Pumpkin Hunt

Wearing a magic bullet-laden bandolier over a black hoodie with a blue t-shirt and khaki cargo shorts with white tennis shoes, Victoria walked into the Haunted Village. It was dark, depressing, and felt like the village was just barely hanging on. Maybe the fact that the village was in the doldrums due to a curse was why everything about it was dark and depressing. She and Haraka were here to change that. They were here to give the villagers a little hope for a change.

Their task was to stop a horde of evil living pumpkins from destroying the village and terrorizing its people any more than they already had. This job would be new ground for Victoria both figuratively and literally. Well, mostly new ground. She had never been to Haunted Village before tonight, but she had dealt with supernatural entities on at least three occasions before. She was also working with an allied mage, a fellow by the name of Haraka Omaras she had met before in Hargeon Town.

This would be the first occasion that the pair worked together. The scale of the job was too big for Victoria to take on by herself, so she jumped at the chance to work with Haraka. Now they had to find the pumpkins and put a stop to them, but first she had to find her job partner before the search for the ambulatory overgrown vegetables could begin.

The brunette spotted a small blue flame and homed in on it. She once recalled hearing that blue flames were connected to the spirit world, but this one was not moving around on its own. Someone was controlling it. As she walked closer to the source, she saw that a person with blue hair was controlling the blue flame. It was Haraka.

"Hi there Haraka." Victoria greeted the West Fiore Trading Company mage. The blue light was providing ambient light for the two mages, which was good because Victoria did not have a flashlight, night vision goggles, or anything else to light up the gloom. She would be depending on Haraka to light the way for them.

"So, are you ready to go smash some pumpkins?" Victoria asked Haraka. She had received the bandolier she was wearing as a gift from fellow Sabertooth member Itori, who knew what the brunette wanted out of a magic item. It was supposed to boost the power and firing rate of her weapons spells; tonight would be its first test. She suspected that she would have plenty of opportunities to try out the bandolier on the enemy pumpkins.

[Word Count: 433]

The member 'Haraka Omaras' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

"Thanks for the light, Haraka." Victoria thanked the mage who had generated the light. She had left her flashlight behind for the umpteenth time and did not think to bring it. If she remembered to bring it in the future, she would need to bring a roll of duct tape so that she could tape it to a weapon for ease of use. Anyway, it was time to start smashing evil pumpkins who wanted to feast on the flesh of the villagers. They would get a feast all right, but not the one they wanted.

Victoria summoned her shotgun and began looking around the nearby farms. It was way too late at night for them to be grazing and there was little chance of any people being outside this late. People in the Haunted Village tended to go indoors and stay indoors once the sun went down, and with good reason. The rise of the evil pumpkins gave the village's residents one more valid reason to stay behind closed doors. It was up to Victoria and Haraka to get rid of the evil vegetables before they destroyed the village and killed everyone.

"It looks like we won't have to find them. I think they've found us." Victoria opined to her companion as the rustling in the fields got closer. Where were the pumpkins? She faced forward and saw the rustling die down... that was not good. Victoria aimed her shotgun in its direction and waited with bated breath. The tense evening calm was just about to end.

Victoria closed her eyes long enough to blink and out came a quartet of giant pumpkins on vines. They had burst out of the ground a few feet away from Victoria and had leaned down to try and take a bite out of the mage. Victoria avoided losing her face only by falling backwards and onto her backside, almost dropping her weapon in the process.

"LOOK OUT!" Victoria shouted at Haraka, raising her shotgun at the first of the four towering pumpkins and taking aim. Its head was a large target that was hard to miss, so that was a plus. The mage came out swinging by firing a Solid Slug that struck it below the right eye, blowing a small hole in its face and making it throw its head back before it made another attempt at taking a bite out of the brunette.

Victoria jumped back and fired her shotgun twice, each shot tearing small holes into its face. The magic bandolier was a big help in this fight because the brunette noticed that her spell's shots were flying a lot faster than they did without the bandolier. Combined with her reasonably good aim and the nature of a shotgun's projectiles, it was a trivial matter to hit the pumpkins with shot after shot. With five more Solid Slugs to its face, the first towering pumpkin fell to the ground oozing orange goo.

