User blog:Eiza Borealis/Monster Hunter: Quake - Installment 3

Chapter 8 -Urgent Quest - Golden Lao - Shan Lung!
Eiza walked down the path from his house to the gathering hall, carrying his equipment and any he would need later for a quest. Entering the hall casually, he walked over to the desk and introduced himself to the women behind the counter. After talking, Eiza sat down at the one single table in the middle of the hall. It was a completely different hall from the one in Taruza city, nobody was in it except him. He figured that at an early hour there would be a low amount of hunters, but never a complete absence of them. After waiting for an urgent quest for a few hours, he laid his arms on the table, and his head on his arms, and fell asleep.

Some time later, Ailain rushed in and woke him up. "Eiza, why are you asleep in the gathering hall? Did you take a quest without me?"

"No," Eiza mumbled, "I've been here the whole time... Did you want to go on another quest?"

"Of course! I just reached high - rank quests! I want to go on as many as possible!" Eiza chuckled and laid his head back down. "You should know," Eiza said, "I only go on urgent quests that require alot of skill, so if you choose to go with me it will be dangerous."

"Only urgent quests!? Those only come up every once in a while! Well, if you aren't going to go on a quest, then I will!" Ailain turned and began walking towards the quest acceptance desk when a messenger flew in through the back exit. He was bruised and wore broken armor, and was breathing very heavily. "I have an urgent message... from the guild fortress..." Eiza looked up and Ailain turned around. "How convenient..." Ailain mumbled, annoyed.

The guild master walked to the messenger and took a paper from him as he fell to one knee, breathing hard. The guild master began reading it aloud. "'Urgent Quest - Golden Lao - Shan Lung. The massive Lao with gold plated scales has awakened and has begun making its way towards the fortress. Send help immediately. Be warned, the Golden Lao is far more aggressive than a normal or Ashen Lao and will attack those who get in its way.' Well, Eiza, Ailain, here's your urgent quest. Now stop taking up space in my hall and go fight that thing."

Eiza and Ailain walked out the back exit and began on their journey, all the while followed by a group of four shadowy figures.

Chapter 9 - The Usefulness of a Boomerang
After travelling for some time, Eiza heard a faint meowing sound from behind them and turned around to see one of his comrades, Pai, running after them. "Fatherrrrr!!!" He yelled, "I have something for you!!!" He ran to Eiza and tripped in front of him, falling on his face. Eiza crouched down. "Yes?" He asked, "What is it?" Pai pulled out a blue boomerang from his backpack with a happy meow. "It's a boomerang made from a Hard Monster Bone and sharpened to purple - grade! It can cut through anything!" Eiza took the boomerang and looked at it. "You always come up with something interesting. But we're going off to kill a Lao - Shan, so I don't think I can get much use out of it."

"Of course you will!!! It's a very practical tool!!!"

"Oh yeah, well I bet if I do use it it will just break on impact with the first thing it touches without even cutting it!!!"

"Wanna bet, pops!?"

"Yeah!!! If it breaks, you eat that rotten fish in the back of the kitchen!!!" Ailain made a sour face and nearly vomited at the thought. Pai shot right back at Eiza, "Okay, and if it actually cuts without breaking, you eat the fish!!!"

"You two are so gross!!!" Yelled Ailain, holding back from vomiting. Pai and Eiza laughed as Eiza took the boomerang. They continued on their way as Pai returned home. Eiza looked at the boomerang the whole time they were walking until they began to reach the canyons leading to the fortress. "Eiza," Ailain said, "You haven't stopped eying that boomerang since you got it. Are you questioning your bet?"

"No, just trying to figure out why Pai would give me a strange item right before a quest like this..."

"It does seem pretty useless for this quest," Ailain said, laughing, "But it's nice to know your felyne cares about you enough to give you a gift."

"Yeah." Eiza said, putting the boomerang in its holder. They walked a little longer through the canyons, not worried about anything, until Eiza heard a small noise. "Stop." Said Eiza, holding out his arm at Ailain. He focused on the air around him, and began listening closely. At the top of the cliff to their right, a small pebble fell. Eiza pulled and threw the boomerang at the top of the cliff from which the pebble fell, and it sliced through the top corner like butter before returning to him. Eiza caught the boomerang and looked at it with a grimace, the first thought after catching it being that rotten fish. He looked up again when he heard laughing.

"Interesting,"Said a voice at the top of the cliff, "You knew where we were from just a slight movement. You truly are a skilled hunter."

