Red Snow [Monster Hunter Story] /english ver.

Chapter 17

When Brandon woke up he noticed the monster's attacks had stopped.

He was left without a choice, if he didn't want to die in this cave he had to risk going outside.

He laid flat on his stomach and peeked through the crack. The dragon was nowhere to be seen.
Brandon took a deep breath and crawled out in the open.

As he got up he was greeted by a bright light on the horizon and he suddenly realized how long he actually stayed in there. 

Brandon took a few steps forward, until his blood froze in his veins.

He heard a deep growl behind him, which made him slowly turn around. A few meters above him, in the same spot from which the Blangonga had already ambushed them before, the massive body of the Kushala Daora arose.

'Did it wait here the whole time for me to come out?!'

Brandon reached for his sword.
At the same instant the monster jumped down the ledge and landed behind the Hunter. Brandon quickly turned around to face the mighty Elder Dragon.

He was awaiting some sort of attack, but the dragon only looked at him. He tried to make sense of the creature's behavior.

'Is it waiting for me to make the first move..?'

Brandon didn't even know why he was fighting anymore. His body almost moved on its own.

He angled his greatsword beside his waist and rushed towards his opponent. He was screaming from the top of his lungs, out of anger, sadness and frustration.

Brandon sprinted to the monster's left side and began winding up his attack on the run.

The Daora jabbed its claws at him, but that's exactly what Brandon had hoped for. He interrupted his swipe and kept running, before he jumped into the snow with his legs in front.
He held his sword above him for protection. The sharp claws scraped along the blade as Brandon slid underneath the attack.

Now he was positioned right next to the dragon, a perfect blind spot.

Brandon instantly made use of this opportunity and smashed his greatsword against the Daora's carapace with all his strength.
But despite him hitting as hard as he could his attack simply bounced off the black scales as if it was nothing.
He lost control over his footing and stumbled back.

Brandon glanced at the Daora and, he wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but it looked like the dragon was genuinely surprised. Perhaps over the fact that one of the Hunters actually managed to get in a hit, even if it accomplished nothing.

The Elder Dragon swiftly turned around to swipe at him again. Brandon narrowly dodged and rolled away to gain some distance. He reached into his pocket to grab the shock trap and place it on the ground.
He pressed the button to activate the system and jumped back a few steps.

The dragon watched him closely as it slowly approached the trap. Brandon was readying himself for the moment the Daora would fall for his setup.

The creature stopped right in front the small device. It stared deep into Brandon's eyes before it suddenly crushed the tool beneath its foot.
Electrical sparks went flying everywhere but quickly vanished again without their vessel.

Brandon answered the dragon's gaze. Something about the way it looked at him made him tremble.

Did it want to humiliate him?
Did this creature even consider him as a threat?

Whatever it was, Brandon could feel the monster's hatred burning into him.

He wasn't sure why, but he knew this being didn't act out of pure instinct. It wasn't just hunting to still its hunger.

This creature killed out of its own free will.

"So that's the true power of an Elder Dragon..."

The Kushala Daora reared up and let out a dreadful roar. On its way down it fired a massive wind blast directly towards Brandon.

He tried to block the impact with his sword, but his efforts were in vain. The Hunter got ripped off his feet and blown over the edge of the cliff behind him. 

His screams became more and more quiet the further he fell down – until they went completely silent.

The dragon watched the Hunter disappear, before it spread out its wings and flew off into the skies.

The gleaming sunrise bathed the mountain range in a warm, soothing light. A sight so beautiful, it could almost make you forget the horrors of the night.

A cold breeze traveled along the summit, only accompanied by dead silence and red snow.

=================================

Thank you for reading!

I hope you enjoyed this different (and darker) approach to a Monster Hunter story.

Now that you've made it to the end, I would love to hear some criticism.
Please tell me what you liked and what could be improved.
All your votes are appreciated as well!

I had lots of fun working on this story ever since I got the inspiration for it from the MH2 opening cinematic.
Go look it up on YouTube if you haven't seen it, maybe you'll be able to spot some of the scenes I referenced!

Thanks again for taking the time to read my story!

Cheers
~Dradix

[Final word count: 14.047]