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{THIRD PERSON POV}
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John... Greta thinks that John is hiding something.
She had met a lot of traveler before who passed through khaleed and yet, she couldn't feel any traveler vibe from John.
Not that she is ungrateful to John but.. she just have a hunch that he is not what he seems.
But she wouldn't do anything to John anyway, she is very thankful at the fact that John had saved her and Hans's ass (literally in Hans case) from the fucker rapist.
She met a few hunters throughout her life but that was the first time she had seen one in action, John may had called himself a hunter in training of sort but.. if that is what a hunter in training is capable of, she couldn't fathom just how powerful a real hunter is.
He was so fast, she couldn't see all of it courtesy to Hans shielding her with his bkdy but she had seen enough to know that.... John could do a lot more than caving those fuckers head in.
He have that sword on his waist, and her instinct is telling her that John know how to use it.
It was a gamble in her and Hans's part when they asked John to train them and protect them until they reach Shade to have some profesional guidance to become hunter and huntress.
She... no... they don't want to be that powerless again, if John wasn't there... they... hans.... she... she would be... she... she would prefer dying than what would happened to them.
Shit... she doesn't know how to properly show her thanks to John, she tried her best to draw the maps to shade but she doesn't have the education or even take a real proper look at a map to show John a clear path to Shade.
And after that? Well Hans and her had eaten John's ration... does she feel bad? Yes.. but does she enjoy it? Of course, its free food who wouldn't like free food?
And thankfully once again, John is kind enough to not ask either her or Hans payment for the food, cause honestly they have nothing.
Their liens? Well she only got 15 liens from her pickpocketing venture yesterday, other than that? Nada.. except for a couple of knives she had stole and the clothes on her back.
She wonder how John would train them, she guessed that she wouldn't be as strong as Jaune anytime soon cause he probably have professional training since he was two years old or some shit.
Because ain't no way a normal hunter in training could do what he does! He literally caved in 2 bastard's skulls with a cold look on his face!
What kind of training had John had gone through because from the looks of it, he is their ages and yet he didn't even flinch when he basically killed those Red Cactus cocksuckers.
Whatever training they would had gone through on their journey to shade, she hoped that John would take it easy on them. Cause ain't no way both of their malnourished body could survive whatever brutal training John had gone through.
And that sword on his waist.. that looks really.. really well made.. even better than the hunter and huntress weapon that she had seen whenever she met one.
Considering how much hunters and huntresses love their mechashift weapons, she wouldn't be surprised if John's Sword could mechashift into a rocket launcher or some other absurd bullshit.
She can feel the vibe of a rich boy from him, but hey... she respect him cause it looks like he isn't spoiled, she can see the Callous on his hands that looks even worse than some of the callous she had seen from the adults back in khaleed.
Even now as he is leading the way to their next destination, she can feel the confidence in his steps as if nothing could hinder his way... like if a horde of grimm came, he could kill them easily or some shit.
To be honest she wouldn't be surprised if that is true cause look at him.... he came to Vacuo alone as a traveler, no ameture hunter in training would do that, and once again by the fact that he easily fucked up those two fuckers.. this doesn't look like its his first rodeo.
He probably killed a few people before.. no.. not a few.. most likely a dozen cause shit.. he looks so at ease with turning those two rapist's brains into mush.
She can feel her heartbeat in excitement because he agreed to train her and Hans, she doesn't even need to ask Hans to know that he also felt the same excitement as her.
And back in their house, the way he was deep in his mind, he probably was planning on something.. probably fighting or something alongside that shit.
She couldn't wait to be as strong as him someday...
<=======]==¤
'Oum dammit... are we still going north?' Jaune think to himself because frankly, he forgot about does the sun rises on the east or the west?
He cannot think clearly because all he can think about is either Mordred or the two men that he had.... essentially killed.
