Valen only had a moment to take in the dangerous situation he now found himself in, and he also heard Adem hiss in anger, before the Hunter that had stepped out chuckled.
“So now you know… And we’ll get rid of the main thorn in our side! You have caused us a lot of issues. We realized not long ago that we were being investigated and it was irritating to need to be even more careful than we already were. Though when I learned that it was you in particular that was doing the investigation, it took a while to finally convince them to get rid of you.”
The poacher’s voice was strangely familiar to Valen, though he wasn’t sure from where, he just knew that he had heard it before.
“And why would you be so obsessed with me then? I don’t believe I have caused any real disruption to your activities yet,” Valen asked. He needed to stall for time until he found the right opportunity.
“Oh you have everything to do with me… After all, it is because of your actions that I now find myself with this.” And at that, the poacher rotated the shield strapped to his left arm… Revealing a mechanical hand that had replaced his real hand. “I managed to acquire the blueprints from that stupid friend smith of yours… But it has only been a disappointment! Being so slow that it is impossible to fight like I did before! I had to relearn how to fight with the opposite hands due to you!”
And now Valen realized who the Poacher was… And that fact did not surprise him in the end.
“Tyndrer… So that is why you have joined the Poachers, just to spite me?”
“You would be right at that… But I’m not the only one that has a bone to pick with you.” And at that, he looked behind him, and another hunter joined him at his side, a hunter wearing Rathalos armor and wielding a Gunlance.
Valen stared at the newcomer, trying to jog his memory until he spoke with a deep voice.
“After you denied me my glory and my right, the Guild investigated me and dared to ban me from hunting! When they attempted to steal my armor and weapon, I managed to escape and had to join the Poachers to pursue my duty! And it is because of you that everything went wrong! If you didn’t meddle that day, everything would have been great for me! But you stole the glory and the kill that were mine!”
Valen remembered now, it was the hunter that almost assaulted him when he had slain his Valstrax so long ago. At the very least, he was glad to learn that the officer did follow through on his threat and investigated that hunter… Which was found wanting.
“That is enough, Kayden,” Tyndrer said, cutting off the other hunter’s rant, then looked at Valen. “A couple others also have a personal grudge with you, but we are the main ones… The main difficulty in convincing so many to join today is that most of them believed that you were unbeatable… Pah! There’s only one of you, and so many of us! We will crush you like the insect you are!”
It was the moment Valen was looking for. As Tyndrer looked around and behind him, basking in his assured victory, and knowing that the Poacher would give the order to attack him soon enough, Valen immediately grabbed the flare gun at his hip, drew it out of its holder, and pointed it at the sky, bracing for the recoil, then pulled the trigger.
Aki had warned that she intended him to use both hands to contain the recoil, even with his armor. But Valen could not afford to drop his Switch Axe, the lost time to recover it could cost him his life, so he took a risk…
The flare gun fired, and Valen almost shouted in pain as the recoil almost wrenched his arm out of his socket. He almost staggered, but he managed to contain it, and a split second after the flare left the barrel, he dropped the gun, no longer needing it. Focusing on the poachers around him, he took in their surprise at his sudden action, and so took advantage of the instant of respite to grab a Mega Potion flask, lifted the face plate that covered his mouth and downed it straight. The restorative dulled the pain of his arm, and would help him start healing it, but that was all Valen needed.
The projectile climbed through the air at an astonishing pace, helped by the initial blast but now sustained by the Valstrax dragon fluid reacting with the air, leaving a red trail behind it as it flew. Nikki had allowed Valen to collect some of that fluid, the key to her method of flight. They only needed a few drops condensed inside the projectile, where it would wait, inert, until the initial blast activated it.a The sight drew the gazes of all of the poachers to it.
Valen knew that it would be a fight for his life, and he could not afford to show mercy. All these Poachers had come here with the intention to kill him, so he had to respond in kind… His decision was helped by the fact that the Guild Knight oath he had sworn months ago now gave him the legitimacy of the act. He knew that he had Adem to support him, and the Palico was now sprinting alongside him.
Valen rushed towards two of the ranged users, one wielding a Bow, the other a Light Bowgun. They were initially still staring at the rocket soaring through the skies but then noticed the Hunter heading towards their position. The Bow user shouted and attempted to aim his bow and draw an arrow, but it was already too late.
