A Warrior, Not a Hunter
The bow.
In Hunter Land — a game thick with the sweat of close-quarters brawling against monsters — it was one of the few ranged weapons available. That didn't mean it lagged behind the melee options. Aside from a handful of bizarre outliers, every weapon was beautifully balanced.
The bow had strengths all its own.
First: range. In a game where a single hit hurt like hell, that was an enormous advantage. In shortbow form the draw was quick enough for rapid fire, though the range was short enough that you had to stay close. Longbow form, though, boasted the longest reach of any weapon in Hunter Land.
So while everyone else fretted over every enemy attack up front, a bow user could plant a meat shield ahead of them and cheerfully rain arrows from the back. The weapon itself was small and light, which made dodging easy. A greatsword chewed through patterns with parries and Flowing Water, but a bow left one hand free whenever you weren't nocking an arrow, and the footwork was feather-light.
The trade-off: no guard. There was no world in which a bow stave was going to block a monster's attack. Other weapons could at least recover from a mistake with a last-second guard. Miss a dodge with a bow, and you simply got pounded. You couldn't luck into a block with a blade or a shield, either. So even while dealing damage, you had to dodge every stray ranged poke without fail — and carefully manage any aggro that drifted your way.
That was the bow in party play, though.
What I was doing now was solo.
In solo play, the bow became a very different weapon. Facing a monster alone thinned the value of long range. The creature had eyes for no one but you, so you had no choice but to close in. Most of the fight happened in shortbow form. You pressed in tight, used the bow's mobility to slip every pattern, and calmly put arrows into weak points — an infighter, not a sniper.
Exactly like this.
The Galori lunged, beak thrust forward. I took the optimal line — sliding between its wing and leg, skimming the ground. At the same time I drew an arrow, nocked it, and aimed for the charging Galori's rear. The string snapped free. The arrow flew true and cracked against its wing. A burst of follow-up shots — three in an instant — but none of them sank deep. A monster's hide was dense and thick in a way fragile human flesh was not. This much wouldn't pierce it easily.
KREEEEE!!
I'd been needling it long enough that the thing finally screamed. Maybe it was the oversized beak, but the volume was staggering. Its furious breath and mine crossed again.
Fighting at close range with a bow delivered a thrill no other weapon could match. With zero defensive options, the entire contest came down to evasion alone. Tail sweeps, wing beats, headbutts — I slipped every one of them on pure footwork.
I was waiting for it to take flight.
In the middle of the fight, the only one bleeding was the Galori. The advantage was mine. If it wanted to turn this around, its only real option was to climb into the air and attack from safety. I kept clinging to it, then occasionally gave it space — just enough to let it lift off — and watched.
Come on. Any second now.
Flap—
Whether my prayer got through or the creature simply grew impatient, its wings started moving. The wind they kicked up raised a cloud of dust. It rose into the sky. The look in its eyes said it wasn't fleeing — it was lining up a bombardment pattern.
Finally airborne. Took you long enough.
The bow's strength, again, was range. With a greatsword I'd have been stuck sucking my thumb until the pattern ended. Once the thing was in the air, it was nothing but a moving target. A rock dropped. I sidestepped before it could crack my skull.
It had climbed high. Time to bring it down. Its wings had already taken plenty of damage. One arrow — a single arrow — would drag it back to earth.
The Galori beat its wings and opened its mouth. It drew its head back, then spat the stones stored in its throat pouch in a mindless barrage. Heavy rocks punched craters into the ground and snapped trees in half. Taking one of those would not leave a body intact.
I slid clear of the impact zone and hit the switch. With a metallic clack, the stave lengthened and the string drew taut.
Longbow conversion.
I fed an arrow onto the string and aimed for the Galori's wing. As I drew, the longbow's elongated limbs bent further and further back. I gathered power to the absolute limit. The arrowhead flashed with stored force.
The Galori wasn't about to leave me standing still. Finished with its wild barrage, it spat another stone straight at me. That heavy rock was already in the air — and this was the exact window after the spit, the delay when a shot would never miss.
I released the string and used the recoil to fling myself backward. The stone buried itself where I'd been standing.
Power Shot.
The arrow tore through the air. Destructive force rode the tip of that slender point. Unstoppable momentum surged toward the Galori's wing.
To monsters, flight was their private advantage — superior mobility, one-sided attacks from the sky. They knew it, and every creature that could fly used that gift aggressively. Even in Hunter Land's lethal ecosystem, wings made survival a lot easier.
But to a hunter, a monster's wings were nothing more than a weak point.
With a single arrow, Alice brought the soaring Galori down.
From a distance, Pina watched the scene in a daze.
A predator fell. Down toward the human. Down without end.
Pina's eyes lit up.
