The yelling that filled the forest called those nearby over.
The first thing that Mary saw upon arriving was Luke slumped onto the ground. Her eyes went to Panzer standing just behind him next, then to the other four knocked out around the area.
She ran towards Luke as the others caught up to her.
It was easy for Mary and Judah to tell what had happened, even without saying anything.
A faint trace of dragon energy still hung around in the air, barely perceptible.
"What did he say? What kind of monster did he have? Did he hurt you? Are you okay?"
Luke looked past her with an empty gaze, not responding to any part of the wall of questions. It was almost as though he'd completely used up his voice in his earlier outburst. His flame had faded away.
"Hey, what about the others?" Spence asked, resting on Storm's back.
"I'll go and check on them." Judah told him.
Fen and Fang lay on the ground nearby, while Isa and Irontusk were caught in the lower section of a nearby tree. All four were still alive, but unconscious.
Fera Gladius arc part 2: On The Verge
"Holy shit, they really got you good!"
The first thing Isa did upon waking up and finding out the situation was laugh at Spence's injury.
"Look at yourself!"
It was a stroke of incredible luck that Isa and Irontusk had survived the Valstrax charging into them, or perhaps it was due to the boulder shield Irontusk had created. No matter the cause behind it, they were in an overwhelming amount of pain, but something like that wasn't anywhere near enough to make Isabel Page pass up a chance to make fun of her twin brother.
"This is quite a sharp contrast." Fen commented, looking between this scene and Mary still trying to comfort an unresponsive Luke. He looked around more. "So I'm guessing that Davi asshole is who you came here to look for?"
"Yeah, he's one of them."
"There's more? I don't wanna go through this again, don't tell me the rest are this bad."
"No, there's only one more left and he shouldn't be against us." Judah collected himself before giving away too much information about something that wasn't his place to talk about. "To be honest, I had no idea that anything like this would happen."
"You didn't know he was a poacher?"
"He's a poacher!?" Even through his helmet, Fen could read the shocked expression on his captain's face.
"I guess that's a no."
"...I had no idea. Well, I've been here in the Frontier Grounds for a while now, so I guess that'd be why I haven't heard anything."
"He said he was part of some group called Fera Gladius. Ever heard of them?"
"Hmm, I think I saw a few wanted posters for them before. But I can't remember seeing his face there. Did I just miss it?"
"Maybe it's because he's a recent hire."
"Maybe. Now that I think about it… what we encountered back there was probably a member of the group too."
"What, they were after you as well?"
"Yes. We were attacked by an enemy we couldn't see. I thought that it must've been someone in combination with a monster at the time. If they're an entire group of monster-taming hunters, then it makes sense."
"Huh, how'd you get out of that situation? Wait, no, before that. The entire group fights with monsters? I know that we can't exactly talk but that seems… a little improbable for some random poacher group in the middle of nowhere, doesn't it?"
"It's not like I have much more to work with than vague memories of reading some posters."
Fen suddenly changed subjects.
"So something bad happened to Davi to make him like that, right?"
Judah reflected for a bit.
"Why would you say that?"
"Ah, don't worry, even for all of my kindness and generosity I'm not the kind of sap to think that every bad person is redeemable if they were sad in the past or something. If I'm feeling particularly bold, I might even say they're even more unforgivable if they understand pain and inflict it regardless."
"Sorry, I must've misspoken. I meant to ask what gave you that impression of him."
"Oh, that. Well there's no real reason, I just get the impression from the way he was acting. Just basic emotional deduction stuff. So mind telling me what?"
Judah pondered this for a second.
"I'm always away at inopportune times. That's how it's always happened. So I wasn't really involved, all I saw was the aftereffects. So I don't think it's my place… to tell any of it. Sorry."
Fen stared at him for another second.
"Nah, that makes sense. Nothing to apologise for. Though I don't think I'll be getting those answers for a while now." Fen commented while looking back at Mary and Luke.
"Still though," He continued speaking with a completely different expression "I could really use something like that, you know? I got badly injured too, so where's my comforting?"
