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The deafening silence of the Recess was almost enough to make her turn back. The grappling hook built into the slinger encased around her arm released its grip on the tame wingdrake that carried her there, fastening itself back into its proper position. The young woman landed on the ground with a bit of a rough thud, the dust from the stone ground kicking up as she fought for proper balance. Once she was settled though, she paused to look around. The Elder’s Recess was usually occupied by small, yet aggressive flying wingdrakes and Gajalaka… but neither were to be found anywhere. It put an awfully nerve-wracking pit in her gut as she slid down the rocky slope leading to an underground housed with crystals that possessed an unnatural, amazing energy. Nobody had to be touching them to be able to feel the power they held within, and this small “cave” was filled with them.
But that’s not what this hunter was after.
She was after something else, and this something else was a major threat to the ecosystem. It arrived in order to feed off of the most powerful monsters in the New World, to gain their strengths and assert its dominance at the top of the food chain. With a fire burning in her chest, she scrambled up an opposite exit and shuffled her way into a much smaller, tighter cave aligned with the same crystals… although, here, they were much sharper than those before. She was careful not to have anything snagged onto them, such as her armour, and when she entered the clearing the tight entrance led to, she stopped in her tracks, a sense of fear and determination all mixed into one grabbing at her heart.
Nergigante.
What a gnarly bastard, the hunter thought. Despite the amount of times she’s fought this elder dragon, there was no way to not be taken aback by its appearance every time. It wasn’t as big as one would initially seem - especially for something that eats elder dragons significantly larger than it - but what it lacked in size, it made up for in sheer strength. All four of its legs were bulky and muscular, and aligned with massive spines as well as the talons that marked each toe. Its tail was long, about as long as its body, and the tip of it had possessed spikes that were even larger than those on its legs. Its head was crowned with two massive horns, curved outward and away from each other like a bull’s, but they weren’t as sharp. They were quite fat, for lack of a better term, and were rounded at the point, made for bludgeoning its prey. Along its neck and back were more spikes, but these were the largest of the bunch, and grew smaller the further they trailed down the beast’s back. Its wings were bigger than its entire body; the hunter watched quietly as the dragon stretched them out. The undersides of them were painted with the colours of a sunset and the purple blended smoothly onto the monster’s underbelly.
She readied her glaive.
The Nergigante glared.
She noticed its beady, yellow eyes protected beneath its rugged, dark face. Its fangs protruded slightly from both its lower and upper jaws. Its mouth gaped slightly as it snarled at her.
For a split moment, as the two of them shared mutual eye contact, the hunter remembered how she was tackling this monster alone for the first time. Her Palico companion was left behind, much to his dismay, and her reality was finally setting in.
She was taking on the Eater of Elders by herself.
You wanted to do this, she reminded herself, you’re the one who wanted a challenge.
Slowly, she circled the beast, not even daring to break eye contact. In return, the elder dragon circled in place to follow her, the rumbled growling from its throat shaking the ground beneath their feet. Her knuckles grew white as she gripped her glaive harder, and before she had the chance to sprint forward, the dragon rose to its hind legs and roared. Its wings were fully spread, manifesting a gust of wind as they were swept along the ground that took the hunter by surprise. She shielded herself with her glaive as the wind pushed her back, the boots of her greaves digging into the asphalt dirt in order to stay up. Its roar sounded raspy, as if the damn thing had a toad caught in its gullet that's been stuck there for years. It slammed its forelegs back onto the ground with a slam, and the hunter knew what was about to come.
She was ready.
She rushed forward, dug the glaive’s blade into the ground, and vaulted into the air before the Nergigante could even catch her. She always went for monster tails first, so she swiped the blade across and into the elder dragon’s spiky tail. She watched with her abnormal, lavender eyes, as scales and spines flicked off of the beast’s tail like cigarette ashes. It let out a bit of a whine in pain, and to her, this was a good sign. She landed on the ground, but hadn’t remained still; Nergigante was trying to flank her. The tremors of its massive paws and the sound of its footsteps were enough of a giveaway to reveal its location, and she took the initiative to tuck and roll out of its path. She barely missed its ferocious attack of digging one of its massive horns into the ground, its body and head twisting sideways as it charged. When she was settled, she had a moment to watch it as it gouged its organic weapon right through the air upon release. She held her ground and watched as the monster turned to face her, its eyes saying something along the lines of, We’re gonna play that game, huh? The hunter smiled at it, and rushed forward again… and so did the Nergigante.
