To Guest number 1: me too man, those naruto fics are cringe-inducing at best and horrible at worst

To kaguyabochi137: The Indie Heroes is my main fic yes.

To your second question, if I can be honest, I have the problem of having too many ideas and not knowing how to manage them effectively, by the time I'm writing this, I have almost 24 fanfic ideas(mostly one-shots) that I have written at least the dialogue for a scene or two, and it seems I keep adding work for myself even when I don't want to, I am trying to work on this issue...

After the Dark: I plan on them having a major part, but that's a bit later

To Guest number 2: I like the bounty idea.

To DTBC: it is less about stupidity and more about rejection, he didn't want them and didn't consider absorbing them, he is also pretty careless about his horns in the comics, in Hellboy: wake the Devil, he had them grow to full size and broke them afterward and left them there in the castle he fought, later in Hellboy: Darkness calls, some witches pick those same horns to make a carved bust that was used to magically guide and attract him to a meeting of witches. Hellboy is a character who lets his emotions guide him and sometimes does not consider the possible consequences that his actions can have

To Guest number 3: it is not from the light novel or web novel, is just something original I made to distinguish the guild as a location, and before you ask, yes, all the demi-humans that work there are slaves

This gig at the adventurers guild is not all that bad, they provide rooms, meals, bathrooms with hot baths and working toilets, and all sorts of nifty things for licensed adventurers, but of course, there is a catch to all of this, with that being you have to work to keep those privileges and have to be a certain rank, the working part is pretty obvious but the ranking system is interesting. There are five ranks in the guild, stone rank which is the one for anyone that isn't registered and works as a free-lancer, they get no benefits and are only allowed to take the more low end quest, the next rank is bronze and is similar to the stone rank but they have smaller benefits like dining in the guild and being able to rent a room to sleep, silver is next and it allows adventurers to take more medium end quests that are the more profitable but present actual risks compared to the stone and bronze ranks, then there is gold rank, according to the people I asked, it is a long and difficult grind to get from silver to gold for the average Joe but very possible, the benefits of that rank are access to high end quest aka the good ones with the most profit and experience to be gain, free meals in the guild although you still have to pay for the drinks and the most interesting bit is access to the guilds shop, place is full of potions, enchanted gear, a small amount of monsters parts from outside the country and things such as the guild's own bestiary of monsters that explains how to deal with them and more details on their biology. That last one is the one I'm more interested in since it would be the most useful

And then there's the final ranking of the guild, the Mithril rank, yes the one from Lord of the Rings, apparently this is the fabled metal that the people of this world believe the Hero weapons are made of and that is telling of what this rank is about, this rank is almost exclusive for heroes since they are automatically given that rank and is practically impossible for a normal person to get since the requirements would take years to achieve, it is the most despised rank among guild staff and adventurers because of envy by the other adventurers that have to struggle to even come close to reaching such a rank and the staff hates it because apparently the heroes and more specifically their party members abuse the privileges since they are the followers and combatants of the heroes, now I think all those people who volunteered to join the other three were gold-diggers

Since I forfeited the benefits and rank that the king arranged with the guild, I had to do some low-end quests like delivering milk and finding missing pets or cattle which was... Refreshing considering most of what I did in my job. They boosted me up to silver rank right after I finished around 10 or so simple quests, it usually takes 25 to go out of bronze but they made an exception for me due to the impending coming of the waves since I needed to get stronger faster. So I am now on my way to my first real mission, investigate a wave of disappearances in a small town close to the ocean, according to the information about the mission, people of the village have been vanishing for about a week now and they are usually guys, I already have some guesses on what it might be if it is only targeting men

I see the board with the name of this place, Zeaol village, a small fishing village from the looks of it, I start to make my way to the place where I have to meet the guy who put out the request for the quest, the village lord. Some people started running and screaming while some just stood there quiet in fear, usual reactions at this point, I got to the lord's office with little resistance and knocked on the door three times before letting myself in

"Hi there, Hellboy from the adventurers guild, I was sent here to investigate the disappearances" I say as the lord's face was both surprised and horrified from having such unique fella come into his office

"A-a-are you? They sent a... I don't even know what you are!" Guy was sweating bullets and on the verge of passing out as he was in disbelief that I was the guy sent to save his village

