The ugly side of Valen’s new position made itself known soon enough: he was regularly requested to attend meetings around nobles. It was something he despised but had to endure anyway. He knew that he would make too many enemies if he outright refused. Powerful enemies.

  So, he shoved down his complaints and attended events like balls or dinners hosted by the higher class, composed of both rich nobles from Dundorma or other well-off cities and descendants from legendary hunters… Those Valen particularly despised. Sure, some of them had genuine achievements to their names, but most of them claimed to be able to fight Apex Wyverns alone but didn’t bother because it would be “a waste of their talents,” claiming that only Elders required their service.

  Valen knew they were lying and full of themselves, but he didn’t simply call them out… He only intervened when they harassed less well-off hunters who were invited because of impressive achievements. In those cases, Valen had no issue with taking them down a peg or two and promptly told them to shove off.

  It was in these moments that Valen didn’t hesitate to use his notoriety and the respect he had garnered to ensure that the aggressors didn’t bully other hunters. He knew how lucky he was, but he respected others all the same.

  These privileged hunters tried to threaten him in private, but their show of force did not phase him at all. Even when they outnumbered him, he knew he could escape easily with his jetpack if needed and they would struggle to even dent his armor. The threat made him more cautious overall, though, and thankfully the room that the guild assigned to him was guarded and he never went out without his armor.

  They had tried blackmailing him, but the only thing that they managed to dig up on him was that he had fled the Seregios hunt, causing Flynn to be crippled in the process, information that he was sure was confidential. They released this to the public, and some people criticized him for it, but he was certain it was people who already disliked him anyway. He released a public statement explaining he regretted the act and made sure it wouldn’t happen again.

  Flynn helped by releasing his own statement, saying that he forgave Valen and that he understood why Valen did it at the time.

  They didn’t find anything else on him, so they resorted to physical violence. They managed to corner him in an alley, but Valen defeated them easily, using the flat of his weapon to ensure they wouldn’t be permanently harmed. He reported the group to the guild, which demoted them, but they weren't the main instigators, simply lackeys hired for the act.

  The more blatant attempts to get at him stopped after that, and Valen could enjoy several years of relative peace. He was extremely careful while visiting Nikki, making sure to take roundabout ways to get to her and using Adem to check for any pursuers. Nikki even helped by flying around and simply not showing up if she spotted pursuers.

  They still managed to visit occasionally, but the days were long past the weekly or even daily spars they had while he was in the Jurassic Frontier’s village. There he benefited from anonymity and the perfect environment for Nikki to travel in undetected. But now he would be questioned for extended and repeated trips, so he only visited her occasionally. She seemed to understand and reassured him that she wasn’t bored, and it allowed her to travel around and watch out for incoming threats.

  He did, however, often meet up with Aki, whenever she was at her forge. Them being friends gave him an easy justification for the visits, even if they couldn’t meet up as often as he would have liked due to Aki’s travels. However, she did warn him that some hunters had tried to approach her for compromising information on him. Of course, she didn’t budge, even when they threatened her with blackmail. She had laughed at them and simply told them to just try.

  “After all. Even if they dig up dirt on me… I’m one of the most respected Smiths of the guild. Even if the guild is corrupted in some parts, one thing they don’t tolerate is trying to threaten us… They know that so they won’t dare, even their privilege has limits. But hunters do not have the same protection. Watch your back Valen, you’re now treading in dangerous waters.”

  “I already knew that. Thank you, Aki, for allowing me to visit. Dundorma is great but… Too many people for my liking.”

  “I feel the same, that's why I avoid it.”

  He had to return to Dundorma not long after.

  Two major events happened during that period, the first was the report of a mystery solved by the Soaratorium, where the team that slayed the other Valstrax resided. They had discovered a monster that was now called Ahtal-Ka that had managed to build a giant mechanical contraption to raid fortresses. It raised several questions in the scientific community about the true intelligence of Elders, especially since that particular monster wasn’t an Elder itself, officially classified as a Neopteron.

  The second bit of news was the fact that a crisis was happening in a distant town called Kamura. Something called a Rampage was in effect, causing hordes of monsters to try to break through it, but since it was something that already happened fifty years ago, Kamura had since fortified itself and had even built an impressive stronghold around the town. The local hunter was struggling to keep up though, so the Guild dispatched a trio of high-ranked hunters to help relieve it.

  Valen would have thought they would send him, but he suspected they kept him off the high-profile missions… It seemed like he had alienated the corrupt members of the guild enough that they were using their influence to keep him idle. Valen didn’t mind, he had been in a village for five years without a single hunt, after all, but it still stung.

  At least now he had Adem, who he knew would support him through anything, to share his secret with. Adem had it less rough than Valen at least, since the Felyne community loved him and Valen. His Felyne partner relayed to him all of the news his compatriots received, which, considering that the Felynes were a big part of the guild’s communication system, meant that Valen had access to pretty much all of the reports.

