Disclaimer: I do not own Worm or the Monster Hunter Series.

Big thanks to 6thfloormadness (SB) for betaing and proofreading the chapter.

Recently (-ish) I've learned that one of the reasons that I used FFN mainly as an archive - namely troubles applying corrections to chapters - was either fixed or caused by a bug in the first place.

This poses the question whether people would prefer shorter chapters that are delivered more regularly (-ish) or the big blocks as before? I'm truly curious for people's opinions so, please, let me know when posting a review/a piece of feedback or simply throw a pm my way if you reviewing isn't your thing but still want your opinion to be heard. On a related note, also feel free to pm mistakes you might've spotted. I'll try to correct stuff as best my schedule allows.

On a similar note, thank you very much for the reviews, follows, and favorites. It's quite frankly a bit overwhelming.

Either way, I hope you enjoy the chapter and the experimental foray into smaller bite-sized chunks.

Chapter 4.1

A howl reverberated off the walls of the valley leading to the coast.

I stopped trying to salvage the stomachs and fluids from the big insects that were hanging out around the mushrooms by the shore.

With a curse, I dodged the strike of one of the annoyed bugs and began running towards the origin of the sound. The elusive monster I had been searching for before getting… distracted by the local hyper-aggressive insect life.

It wasn't because I had been wandering around for more than half an hour looking for my designated prey without any luck. Neither was the detour caused by me getting angry at the altaroths that were mocking my efforts and decided they needed to be taken down a notch.

No. It had been a strictly controlled collecting outing due to the usefulness of the materials. That most of the insects had been smashed into unsalvageable paste by the slab of iron I was calling a sword was purely coincidental. I was completely calm and collected.

Similar to how that fluid collection wasn't a failure, the way my claws dug deep into the wet mud wasn't caused by the intense desire to retreat from the place before I got further spit upon.

It was pure, sheer single-minded drive to accomplish the mission my Power had picked for me now that I had a heading. Nothing else.

The forest environment flew past me as I enjoyed the extra spring in my step that my scaly ninja outfit was giving me. I easily dodged out of the way of a couple of charging boars with the armor Carol had deemed "too revealing" for patrol.

Of course, it didn't cover me in layers and layers of heavy armor. The whole goal behind it was to allow me to move like the ninja wyvern I had to kill to make it. And it wasn't as if people would be looking at me more than usual. That boat had long since sailed after I became the crazy lizard lady who also loved cats. I had even used fishnet to cover the otherwise uncovered areas all by myself but doing more would simply mess up the effects. If I could deal with the uncomfortable stares for the sake of pragmatism, someone unaffected by it certainly should as well

Sure, the pride I felt at completing the armor and how great it felt moving around with it did help me forget most embarrassment. That and hanging out with Vicky and her fashion sense. Either way, it shouldn't matter anyway if it allowed me to patrol better.

Another series of reverberating howls forced me to redouble my effort to get to the monster making them. A shiver went down my spine and informed me that I shouldn't allow whatever my prey was doing to keep doing it for much longer. My intuition finally caught up and started to provide snippets of information about what I was about to fight. It came to the same conclusion as my spine and guts. This, in turn, caused the part of my mind who preferred to scream at me during a fight instead of helping out to radiate smugness from her private room of my headspace.

If there was one thing I was increasingly sure of, it had to be that I shouldn't allow the azure draconic wolf to finish his howling charge.

I had to suppress a shudder when the zinogre's cold eyes focused in on my running form.

My body tingled thanks to the electricity the wolf was gathering on him. The glowing bugs on his back danced with power when I disengaged the magnets that kept my oversized sword on my back and dug my talons into the rocky soil. I rotated my upper body away from the monster to stretch my muscles taut, preparing for one mighty strike.

The goal was to hit the head that was a foot over mine square in the face through the medium of a moderately fast moving slab of iron. This would then have stopped him from amassing further charge. I didn't need my Powers to tell me that the way electricity arced between the now upright spikes on his back was a bad thing for me.

What happened instead was that the electro bugs had reached a critical mass as my sword was moving through the air.

Lightning rained down upon the zinogre bathing him in it. Hitting me in the process in a far less harmless manner. Electricity caused my muscles to spasm, launching me backward into a heap of soreness, liquid flames coursing through my skin, and sheer pain to radiate throughout my body.

I had trouble focusing my eyes on the beast that was leisurely walking towards me. At least I thought he was strutting because the golden-blue, crackling blur did get bigger.