"I was the first to take the job, scrutinizing the bizarre is my specialty, and in my experience, these disappearances seem like it's in my area of expertise, now can you kindly explain how this started and any clues you have?" I Said to him as I took a pencil and a notebook from the pockets of my coat, the man stopped a moment as he seemed to be considering the situation

"...*sigh* Who does not have a dog, hunts with the devil I suppose... it started around the start of last week..." the lord began telling me everything he knew, around twelve men had disappeared with little traces left behind, the two biggest clues were footprints leading to the Sea and everyone that disappeared lived close by the pier. That already gives me a pretty good idea on who is kidnapping the people

"Thanks pal, I'm gonna take a swim now" I say to him as I take my leave, walking out of the manor in the direction of the shore, until someone stood in my way

"Stop!" a boy with a metal pot on his head shouts as he points a wooden sword at me "Release my father you monster or face the wrath of the sword hero of Zeaol Village" cute, a kid pretending to be the sword hero confronting who he thinks is the scary monster who took his pops away

"Sorry but I think you got the details messed up, the Sword hero doesn't look like that" I said while crouching down to look at him eye to eye as I pointed my finger at the boy's sword

"Oh yeah? How would you know?!" The boy asked almost like he was offended for me calling him out, cute

"Because" I show my sword to him and transform it into a variety of different forms "I am him"

"Y-y-you're the sword hero?!" The boy said in disbelief while taking a step back, looking to his sides before staring at me "... Are you here to save my dad?"

"Him and everybody else that was taken away" I clarified to the kid as I gave him a pat on the head, bidding farewell as I continued towards the pier

I dive into the sea, swimming for a bit before finding a entrance in the side of the , as I reach a air pocket when I get up to breath, I see that I was in an underground cave filled with glowing moss with some pods made of mud with the glowing silhouette of people inside

I approached one and looked at some guy that was inside, in his face was some of the mud that was draining some sort of energy from his body, tilting my head to see the side of the pod, some round glowing orbs were being formed, I'm betting that the energy of this people is being turned into this orbs that seem like a snack for some ugly no-good bastard

"Who comes to my nest?" A hissing voice called out as I look towards the selling to see a lady with fish scales and fins was looking down at me as she was wrapping herself around stalactites

"A guy here to spoil your fun, surrender or I will have to put you down, siren" I pointed the sword at her, she seemed surprised from what I could tell from her fish face

"Oh? You know what I am? I thought the ordinary people of this country hadn't seen or heard of my kind for generations," she said that all the while slitterring down from the cave's selling, coming closer and closer to me

"but you aren't ordinary, my red friend" the fish lady stated the obvious as she approached

"They force you, don't they? I can tell that those humans mistreat you, disrespect you for being yourself, they make you kill others like you, or else you're also on the chopping block" the fish lady said as she began to approach her face to mine, sliding her hands across my chest

"Lady, get off before I make you, now care to explain why are you kidnapping men from the village?" I asked her as I push her fishy fingers out of my chest, she seems a bit taken back by the push but recomposed herself pretty quickly

"It wasn't for malice I swear darling, I required the sustenance to recover from my injuries" this siren is really trying to convince me she is a good girl? Sure she is a victim but that doesn't make any of the actions she is doing any less messed up

"It was about three decades or so..." and here it comes the monologue, to make a needless dramatic and draw out story short, this fish lady was from a rare species that was hunted down and killed due to their voice being able to manipulate people in their sleep, she was captured from her home in the northeast sea by a Melromarc general to be used in a war against a country named Silt-something, she was experiment on and escaped thanks to the same power they wanted to manipulate, due to the injuries caused by the Melromarc army she put herself in hibernation to heal and woke up last week and now she needs to feed, using the men of this village for their essences. She was trying really hard to sound sympathetic but I know very well that she was bending the truth just enough for to be the victim

"That was why I did this, and only went after those who the village did not care for," the kid who wanted me to find their father would say otherwise, and don't press your hand in my chest while speaking softly in my ear like you can seduce me lady, I'm not drunk enough for this to work

"Alright enough of the bullshit, you're going down" I slap her away as her grubby hands and slimy body is getting me more pissed off of the situation, this suit is going to stink even after using a soap sword or something like that.

