NOVPUBFirearms were supposed to cause little to no damage to cryptids and were used only as a means to cause them pain and take advantage of the kinetic force to keep them at bay. Nika's Peacemaker, however, packed quite the punch and each bullet caused the same damage one of her melee attacks would.
Unfortunately to Nika, she lacked the ability to summon more ammunition and the despite gun being so old it looked more like an antique than a modern firearm, it still drained her batteries to the point where after the brief combat she was almost out of both ammunition and energy.
Luna attempted to behead the puppeteer and attack all the vitals, but despite its anthropomorphic figure the cryptid's anatomy was entirely different. She clawed, but and even bashed at the cryptid causing gruesome wounds that the puppeteer had no difficulty in healing.
Medusa, on the other part, didn't focus any special attention to finding a weak spot and limited herself to stomp on the fallen creature with such force its shadowy flesh splattered in a disgusting pulp faster than it could regenerate.
The cryptid had been defeated and had no means to defend itself as its limbs would be rip apart or stomped into a messy pulp before regaining the ability to even move. All it could do was to produce shrieks and yaps that would have terrified everyone present if not for it's current pitiful condition, though no one actually pitied him.
The onlookers had seen how the cunning creature had taken the girl hostage and how it had no qualms in harming the werewolf when it attempted to rescue the small child, but more importantly, it was an enemy of humanity as a whole and it sole existence was a sin enough to sentence it to the most painful death they could deliver.
Therein lied the problem, no one knew how to actually kill the cryptid and the hunters that took it down were already starting to get tired.
"Luna, are you sure you don't know how to kill this thing?" Nika asked after firing her last bullet and joining Medusa in the stomping.
"This is the most boring and tiresome game of Whack a mole I ever played." Medusa added after they received a low whimper from the werewolf on their side.
Luna didn't just come up with the weak spots when they faced cryptids, it was the result of years of study and careful preparation that allowed her to provide an educated guess on how to defeat them. Without the information, research and study she was just like anybody else.
"If we don't do something soon, this thing will recover. Perhaps we should call for help." Medusa spoke after a minute. Her muscles were already aching from overexertion and her breath was becoming shorter. Medusa's words prompted one of the onlookers to take a step forward to offer a helping hand.
"I'm from the Boitano company, I have an offensive trait and I'll help you if you let me keep the flux orb." The hunter, a man who seemed on his early thirties, spoke with excitement. Just by delivering the finishing blow the man was bound to earn a lot of credits without risking his life or doing any of the heavy lifting.
"Don't listen to him, I'd rather crush this thing's orb rather than handing it to that bastard." Nika grumbled. It wasn't just the fact that other hunters were present and did nothing to help that bothered her, what bothered Nika was that as shameless as that offer could sound it was the way things usually went.
It was a taboo for hunters to steal the kill from another company, but if someone asked for help they were bound to pay a hefty price and not just the reward from the fight, but also money from their pockets.
"Did you all hear that!? They'd rather let a flux orb go to waste than asking for help from a fellow hunter." Another hunter murmured amidst the crowd. His energy signature was so faint he barely passed as an ascended, but he belonged to the same Boitano company and would likely benefit from supporting his colleague.
"Maybe they're not even human. They are in their true form now, they're just acting like hunters to throw us off!" A woman accused and it didn't take a genius to understand she also belonged to the same company.
Most companies would just offer hospitality services such as restaurants, hotels and even tour guides since it was safer but not the boitano company. It was focused on the scavenging business which meant they had many combat able hunters, but rather than hunting cryptids they just infiltrated lost cities and salvaged what they could before things became dangerous.
It was a profitable business, especially since those kind of companies were rare in the Hollywood city.
Nika clicked her tongue in disgust and she wished she wasn't so busy trying to keep the cryptid from regenerating to teach those guys a lesson, but as the murmurs increased she started to notice something.
More and more people arrived at the scene, all of them belonging to the same company. They were all small fries, but not only they spread nasty comments like the ones mentioned before, they were also slowly but surely getting closer.
"Nika, I just heard one of them say they're waiting for us to get tired, then they'll kill all the witnesses." Medusa was too tired to be shocked by the Boitano's company lack of morals and she was starting to think that maybe the best solution was to give up on their loot.
Luna was wounded, Nika ran out of ammo, Miss Dragonfang remained by the side of the girl to keep her safe until her mother regained consciousness and she was so extenuated she was starting to lose focus.
"None of this would have happened if Uriel was here." Nika sighed, thinking how he would have either killed the cryptid by stealing its life force with the Red thread of fate or murdered everyone out of annoyance.
"Where is the witch? She was supposed to be here already." Medusa grunted when she noticed her stomps on the cryptid had become weaker to the point where it started to slowly regenerate its body.
It was precisely what the Boitano company hunters were waiting for and things started to look so grim Medusa placed her hand on the blindfold out of instinct. She didn't want to kill innocents, but it was better than getting slaughtered along with everyone present anyway.
"They didn't deny being cryptids, I'll take care of them." Announced a tall man, probably the strongest among the members from the Boitano company currently present.
"Wow! You are so brave mister hunter." Emma's voice oozed so much sarcasm the entire city was left with none.
"Are you one of them? Maybe you too..." The man attempted to rebuke, then shut up when he realized Emma was pointing a camera to his face that for some reason remained on despite the cryptid's presence.
"I am one of them, actually. If you're not going to help, then scram." Emma said with the confidence only someone strong could muster, though when the Boitano hunter realized she was just an ascended and a nasty grin climbed up to his face.
"You just admitted to be guilty, everyone heard it, right?" The man turned to the crowd expecting nods in reply, but found the cold glares of the rest of the Dungeon Raiders that showed up on the scene with the Pegasus hovering at a distance.
"We'll take it from here, Miss Medusa, you can rest now." Amy informed as she stepped in.
"How did you guys know?" Medusa asked amidst pants, her confusion evident as she turned her head from side to side trying to make sense of what happened.
"It was Bella, she saw what was going on and decided to inform us. Even if you defeated the cryptid, those guys were already closing in on you as soon as they thought it was safe to approach." Emma explained as the Boitano company hunters scattered all over the area like rats fleeing a sinking ship.
Their day ended with just a few beast orbs gathered from the strange crows and the entity level flux orb they obtained from the puppeteer, but they knew it wasn't all they gained.
"Who are those guys? Why didn't you inform me they had a fucking zeppelin?" Asked Martin, the heavenly rank hunter who was publicly humiliated after fleeing from the scene without so much as a peep.
On any other circumstance he would have at least threatened them with the full might of a respectable company, but he didn't make it all the way from an evolved to a heavenly rank hunter by messing with things he didn't understand. If there was one thing that scared him more than facing a stronger enemy it was facing one he didn't know anything about.
"It's because they're just a small company, they're fewer than 50 but more than 20 members. with those numbers couldn't possibly expect them to own a zeppelin, let alone be able to even fly one." The hunter who started the ruckus at the scene replied apologetically.
"Dammit, they must have taken the chance when their city was under attack to steal a ship those lucky bastards." Martin spat on the ground then snorted. "I'll inform the boss anyway. We may have found ourselves a ship."
The sun disappeared in the horizon taking with it the hunter's advantage when fighting against cryptids, making the night in the city seem like any other ordinary night, yet with just one day's worth of effort the city was already a safer place.
