Red Snow [Monster Hunter Story] /english ver.

Chapter 14

"You know what we're dealing with here, right?" Brandon faced his comrades.

Donniel nodded, "Elder Dragon... That's out of our league!"

Tess trembled in awe. As much as she wanted to, it was impossible for her to hide her fear.

"D-Did you see how it killed that Blangonga in one blow?! That was so fast, I could barely even see it coming!"

Brandon grabbed her by the arm, "And we won't stay here to become its next victims!"

"What do you want to do against this monster?! We have no chance!" she pulled her arm away from him.

"We won't fight it, Tess! Our exit is now open again! You said yourself we'll all get out of here, so get it together!"

Brandon's attempt to reason with her seemed to have no effect. Panic was written all over her face.

The Kushala reared up on its hind legs and let out another scream that echoed through the whole mountain range. It landed back on its metallic feet and sent out a massive wind blast from its jaw.

It exploded directly in front of the Hunters and covered them under a layer of snow. Brandon quickly got up again, as he tried to understand the monster's powers.

'Is it controlling the wind itself? Was this creature behind the snow storm from the very beginning?'

Tess picked herself up and glanced over to the path leading down the mountain. Then she looked back at her partners. She realized that they could never escape the monster with Runa slowing them down.

Then she made a decision she was already regretting.

"I'm sorry guys... really..."

Brandon and Donniel looked after her in horror, as Tess was separating herself from the group. She tried to flee on her own, hoping to up her chances of survival.

Donniel wanted to catch her, but he couldn't make it in time.

"Tess!! God damnit, what are you doing?!"

She ran as fast as she possibly could, but her attempted escape only drew the dragon's attention onto her.
Daora spread its wings and swiftly flew over to the Huntress.

The monster landed in front of her with a hefty impact. Tess got thrown down to the ground and she screamed in fear. She kept lying there, covering her eyes.

The dragon set for the skies again, as it soared up in a pirouette. A strong gust of wind followed its moves and quickly developed into a gigantic tornado.

So the way out was blocked once more, this time by a raging twister of ice and snow.

The pressure of the winds sent Tess flying. She landed on the ground a few meters away. The Elder Dragon's silhouette vanished behind the impenetrable storm it had created.

"Shit, we need to help her!" Donniel instantly rushed over to her.

Brandon was still hesitating.

Even though Tess just decided to abandon them, he still planned on bringing all of his team back home alive. But he just couldn't get himself to leave Runa alone out here while she was vulnerable.

He decided to improvise and grabbed her bow. While the greatsword was his favored weapon, he did practice with a variety of weapon types back during his training days.
So he was somewhat familiar with the bow but nowhere near the skill level of an archeress like Runa.

Regardless, if he wanted to stay with Runa and still help Donniel and Tess – that was his only option.

Donniel finally reached Tess and pulled her up.

"What the hell are you thinking?! Don't ever do that again! We're a team, for fucks sake!"

He was furious with her actions, but at the same time relived that nothing worse happened to her.

"I'm sorry, Donniel. I was-"

"No time for that now! It's coming back!"

The dragon emerged from behind the gusting winds and darted towards the two Hunters.

Donniel pushed Tess aside and blocked the attack with his shield. But the enormous power of the monster proved to be too much for him.

He broke down under the crushing force and snapped his ankle in the process. He groaned in pain as he got pushed deep into the snow.

Tess sat beside the monster, unable to move. She was terrified to the point of her body becoming numb.
None of her partners had ever seen her like this.

"Come on, Tess! Why aren't you helping him?" Brandon muttered to himself.

He got into the proper firing range and nocked the arrow. His shaking hands tried to aim for the Elder Dragon.
Luckily, the Daora was a fairly big target. So he managed to fire the arrow at the creature even from as far away as this.

Brandon was certain to have landed a hit on the monster, but it seemed the arrow never reached its destination. He sent a second arrow, but it merely ricochet before even getting close to the monster's body.

Upon further observation Brandon realized that the Kushala Daora had built up a wind barrier around itself. Every projectile getting in its proximity just got blown away, leaving the creature unscathed.

"Great, this is absolutely useless."

Brandon put the bow back down and instead grabbed the last flash bomb they had left from Runa's bag. He quickly got back up and readied himself for the throw.

"Please! Just work!!"