Valen smashed his axe head through the weapon, shattering it on impact, but it did not stop there, as the weapon retained its momentum and sank into the side of the female poacher, breaking through the armor. Valen did not know what armor she was wearing, just that it was pinkish, but at the time he did not really care. She howled in pain and toppled backwards, blood flowing from her wound as it fell away from the axe head.
The poacher group stared at them, completely stunned by the entire sequence of events. Valen himself paused, processing what he just had done. He had intentionally harmed another human being, potentially fatally. When he had cut off Tyndrer’s arm, it was an accident. But now, he had done it for real, and as experienced as Valen was in hunting monsters, they were not the same as another human.
He snapped himself out of his stupor, reminding himself he still was in a life or death fight. The bowgun-wielding hunter seemed to have also recovered from his surprise and started aiming his weapon at Valen, while starting to back off, but he did not get the occasion to complete his action, as Valen kicked his elbow, shattering it instantly and causing him to drop his weapon.
Adem had exploited the general confusion to jump at the face of another hunter and clawed him. Valen did not know what exactly he was doing, but the howls of pain from that hunter were all he needed to know that it was effective enough.
This was finally what caused all poachers to react, and Tyndrer shouted at them, drawing his sword.
“Get him!”
The shout galvanized the Poachers, causing all of the ranged users to unleash a volley of projectiles at him, not really bothering to be accurate, just hoping to get a hit at him. Valen pulled the trigger on his own weapon, propelling him out of the danger zone, and towards another of the poachers. His target used a Lance, but he seemed to be prepared for Valen’s mobility and took cover behind his shield while raising his lance towards Valen. In response, Valen bled off his momentum with a controlled slide and slapped the sharp weapon with the flat of his blade, directing it towards the ground. With the distance closed and Valen within the Lance user’s guard, he stomped on the weapon, wrenching it out of the poacher’s grip.
The poacher seemed to panic and attempted to bash Valen with his shield, who just took the hit, barely feeling it. Then he grasped it with his left hand, only holding his weapon with his right, and headbutted the poacher, who was wearing a hood, knocking him into unconsciousness.
Glancing towards the other side of the clearing, he idly noticed that the firework had finally detonated far above in the air, the red and blue trails appearing at the very top edge of his vision.
“No one’s coming to help you, Valen! We made sure of it!” Tyndrer taunted.
The Hunter did not respond, as another volley of projectiles was flying towards him. Valen covered himself with the shield of the poacher he just defeated, the bullets and arrows pinging on it. Out of the corner of his eye, noticed that another poacher was approaching from the side, holding a hammer, and left no doubts regarding her intentions of smashing Valen with it.
Since she was still a fair distance away, he used the moment of respite he had to grab a small capsule on his belt, and slotted it on his slinger, arming it. He wanted to have options should he need them, and to be able to use them at a moment’s notice.
Just as he did so, the poacher entered attack range, raised her hammer with a warcry, and attempted to smash him.
Valen simply sidestepped the attack, which caused the hammer to slam into the ground with a earth-shaking thud, morphed his weapon into sword mode now that he had both hands on it, and ran her through, impaling it in her chest. She gurgled and the weapon dropped out of her grasp, the Hammer’s head still embedded in the ground.
The Hunter pulled back out his weapon, though he had to push her with his foot to do so, which elicited a grimace from him. He hated to have to do this, but he needed to in order to see the next day.
Her body dropped to the ground with another, slightly quieter thud, and Valen tore his gaze away from her. He looked around, only to duck again behind the shield as numerous bullets and arrows whizzed past and pinged off the metal slab. One bullet impacted the unconscious hunter on his arm, making Valen glance at it, then realized it was paralysis ammo. He knew then that he had to make sure to treat these as lethal.
Looking around, he also noticed that numerous poachers were circling around to try and flank him, including a couple of bowgunners, which would have an unimpeded line of sight on him. That was what made him realize that now was the time for him to move if he wanted to not be boxed in.
Valen knew since the beginning that if he could reach the forest with Adem, they would be able to outrun their ambushers… But also that this ambush provided an opportunity. If he could capture at least one of them alive, he had a chance of finding their base of operations. He just needed to survive long enough…
He wanted to look around to figure out how Adem was doing, but he also was running out of time, so he addressed the immediate threat. Jumping over the shield, he bent over low to the ground and activated his armor, rocketing towards the ranged Poachers. His sudden move obviously caught them off guard, startling most of the group. A few however managed to keep their cool, but due to Valen’s speed, their aim was off and these few bullets went wide.