'Come on Jaune, you cannot be stuck on your head anymore. You got a responsibility now, those two are counting on you to keep them safe.' Jaune thought to himself and held back the urge to sigh. 'Dammit.. i should had taken Mordred's advice to bring her scroll with me.. cause.. damn.. i'm lost..'
Jaune then tilt his head up and glance at the sun.
'Well.. as long as i am going straight, we would reach a settlement or two..' he thinks to himself as he try to become optimistic, its really hard being his usual loving and kind self without Mordred by his side and the fact that he had destroyed 2 men lifes forever.
As he continue to lead the others forward he stopped as his instinct is giving him some warning.
Jaune raised a hand up and both Hans and Greta stopped.
"What's wrong John?" Hans asked him with a slightly worried tone because the abrupt change in Jaune's demeanor.
Jaune stayed silent and used a low level reinforcement on his ear drums and ear canals before he closed his eyes and focused.
He can hear something moving... in the sands.. whatever it is, it is bigger than him.
Jaune then quickly open his eyes and jumped back to Hans and Greta just in time to dodge a stinger that had been thrusted from beneath the sands.
Greta's eyes widen in fear as the creature that the stingers is connected emerged from the sand as it fully make its presence known.
Hans then open his mouth as he grab Greta's arm and back away from the grimm. "Its the nightstalker! I thought it were a myth to scare children!!"
"Its a deathstalker.. i never knew that Vacuo is one of their habitat." Jaune look at Hans weirdly. 'Maybe there are rumours of something killing people here but they couldn't find it... and that rumour turned into a story and then a myth with how long it had been ongoing to scare children from wandering off into the desert alone...'
He then put a hand on the hilt of Crocea Mors before he slowly unsheath it. "Well i guess it made sense considering that scorpions is generally found in the dessert."
Jaune then examine the deathstalker, it looks.. it looks normal, not an elder grimm that is for sure.. but it is certainly bigger than the average deathstalker so he guessed that its not normal at all.
And the way the Deathstalker is not charging straight to them shows that it have a semblance of intelligence.
"You're... you're on the verge of becoming an elder Grimm aren't you?" Jaune guessed that because whenever he had killed a grimm, they always charged at him and from what he read, elder grimm is more intelligent than a normal grimm and can even form plans and traps.
"How old are you?" Jaune hummed as both him and the Deathstalker have a little stand off. "50? No... like i said before, you're on the verge of becoming an elder grimm.. so closer to 90 years old aren't you? That would explain about how you turned into a myth.."
'If i used even a low level reinforcement, i could kill it with little difficulity... but i need to familiar myself with crocea mors.. and the surrounding too i guess.. it would be the first time i fight in the sands and not solid grounds.. i don't know how deep the sand under my feet goes down considering that it could hide a grimm that size.' Jaune thought to himself.
'I'm not at home anymore where i am most used to fighting grimm in the forest.. i am in Vacuo where sands could suddenly make me lose my footing.' Jaune then put his sword at his side with one hand.
Jaune waited for a few more moments before he used his footwork to turn his body slightly to the left as the deathstalker's stinger shoot out at him.
"Huh?!" Jaune's eyes widen in shock because.. that is not physically possible, the deathstalker's stinger shouldn't be able to reach him! They are too far away!
"You're a mutated!" Jaune deflected the stinger to the sude with Croeca mors as it shot out at him again. "You're a step away from becoming an elder grimm and you're also a mutate ontop of that? You're too dangerous to be kept alive."
Jaune then bend his knee and tried to dash to the deathstalker and true to his fear, his feet dig into the sand and made him lose his footing making him almost fall down at his front if not for teh fact that he had to roll down to hist left to dodge another attack from the deathstalker.
'I guess its also a good thing that i didn't use any reinforcement, if my base physical strength is doing this to me.... reinforcement would made it impossible for me to have proper footing because my feet would dig straight into the sands.' Even throughout all of this, Jaune still managed to calmly assess the situation.
Jaune quickly get on his feet and spread his feet slightly more apart than usual. 'I need proper footing.. i can't dash into my oppenent because of the sand.. i need to... dance... should had done it in the first place.'