Its partner snapped at Victoria and grabbed the barrel of her weapon. Victoria screamed and fell back onto her backside; she recovered and aimed a Hand Cannon, firing a shot that hit the second one in between the eyes and making it almost spin around before it righted itself and glared at the mage. She brought out her sniper rifle and aimed carefully, then fired a Kinetic Shot that knocked it down and broke its vine. The second pumpkin creature did not move at all.

"We've got two more of them!" Victoria called out to Haraka, pointing out the nearby creatures. She then spotted a giant, hulking bipedal pumpkin creature off in the distance that definitely wanted them dead. It was in the distance, but it would get here very soon. They had better deal with the other enemies first.

"We've got a BIG pumpkin coming, so we'd better hurry up and deal with these guys first!" Victoria urged her job partner as she put away the sniper rifle and retrieved her shotgun, which was none the worse for wear.

[Word Count: 672]
[Total Word Count: 1,105]

Victoria got to her feet while Haraka did his thing, quickly engaging the two remaining pumpkin vine creatures with magic and with weapon. The brunette decided to select a different weapon since Haraka was now in the line of fire and an errant round of buckshot could hit him. She brought out her sniper rifle since it fired only one shot, minimizing the chance that he could get hit unless he jumped in front of the shot. It was then that Victoria realized that her job partner had the other two under control... her biggest priority was to wear down the big bipedal pumpkin that was until recently thundering towards them with murder on its mind.

Its approach had been delayed by vines that Haraka had set up and now she had a window of opportunity to hammer it without fear of reprisal. She had better make use of the chance while it was there because Haraka was now engaged with the last two pumpkin vine creatures. Victoria aimed for its face and fired a Kinetic Shot. The creature staggered from the impact and sprayed some orange goo from its face, but otherwise it kept fighting against the vines that were slowing it down. Hitting such a large enemy was easy, but doing enough damage to take it out of the fight would be a lot harder.

If Victoria did not care for collateral damage, she could call upon her Rocket Launcher, fire a Bunker Buster or two at the pumpkin, and be done with it. However, chunks of flaming pumpkin raining down would likely ignite the field and ruin the livelihood of the villagers, to say nothing of the fire's ability to ruin the village itself. The whole point of this mission was to protect the village and leave it reasonably intact. Victoria would simply have to do without her Rocket Launcher this mission.

She aimed and fired another Kinetic Shot at its face, punching another hole in it and making it stagger again without doing too much damage. It renewed the attack with the same dynamic energy that it had used to advance on the mages. It was then that the brunette had an idea. If she damaged its legs, maybe she could slow it down when it finally broke through the vines Haraka used to stall it. The mage changed her aim from its body to its legs to act on her theory.

The brunette carefully aimed at a leg and fired a Kinetic Shot, making orange goo spray out and causing it to momentarily kneel. That seemed to affect it. Now she knew where to aim, but the question was whether she would have enough time to really hurt it before it reached them. She would keep shooting anyway.

Victoria aimed another shot and fired, momentarily dropping it to one knee before it stood up again. She dispelled her sniper rifle and aimed a Hand Cannon, firing at the creature's leg and making it flinch. The leg had taken three shots and was still working, but each hit on the limb seemed to make it go just a little bit slower. Hopefully it would be enough to make a difference.

"How are you doing, Haraka?" Victoria asked her job partner.

[Word Count: 544]
[Total Word Count: 1,649]

The member 'Haraka Omaras' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

"Yeah, I couldn't have done this job alone either. You're pretty good yourself." Victoria admitted to Haraka, the mage who had just felled the giant pumpkin beast with two blade of ice and made it look so easy. Of course the Sabertooth mage had pumped quite a few rounds of magic gunfire into the giant target, but Haraka was the one to kill it once and for all. At this point it did not matter who ended its unnatural life. All that mattered was that the beast had been defeated before it could do too much damage to the fields or to the village itself.