"Uh… are you implying that you want me to comfort you? Is that what you mean?"
"No, no, no, not you. I meant a woman. This joke's going way too far, so just to be clear I'm not into that kinda stuff."
"What kind?"
"You know… the damn, men with other- when there's two guys and they… the stuff that Jean really loves talking about."
"How about I comfort you, youngun?" The old man asked Fen from just behind him, causing Fen to lurch away from him.
"How long were you standing for!? No, first off, who are you!?"
"I'm just a traveller headed for Seion. Your friends were kind enough to show me the way, so I'm tagging along."
"Ok, I meant something more along the lines of a name."
"Akem Okino."
"I'm starving now." Laura complained.
"If you're hungry then just keep walking." Zara replied. "The sooner we get to Seion the sooner you can eat something."
Jean shrugged.
"I guess the unintended side-effect of forest-destroying battles is everything that could be considered edible fleeing the immediate vicinity."
"Can't be helped, that's just how a justice fight goes." Masked Justice Hunter felt the need to reinforce his gimmick for no particular reason.
"I must say, despite all the incidental destruction you did a pretty good job back there. So in thanks, I'll give you some useful advice."
Jean stopped walking, puffing her chest out in preparation to share her wisdom.
"Love is like baseball."
"What?"
"You're more likely to be successful if you use a baseball bat?"
"I have no idea what that is supposed to mean."
"I'm still hungry." Laura complained.
Zara turned to her. "If you're looking for something edible, then there's still plants."
"I can't eat those." Laura replied.
"Yes you can, in fact you're generally supposed to."
"No, I'm one of those… a carnivore."
"I was going to point out that you're absolutely not but I think I should take a second to congratulate you instead, that's a big word by your standards."
"I'm still not eating any plants." Laura looked around, spotting something of interest on the nearby branches. In a single decisive action, the hunter closed in and snatched it.
Smirking, Laura presented her captive prize to the others. A strangely coloured beetle, with what appeared to be a skull pattern across its wings.
"Please don't tell me you're planning on eating that." Masked Justice Hunter politely requested.
"I got it first, it's mine."
"No, I'm asking you to not because I think that's disgusting."
"What? It's fine."
"I highly doubt that."
"I ate these things before when I was wandering around a few months, they're not that bad if you've got nothing else."
Zara seemed sceptical. "You're really sure that you ate these before? The ones you ate before had the skull on the wings and everything?"
"Yeah, how else would I have recognised it? I figure the skull's just there as a warning. I felt kinda bad after eating a bunch of them at once but I was okay after a little while."
Jean seemed to have a realisation. "Oh, so it's like, really spicy for a bug?"
"Yeah, stronger than any of the others I tasted out there."
"No, just calling it spicy would be an understatement." Zara replied in her thoughts. "That's an Ubertoxin Maximus Death Beetle. I've heard about them before, they're a type of beetle exclusive to the FG. Some researcher ended up passing on just from getting a drop of their poison in his left eye, ever since they've been the most feared of all beetles. I really doubt that Laura's capable of enough thought to lie about eating one, so she's probably telling the truth."
She paused, before beginning to lament.
"Some people really are just made differently, huh? Just bumping into it would probably be enough to kill me, but I guess that there's types like her who it barely affects. That Rondo bastard was one of them, too, no doubt. That's why I couldn't beat him."
She could feel her expression slipping into a grimace.
"Is this the time for being so pathetic? Shut up already, this is hardly news. You couldn't possibly have gotten this far without knowing all this already."
She tried to change the subject, to get rid of her own thoughts.
"Hey, Lotus-"
"Who is this Lotus you speak of? It most certainly isn't my name, for I am only called Masked Justice Hunter!"
"Yeah, haven't you been keeping up?" Laura asked her. "This guy's Masked Justice Hunter. Did you hurt your head or something?"
"Make sure to always capitalise the M, J and H." Jean added on.
Zara remained idle for a few moments before speaking again, this time with a new idea for a conversation topic.
"...Sorry, Masked Justice Hunter. I was just going to tell you about that beetle Laura's holding. I've heard that if you eat it you become irresistible to men for a short while."
