The Guardian Slayer (botw fanfic)

12. Akkami

In Devan's morning briefing, he had explained that their next stop was Crenal Hills, near the Eldin Region. It was very close to Hyrule Castle, so there were bound to be many enemies- including guardians in that area. When he mentioned guardians, many soldiers gave her sideways glances, or hesitant looks, like they were apprehensive of her abilities. To be honest, she felt a little nervous to go so close to the castle. When she went guardian hunting, she usually stuck to the outskirts of Hyrule Field or around Necluda. Impa always made her promise to never attempt to go near the castle or Castle Town, as it was far too dangerous. She wasn't sure if skirting the edges of Castle Town counted. Also, an entire battalion was depending on her this time. If she was on her own, if she got hurt or caught on fire, it was no big deal because she didn't really care. But these soldiers were inexperienced around guardians. Lots of them had said they had never fought one before. They would be more likely to get hurt and that would be her fault. Plus, judging from the looks she got, they didn't trust her at all. But could she blame them? If she had to depend on a complete stranger for something so dangerous, she probably wouldn't. 

This is why I wanted to go alone. She thought angrily. If we went separately, I could clear out all the guardians before they got here! Though, granted if she went alone, she probably would have been ambushed by monsters at this point. 

The battalion was just about to leave, so she mounted her horse and followed them. Crenal Peak was just in sight and was getting closer and closer. Okay, I need a plan. Working in a group is going to be different. She took out her journal and examined her notes. For the past couple days, she had been trying to figure out a plan and wrote down a bunch of ideas. She turned to a page where she had written down some goals. 

Goals for the day:

1. kill as many guardians as I can so they can't reach the citadel. 

Oof this one was going to be hard. Not only did she have to fight off guardians that attacked, but also seek them out so they can't reach the citadel. 

2. hopefully no one except me catches on fire. 

Everyone else just had to stay out of the way. But if someone was caught in an explosion, that would be a hard conversation. 

3. kill guardians without dying

This was a problem Akkami ran into daily. Fighting guardians was extremely dangerous and it was always possible for them to one-shot you. One misstep and an explosion, and you're dead. She also had to consider the safety of the rest of the battalion which was going to be tricky. 

She turned to a page where she had written down her main strategy: Attack the guardians on her own while everyone else stayed back. She would give them basic information beforehand, like their weak spots and fighting style, to prepare them if things go wrong, but hopefully, she would be the only one fighting. 

Closing the book, she spurred her horse to move up to the front where Devan was leading the group. She felt kind of nervous to go up and talk to him, especially because she'd given him the cold shoulder for the past couple days. 

"Heyy..." She said sheepishly as she caught up.

He turned to face her and gave her his usual grin. "Akkami! What's up?"

How does he stay so happy all the time? That would be exhausting.

"Since we're getting close to the castle, there's going to be guardians patrolling the road in Crenal Hills. I'm going to run ahead and try and take them down, but just in case we're ambushed by one, I wanted to give you and the battalion an escape plan for backup." She ripped out a page of notes from her journal, containing a diagram of a guardian pointing out weak spots and attacking tendencies. She handed it to him. "It's all explained here. Tell your soldiers."