"I hate that its falling ruined some of the crops, but when put up against the welfare of an entire village full of people, I'd say we got a pretty cheap win over it. Crops can grow back. People can't." Victoria said to Haraka, trying not to sound too insensitive about what just happened. She hated to sound insensitive to the plight of the farmer who just took a financial hit from the giant pumpkin beast flattening some of his crops, but the two mages had to weigh the survival of a village full of people against the crops of one person. A village full of people won out against a farmer's crops almost every single time.

Victoria had just taken a breath when she spotted more trouble snaking its way through the remaining crops, which served as an excellent early warning system for the mages. The brunette took another breath and exhaled. It was go time.

"Looks like you're right, Haraka. Look alive!" Victoria warned her job partner, who likely did not need any warning. The blue-haired mage had not made it this far by being a clueless mage, and neither had Victoria. The brunette had last this long due to being alert, being aggressive, and having a heaping dose of luck on her side. It was largely due to luck that she had escaped the basement of the Corlone mansion without being recaptured or discovered and killed by the organized crime soldiers. They had very good reasons for not letting her live, namely that if she ever told law enforcement of what had happened in the basement, the Corlones could get into deep trouble for kidnapping her.

Victoria called out her shotgun and waited until a vine monster popped up to try and take a bite out of the brunette. She stepped to the side and countered with a burst of Big Shot, which tore nickel-sized holes in the side of its face and made it recoil. She fired a round of normal buckshot that tore more holes in it and made it back off for a moment before seeming to disappear. Victoria watched the movement of the crops and waited for it to emerge; she did not have to wait long because it popped up in her face!

Victoria screamed and fell backwards, dropping her weapon again. The panicking brunette formed her fingers into a gun and fired a Hand Cannon, hitting the pumpkin vine squarely in the face as it rocketed towards her. She rolled out of the way just in time to avoid getting flattened or eaten by the pumpkin's lunge. She stood up and faced the next enemy, which was closing in fast.

"We've got another one coming!" Victoria warned Haraka, dispelling her shotgun and bringing it back out to prepare for the next attack.

[Word Count: 576]
[Total Word Count: 2,225]

"Yeah, a lot of stuff in the Cursed Lands tries to bite people." Victoria answered Haraka's question about the tendency of the region's denizens to try and take a bite out of visitors. The Sabertooth mage had taken a few jobs in this region before this one, so she could speak with the type of authority that derived from experience. She had not been bitten by any of them, but she knew that they were fully capable of doing so if given half a chance.

"Let's see. There's zombies, werewolves, vampires, giant pumpkin creatures, and normal wolves. They all try to take a bite out of you. There's also skeletons, necromancers, ghosts, but they don't bite. Yet." Victoria listed off the enemies that bit and the enemies that did not. She had encountered those strange enemies outside of Sakuramori during the Night of Eternal Darkness incident, but they were not normal parts of Earthland's fauna. The creatures she listed were all common threats in this part of Earthland. She had encountered zombies, skeletons, and necromancers in Silent Cemetery and ghosts and zombies inside the Haunted Guild. She had encountered werewolves in the woods of the Cursed Lands during the militia's retreat to Holy Castle.

"It's safe to say that you don't want to get bitten by anything around here. Zombies can turn you into one of them, but it takes almost a full day for the change to happen. So can werewolves, but the ones around here tend to tear their human prey apart instead of trying to infect people with lycanthropy. Vampires can turn you into one of them too, but they're more selective about who they turn. Not that I would really know because I haven't fought vampires yet. I just read parts of Sam Broker's book Draahcul when I was younger." Victoria informed Haraka. A fictional book was not ordinarily a good source of information on the real world, but it was all the brunette had to go on. She had not run into vampires yet and part of her hoped that she would not run into any because she did not know if her magic firepower would save her from them. Victoria had a Silver Dagger, but she would have to get dangerously close to the vampire in order to use it. She was not even sure if silver hurt them like it did werewolves and ghosts.

