs. It would be a few weeks later before the Guild would grant all hunters with the permission to hunt once again.

O======II==============

Back at the snowy mountains, the pair had managed to escape the creature and were taking a short breath when the Rajang burst out of the ground below them, causing them to stumble backwards. Upon landing back on the snowy ground, the creature let a menacing roar, which was followed with its hair turning golden and its body surging with electricity. It then turned to face Jerox, who had managed to recover from its earlier attack. It then began charging towards him and would have impaled him with its horns if he had not dodged the attack by rolling to the side. The creature then leapt backwards and planted its limbs on the ground before firing a large beam of energy at Jerox, who watched in horror as the beam struck him and sent him flying off the mountain into the darkness below.

"NO!" yelled the lady as she watched the young man's body plummet to the ground below. A loud sound alerted and as she turned around, she found the creature facing her with its arms stretched towards the sky. There was a ball of orange light forming on its hands and as soon as the light began pulsating, the creature released the ball and watched as the ball slowly descended onto the ground. Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the lady decided to jump off the mountain and while falling, she asked the souls of her parents for forgiveness. She then closed her eyes and waited for the gods of death to claim her. As she continued to plummet towards the ground, she felt a cold breeze blow past her before she finally blacked out.

* * *

**A/N: I'll just leave the ending like that. You might as well use your imagination to guess what would happen next. Anyways, I've always wondered when someone would actually leave me a suggestion! After all, I've become utterly clueless about what I'm actually writing! So please leave me a suggestion and/or reviews! See ya next week and take care!**


	5. Chapter 5: Rendus

Chapter 5: Rendus

"_There are three different ranks in the Hunters Guild. There's the lower rank, the upper rank, and the highest rank of them all, the G-Rank."- Blake, Instructor of Macha Training School_

**O======II==============**

A bright ray of light shone against Jerox's closed eyelids, causing him to open them to find the sun's blinding light glaring at him. As he got up, he found himself lying on top of a wooden bed inside a tent. He then got off the bed and upon exiting the tent, he found himself looking in awe at the marvelous view that took his breath away. The area around him was simply breathtaking with a huge lake just a few feet in front of him. The mountains stood in the far distance covered in snow. He could also see a forest from behind the tent with a few Popos grazing on the grass nearby. Hearing a few voices, he turned to the left and found a man talking to the girl that he had rescued before. At first glance, the man bore a very intimidating appearance that caused Jerox to shiver a little bit. His dark red armor had a few dents and jagged edges that added more to the intimidating aura that seemed to ooze out of his whole body.

"So you're up! I was beginning to think that we've been pulling some deadweight these last few days." said the intimidating man. As Jerox approached the man, he could see a few scars on the man's face.

"That must have been quite the fall you took! You've been sleeping like a log for a week. Luckily for you, this girl had woken up two days after I found you both. What exactly crossed your mind to hunt the Rajang?" asked the hunter.

"Well, to be frank with you, I didn't really want to come to the mountain to hunt down the Rajang. I came to the mountain to go after this lady here." Jerox said as he gestured at the lady that stood just a few meters beside him. The lady gave him a look and headed off towards the tent that Jerox had come from earlier.

"Hey girl! Come back here! I'm not done speaking to you both. From what I can remember, the mountain was supposed to be off-limits to any hunter below G-Rank! Why were you there? Don't you know that you can get your Hunting Licenses taken away if the Guild were to get wind of you and that lady's actions?"

"Well excuse me! This lady over here has a name and it happens to be Camellia!" the young lady said with anger in her eyes.

"Well, I know your name now but I don't know the name of this kid beside you." The hunter said as he gestured at Jerox.

"Sorry for not introducing myself before. My name is Jerox. I didn't catch your name though." Jerox stated.

"My name is Rendus. That's all you need to know." replied the man as he turned his back on the pair. "Now that that's out of the way, I want to hear your answers to my question. Why were you there?"