He swung his weapon, impacting one of the poacher’s heads with the flat of his weapon. A sharp crack resounded through the air as his weapon impacted, making Valen wince. He had put a lot of strength in that attack. The poacher collapsed, its strings cut.
Their partner roared in rage, aimed his Heavy Bowgun towards Valen and fired, blasing out a storm of pellets that began pinging off his armor. It was spread ammo, dangerous at close range but it showed that the weapon of the poacher was not powerful enough to pierce through his defense. Valen still did not want to risk another volley, so he pulled out his carving knife and slashed at his opponent’s hand. He howled in pain and dropped his weapon, clutching his mangled appendage.
Sheathing back his knife, he prepared to move again until he heard a loud explosion behind him. Snapping his neck around, Valen’s eyes widened as he witnessed Kayden rocket towards him, having fired a large explosion from his Gunlance and riding the immense recoil to get to him. He couldn’t react in time.
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Kayden collided with Valen, the two of them tumbling on the ground, but the impact definitely was the worst he’d taken in the fight so far. Valen winced, as though he had taken stronger hits from Nikki, they usually ended the match and crowned her as the victor.
However Valen knew that he was in a precarious position. Kayden had dropped his weapon—less than useless at such close range—and was now attempting to punch Valen into the ground.
Valen wrestled with the renegade hunter, attempting to break free from the grapple, but Kayden did not let his grip falter, and the repeated punches disoriented Valen. His right hand was still holding his weapon though, and he knew what he could do to save himself, but he was certain it was going to hurt.
He changed his grip for a reverse one then squeezed both triggers on the handle, morphing it into Sword mode before a faint whine started building up. Kayden’s head snapped towards the weapon, which was pointed at him… Specifically, the part that expelled the powerful explosions from his weapon. Valen imagined that Kayden’s eyes were now as wide as plates, and before he could react, he released the trigger.
The resulting explosion engulfed the renegade hunter for an instant, bleeding over Valen a bit, but he knew it would be much less effective, as dragon-typed attacks, like the explosion he just released, did next to nothing to his armor. However it once again wrenched on his arm, renewing the pain that had dulled, but he pushed through it. Once the flames of the explosion died down, Valen stared at its result.
Kayden’s armor was now completely darkened, and did nothing to stop the blast… It had even been peeled away in places, exposing his skin underneath, which was also severely burned. The renegade hunter seemed to stare at Valen through his helmet, but he felt his grip weakening, and then he dropped on top of him.
It took a split second for the Hunter to realize that he was likely dead, and pushed away the body from him… But the fallen poacher had still accomplished something critical: Valen was now an easy target for his ranged foes. And right as he was standing up, he felt a sharp pain on his forearm.
He rolled to dodge the volley of shots and brought his arm up… Which allowed him to spot the dart that was now embedded in it, having delivered its payload of sleep tranquilizer. He was already feeling the effects, his mind started to go sluggish. Behind him he heard Tyndrer shout:
“He’s been hit, get him!”
Valen did not simply give up and let himself be restrained, but he only recalled a blur for what happened after. He recalled the crunch of bones giving way under his feet, resistance from strikes with his weapon, somebody desperately shouting.
“How can he still fight!?”
But eventually, the tranquilizer had invaded enough of his system and he blacked out.
He was snapped back awake by a harsh slap on his head, and he blinked his eyes open, seeing a pair of feet walking away, then another entered his field of vision and wrenched his head upwards, making him stare at Tyndrer, who now had a manic grin on his face.
“Well well well, look who bit off more that he could chew. Too bad your stupid cat managed to get away in the confusion, but we didn’t really care about it anyways. I would really love to strip you completely of this armor to show how powerless you are, but I know what happens if you attempt to remove a Named armor… There is a story about that among poachers, and I will not tempt Fate. Too bad I will have to leave your weapon here too. At least I got your carving knife as a souvenir!”
Valen was still blinking, trying to get awake, and he tried to move his arms, but a resistance kept them behind his back, and he now realized that he had been forced on his knees.
“It was hard to convince the poachers' network to settle in the New World, you know? But I promised them the rewards would be worth it, and the risk minimal since there were no Guild Knights at all here! And it has been indeed!” Tyndrer grinned. “It was easy to copy the sea charts from one of the trade ships inbound from the New World, and to find a route that dodged them. Opening your continent to trade was the biggest mistake you have made, you know? Without that, we would probably still be struggling to find a way to come…”
Valen gritted his teeth but did not respond, the more he kept Tyndrer gloating, the better his chances.
