Getting Aquainted [Hunt, Solo]

Gareth toyed with a blue leaf that had fallen on the ground.
He mused over how plants could get like that. Especially an entire forest of them. Perhaps the dust in the region did something weird with the trees?
Either way, this forest was huge. He personally liked walking the woods, even with the heavily stated danger. He was pretty alert and walked fairly quietly though, so he didn’t think he would run into too much trouble.

Walking was a good way to clear his head. There was a lot to clear away with all the things that had happened in his first few days here. Being stuck as leader of a team set for failure, not having any previous experience with all the fighting and hunter things and then not being able to use his only notable feature, his semblance, without getting assaulted. All on top of the normal homesickness and adjusting to a new place. So yes, a walk in nature would be good for him.

Gareth halted as he sensed he wasn’t alone in the quiet forest.
The brush rustled.
On second thought, maybe it wouldn't be that good for this health.

Like any Grimm, the Beowulf was drawn to negativity. This wasn’t abnormal; however, most were aware enough to avoid bringing their negative emotions out with them into the forest, especially when it was off the beaten path. The Beowulf was a young one, not quite as formidable as it could be, but certainly not a pup, it was stalking alone in search of prey when it sensed the negativity of one such human.

The Beowulf quickly zoomed in on the human in question, not quite being experienced enough to think to ambush it. As such the Grimm had made quite a bit of noise as it tramped through the forest, instinctively zooming in on the human and its negative emotions. Sighting the human did little to halt Grimm’s charge either.

Rather than any form of precaution it would attempt to lung at the human, trying to kill him in a single attack with it’s claws before it could run away or any such nonsense. The fact it had likely been seen and had charged the human head on was inconsequential to the beast’s animal intellect.


Hp: 130/130

Actions taken. One lunge attack 35 damage defenses not included.

Gareth gritted his teeth as an honest to goodness Grimm charged out of the trees. He wished he could have said he reacted on instinct or bold heroics but like holy crap seeing one rush him out of the blue did not exactly put him in the most rational or heroic mindset.
He had seen a Grimm before, (and that one was way bigger), but he hadn’t really had one that was actually after him personally.
Gareth took the hit straight to the chest, throwing him backwards. Before the thing could attack him more, the natural “get that thing away from me” instincts finally kicked in after the sharp pain and Gareth quickly summoned up his semblance.
The wolf-like Grimm was attacked by another wolf beast, throwing it to the side and battering it.
As Gareth got up he idly noted that...yeah his summon did actually kinda look like a Grimm. Definitely not identical in the slightest, but an understandable mistake.

Gareth pulled out his dust crystals, grabbing the first one on hand and throwing it at the Grimm. It burst like a firecracker, exploding into bright flames.
Once his wits had finally caught up with him, he grabbed his earth dust instead, throwing it to the ground. Rocky spikes jabbed upwards at the Grimm’s feet and disrupted its path to get to Gareth.
Gareth took a breath and straightened, trying to steel himself to fight more rationally.




Summon Active SP: 170/200
Defense: 3*5+10, 25. Gareth takes 10 damage.
HP: 90/100.

[Summoned Semblance, minus 1 attack]
Attack 1: Summon: 25 semblance damage
Attack 2: Dust: SPR4, 20+10=30 without defenses.
Attack 3: Dust: 30 w/o defences

The Beowulf had not expected the summon to appear, nor would it understand such a thing’s sudden presence regardless. All the beast knew was that an interloper was between it and its prey…prey that was surprisingly resistant apparently. Regardless, the summon’s attack hit the Grimm full on, knocking it a short distance from away. The beast growled at the strange creature, not understanding what it was but knowing that it was in the way. As such it swiped at the wolf creature. The action however and struggle with the summon, regardless of whether it would be effective, made it unable to avoid the fire crystal, causing it to be caught in the attack.

Regardless after the fire and smoke dissipated the Grimm let out a much louder growl at the human, moving just fast enough to avoid the spikes and making another attempt to strike the human swiping horizontally with its claws.

HP 80/130
Semblance attack, plus by 1 hit from dust attack
Actions taken: one attack at summon, 35 damage. One slash at Gar. 35 damage.

