(SCENE: MANSION) (POV: OSCAR)

I'm currently sharpening my swords. Been getting kinda worried, since I haven't used my swords for a while now. Don't want them losing their edge.

Though not sure if the same could be said about me. Haven't had the chance to kill anything since I've gotten to this new world. Right now, I guess I was having a little bit of an identity crisis. After all, Witchers were only built to kill, kill and kill again.

We don't know how to do anything else. Our Witcherism bounds us to killing and killing only. Many Witchers tried to abandon the Path, but they always end in their deaths.

But I decided to throw away those thoughts when I felt someone tapping my shoulder. Turning my head around, I saw Naofami with a scroll in his hand. "Hey man, what's up?" I asked as he hands me the scroll. "This just came in for you. And it doesn't look good." He says.

I grabbed the scroll and gave it a read. And true to his word, it's not good at all.

Dear Master Witcher,

We, the people in the town of Matlock, have been attacked by very large monster.

A monster unlike any we've seen before.

We've heard tales and stories of how you've helped stopped the crime wave of thieves in Masayoshi and how you've bested the Hero Arios and his friends in combat, so we figured you'll be the best for the job.

Meet up with us at the Council Room, since they're so kind and generous to let us stay there temporarily until you slay the beast. If you wish to bring allies to help, you can. Though, we'll need to discuss about rewards afterwards if you do wish to get help.

Signed,

Orion, elder of the village of Matlock

I rolled the scroll back up and put it in one of my belt's pockets. "So, who do you wants to come with me?" I asked Naofami, who shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know. Me and my group have a job to do shortly, Rein's group are off at those mines and the Hero Guild got sick from their adventure in the swamps. But I think Keyaru's group are available. I can ask them to meet you at the Council." Naofami explains as I nod my head at this.

"Sounds good. Tell 'em not to take too long, cause I might leave without them." I said as I whistled for Zephyr, who immediately bolted to my side like lightning. I hopped onto his saddle and rode off to the Council Room.

(SCENE CHANGE: OUTSIDE OF THE COUNCIL BUILDING) (POV CHANGE: 3RD PERSON)

Oscar arrived at the Council, but decides to wait outside for Keyaru and his group to arrive. He waited about 5 minutes when the group arrived. "Sorry if we were late! Guren took ages to groom her tail." Keyaru says, while having a teasing grin on his face.

"Hey! You know I like to keep my tail well kept and groomed!" Guren exclaims, causing Keyaru and the others to chuckle at this. Oscar cracked a small smile as it quickly changes into a serious one.

"Now then, you all ready to help me with this job? 'Cause I hate quitters that give up halfway during a job." Oscar says as they all nod in confirmation. "Okay, then let's get to the Council." He says as he and Keyaru's group enter the building.

(SCENE CHANGE: COUNCIL ROOM)

When Oscar and the others entered the room, they see several people being cared for by the members of the Order of Light & the Council members.

Oscar and Keyaru's group carefully walk past every Order of Light members who were busy caring for the village members of Matlock until they reached the center of the room, to see the Council members talking to an elderly man.

'Hmm, imperial mustache, plum cheeks. Important individual, that must be Orion.' Oscar says in his mind as he and his group approached them. "Sorry to cut in, but I believe there's a job for us to do." Oscar says, getting their attention.

"Ah yes, Oscar. You are correct. Elder Orion requested your presence about a mission involving the monster that rampaged through their village." Olga says as she gestured for Orion to explain, who understood the gesture.

"Of course. You see, our night was just like any other: calm and peaceful. But then, we were awakened by the sound of a monstrous roar. Before anyone could even question what it was, our armory was destroyed by something large. We sent out scouts to locate the beast, but we came with nothing. But then, our village was suddenly attacked. The beast was certainly large enough to be the one to destroy our armory, but that was all we can say, since it was night out and the moon was hidden behind clouds. Many of our best warriors were injured, but we are thankful no casualties were made, can't say the same for our village. We heard stories and rumors about Oscar's feats, such as defeating the Hero Party without much effort, so that's why we contacted you." Orion explains.

"We can take the job. But we'll discuss rewards afterwards. Where's your village? We need to look for more clues. Your people won't tell us anything we already know." Oscar says as Orion nod his head in agreement. "Our village of Matlock lies East of Masayoshi. It could still be smoking from the various fires that occurred when the monster attacked us." Orion says.

"That should be enough. Take care now." Oscar says as he and his group left the room.

(SCENE CHANGE: RUINS OF MATLOCK)

Oscar and his friends arrived at Ruins of Matlock, which was a destroyed mess. Oscar hopped off Zephyr as he tries to inspect the ground with his Witcher Senses, but turned up with nothing.