"I don't know what the bite of those giant pumpkins can do. This is the first time I've ever encountered them." Victoria added. Giant pumpkins were far outside the norm of what the Sabertooth mage dealt with. She was used to dealing with bandits, shambling corpses, and ornery wildlife, but she supposed that giant pumpkins passed for ornery wildlife around these parts. The brunette did not envy anyone who voluntarily lived in this region. She sympathized with them because of the diverse dangers they faced; the enemies out here made the gangs of Capital Crocus' streets look tame in comparison.

"If you need medical help, I have some healing spells that I can use to keep you on your feet until we get to medical attention." Victoria offered to Haraka. While they were not able to treat every malady and were no substitute for proper medical attention, her Combat Medic spells could keep the mages going until they could get back to civilization. Some healing magic was always better than no healing magic.

[Word Count: 575]

Victoria listened to Haraka as they described everything his father figure had went through to dat, including giving up his high rank in society to become a "No Rank." She could not imagine any of her Capital Crocus tormentors voluntarily relinquishing their rank for anything, not even love. They persisted in loveless marriages in order to acquire money and property for themselves, if not for their heirs. Victoria did not get very many chances to rub elbows in high society and really did not want to. She was not very keen on associating with people who wanted her dead just because she was born poor.

Even getting a father figure in the person of Lawrence Sheridan did nothing to raise her image in the eyes of Capital Crocus' people, so the pair left the capital behind and settled in some hole-in-the-wall village where she could be educated and trained in magic without judgment. Lawrence was an ex-soldier and mercenary who went wherever the money was and constantly looked for action, which did not make him the best father figure. Still, Victoria did not care too much because she was glad to have someone who cared about her enough to teach her magic so that she could defend herself in the future. Lawrence also put her in touch with someone who taught her the bartending trade so that she could make enough money to feed herself without having to resort to stealing food or scavenging from trash cans.

Victoria listened to Haraka describe how zombie and werewolf bites were a mild inconvenience thanks to their mixed heritage. She tended to meet a lot of interesting mages over the course of her work, and not all of them were "pure" human... or even human at all. She had met Izayuki, Astrid Foss the cyclopean elf, Seth Augusta the healer, Itazura, Saraphina Zima, Masha Dymonrel, Imai, and Ryo the red-coated... something. It did not matter what they were. As long as they treated her right and had her back in a pinch, she would work with any Legal or Neutral mage.

"I'm just a normal human who happens to have a particular set of skills. My adopted father taught me magic that enables me to punch far above my weight class. A friend of my father's taught me healing magic that can keep me or job partners going in tough spots. Those are both good things because I tend to end up in harm's way a lot." Victoria commented on her pure human lineage to Haraka. She did not have any super-special ancestors that she knew of, but she did not need them. She had gotten by just fine without them and would continue to do so because the brunette was determined to make her own way in the world. All she needed was her magic, a few good job partners, and plenty of luck to keep making her way as a mage.

"So your father figure was a tracker too, huh?" Victoria asked Haraka.

"My father figure was an ex-soldier. He taught me everything he could about his magic. It's saved my life more times than I can count." Victoria said to him. It saved her life against the crooked cops in Hargeon Police Department, against the heavily armed crime syndicate in a private airport in Rose Garden, against those strange creatures during the Night of Eternal Darkness, and against the demon lord Zupazu underneath Hargeon Town. Being able to summon weapons that let a twiggy girl like her take on fully grown men and demon lords was an asset because the element of surprise was often as effective as the weapons themselves. Most people did not expect her to be able to summon a shotgun or rocket launcher at will nor be able to fire magic projectiles from her fingertips. Merces Letifer was a case of the magic being suited to its user.

Victoria then recalled Haraka asking about her job experience in the Cursed Lands. She could not answer very many questions about her family, but she could certainly discuss the Cursed Lands with authority. She had taken three major jobs in the region and this would be her fourth.

"I've had quite a bit of experience doing jobs in the Cursed Lands, Haraka. I've taken three jobs here before this one. I've fought zombies, skeletons, necromancers, ghosts, and even werewolves. I've been to the Haunted Guild twice and Silent Cemetery once. You've gotta be careful out here, especially when you work alone like I do." Victoria said to the West Fiore Trading Company with authority gained by firsthand experience. She had been through her share of close calls and scrapes with disaster. She had gotten through her first job at the Haunted Guild with the help of that Haruyuki guy and Zhuu. The second job at the Haunted Guild was completed with the help of Serena Anderson, the cleric from the Order of Lightbringers that she was hired to rescue. She had also gotten help from a homeless militia that had patrolled the region; they gave her and Serena a ride out on their way to Holy Castle, the Order's headquarters.