  The majority of the public loved Valen though, and low-ranked hunters admired him. Valen took the time to give advice when people asked him. He expected to dislike dealing with the common folk, but he found out he liked it. It reminded him that most people didn’t have the crazy life that he had and that theirs was simply… Mundane. After his realization, he often went to see the taverns frequented by these common folk.

  While all of this happened, his sparring with Nikki increased in tempo. She had learned that if she wanted to catch him, she had to trick him into igniting the wrong thruster, either weapon or back, and execute attacks that would catch the resultant direction. Valen countered by starting to use both at once, and at different levels of thrusts, which meant that instead of there being only two or three directions he could dodge in, it was a whole cone.

  The result of all of this was that Nikki was winning less and less of their spars, and Valen was now too nimble and experienced that her size was finally working against her. But it also meant that a common hunter would have almost no chance of fighting her if she decided she had to win at all costs. Her range of tricks was great, and she was still good at forcing him to dodge in the direction she intended to. At one point, Valen realized that should she ever decide to try to wipe humanity out, she would have a decent chance. He was the only hunter who had any chance of being able to stop her. He didn’t linger on the possibility for long. Nikki was simply too friendly for that to ever happen.

  The most memorable moment of those years though was the time when Aki was available to watch one of their spars. She was decked out in her full Rathian armor for the event and showed a couple of her special moves with her Insect Glaive. Valen was impressed — her mobility was almost comparable to his, and his armor was specially made to improve it.

  Still, when Nikki and Valen sparred that day, Aki was amazed by what the two of them were doing. Beyond a simple spar or even a fight, it was a dance between the two of them. A dance of flashing blades and swiping claws, attacks, and evasions. A dance of a furious, fast-paced tempo, neither of them holding back at all and still keeping up with each other. Valen’s focus never wavered. Reacting, predicting where Nikki wanted him to go, and making sure he didn’t follow through on that. Landing hits on her but takes none in return. This was what a hunter was supposed to do. A hunt was a contest of endurance, of skill. It was a battle of who could outlast their opponent.

  When Valen won their bout, having scored a hit on Nikki’s head that would have been lethal had his weapon not been weakened, they stopped, and Nikki dipped her head to acknowledge his win.

  Aki was exhilarated.

  “Ha! You see now? I was right! I told you that you would be a legendary hunter! No one else has such a unique style of fighting! You can fight Nikki, an elder dragon who’s spent almost TEN years learning your habits and patterns, and win!” She grinned. “And the less I have to repair your armor, the better I feel. The fact I haven’t even needed to touch it up yet speaks volumes about the care you give it. Make sure that doesn’t change!”

  Valen chuckled. Aki had a point. The hunter he’d been ten years ago, still in a team of four, now seemed a distant dream. A faded memory. His team had fallen so suddenly… He remembered being afraid that he would die and fade to obscurity like so many before him… But he hadn’t. Nikki saved him and bestowed upon him the life of an icon. A symbol. He would enter history as one of those legendary hunters who faced an elder alone… And emerged victorious. His title was enough to make it so. Sky Piercer. Initially, he hadn’t been sure about the title because of the connotation it meant with Nikki, but over time he grew to accept it, mostly due to being called such every day.

  It was why this moment when Nikki, Adem, and Aki were all together with him was one of the most precious memories he possessed. Because they trusted each other so much they were simply being themselves. Valen didn’t have to put on a mask like when he was dealing with the guild. Aki didn’t have to be as serious as she was when dealing with other hunters. Adem was always himself anyway… Nikki wasn’t alone like she usually was, she was with people who trusted her and knew she wouldn’t simply attack them out of the blue.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  No, this moment was simply perfect for Valen.

  However, things grew worse. Valen managed to discover that some of the hunters who’d harassed him were able to get permission to hunt restricted targets. He discovered that fact when he heard about one of them bragging about managing to win versus a Monoblos… But the one-horned flying wyvern had been off limits to any hunters since several years ago when it was found that their population was declining and at risk.

  So he dug further and found out that these hunters got signed permits from some higher-ups in the guild. They would have been all but legitimate if not for the global hunting ban. Due to how publicized the ban was at the time, he knew that most people were aware of it. So he managed to make the information about the “exceptions” leak to the public, and there was an immediate outcry and a call for the guild to explain themselves. An official report was that an investigation would be launched, but that was all that was said.

  Valen wondered if he had been too daring with this move, and to his disappointment, he was proven right when one of the hunters who tried to blackmail him cornered him and told him such. “I know that it was you.”

  That particular hunter was named Tyndrer and was the one who led the attempted defamation campaign against him, and Valen suspected that he was also the one who managed to get the illegal hunting permission. Valen simply redoubled his vigilance and carried on, though he asked Adem to never leave his side as well, afraid that they would target the more vulnerable Felyne in retaliation.