It wasn't a lucky shot. She hadn't dropped it by chance, striking some vital point by accident. From start to finish, every beat had been Alice's plan. Watching from afar, Pina could tell. The Galori's takeoff, its crash — Alice had been aiming for all of it.
Her expression alone made that clear. Not a flicker of surprise crossed her face; it was utterly indifferent. She watched the falling Galori with calm eyes, as if its descent were the most natural thing in the world.
Amazing.
Pina had seen hunters fight monsters now and then. Running supply jobs, she'd sometimes watched other hunters battle, or been escorted by them. She tried to recall how those fights had looked — and the spectacle before her swallowed every memory whole. Her clenched fists tightened.
Hunters were hunters. They struggled however they could to seize the initiative against monsters, then used that hard-won edge to bring down something stronger. That was the hunter Pina knew.
Looking at her now, Alice was no hunter.
She was a warrior.
"Pina!"
Alice shouted. It was the first time Pina had ever seen her raise her voice like that. But she wasn't scolding her. Right now, she needed Pina to do her job.
Pina hesitated for a beat. Then she bit her lip and grabbed the greatsword she'd leaned against a tree. There was no reason to fear a Galori that couldn't even twitch after the impact of its fall. She clutched the heavy iron greatsword to her chest and ran.
The Galori was starting to come to its senses, trying to rise. As if she'd been waiting for exactly that, Alice's eyes flashed. Still gathering power with the longbow, she sprinted right up to the creature and thrust the bow into its face. Before it could stand, she jammed three arrows against its head and drew the string all at once.
Gukukuuu!!
The arrowheads gleamed. She released without a shred of hesitation.
Kagagak—!
Three arrows loosed at point-blank range did not miss. She was already stepping back, collapsing the bow as she moved. The Galori staggered upright, still reeling.
Alice rolled across the ground, planted a hand, and found her stance. Catching her breath, she turned her head.
"Pina. Throw it."
Her eyes locked onto Pina with a savage heat. The frenzy of combat had sharpened them to a blade's edge. For a second it felt as if the gaze meant for the monster had turned on her instead, and Pina's body gave a startled jolt.
She squeezed her eyes shut and hurled the greatsword. The heavy blade, too weighty to fly far, tumbled gracelessly across the dirt — but that was enough. It came to rest beside Alice.
Alice flung aside her quiver and bow. Then she took up her oldest, most familiar friend.
A hunter's blood boiled. Power flooded into the hands that gripped the greatsword.
What followed could only be called merciless.
Those peach-pink eyes flashed like they were casting light of their own as she traded blows with the Galori. The exchange was one-sided. Watching it, Pina found herself thinking — unbidden — that something other than the monster was what truly frightened her.
Gone were the dazzling footwork and elegant hand technique she'd shown with the bow. It would not have been an exaggeration to say the madness of the greatsword had swallowed her whole. The moment she took up the weapon, she became someone else. Alice's greatsword simply dealt violence.
Hidden behind the brush, Pina could not look away. Her fear of the monster was wearing thin, scrap by scrap. A fair fight was unfolding, and the process of the monster's defeat was laid bare. Before a human, the monster was becoming nothing at all.
An unfamiliar thrill rose in her chest. The scene was cruel and terrifying — and Pina was already captivated by that overwhelming violence.
KREEE—!
The Galori groaned in agony. Its stance crumbled piece by piece. Alice gave it no room to breathe, batting aside its attacks, dodging, leaving wounds. She repeated the cuts, carving and tearing through that tough hide. The more wounds it took, the worse the bleeding became.
Crunch—
The greatsword crushed the other wing, the one that had still been intact.
Crack—
Next she shattered the beak that spat stones.
Slash—
And then she sent the thrashing tail, that nuisance of a whip, tumbling to the ground.
Unable to endure the greatsword's relentless cuts, the Galori came apart one piece at a time. Only then did it turn its back and start moving its legs in a frantic attempt to flee. Ordinarily it would have taken to the air — but neither wing would move anymore. Arrows bristled from its body; its hide was a ruin of cuts. Survival instinct screamed at it to run.
Its body would not obey. On those limping legs, there was no escaping this monster. It was already too late to run.
If I'd fled earlier, would I have lived?
...No.
From the moment that arrow flew, it had already been a dead creature.
The staggering Galori toppled sideways. Strength drained from its body; it could barely manage a breath. Its eyes rolled. Pain-soaked pupils held the image of a human for a brief moment.
The human planted a foot firmly on the Galori's belly and leveled the greatsword downward.
Drip—
A single bead of blood fell from the tip of the blade and wet the Galori's throat. The blood-slick edge pronounced the end.
The Galori closed its eyes.
That final blow, at least, was gentle. It took the creature's life in a single stroke and ended the pain.