"oh thank the zalts I'm here," two long days of travel, lonely and boring travel. he arrived at the location, the bottom of a small mountain. the tops were white and barely visible from where he was standing. "looks like it's will a challenge to climb," thankful he only needed to climb about five hundred feet for the mission. "maybe I should come back some other time," show a few people just what he could do. the helper commented that he should want to climb the mountain for his enjoyment.
"you're right, but I meant myself mostly." taking on a challenge like that was impressive, he wanted to be able to do it. he wanted to be proud of himself for being able to do it, the sweet satisfaction of showing people they were wrong about what he could do was extra.
he stayed at the mountain base for another flower before deciding to go looking for anyone else, not more than a few miles away found a small camp that held several other hunters. one he knew, she went to the academy, he beat her up once. he remembered her because she almost won and used a whip along with a short blade, it made close combat a bad idea. that all aero knew at that time so he struggled to get close to land a hit, plus unlike everyone else, she wasn't too against giving him a scratch or two.
but her aversion to injuring him proved to be her downfall when aero started tanking the blows instead of dodging. the whip marks burned for days afterward. he didn't learn her name, claiming it would only be worth knowing after she won. her face he couldn't forget, it was a nice face and she made her impression.
"I didn't think I would be seeing you again aero!" she got up a greeted him with a smile, he gave her a blank look. he ignore her and addressed everyone," who going on the mission? whose leading?"
"we're still trying to figure that, so how about you sit down and let us finish talking it through." the girl with six swords said, aero eyed her weapons trying to figure out how she fought with them. were they spare or was it a style that required six blades? "not on the name of the first mother, here what's going to happen." he pointed his staff at each of them, "I'm going to lead this mission after taking each of you down. I will pick the other two based on their abilities."
"you expect users to just roll over?" six swords asked acquiring aero's interest. there wasn't a trace of gentleness in her voice, she would be willing to fight.
"of course not, that's why I plan to knock you into the ground!" he stated this directing his energy towards his eyes to view their pride. oh, they all had high pride, particularly in the fighting ability, but that didn't mean they were as good or better than him it just meant they took pride in it.
"oh okay your pretty cocky for-wow!" she suddenly tilted out of the path of aero's fist.
"don't call me cocky, I don't like that word." pulling his fist back snapping back at a 90-degree angle using his staff to keep his balance. "why not you're cocky!" six swords said pulling back her fist, "now ab-AH!" she didn't get to finish not seeing the kick catching her in the stomach. aero he the weight spin him around pulling his staff up into a ready stance, six swords straightened her self and looked aero in the eye. this fight was happening, "all right then." unsheathing two of her swords, she held them in a reverse grip.
when she attacked aero moved on the defensive, 'zalts she's fast!' but not too fast that he couldn't cope with the speed, blocked one of the blades aero jumped off the ground driving both his hell into her chest, she didn't get to catch her breath this time. aero metal-like staff hit her face first before he swung it around to knock her feet from under her.
"AH!" aero stomped on her wrist with enough force to make her unleash one of her blades, the same moment he pressed the end of his staff against her throat. "surrender?" his answer was an attempt to slash his hells. cursing aero spun out of the way, six swords jumped to her feet and unsheathed another blade. "so it spares," aero mumbled to himself.
'okay, this is the most dangerous guy I've ever met," panting she steeled herself before shooting forward, when she attacked he blocked and dodged with the ease of a lot of practice. but that didn't save him from shock when he noticed she let go of her blade wid a swing to grab another and come from another angle. aero had to drop low to avoid the blade, jumping up to counter the following slash.
'she juggling swords!' he never fought someone juggled sword like this, he's never had to dodge like this before. but no matter how quickly she changed her sword or angle her arms a hand gave him something to watch and avoid the blades, of course, it wasn't easy and he got several scratches from close calls. but don't think she was getting away unscratched, while he used his staff to fend off the blades he used his legs to deal out hits at the same time.
'she's got a high pain tolerance,' unless he caught her off guard she kept going. this would be a lot easier if he used a melody but they had a mission after this and no healer as far as he knew so powerful melodies were a bad idea and all combat melodies were powerful.
'okay, I have to either pin her or her rid of the swords,' deciding to risk he tossed up his staff catching her off guard before lunging. before he choose a weapon he was taught by his guard all about trapping and wrestling, today he brought up those old instincts. wrapping his arms around her waist he threw her to the ground.
"AH!" it rattled her to her bone, before she could shake off the aero dropped his elbow into the gut, putting his full weight behind it. "gAH!" she struggled as he switched to a chokehold, pinning his arms to her side with his legs. "le-AH go!" she struggled and bucked like a dying creature but aero silently held tight until her body went still but he could still feel her pulse. "okay who next," standing up he stretched out and dusted off his clothing.
"well, I think this is the craziest guy I've ever met," rapier said, unseating her thin blade, aero picked up his staff and considered what the material the blade was made out of and if it would cut his staff, should avoid direct hits.
4 flowers later aero was still recovering from the fights, he still couldn't feel his shoulder after popping it back in. "guess that's what I get from trying to divert a hit from war hammer", especially with all the momentum behind it. ' probably would have broken an arm if he tried to block it, but compare experience made a difference. 'hey what have you figure out about healing methods?'
