Behemoth Slayer! [A-Rank Job | Mura & Astrid]

Job Info:

This was the first time that the shaman felt lost on his way to a meeting place. He was going to Mt. Hakobe at this moment after having paid attention to an outstanding request on the board back at his guild, a request that was written with a rather shaky handwriting. Whoever had to write down the request must have been paranoid to the point where their pants could be seen vibrating, or that was what he assumed given the analysis of the paper. However, what exactly caused this paranoia? That was a question worth answering, and he hesitated not in gathering with the crew; although, he had to find Kyuken and Zirconis first. All of his spells relied on those two ghosts, in the end.

Mura didn’t expect this place - or rather, he could see it happen, but it never did before - and apparently, Kyuken had gotten creative in his mischievous conquest for debauchery… just what was this place? Having lived in Magnolia Town for years, Mura had never passed this road or this extreme place before. Having taken a look inside, he spotted the samurai ghost clenched between- oh, what the living hell was going on here?!

“… And I was just getting into the fun,” Kyuken moaned. Mura’s interference had gotten rid of any fanservice for the samurai ghost, and with that, Kyuken simply bit in the sour apple, which was clear on his face. Zirconis, on the other hand, was harder to find; first of all, what interests did the dragon ghost have in this town, anyway? Knowing the jade dragon, he would either stay home with the others or pick up fights somewhere, but no signs of uproars had appeared yet. In fact, the place of all places was at the Cathedral, and he just briefly saw Zirconis converse with one of the priestesses. It led few thoughts circulating in Mura’s mind, but due to the rush, he quickly interfered once again and grabbed Zirconis’ spirit ball form - ergo his entire body - and dashed off, noting: “Sorry, mission, talk to you later..!”

“W-What the hell was that for..?!” the dragon complained furiously. Although Mura had already indicated the reason for butting in like that, Zirconis was annoyed. The shaman was a little curious about the priestess and him, though… but he could ask about that for later. Right now, they had to ready for the mission. “We’re going to Mt. Hakobe… check it out,” he informed them, holding out the request paper for the two spirits to look at. Kyuken’s eyes sparkled a little, while Zirconis stayed as displeased as ever.

“A large creature? Is is, by any chance, a golem?”
“It’s obviously dead… soon.”
“Hahaha… the irony…”
“The what, human? Spit out!”
“Aren’t you dead yourself..?”
“And so are you?”
“Yeah, but- Hey, don’t try to change the subject!”
“You’re the one who started! ‘Oh, the irony!’ Oh, irony my dry ass!”

They were at it again… but they had to consider the importance of this mission. Therefore, it would suit them best if they hurried, so that this creature wouldn’t destroy as much as absolutely possible.

And here he was. He adjusted his cloak a little; it was rather short for a ‘cloak’, and the five magatama were quite apparent in front of the rocky background. To his surprise, though, the client had grabbed onto him in anxiety and took the shaman by surprise, making him scream: “W-WOAH! Hey..!” “Oh, i-i-is that you..?” the strange man asked in stutters, “Thank god… maybe I can sleep properly tonight… where’s the other?” The other? Did he mean Kyuken or Zirconis?

WC: 609

”… Uh, you said other there, right?” Mura asked out to be on the assured side. The confused and obviously paranoid client who had clung onto him resembled the attitude in the job paper, so Mura could quickly put two and two together and assume him as the client himself. However, there were a few ridiculous things enveloping him already; first, the intense clinging, in which the shaman began flailing in anxiety. “Y-Y-Y-Y-Yeah, yeah, don’t worry, don’t worry-“ he assured the male, in which he kind of succeeded in calming down the poor being. Also, the temperatures reminded him of Hana way too much; icy cold and stinging, just as her body temperature used to be. Now, there were clear differences between those two temperatures, anyway, so perhaps he was being a little hypocritical. The client finally got to breathe normally for a moment, but as his eyes looked up at the skies, sweat began trickling down his face. “It’s almost… night…” he whispered as many people around them - the citizens who were used to the uneven footholds on the cliffs and mountain of Mt. Hakobe - began tripping and sprinting and seeking their homes again. It was quite late, already, but due to the climate, night came earlier than in many other, southern territories such as Hargeon or Galuna Island.

“You see… you may have read about the behemoth… I tell you, it’s attacking us!” the client began elaborating in fear, “Our sacred shine… it was destroyed a while ago, in the middle of the night. I heard it from my home, and from the window, I spotted a dark-green bipedal… it had some spiky textures, it was definitely a behemoth… but those were said to be myths, it still confuses me so much..!” Oh well, Mura had seen many creatures out in the wild, and even though he barely knew the meaning of ‘behemoth’, it was certainly something to beware of. Now, it was able to attack at night and stay mystic to these people… it showed signs of intelligence. It must’ve been a well-aware creature who wished to cause havoc on other people’s properties, either for fun or because of something else… maybe these citizens lived in its territory without paying rent… maybe it just hated humans… who knew…

A certain figure suddenly stepped up between them, but because of the hood above said person’s head, Mura felt somewhat foreign to this lady. Her spirit did reveal her intentions, and so did her next words as she… uh… asked if he had been a behemoth lately? Well, by the way that the question was formed, combined with the next words, Mura couldn’t but tilt his head and…

“. . .”