Victoria was about to talk more when she heard that Haraka did not want to hang around while more of those creatures were still lurking somewhere in the area. Her job partner wanted to hunt them down and destroy them while there was still time. The brunette did not blame Haraka... they were not getting paid to socialize while the village and its residents were in danger.

"You're right, Haraka. We can talk later. Let's go hunt the rest of those pumpkin things. Lead the way and I'll follow." Victoria requested of her job partner. She was ready to put an end to the evil vegetables. With Haraka's help the brunette would complete the job.

[Word Count: 1,000]
[Total Word Count: 3,800]

The member 'Haraka Omaras' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

"Yeah. My adopted father's an ex-soldier who came here from far away. He taught me the magic because as you can see, I'm kinda twiggy and far from the strongest person in Earthland. But with the magic I use, I don't have to be physically strong to hand someone their ass." Victoria replied to Haraka with no small measure of confidence. Her magic was not the strongest in Earthland and she was not the most physically adept fighter, but with Merces Letifer magic she did not have to be the strongest or most physically adept mage to hold her own in a fight. She had an array of magic weapons that let her punch far above her weight class and gave her some measure of crowd control as well as the means to dispatch individual opponents. However, most of her weapons were not very stealthy except for the Silenced Sniper Rifle. All in all Merces Letifer was a case of a magic being suited to its user; Victoria was at her best when subtlety was not a consideration.

"A friend of my father's taught me Combat Medic magic. As the name implies, it lets me heal myself and others so that I can do more than sling lead downrange. It suits me because I tend to get hurt a lot and can't exactly drop in at the local hospital in the Cursed Lands or in other wilderness settings." Victoria said to Haraka. Again Combat Medic was a case of a magic being suited to its user. Victoria used it to heal herself enough to see out of her swollen left eye after the last clash with the Corlones in the sewers of Rose Garden. She also used its less-than-lethal weaponry to avoid killing Corlones and thus avoid legal trouble during her quest to free the captives the crime family took with the intention of selling them to slavers for quick cash. While no one would have lost much sleep over the criminals being turned into Swiss cheese, Sabertooth did things the legal way.

In the end doing things the legal way worked out for Victoria because the Corlones collapsed thanks to the overwhelming evidence of their illicit dealings she had taken from an accountant in the sewer. Their top lieutenants were getting arrested left and right, their properties were getting seized, and Francesca Corlone herself had gone on the run to avoid arrest. Their hold over Rose Garden had been permanently broken and the family was unlikely to return to power any day soon. That outcome was a lot better than what would have happened if the Sabertooth mage had settled for storming their mansion and turning it into the set of an action movie. She would have most likely been arrested and the Corlones able to play the victim to turn the press against Sabertooth in general and Victoria in particular.

Victoria was amused when she heard Haraka remark that humans were adaptable. She was even more amused when Haraka asked what else Lawrence Sheridan had taught her. She did not even know where to begin.

"He taught me that the most valuable skill one could have was knowing how to fight." Victoria began her explanation.

"He said that if you knew how to fight, you wouldn't have to look very hard for work. With so many bandits and two-bit dark mages running around, you'd better be able to defend yourself. And if you can't defend yourself, it's good to know someone willing to fight for you." Victoria summarized one of the many lessons that Lawrence Sheridan had taught her. It was not a family-friendly lesson, but it was an unfortunate truth of the world she lived in. Far too many people thought that might made right and used that as an excuse to do whatever they wanted without consequence. As a Legal mage, it was Victoria's job to make sure that there were consequences for beating up on the homeless or other people who could not defend themselves from the aggression of others. Lawrence had been proven right because Victoria was getting hired to protect others and getting hired to deal with bandits who thought that robbing the client was a good idea.