'not much yet by lord but I have found some routes of promise, what are your plans now? who do you plan to take with you?' after showing his skill, power, and crazy the other hunters agreed to let him lead. which was good because he was tired like the dead, he could use a nap.
"we're hunting Betors, the motions are were the nested for the season. but by the weather, I bet you all can tell they'll be leaving the caves soon. when they do that they will be hungry and in large numbers. our job is mostly to divert them from the nearby village kill some and harvest their leather/fur if we have the chance."
"So who's on the mission?"
"everyone! the mission but only three of us can climb up the mountain," aero raises an eyebrow at her many look surprised at that. "did none of you see the second mission related to this?" the respect he recently gained for them was dropping right now. "okay so three of us are going up the mountain, I care less how able you are to climb it and more about your ability to fight the Betors. which I would remind you all are ambush predators. with though leather, strong jaws, and paws."
so with that said he had to choose people caple of voided those claws and jaws allowing the power to pierce the leather/fur. his staff would be good for this, thankful he encountered a creature with weaker but still durable leather and developed a response to this, by that he scored scroll for a certain melody. 'i hope you find a healing method for me soon.' aero thought this as he picked the two who would go up the mountain with him before organizing the rest of them. while he didn't know where all that much was working with others he placed them where he thought the Betors might scatter.
"I hope that I see you all again when this mission is over, he turned to the two other climbers, "well start in the morning unless you would like to climb a mountain in the night."
"you're crazy if you think that's going to happen, the Betors aren't the only things living on the mountain more than a few of them are nocturnal!" aero smiled before telling them they should get ready for bed then, they were leaving early. then he sat up and headed for his cart to have some of the dry gel his mother made for him. there he took a flower before he was able to calm down enough to fall asleep he didn't trust anyone here so he slept holding his weapon.
"not pleasant! ugh!" are spent the night half-waking as the slightest sound always ready to fight someone but most of the time he didn't find anything to attack and fell back asleep right away. but when he woke up didn't feel completely rested ut he still got out of his cart, there was a small stream nearby. he could fill up his water bags before starting to climb a mountain. when he stepped out of his cart he spotted several girls laying guard around his cart. "unneeded!" he grumbled before he stomped away from the camp.
at the river, he filled up his water before washing up a bit before heading back. he found a few of the self-appointed guards had woken but not one of them said anything to him, instead of heading off to the rivers themselves for water. Aero had his first meal as camp started waking up before being some yoga to stretch out and get his blood flowing. he was gonna be active all day it would be killer to get a cramp, 'i'm happy with how my flexibility has been increasing over time!'
he was long down with his yoga when everyone was up and ready, he made sure everyone knew their places before he grabs the two other climbers and headed for the mountain. "so how do you think we should do this?" rapier asks when the ground starts elevating. six swords had a similar question, "did you bring any climbing gear?"
he turns back to her, "where would I be holding that gear?" she only shrugged her shoulders and aero shook his head, " we don't even need climbing gear this mountain isn't steep enough for climbing gear. the cave the creature is an isn't even that high on the mounting!" he said that but the sun was setting before they were halfway to the cave. "wow just wow!" rapier panted as he crawled to the ground, aero only rolled his eyes before scooting over to the smaller waterfall. it was the reason he decided this was where they were stopping for the night.
"you need to work on your stamina pretty girl," six swords said in no worse shape than aero. said pretty girl, made a crude gesture to her before rolling onto her back and trying to calm down. "we should have to worry about attacks tonight," the spot they were on was a small cliff the second reason aero chose it," but that doesn't mean he shouldn't put up watcher, I bet you know how stubborn creatures can be when they want to kill?!" both females shivered remembering the stubbornness of creatures they've fought.
they set up for the night take shifts of who kept watch, but nothing came at them, "he doesn't trust us one bit does he?" rapier asked six swords as the changed shift spotting aero pressed up the mountainside with his staff at the ready to take something or someones head off. they've taken some heavy blows from the weapon yesterday. he had a lot more power than his frame suggested something you didn't realize until he was breaking your bones or making big bruises.
In the morning they started climbing again today was harder as the path was getting steeper but they were still making good time, "it's colder than I expected." his breath was starting to fog a bit, they hadn't gotten that high yet, only maybe a few hundred feet in the air. but they were starting to see old tracks of their prey, the tracks got denser by the time they stopped for the night. "okay so were getting close to the nest I think, be on the lookout for large caves!" they nodded and stared at it the next day, going a bit slower so the didn't get sick by the air thinking on them.
"oh, this is bigger than he could have expected!" after mid-day the found the tracks started splitting up which lead to the discovery that the Betors were inhabiting several caves. like 20 caves of different sizes were in use, but a baby Betor was about two feet fresh hatched. a pair of Betors could lay about 10 eggs in good health, about three at least fit in one of the caves. "my the zalts bless up!"
"We need more than a blessing," six swords whispered to rapier looking in one of the larger caves aero shushed them both before going back to planning. they needed a better one than what he came up with before.