The next time he met Nikki, Valen explained to her that she wasn’t an enemy, and he tentatively called her an ally, but he thought that it was a complicated situation to explain to her. She still got the gist of it though and soon Aki came to meet them on a couple of occasions. The first time Nikki stared her down until Aki chuckled and she joked that a staring contest was a better alternative to a fight to the death or to escape, which were what usually happened when you met an Elder.

  Once she witnessed the sign language the two of them developed to communicate she seemed intrigued and wanted to learn it. However, because she did not have a lot of free time, she could only learn the most important words.

  Still, her greatest surprise was when she witnessed the first sparring match the two of them got into, and she was visibly impressed by the skills and agility Valen displayed against Nikki, knowing how to position himself, and simply dodging the majority of Nikki’s attacks.

  She did gasp when he took a big hit from a claw swipe he misjudged but was amazed when he simply got back up without any issues. And she seemed to be genuinely amazed by the fact that it is a regular occurrence for him. She was curious about how this happened and when he revealed it was thanks to Nikki, Aki got a pensive look on her face, then simply said that it was new stuff for her.

  Apart from this revelation, nothing more happened with Aki before she had to leave to continue her tour. She did say that she would come back more often than she did here. Because Valen was “Interesting enough to be worth it.” It was then with good spirits that Aki picked up her backpack and went back on the road. It was also there that he discovered that she was trained to use a weapon and had an Insect Glaive that she carried while on the road, along with the obligatory Kinsect. He had never seen it before because in Aki’s words. It was a “lazy ass” and slept all day in her room. But she wouldn’t raise another one as it rose to the occasion when needed.

  The next year, nothing much happened… until one day Nikki broke one of her front claws while the two of them were training by accidentally striking a rock. Valen got worried for a bit before Nikki reassured him it would regrow. She did encourage him to take it and use it for whatever he wanted to.

  Which happened once Aki came back and was overjoyed when he showed her the broken claw. She immediately lit her forge and told him they would have to pull an all-nighter, and she didn’t care if he had things to do the following day, though luck.

  Thus they spent all night in the forge, the smith retrieving chunks of rare ore that she kept on herself for occasions like that, which surprised Valen that she would use something as rare and tough as Carbalite ore.

  Valen was tasked to help sharpen the claw so that it had a uniform edge, while Aki did the task of melting down the ore and shaping the handle of what she told him was a new carving knife. “You’ll need it if you manage to take on Elders.”

  Once she had the handle done, she inspected Valen’s work, said it was perfect for what she needed to do, and proceeded to finish trimming it down, using a huge grate for the work, then polished it, before fitting it all with the handle she forged, until she added a few bits for practicality or aesthetics like a red leather handle or a trinket.

  Dawn was starting to come over the horizon when she proudly declared their work as finished, and presented it to Valen, which truly surprised him, the craftsmanship of the knife was leagues above his armor. It truly showed the skill Aki possessed that she was able to craft something as complicated in a single night. He thanked her and, noticing they still had a bit of night left before the morning started, both went to grab some sleep.

  When Valen showed the knife to Nikki the following day, she seemed happy with the result, though for Valen it also felt like he was carrying a piece of her with him wherever he went. She didn’t ask him to train with it though, continuing to use the Axe as usual. Valen redoubled intensity this day, making Nikki work to tag him.

  Half a dozen years passed in the blink of an eye for Valen, having received no further orders from the guild to change assignments or emergencies. He spotted only a few large monsters that ventured deep into the forest before giving up on cutting a way through. The only worry he got was when a persistent Nargacuga came alarmingly close to the village, he was sure it was a young one, by the colors of its scales that didn’t quite look black, and its bladed wings looked too sharp. But after a short fight with Valen, it decided it wasn’t worth it and turned tail. Valen did not pursue, his standing orders simply to repel possible threats if possible.

