Gypceros roared, signaling the beginning of the hunt. It started with a charge towards Alfina, who vaulted into the air and landed a slash onto its crest; the fiery burst from her glaive seared its vulnerable head.
"Fire! Ignite my breath and burn my enemies with a roar! Flamethrower!" A powerful stream of fire was seemingly blown out from Aria's breath and enveloped the Gypceros, making it scream in pain before spitting out its poisonous saliva in desperation.
After gathering all three extracts, Alfina increased the pressure with various looping combos while her kinsect flew around to disperse explosive powder. Using her fire magic, Alfina prolonged her air time and constantly cut the monster from unexpected angles. With a well-placed swing, Alfina knocked the monster down, allowing her to get on top of it and dig her dagger into its rubbery hide. "This texture reminds me of Khezu!"
"Yeah, they have similar properties! That is why both have the same weakness and resistance!" Aria rolled away from Gypceros's reckless charge and jumped to avoid the puddles of poison saliva. "Urgh, I need my Steel Blade..."
With constant slashes against Gypceros's head, Alfina opened a wound and jammed her glaive into it, making the monster flinch and stagger to a halt, exhausted from its constant running. Using her entire body, Alfina twirled around, drilling into the wound and tearing it open, sending Gypceros crashing to the ground.
Aria jumped into the fray and began slashing despite being less effective than Alfina's fire-element weapon. She focused her strikes on the head, trying to break it, but the beast got back on its feet and began flashing its crest. "Oh uh, we need to get away as far as possible!"
Aria and Alfina scurried away as far as possible, but the blinding light flashed to every corner of the cavernous chamber, saturating both hunters' eyes with white. The sudden burst of light overwhelmed their senses, leaving both sisters frozen in place.
Gypceros spit towards Alfina and covered her in poison while it used its elastic tail to slam at Aria. Both sisters reeled from the attacks and retreated, vaulting and rolling away from the beast.
"Ugh, I am still a little dizzy..."
"Drink the antidote! Ugh!" Aria's vision was still blurry after her roll. "It seems the stun effect is not as simple as I remembered..."
Alfina managed to empty her vial of antidote, but as she was about to reach for her health potion, Gypceros whipped its tail. She was launched towards Aria, who was in the midst of drinking her own potion, and crashed into her, sending them tumbling towards the muddy pool.
"Guah! This!?" Alfina found her movement slowed due to the thick mud.
"Water magic, quick!" Aria surfaced from the mud and saw the Gypceros preparing to spit out its saliva again. She immediately threw one of her Pulsar Hatchet, hitting the beast in its head and flinching it.
"Water! Bless upon me with rain! Averse!" Water gathered above Alfina and Aria before falling down as a heavy downpour that flushed away the mud. As Aria had bought them time, both sisters managed to escape before another tail slam cracked the rocky ground.
"This guy is truly erratic!" Alfina emptied two vials of potion while Aria held the monster's attention for a while. She launched her kinsect and vaulted over the Gypceros, slashing at its head crest. "I will hold its attention now! Go and heal yourself!"
"I will! Thanks!" Aria rolled out of the way and let Alfina face the beast. After drinking a vial of potion, she noticed the poisonous saliva slowly mixing with the mud, and an idea popped into her head. "Earth! Shake and loosen yourself! Water! Gather around and flow! Mudslide!"
Alfina noticed Aria's magic and vaulted away. A wave of muddy water flowed towards the Gypceros, hitting it and sending it sliding several meters backward. The entire arena had turned muddy.
"That is smart, but you have also made our footing less stable." Landing beside Aria, Alfina saw the Gypceros getting back on its feet, but slipped from the slushy ground. "Still, that does take care of the poisonous saliva puddles."
"Gypceros can survive in swampy areas, but its rubbery hide makes it prone to slipping in the mud." Aria turned her head towards Alfina who launched her kinsect with her glaive, giving it an extra burst of speed that allowed it to pierce the beast's wing. "However, it should pose no issue for you."
"That is why I praise you." Alfina vaulted into the air and began her aerial assaults. She would land occasionally, but immediately took to the air again, dancing around the fuming Gypceros. The beast launched its poisonous spit, but it was quickly neutralised by Aria's magic and the muddy terrain.
"Aim for its head! Breaking that crest will prevent it from stunning us again!"
"You do not have to say it twice!" Alfina locked on the Gypceros's head. "Fire! Bless my heart and grant me your eternal strength! Enfer Perpétuel!"
A powerful wave of blue fire swept across the battlefield, engulfing the Gypceros in a swirling inferno. The muddy ground around the monster dried out in an instant and cracked under the intense heat. Amidst the fiery hell, Alfina slid along a muddy slope and performed a jumping advancing slash; barreling through the heat, she repeatedly cut at the Gypceros's crest and finally broke it. Just as the fire died down, the monster collapsed as well.
"Well, that was fast..." Alfina, feeling a little exhausted after the last attack, downed a vial of mana potion and approached the fallen beast to inspect its carcass.
"Wait Alfina, this bird wyvern might not be dead."