Victoria was about to explain further when she spotted more evil pumpkin beasts lumbering their way. The mages were about to face off against six of the pumpkin dogs, four of the pumpkin vine things, and the towering pumpkin beast that took a lot of time and effort to kill. Victoria brought out her Light Machine Gun and began to open fire on the pumpkin hounds, turning one to pumpkin bits with a Five-Round Burst as the other five continued to run towards them. She fired another Five-Round Burst and killed another before the remaining four closed in and began to menace her and Haraka.

The brunette was not fazed and simply aimed at the nearest hound, firing a Five-Round Burst into its head and turning it to pumpkin bits oozing orange goo. The remaining three lunged for her at once. She spun around the first one and jumped back to avoid the second, then jumped over the third, landed on her feet, and fired a Derringer shot into its back, making small chunks of pumpkin leap off of its back. It yelped in pain and immediately spun around for another attempt at pouncing on her. She could not bring her LMG up in time before it pounced and knocked the weapon out of her hand with its body.

One of its packmates seized the weapon by the barrel and hauled it deeper into the field to keep the mage from getting it back. Victoria was surprised by its intelligence, but the gesture was in vain because she could simply dispel it and have it ready to go again in moments. She would not have the time to do so because the hounds were pressuring her with repeated attacks. Victoria aimed a Hand Cannon at the wounded pumpkin hound's body and fired, tearing out more chunks of pumpkin and making it yelp. One of its packmates pounced onto the back of her armor and knocked her to the ground, leaving her vulnerable to their attacks.

"I need some help!" Victoria called out to Haraka.

[Word Count: 1,068]
[Total: 4,880]

The member 'Haraka Omaras' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

"Thanks Haraka." Victoria thanked the other mage for coming to her rescue right when she needed it the most. Those pumpkin hounds had gotten way too close for comfort and were about to sink their teeth into her when the West Fiore Trading Company mage intervened and got rid of them with his blades made of ice. Victoria climbed to her feet and brought out her Light Machine Gun again, ensuring that she would be ready to face the next wave of enemies. She heard howling in the distance and knew that company would not be too far off. It was time to fend off more of the pumpkin hounds,

"We've got more of them coming in, Haraka!" Victoria warned her colleague. She counted nine pumpkin hounds, ten of those vine creatures that kept popping up and shooting fireballs, and two more of those bulky bipedal pumpkins. She had better get shooting before they all showed up at once. He first priority was eliminating those pumpkin hounds since they were the fastest threats and could distract the mages at the wrong time if they got too close.

Victoria hefted her Light Machine Gun to her shoulder and aimed at the first pumpkin hound. She fired a Five-Round Burst to the head and brought it down. She repeated the process two more times until she had eliminated the first batch of three. Victoria aimed at the first pumpkin hound of the next group, which had reached the hallway point of the field. She fired a Five-Round Burst and brought down one with shots to the head and torso, then killed another one in the same fashion and killed the third with a Five-Round Burst to the head.

With the destruction of the second batch, there was one more batch of them to go before she could focus on the more numerous but slower pumpkin vines. The third batch had crossed the three-quarters mark in the field, so she had to get rid of them fast. She aimed at the first and used a Five-Round Burst to the head to stop the first of the three, then turned on the second and fired another Five-Round Burst to the torso that brought it down. The last one was killed with a Five-Round Burst to the head that made it fall and tumble to a stop just five feet away from Victoria's shoes.

Now that the fast-moving pumpkin hounds were defeated, she could now focus on the pumpkin vines. Two of them popped up a short distance away and were about to spew fireballs. She reacted and fired at the first on full-auto, hitting it in the head several times and making it flop backwards so hard that it almost broke its vine. The second one managed to fire a flaming ball at her, which she blocked with a Caduceus Shield. The golden shield blocked the projectile and made it dissipate in a shower of sparks which quickly fizzled out in mid-air.