  Valen and Nikki continued their secret meetings, joined by Aki when she was in the village. Valen also was winning a sizable amount of their spars now, even though Nikki was pushing herself to be quite fast. But he knew all her tells now, and his smaller size meant that it for harder for her to predict him. She didn’t seem upset, but he was still blindsided occasionally when she pulled out attacks that she never demonstrated before.

  But every time, he adapted. He learned and fighting her was now second nature. Though he was kind of worried about when he would have to fight another monster, he was worried that he was too used to fighting Nikki and would struggle to adapt. The small fight he had with the Nargacuga helped alleviate those doubts though.

  However, all of this was in the past, and in the present, Valen was worried. Nikki hadn’t shown herself for a couple of weeks now, and her absence was starting to greatly worry him. He feared the worst but internally knew that if she was to face hunters, she would simply fly away, knowing that some of their members were dangerous enough, even for her.

  Today was supposed to be one of the days they were meeting, but even though Valen was waiting for an hour, she was still not showing up. He would wait until their usual time they separated though, as he did since she started not showing up.

  Another half an hour and Valen started to think it would be yet another day of no show, and was starting to pack up his belongings… When a faint noise made him perk up. After a bit it grew louder and he knew that it was her coming here, at last.

  However, when he looked up, something felt off. Instead of Nikki skimming the treetops to avoid detection, she was coming down directly from the skies. Valen was instantly on edge, Nikki taking such a big risk meant something was wrong.

  When she finally landed and cut off her flying, he could see she was… Off. Her scales were not shiny as they usually were, she was heavily breathing while normally she was fine after flying and some of her scales on her back were flat out and heavily scratched.

  It took her a bit for her breathing to calm down, but once she recovered a bit, she looked at Valen, and after staring at him for a bit. She started signing.

  She pointed at him, the simple sign that meant. “You.”

  But the second sign… She approached her claw from her throat, then mimicked slashing it. This sent chills down his spine. Nikki had demonstrated the meaning of this sign years ago, brutally. But they never used it until now. Because it meant “Kill”. They usually used “slay” when talking about hunts. Her using it meant something must be dire.

  Valen was still stunned by her use of the kill sign that he almost missed the last one, which was “him”.

  “You kill him”. She wanted him to hunt a monster, maybe even another elder. But… He was scared to ask why. But he did still.

  “You need. Prove yourself. Become stronger.”

  This was cryptic from her, but he guessed that she thought he was ready to face that monster… Or an emergency happened or something else prevented her from taking care of it. But she also trusted him to emerge victorious.

  So Valen simply nodded and signed. “I will.”

  However, Nikki surprised him by immediately leaning and touching his breastplate with the tip of her nose, in what he recognized as her way of powering up his armor. Then she looked at his weapon, and without prompting, Valen unsheathed it and held it out for her. She delicately took it in her beak then did the same thing… Literally the same as he was surprised once he took it back. He could feel that instead of making it weaker, Nikki made his weapon stronger. He looked back up in surprise, waiting for an explanation.

  Then Nikki made him jump backward by immediately turning around and taking off, which reinforced the idea that something was wrong. He expected her to explain her state and actions but the fact she just came to him to ask for this task and then immediately left again, meant that she was busy doing something important.

  Knowing for sure that she would not come back, he simply finished packing up his belongings and returned to the town.

  The chief noted his worried state when doing his report, however, what he just said did not alleviate his worries.

  “You as well? We have several members in the village, mostly the Wyverians that are on edge. Like they are expecting something. Knowing how in tune with nature they are, and with you being a hunter, this something big is coming… I would expect a guild report any day now.”

  Valen frowned, the fact that others were on edge meant something was wrong, and maybe Nikki was dealing with it. He shook his head, he was tired due to being stressed out by Nikki’s absence, but he also knew that sleep would be hard to come tonight, as it had been for several days.

  “I’ll start packing up my belongings, in case the guild recalls me.”