  Several months passed by, and the public outcry faded, but a lingering discontent remained. Valen knew that the promised investigation was only a facade and that nothing would come out of it. The nefarious hunters had too many connections and too deep pockets to be threatened. But he waited nonetheless.

  He was no longer given any hunt targets, and Valen didn’t dare see Nikki, too paranoid that the group would discover his relationship with Nikki. He finally caved when he saw her flying several days in a row above the city, probably worried about him. Taking all the precautions he could and traveling to a location he had never been before, he managed to lose his tail and meet her. Suffice it to say that she was furious when he managed to explain the situation, though thankfully she didn’t suggest attacking Tyndrer. She knew at this point that it was a losing battle. But seeing her calmed his nerves a bit, and Valen told her that if he ever needed her, he would use their agreed-upon signal, patting at his flare gun.

  His time with Nikki was short but it helped relieve a bit of the stress that had been mounting the last months. However, he was growing restless… He felt like something was coming, but he wasn’t sure what. So he stayed vigilant.

  Valen was training with Adem in the dedicated area of Dundorma when he felt something was off. He looked around and immediately realized that he was alone with Adem. Every other hunter had left the area… Along with all the observers that usually hung around. The silence set Valen on edge, this was not something that should happen for sure. The training area was open every time of the day and was always filled. He looked to Adem and saw that the Felyne was on guard too.

  After a quick motion to his Felyne companion, Adem clambered on him and Valen started running towards one of the exits. All of his unease was proven justified midway to the exit, when hunters jumped from hiding places and blocked it off Valen changed direction to another but stopped when he realized that other hunters were blocking that way too, and after looking around, he noticed all exits were blocked by hunters. Each exit had at least one hunter wielding a ranged capable weapon, which would make trying to fly above them risky… And he didn’t want to burn out the energy of his Mindstone in one go, though he might need to.

  One hunter wearing Teostra armor stepped forward, separating himself from the rest, He noted the hunter was wielding a Long Sword. He spoke. “It took a lot of greasing and organization but we managed to set you up alone, at last!”

  The voice was familiar. It was Tyndrer, the one Valen knew was spearheading all of the hostilities against Valen, even if he had no solid proof. Tyndrer’s hate for him was obvious to anyone who looked. The weapons and armor surprised him though. Valen had only ever seen him wearing Brachydios armor, wielding a Sword and Shield… The sudden change was odd, to say the least.

  “Surprised by my attire? It’s my grandfather’s! I needed to be as strong as you, and as you can see now, I’m able to match you! Your Elder armor will not cut through my own!”

  Valen would have laughed if the situation wasn’t so dire. He knew for a fact that high-powered monsters' armor only worked for those who killed them… And gear made from Elders was even more selective. The arrogant hunter just admitted to him that it wasn’t his armor, which meant that even though it was still tough, it was leagues below Valen’s armor, which not only had Valen helped craft, but also contained a Gem.

  “You need to be taught a lesson. Everyone else knows their place and doesn’t bother us once we remind them who’s at the top… But you? You just don’t let up, do you? At least The Frenzy Vanquisher decided to fuck off with the caravaneers after saving Dundorma… He was smart enough to realize that dealing with us would cost him. But you? You stay here, even though the Guild no longer assigns hunts to you, and you try to stomp on us like plebeians! No more. Today we are teaching you why we are the Elite of Dundorma!”

  Valen frowned. He’d kept quiet through the monologue as it gave him time to analyze his surroundings, but the situation was worse than he’d initially assumed. For them to be able to set up this trap and more importantly, for them to believe that they could go through with it unpunished…

  More pressingly, he had to be careful, lest he be injured or crippled. He could only deal with the corruption in the guild if he made it out intact. He looked around, he counted a dozen hunters that were surrounding him, a third of them wielding ranged weapons, and he knew those would be the most dangerous, as if even one of their paralysis shots hit the wrong spot… He would be at their mercy.

  Two of the melee hunters were wielding shields, one had a Greatsword. There was no Hunting Horn at least, though he supposed that since the melodies affected any Human, Wyverian, or Felyne, they would have no way to prevent him from benefiting too, but there were a couple of Dual Blade users who he knew would be tricky to deal with as their cuts were faster than his swings. He knew he wielded a poor weapon to face humans… The special modifications gave him an edge at least.

  The other hunters didn’t feel like a threat to him. His biggest advantage would still be his mobility, and he knew he had to keep that in mind. So he tightened his grip on his weapon and waited.

  “So we’ll teach you a lesson, maybe put you out of hunting permanently. Everyone? Get them!” the upstart hunter shouted while pointing at Valen and Adem, who was still on his back, hissing.

