Catry woke up to a painful throbbing in his head. It felt like a Diablos had been dancing on it. That Smoky Gobul - he laughably remembered Phisto's lecturing voice as his friend rambled on about the monster, but all Catry could recall was its name - had somehow knocked him out during the battle. And judging from the softness of the ground beneath him, he wasn't laying on volcanic rock.
He groaned and forced his eyelids apart, the noise startling the other two inhabitants of the room and making his consciousness known. The next thing Catry knew, his two friends were firmly pushing him back onto the bed. "You need rest," Phisto said. "The Chief said you came back in a pretty bad state."
Catry grunted and managed to rally the strength to push Phisto off of him. "Bad state or not, there's hunting to be done," he mumbled. "Get my Lacerator Blade and I'll teach that Gobul a thing or two..."
Now Morgana's voice was in his ear, soft and soothing. "Please, Catry. You'd be dead if it weren't for the Argosy Captain, who happened to be sailing by the Volcano when you encountered the monster. Just forget the hunt for now. From what we heard, you've done your job. There's no more Great Wroggi causing trouble, so you can relax for now."
Phisto pulled a blanket over him, which felt slightly cold on his bare arms and legs. Catry suddenly noticed the pieces of his Duramboros armor sitting on the shelf across the room. The Docks boy gently continued for Morgana, "Even the greatest hunters need sleep once in a while. You've been through a lot, and the sedative the Smoky Gobul gave you has exhausted you. I told you to pack Energy Drinks, you know."
The mock-annoyed tone of his friend made Catry sputter out a laugh. "Fine," he agreed. "As long as you're sure there's no hunting to be done, I'll rest." Phisto nodded and replied, "Perfectly sure."
Catry fell into an exhausted sleep before he could notice Phisto's crossed fingers.
Outside the hut in which their friend slept, Phisto turned to Morgana with an uncomfortable look in his eyes. "I don't like lying," he murmured. "But Catry would never have agreed to slack off if he knew there was even a chance of getting a new hunting request."
Morgana nodded. "Lying is sometimes necessary," she agreed, then asked, "Do you think the rumors are true? I mean, what the Argosy Captain said?" After considering her question, Phisto sighed and shrugged. He replied, "I don't know, but I certainly hope not. Underwater hunting has never been my strong point."
All of a sudden, the Chieftain of Moga Village appeared between them. His sudden presence made both hunters jump slightly in fright. When they calmed down and got a good look at him, they noticed that his expression was grim. "I'm afraid the Argosy Captain's right," he said bitterly. "My ol' nemesis is back. He's headin' straight fer Moga Woods."
Phisto gulped. It seemed that the captain of the trade ship known across the Moga region as the Argosy had been telling the truth. Apparently, he had seen a huge white sea monster swiftly swimming toward Moga Island as if it had some destination in mind. And if the Chief's guess was accurate, then it did have a destination in mind.
"Let me guess," Morgana said shrewdly. "You want us to drive it away from Moga Island." At this, the Chief nodded wordlessly.
"I don't think it will be that bad," Phisto hesitantly spoke up. "I mean, this monster, Leviathas azorium albus, is supposed to be predominantly a land predator, so at least we won't have to worry about underwater hunting." Hunters had long been reluctant to chase undersea monsters into their murky lairs, but it was necessary since a lot of the monsters in Moga were partially aquatic. And Phisto was one of the more water-adverse people out there.
The Chief spoke up thoughtfully. "Ya know, the Argosy Captain said somethin' to me that makes me think that this hunt might ain't be a whole lotta trouble," he mused. "He reported that the monster seemed ta have fresh injuries. He said that he thought he was runnin' away from somethin' worse than him, somethin' that had driven him ta seek out Moga Island fer sanctuary. 'Course, he's probably figurin' he'll kill two Qurupecoes with one Switch Axe and seek revenge on the village. Nemesises are always lookin' fer an excuse ta do that."
Phisto nodded. He had heard tales of a Gobul that had haunted his father for years before it was finally slain. Maybe the Chief's worst enemy was similar to that particular Leviathan. But Phisto couldn't help but wonder what the Chief meant by fresh injuries.
"If what the Argosy Captain says is true, then what could have possibly" - Phisto started to ask, but Morgana interrupted him. "It doesn't matter right now," she said. "All that matters is that it'll be easy to hunt in its weakened state." Phisto gave her a weird look. Why did she so hastily interject like that? he wondered, but brushed the question away.
"Well, I guess there's no sense putting it off until later," Phisto said with a sigh. "Let's stock up on items and head out to Moga Woods to meet this monster. It's time to slay an Ivory Lagiacrus."
That afternoon found Phisto and Morgana pacing on the rocky coast of Moga Woods, which opened up into a saltwater bay that was joined directly to the vast ocean beyond. Epioth swam peacefully at the surface, with one or two occasionally diving down to feed on the sea grasses that grew below the choppy waves. But so far, there was no sign of the Ivory Lagiacrus.
Phisto sharpened one of his blades, Bloodwing in this case, for the tenth time. He was impatient to get this over with. At some point during his banishment from Loc Lac City, Phisto seemed to have changed - hunting became less fun for him, just another dirty task to get done in the name of humanity's survival. Whenever he came face-to-face with a monster, he couldn't help but remember the Dire Miralis, the legendary Elder Dragon that had said that his father wasn't a hunter as he had long believed. If my father wasn't a hunter, than what was he? Phisto wondered. And what am I, for that matter?
Morgana seemed to sense his impatience. "Don't worry," she soothed. "This hunt won't take long. Then we'll be able to relax for the rest of the day." She knew that her friend no longer saw the joy in hunting, and what's more, she could understand why.
They both sat down on a large boulder. Phisto waved his Dual Blades in the air, toying with the way the sunlight reflected off of their gleaming edges. He looked up to see Morgana smiling idly at him - and for some reason, he felt the need to glance away, determinedly focusing more heavily on his blades.
But suddenly, the steady crash of the waves against the coast suddenly became unsteady, as if something was disturbing the water's constant currents. The two friends looked up just in time to see a flash of white slide slowly beneath the waves, and two rows of glowing blue spines slice across the surface. A faint red haze clouded the water behind it.
The mighty Ivory Lagiacrus
They immediately knew what the creature was, and they readied their weapons for battle. The Ivory Lagiacrus suddenly erupted from the surf with a roar, but Phisto knew that there was something off about the sound. The roar sounded strained, as if the Leviathan was in pain. And he could see that it was - its back and chest were heavily scarred, and the cuts still bled. A horn from its head had been snapped completely off.
Phisto took one look at the injured creature and immediately felt a strange emotion tear through his heart. He had felt the exact same thing earlier in the day, as he stood over Catry's bed and waited for the boy to wake up. It was pity. Why am I feeling this for a monster? he wondered, almost taken aback.
The Ivory Lagiacrus limped further inland, not even noticing the two hunters perched on their rock with weapons in hand. Its cuts wept tears of blood that poured down its chest and flanks and were carried away by the tides. Morgana gave Phisto a sidelong glance, and slowly nodded. Phisto pushed away his feelings of pity, nodded back, and leapt off of the rock to attack.
MORE COMING SOON