The Blue Velociprey that had burst into the crowd had already begun their slaughter. In barely a dozen seconds, two people had been knocked down, their throats bitten open and their chests and bellies torn apart, leaving them sprawled in pools of blood.
The gruesome deaths of their companions stirred some of the others to fury, and they swung their short swords wildly at the two Blue Velociprey.
But even with all their strength behind each blow, the thin, short blades could only leave a few shallow cuts on the Blue Velociprey.
The Blue Velociprey needed only to turn casually, and their powerful tails, as thick as a grown man's thigh, could easily sweep everyone around them to the ground.
A few people had completely lost their senses. In their panic, they rushed toward the wagons and scrambled up with hands and feet, desperate to escape this blood-reeking slaughterhouse.
The Blue Velociprey King, however, clearly had no intention of letting prey already within his jaws escape so easily.
He casually plucked fleeing people off the wagons with his jaws and flung them to the ground. Rather than attack further, he simply looked down on the people teetering on the edge of collapse as they stumbled about like headless chickens.
Pine led several companions in a nearly hopeless assault on one Blue Velociprey.
By taking turns attacking, they did manage to inflict a few bleeding wounds. But with the creature still so lively, no one believed humanity would win this fight.
The Blue Velociprey King had yet to even join the fray.
Yet Pine still never considered giving up. He absolutely could not die here, much less let Hayata die here!
Unfortunately, even the strongest will could not bridge such an overwhelming gap in strength.
Pine barely dodged a lunging bite, only to take a tail strike to the head. It felt as though a blacksmith's hammer had smashed into his skull. His vision went black, and he collapsed unconscious.
Seeing its chance, the Blue Velociprey ignored the two caravan members attacking it frantically from behind. It opened its tooth-filled jaws and snapped toward his throat.
Just then, a slender, frail figure rushed out and stood in front of Pine.
At some point, Hayata had crawled out of the pile of goods where she had been hiding.
Both her hands gripped a short sword she had picked up from the ground.
Though she trembled all over with fear, her wide eyes still stared stubbornly at the Blue Velociprey's bloodstained claws and fangs.
Her memories of her parents had already faded.
After more than ten years of relying on each other, her uncle Pine, who had devoted everything to her, had long since taken her parents' place as her most important-and last remaining-family.
I can't run. I can't run, or Uncle will die... Hayata repeated the warning to herself over and over. Only then could she barely suppress the urge to scream and flee.
The Blue Velociprey tilted its head as it studied the unexpected intruder. Its poorly developed brain could not understand why this clearly weaker human youngling dared stand in its way.
With a beast's way of thinking, it would not waste much time puzzling over something it could not understand. Since she posed no threat, it would attack!
"Hayata! Run!" the caravan members behind the Blue Velociprey shouted as they kept trying to attack.
None of them wanted this little girl, who had brought them so much laughter, to die in a monster's jaws.
The Blue Velociprey swung its long tail, sweeping the maddening flies behind it to the ground, then opened its jaws and lunged forward.
At the sight of the gaping, bloody maw rushing toward her, Hayata's pale green eyes contracted.
She leaped sharply to one side, dodging the Blue Velociprey's bite, and raised her short sword high. With all her strength, she brought it down on the back of its neck.
"Graaagh!"
The Blue Velociprey shrieked as the blow struck a vulnerable spot.
Unfortunately, with the girl's meager strength behind it, even this direct hit to a vital area barely left a minor wound on the back of the Blue Velociprey's neck.
Enraged, the Blue Velociprey swiftly turned around. It would tear the human youngling before it to pieces!
Hayata lamented her own weakness, but still bit her lip and held her sword in both hands, ready to face the Blue Velociprey's next attack.
If one strike isn't enough, I'll keep striking until it falls!
Just as Hayata resolved to forget her fear and fight to the death, a strange yet piercing horn call rang out.
"Tooo, tooo, tooo~"
The unusual sound drew the Blue Velociprey's attention the instant it rang out.
Many of the caravan members also turned toward the source of the horn call.
To everyone's astonishment, the figure standing atop a wagon and blowing the horn was actually an armored Palico.
While the people and monsters alike had their attention drawn to the horn-playing Felyne.
A fully armored figure carrying a vicious steel blade charged into the wagon formation, reaching the Blue Velociprey facing Hayata in the blink of an eye.
He swung his Great Sword with the momentum of his charge. Its hooked blades tore through the air with a ghostly howl.
Amid the whistle of cleaving air, the Great Sword's horizontal slash severed both of the Blue Velociprey's legs at their bases.
The legless Blue Velociprey toppled to the ground. Before it could even wail, the savage-looking Great Sword traced a deft arc and descended once more.
Its head, neck, and a small portion of its torso were cleaved apart by the Great Sword's merciless downward slash.
Neither its tough scales, thick, leathery hide, nor its flesh and bones offered the slightest resistance to those hooked edges.
The hunter pulled his Great Sword free. Warm, foul-smelling monster blood sprayed everywhere, staining Hayata's pearl-white skirt. A few drops splashed onto her dazed little face.
The hunter holding the Great Sword glanced at her. When his gaze passed over the bloodstained short sword in her hands, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.
But he said nothing and hurried toward the other Blue Velociprey nearby.
Enraged by his companion's death, the Blue Velociprey King roared and prepared to leap at the hunter. But the hunting Palico put away his horn, swung his Felyne Pickaxe, and struck him squarely on the forehead.
It barely hurt, but it was deeply insulting. The Blue Velociprey King's hatred instantly shifted targets.
The hunter seized the opportunity to dispatch the second Blue Velociprey cleanly, then turned toward the Blue Velociprey King and rescued the Palico, who was struggling to fend off the king's relentless attacks.
As he swung his Great Sword and fought the Blue Velociprey King, he shouted, "Get the wounded onto the wagons and retreat southeast, now!
"Abandon the heavy cargo! There are other Blue Velociprey roaming this area! Porkchop, escort them until they're out of danger. Move!"
The dazed caravan members snapped back to their senses and followed the hunter's instructions, moving with unprecedented efficiency.
They threw all the goods they had once tended so carefully off the wagons. Having just been saved from the despair of certain death, they knew no cargo mattered more than their lives.
As the caravan began to withdraw, the young hunter pressed his attack more aggressively.
He had to keep the Blue Velociprey King pinned here. If he let the creature turn and attack the caravan, the merchants would suffer devastating casualties.
No one noticed.
Among the caravan hurrying away, a pair of bright eyes remained fixed on the back of the figure wielding an enormous blade, fighting a terrifying monster head-on without giving an inch.
A fierce longing surged in Hayata's heart.
-She wanted strength.
The strength to protect those she cherished when facing monsters.
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