"No good. Too many people and creatures have been through here. Can't even tell between a dog and a human amongst this chaos. But there must be something else here that could give us a lead." He says as he turns to the group. "Everyone, split up and spread out, look for anything that could help us track this beast. Hair, shit, prints and piss, anything that could help us look for this creature." He instructs.

And so, everyone split up & searched for anything that could lead them to the monster.

(TIMESKIP: 2 HOURS)

Unfortunately, their search turned up to be empty. Strangely, the monsters tracks seem to be chaotic and almost drunken like. As if, it chugged down mountains worth of alcohol.

Everyone gathered at the center of the village ruins as they decide their next plan. "Maybe we can try and look for the monster's main source of food or water?" Keyaru suggests as Oscar shook his head at this.

"Won't work. Don't know what the creature is or what it's preferable food is. For all we know, we could be searching the entire kingdom for a plant eater that only eats the rarest of plants." Oscar says as they continue to brainstorm.

When suddenly, a badly injured man rushes out of the brush. He trips on a stone, falling in front of the feet of the group. Kureha and Setsuna helped the man onto his feet as the man started panicking and saying all kinds of stuff.

"Big! Horns! Massive! Scary!" The man randomly babbles as Oscar sighs in annoyance at this. "We don't time for crap." He says as he approached the man. "Calm down and tell us what happened." He orders as he used the Axii Sign on the man.

This worked as the man calmed down. "Yes, I'm calm. And I tell you all what happened." He says in a robotic like tone as he starts explaining everything. "Me and the boys were working on the special drugs for Princess Flare, Princess Norn and Lady Blade when we were attacked by a beast unlike we've seen before. It was as big as boulder and ugly as hell itself. It butchered three of my men and destroyed our base of operations. It got worse when the beast started chugging down our produces. It started acting like a drunk, but it turned a 180 degrees in an instant and attacked us. It was vicious, relentless and it lost any sense of decency as it even charged straight through a barricade of spikes and fire we made to stop it." The man explains, angering everyone present.

"And when did this happen?" Oscar asked. "Last night." The man says. "What did the beast look like?" Oscar questioned. "I couldn't see it, but I did caught a slight glimpse of it. It was large and resembled something like a goat or a sheep." The man says as Oscar groans at this. "And finally, where is your base?" He asked as the man points behind him. "Down south, in a cave, near some plains." The man explain.

"Kureha, Setsuna, get this scum to a cell and treat half of his wounds." Oscar orders as he turns to Guren and Anna. "Guren, Anna, you two look for any maps of this area and mark any spots that are far from any civilizations and able to withstand immense force." He orders as he turns to face Keyaru. "Meanwhile, you and I will go to this base." He says as he placed a hand on his shoulder and looked Keyaru in the eyes.

Keyaru seemed to have understand what Oscar is planning as he adopts a determined expression & nods his head. He then turns to his group. "You heard the man. Let's do this." He says as everyone nod their heads and went off to do their assigned jobs.

As soon as everyone left, Oscar whistled for Zephyr. His noble steed swiftly rushed next to them as Oscar hopped on and helped Keyaru up as they raced off to the man's base of drug making operations.

(SCENE CHANGE: DRUG MAKING BASE) (POV CHANGE: OSCAR)

Me and Keyaru arrived at the base that scum was talking about. We hopped off Zephyr and approached the base. We saw several bodies laying around and several destroyed machinery.

I bent down to inspect one of the bodies. "Hmm. Interesting, this person died, but haven't been eaten. Unlike his friend." I said as I look towards the other body next to it, which was half way eaten. I took a bit of a sniff. "I see. The monster seems to only eat the only covered in this strange drug of theirs. So, we need to gather a small amount of it." I said as I grabbed a undamaged beaker.

I then approached a shelf and grabbed a bowl that contains strange pink liquids & poured it into the beaker. I then put a cork onto it as I gave it a shake test, to see if the cork was placed on tightly.

"Good. But still need to examine the base. Can't leave any stone unturned." I said as I explored more of the base. But all I came up with nothing. However, I've been seeing a lot of crystals embedded into the walls. Magic ones at that, cause my medallion has been pulsing whenever I pass one.

I decided to dig one out. Carefully digging my hunting knife into the wall, I forced the crystal out of the wall. I caught it before it could hit the ground.

I regrouped with Keyaru, who had a crystal as well. "Wow, great minds must think alike." I said as I approached him. "Tell me: what exactly are these crystals? Obviously not meant for decorative purposes. Because my medallion was vibrating every time I passed one." I explained.