  “Do so, I would have asked you that as well.”

  After being dismissed, Valen returned to his accommodations and started packing up everything that he possessed and that he had brought. He checked and double-checked his bag, armor, and weapons so that they were ready to be used in an emergency.

  A few hours later he was satisfied and knew he was ready to leave in a hurry. So he just went to bed, sleeping hard to come with thoughts and worries whirling around in his head.

  The following morning, the chief requested his presence, so Valen obliged, going to his house. There he was invited to take a seat. So Valen made himself comfortable. But a long pause passed between the two before the chief sighed and said:

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “I have received a message during the night, sent by a Hawk. It says that you are immediately recalled.”

  Valen nodded, it was what he expected as well. “Where do I need to go.”

  “To the treetops.” Valen recoiled in surprise. “A Guild airship is coming, one of the big ones. They’re collecting hunters and it will be the base of operations for the coming mission. And that is all of the details I have. I only know that the airship will be there by midday so you should be already up there by then.” Valen glanced outside, the sun was barely visible through the tree covers, but he still had a couple of hours before its zenith so he nodded.

  “I will be there. My pack is ready, so I just need to leave.”

  The chief scratched his chin and closed his eyes in thought before standing up and firming his stance. “Hunter Valen.” Valen automatically stood up in attention as well. “This might be the goodbye for us, but as far as my authority reaches, you have paid the debt you have towards the guild. I will write a letter saying that I have no opposition against you being cleared for hunting again. And I hope the coming crisis will not be your undoing, as it might be a big one.”

  “I hope as well. Thank you for your hospitality.”

  “Now go, and may the Sapphire Star guide you.”

  “May it guide you as well.”

  Valen then went to grab his bag and decided he would just wait at the top of the canopy. He only took the time to send a letter to Aki informing her of the change of posting, and that he would update her once he knew where he would go.

  It was then a fully geared-up Valen that was waiting at the top of a tree, on a concealed platform that the village’s sentries used to look out for sky threats. It was also occasionally used as a fortune docking point for airships, but that was rarely used. Valen was glad that his helmet blocked out the sun from blinding his eyes. And it was indeed soon that he was able to spot in the horizon a large airship coming towards the village, descending from high altitudes.

  This airship was massive indeed, the guild using them as mobile bases of operations, and armed out with ballistae and even a Dragonator, a massive steam-powered Drill that was enough to ward off even elders. It didn’t mean this airship was the biggest threat to the skies, far from that, the guild occasionally lost them to elder dragons or even some apex wyverns. However two threats stood out the most, the first being Valstrax, due to their ridiculous speed that nothing could match. One was taking out airship regularly and the elite team stationed on the famous Soaratorium was the one to take it down, managing to exhaust it during the few landings it made, and finishing it at the top of the Ruined Pinnacle, a massive lone peak that was brimming with dragon energy.

  The second threat was Amatsu, their great control of storms able to simply tear an airship apart with tornadoes. Thankfully most of them were passive and only defended their territories. One had been hunted in the recent decades though, being slain at the top of the Misty Peak, due to it maintaining a storm that was destabilizing the ecosystem.

  Over the next hour, the airship descended progressively towards the forest, and when he was certain they could spot him with binoculars, he pulled out his flare gun and fired the red flare loaded in it to signal his position.

  Another red flare was sent in response and the airship corrected its course to head directly towards him.

  It deployed a rope when approaching him, that was skimming the treetops, and the airship slowed down until it stopped right above him. Valen grabbed the rope dangling above him and firmed his grip around the knots. Soon enough they started pulling him up through the pulley used to lower the rope.

  Once he was level with the deck, somebody offered him a hand and Valen clasped it and jumped the small gap separating him from it. He landed smoothly and somebody said. “Good. You are the last one we need to collect. The big shots that called the operations are waiting for you to start the meeting below.”