"Well, I was there to bring her back to the village and-"

"So you disobeyed orders from the Guild and went into the mountain just so that you can bring the girl back. All that for a girl! What the hell were you thinking?" yelled Rendus as he faced the pair with pure rage in his eyes. Jerox suddenly felt frightened at the overwhelming rage he could feel coming from the man.

"I can explain-"

"Rrrrrraaarggghhhh!"

At that moment, a huge reptilian creature entered the area. Upon laying its eyes at the group, it let out a loud roar before charging towards them. Seeing the creature advancing towards them, Jerox felt for his weapon, only to feel the air behind him. Remembering that he had been knocked out for about a week and his armor and weapons were most probably gone, he quickly dove out of the way as the creature lunged at the spot he was in.

"Deviljho!" yelled Camellia as she narrowly dodged the creature's rampage. She then scrambled to the tent while Jerox proceeded to follow her. Rendus, however, stood in the way of the creature as he drew his weapons, a pair of dual blades that had three claws sticking out just close to the blades. As soon as the creature saw him, it let out a loud roar and proceeded to charge towards him.

"Bring it!" Rendus yelled in challenge as he slowly began to bathe in a blood red aura. Before the creature could even come close to crushing him with its weight, the hunter leapt out of the way and while doing so, he slashed at the creature's scars on one of its legs, causing the creature to trip and fall. As the creature struggled to get up, Rendus proceeded to charge towards it and unleashed a barrage of slashes at the fallen creature while it continued to struggle. He then delivered one more diagonal slash before diving out of the way as the creature finally got up. It then let out a loud roar as black electricity began to surge through its body.

Meanwhile, upon reaching the tent, Camellia found her weapon and snatched it away while grabbing a few Tranquilizer Bombs to aid her. Jerox continued to scavenge amongst the many objects inside the chests inside the tent, hoping to find his switch axe. However, as soon as he finally found his weapon, his expression turned into that of dismay as he found his weapon with its blade's tip broken off.

"Oh great! What am I gonna use now?" asked Jerox as he closed the chest. He then proceeded to look around for other possible weapons and found a few throwing knives and other objects lying around. Grabbing them, he left the tent to find the creature charging at Rendus, who had leapt out of the way the moment the creature came close to him while delivering another slash at the creature's scars. Camellia proceeded to join him in the attack as she delivered a stab at the creature's belly before following it up with a slash going upwards. However, the creature seemed to shake her attacks off like it was a mere Vespoid bite as it proceeded to back away before throwing itself at her. She rolled out of the way as the creature landed on the spot she was on earlier. Rendus then ran towards the creature with another red aura enveloping him. He then noticed Jerox standing around holding a few of his throwing knives.

"So are you just gonna stand around or are you gonna help us finish this guy off?" asked Rendus as he unleashed another barrage of slashes at the creature's belly. The creature let out a loud roar as it stumbled and fell onto the ground. Jerox then proceeded to hurl a few of the knives at the fallen creature, one of which struck the creature's eye, blinding it.

"Doesn't it seem odd that the creature is already looking too weak? Just how many blows did you deliver, Rendus?" asked Jerox as he hurled another knife at the creature's scars.

"Not that many. You shouldn't be underestimating it though. It could just-" Rendus found himself interrupted as the creature got up and leapt into the air before pinning Rendus onto the ground. It then moved its head and began its attempt to try and bite the man.

**O======II==============**

Meanwhile, back at Macha Village, Azroth was one of the many villagers who were rebuilding the gates. With a few nails and a wooden mallet, he had begun hammering away at the wooden planks that needed some nails to secure them. He was just about to hammer the last nail when he heard the village bell ringing three times, signaling a village meeting. Putting away his tools, he was given a day's worth of pay before he walked towards the village center, where the meeting was to be held.

Upon arriving at the meeting area, he found most of the village elders already there with grim expressions on their faces. As he walked past them to where the other villagers stood, he tried to scan around the crowd looking for Jerox but couldn't find him.