"Agh! You dare strike me you fiend?! We could have been partners! Imagine the type of spawn we could have make!" The thought of the ugly fucks that would come out of such relation was briefly stunning, but not enough for me to stop trying to cut that siren to pieces. She tries to use her voice while dodging my swings with her slimy dashes around the cave, I gotta hand this to her, for a siren she has the worst singing voice I heard.

"SHUT... THE... FUCK UP!" Honestly I don't know if I'm losing my cool because of her voice having some form of effect or because of how slippery she is and I already can tell this is going to be a pain in the ass of a fight, her nails are sharp enough to give me a few superficial cuts here and there but clearly she doesn't want to stay too close to me for too long, this siren isn't dumb when it comes to fighting, if I can grab her even for a moment the fight is done.

"[Seeking Slash]!" Having to shout the skill name to use it is kind of corny but they have proven to be effective, my sword starts to glow as I do a slash, quickly releasing a thin blue wave that begins following her. It's a distraction at best because it loses speed the longer it takes to hit a target, but the idiot focus on that for long enough to not see my stretched out arm ready to be hit with her head

"Ugh!... You little-" not giving her more time to talk, I want to see her sing her little love song when a stone hard fist is choking gills along with those special vocal cords. I'm willing to give her a painless death due to what she went through, it not her fault she turned out this way considering what they did to her, but it shouldn't excuse her from kidnapping and trying to eat innocent men from a small village.

"Any last words?" I ask her while releasing my grip just enough for her to talk about something, maybe show remorse or regret but I wouldn't hold my breath on this

"Humans... Shouldn't... Be your... Allies" yeah that was about what I expected, just going to make this a simple crack of the neck. She falls limb on the floor and I take a deep breath, gotta mentally prepare myself for when I wake these people up. Because the first thing they are going to see is a demon on a dimly lit cave staring back at them, and considering how religious some of the other people I met were, these aren't going to be much different

After opening the pods one by one, and having the same reaction of the person inside the pod waking up, seeing me, screaming before trying to punch my face to then try and run away before I explain the situation. Me and the men of the village returned through the same entrance I came from, I went to the village's lord and showed him that the job was done with both the rescued men and the decapitated head of the siren as proof, he wrote me a letter for me to bring and show to the guild together with the monster's body to show the job was done. As I left the village, I saw the boy that was playing Hero wave at me as he held tight to the leg of one of the men I saved, his father most likely. Nothing like a child smile to symbolize a job well done

"Hey pierce, look what I fished today" I said to the guild's autopsy specialist and monster butcher, Pierce Wellington, a quiet and cold person that dressed like a victorian doctor, I got some mad doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde vibes from him, he had a reputation in the guild for preferring the company of cold dead bodies over people but seemed like a good folk. I plopped the siren's body out of my inventory and into the iron table, as Pierce was quick to analyze it with his cutting gaze

"Hum... I don't recognize this one, let me check the beastary" he quickly went and picked a book from a drawer, flipping through the pages until stopping to look at the body, flipping pages again until finding one that matched the dead creature on his table

"A South sea Siren? How did you find one in Melromarc?" He asked me with a raised eyebrow. I gave him a rundown on the story the fish face had told me earlier, as he nodded along

"So another of the War projects of Melromarc that supposedly "aren't" true is real? Should have expected that" he said with small chuckle as he picked his glasses and cleaned them with a napkin that was on his pocket before putting them back on before he eyed back at the body

"We give you a three star mission, and you return with a likely five star monster slayed, don't know if you're lucky or unlucky" Both, I'm both unlucky and lucky at the same time, lucky for surviving all of the messed up problems that my bad luck attracts to myself

"I would love to desiccate such rare specimen piece by piece... But I already know that you want to absorb the body so go ahead..." He said with clear annoyance and disdain, the guy really liked opening up the flesh of the dead it seemed, I looked at the body one more time before making a decision

"I actually wanted to absorb the different parts to see if I gain more sword forms that way, you can cut the fish open. Just leave the meat on the bones this time" I said to him, I was actually wondering if it was better to absorb the entire monster or each individual part, so I could test out this small experiment with this one

"... I'm liking you way more than those other heroes, they are so selfish and greedy with their kills" he said while giving me a warm smile before turning to look at the body with a chilling grin, I'm going to let him work, pretty sure I don't want to see what he does with all those medical instruments, especially that bone saw

Another shitty day! Grinding against the weak monsters of the forest around the capital has been nothing but shit! Sure the shield makes me practically immune to their attacks since they are so weak, but I'm too pathetically weak because the darn shield! Why doesn't it allow me to hurt anything! How am I supposed to become powerful to fight in the Waves if I'm this useless!