My teeth hurt. It felt like someone had set my nerves on fire. Ozone and smoke stung my nose while I tried to regain control over my body. I had to get up before the giant wolf could get to me. I really didn't like how the beast was sizing me up.

The spams continued even after I got my feet back under me.

I shouldn't have bothered.

The zinogre shoulder checked me with sheer disdain and since my hands were still in a death grip around the handle of my sword, all I could do to just take the blow. The only reason I kept standing was due to my talons once again tighly grabbing the floor.

I blame my general dazed state of mind for this poor decision.

Holding my position opened me up for his follow-up attack.

The last thing I registered of that encounter before a combination of blunt force trauma, the shock, and rending tear robbed me of my consciousness were the brown-golden ridges and the tail they were attached to barreling towards my face.

The next thing I remember is the gagging stench of smelling salts and Cocoa's smug face hovering above mine.

"Ya messed up, boss," the felyne stated the obvious.

I groaned in reply and decided that lying on my back for a moment longer was the right course of action. I had to run a mental check to see what the damages were anyway.

"Got greedy," I replied while my hand explored the deep gash in my face. "Is he still in the same clearing?"

"He purrsued the cart until the distraction team lured him to the other valley." At least the monster hadn't completely carved out my nose. Amy would have been annoyed if something needed regrowing. Again.

"Thanks for helping me out there," I said after confirming that my gear wasn't too damaged.

"No pawplem," the mafioso cat purred as I forced myself upright. "It's what ya pay us furr."

I groaned softly at the reminder that I just lost about a third of my share just because the beast decided to cheat.

The Greatsword felt too impersonal after what happened. Especially when I had a toy I wouldn't be able to use otherwise and that was almost to tailored to take him down.

I reached down and grabbed my Bag of Holding from its place on my belt.

My entire arm disappeared into the small pouch of stretchy khezu leather as I looked for better weapons for the job. The weapons I needed were somewhere near the bottom of it to make sure I could easily grab the Potions and other tools even when in a hurry.

The first time Vista saw me go all Mary Poppins probably gave her an even greater headache than the little crafting session that preceded it. One she could luckily share with Kid Win who had the joy of experiencing my flavor of crafting up close and personal for the first time. It was his condition for donating one of his antigrav pads. The self-doubt that hung over him like a dark cloud afterward made classes together uncomfortably awkward the following week. Especially since he was still hoping he could find his own specialization soon and all by himself. There was so frustratingly little I could do to help him other than straight up telling him.

I sighed, pushing back the dark core of irrational guilt. I had to focus

My hands, guided by both the memory of where I put them and the chilling cold one of one of the two swords emanated, firmly grasped the weapons that would be the end of the zinogre.

I was only vaguely aware that once again both arms had disappeared up to the shoulder into the bag while I was caught up in the moment. With a muttered curse I pulled them out, glad that this time there weren't people watching me do it. The Mary Poppins comparison had spread like wildfire and Vista had only been too glad to pour oil on that fire by sharing tales of my testing session.

While the fad was unfortunate and slightly embarrassing, the jokes was still on them. After all, I was the one with a magic bag that could hold spare weapons on top of rendering them nearly weightless.

Still, seeing the opening of the pouch stretch to accommodate the overgrown sword on steroids while putting it back, I did decide that I should wait a bit longer before I made the Bowgun that looked like a parasol.

Besides, something as harmlessly looking as a parasol would be a good bargaining chip if Carol got onto my case again about looking too dangerous. It wasn't like she'd understand anytime soon that I can't force the forms of my weapons or armor without losing much of their efficiency. It was unfair that she called me out on weapons looking like they could hurt someone.

Just like she had when I was done making the pair I lovingly and creatively called Snow Venom. It might have had something to do with how the two swords looked like raptor talons on steroids and acid. Or it how one was made of everlasting ice capable of freezing flesh in a single stroke while the other emitted the sharp acrid stench of the congealed venom it was made of whenever I swung them. Whatever it was in the end, Carol had forbidden showing them off to the general public. Soon after I got an email with the same "suggestion" from the PRT's PR department along with the usual one from Armsy where he kindly asked for permission to study it.

I refused to let my hard work go to waste, though. It would have meant I had frozen my ass off fighting the unexpected giadrome pack and braved the mires in search of the iodrome for nothing. It was one of the reasons I looked forward to being spirited away every week. Nobody could tell me I was going overboard - at least not until Halbeard reviewed the footage. I didn't have to limit myself to the friendlier looking weapons.

The blue and purple claws snapped to the magnets embedded in the armor after returning my precious bag to its rightful place.

I rolled my shoulders and felt a smile creep on my face. It was time for round two.