"Who's there?" Shouted Ailain, "Show yourself!" Two figures the size of normal hunters and one twice the size fell to the ground with a crash. They all carried hunting weapons and Death Stench armor. "We are hired assassins sent to eliminate the two of you. We're the best at what we do, and since we have you outnumbered, you stand no chance against us."

"Don't get cocky!" Yelled Ailain, "I'm a High Rank hunter, Ailain Yurusuchi! I'm sure I can handle you!" The three laughed and one drew his weapons, a sword and shield. The man in the front spoke again. "High Rank hunter, you say? That's such an amazing accomplishment... too bad we kill them all the time!!! Now kill her!" He raised his hand forward at Ailain and the man with a sword and shield rushed at her as she drew her longsword, and they connected blades with a loud crash. The sword and shield user tripped Ailain, and before stabbing her, took a powerful punch from Eiza.

The man slammed into the canyon wall, and stood up slowly. The man directing the other two looked at Eiza. "You," He said, "Who are you? I never got your name."

"I am Eiza Igneus Borealis, top class hunter and the master of the Greatsword."

"Oh! A member of the Guild of Masters. You'll bring a high bounty on the black market. Now draw your sword, Borealis, and fight!"

"No." The man looked at Eiza, confused. "'No'? What do you mean 'no'? You mean you won't fight?"

"I mean that human blood will never stain this blade again, as I have vowed. You may be assassins but you're still human beings, and your death will not be brought on by my Eviscerator." The man laughed. "Then you will die!" He yelled. A reign of arrows shot down from the top of the canyon. There had been a fourth man with them, a sniper bowman. Eiza didn't have time to climb the cliff. He quickly pulled out and threw his boomerang, which hit the sniper's bow and cut it in half, and returned to Eiza. The bowman jumped down and ran at Eiza, pulling out two arrows as weapons.

The man with a sword and shield ran at Ailain again, slashing at her but being blocked the whole way. After backing her up to the canyon wall, he blocked her to the wall with his sword and shield against her katana. "What's the matter, girl, afraid to get a little cut up?" Ailain growled and kicked the man in the groin, sending him reeling over in pain. "Get up, wuss, it isn't that bad," she taunted, "You want a fight, you've got one."

The bowman swiped at Eiza with his arrows in quick repetition, with Eiza dodging them easily, even with the greatsword on his back. The bowman swung again, and Eiza snatched the arrows from him, cutting across the bowman's back in an X. The bowman fell over and rolled back. "I thought you said you weren't going to kill anyone!" He yelled.

"No," said Eiza, "I said my Eviscerator Blade wouldn't be stained with human blood again. But I don't have the slightest care about your weapons, since they're the weapons of a murderer." Eiza dashed at the bowman and dodged a spinning draw slice from an arrow, then stabbed the man through his chest with an arrow. "Bring peace to those without rest..." said Eiza, "...and guide their misled souls to the afterlife." He let go of the man, who fell over, dead, and walked to the other two men.

Ailain ran at the man with a sword and shield with fury, driving him back against the opposite canyon wall, and blocked him in. "What's wrong, afraid to fight me now!?" Yelled Ailain, "I'm not done fighting you yet!" The man laughed and jumped over Ailain towards his comrades. "I'm done fighting you," he said, "I can just stay away from you and you'll never hit me." He turned and Ailain threw her sword with anger. The blade pierced through the man and killed him. Ailain gasped and fell to her knees.

"You think that you can still go on with your mission just because our numbers are down? You're mistaken!" Yelled the gaint man, pulling out an equally giant hammer. He swung the maul at Eiza, who jumped on the hammer and stood on it as it was swung. "You like your strength, do you not?" Said Eiza.

"Of course! So I use a big weapon to show it off!"

"I see. Well, let me tell you one thing." Eiza jumped behind the man and kicked him, grabbing the hammer and holding it up with one arm. "Just because you look strong doesn't mean you need to use this ludicrously heavy thing, and just because my weapon is smaller doesn't mean I am weaker than you!" And he broke the hammer's handle in two, then ran at the giant, kneeing him in the stomach and punching him in the face, sending him flying into the canyon wall, knocking him unconscious.

"This isn't over, Borealis," Yelled the last man, "I will still fight, you'll never get to kill that Lao! I'll never let you!" A massive earthquake occurred as a huge golden dragon's head smashed through the canyon wall. The Golden Lao - Shan looked down at Eiza and the man, and let out a huge roar, loud enough that Eiza had to cover his ears. Eiza looked over at the man. "Get your comrade and leave, quick!"