"These are security crystals. They record events and such. Such crystals belong to Proum and Queen Elizabeth. Obviously Queen Elizabeth wouldn't think to give crystals to such scum, so all that leaves is the bastard and his slutty daughters." Keyaru explains as I hand him my crystal.

"Think you can access them? Maybe get them to show us what happened?" I questioned as Keyaru gave me an unsure gesture of 50/50. "Well, we can take and accept guesses. We'll hold onto the crystals until we get back to the kingdom. Besides, I'm sure Queen Elizabeth would love to see what her husband and daughters have done." Keyaru says with a sadistic smirk on his face.

I was a bit creeped out by that, but I choose to ignore it. "Anyways, find anything of interest?" I asked. "Yeah, check this out." Keyaru says as he hands me both a pile of paper and a broken horn.

I inspect the horn first. "Yep, definitely the horn of a Chort. And this one is unfortunately doped up, so he's twice as dangerous as a normal one." I said, thinking aloud.

"Why do you always do that? I can my own guesses." Keyaru asks a simply shrugged at him. "Bit of a habit I picked up while on the Path." I simply said as I set the horn down and look through the paper.

They were letters and messages. Half were sent from Proum & his daughters while the other half are from these shit stains. It also seems like these bastards were using people that stray too far from the village as test subjects.

I folded the papers up and stuffed them into my belt. "I think we're done here. I'm heading back. Why don't you stay here and do away with this piece of rubbish." I suggested as Keyaru smiles wickedly and nod his head.

I then whistled for Zephyr as we rode back to the village.

(SCENE CHANGE: BACK TO THE VILLAGE)

As soon as I got back to the village, I heard a loud boom, meaning Keyaru has just blew up the base. "Good riddance." I said to myself as I hopped off Zephyr.

I was approached by Guren and Anna. "Hey girls, got anything?" I asked. "Yeah, found a few good spots and something strange." Anna says as I got confused at this. "Strange how?" I asked.

Guren then hands me a piece of paper as I read it. "Apparently, Orion knows of someone that's an expert in mutations." She says as this peaked my interest. We Witchers are made through sorcery, alchemy and mutations, so this could benefit me greatly. But business before pleasure.

"Well, we can discuss this later. For now, let's focus on the monster." I said as I folded the paper up and stuffed it into one of my belt pouches. I then grab the map from Anna and examine the spots they've marked.

They picked really good spots: 3 in forest like areas, 2 in the plains and the 6th spot lies in a rocky like area. But I need to figure out a good spot for the trap.

Since the Chort attacked near the village, we can cross off the forest spots off the map. The plains are good, since they offer much room and mobility, but that also works in the Chort's favor too. I can't risk that since I'm with people who haven't even battled a Chort before. So, I crossed off the plains on the map.

"Okay, I got a plan, but we need everyone's help. Go to Setsuna and Kureha & tell them to lather the man up with this." I said as I hand Anna the beaker of the drug I've got from the base to her. "Also, tell them to leave a trail towards the mountain area so the monster can follow it. Once you reached the spot, leave the man on the ground and get someplace high. Then finally, make sure close off any openings." I explained as they seem to have understand what he has planned.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, using someone as live bait?" Anna asks in concern. My only response to that was to hand her the letters I've got from the base. "Read it and ask me again." I simply said.

She reads the letters and once she finished, her expression turned into one of anger. "You know what? Forget I said anything. Let that monster die and rot in hell for all eternity." She angrily says as she hands the letters back to me.

Both she and Guren left for the cells as I hear Keyaru coming back. "So, nothing left?" I asked as Keyaru smiles proudly at this. "Good. Now then, come with me to the cells. The plan is in motion." I said.

(SCENE CHANGE: MOUNTAINOUS AREA) (POV CHANGE: 3RD PERSON)

Everyone arrived at the mountain area and have already begun the baiting. They've gagged the man, lather him in the drug and bound him to the ground with arrows, courtesy of Anna.

Then, any other passageways and openings that wasn't the one that want the Chort to enter has been closed off. While most of the group are safely above them, Oscar lies in wait behind a large boulder that is leaning on a ledge.

He is coating his blade in Relict Oil and stockpiling Devil's Puffball bombs into his utility belt when he hears something big approaching. He peeks out to see the Chort entering the area, in a state of drunkenness.

The Chort has a broken horn on the right side of his head. His eyes are bloodshot and dilated. His body have dried stains of the pink drug on different parts of his body. His mouth have both dried red and pink stains. His back has multiple & different weapons embedding into his skin. His teeth is extremely yellowed and crooked. His body is a black coloration while his few fur parts, being his chest fur and beard, are light grey. His paws have stains of dried blood and drugs on them. His body is littered with scars from all kinds of sources, some from other creatures, some from people and others from his own drugged up state.