Victoria dropped the shield and spotted another pumpkin vine aiming at her, so she took the initiative and fired on full-auto until it dropped with multiple wounds to the head and a few to the right of the section of vine that functioned like its neck. It fell forward with a THUD and the third opened its mouth to fire. Victoria reacted by firing a Five-Round Burst that hit it in the roof of the mouth and made it fire its projectile harmlessly into the air as its head snapped back. She then fired another burst into its forehead that killed it and watched as it collapsed to the dirt on top of its predecessor. Three of the ten pumpkin vines were dead, but seven of them were still active, as were the three giant bipedal pumpkins.

Another pumpkin vine popped up close to her and leaned down to take a bite out of her skull. She shrieked and jumped back, then fired on full-auto until she sheared its head from the vine. The pumpkin head fell to the ground and began to snap its jaws in her direction until she fired again and turned it into a mass of orange goo with a hail of bullets. A fifth chose that time to emerge from the ground, then suddenly lunge and seize her by the Bandolier draped across her left shoulder. She was hoisted into the air when it lifted itself straight and kicked her feet while trying to aim at it and free herself.

She fired from the hip and managed to graze its face with a few shots, forcing it to drop the mage to the dirt as it writhed about after receiving its facial wounds. Victoria landed on her back and yelled in pain, then forced herself up to finish it off. A little over two dozen rounds later and the bullet-riddled pumpkin collapsed in defeat. That was five of the ten pumpkin beasts that had been killed. The remaining pumpkin vines retreated for a moment as a giant bipedal pumpkin stomped forward to challenge her to battle.

Victoria aimed at its face and fired on full-auto. It was so big and so close that it was impossible to miss. It staggered backwards under the hail of bullets that chipped away at its face and the arms it raised in defense. It eventually took too much damage under the endless hail of bullets to stay on its feet and fell backwards, hitting the ground with a loud THUD. Victoria had to pause and let the barrel of the LMG cool off before she could continue using it.

"We've got five more of the pumpkin vines and two more of those giant walking pumpkins to deal with!" She informed Haraka as the barrel of her weapon began to cool down.

[Word Count: 988]
[Total Word Count: 5,868/8,000]

Victoria saw that Haraka had pruned down the enemies to leave only two of the pumpkin vine things and that pumpkin giant remaining. She had better finish the pumpkin vines before the giant got here or things could get ugly for the two mages. She aimed her Light Machine Gun at the first pumpkin vine and let the weapon do the talking. Its loud report split the air as it sent a steady stream of rounds at the creature, which was doing a jerky dance as the bullets hit its face and knocked off chunks of pumpkin. After five seconds of sustained fire the pumpkin had all it could take and pitched forward, landing on the ground with a THUD and sending out a cloud of orange goo when its "head" broke on impact.

The second pumpkin vine did not stay idle while its friend was shot to death. It shot a fireball at the brunette and she saw it out of the corner of her eye. Victoria raised her left hand and used her Caduceus Shield to stop the fireball before it got to her. The golden shield absorbed the impact of the projectile and made it disappear in a puff of orange sparks that Victoria quickly stomped out once they hit the ground to prevent them from igniting a fire in the field. Victoria had just stomped out the last of the sparks when she noticed that something was amiss. Where was the pumpkin vine?

It popped out in front of her and lunged at her left arm, grazing it with its teeth as she retracted it just before it could bite down on her arm and possibly remove the limb. Victoria hefted her weapon into position and fired at the creature, which dodged by going underground again and not emerging. She waited for it to emerge before firing again. While she waited she noticed that her left arm was starting to bleed at the forearm where its teeth made contact with the skin. It had been cut when Victoria yanked her arm out of its mouth before it could close down and remove the limb entirely; she did not lift her arm enough to avoid the teeth, but having her arm cut was a lot better than having it bitten off.

The pumpkin vine popped up again and glared at her before spitting another fireball at her. Victoria raised her bleeding left arm to use Caduceus Shield to protect herself from the burning projectile. It slammed into the shield and dissipated in a puff of orange sparks that were stomped out when they touched the ground. She then turned her attention to the creature, which raised itself upright before plunging at her with its jaws aimed at her head.