"Never! This Lao will never be killed by you, Borealis!!! The fortress will-" The man was swallowed as Lao gulped him down in a single bite. Eiza turned and ran to Ailain, who was still in shock after killing a man. Eiza began shaking her. "Ailain, we have to get out of here! Are you there!? We have to go now!!!" Ailain was limp like a ragdoll. Eiza turned as the Lao stood up on it's hind legs and roared. Eiza pulled out his boomerang and threw it, stabbing the Lao in the eye. As it let out a roar of pain, Eiza grabbed up Ailain, her sword, and the assassin that was using a hammer, and carried them to safety.

Chapter 10 - Regret
Ailain sat on a bench in the fortress, trembling with tears running down her face. She never thought that she was going to kill someone. She had broken the number one rule of honor for hunters: Never raise your weapon against a fellow man. She didn't know what was going to happen, and Eiza stayed with her the whole time. "Ailain, I killed a man today too. I didn't want to, but when anyone raises their weapon against you, there are no rules then." Ailain looked at Eiza. "Easy for you to say," she said, "You killed your friend. You have no feelings of compassion for living things anymore. I still do, I still can't stand to hurt someone!"

"Then why do you hunt, if it pains you to kill?" Ailain looked down. Why did she hunt? Revenge? That couldn't be, for she had already hunted and killed the Tigrex that had caused her that much pain. Why did she even bother hunting now? She looked back at Eiza. It was him, he was what made her take up arms against monsters. He somehow aroused a hunting spirit within her. But that still doesn't explain why she had to kill that man. A man walked in. Ailain and Eiza looked at him as he began to speak. "The Lao Is Being held back to the best of our abilities, but it is on a rampage and is very angry for some reason. We've never fought a golden Lao, so we don't know about their behavior, but he is extremely dangerous and we need you to help as soon as you can."

Eiza looked at Ailain and then back at the man. He picked up his sword and placed it on his back. "I'll go. I don't know if my friend will be coming or not. She may leave later." Eiza looked back at Ailain. "Do you still like High Rank Quests, Ailain?"

As Eiza ran through the canyon, he reached the point of battle. Many hunters were tying ropes and dangling from them while hanging off of the Golden Lao, many where firing bowguns and slicing with swords and stabbing with lances. The Lao was stomping multiple times to remove all hunters from around it, then it saw Eiza. "I want all hunters to retreat from the canyon and go to the fortress until I reach it," shouted Eiza, "I will battle this thing alone."

The Golden Lao roared as hunters began running from it, and Eiza ran towards it. Noticing Eiza as the one who stabbed it's eye, the Lao began charging at Eiza with a speed unseen from normal Laos. Eiza dodged a bite from the Lao and charge draw sliced his sword upon it's head, breaking off it's horn as it let out a yell. The ground shook as the earth element sword and the gigantic dragon clashed.

The fight continued through the canyon until Eiza reached a bridge, which he climbed quickly to jump on Lao's back. Upon reaching the bridge, Lao - Shan stepped up on it's hind legs, and bit over the bridge at Eiza, who barely dodged. On the opposite side of the bridge, Eiza noticed bombs with an anti-dragon symbol on them. He rushed to the other side as the Lao lowered down on all fours again. Picking up two bombs, Eiza stepped to the middle of the bridge as Lao passed under it, waiting for the perfect time to jump upon it's back. As the middle of the golden Lao's back reached the center of under the bridge, it thrust upward with a massive jump, crushing the bridge and sending Eiza flying up into the air.

As Eiza fell back down, he pulled out his sword and stabbed it deep into Lao's back plate, holding him firmly as Lao thrashed about in pain. Eiza planted the two anti-dragon bombs firmly on the Lao's back, and unhinged his sword as they exploded, causing the lao huge damage, cracking it's shell, and sending Eiza flying back. Eiza landed rolling, and flipped back up. He ran at Lao's left hind leg and full charge draw sliced it's leg with a smash that severed a toe and slammed the ground. As Lao stood up on it's hind legs in pain, the quake released from Eiza's earth element sword sent Lao crashing down backwards with an immense quake.

Eiza began full charge draw slicing it's belly, releasing earth spikes from the ground and more quakes to keep the Lao on it's back. After 7 full swings on Lao's belly, Eiza moved to it's head and got one hit in before it stood once more. It began moving towards the second bridge down the canyon, and Eiza followed, hacking off golden scales along the way. The Lao reached the second bridge, and on the top of it stood Ailain, holding her longsword at ready. "Okay, Eiza, let's finish this!"