The Hunt Begins
“A little less than an hour and we’ll dock at the island. We all set to have some fun?” Melia flicks a couple of her nine fluffy, purple, fox tails as she turns around to face a table where a few of her companions are sitting. However, most of them barely seem to be awake.
“Yeah, yeah.” Omar groans as he yawns and leans back against the wall. “I even got a few more seals prepared in case there’s anything worth taming.”
“No thanks to me, as usual.” Josephine chimes in without raising her head while resting on the table. “I swear, even after taking on a different form, leviathans are always so ungrateful. Don’t forget you owe me for making those seals for you.”
“As long as they work like ya said they would, ya hag” Omar ignores Josephine’s growl as he tilts his head towards Melia. “We’re dealing with some dragons, right?”
“Yep. The info we have for this little hunting quest is surprisingly detailed.” Melia holds out an open hand towards the angelic boy next to her. “Nez, the summary please.”
Nezaka opens his bag and shuffles through it. Meanwhile, Melia sits down next to him at the table, curls one of her soft tails around him, and gently runs a finger along one of Nezaka’s crimson wings. A moment later, he pulls a rolled up paper out of his bag and hands it to Melia with a smile.
“Thanks.” Melia gives Nezaka a pat on his head and a light tap on his spiky, red halo before unscrolling the paper. “Let’s see. There was the island with a variety of demi-beasts like demi-rabbits and rabbitfolk, a tribe or two of wolfkin, a large flock of harpies, possibly some lycanthropes of unknown races, and a few rats that could either be demi-rats or ratfolk. Seras and her team will deal with those fairly easily. The other island has large numbers of forest ogres and goblins, a few hags, and apparently a small band of titan nomads. Evata’s group should have fun with those.”
“Ya save some fun for the rest of us?” Omar scratches one of his horns before leaning forward and resting his arms on his knees.
“You and Josephine will head along the right side of this next island to deal with the dragons nesting there and on the opposite end of the island. You’ll be meeting up with Arconia and her team before coming back to the ship.” Melia looks at the dark elf who has her giant, centipede, lower body curled up under herself while she tends to her rusted greatsword, Nechrona. Once Arconia’s attention is confirmed with a glance and a nod, she continues. “You’ll be taking a few of our cave ogres with you to assist with eliminating a dryad and some treants that’ve settled into the left side of the island.”
“Just some weeding, huh? Sure, the dryad could be fun to fight. And you? Hunting that rumored Queen of Monsters, right?” Arconia shrugs as she turns her attention back to her sword even though it’s impossible to polish or sharpen Nechrona.
“Hunt? Yes. Kill? Well, that’ll be up to her.” Melia’s lips spread into a wide grin. “Sure, I’m gonna test this Queen of Monster with a little fight, but I’d love to add another strong creature to my ranks.”
“Seriously?” Arconia lets out a sigh and droops her head.
“Hey, I need to catch up to the Eight Broken Miseries since I’m supposed to be like their god. They’ve had a few thousand years to gather strong champions. Well, the new Misery of Hunger has only had about twenty years, but he apparently has a bunch already.”
“Attention! We have arrived at our destination.” A rough voice cracks through a magic speaker.
“Alight. Everyone has their orders, so let’s have some fun.” Melia pauses while everyone else leaves the ship. Her fox ears flick from side to side and she looks around. “Hey, Nez. Where’s your sister?”
“Huh?” Nezaka glances around the room for a second. “Weird, she was here a moment ago. Hey, Niok-”
“I’m right here, so shut up.” Niokrin gives Nezaka’s halo a flick as she walks by while shoving a chocolate bar into her mouth. “Had to grab some snacks and a puzzle box. Don’t wanna be bored like last time.”
“Fine.” Melia sighs and flicks one of Niokrin’s five horns as payback for Nezaka. “I can’t have my little demon going on a rampage, now can I?
Niokrin waves a hand as she runs ahead off the ship and she’s followed by Melia with Nezaka a few steps behind her. Melia calls out to a few cave ogres that are securing the ship onto the island to let them know she’ll be back in about two or three days. She’s about to head off into the forest when she notices Nezaka is frozen in place just a couple feet from the ship’s ramp.
“Nez? You good?” Melia leans over to look into Nezaka’s nervous eyes. “You sense something, don’t you? Think it’s the Queen?