“Once we settled in, we had to build up our base from a sea cavern, and we ruled that we would only operate at night, to reduce the chances of being discovered. Building the small airship platforms to bring the bodies back was also necessary. But once we could start… The thrill! So many new monsters, so many glorious fights! Yes, I absolutely loved coming here! It is just too bad that I lost my carving knife one day, but I got a better one in return!”
He pulled out his knife, that Valen recognized had been made out of an Odogaron claw, and raised it towards Valen. Tyndrer took hold of his helmet and forced him to look at the Renegade in his eyes, however that wasn’t what Valen was focused on… Instead he stared at the red ball in the sky that was visible in the sky, and rapidly approaching.
“You may think that the flare was your salvation, but Astera is hours away from Wingdrakes, and at least one hour for the nearest Hunter! We will be long gone by the time anybody arrives to investigate! You are going to die by my hand! Any last words?”
Valen smiled.
“That flare… It was not for Astera. It was not for any hunter. And you should look at your Back Tail.”
Tyndrer appeared confused at his choice of words. And the same for any poachers nearby, then suddenly somebody shouted a warning and pointed at the sky. Tyndrer turned around, and Valen knew that he was completely stunned by the red comet that was Nikki diving on the clearing.
She impacted the ground on the opposite end of where Valen was, but the shockwave of her arrival still knocked everyone to the ground, including Valen and his captors… And he did not hesitate, he stood up immediately, walked to them, and slammed their heads together, knocking them unconscious. Nikki shrieked behind him, and he saw every poacher cover their ears, but Valen did not, as instead of being a shrill noise for him, it bolstered his morale instead.
Immediately after her scream, Nikki stabbed with her right wing, the tip impaling through one poacher, and she then swiped it in a quarter-circle, bisecting a few poachers, and knocking back those that had sturdy enough armor, and threw away the body of the poacher she impaled.
This cleared a path for Valen, and he bolted towards Nikki, knowing where the safest place for him would be. Most of the poachers seemed to be panicked, clearly they did not expect a full-on Elder to come to Valen’s rescue. A few ranged wielders wildly fired their weapon towards her, but she just blocked the shots with the sturdy scales on her left wing, grouping the fingers together to protect the muscle connecting them.
Valen had finally reached Nikki, and he signed to her.
‘Keep some Alive.’
She nodded in response then rotated her right wing around, directing the exhausts towards a group of poachers that were still trying to get over their shock, then she fired three balls of dragon energy that exploded on impact. Several bodies were thrown in the air, covered in intense burns, and when they fell back down, a few were completely still.
A movement from the corner of his eye caught Valen’s attention, and something bumped on his feet. It was his weapon. The Hunter then realized that Nikki used her tail to slide it back to him, so he picked it back up and nodded in thanks. Not long after, Adem joined him by his side, having left the hiding spot he probably went to after Valen had been captured. The Palico purred and Valen would have petted him to reassure him, but it wasn’t yet the right time.
Then suddenly silence settled on the clearing, the poachers not daring to move an inch, as they knew they were now utterly outmatched by Nikki, and Valen waiting to see their next action. Nikki remained in a poised stance, ready to act at a moment’s notice.
“Surrender now, and I promise your sentence will be more lenient. Because I swear that your operation ends now.”
He saw a few of them hesitating, some looking around for an escape, but one was defiant, and seemed only enraged.
“You… You’re a traitor to the human race! Look at you, cowering behind that Elder, without a care for the world and lording all above us. Is that how you did it then, did you manage to usurp your feats by constantly crying for it every time you faced a foe? Because this only proves your weakness, and that I was right all along!” Tyndrer raved.
“This couldn’t be further from the truth… In all of our time together, she only helped me once until today. I respect her and she respects me in return. You just are too far into your delusions to see the truth, Tyndrer.”
“THEN I WILL PROVE THESE LIES!” Tyndrer shouted, then charged towards Valen with a battlecry.
Valen felt Nikki tense and about to react, but he raised a hand, stopping her from impaling the foolish poacher. She immediately understood his intent, and backed off a couple steps, Adem did so as well, knowing that the Hunter wanted to prove to the rest of the poachers it was foolish to go after him. Valen raised his weapon and held it in a guarded stance.