"_Where could Jerox possibly be?_" asked Azroth to himself as he continued to look around. After a few minutes of waiting, the village elders stepped forward, causing a hush among the crowd as they recognized a few of the people who stood with the village elders.

Among the highly-recognized people was the third-best group of the Guild. Known by the name Team Blazewing, the group was known for its specialty in blowing the monsters that they hunt down into many pieces and their equipment, which was made of materials from Brachydios and Kuarusepusu. Their leader, Talon, was a respected young man with the capabilities of a great hunter. At that very moment, he stood with a grim look on his face while his other teammates stood behind him with unreadable faces. Beside him stood the village chief, a young wyverian male by the name of Gran. Wearing an armor made of Raviente materials, he was known for being a fearsome hunter a few years back before he became the village chief. His whole physical appearance plus his armor and reputation earned him the nickname 'Worldkiller'. He earned this nickname after killing a Raviente singlehandedly while destroying an island in the process. He brought back four huge ships worth of materials after the battle.

"I've called you all here today to inform you all that we may have found some evidence in possible foul play that had happened here." Upon hearing this, the villagers began to whisper among themselves. They soon grew silent as the chief continued to speak. "We may also have reason to believe that the perpetrator of this crime is from this village. In fact, I believe we already have a list of possible suspects." At this time, many of the villagers were already beginning to gossip among themselves and were coming up with their own ideas of who were in the list of suspects. However, one of the villagers had some doubts on his mind.

"On what are you basing this so-called 'foul play' on? How do we know that you aren't just trying to come up with some lies to cover something else up?" asked one of the villagers, a young trainee who had a Hunter's Bow strapped onto his back. Before the Guild officers could move to arrest the young man for being impudent, Talon held his hand up, signaling for the guards to remain where they were. He then pulled out something from his bag and held it up so that the villagers could see.

"Our first clue was this throwing knife. We found it among the rubble of the watchtowers. We have reason to believe that the guards manning their posts had been drugged during that night and that the culprit had used that moment to lure the creature into the village." Talon stated as he put the tiny weapon away before gesturing at his companions. The other three then walked off the area and headed towards the stables where they led a Popo into the meeting area.

"Here is our second evidence!" stated Talon. Upon seeing the creature, many of the villagers recoiled at the sight of it. The Popo had the flesh on its back bitten off and its face was covered with a lot of scratches. Its legs had chains attached to them but one of its legs had its bones jutting out of the wound. The creature itself looked like it was suffering greatly. "This Popo was the last of the five others that we had encountered during that night. Apparently, the Popos were chained in a way that they created a trail leading towards our village. The perpetrator must have slices off many bits of its flesh to attract any monster that may come passing by and it just so happens that it was a Deviljho!" said the village chief.

"_That's not right at all! What filthy person would do something like that?" _asked Azroth to himself as he stared at the creature.

"And our last evidence was found in the home of our late village hunter. His daughter, Lady Camellia, was nowhere to be found during the night of the attack yet we still found that her home had been ransacked the day after. At first, we thought that it might have happened the night of the attack. However, we later discovered signs of struggle inside the hut. There were some throwing knives on the walls when we had arrived to investigate. We believe that Lady Camellia had not run away to avenge her father but rather, it was made to look that way and that she may have been kidnapped by the culprit on the day we found out about the Rajang. In fact, the culprit behind this whole incident may have had some accomplices who were responsible for capturing her for ransom." Upon hearing this, the whole village was in a loud uproar.

"_Throwing knives? There's only one other person I know in this village who can use them well. And if my guess is right, then its-"_

**O======II==============**

"Jerox!" yelled Camellia as the young hunter attempted to distract the creature by throwing rocks at it. Her fears of the creature coming for them both were realized as the creature turned to face them. Seizing this opportunity, Rendus freed his hands from the creature's grasp and proceeded to plunge his blade deep into the creature's feet, causing it to let out a cry of pain. As the creature lifted its injured foot of the ground, Rendus quickly moved out of the way as the Deviljho stomped its injured foot onto the ground.