  Valen nodded and followed the guild officer towards the lower deck, until he opened a door that led to a big room where a dozen hunters were waiting, though he noted that most of them had armor from rather weak monsters, the biggest he got was a guy wearing a Rathian armor. He then removed his helmet, seeing as everybody in the room did, which got him some stares and double-takes as they saw the burned half of his face.

  Then he looked at the scene, which had a full team of hunters wearing high-quality armor, he recognized one wearing Lagiacrus armor, and another with a Rathalos full set, but couldn’t recognize what the last two were wearing.

  This team of hunters was standing to the side, while a guild commander was in the middle of the scene. He nodded at Valen’s arrival, who had found a spot to watch and listen to. “Good, we now have everybody there. You may be wondering why so many hunters have been gathered, and the answer is simple: we have a rampaging elder on the loose.”

  Valen frowned, rampaging elders were rare, as they mostly stayed by themselves, and the guild mostly lived by the rule that if they weren’t causing problems they left them alone. But he also knew that the team standing near the commander would be enough to deal with it.

  Somebody else had the same thought. “Wouldn’t this team be enough to deal with it then? Why so many of us are needed?”

  “That is because of the nature of the Elder. It is a Valstrax.”

  This sent chills down Valen’s spine. He immediately thought about it being Nikki who was the one rampaging. His mind jumped to the worst conclusions immediately, of the thought of Nikki having used him in the end and only waiting so long to enact her plan, before realizing that something did not make sense. If that was her end goal, why did she train him? Or at least dispose of him before starting rampaging. She could probably do it, though he believed he still had a chance of winning, if she didn’t nullify his weapon and he targeted the weak spots, along with a bit of luck. He shook his head, something else was at play.

  “This Valstrax has razed one village, with only a few survivors. It didn’t have to spend a lot of effort even, most of the town died in the initial strike. So that’s why the guild has called for all of you. You aren’t the ones supposed to finish it, but at least to ground it or keep it on the ground long enough for our team next to me.” He nodded to the full team. “To come and finish the job.”

  “Are you serious? Forget regular elders, none of us are equipped enough to deal with, let alone survive a Valstrax!”

  Valen would have thought the same… Before all of his training with Nikki. And he knew that she learned just as much as he did. If he put his chances against another? He wouldn’t say he was guaranteed the victor, but he knew he had his chances if he pulled out all the stops.

  “The guild will give a huge monetary reward for the hunter that will be able to restrain the Valstrax long enough for the team to take it down, as well as full rights of the body among all members that manage to get in a fight against it.”

  Valen’s eyes widened in surprise. Usually, it was the one that dealt the killing blow, or the team decided a member needed it more. But it also meant nobody would have enough for a full set, one of the light weapons probably. Unless the elite team was the one that took it down and one member of theirs took it all…

  “Jumping Jaggis, that’s unprecedented!” One hunter exclaimed.

  “That is not all… Along with the body rights… There would be also an automatic promotion to G-Rank. Know that this is a crisis, and a big one, we need this Valstrax dealt with as soon as possible, and you’re all we could gather. We consider you managing to distract it long enough being above and beyond your current skill level, and thus it should be an appropriate reward.”

  Valen’s eyes narrowed a bit at this, the body rights were already exceptional, but the automatic promotion? That sounded like the guild was desperate for something. He decided to watch his back for the next few days.

  “That sounds great and all, and don’t get me wrong, I do not mind, but how do you think we stand even a chance to catch the Valstrax landing?”

  “Because it is having an opponent.” He pulled out a picture showing two red trails in the sky that looked like they would go on a collision course. “Another Valstrax, this one’s origin unknown but it is confirmed it hasn’t attacked any settlements, has been fighting with our target in the skies. The fights happen frequently, and often one of them has to land to safety to recover. We hope our target has to land near one of you so that you can do your duty. The airship will be ready to take off once a flare is sent, but we expect you need to keep it ground-bound bound at least half an hour for the team to arrive.”