"Huh, what do you mean-?" As soon as Alfina finished her sentence, the Gypceros twitched a little, which alerted her, but the silence that followed eased her nerves. "Sigh, I think it is truly dead this time..."
"Unlike the one in my memory, there is no music to signal the victory, so it is kind of hard to tell..." Aria walked towards Alfina and stopped in front of the fallen beast.
"...? What? Music?"
"Nothing... It is hard to explain... Hmm?" Aria noticed the monster twitching again, but before she could sound out the warning, Gypceros sprang up from its fake death and tackled both hunters with its stocky frame.
"Gah!" After crashing against the cavern wall, Alfina returned to her stance. "Why are you also caught up in it? You are supposed to know."
"Hey, fighting them in real life is different from the game."
"Game!? People in your previous life hunt this as entertainment!?"
"Like I have said, it is difficult to explain! Focus on this bird wyvern first!"
Gypceros used its tail to whip at both hunters and began to strike its crest, but due to Alfina breaking it prior, it failed to cast a stunning flash. Seeing both Alfina and Aria coming, it flapped its wings and escaped from the arena, moving up toward the exit of the cave. Several workers who had been observing the hunt, were startled when the Gypceros made its way towards their general direction and scrambled around only for the beast to ignore and fly pass them.
Aria collected her Pulsar Hatchet that she had thrown and sharpened it while Alfina emptied a vial of potion before sharpening her glaive. Both sisters ran to chase the escaping beast.
"Come to think of it, why has no one come in to check on us? The news about the appearance of Gypceros must have reached the group outside."
While running with Alfina, Aria emptied a vial of potion. "I can think of one thing, and that is because they are preoccupied with another monster."
As both hunters neared the exit, sounds of commotion could be heard and the roar of another monster confirmed Aria's prediction. They saw Scarlet and Marion engaging the Gypceros while Catherine and Rosa faced against the other beast.
The Gypceros began spitting out it poisonous saliva, covering a wide area of the greenery in purple puddles. It whipped its tail multiple times, trying to hit Marion and Scarlet who narrowly avoided the tail slams.
"Apologies for not finishing this fellow!" Alfina vaulted behind the beast and landed a blow on Gypceros, allowing her to ride atop it. The bird wyvern went berserk, trying to throw off Alfina, but she held on and slashed at the beast when openings were presented. Soon, the fatigued Gypceros stopped and drooled, clearly exhausted. With such large opening, Alfina relentlessly slashed the monster's rubbery body and opened a wound. "This is the end for you!"
Alfina chanted her magic while plunging her glaive into the open wound. She twirled as her spell was casted, boosting her speed and drilling into the monster with precision and power.
Gypceros wailed in pain as it collapsed on the ground, breathless, but was still struggling to survive. However, Alfina's kinsect dispersed the volatile powder around it and Alfina jumped in with a strike on its head, detonating the powder and reaping Gypceros's life.
"So this is why you are stuck here!" Aria blitzed towards the new monster, assisting both Catherine and Rosa. "My Pulsar Hatchets are useless against that Gypceros, but this guy is the perfect target for my thunder element weapons."
"Sorry for not coming to help you with that guy." Catherine shot out from her Pulsar Bow while avoiding the toxic fume shot out by the monster. "When we heard that a monster appeared in the cave from the escaping workers, we're prepared to jump in immediately. But this guy suddenly showed up and thrashed out supplies."
"This uncouth beast chased around those poor workers, seemingly enjoying it." Rosa danced around the monster as it swing its flexible tail in an attempt to hit her. "Despite having patches of vibrant colour, its crude behaviour does not warrant praise from me; and too bad, I am not fond of green colour."
The monster roared and stretched its tongue out, whipping around the hunters who had avoided the attack. It proceeded to spit out its poisonous saliva that hit a nearby tree trunk, sizzling it a little.
"Well, this guy is known to bully those it deems weaker than it is. We just have to prove who is the one in charge here."
"Crude way of putting it, but I agree, Miss Aria." Rosa smiled as she readied her Khezu Daggers. "Shall we continue our dance, Pukei-Pukei, the Poison Bewitching Bird."
"Count us in!" Marion and Scarlet entered the battlefield from the rear. "We have stocked up enough antidote."
Pukei-Pukei's tail bulged before releasing a cloud of toxic fume that spread all over the area. Catherine, being the only long range attacker, continued her assault while the others jumped back to avoid the poison mist. Scarlet, wielding her ice element insect glaive, Blizzard Glaive, sent out her kinsect to gather extracts while she vaulted back.
"Hey Marion, do you want to borrow my Bolt Chamber?! The thunder element insect glaive will deal more damage than your non-element long sword!"
"Thanks for the offer Alfina, but I am not suitable for wielding insect glaive!"
"Then switch with me!" Aria swiftly threw her dual blades towards Marion while beckoning Alfina to pass the Bolt Chamber. Aria's silver kinsect flew towards her as soon as she caught the glaive that Alfina tossed. "Use your wind to boost your speed! Dual Blades excel at rapid attacks!"