"That was close!" said Jerox as the creature went and fired a beam of black electricity towards him. He then dove out of the way as the beams struck the place he had stood on earlier. Getting up, he glared at the creature.

"This guy just won't let up!" said Jerox as he flung another projectile at the Deviljho, which turned out to be a Dung bomb. The creature recoiled the moment the disgusting scent reached its nostrils. Jerox then headed towards where Rendus and Camellia stood their ground.

"Listen up! I have a plan! But I need you two to provide the distractions. Can you do just that?" asked Rendus, causing both Jerox and Camellia to bolt in surprise.

"Why are you-"

"No time to think about it! Just do it!" yelled Rendus as he leapt out of the way. With no other choice, the other two hunters were forced to provide the diversion.

"Hey ugly!" yelled Jerox as he threw a stone at the creature. The creature obviously didn't like getting hit by a stone so it charged towards the pair with killing intent.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing!" said Camellia as she readied her sword.

"Of course I do!" replied Jerox as he flung a Paralyzing Throwing Knife at the Deviljho's open wounds. However, it seemed to have no effect on the enraged creature as it continued to charge towards him. "Maybe not!" he yelled out as he rolled out of the way before the creature could ram its body onto him. Camellia herself used a backslash to move out of the way.

"My turn!" said Camellia as her blade began to disappear. Before Jerox could say anything, she was already hacking away at the creature's legs. Despite the creature having thick skin, Jerox found himself astounded as he watched Camellia's invisible blade slashing through the creature's thick skin like it was butter. She then followed up her final slash with a horizontal slash that drove her through the creature's leg, causing it to fall over. "That's that!" she said as she sheathed her sword. Just as she turned her back on the creature, the creature rose up once more and was about to take a bite out of her when Jerox shoved her out of the way. The creature bit into the air and as it turned towards the pair's duo, it was met with a sword to the face by Rendus.

"Clear the area!" yelled Rendus as he leapt off the creature and landed on the ground. He then taunted the creature, causing it to blindly charge towards him. However, it failed to notice the trap before it was too late. As soon as it set foot on the trap, the creature immediately fell deep into the ground with only its head sticking out of the ground. "Quick! Bring in the barrel bombs!" Rendus ordered the pair as he too began to bring out two large barrel bombs and placed them in front of the creature's face. As the pair arrived with the other bombs, they began to notice that the creature was already beginning to escape the trap. At once, the pair quickly placed their bombs beside Rendus' bombs.

"Allow me to do the honors!" said Jerox as he pulled out his last poisoned throwing knife and flung it at the central barrel just as the creature had escaped its trap. There was soon a large explosion as the six barrels placed on the feet of the Deviljho exploded. The creature felt the impact of the blow as it was literally knocked off its feet.

"Let's finish it!" yelled Rendus as a red aura engulfed him once more.

"With pleasure!" said Camellia as her blade became invisible once more.

As the creature let out a huge roar of pain, the pair of hunters quickly charged towards the fallen creature and proceeded to put it out of its misery as Camellia let loose a fury of slashes at the creature's head while Rendus began to hack away at the creature's belly with intense speed, causing the creature to release one more dying cry before it dropped its head down onto its final resting place.

"That's for trying to eat me, you filthy animal!" yelled Rendus as he kicked the dead beast's corpse. Camellia soon sheathed her sword as she wiped the creature's blood off of her face. Jerox soon entered the fray and began carving out the various parts of the creature that may help him in the future.

"That was a job well done!" said a voice from behind the trees, causing the trio to look for them.

"Who's there?" asked Jerox as he held his carving knife like it was some sort of a weapon.

"Don't you worry, Jerox! It's just us!" said the voices as the four figures stepped out into the open. Jerox's eyes widened as he saw them.

"We're Team Wyvernkillers!" said Fez as he stepped forward. "And I would like to invite you, Jerox Bloodford, and you, Rendus Ilyord, into the village cells for some questions."

