Red Snow [Monster Hunter Story] /english ver.

Chapter 10

Before the beast could plunge its tusks into Runa's back, Tess stepped in.

When the Blangonga ran past her, she attempted mounting the monster.
Using the arrow as support, which Brandon implanted behind its shoulder, she successfully made it onto the creature's ridge. The arrow broke under the pressure but her idea worked nonetheless.

As soon as Tess was on top, she clutched onto the monster's fur and pulled out one of her swords with her free hand. She began stabbing it between the Blangonga's shoulder blades, causing it to stop.

The beast thrashed around as it tried to reach for the Huntress. But Tess reacted fast and now held on to her blade with both hands.
She braced against it with all her weight, in hopes of driving the sharp edge into its flesh as deep as possible.

The Blangonga reeled and collapsed under the pain. Tess quickly jumped off the immense body, to avoid getting crushed underneath it. She landed beside it and was ready to unleash her anger into the monster's face.

Brandon had used the time to pick up his greatsword again. Carrying his massive weapon around proved to be getting more tedious the longer the battle raged on.
He'd nearly reached his limit after the Blangonga's assault.

As he was about to engage the monster Donniel showed up behind him.
He found his way through the storm and quickly caught up to him. He already looked much better than before. The lifecrystals really seemed to take effect.

"Donniel! It's good having you back. That thing's about to go down!"

"Finally!" he panted, as they closed in on the monster, "It's about time that bastard conks out! What's the plan?"

"Watch, then you'll know what to do."

Brandon shouted over to his mates, "Tess! Pitfall trap, now!"

She understood the call immediately. She too realized the good opportunity for the trap, as the monster had no chance avoiding it.

"Got it!" she yelled back, before she swiftly placed the small contraption just close enough to the struggling Blangonga.

She turned the gear on top to the right to activate the device. The mechanism unfolded on its own and began drilling its way through the snow into the ground.

Within a few seconds a large fiber net stretched itself out underneath the monster. The beast's heavy build made the net give in instantly, pulling the creature down the hole and entangling it in its chaotic mesh.

Everything below the monster's chest got stuck in the ground, completely denying any form of escape.

Without the need for Brandon to give any more commands, the three Hunters engaged the Blangonga.

Runa used the opportunity to take a breather. She spent a lot of energy launching all those arrows in quick succession.
Besides, it was way too dangerous to fire at the monster with all her friends so close to the target.

Donniel attempted his charge with his lance in front, but he wasn't strong enough to keep the point up while running. So he only made slow progress.
Brandon struggled as well. He dragged his weapon behind him, as he fought against the storm.

That made Tess the first to press the offensive. She showed no restrain in her attacks. Her dual blades caused countless cuts all over the creature's body, but so far she failed to deliver a fatal blow.

The Blangonga threw several punches at her, but Tess danced around it, dodging all of them unscathed. She rolled under the monster's arm, now standing directly in front of its bloody face. The beast hissed at her which caused a disgusting smell to bite at her nose.

Tess hesitated no further and rammed her blade right into the monster's left eye.

Blood came spouting out the nasty wound in a gruesome fashion.

The Blangonga cried and reared up as much as possible while being trapped. This made Tess lose one of her swords and stumble backwards to the ground.

Before she could get back up again, the beast came rushing down on her.

Its fangs looked like icicles ready to impale her head to toe. But the Blangonga missed, or so she thought, as hitting her with its teeth was never the intention.

The beast opened its maw and regurgitated a colorless secretion from the depths of its throat. The moment the substance got exposed to the cold air it immediately froze.
A second later Tess was completely covered in countless razor-thin ice shards.

The feeling of a thousand small cuts overcame her body and she yelped in pain.

"Argh, fuck... Where did that come from?!"

Directly after, the Blangonga began hurling up lots of snow around it. Chunks of ice and solid earth were flying through the air and it looked like the Blangonga tried to burry itself down through the pitfall trap.

Donniel came in and stabbed his lance at the beast before it could vanish underground. He was able to scrape off some of its pelt and skin, just barely before it disappeared.

Once Brandon's greatsword smashed down between the fountains of snow he couldn't even tell if he got a hit in or not.

The monster was entirely gone from sight.

"You alright?" asked Brandon, as he was lifting up his sword.

"I've been better..." Tess tried to move as little as possible.

Donniel positioned himself in front of Tess to protect her with his shield.

"Where did that thing go?" he asked, while scanning the area up and down, "Don't tell me it ran off! We almost had it!"

"I don't think it can get very far with these injuries," said Brandon, "It still must be close. Maybe it's trying to-"

Suddenly he got forced to his knees. The earth beneath him began moving and Brandon had to stabilize himself to not stumble over.

He saw the ground protruding behind him.

The monster was digging a path directly towards Runa.