"Fourty nine... Fifty... Fifty one..."
Those were the numbers our protagonist counted as he took several tens of squats down. At that moment, he was already heavily sweating.
This man was Shugo Tategami, 23 years old, employed as a hunter after graduation, he was recently a C-Ranked Fighter class hunter, one that was decently paid each time he goes out to clear dungeons with his fellow hunters.
His long, black hair with a bangs covering his eyes almost going down to his nose. Strangely enough, he could still see normally as if he was used to it.
Due to his hairstyle and lightly introverted personality which appearsd from his earlier years, he was sometimes called "Mob-kun", "Mob-san", and "Mob-chan".
P.S. He will eventually develop out of his Introvert or Mob Phase for those who are easily triggered.
What nobody doesn't even know, even his family, was that he has been reincarnated from an Earth similar to us readers and authors, having a lightly laid-back personality and carefree feeling around him.
"Phew... I'm tired..." He spoke, laying his back on the cold floor after a long exercise to cool down quicker. "Well, whatever, all in a day's work."
Obviously, like many other hunters, he was merely here for the money and good pay.
When he thought about it, he was surprised that it had almost been 10 years since the Gates suddenly appeared around the world.
"Almost ten years have passed, I've finished High School and College again, and now the Canon is about to start. I might be wrong, though." He muttered to himself, firmly believing that he really is just a mob character with some good background.
His rise in the hunter business was steady, and he considered being quite average because everyone else has incredible powers related to magic while he was using pure skill and innovations to fight, leaving him as quite different from many hunters.
Most of his expenses came from paying a Healer to patch him up, yet he was still cautious and careful enough not to end up in the hospital.
He was brought out of his wistful thinking by his phone making a loud Klaxon warning sound.
That alert sound alone was enough to have him get up as quickly as possible, picking up his smartphone and looking at its screen.
"Ah, Director's calling." He sighed out rather excitedly, pressing the call button and putting it before his ear.
{"Shugo! Sorry for being late in calling you, but we need you and other hunters for another Gate exploration! You're close to the gate, around southeast of you!"}
"Southeast, on the beach in Okita? I'll be going out now, thanks for the information."
{"Just be there in under 30 minutes, otherwise the gate might spill out monsters!"}
With that, the call ended and Shugo began to wear the rest of his hunter's uniform and backpack containing rope, and essential tools he could use.
Before leaving his apartment, he locked the doors and closed all windows, then rode his motorcycle to his destination, which naturally should take around 10 minutes, however due to the traffic caused by the appearance of the gate, it was stretched to an extra ten minutes.
The moment he had arrived was when most of the hunters from his guild, Explorers, had also arrived, expecting him to arrive soon.
People were evacuated to safety to prevent instances of causalities from careless actions and monster attacks that would come.
He barely minded the small banter coming from his guild mates. And the only thing that currently mattered was his pay.
That was until his group lined up along with several workers from his guild after the scouts returned and told everything to the superiors.
Therefore, the briefing had begun.
"Men! Women! And the inbetweeners! The area behind the gate is a wide forest filled with Magic Beasts, to be specific, they are insects half as tall as a human, carefully examine the area and find the boss of the dungeon and kill it quickly, got it!"
"Yes sir!"
Once several groups of hunters entered the gate to the dungeon, our protagonist began to feel like something is calling out for him.
The forest they entered was vast, and the air around it smelled fresher and crisper than cities anybody had visited in their life.
The hunters could at least take a short vacation here, yet because they have their jobs to do, they knew what to do.
He took a step towards the direction where he was being called to, while a few fellow hunters stayed close to him to have a greater chance of surviving.
While other hunters searched for the boss, this group of hunters ventured deeper into the forest and the foliages in it.
Cutting off the vines and bushes that block their path wasn't as easy as cutting off ordinary ones since this was a dungeon. Not just that, but the feeling that someone was calling Shugo began to grow stronger.
"This feeling, not just one was calling for me, but several... Ten of them?" Shugo muttered, causing his fellow hunters to feel confused.
"What are you talking about?"
"..."
"Hey, Shugo!"