“Y-Yeah.” Nezaka looks up at Melia with a somewhat nervous smile. “There’s a divine presence other than you.”
“So the Queen’s actually a goddess.” Melia stands straight and looks out towards the forest with a large smile on her face. “Well then, I’m even more eager to recruit her.”
Melia secures her scythe, Enslavion, on her back before leading her two oracles, Nezaka and Niokrin, into the forest to find their target. Many hours pass until the sky begins to dim and the group decides to rest for the night. After sharing a few rations, Nezaka is the first to lay down on the ground to try to get some sleep. Meanwhile, Melia rests her back against a tree and begins dozing off while watching Niokrin hop up into a different tree and start fiddling with her puzzle box. She closes her eyes for what seems like only a moment, but when she suddenly wakes up, she notices that the moons are in different positions than they were before. Her ears flick to listen for something as she stands up and grabs Enslavion.
“Psst! Nez, whatcha got?” Melia looks towards the darkened sky as she whispers to Nezaka who’s already standing at attention.
“I’m sensing three flying creatures. I can’t tell what they are, but they’re definitely hostile.” Nezaka spreads his crimson wings and strings of blood slowly emerge from the feathers as he prepares for a fight.
“Leech drakes!” Niokrin slams into the ground, followed shortly by a ten foot long, pale, fleshy, bat-like drake with a lamprey-like head and bulbous, solid black eyes. One of its wings has already been severed and there’s another slice that nearly cuts through its torso. It’s still writhing around in agony until its head is suddenly severed when Niokrin clicks her sword hilt into its sheath. “Damn thing hit me with its tail midair and made me land on my puzzle box a moment ago. Ryn-Myn just made that for me too and now it’s broken.”
“Eh, she’ll make another one.” Melia pats Niokrin on the head before turning her attention back to the sky. “Nez, the other two?”
“Still circling above us. Want me to get them?” The strings of blood coming out of Nezaka’s wings aim at the sky as if ready to shoot forth and attack the remaining two leech drakes.
“Nah, you sit back and relax. Yell if you sense anything else coming.” Melia grips Enslavion with both hands and grins as one of her tails briefly glows. In that moment, two demon wings erupt from her back along with two, dark red, curled goat horns emerging on the sides of her head and some thick maroon fur appearing along her forearms. “I’ll take care of these pests.”
With one flap of her newly emerged wings, Melia darts straight into the sky above and instantly uppercuts one of the leech drakes’ wings with Enslavion’s blade. That drake quickly falls to the ground and Melia turns her attention to the other that’s now speeding up as it flies around her before suddenly zooming in to strike at her back. Just before it hits her, she maneuvers out of the way with one flap of her wings and leaves behind a flaming decoy of herself that lasts only a moment before exploding right when the leech drake hits it. Melia watches the charred creature fall to the ground before she follows it and lands next to its burning corpse. Nezaka is already waiting nearby with his wings now relaxed as he watches Melia land and revert back to her regular kitsune form.
“Hm?” Melia looks around curiously. “Where’s Rin?”
“Over here.” Niokrin steps out from behind some bushes and sits down next to the bonfire that was once a leech drake. “I went to finish off that drake you cut down, but it was already dead by the time I got there. Enslavion’s fleshroot works fast on those things apparently.”
“I’ll take the praise, but I think their natural regeneration speed helped quicken the growth.” Enslavion’s cheerful voice speaks out while she remains in her scythe form.
“Alrighty then, was that everything?” Melia looks back at Nezaka and watches as he closes his eyes for a moment.
“Yes.” Nezaka opens his eyes and sits down on the ground. “There’s nothing else nearby and I think I located where exactly the Queen of Monsters is. We’ll easily reach her tomorrow.”
“Perfect.” Melia sits down next to Nezaka and curls a few of her tails around him. “In that case, let’s try to get some uninterrupted sleep this time. It’ll be morning soon, so that shouldn’t be too much to ask for, right?”
“Yeah, I just hope this so-called queen isn’t boring.” Niokrin takes a seat on the other side of Melia who curls a few of her tails around her little demon as well.
“Who knows, she could turn out like Seras. Enough chit-chat though.” Melia pats both of her oracles’ heads. “Try to get some sleep and I’ll wake you up in the morning.”