"And what are those questions about?" asked Jerox. Fez smiled as he looked at the young hunter.

"Well, both you and your friend over there are two of the suspects on the list." Fez replied.

"And what would you suspect us of?" asked Rendus.

"The attempted massacre of Macha Village and the kidnapping of Lady Camellia for ransom." replied Fez.

**O======II==============**

**A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to update guys! My schedules have become a bit busy lately and I had to go and hunt down the fearsome creature known as Writer's Block. It was a long battle but in the end, I had successfully slain the beast. However, I know that the beast shall return to hunt me down and when it does, I'll be ready. Also, I'd like to thank Rendus for submitting his OC and for becoming my new co-author. Without him, I would never be able to slay the mighty Writer's Block. So do feel free to review after reading and be sure to PM me for any questions or OC submissions!**

**Fact: I did not state anything about my protagonist's armor while I pretty much gave a bunch of low class bandits some G-Ranked armor. How silly of me! For all those interested, Jerox uses Vespoid Armor while Azroth uses Giaprey armor.**

**Another Fact: Rendus totally pointed out those errors above. Thanks Rendus!**

**One last fact: This story isn't just set on one Monster Hunter Universe, as you can see.**


	6. Chapter 6: Trial and Error

Chapter 6: Trial and Error

"_In the case of an event in which one or more hunters are convicted of committing a crime that they claim not to have participated in, the hunter(s) is/are given three days to collect some evidences to support such claims. Failure to submitting evidences upon the due date may result in the revoking of the Hunter's License or in most cases, a one-sided fight against a creature of the Council's choice, which would usually result in the death of the said hunter(s)."- _The Seventh Rule of Macha Council

**O======II==============**

"We are all gathered here today to bear witness to a case involving the kidnapping of Lady Camellia, daughter of our late village hunter Lord Tiberius. Let us now welcome our village elder and the Guild Council, the ones who shall deliver justice and judgment in this case!" Jackson announced with a hint of venom in his voice. The crowd quickly rose upon seeing the Guild Council and the Village Elder, whose very presence caused all sorts of whispers to come to a halt.

Azroth himself stood still after arriving just moments before and seeing the Village Elder. He looked like he hadn't slept for days. He kept on glancing back and forth, as if he was looking for someone. His eyes widened upon seeing the people who walked in chains behind the council members accompanied by four heavily-armed guards, one of the said people being his friend Jerox. He couldn't recognize the person who walked behind Jerox but he could tell that his friend knew the scarred man who had a permanent frown on his face. Upon seeing Jerox, the crowd began to start whispering amongst themselves, with Azroth overhearing many bad rumors being said about his friend. He himself couldn't bring himself to believe seeing his friend being convicted of a crime.

_How could he do this? Why would he do this? _Azroth thought to himself with many more questions circling around his head. Two more guards arrived at the scene, escorting a beautiful girl into the vicinity. _Lady Camellia, _Azroth said in his mind as soon as he recognized her face. He then noticed the pleading look Jerox had towards the girl, who had returned it with a sad look of her own. Deciding that he wanted to have a closer look at things, he made his way deeper into the crowd, his hood covering the look of despair on his face.

**O=======II==============**

"So you claim to have rescued Lady Camellia from whom you may believe to be a group of high-ranking hunters of the Guild. What proof do you have to back such a strong claim?" asked one of the Guild Council's members, a youthful-looking male Wyverian.

"I have Lady Camellia herself to prove my claim. Tell them, Camellia!" pleaded Jerox at the young lady who sat in the center of the vicinity. The crowd's whispers began to take a harsh tone upon hearing the way the young hunter had addressed the Lady.

"It's true! I was abducted from my camp and was about to get violated by those filthy pigs when Jerox saved me." Camellia stated. Upon hearing this, the crowd began to whisper various scandalous rumors directed at both Camellia and Jerox.

"So she says. How do we know that her words are the truth and not a mere lie that the hot-blooded lad had forced her to say upon being in this very scenario?" asked another council member, this time a bearded old man with a scar on his right eye.