"... Huh? What is it, Raigo?"
He slowly blinked out of a trance-like state, halting his movements when he looked on the distance. The other hunters which had been following him all this time were also surprised.
They have found a temple which might be where the boss might have possibly resided.
Fear and paranoia enveloped the hearts of the hunters and even Shugo. Yet, the call from inside the temple was powerful, and for some reason it seemed to welcome them as it opened its gates when the hunters were near.
More specifically, for Shugo.
"Let's go with the usual plan, Tankers on the front, Fighters behind them, and the Healers and Mages behind the fighters." Shugo spoke, unsheathing his sword while his fellow hunters went into their positions.
The Tanker of their group, Reigo Masami, led the group into the temple, though he was shocked because of the paintings and inscriptions that were inside the temple.
"Um... Can we take pictures about these?" The healer of the group, Sakura Tanukio said after she took out her smartphone.
In a burst of awe, the tanker nodded at her.
"Why not? They all looked particularly awesome! Plus, more people would believe us because we're hunters exploring the dungeon. What about you, Mob-san?"
Although he expected a similar reaction, only disbelief prevailed on our protagonist.
"What the fuck..."
He was in pure disbelief.
'... All of these, they aren't just familiar, I remember all of these statues and murals above!' He screamed inside his mind.
The statues in front of him, were arranged perfectly to create a semi circle, all facing him, were all vaguely mechanical insects covered in stone, while several oval-shaped amber containing similar entities were engraved on their pedestals.
Each have plates that were of a very foreign language, which made them practically unreadable.
These statues depicted a Stag Beetle/Kuwagata, Mantis/Kamakiri, Bee/Hachi, Dragonfly/Tonbo, Papillon, Pillbug, two Ladybugs, two Spiders, an Ant, Snail, Cicada, Centipede, Grasshopper, Rhinoceros Beetle/Kabuto, Scorpion, and a Tarantula.
Although, there was a mural about a massive castle of black, gold and red, while a Heracles Beetle was depicted to be flying around the castle.
"These are... Shugods...?"
As if hearing that, the statues of the insects' eyes and the amber placed on their pedestals begun to glow.
Shugods, in singular, a Shugod, are mechanical insects with souls contained in their Shugod Souls, which were the amber containing them. These would be used to control them, yet all Shugods have a certain amount of sentience within them.
Some Shugods don't have sentience, either with or without a Shugod Soul, though.
Now, as they are beginning to wake up, most of the Shugod Souls entered their respective Shugods, while the Stag Beetle/Kuwagata Shugod's Soul flew towards Shugo, hitting his chest.
"...!!?"
The Shugod Soul was assimilated to his body, filling him up with immense amounts of energy. Following it were the, Tonbo, Papillon, Kamakiri, and Hachi Shugods' souls.
"Gyyaaaa!?!?"
"Shugo! G-Get us out of this temple, now!"
His body uncontrollably convulsed painfully, and at the same time his fellow hunters panicked. They had no other choice but to pull Shugo out of the temple, noticing that it was beginning to shake.
What they don't notice until the last second was that, the several mechanical insects have regained their colors, even the Shugod Kuwagata.
The Shugods glanced at each other, making clacking sounds as if they were communicating, before all of them moved out, and a few even set out to follow Shugo.
The Shugods were beginning to have an advent to this world, and it obviously was noticed by certain people, and eventually the whole world, even for a moment.
Due to the Shugods looking like toys, the incident was strangely regarded as an urban legend around the Hunter Society.
Despite that, several people had gained an interest on the Shugods which had spread around Japan, or even began to live on certain parts of the world.
But what about our protagonist?
What happened to him?
Well, to put it simply, he woke up on a bed inside the hospital, wearing a long white dress that belonged to a patient.
However, a floating, semi transparent screen appeared in front of his vision, surprising him while he was a out to check more of his surroundings.
[You have 2 (two) Unread Messages]
"... What."
[ ~ TO • BE • CONTINUED ~ ]
I made name puns about Shugo and the Shugods.
Also, Fun Fact: The Shugods look like toys, and this will make a running gag on this fanfiction.