Even the paranoid client earlier, who appeared to be accepting everyone for help, had a tilting attitude to what she just asked… oh, maybe she meant ‘seen’ instead of ‘been’. If those two words switched place, then the question made sense. He wasn’t one to question anyone’s way of speaking Fiorish, though, given his foreign background, so he apologized internally to her and spoke: “Now that you say it, this man just told me about it… wait, you must be the other wizard that he requested, am I right?” The shaman’s eyes pointed down at the poorly happy man whose happiness grew a little when this person arrived as he could see a bit more of her face from a lower angle. “Oh, indeed! I’m glad that you both came..!” he spoke in shelter of what appeared to be a snowfall; small, shiny snowflakes began soaring from the skies and down upon them.

“Huh… should’ve brought a coat myself,” Mura sulked softly, whilst Kyuken and Zirconis flew up right in front of the hooded person’s face. “So who are you, exactly? Also, let’s have a drink later-“ the samurai ghost was about to speak, but he was pulled back by the jaws of another spirit ball that appeared as a dragon’s head floating. Not a second’s hesitation to hit on another woman.

WC: 676 + 609 = 1285

It was true, the snow was taking its toll on the small mountain town. They would all benefit from some shelter soon, in which Mura would remember to aim for that later. The girl with the hoodie revealed her name to be Astrid, and upon closer look, Mura spotted the presence of what looked like a white lily… in her eye? Now that sure triggered his curiosity - what was a flower doing, stuck in her eye like that? Wouldn’t that hurt like hell… unless if it held a special purpose to the rest of the beauty. He would decide not to further worry about that for now - who knew, maybe its function would be revealed later, if what the client said was worth hostile action.

Wait… what was a behemoth, again? The cause of the destruction of the shrine was due to what the client described as a behemoth, and in that instance of time, Mura began thinking; was it a large animal? Would he be able to overwhelm it with speed? Or was it skinny and small enough to be overpowered by even his raw power? Could it fly? He wouldn’t find any problem with that given that he could fly just as fine as an eagle, and he could reach high speeds up in the air that would outrun, say, a hasty seagull? But no matter the things that he or any other wizard could do, predicting the future was a rarity among rarities, and Mura was beginning to get eager at what he might encounter soon… as long as he could take it down before it caused more havoc, then he would be satisfied with his efforts…

He would bow back as it befitted a Midian and greet, along with the client who bowed as well: “Hey, I’m Mura.” “A-And I’m Joe… please, it’s my honor.” The snow began falling a little more, enough for the shaman to literally fathom the change through his field of vision, and the cold that followed was classic for weathers like this one. It was not a wet-cold climate up here… more like a stingy cold like those at the plains up in the northern regions. He wasn’t used to that at all given that Midi was surrounded by sea - he clearly remembered seeing Midi surrounded by at least two grand seas the last time that he looked at a map - and with such a coast climate would only follow a wet winter that characterized itself by another type of cold. As such, the shaman actually began shivering in the middle of Kyuken’s flirting, his eyes covered in obvious annoyance of the samurai ghost and his motives. Now, many women would have been able to deny his moves given the obvious, thirsty atmosphere around the perverted bastard, but not alone did Astrid show signs of being able to see the samurai ghost; she also replied rather cheerfully. All of a sudden, Kyuken had a date… what did ya know…

Even Astrid noticed the weather now, so Mura would have to cope with Kyuken’s offer and find a good place. “Hey, Joe… you don’t have to worry about the monster anymore; we’ll take care of it, and your house will stay intact by the end of the day,” he assured the patient yet worried man in front of him. His words were cheerful and relaxed, almost as if he knew an outcome that would be in his and Astrid’s favor completely. “Say, uh… any good place to get some hot cocoa?” Blinking a couple of times, Joe would nod and wave them over to follow him into the mountain town, in which Mura smiled back at Astrid and followed up on the client. Kyuken and Zirconis would float over his shoulders during so, and his eyes moved around to sightsee the place. It was a very cozy and… well, cozy wouldn’t be the first thing to call it due to the dark sky above them that was covered in clouds that covered the sunlight. And it was winter, so the darkness was bound to appear soon. Luckily, there was a house built inside the foot of the very same mountain, only revealing a door of red brass. “Please, come in,” Joe would invite them, and Mura waited not a second to move in and experience a very cozy atmosphere inside; the first thing that his eyes caught was, surprisingly, their greatest source of warmth coming from the chimney.


The innkeeper would welcome them calmly, not so happily as Mura expected from an inn like this one, but it must’ve been because of the dangers that lied ahead of them. It would be imperative to complete the job thoroughly…

WC: 790 + 1285 = 2075