"Ya going out again?" Cocoa stated more than asked after I took a gulp of Potion.

My nose tingled as the edges of the gaping wound grew together and fused with one another. It made me sneeze.

"I'm no quitter," I replied checking the fastening mechanism of my weapons just to be sure. "Especially not after he made it personal."

"The Zimeowgre's thunder is known to stun even expurrienced hunters," the felyne s offered with a mischievous twitch in his tail. "We generally make a purrpose of avoiding it."

The draw of my two swords was effortless when I shot the wiseassing cat a dangerous look. He reveled in it without the slightest hint of shame.

"I wasn't planning on getting hit by it." Cocoa's eyebrow rose in distilled doubt. "Not anymore at least. You still have the tabs on it?"

"He hasn't moved much, nya. Just go down and take the next valley on the left" He chuckled softly. "Just use ya nose and ya find him soon enough. He still stinks of shit."

With a nod of thanks, I ran out of the small cave they dumped me in. Ground was covered even quicker than my first beeline towards the monster now that I didn't have a slab of iron on my back.

I practically flew past a pack of screeching jaggi when I began my ascent into the second valley and closer to the unmistakable stench of wyvern excrement. A frustrated howl was heard while I made my way up the gentle brook. I could sympathize with the overly aggressive dog. Somewhere in the process of making these Dung Bombs something happened that made the smell that much more repugnant and revolting – rumor had it that Lung still hadn't forgiven me for my creative escape from his… recruitment attempt about one and a half months ago.

The trees gave way to a waterfall which flooded a rocky basin that fed small brook I followed to get there.

In the middle of the stone floodplain, the zinogre was pacing back and forth in frustration in front of the waterfall. It looked like he wanted to get rid of the awful stench, but knew that it would also wash away much of the bugs that supercharged him by the time he even got close to that.

Which fit me just fine.

I drew my swords when I was almost on top of him back and focused on what I wanted to do. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I visualized the carnage I was about to unleash, my heart flooding my limbs with precious blood.

The sound of falling water was more than enough to mask my excited and heavy breathing. The fact that I was downwind was only a matter of formality thanks to the overpowering stench of dung he himself emanated. Red started to creep in along the edges of my vision.

The zinogre let out a startled yowl that pitched up in pure rage when I slung myself into his left hind leg, rotating while using the slick stones underneath to lose none of the forward momentum.

Ice bit into the scaled hide near the tendon only for a congealed venom to infect the wound as the follow-up strike, opening it in the process. Once more did the frosty sword score a line on the beast body before I had to duck to avoid his saw-like tail when he swung around to face me.

His maneuver carried him a dozen yard away from me and the waterfall that could potentially wipe away an important advantage. The same lightning that arced between the raised spikes on his back seemed to make his eyes glow an icy blue as he started to slowly circle around me, sizing me up with startling intelligence.

I forced myself to wait a moment despite the panting breaths I was taking to maintain the heightened physical prowess. This was the monster that managed to knock me out in a brief series of attacks mere minutes ago. I couldn't get sloppy – no matter how much I needed to break through the forcefully induced aggression before my body simply stopped cooperating.

My patience was rewarded when the zinogre suddenly charged with a speed that might've startled some of the lower end speedsters. My nerves allowed me to notice that the beast was counting on me to retreat and gave me all the freedom I needed to act upon that insight.

Instead of dodging out of the way of the charging beast the size of a big van, I returned the favor with my swords at the ready

I slammed both blades into his massive front paw and slashed with all the might my burning lungs allowed for. They screeched as I raked them over the thick armored scales but didn't do much to actually harm the beast barreling down upon me – let alone stop him.

What my attack did manage to do was to forcefully slide me over the slick floor after hopping over the wicked claw that almost stood perpendicular to the rest of the murderous instruments. There was enough power in the strike to push me towards its back. It carried me far enough to jump over the monster's flat tail instead of his arching back as he gave a vicious hip check that would've otherwise send me flying into the cave wall with terminal velocity – likely eviscerating parts of my armor in the process.

The zinogre roared as both ice and venom struck the back of his tail deeply while I rolled over the dangerous appendage.

I barely noticed the sheer wall of sound the bellow of frustrated anger the zinogre made before the beast had reoriented himself to face me once again. During the last attack, I had felt something slide into place. The red in my vision was still there but where there was first labored anger, it was replaced by a tranquil purpose. I knew how and where to move to avoid getting impaired by the enormous sound.

He brought down his left leg wreathing in static energy. I twirled and dodged to his big barrel of a chest to avoid all of the claws. Lightning struck the spot I was previously standing in together with his meaty paw and my feet tingled.

