Hunt The Hunters

It took them a while—quite some more time than it had taken Ras to run back with Eula in tow—yet it was to be expected. Their packs were quite heavy, and prolonged periods of time actually made them seem even heavier than Ras would have expected.

"Jesus... I can barely breathe right now..." thought Ras as he set his pack on the ground, fighting the urge to just topple on top of it and sleep like that.

Around him, the rest of the knights made sure to prepare camp. A firm hand fell on his shoulder.

"Come on, get up, and start unpacking. The night ahead is long, Ras," said Kaeya, helping Ras up as he talked.

"Ah, Kaeya. I guess I should, but at the same time, I'm not entirely sure how to set up a tent."

Kaeya didn't scoff at him, instead reaching down for the large backpack.

"Well then, since I've already set up mine, I might as well lend you a hand."

Ras gave him a thankful nod as they began working together. It took him some time to get exactly what he had to do and how, and Kaeya's explanations were more than useful.

In the end, he looked at a sturdy tent, shaking it a bit to check its integrity.

"I guess it holds," said Kaeya, slapping his palms together before walking away. Ras thanked him before he was completely gone.

He entered the tent, lying down for a moment. Tiredness was finally catching up with him, so he used a little jolt of energy to keep himself going for longer. He chose to simply lay down in the dark and try to form at least some sort of plan on how he should tackle the ruin hunters.

"Oh, so this is where my partner was," said Eula, peeking her head inside.

Ras sighed, nudging himself up.

"Exactly when I had made it comfortable."

Eula chuckled, smiling softly in his direction.

"Well, I'm sorry, but we're here on an official mission, one that could turn out to be rather detrimental for Mondstadt. We're on watch duty for now, so get up and follow me."

Ras sighed, finally getting up, following her until they were sitting atop a cliff, overlooking all of Stormterror's Lair.

"This is where we'll spend the next few hours. Try to keep your eyes open and follow the ruin hunters. It's good that the layout of this entire place makes it a bit like a cage, so their leaving is unlikely to happen without us noticing."

Ras shrugged, taking a look down below at the orange dots that moved around. The light from some was strong enough to even show other machines that stood with their cores facing away from them. He could count a total of nine, leaving him a little shaken.

"Eula, I'm sure there were around eleven, right?"

She nodded, pointing to another part of the ruins.

"Two more are there, further back. We're lucky the sky is clear and the moon bright; otherwise, we would have had to switch our approach."

Ras looked around for a bit until he saw the other two machines aimlessly floating around. His heart returned to its normal pace once he had confirmation that all of them were there.

Curiosity got him to look around for traces of the Fatui camp. Perhaps the somewhat dim light or the night, or even his inability to see that far, made him unable to see any trace of them.

"Maybe they moved out that quick? I'm pretty sure with these bastards around, approaching that place is nearly suicide," thought Ras, trying to piece the situation together.

As he fell in thought, his eyes lingered over to Eula, who was dilligently staring down at the ruin hunters, her eyes reflecting the moonlight. He found her to be beautiful, especially in that moment they were spending together.

"I better shut up unless I make things awkward."

She glanced over at him, noticing his persistent gaze.

"Could you perhaps stare at something else?" asked Eula, her voice trying to conceal how flustered she felt.

"Ah, sorry, it's just that... never mind."

His gaze fled away, moving down to the reason they had to mobilize themselves for the night. He sighed, thinking about how long the night ahead would be.

He couldn't exactly tell how much time had passed. Hours perhaps—that's how it all felt to him. His eyes began to feel heavy despite the energy boosts he kept using. Beside him, Eula seemed to have no problem, sitting gracefully as she surveyed the targets below.

"Time to switch," said Kaeya, startling Ras as he walked up from behind, together with Amber.

"Fine by me," said Ras, getting up with a sudden springy motion, hoping to go catch some sleep.

Eula rose up as well, nodding at Kaeya while giving Amber a hug.

"I had no idea they were so close."

He stared at them for a moment before looking at Kaeya, waving goodbye as he began walking back to camp. He didn't wait for Eula, going ahead on his own, crashing down in his tent, falling asleep without as much as a second thought.

He awoke at the break of dawn, watching the horizon turn a strong tint of orange as the sun rose higher. He walked outside, noticing that Jean was the only one awake in the camp. He couldn't explain how she was able to just do those inhuman things, like spending countless nights with barely a few hours of sleep.

"Good morning, Jean," said Ras as he walked out of his tent, looking around.

"Good morning to you too. Slept well?" 

Ras nodded, feeling a little dizzy.

"Well, enough that I can move around now. Who's on watch duty now?"

"Diluc. He chose to go alone, saying he'd send his eagle in case something went wrong."

Ras nodded, blinking a bit, feeling as if the worst hangover had hit him straight in the face.

"Ok, I should get used to sleeping in random places. For some reason, I feel like I drank all night, and I'm hungover now."

Jean chuckled, looking at him with a soft look.

"Part of being a capable knight lies in how well you can adapt. Make sure to work on these small details as well, not only on your sword skills."

He nodded, taking that advice with as much of a smile as he could muster.

"Well, them, I'll go eat something. I'm sure those rations are waiting for me."

He walked off, leaving Jean to go take care of what she had prepared to do. Back in his tent, he took out some smoked jerky. Pretty decent rations in his eyes, considering that their ability to preserve food seemed to be sort of limited.

"Couldn't they make some Cryo-powered machines for food? Some sort of specifically designed machine to preserve food as long as you have a Cryo vision holder. Eh, whatever." 

He sank his teeth into his food, eating slowly as he stared off into the distance. His mind cleared up a bit as he ate, filling his stomach bit by bit.

As he stood there, enjoying the silence, a bell rang loudly, haphazardly, like the end of the world was upon them. He shot up, running out, noticing that everyone else aside from Diluc had gathered.

Jean stood in the center, a large bell in her hand.

"Everyone, get ready. Diluc just sent a warning that the Ruin Hunters are on the move. Some hilichurls stumbled upon them, only to be wiped out. Some tried to flee, leading them to the exit. It's time for us to step in."

Everyone nodded, checking their weapons one last time before rushing to the exit. Ras had to first run to his tent and grab his sword, yet he wasn't sure how useful it would be.

"Heck, I should perhaps switch to some gauntlets like Mark used. Infusing them with energy would be better for my fighting style."

He followed along, running after the others. Ahead, he saw a few hilichurls getting outside, followed by two ruin hunters.

"This is pretty bad!" shouted Ras, falling in line with Kaeya.

"For now, we should just follow and wait for a moment to strike."

Said and done, they watched from the sidelines, watching as hilichurls were cut to pieces by large blades moving with an agility no machine should have.

Jean motioned something to the others, who nodded, understanding what she had meant by her gesture. Ras stood there, dumbfounded, hoping to react in time to whatever they were about to try. Just as a ruin hunter turned to face them, Jean shouted.

"Now!"