She jumped to the side and hopped two steps before righting herself, then turned to face the creature and saw that it had accidentally buried its head in the soil when it tried to slam into her. Victoria took the opportunity to run in front of it, aim her weapon and open fire on the pumpkin before it could recover and go into hiding again. She held down the trigger until it bled orange goo from multiple bullet wounds and did not move. The pumpkin vines had been defeated, but in the meantime the giant pumpkin beast had finally arrived and was spoiling for a fight.

Disregarding her bleeding arm, Victoria faced down the giant and aimed her Light Machine Gun at it. The beast looked at her with an orange light in its carved eyes before reaching a hand towards her, a hand which she promptly shot at and starting tearing chunks out of until the creature had enough sense to pull it back. It withdrew the badly wounded hand and tried to step on her instead, but the Sabertooth mage was ready for that possibility and again jumped to the side and hopped two times in order to keep her balance. She aimed at its leg and opened fire, shooting its "knee" over and over until it staggered backwards. She then aimed for its body and fired again, holding down the trigger until the barrel overheated and she had to lower the weapon to the ground.

Thankfully Victoria was far from defenseless. She could use her Derringer and Hand Cannon spells before having to pick up her Light Machine Gun again. Victoria led off with her left hand, firing a Derringer at its face and hitting it just above its upper lip. She then put her hands together and fired a Hand Cannon shot, hitting it above the right eye. The beast staggered back but was not yet finished with her. It soon walked forward and tried to stomp her again, but by this time the Light Machine Gun had cooled enough that it could be used again.

Victoria seized it and fired at the beast, holding down the trigger and aiming for its face to bring it down quickly. Chunks were being ripped out of it and it was rocking back and forth until ten seconds later it fell onto its back and did not move. It had been defeated at last.

Victoria extended the bipod and set the weapon on the ground, then cast her Medical Bag spell on herself to heal the arm wound. The bleeding stopped moments after the spell was used... she would have to disinfect the wound later, but the wound was closed and she could focus on fighting the enemies. Victoria picked up her weapon and turned to Haraka.

"How many more of those things are out there?" Victoria asked her job partner.

[Word Count: 946]
[Total Word Count: 6,814/8,000]

Victoria looked towards where Haraka was pointing and saw something surrounded by a flock of crows, something that was not one of the numerous pumpkins that they had been fighting until now. She had a feeling that it had something to do with the curse that had been animating the pumpkins and sending them after the villagers. If the mages could bring it down the curse should be lifted... in theory. There was only one way to find out whether that was true or not.

Victoria followed Haraka as the latter closed in to take a better look at the figure surrounded by crows and stopped a short distance away from Haraka to give the latter room to retreat if the crows started to attack her job partner. The brunette focused on the figure and saw that it had a human body but possessed the head of a jack-o-lantern like the ones liberally dotting Sakuramori during the Night of Eternal Darkness incident. Victoria listened to Haraka opine that the Sabertooth mage was better suited to distance combat than the West Fiore Trading Company mage and was about to take aim at the figure when a magic firestorm was slung in their direction. Victoria did not need to take a big hit right before the final battle for Haunted Village started, so the brunette raised her left hand and created a Caduceus Shield to block the spell. The shield was raised just in time to spare her from getting burned; the spell was broken up into smaller fireballs that floated to the ground and soon fizzled out without fuel to sustain them.

Not content to be target practice for the strange figure, Victoria had a decision to make. Did she get rid of the crows first or did she shoot at the big guy himself? She did not want to make a choice to start combat without Haraka being on board with it. She would ask them first.

"Hey Haraka, what do you want me to attack first? The crows or the guy himself?" Victoria asked her job companion. Whatever course of action they decided upon, both mages needed to be on board with it before the fighting started. For this battle she would follow Haraka's lead because Victoria could not fight the crows and their master simultaneously, so she and Haraka would need to work together to win.

The crows squawked menacingly as they circled over the guy's head and watched the two mages closely. The feathered fiends would be sure to jump in once the fighting started, so someone would have to kill the birds to make the fight easier. Haraka had already all but stated that eliminating the birds might be her responsibility, so Victoria got ready to shoot them out of the sky before they could interfere in the fight with their master.

[Word Count: 480]
[Total Word Count: 7,294]