Gareth took a sharp breath when Hati was dispelled, knowing it would take a minute to get it back up. In the meantime those few moments would be taken up by a very angry wolf monster assaulting him.
He yelped and ducked straight down as low as he could to get under the swipe of its claws. He wasn’t sure how many hits he could realistically take, but he would prefer not to get hit again if he could help it.
Gareth grabbed a fire crystal again from his pouch and launched straight back up, throwing all his jumping force into a fire-filled punch at the Grimm above him. He wildly swung at the monster again.
He was at a loss of what else to do, really, since he wasn’t very experienced with using dust at a longer range aside from just throwing it and making it break. Then it wasn’t like he had an actual weapon to use instead. (The school, in fact, did not supply those.)
Gareth just kept trying to punch it until he could call back his summon. Maybe he could connect more this close when it didn’t have as much room to react.




[SP: 170. HP:90]
Summon takes 25 damage, Hati dispelled.

4 attacks: Dust: 30 damage, w/o defense

A Beowulf was not the type of creature to understand the nuances of the substance humans called dust. Nor would it have expected the human to be able to fight effectively given that it had been able to seemingly overpower him thus far. The grimm was knocked upwards slightly by the uppercut, and after landing and recovering simply had to trust in it’s own durability to fight.
A Beowulf was after all a simple creature, one of instinct primarily and as such one could not expect for it to be able to effectively evade a human’s fists quite effectively even if the idea occurred, due to both it’s size and the proximity this was not an option regardless. The creature tanked two more of the fire infused punches before somehow, whether by luck or simply understanding the threat to it the Grimm managed to avoid the fourth strike that might have otherwise proven fatal. It was fighting for it’s life now, and as such would hold nothing back now. Instead of running it opted to fight, making a horizontal swipe with it’s other claw before attempting to simply bowl over the human with a charge. Which it would then attempt to pin him to the ground should it prove successful.


HP 5/130 Three dust hits

Two attacks made, claw swipe and tackle/pin 35 damage each before defenses.

Gareth was pleasantly surprised he landed so many punches on the Grimm.
He was not so pleasantly surprised when the Grimm decided to double its efforts.
His strategy of "hit it close so it can't react" had been effective, but unfortunately, it was a double-edged sword as that also meant he couldn't react quick enough to avoid the hits either. He almost ducked away from the claws but it caught him enough to knock him off balance.
Then the Grimm immediately followed it with a fierce tackle, knocking him to the ground.
Gareth squirmed under its grip, but without a proper weapon or leverage, he couldn’t do much aside from pushing back against the Grim to try and ease some of the weight on him.
Gareth couldn’t call back his summon yet, it was still recollecting in the back of his mind (or wherever his semblance came from. Metaphysics wasn’t his strongpoint.) So he had to figure out how to keep from being mauled on his own in the meantime.
Gareth threw a knee up at its belly, unsure whether or not he had enough room to make a proper attack. He also threw a barehanded jab at the Grimm’s face, trying (perhaps mostly in vain) to shove its weight off of him enough to get a proper hit in.



DEF: 25, each hit does 10 damage
SP: 170/ HP: 70

Two physical strikes: STR2*5=10, no weapon bonus.

The Beowulf had been prepared to simply use its superior position to devour the human that had caused it far more trouble than they should, and its muzzle had reached down to finish the job eager for the kill. The human had caused this Grimm quite a bit of trouble, and the injuries had worn it down severally. Under normal circumstances, and had it been in a pack instead of alone things may have been different. However, the young Grimm was ready to now finish the job it started.

Gareth’s attacks likewise would have done little to the Grimm had it not already been fighting him wounded, with one merely hitting the armor and causing no real damage at all. However, the other attack connecting was what finally pushed it over the edge, causing the Grimm’s last strength to die, and it slumped down onto the human limply, before beginning to disappear as Grimm do when they have passed on.

0/130 Grimm is dead.

Gareth squirmed out from underneath the dead Grimm, kicking it away as he freed himself.
He just panted for a while, not bothering to get up from where he sat a few feet away.
Gareth grinned.
He had killed a Grimm!
By himself!
Gareth sat up, momentarily breaking off his excitement to remember he was hurting. He rolled his shoulders and settled into a comfortable position. He didn’t think he was hurt too badly. He’d be pretty sore, but nothing permanent or debilitating.
Gareth looked at the disappearing Grimm corpse. He nodded to himself and stood up. He’d probably be in trouble if he had to fight another one right now, but given another moment he could have resummoned his partner to bail him out of the pin. He didn’t have a weapon, but the dust seemed to be surprisingly effective once Gareth got into gear. He’d have to make sure to be more careful at the start of a confrontation and to make sure not to get knocked down like he had, but Gareth was feeling more confident he wouldn’t get caught flat footed again.
Maybe he could do this hunter thing after all.
A walk turned out to be pretty good for him after all.