Life of a Monster Hunter

9 - The Final Step

I didn't remember landing. One minute I was on the cliff, and the next, I was on the ground. Water was rushing over my boots, splashing up against my thighs. I opened my eyes slowly, only to be greeted by a shooting pain that exploded in the back of my head. Wincing, I pulled off my helmet, feeling around though my hair. It felt hot, and I couldn't tell if I was bleeding or not. I reached into my pouch and pulled out a small container of Life Crystals that I kept on me in case of emergencies.

There was a boom from above my head. I looked up through the air to the top of the cliff. A flash of white light went off. The others were still fighting the Kirin. Even though there were three of them, I wasn't going to stand by. The fall I'd taken was great, but I had survived. I wasn't going to give up.

"Come on, Ria," I said, psyching myself up as I wobbled to my feet. "Need to get back up there... Woah."

I hadn't realized just how far I'd fallen. The cliff was well over 40 feet. Even in my armor, I wouldn't have survived a fall from that height without something else to break it. There was a low rumbling, and an odd noise like metal rubbing against itself. I looked around, trying to focus, my head hurt a little too much to do that still. Peering through the wind and rain, I noticed something further down the river. It was large, but I couldn't make out any clear details. It didn't look like anything in particular.

There was another flash of lightning from above. The light made it down to the bottom of the cliff, illuminating both me and the object. I saw a glimpse of an leg. Then a shot of a wing. Then a shot of a long silver face with long fangs. The air around me grew thick like butter.

I froze, shocked by what was hiding in the rain. The shape started to move, become more alive with each second. It rose up on four legs, pointing its head to the sky. It roared, booming loudly, nearly blowing out my eardrums. The air grew thicker and heavy. I ducked and tried to cover my ears, struggled to stay upright against the wind. Finally the monster fell silent. I grabbed the hilt of my blade, ready to strike, but there was nothing to attack. The thing that's been in front of me had vanished into thin air. I looked around for any sign of it, but the rain was too heavy to get a good look. It was gone.

"Ria!"

I turned back and saw Cal and Malcom making their way down the side of the cliff. I rushed up to them as they landed, still hurt but feeling better. Malcom jumped at me, gripping my green armor plating.

"Oh, sweet Ria! If that soft bosom of yours got hurt, I swear, meow blade will not rest till I've purrlunged it into the heart of that nasty meowster!"

"I'm fine... Please get off."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Cal asked. "You fell quite a ways. Maybe you should go back to camp."

"No, I'm alright... There was something else here. I think it was making the storm. I think the wind pressure it was making helped break my fall."

"Was it a monster? Where is it?"

"I don't now. It vanished after it roared. You didn't hear it?"

Cal and Malcom shook their heads no.

"Nya, all we heard was rain and thunder."

The storm was starting to let up, weakening slowly. Without the noise of the wind battering my helmet, I could better hear the battle going on at the top of the cliff.

"Wait, is Tusk fighting the Kirin alone?!"

"He told us to come find you. We was going to try and avoid it until we hit back to help."

"Well, come on! We have to get back up there!"

We started to climb up the side of the cliff. It was wet and hard to move across, but we found some good footing. The sky was slowly starting to clear up. Sunlight even started to break through. It shined down over the hills, giving much better visibility, perfect for fighting in. I grunted and pushed forward, ignoring the pain in my neck as I climbed.

Tusk panted heavily inside his helmet. It clutched his weapons in his hands, shaking slightly. He'd only planned on avoiding the Kirins attacks, but that proved too difficult, so he tried to drive it away with short slices and stabs, but that only succeeded in making it angrier. An Elder Dragon was too strong to take on solo.

"Damn it... Where the hell are you..."

His voice petered off as he looked back behind the Kirin. A metal glove popped over the side, followed by a suit of green armor. Cal, Malcom, and myself all stood up, moving away from the side of the cliff, making extra sure not to get too close to it again. The Kirin looked back and huffed, irritated that I came back, which was a mistake. Tusk took his opening and rushed forward, spinning and cutting into the Kirins neck, drawing a little blood in the process before continuing on to stand beside me.

"Glad you could make it back here? How was the trip?"

"Let's save jokes until after we kill this thing."

"It's getting weaker. I think we're close."

The Kirin started to charge forward, swinging its head up and bringing more lightning strikes down. Even though it wasn't storming anymore, it could always call on more electrical attacks. We avoided them easily, stepped around it and circling it. Cal pulled his bow back and fired off an arrow with a poison coating as I ran in, aiming low. My blade cut across its legs as his shot cut deeper into the wound on its neck. It stumbled and groaned, poisoned after our joint assault.

It started to get desperate, kicking out and charging at us. I looked over and saw the tree I'd used before. The leaves were mostly burnt off and the top sections of the truck were badly charred. It probably wouldn't work to try the same trick twice, but it did give me another idea, one that could possibly end the hunt once and for all. I started to move back towards the edge of the cliff. Tusk saw me and started to speak up, but I put up my hand, reassuring him and pointing back at the tree. He saw it and looked back at me, picking up my message.

I rushed up and hit the Kirins back. My blade bounced off its rump, but I was fine with that. I just needed to grab its attention. It turned its head, glaring at me. I glared back, shooting daggers with my eyes. The rage built up in it. Charging forward with injured legs, it aimed to stab into me with the jagged stump where its horn had been. It moved swiftly, but I only frowned, planting my feet firmly in the wet grass.

"You don't learn, do you?"

With one easy slide, I moved out of the way of the Kirins attack, spinning to watch it. It couldn't stop in time with the damp grass and fell right over the side, tumbling head over heels. With no mysterious monster to help break its fall, there was nothing between it and the cold, unforgiving ground. We heard it neigh loudly, then silence.

Slowly we walked up to the edge and looked over the side. I glanced to the bottom of the cliff, spotting the white Elder Dragon. It was laying on its side, unmoving. There was a pool of blood growing beneath it, tricking down into the river. We didn't have any words. We were all to tired. The last drops of rain fell as we made our way down the cliff to the dead monster.