Once the Chort got whiff of the drugs on the man's body, he snapped out of his drunk state and let out a roar as he starts charging towards the man, who was struggling to break free.

But it was too late as the Chort starts devouring him. Oscar took this chance to attack. With his Silver Sword in hand, he rush at the distracted Chort. He used the various rocks and boulders to get some air as he jumped off a large boulder and onto the back of the Chort.

The Chort, caught off guard, starts acting wildly. Bucking, kicking and slamming himself into rocks. Oscar held on by gripping tightly on the weapons on his back.

This went on for a rough 5 minutes until the Chort started to get tired. Oscar took this opportunity to jump off the Chort. During the mid jump, he threw one of his Devil's Puffball bombs directly in the Chort's face.

Upon contact, the bomb exploded into green mist. Once inhaling an amount of it, the Chort started coughing as he could feel his strength waning. Oscar throws another bomb at him, increasing the amount of poison in his lungs.

Instead of weakening, the Chort lets out a roar of anger and charges towards Oscar. Reacting quick, he casts a Quen shield on him at the last possible second. When the Chort made contact, the Quen exploded, knocking the Chort back a bit while Oscar was sent flying back.

Thankfully, he recovered quickly and charged at the Chort. He jumped off of a boulder and prepares to stab the Chort right through his middle eye. He thrust his blade through the eye, causing the Chort to roar in pain as he staggers a bit.

He attempts to shake Oscar off, while also occasionally biting at him. But Oscar anticipated this as he used the Chort's shaking momentum to bounce off its horn and reposition himself on the Chort's neck.

Once the Chort stops to take a breath, Oscar decides to end it as he removes the sword from its third eye and thrust it directly through its skull. The Chort let out a pain filled roar as his eyes suddenly turned a blood red.

The Chort's strength leaves him as it flopped to the ground. Oscar removes his blade from the Chort's skull and sheathed it. He then hops off the Chort's body as he hears Keyaru and his group approaching him.

"Wow. That was amazing." Keyaru says as his group nods in agreement. "Thanks. Years of combat have perfected my skills." He says as he turns to the Chort. "Now then, time to get proof." He says as he takes out his hunting knife.

He stabs the Chort's neck and starts cutting it. Once he finished cutting, the Chort's head dropped to the ground. Oscar sheathed his knife and whistled for Zephyr, who showed up quickly.

Oscar pulls out some rope from Zephyr's saddlebag and ties the Chort's head to Zephyr's saddlebag. "There. Head's secure. Time for us to leave." He says as he hops onto Zephyr's saddle.

(SCENE CHANGE: COUNCIL ROOM)

Oscar and his group returned to the council room, with the Chort's head on Oscar's hook, as they approached Orion. "Job's done. Chort was responsible for the attack." Oscar says as he shows him the Chort's head, causing the elder to flinch in fear at the head.

His fear went away as it was replaced with gratitude. "Warriors, I speak for the people of Matlock when I say: you've done us a great service by killing the Chort." Orion says as he takes out a pouch of coin. "This isn't a whole lot, but it would be dishonorable to not reward brave heroes." He says.

Oscar, however, shook his head. "Keep the coin. Your people need it. Want to reward us? Give us a bit of a discount on everything you sell. Also, put in a good word for me with that mutations expert friend of yours." Oscar says.

Orion's heart was touched at this selfless act of compassion. "That we can do. Thank you for your compassion." He says as tears start to well up in his eyes.

Oscar smiles as he took notice of Chloe passing by. Attaching the hook to his waist, he chased after Chloe. "Chloe, wait!" He exclaims, catching her attention. "Oh, hello Oscar." Chloe politely says as she takes notice of the Chort's head. "Uh, quite a decoration." She says with slight awkwardness.

"Chort. Monster. From the job we've completed." Oscar briefly explains as he takes out the folded up letters and the crystals. "But right now, these letters and crystals must be given to the rest of the Council immediately. I can't do it because I need to take this head to a taxidermist while Keyaru and his friends need to rest a bit after the job." He explains as he hands them over to Chloe and takes his leave.

Chloe says nothing as she decides to follow along with Oscar and hand the letters & crystals over to the rest of the Council.

(Here's chapter 9 done. I took inspiration from Cocaine Bear to make this chapter. And before anyone asks, no I didn't see the movie early, just took the idea and rework it as my own. Also, didn't know if the drug Flare has any name, so I keep calling it drug, which it might become a permanent thing since I don't plan on getting into researching the drug any time soon. Anyways, Oscar works with an unlikely ally to take care of another contract.)