She vaulted into the air again and slammed the blade of her glaive onto its back. It released another whine - more of a screech this time - as she mounted it. She continuously dug her hunter’s knife into the scales that separated both wings, and she nearly had the wind knocked out of her as it bounded to the side of a volcanic mountain. It reared with another raspy roar, and slammed its side into the makeshift wall. Luckily enough, she moved out of the way, and focused on the monster’s tail. She brought out her large knife again, and continued to stab its blade into its flesh.
At this moment, she thought about her sibling, Bryn.
She remembered how the two of them arrived to the New World together with their father. They lived in Astera as newly-formed monster hunters, and were trained to track, hunt, and kill. Deep down, she knew that Bryn struggled with killing these monsters for the purpose of research. She remembers them never giving the killing blow and how they both used to argue whether or not it was better to capture the monster instead of taking its life. “Malon,” they’d say, “the way you wield that weapon concerns me.” She remembers giving Bryn a weird look, as if to ask them, What do you think I’m gonna do, kill you with it? But she never did.
Bryn left to return to the Old World not long after that. She remembers them excitedly telling her stories about monster riders instead of monster hunters and how much they resonated with that role instead. Maybe that’s why Malon had thought of them as she rode this rampaging elder dragon in an attempt to slice its tail off. Though, Bryn didn’t leave on their own; they had a wyvern egg with them. “Where did you steal this from?” they asked their sister upon the day of departure. She remembers how she bluntly replied with, “Don’t worry about it.” She remembered the look on her sibling’s face that hollered nothing but concern. “You told me how all monster riders receive an egg as their first monster,” she explained, “So… there’s your egg.” She remembered how the two of them stood in silence for a moment, before Malon ran into them for a hug.
“Please… show everyone back home how amazing the New World is.”
And that was that.
Malon was broken from her thoughts as she slipped off of the Nergigante, tumbling onto the ground with its tail. She glanced up, almost in a panic, and she watched it collapse and roll. She knelt next to its disembodied tail, ready to carve it, but the elder dragon was quicker; it lunged forward with a pissed off roar, and slapped her with a massive forepaw. Malon yelled in pain, feeling a burning sensation on the entire left half of her body that soon covered her whole as she slammed into a boulder upon impact. Through her dazed state, she heard the dragon’s heavy footsteps as it retreated to another area. Taking advantage of this quiet moment, Malon collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath. Blood seeped from her nostrils and lips.
Would Bryn be proud of you if they saw what you’ve accomplished?
The hunter slipped a printed cloth from a pocket stitched onto her belt to wipe the blood off of her face. Her gaze went to the Nergigante’s tail. Moments ago, that monster was swishing it around, and now… it wasn’t. The spikes that evenly coated it were no longer threatening, and it could no longer hurt her.
It could no longer hurt her.
What compelled her to continue calling this dragon an “it”?
Bryn would tell her, “You don’t call a Rathian or a Rathalos an ‘it’. Why should we call every other monster an ‘it’? Every monster has an identity. That’s why I don’t feel right with killing them.”
“Wish I could relate…” Malon mumbled to herself as she carved into the tail. After gathering the materials she needed and wolfing down a health potion, she rushed after her opponent, who saw her coming from a mile away. It released another raspy roar, and its massive wings pounded against the ground as it took to the air. “Dive bomb THIS!” Malon yelled before tossing a flash pod from her built-in ammo slinger. It smacked the Nergigante right on the snout and unleashed a blinding light to which the elder dragon shrieked and toppled onto the hardened ground. It whimpered as its legs scrambled for balance, and the hunter took this as a fantastic opportunity to rush forward and slam her glaive into the horns on its head. She could see crack after crack spreading until the tip of one horn broke off entirely. Again, the elder dragon cried of pain, and Malon rolled back as it stood up.
But it didn’t lunge.
She watched as it hunched forward, mouth agape as it panted with exhaustion. “Tired already?!” she yelled at it, readying herself for another attack. The Nergigante merely growled and stared at her, and for a moment, Malon saw… feeling in its eyes. Those beady, yellow, sadistic eyes showed some sort of mercy that the hunter had never seen in a monster before, let alone a Nergigante. Again, the two merely stared at each other for a while, but something different hung in the air this time, something stagnant.
Every monster has an identity. Bryn’s words echoed in Malon’s head.
“...Just go, Nergi.”
The elder dragon didn’t move, but continued watching his target as she brought out a leaf-covered cloak; one of camouflage.
“I’ll deal with you another time,” she continued. “Screw off. I’m not killing you.”
Before she knew it, the Nergigante - no, its name was Nergigante - fled again. The pounding of his wings in the air was deafening. She wrapped the mantle around herself before watching the elder dragon escape.
“There you go, Bryn,” she muttered to herself, smiling a tad as she retreated back to camp. “Hope you’re proud.”