"That's ridiculous! I would never do such a thing!" replied Jerox as he began to grit his teeth in anger.

"And yet, you stand there looking as though you're truly guilty of what you've been accused of. But then again, even if you were to somehow be declared innocent of this accusation, you still have to answer for the other crimes that you've been found guilty of!" stated the young wyverian from before as he stared at the hunter with a smug look on his face.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Jerox as he took a step towards that council member, prompting the four guards around him to instantly raise their swords towards his neck.

"Such fierceness!" the wyverian stated as he finally struck a nerve.

"That's enough out of you, Darius!" the Village Elder said calmly, causing the council member to fall back into his seat in silence, his smug look still plastered on his face. The elder then directed his fierce gaze towards Jerox, who looked like he was about to kill Darius despite his current predicament. "As for you, I want you to simmer down! You're making yourself look bad by falling for his accusations!" he stated. As soon as Jerox finally calmed down, the council began to move on and they began questioning the other hunter, Rendus.

**O=======II==============**

Meanwhile, Azroth had decided that he had had enough and departed the trial, a dark look written on his face. Taking one more glance at his friend, he began to make his way back towards his hut. However, he noticed that he wasn't alone. Mars had followed him after seeing him leave, a look of concern on her face. He soon stopped walking and quietly waited for her to approach him.

"Are you okay?" asked Mars. The young hunter turned around to face her and she soon saw his eyes fighting to hold back his tears. Without saying another word, she hugged the young hunter while his arms hung around limply.

"I know that he would never do such a thing and yet, I feel helpless to seeing his predicament. Not only that, that council bastard had intentionally provoked him. I thought they were supposed to bring out justice. Why would a highly-esteemed member like him do something to worsen the problem? I don't understand it," he said as the pair stood there, not a single person in the area who could disturb their moment.

"Just let it all out." Mars said calmly as she held onto him.

However, the moment was short-lived as a huge shadow suddenly loomed over them. Sensing something was wrong, Azroth quickly grabbed her and dove out of the way as the owner of the shadow dropped onto the spot they were on just moments ago, a cloud of smoke forming after its landing.

"Are you alright? Nothing hurt?" asked Azroth. Mars shook her head. Turning his head to face the creature, he soon noticed that it was a creature that he has never seen before. It was a rather disgusting monstrosity, with a long stretchy neck that connected to a head that had only what appeared to be a huge mouth filled with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth. It had no eyes, which may potentially make it immune to any flash attacks, and no ears, making it immune to any sonic bombs. It also had webbed feet and a thick hide covered with some sort of a sticky substance. Overall, the creature was the singular embodiment of repulsiveness.

"That's a Khezu! Why would it come here?" asked Mars as she stared wide-eyed at the monster in front of them.

"I don't know why it's here but-" Azroth said as he drew his long sword. "-I'm going to stall it. I need you run and get help." he said. Mars nodded in reply and took off towards the village center, trusting Azroth to hold off the creature. Smelling one of its preys escaping, the creature prepared to leap towards the moving figure, only to be stopped by a slash from Azroth's longsword. Turning its attention to him, the creature let out a loud shriek and attempted to take a bite out of him, only to eat a mouthful of air as Azroth rolled out of the way. He then went for another cut towards the creature's torso, only for his weapon to bounce back upon striking it.

"Gah! What's this guy made of?" asked Azroth as he moved out of the way when the creature attempted to lunge at him. Noticing that the creature had attached its tail onto the ground, he quickly leapt out of the way as the creature unleashed a stream of blue electricity from its body. Before Azroth could recover, the creature was already preparing to fire a bolt of electricity from its mouth.

"Here we go!" he yelled as he began to run towards the creature.

