Monster Hunter: Stars of Hope

Chapter Forty-Six: Revelations

Of all the sea-dwelling monsters that could be reasonably expected to attack right now, a Plesioth was easily the among the worst. As if their ruthless ferocity and overall lethality were not enough, they also had quite the reputation across the Hunter's Guild as being one of the most obnoxious creatures even for veteran hunters on account of many hits taken from them seeming to come out of literally nowhere, these piscine wyverns being deceptively good at landing attacks they theoretically shouldn't. Even worse, there was the fact that it shouldn't have even been here in the first place, as these waters were the territory of a Lagiacrus that was known to have a taste for this exact species, which should've been more than enough of a deterrent so that the prospecting operation could collect the ore on the seabed in peace.

Alas, it somehow was not.

Now, Nia's top priority was to get down there to rescue the divers still remaining below the waves, only kept from immediately diving in by news from one of those who were already up that it had just been driven back with a sonic bomb. Of course, she had never received any training on how to actually hunt underwater, especially when it came to swinging a weapon as heavy as her Greatsword in such conditions, so she would have to leave her blade behind. Of course, this would not mean she would go down there unarmed, one last, rapid check of all of her equipment ensuring that; a few water-proofed flash pods and sonic bombs, a small canister of air connected to a nozzle-like apparatus that she could use if her breath began to falter, and, in the event she was left with no other choice, a recently sharpened carving knife. In terms of what was available right now, Nia couldn't be better prepared for this moment.

All she had to do was get Sariko to calm down for five seconds.

"Sariko, we don't have a choice", she asserted firmly without looking at her close friend as she made her final, urgency-driven preparations, "If you don't go down there, I have to!". Though Nia was sympathetic to the terror that her close friend was clearly experiencing and doing a very poor job of hiding, the fact that lives were currently at risk quite unfortunately shunted any concerns for Sariko's dire thalassophobia combined with her close friend's own concern for her safety right off the table. Though, perhaps predictably, this logical assertion did not keep Sariko from responding with a mess of panicked and half-completed pleas most often starting with 'wait' or 'but', to which Nia replied, "And hey, look on the bright side: You have plenty to keep yourself distracted with. A few of the divers aren't looking too good right now, and you're far better at medic stuff than I am". With this said, she began her stride towards the taffrail, suggesting as she moved, Sariko keeping an unsteady pace with her, "Just focus on patching them up and I'll be back up before you know it".

"Nia! Wait!", Sariko shouted, stopping a decent distance away from the edge of the ship as Nia reached the taffrail and prepared to dive down. "Sariko, there's no time!", Nia instantly responded, stopping to turn her gaze back for only a moment as her close friend stuttered out fearfully, "J-just- just PLEASE be careful down there!". To this, Nia let out a forceful sigh, gave a quick nod, and finally began to clamber up onto the taffrail, feeling quite fortunate that she had always been fairly good at holding her breath.

Without further delay, she dived into the sea.

-----

Now, Nia was beneath the waves, not taking long to get her bearings. Soon, she noticed a few things as she swiftly surveyed her submersed surroundings. Firstly, she could faintly see the sandy and rocky ocean floor in these shallower, relatively clear waters, a number of giant kelp strands that looked sturdy enough for her grappler to latch onto sparsely dotting the aquatic landscape. Secondly, she did not take long to locate the remaining few divers, who were all swimming as fast as they could for the surface, one of them impressively making quite good pace even in spite of the net full of ore he gripped in his hand. Finally and unfortunately, Nia could see that the claims of there being a Plesioth down here were not at all unfounded.