Jaune then quickly slide his feet across the sand and run at the deathstalker as gracefully as possible as to not repeat his previous mistake. 'Just like roller skating Jaune... just like roller skating.'
The deathstalker than tried to stop Jaune by thrusting its stinger relentlessly at Jaune in which he Dodged with as little power on his legs as possible.
'This... yeah.. fighting in the sands is much more different than fighting on normal ground.' Jaune think to himself as he deflect the stinger once again to the side. 'Should i cut it off now? I could do it.. but if i kill it too quickly, i wouldn't be able to familiar myself fighting in the sand as i could if i leave it alive for a little longer.'
Jaune ducked under the stinger as it flew over his head. 'A stab on one of the joint of the stinger would make it useless...' when the Deathstalker pull back the stinger at thrust it once again at Jaune, Jaune simply deflect it once again.
'This is taking too long.. i'm not learning anything new by now... if only i could fight in the sand normally as i could on the grou-' Jaune's eyes widen as an idea emerged from his brain. 'Wait.. what if i spread my Aura on sole of my feet and let it transfered on the sand? Making a small layer of the sand harden temporarily by letting my Aura latched on to it!'
Jaune quickly back away before he let a small amount of Aura emerged from the sole of his feet onto the sand making a sandlike footstep.
He then test the footstep by putting his weight onto it and his feet didn't dig into the ground.
Jaune smirked and look at the deathstalker. "I'm a genius.. why didn't i think of this before?" Jaune then let out a soft chuckled as he talks to himself once again. "Well i guess i never really need to do this kind of things before.. never had the need for it."
'The next time it shoot it stinger at me, i could cut it off.. but.. but its intelligent enough to retreat if its sctually on the verge of becoming an elder grimm.. so..' Jaune tilt his head. 'Yeah... that could work...'
The deethstalker let out a frustrated screech and shoot out its stinger once again at Jaune and rather than deflecting it to the side, all Jaune did was move his head to the side and when the deathstalker pull back its stinger to attack Jaune again, Jaune grab the stinger and latched onto it as he let the deathstalker pull him and before the deathstalker can react to his action.
Jaune quickly covered his sword with a low level reinforcement and use the momentum from his body to cut the Deathstalker in two right down the middle.
Jaune look at the now dead Deathstalker before he sheath Crocea Mors back into its sheath/shield hybrid.
'If only i could get some more tricks from that fight.. i guess creating a new Aura technique is good enough i guees.' Jaune let out a disappointed sigh and he hears the sound of footsteps and sands before he turn his head to look at it.
It turns out to be Hans and Greta jogging to him with an awed look on their face.
'.....they could jog here on the sands.. well i guess they're more used to it than i had.' Jaune thought to himself as they stopped infront of him.
"That was so cool John!" Hans shouted at him excitedly. "You were like swish to the side and kaplank deflecting the stingers! Thats like pro hunter type shit right there!"
Greta nodded. "Yeah.. it was.. really good John... i can't wait to be able to do that after you train us.." she then let our a nervous chuckle. "Just go easy on us okay? I don't think we could survive whatever training you had gone through."
'....what does she meant by that?' Jaune is frankly confused about what does she meant by surviving the kind of training he went through. The training he had, consist of sparring with Mordred... exercising to build muscles.. helping around the town.. hunting the occasional grimm after he unlocked his Aura.. and more sparring with Mordred..
Its not that hard.
"Well... i will take it easy on you two.." Jaune decided to tell that to Greta just for the sake of calming her nervousness..
Cause frankly, he is also confused on why is she nervous at him.
He isn't scary.... right?
[AN: i would only be uploading a chapter today cause of the food poisoning! I will upload another chapter tomorrow and the day after that hopefully would be a double chapter! Sorry! And please support me on my patreon!]
[You could read up to 10 chapter ahead if you support me on patr30n. At patreon. com/Zaneninjacat]