"Flash Pods, red potions, yellow potions... Good. At least consumable materials like these still work normally. Though now that I think about it, should I make a few more Large Barrel Bombs? If somebody barges in and interferes with the hunt, I can just blow them away. Normally that wouldn't be enough to force someone out of a fight, but since my System uses Monster Hunter rules, it'll count as a successful repulsion."
Ray was making his final preparations before the hunt. He finished mixing the medicines he expected to need, checked the rest of his supplies, and gave his equipment one last round of maintenance. He had specifically learned how to do that from the Second Fleet Master so he would not be left helpless if his gear was damaged during a hunt in another world.
[System, can't you fix your own bugs already? At least let me change equipment after entering another world!]
Just thinking about it annoyed him.
As a hunter, Ray had learned how to mix medicine, cook with monster ingredients, perform emergency repairs on damaged equipment, and even personally research how Monster Hunter equipment interacted with the weaknesses and elemental systems of creatures from other worlds.
So what exactly was his System good for?
Transporting him between worlds, handing out missions, and occasionally giving him strange materials that still needed to be adapted before he could use them?
Wonderful.
After getting his usual complaints out of his system, Ray immediately felt much better.
He finished putting on the rest of his equipment, scattered scent-masking powder over himself, and equipped his Ghillie Mantle.
His presence seemed to vanish into the surrounding landscape.
The mantle itself looked almost absurdly simple, little more than layers of foliage draped over his body, yet the instant he put it on, his presence, scent, and even body heat seemed to disappear completely.
Even infrared detection would have struggled to locate him.
That was the Ghillie Mantle.
Of course, the original version had never been this effective. Ray's had been crafted with special materials provided by his System, so its capabilities had changed considerably.
Ray lowered himself into the grass and waited.
Snakes crawled nearby. Ants passed over his body. He did not move.
He simply became another part of the landscape.
Patience was one of the first skills any hunter learned.
Day became night.
Night became day again.
Ray remained there for fifty-six hours, breathing so slowly and faintly that his body had entered something close to suspended rest.
Then the forest finally stirred.
Several Vampire Brides emerged from the dense trees nearby, dressed in white gowns with veils covering their faces. They cleared a path as they advanced.
Behind them came another Vampire Bride crawling on all fours.
Seated casually on her back beneath a parasol was a petite girl dressed in an elaborate black-and-red Gothic dress.
Shalltear Bloodfallen.
As a True Vampire, Shalltear should have possessed extraordinarily sharp senses for living creatures.
Yet when she passed the patch of grass where Ray lay hidden, she did not so much as glance in his direction.
It was as though there were nothing there at all.
Ray did not even look at his prey as she passed.
His breathing remained slow and controlled.
He kept waiting.
Only when distant noises finally broke through the forest, followed by the unmistakable sounds of battle, did Ray begin to move.
He slowly rose from the grass, brushed several ants from his body, and started toward the fighting.
As he walked, he gradually brought his body out of its low-metabolism state. His breathing deepened, his heartbeat accelerated, and his organs returned to full activity.
His entire body began waking up.
Once he was nearly back at peak condition, Ray pulled a red potion from his inventory and drank it in one go.
Then came a yellow potion.
After that, several pills and other consumables followed.
By the time he reached the battlefield, the Slane Theocracy's special unit, whatever they were called again, had already been nearly wiped out.
More importantly, Shalltear had already taken a direct hit from the World Item Downfall of Castle and Country.
Now she had been reduced to something much simpler.
A hostile neutral boss that attacked anything entering her territory.
Perfect.
Ray silently approached from behind.
Shalltear was standing motionless in her crimson battle armor.
Several small red spheres rested in Ray's hand.
He tossed them onto the ground.
Dreamlike colored smoke billowed outward.
Shalltear's eyelids twitched.
Then slowly closed.
She remained standing where she was, fast asleep.
Ray immediately reached into his inventory.
One enormous barrel appeared.
Then another.
And another.
He arranged the Large Barrel Bombs around Shalltear, carefully checking their positions before backing away.
Once he reached the distance he wanted, he removed the Ghillie Mantle.
Under normal circumstances, Shalltear would have noticed him almost immediately.
But the sleep-inducing item had left her temporarily unconscious.
She had no chance to react.
Ray tightened his grip on the greatsword.
He planted his feet.
Power gathered through the weapon.
Then he swung.
"Wake up!"
BOOM!
The charged greatsword strike landed at the same instant the barrel bombs detonated.
Shalltear was launched through the air like a projectile.
The moment she took damage, she snapped awake.
Unfortunately for her, she had been completely relaxed while sleeping, and the combined impact of a greatsword to the head and several explosions had left her violently disoriented.
She needed only a few seconds to recover.
Ray had no intention of giving her those seconds.
Violet lightning erupted around him.
His body became a streak of electricity as he surged forward.
By the time Shalltear's vision began to clear, another fully charged greatsword strike was already descending toward her.
Normally, charging a greatsword required the hunter to plant their feet and remain still.
But this was no longer a game.
And after receiving the power of the Hunt, Ray had become capable of charging his attacks while moving.
Lightning from the Path of the Hunt poured into the Defender Greatsword, mixing with the weapon's innate blast properties.
The result was another violent detonation.
Shalltear was hurled even farther away.
Trees shattered in her path.
The ground split beneath the impact.
"Aaaaaagh!"
Lightning tore through Shalltear's body.
The power of the Hunt seemed to react violently to something within her, becoming even more ferocious as it surged through flesh, mind, and soul alike.
For the first time, Shalltear experienced pain so overwhelming that even the most devoted masochist would have wanted it to stop.
Her divine-class equipment saved her from being killed outright by the first two attacks.
The agony finally forced her mind fully awake.
She prepared to fight back.
Then she saw her attacker.
Ray was already standing in front of her.
His greatsword rested in his hands.
His expression was calm.
But in his eyes, Shalltear was no longer there.
Instead, he saw the black dragon that had weighed on his heart ever since the day he reincarnated into the Monster Hunter world.
Fatalis.
The embodiment of the catastrophe waiting at the end of his road.
In his world, Ray was the Sapphire Star.
There was no greater hunter waiting ahead of him.
No one else who could stand between humanity and the disasters that threatened it.
Eventually, Fatalis would come.
And if Ray lost that battle, the consequences would not end with his own death.
His world would fall with him.
So when that day arrived, victory would not be optional.
Thunder exploded across the battlefield.
For an instant, it seemed as though the heavens themselves had fallen.
Everything nearby disappeared beneath a sea of violet lightning.
When the blinding light finally faded, the earth had been burned black.
Ray stood alone amid the scorched ground, violet arcs of electricity still crawling across his armor.
He calmly slung the greatsword onto his back.
Then he drew a carving knife from his belt.
Ray crouched beside the corpse, raised the knife, and began harvesting materials.
Hunt complete.
(To be continued.)
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◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)