All I want is to be able to KILL my enemies and any monsters that come my path without having to spend literal hours on punching them with all my strength only causing one singular point of damage. And the new shield forms I'm gaining from absorbing anything I find? They just give me defense points and supportive and passive skill and abilities that are only useful out of battle! I hate this stupid shield! I hate how weak it makes me!

And I hate this shit hole of a kingdom even more! Ever since that fucking bitch accused me of raping her whore ass, my life has been hell thanks to that idiotic trashy king, I'm sure he has turned every citizen of this place against, those two made the brain dead bastard Motoyasu and the pussy Itsuki wholeheartedly believe in their bull crap lies

Although... Hellboy wasn't in my trial, did he even care to go attend it or did they didn't bother to call him? I do wonder how he is doing, since he is a fucking devil.

I'm just sitting here in a shitty inn, trying to eat a meal that doesn't have any taste to me because I lost my sense of taste after that stupid trial, just trying to ignore the noise of the other clients and patrons here

The most annoying one was that fucking bartender, he was bragging on and on about some stupid horns he had gotten after winning a game of cards with a demon or something, such a stupid story, you can't win in a game of cards with a devil because they could use their powers to cheat.

I look at the "demon" horn he supposedly won, a pair in a bright red color attached to a wooden shield that was nailed on the wall. As my eyes lay on them, I sense... Something... Like a calling... Those horns... A closer look wouldn't hurt if they were indeed fake, right?

I get off from my table and approached the pair of horns, staring at them and taking in all of their details, I felt the urge to touch them to see how they would feel on the skin of my hand, before I even realized, my left hand had gone ahead and touched one of them. I saw some of the lines and cracks on the horns glow a faint orange color like fire... They were responding to me... To my HATRED as if it was fuel... I was like a moth and they were flames, they desired ME and I desired THEM!

I grab the horns and yanked them out of the wooden frame, seems like the bartender just glued them instead of nailing them to frame, his mistake. I place them in the gem of my shield as it absorbed them. I opened the weapon forms menu to see their stats

{Horned shield of Anung Un Rama} (locked; LV 20 to unlock this shield)

20 attack 20 defense 15 fire resistance 15 dark resistance

[Counter ability: Hellfire release]: when something strikes this shield, unleash a burst of hellfire as a counter, causing damage to body and soul

[Skill: Fiery Doom from Hell]: unleash a ball of demonic flames that will seek the target and attack their souls

[Passive ability(active even with the level block): Mark of Wrath]: user of this shield becomes mark, causing them to become more ********

Holy shit, this is fucking awesome! This is the best shield I have found in this entire kingdom! With the demonic powers of this thing, I could be invicible!

Maybe I should go find Hellboy, he is the demon expert for obvious reasons, he could tell me who this Anung Un Rama is and if there's any down side or danger I have to watch out from using such power...

...

... You know what? Fuck him, he is probably being treated better than me even though I'm a average human who never did something wrong in his life while he is a demon from Hell that had a job killing every manner of thing because the agency he worked for told him to, fucking government lapdog, if I find out he somehow is prospering while I sink in the mud I will spit in his face!

I get out of this crappy inn before the bartender realizes I stole the horns, I have to find a way to get to level 20 quick so I can use that shield! But how? It took me hours to level up to LV 2, I would need something to cause damage for me... Something to KILL for me... SOMEONE that would serve me as a weapon... Someone DISPOSABLE and OBEDIENT... A SLAVE would do me nicely

[Author's Notes]

A bit of more chill and shorter chapter

Here's the payoff for the horns! They are part of the reason Naofumi turns into a crueler version of his original canon self! Never liked how radical he changed from normal dude to child slaver from the original story... And since Naofumi is not the protagonist here, I can make him the villain(If you think I'm exaggerating, the author confirmed that the original ending for the web novel was Naofumi becoming a dictator hellbent on conquering the world and enslaving all that wronged him or opposed him. So making him more villainous in a fanfic where he isn't the main character feels justify)