Tyndrer leaped and attempted to stab the hunter with his sword, but he simply sidestepped it and attempted to bury his axe into his side, much like he did with the first poacher during the fight. The renegade hunter blocked with his shield however, and now that he was close to Valen, believed he had the advantage as he had negated Valen’s reach advantage. But he was proven wrong.
Right after attempting a slash at his neck, Valen ducked the strike then kicked Tyndrer in his ribs, hard. It knocked the poacher back a couple of steps, but he recovered, raising his shield in defense, ready to block Valen’s next attack.
Valen wouldn’t give him the chance. He jumped, activating his armor’s thrusters at the same time, soaring above Tyndrer, who was so surprised by the move that he took a split second to react… And that was all Valen needed.
At the apex of his jump, he made a second, smaller burst from his armor, which spun him into a frontflip, and swung with his Axe at the same time, burying it into Tyndrer’s back. He released his grip on his weapon after, so as to not unbalance himself, then landed on a crouch behind the renegade hunter, who had dropped on his knees.
It was a grisly scene, with Valen’s weapon still stuck in his back, and the Hunter knew that it was a fatal wound. Looking around, he saw that all other poachers hadn’t been foolish enough to attempt to interfere, not with Nikki watching them intensely. Then he focused back on Tyndrer, who had dropped his weapon and was breathing laboriously. The Hunter walked around and crouched down in front of him, because as much as he was a renegade, Valen believed he should still hear his final words. He however first said what he believed he needed to tell Tyndrer.
“I don’t believe we should have mastery over the ecosystem. Live in harmony with it? Yes. But mastery… Who would keep us in check? Who would be able to tell us that we have gone too far? Hunters are already powerful, especially those of us that are Named. But Nikki always reminds me that the balance is crucial. And my belief is that the next step should be to understand how the Elders fit into this, because they have as much a part to play in this as us, with the power they are able to wield. But it seems that all of you poachers have forgotten all of this for your greed.”
“If… It wasn’t for you… How do you think we would have been stopped? We are powerful.”
“I am certain an Elder would have taken notice of your act and acted to correct the imbalance. This is still an unexplored continent, and I am certain there are a lot of monsters that still lay undiscovered.”
Tyndrer looked up at Valen, he seemed to try to form an angry expression, but did not have the strength to do so. Then, like a chain reaction, his body seemed to give up completely.
“May you find the peace in death that you never had in life…” Valen whispered, before Tyndrer succumbed to his injury, falling forwards on the ground.
Valen stared at the lifeless body of his nemesis for a long while, then stood up and turned around, still leaving his weapon buried in the corpse’s back. Facing the surviving Poachers, he put as much authority in his voice as he could muster and shouted a command.
“All of you, throw your weapons away. If you refuse to comply or flee, this will be interpreted as resistance and we will react accordingly.” Suddenly compliant, all of the poachers obeyed his order. They knew they were outmatched, and decided that living to see another day was their goal. Once Valen was sure they were all properly disarmed, he gave his second order. “Now, all group there and sit down with your hands behind your head,” He ordered while pointing at a spot near the center of the clearing.
The poachers complied, and the dozen of them that were alive gathered. There were a couple that were still alive but unconscious, but Valen would take care of them later. Once he was certain they were all settled, Valen walked back to Nikki and sighed. He then signed.
‘Cannot hide you… Need kill all. Need alive. Find nest.’
Nikki understood what Valen meant. Even though Tyndrer gloated that hunters from Astera would come too late to save him, they would come nonetheless. And while Nikki could fly away before they came, there were too many signs of her involvement, and besides, he was certain that the poachers would in no way hide her involvement once they were interrogated.
‘I stay.’ She did not need to say anything else, because it cemented what she would do… She would be here once the Hunters from Astera would arrive.
Looking around, Valen now understood the sheer scale of the fight that had taken place. Several bodies lay around in differing states of wholeness, scorched grass from Nikki’s explosions and crash landing, red-stained grass painted by the blood that had been spilled… He was certain that this scene would haunt his nights to come. And now that the adrenaline had fully worn off, he had the massive realization that he had borne his weapon against another human being… That he had killed using that same weapon. Something that was forbidden by the oath that he had taken as a Hunter so many years ago. He now had the authority to do so with his Knight oath, but it still felt that he had broken a promise. That he had gone too far. And it was with these thoughts swirling through his mind that Valen settled to wait for the arrival of the Hunters from Astera.
