Monster Hunter: Stars of Hope

Chapter Twelve: Breaking Point

It was her first time fully back in the Amber Weald since her nearly fatal encounter with the Hopesbane Rathalos, and Nia could not help but feel anxious about this place now. Sure, the Weald was certainly a beautiful place, even a relaxing one to most people, but what she had experienced in these woods set her apart in a way that she certainly did not appreciate. Almost every clearing felt like the one where she had discovered that slain Hypnocatrice, brutalized by the Hopesbane. Every glimpse of one of the sparse roads that crossed through this place served as a reminder of when that Rathalos had nearly killed her. The worst part, ironically, was how peaceful the forest was; Nia had worked out that there was seemingly nothing whatsoever to indicate when or where that glowing terror would strike, save that it always seemed to appear not long after times of relative calm.

That horrible wyvern was an expert at ruining a good moment, that was for sure; ruined a perfectly good forest for her, too.

"More feathers. It has to be close", Nia spoke out, careful not to raise her voice too much, before continuing, "If we're lucky, it'll be asleep, since there's still daylight. No catching it off guard if it's awake". The Malfestio they were there to capture was a mostly nocturnal wyvern; Thus, there was no better time to go after it than while the sun was still shining. Still, they had to be quite careful to not make too much noise even if it was slumbering, since its acute hearing could easily alert it to their presence if they were to make a wrong step. Safe to say, Bucket in particular was avoiding twigs or piles of leaves where twigs could be hiding as if they were patches of a Brachydios' explosive slime mold strewn across the ground; He did not want a repeat of what had happened with the Bulldrome, especially not with this monster.

It didn't take too long for them to pin down the wyvern's location, proving Nia right. She was starting to get better at actually following tracks rather than just identifying them, which was evidenced by her leading the team to find the Malfestio perched on a high branch in a sturdy maple tree. Now in far brighter light, the nocturnal bird was much clearer to see beyond its ominous outline; The large, owl-like bird wyvern before them was the owner of a brilliant, patterned coat of azure, golden, and white feathers of numerous different shades all across its stocky frame, save for the grey-blue scales on its legs and sharp-taloned feet. Its distinct appearance was reminiscent of some sort of avian jester, a visage made even more fitting by the trickery it was known to employ against attackers and prey alike. Though, of all that could be gleaned of it in daylight now, there was one thing that was more important than any other detail: It was sleeping quite soundly. Naturally, it was up rather high, but it didn't take long at all for the team to come up with a plan to remedy that, which they managed to communicate through silent hand motions. Wasting no time, Nia, Sariko, and Perren crept over to the base of the tree, surrounding the spot directly below the wyvern, while Bucket stepped carefully backwards, trying to get a better angle for a better shot. Soon, everyone managed to reach their positions, making as little noise as possible, to which they all drew their weapons.

It was time.

Opening their sneak attack, Bucket fired a shot almost directly upwards, the sound waking the wyvern from its slumber. To this, the bird's red eyes wasted little time going from groggy confusion to wide alert, its whole face now darting every which way, trying to quickly assess the danger it was in; every direction but up. Suddenly, the shot that Bucket had just fired from his Bowgun, which took the shape of a large shell sailing through the air, landed directly on the Malfestio's upper back and exploded with enough force to knock it from its perch, sending it screeching down to the ground below, where other hunters were ready to strike.

Yet, if it was to hit the ground, it was to do so swinging, lashing its wings and talons out and managing to scramble onto its feet almost as soon as it landed. Only Sariko and Perren were able to land hits on the wyvern, their slashes connecting with the edges of its wings, whereas Nia was unfortunately in perfect position for the wind pressure generated by this attack to repel her mid-swing, causing her to let her Greatsword fall behind her. Though, she was still able to keep one hand's grip held tight, and was quick to twist her other arm around her to reconnect with the weapon's hilt, swinging it back in a mighty arc that slashed across the Malfestio's back. However, the bird spent little time recoiling from this hit; It was far more resilient than monsters they had faced before. Suddenly, its head twisted around to glare angrily at her, turning unnervingly in a one-hundred-and-eighty degree arc as the rest of its body remained facing away. Then, just as suddenly, the rest of the wyvern whipped around to match the angle of its irate gaze as its wings lifted it up into the air with a mighty flap that sent Sariko recoiling back and Perren practically flying himself. Before Nia could react, the Malfestio swooped at her with its talons, her armor only just thick enough to prevent them from piercing into her and instead leading to her simply being balled over by the sheer force of the attack. Nia was now on the ground, soon looking up to see that the wyvern had turned rapidly again and was about to slam its wing down on her head. Readily, she rolled across the ground, barely dodging the attack that sent soil and leaves flying through the air on impact with the dirt where she just was; That would've hurt. Swiftly, Nia scrambled back to her feet, though great concern fell upon her to see that the Malfestio was already coming down at her with another wing slam.