**O=======II==============**

At that exact moment, Mars had arrived at the village center just as the Guild Council was about to pass judgment on Jerox and Rendus. After she explained the whole ordeal to them, the Guild immediately deployed several guards to the place where the Khezu was currently engaging Azroth. It was right at that precise moment when a second Khezu decided to appear out of nowhere and dropped into the center of the village, causing widespread panic among the villagers. The creature then proceeded to attack one of the villagers closest to it by leaping onto the poor man and taking a bite out of his stomach, causing the man to let out a cry of intense pain as he was being eaten alive.

That was all the distraction that Rendus needed as he quickly slugged the guard closest to him and had the other guard cut open the ropes that bound his arms together with one of his dual swords when he attempted to stop the veteran hunter. Grateful for the "help" that the man had given him, he quickly knocked the man out with a backhand and tossed Jerox the guard's weapon, which turned out to be a switch axe. Jerox accepted the weapon and disabled the other guard with the flat side of the blade, causing him to fall unconscious. The last guard had been preoccupied with directing the villagers and council members to safety that he failed to notice the creature coming for him. With a quick shove, the man was saved from being squashed by the monster while the creature let out a tiny shriek upon being cheated from having its next meal.

"You take its wings. I'll go for the head!" Rendus ordered Jerox, who nodded and proceeded to unleash hell upon the monster. With a few swings of the blade, blood soon poured out from the wounds on its wings. Rendus grabbed the fallen guard's dual blades and performed his Demonization technique, raining down a flurry of attacks at the creature's head, causing it to stagger. However, the creature wasn't about to go down easily as it planted its tail onto the ground and unleashed a stream of electricity at the duo, knocking them both onto the ground while bits of electricity began to course along their body.

"Tch! Stubborn prick!" yelled Rendus as he got up and with his white teeth flashing. He then made another mad dash towards the creature with killing intent with Jerox following suit.

With a quick round blow to the head, the creature stumbled and fell onto the ground, where Jerox stabbed its thick hide with his weapon on its sword form and activated the phial's hidden ability, causing a huge burst of energy to detonate, making him stumble backwards while the creature let out a cry of pain as the blast struck home. The hole on its neck became a bloody mess that soon weakened the creature critically. As it struggled to rise up, Rendus immediately drove his weapon down onto the creature's head, putting an end to its miserable life.

"It's over." Jerox said as he stared at the corpse of the newly-fallen creature. He then took a few glances around and found the other villagers who had survived the onslaught hiding inside the nearby huts. Their faces clearly showed fear at seeing the creature yet at the same time, they were also glaring at the two hunters, blaming them for the creatures' arrival. Sighing, Jerox turned away from them and found the mangled corpse of the wyverian Darius, his once smug face had taken on the frozen face of suffering, his left arm lying detached just a few inches away from his body. Seeing the corpse made him feel uneasy so he turned around once more and walked over towards the fallen wyvern. Bending down, he noticed a strange purple claw mark on the creature's torso. As soon as he touched it however, the creature suddenly began to jerk around and whipped its head at the hunter, sending him rolling on the ground.

"Jerox!" Rendus yelled as the creature that was thought-to-be dead had slowly gotten up and was making its way towards the fallen hunter. But before it could even take a bite out of him, a sword struck the bleeding gash from before. The monster stood completely still for a brief moment before its headless corpse finally dropped onto the ground with its head rolling towards Jerox's foot. Looking towards the owner of the weapon that slew the creature, he found the person responsible to be none other than Camellia herself.

"I guess we can call it even," she stated dryly.

**O=======II==============**

Meanwhile, the engagement against the first Khezu was also nearing its end. However, like the Khezu before it, it had also survived what had appeared to be a mortal blow to the neck and had killed one of the guards with a bite to the back of the head while his back was turned towards the "corpse" of the creature. It was soon about to go after the other members of the Guild when four slashes on its head finally killed the creature. In order to make sure that creature could not attempt to attack them again, Azroth severed its head from its neck. After doing so, he let out a breath of relief and finally collapsed onto the ground unconscious, the battle having taken its toll on the young hunter.