The zinogre snapped at my head even while he prepared to bring down the other paw upon me but he was too late. I used my own claws to reverse my rotation and escaped through the gap between his left leg and body. Both my blades slashed his left armpit on my way to relative safety.

A grin spread across my face as the zinogre was forced to tear open the ice that had spread into the wound by simply moving, tearing a bigger hole in the process.

Another hip check forced me to use his already wounded hind leg as a jumping board. Once again, I punished him with a pair of swallow slashes to clear the bulk of his body, breaking three erect and charged spikes in the process.

I got lucky then when my first successful strike paid out right then and there. The iodrome poison contained in the maliciously purple blade had begun its work weakening the surrounding tissue and numbing the nerves. The zinogre left hind leg slid out from under him when he tried to halt his enormous momentum. This caused the fresh wound in his armpit to rip open even further as he tried to compensate the imbalance.

The resulting hitch in his movement, the smallest pause it created as the monster still powered through the motions, allowed me to throw myself to the ground. I dodged the tail that came at my face like a demented buzz saw while the overgrown wolfdog used his healthy paw as an axle for a murderous pirouette. Drops of hot blood splattered onto my icy blade with an angry hiss and served as a stark reminder that I wasn't out of trouble just yet.

He had barely landed, staring at me with murder in his eyes, when he dashed away only to flip over again. The big tail was brought down upon me like a sledgehammer. My paranoia was the only reason why I wasn't pancaked. He had shown already that he had a far bigger range than was reasonable. I was already moving before he even landed.

I suddenly switched directions when I felt another spike in static electricity. Once again, a leg came down upon where I was supposed to be like Mjolnir itself. That I decided to slide under him both saved me and allowed me to rake his belly while he twirled once more.

This time, however, he wasn't happy with just showing off his acrobatics. Instead, he decided that he needed to become completely airborne and have me meet his electrified spikes up close and personal. My claws gauged the smooth stone as I forced myself to stand and launched myself forward and out of the way of the zinogre coming down upon my back-first and overflowing with electricity and the intent to impale me.

He crashed with an angry sizzling thump that made the ground shake. I charged into the vaporous cloud it created the moment I got my feet underneath me. I ignored the burning of my still-raw nerves as the residual electricity of the blast flowed through the water around the beast. The sting of ozone was almost enough to mask the coppery taste of blood in my scalded mouth as I plunged in both blades to their hilt into the awkwardly writhing form.

I got in half a dozen of blows before the zinogre managed to get back on his feet. The bugs that got scattered with his latest attack coalesced back to him.

He let out another undulating howl and I felt my hair start to rise together with the redoubling of the acrid, stinging stench ozone.

I half-threw my two blades towards my back in the desperate attempt to free my hands, trusting the magnets I built into both the armor and the weapons to firmly attach them to my back. I simply didn't have the time to do more than hope for the best while frantically scrambling towards the nearest cliff wall.

I didn't want a repeat of the last time – especially not when I was standing in the water and I could already barely feel my feet due to the electricity that flowed through it moments ago. That had been surplus charge simply flowing out - not an outright attack by itself.

The numbness of my feet helped mask the impact as I forced my talons into the smooth rock of the cliff with a disturbing crunch. Lightning was arcing out of the zinogre as I pushed through the pain and climbed up higher and hopefully out of the way of being fried. Thunderous cracks came closer to me and my nerves felt like they were on fire. It was even worse than when he hit me in our previous encounter.

The zinogre only gave me time to get up about two stories before he unleashed the entirety of his pent-up electricity with a piercing roar of hate. Even at that height, there was enough juice in that single attack to make my muscles tense up and force me to bang into the wall. Thunder bugs landed on my clenched-up form to add to the teeth-shattering agony.

It was only after the canine wyvern started to recall them that I was able to move once again.

At least the things had done me one questionable favor: The pain they caused was more than enough to prevent me from feeling the damage I had done to myself. They even added fuel to my inner fire that got fed into the trance-like state I had fallen into at the start of the battle.

Anger and pain made a lot of things seem reasonable.

Things like launching yourself from your relatively safe perch towards a monster that was about twice as tall as you. With likely broken feet.

Still, it was what I ended up doing with a snarl when I saw the zinogre strut towards me in annoyed disbelief.

My swords seemed to simply appear in my hands mid-leap and I started to rotate.

The icy blade bit into the beast's head just behind his right horn with a crack and I used it to push off, rotating my body like a deranged roller to get the venomous brother pierce the hide behind the head.