  Valen heart’s soared at this. Did that mean the other Valstrax was… Nikki? It seemed logical, it would explain her absence if she was the one trying to down the rogue Valstrax and had been for several days.

  Another thought jumped to his mind… If she’s keeping it in the relatively same area, that also probably meant she knew the guild intended to try finishing it. Did she intend for him to finish the job? It… Would make sense, as she probably knew that he alone, stood the most chance to emerge the victor among all of them.

  He was now certain the rogue Valstrax was who she asked him to kill. He wasn’t sure why but… It probably meant she knew something wrong with it, and that they had no other choice lest a disaster occur. He firmed his stance, he would do his best to fulfill Nikki’s request.

  “We are currently climbing as fast as we can so we can be high enough to start the operation. We’ll drop you from high up, and all of you have received the required training with hand gliders right?” Valen nodded, it was a required skill in case of aerial insertion like this. “Then we’ll drop you from above and you’ll reach your designated area and be ready to fight if you’re the lucky one.”

  “How will we know that we will fight the right one? Because it looks like if we kill our benefactor we have no way to catch our target?”

  “Our target has been reported to display unusual properties such as dragon element permanently leaking from its wings and chest, contrary to a regular Valstrax, so confirm that property before engaging.”

  This specific detail told Valen more than anything that this Valstrax had something wrong, as he had never seen Nikki leaking dragon energy in that manner.

  “Any more questions?” None ensued. “Then drop your packs in the rooms and join us back up. It is going to be a rough day. Dismissed.”

  Valen nodded and he was led out of the room by the same officer that brought him in, followed by some of the hunters, but also, to his surprise, the elite team.

  He dropped his bag on one of the beds in the corner, making sure his carving knife was stashed in it, but then he was interrupted by a grunt.

  “So you are the only one High Rank among this rabble? Hmmm, Plesioth, at least you ain’t a wimp that hunted something like a Barroth. Plesioth is a menace.”

  Valen looked behind him, and it was the Lagiacrus-clad hunter that just said that. Valen narrowed his eyes and retorted. “Yeah, was a tricky hunt, almost didn’t make it out, but that’s what doing such a hunt with Iron gear gets you.”

  “Eh, I’ll believe it once Poogies flies! Still, we have something important to discuss with you.”

  It was there that Valen noticed that one of the hunters had closed the door and was standing in front of him. He narrowed his eyes and said. “So, what do you want? You are not doing this idle chatting just for the sake of it.”

  Another voice sprang up, one of those that was wearing armor that Valen wasn’t sure what it was. It was mostly covered in blue plates, with some green here and there, but he was sure that it was a Gunlance strapped to his back. “In the event, you are the one to fight the Valstrax. We need… No, we require that you give up your share of the body.”

  Alarm bells rang in Valen’s mind. “And why would you do that, what reason is there for it?”

  “Because I have been waiting for so long for an armor made from an elder! And can you imagine what a Gunlance made of a Valstrax would be? Nothing could top it!” The hunter said with a slightly manic voice.

  “So simply due to you feeling like you deserve it.”

  “That is because I do!” He retorted, his tone now more menacing. “So, do we have a deal?”

  Valen knew it was a bad idea to argue with them or to deny their request, they probably couldn’t harm him here but they could sabotage his gear. So he decided to go with the flow. “I’ll do what I need to once the time comes.” He said while nodding.

  “Good! I guess we have an agreement! And once we got that threat taken down, maybe we’ll hunt that second one too! Two of us wearing Valstrax armor… Now that’s a dream!”

  This almost made Valen lose his control and explode at the hunter. But he simply took a deep breath and thought about the situation. Something about the way the mission worked struck him. If he was able to slay that Valstrax solo… That also meant he would have the sole rights to the body. He looked at the hunters who were now laughing and making crass jokes, and resolved he would do his best to do so.

  Because he knew that they would just make a mockery of it all.