"Quick! Someone call for the healer! We need some assistance here!" shouted one of the Guild guards towards one of the remaining survivors. Mars herself had tended to Azroth's wounds and bandaged his left arm up after seeing that he had injured it when he had attempted to dodge one of the creature's electric bolts. The others had begun to move some of the few dozen corpses that lay scattered around following a brutal attack by the creature. Most of them had a few missing limbs while some of them were headless.

Moments later, the families of the victims began to mourn for their losses and had a mass burning of the bodies. While that event was going on, the Village Elder and what remained of the Guild Council had gathered together in the Guild Hall to discuss the happenings.

"I'm afraid that this is starting to become suspicious. First, the Rajang's attack, then the Deviljho's rampage, and now this tragedy! I have a feeling that these attacks are all connected," commented the Village Elder. The others nodded as they too had arrived at the same conclusion.

"The only question we have right now is how," stated the bearded Council member.

"Do you think that this has something to do with the Lady's abduction?" asked another one of the Council members, an old lady.

"I'm not entirely sure. But if that's the case, then we need to pardon both Rendus Ilyord and Jerox of the accusations that were hurled towards them," the Village Elder said. "Furthermore, we need to investigate deeper into the matter. I want all our able members to be present for a meeting tomorrow. Not just any of the normal members though. We need all the help that we can get."

"Who are you suggesting that we recruit for the cause?" asked the bearded old man, causing many of the Council members to start vouching out for their candidates. However, the Village Elder silenced them all with a dismissive gesture.

"I don't think now's the time to start throwing in candidates for the job. We first need to deal with the problem at hand," stated the Village Elder as-a-matter-of-factly.

"And what do you suggest that we do?" asked the old lady.

"I was thinking of sending Team Wyvernkillers to investigate in the Snowy Mountains. We might as well send a few other hunters to the neighboring villages to inquire if they too are facing the same problems." The Village Elder said. After a few minutes of discussing, the Council eventually agreed and messages were sent to Team Wyvernkillers for the investigation mission.

**O=======II==============**

Deep within the caverns of the Snowy Mountains walked a lone figure who wore a hooded cloak that concealed his entire body. Upon reaching the place where there were the human bones scattered around, the figure stood still and examined the entire place. Seeing a hunched figure that was shivering, the cloaked man approached him, the man being none other than the ringleader responsible for abducting Camellia. He lay on the ground, his armor broken beyond possible relief with all forms of cracks and holes on it. He had a bloody stump on what used to be his left leg and a severely disfigured right arm. Beside him lay his broken weapon, the blade cleanly cut in half. The man himself seemed to be on the last ropes, his breathing clearly ragged.

"C-c-can't… G-go… On…" whispered the man as he stared into the wall. Upon seeing the cloaked man, a ghost of a smile formed on his face. "F-finally… I-I'm s-s-saved…"

"No," replied the cloaked figure as he unsheathed a weapon similar to an axe from his back. "You failed your mission. It's time for you to go!" he said with a malicious tone.

"N-n-no! N-no! N-n-" the dying man's screams were cut short as soon as the cloaked man dropped his weapon on the man's neck, slicing it cleanly in half, blood gushing onto the icy ground. Taking a leather bag, he dropped the head inside and sealed it shut before walking away. Minutes after the man's departure, a shrill cry filled the cavern and a lone Giadrome appeared. Seeing the decapitated body, the creature went for the body and began to feed on it, unaware that it was being watched by the cloaked figure. He took out the leather bag containing the head and began to laugh sadistically as he dangled it back and forth.

**O=======II==============**

**A/N: And that's the end of the first arc of the story! Sorry for the delay! I've had plenty of things happening in my life. But I should be able to start updating a bit more frequently (if I'm not distracted by all those games slowly coming out!) But now that the intro's over, it's time we move on to the next arc where many of your questions may or may not be answered. Who's the new cloaked figure? Who or what is behind the attacks on the village? Will I ever give you longer fight scenes? All these questions and more next time! Try to stay tuned! Feel free to PM if you want to hand in an OC. Oh, and do review! I need feedback!**


End file.