I accelerated down the zinogre's back, ignoring the shocks and gashes his spikes and bugs inflicted on me. It was more than worth it.

My opponent sagged a bit while the venom entered his bloodstream in concentrations that were starting to get dangerous for him. Spikes broke off where I struck them, and I felt more than I saw the thunder bugs fleeing their previous safe-haven.

The finishing touch was added when I reached the claw-like tip of his tail and jerked myself sideways using my venomous blade to swivel me around. The ice blade joined the wound and violently pulled the two swords apart, using the leftover momentum to tear through the scales and tissue.

I landed on my feet only have my legs buckle underneath me. I slid under the pounding waterfall with a grin on my cut-up face.

I wasn't the only one who had lost their footing and my landing spot allowed for an excellent view of the beast collapsing with a pitiful yelp. The sudden jerk he toppled with whipped his tail around and caused the tip of his tail to tear off with a wet ripping sound that managed to be heard over the thunderous rumble of the waterfall.

While we both had inflicted terrible wounds on each other, I had one key advantage. I could cheat.

The zinogre's legs were refusing, buckling out from underneath him every time he tried to get back up while my claw found the squeezy bottle with Potion and the other pushed me upright. I saw my toes twist back into their proper places and orientation even while my prey was losing dangerous amounts of blood from his tail stump and numerous wounds on his back. Not even folding what remained of his spikes back did much in the way of stopping the flow from the torn-open gashes.

He was about to die and the cold, blue eyes that peered at me from underneath one snapped-off horn told me he knew it – and wasn't about to let it happen without a fight. His bugs were gathering one last time.

I leaped up as soon as my bottle had disappeared back into my bag of holding and charged at the zinogre with both swords out.

In a surprising display of tenacity, his feet finally found purchase and he jumped and flipped over while he launched half his remaining bugs at me. I barely managed to evade the curving ball of electricity and biting insects that came my way and the next ball only missed because his abused left side threw off his timing.

Still, I had to dive at him to get out of the way of his final attack.

Both blades found the soft flesh underneath his jaw as the last of his strength left him and he collapsed upon landing. His mouth snapped shut where my head had been moments earlier and then he fell still.

The venom and blood loss had claimed his life.

I started collecting the broken off scales and spikes as soon as I felt the familiar tug behind my bellybutton that indicated he was truly dead.

The severed horn wandered into my bag as well as the tip of his tail and I had just enough time to separate his left front leg from his body before the world twisted and changed in a flash of white.

Reality twisted, folded, and inverted for a moment and suddenly I was back in our basement. I dropped the leg on the tarp we had learned to prepare for my little trips and gently rested my blades against the wall to be cleaned.

The door opened moments later to reveal Dad who gave me a once-over. Concern melted away when he saw that I was still in one piece and seemingly healthy.

"You had a good one?" he asked with faked nonchalance.

He didn't like that I disappeared more than once a week – especially not when it became clear how dangerous basically everything was on the other side. Still, Dad was forced to admit that he couldn't do anything to prevent it or to help directly in that manner. He simply missed the strength needed and I hadn't been able to construct a bowgun that I deemed good enough.

"It was a productive hunt," I answered while taking the fresh towel he brought. "Took a bit longer than I liked but other than that, it was great."

I decided to omit how close the zinogre had gotten making me his next meal. I couldn't bring myself to cause Dad to worry even more. I didn't want to have him think he was doing too little for his only daughter. I would've gone mad in bureaucratic hell without his constant help. He was willing to drive me to the farm every day on top of having his own job.

"So, the dent in your helmet and the scratches on the armor weren't caused by anything dangerous?" he asked while taking the camera I handed him.

"The monster got in a glancing blow or two," I replied while wiping off most of the blood and cursing his newly-rekindled observing nature. "The felyne distracted him for long enough to prevent it from becoming a problem. It's what I pay them for."

Dad didn't quite buy my cheeriness or my smile but decided not to put his doubts into words.

"In that case," he said instead. "Get cleaned up. There'll be pancakes when you're done."

I moved to hug the saintly slayer of rumbling stomachs but was prevented by his outstretched hand on my breastplate. "Thank me after you take a shower. If I went to work covered in blood people might think I finally snapped and became another serial killer. And I haven't spoken to Jack in years!"

With a chuckle, he left me pouting and hurriedly getting off the grime that might drip on the floor.

He had to send the footage to the world's second-best Tinker and feed a ravenous beast. I had to secure my spoils against thieving cats and prepare for a brand-new day of nervous glances people thought they could hide. And Jimmy.