  Valen bolted into action, side-stepping to dodge the paralysis rounds that were immediately shot at him and letting them impact various bits of masonry. A giant arrow burrowed into the ground with a plume of dirt as well, fired by the lone Bow user. He ran towards the closest ranged user, a Heavy Bowgun wielder in the process of frantically switching cartridges. The two accompanying hunters tried to block him off, one pointing a Lance at him, but Valen sidestepped at the last moment and punched him in the chest with his free hand. The Rathian breastplate caved in with a loud crunch and the hunter collapsed, wheezing. Then Valen boosted upwards, avoiding the side blow from the neighboring Hammer user in Qurupecos Armor. However, she expertly used the momentum to spin around and was about to try nailing him with a devastating uppercut.

  Or she would have if Adem hadn’t jumped down and clawed at her exposed face, making her cry out in pain and lose control of her spin, releasing her hammer which landed heavily a pace away.

  Meanwhile, Valen landed behind the bowgun user. He had managed to reload and was trying to get him in his sights, but Valen simply swung his Axe down on the barrel of the gun while he was turning around, bending it with a resounding CLANG and rendering it useless. His opponent realized this and simply dropped his weapon as he fled.

  Valen did not stay idle, rolling to the left to dodge another volley sent by the remaining ranged users, the rounds whizzing by. He would have headed towards another of them if a Dual Blades user, his black armor denoting the Nargacuga scales it was made of, hadn’t attempted to stab him. The blow simply glanced off his armor and Valen used the moment of surprise to whip around, smacking the off-balance hunter with the flat of his weapon, and Valen could see he had broken an arm with it, as his opponent collapsed on the ground.

  Adem stopped clawing at the female Hammer-wielder, leaving bleeding furrows on her face, then dashed between Valen's legs and jumped at the Greatsword wielder’s arm that was about to attempt to cave Valen’s face in, making his opponent lose balance and the massive weapon missed by a mile.

  Valen snapped his head back but when he saw Adem had the situation in hand, he refocused on his task. Looking around, he immediately noticed that he had almost disabled half of his opponents, which meant he probably had a chance to get out of the area if he could disable one more of these ranged users. He dashed towards another, a light bowgun user this time, avoiding another group of blademasters, and smoothly morphed his weapon into sword mode, pulling both triggers. His target seemed to realize the predicament he was in and fired a shot at Valen, but he nimbly sidestepped it. He didn’t notice that the missed shot hit one of his pursuers, immediately causing her to seize up.

  He swung his weapon wide, missing intentionally… However, at the apex of his swing, he released the inside trigger, allowing the built-up energy to release, detonating a shockwave that blasted the bowgun user full force. He fell on his back, stunned.

  Valen immediately felt something off behind him, and turned around, raising his weapon to block… Only to meet the face of his main tormentor, who was raising his weapon high and about to try bringing it down on Valen… The issue was twofold: Valen had stepped backward instinctively from the blast, bringing him closer to his opponent, and his weapon was still in sword mode, the sharp edge facing toward his opponent. Towards the hand that was placed far too forward on the handle.

  Both opponents seemed to realize this at the same time, but it was far too late, and both pairs of eyes widened in realization, one in fear, the other in worry.

  The weapons hit, but not blade against blade… but blade against handle. And a loud tearing noise resounded through the whole area. An object flew through the air, leaving behind a red trail, before landing on the ground with a thump. Immediately after, a scream of pain pierced everyone’s ears, and the hunter clad in Teostra armor was holding his bleeding stump with his remaining hand.

  Valen looked around, still holding his weapon. “Go. You have no chance against me.”

  Realizing the situation, and that their leader was down, they immediately went into a frenzy, picking up their injured companions and double-timing it out of the training area. Once they were out of sight, he sighed and lowered his weapon. It wasn’t how he wanted it to end. He intended to only leave them with temporary injuries that they could recover from, and simply book it once he could.

  However, cutting a hand off was not an injury anyone could simply shrug off with rest, and even if it wasn’t a career-ending one, since Tyndrer could still adapt with a couple of weapons, causing such an injury to another hunter was frowned upon… And Valen knew this guy did not play fair. So Valen had to be worried about the inevitable retaliation. He frowned. He supposed the best course of action was to go to the guild knights and explain the situation. So after calling for Adem, he headed towards their headquarters.

  Hopefully, he’d be able to defuse the gigantic bomb that he was sitting on… But he was still worried.

  Disarmed! Evil chuckle. Bet you didn’t expect that, did you? Anyhow, as I guess you could see by the events that unfolded, the next chapter is the LAST chapter of Sky Piercer. After that I’lltake a week or two of break in the posting then it will resume.

  However, most importantly I wanted to ask (again) if y’all were interested to join a Discord server I’m in. I asked the same question last chapter but I guess it slipped everybody’s mind when reading the chapter, hence why I ask this at the END of the chapter this time.

  Let’s see y’all theories of what is going to happen next!