Marion tossed her longsword towards Alfina who had decided to stay behind to guard the caravan, and caught the Pulsar Hatchets. As the poisonous mist subsided, she rushed in and started to rain down strikes on the monster, feeling her body moving purely on instinct.
Aria used the glaive as a beacon for her kinsect and led it into the arena. The silver kinsect landed on one end of the glaive and with a powerful swing, Aria hurled the kinsect forward at tremendous speed, piercing the head of Pukei-Pukei. Just as the kinsect's attack connected, Aria followed up with a descending thrust after vaulting.
Rosa continued to dance around the beast and focused her slashes on its vibrant tail, trying to cut it to prevent more toxic fume being expelled. As a result, unexpectedly, her Khezu Daggers inflicted paralysis onto the monster. "Oh, this is a pleasant surprise. The beast is paralysed, now is the time!"
All hunters turned up their offenses. The overwhelming power and coordination they had displayed delivered a sense of awe to the onlookers, giving them hope for the future of humanity.
Pukei-Pukei broke through the paralysis and regained its mobility after taking heavy damage from all sides and began to panic. It mindlessly swung around, hoping to push away the hunters with its tail; it also repeatedly jumped and kicked around. After clearing away the nearby hunters, the beast took to the air and dished out several poisonous spit.
"Stay down, you clownish wyvern!" With a powerful downward slash, Rosa severed Pukei-Pukei's tail and made it kiss the ground. The beast was once again surrounded and wailed upon.
"Focus on the head!" At Aria's suggestion, the others aggregated around Pukei-Pukei's head, unleashing several devastating elemental attacks.
Eventually, Pukei-Pukei got back on its feet and was enraged, staining its head and wing feathers with reddish hue. It charged forward, ramming into Marion, Scarlet and Aria who were thrown to the side as a result. Its breaths turned foggy from the increase in its body temperature.
"Sorry but, being enraged will not help." Catherine, who was charging up her Dragon Piercer shot, released her arrow, hitting the beast right at its head and drilling into it; a wound was opened as a result. Focusing on the wound, Catherine charged multiple arrows and unleashed them in a burst that targeted the wound. Immediately after, she followed up with another Dragon Piercer that break the wound, dealing massive damage.
The monster began to show signs of exhaustion after exerting itself to ward off the hunters, but to no avail. It watched the humans, that it originally perceived as smaller and weaker, dominating the fight, and began to regret its action. Sensing the danger it was in, Pukei-Pukei began to flee, but was badly injured that it limped along the way.
"You're not getting away! Not after what you did to our precious supplies!" Catherine took out several arrows and hit them against a tree trunk, creating several cracks and igniting them. She proceeded to aim at an angle and released the arrows high up, tracing an arc. The arrow heads burst into multiple pieces and rained down on the escaping beast.
Pukei-Pukei cried from the pain caused by Catherine's arc shot, but was still on its way to leave the arena. However, Marion accelerated with her wind magic, sliding behind Pukei-Pukei before catching on the base of its severed tail and spun along its entire spine, ending up in front of it. She unleashed several slashes on its vulnerable head and with a downward slash, the monster's head broke.
Aria and Scarlet vaulted and slashed the monster's wings, one on each side, and pinned it down to the ground. Rosa swooped in from behind and cut at the monster's already decapitated tail, sending stinging electric sparks with each attack.
Pukei-Pukei, being surrounded again, knew of its inescapable predicament and tried to retaliate, but with the hunters each delivering their final blow, the beast succumbed to its injuries and took its final breath.
"Hah, hah..." Seeing the fallen beast, Marion tried to catch her breath. "This dual blades fighting style really drains your stamina, but it was exhilarating."
"I agree, and it seems that you are getting the hang of it." Aria recalled her kinsect and sheathed her glaive.
"Yeah, thanks to your guidance... Is it just me or does this hunt feels rather easy?"
All the hunters looked at each other and after a brief period of silent, they snickered and nodded in agreement. After experiencing the might of Lau-Shan Lung, the two beasts they had fought appeared tame.
"This just means, we have grown stronger. I hope, sooner or later, we would be able to take down higher ranked monsters and make our ways to the elder dragons."
"That is indeed great, Miss Marion, but do beware of complacency." Rosa smiled, but her eyes, fixed at her own hands, were laced with a small tinge of sadness.
"Umm, not to ruin the joyous realisation, but the majority of our food supply has been destroyed." Catherine awkwardly raised her right hand. "We would need to forage, but as you can see, we are still in the Valle Forest where poisonous creatures and plants dominated the ecosystem... So, we're in a rather pitiful situation..."
Aria, Rosa, Marion and Scarlet turned their heads towards the destroyed carriage where their preserved food was scattered on the forest floor, covered in Pukei-Pukei's poisonous saliva. Marion's expression turned gloomy from the prospect of starvation while Scarlet began worrying about rationing their remaining supplies. Rosa sighed and glared at the carcass of Pukei-Pukei. Alfina stood over the spoiled food and turned to her sister, seemingly pleading for any useful knowledge about surviving in the forest, but Aria avoided her gaze, sweat dripping down her face.
Another silence lingered in the air as the entire caravanners and hunters wore a blank expression.