"Hm? Why would I be interested in that?" Masked Justice Hunter asked, unable to hide his interest.
A few seconds passed of him staring at the ubertoxin death beetle while the others stared at him, then he reached out to grab it from Laura's hands.
Even after his decisive action, he still kept studying what he held.
"Come on." Zara urged him. "Eat the beetle white boy."
"A real hero of justice would eat beetles without hesitation." Laura told him.
"Eat it, eat it, eat it!" Jean passionately encouraged him.
"Why are you so into this?" Zara asked Jean.
"I love watching boys reluctantly ingest gross things."
"...That's not really surprising at this point."
Feeling the full effects of peer-pressure, Masked Justice Hunter finally took action. He half-lifted his mask, threw the bug into his mouth and started chewing. In just one bite he completely lost his momentum, his actions grinding to a halt as he experienced the taste.
Jean started clapping obnoxiously as the hero of justice spat most of what was in his mouth back out. Even through the mask the observers could tell his eyes were watering. Laura only realised a second later that she'd let her food get stolen.
"Is that good enough?" Masked Justice Hunter looked to the ground, trying not to be sick.
"Not even close." Zara got on Arachne's back to look down on him. "Try again."
With the guidance of Masked Justice Hunter, the group arrived at Seion by evening. This was after the hero had been pressured into eating one of the beetles. As a result he felt slightly off, though Zara assured him that was the irresistible aura taking effect.
As he walked Masked Justice Hunter began to become slightly delusional, thinking about what would follow.
"Well, I might not have gotten to save Judah, but his subordinates will suffice. I can just imagine it now…"
"Thank you so much for saving those three!" The Judah inside his mind was on his knees, crying while holding Masked Justice Hunter's hand. Masked Justice Hunter looked down upon him and smiled.
"It was no problem. After all, that's what heroes are for."
"But surely there must be something I can do to repay you!" Judah cried back.
"No need. I'm a hero."
Judah's eyes widened with shock as Masked Justice Hunter let out a healthy, boastful laugh. As if the world was revereing him for his selfless nature, he began to magically levitate. His laughing only increased in volume, while Judah's crying seemed to intensify.
This continued to play out until Masked Justice Hunter flew directly into the sun.
Masked Justice Hunter abruptly snapped back into reality, clutching his head.
"Are you still alive?" Zara asked him.
"How would I answer if I wasn't? Don't be stupid."
"Just checking. I figured something was wrong."
"Heroes can never have anything wrong with them. What could have given you the impression that something about me was off?"
"Well, Judah's been back for a few seconds and you have yet to sprint over to start barking like a dog would to its owner."
Masked Justice Hunter had already stopped listening halfway through her sentence.
"Judah's here? Judah's back? What am I doing hallucinating? I can go over there and get him to thank me for real. Yes, let's go!"
Masked Justice Hunter started running over to Judah.
"Looks like you finally arrived! I-"
Masked Justice Hunter stopped himself halfway through his sentence, the words getting completely stuck in his throat. To the observers, he seemed to be frozen in response to the group's overwhelmingly negative energy. In reality, he was more shocked at his own miscalculation.
Judah still wore his helmet, obscuring his face from view. Masked Justice Hunter had only seen him before running over and starting his misguided act. Whether his tunnel vision was caused by his mask or was instead metaphorical was unknown. His mind didn't even have a single thought to spare towards that at the moment, it was far too busy using everything to try and think of a way to escape.
"Should I just run away? No, this will all be pointless if you do that. Yeah, that's right. You're an idiot to even consider that. What are heroes for if not bringing hope? Whatever happened to them out there, I can fix it right now. Just… think back to that scene. Everything worked perfectly in your head, so all you have to do is copy it."
As a result of his performance in the earlier battle, the sudden downward shift in mood and additionally having ingested a lethal dose of poison less than an hour earlier, Masked Justice Hunter was slightly off his game at that moment.
Masked Justice Hunter stared at the group in complete silence for a prolonged period of time. Just before Isa could ask what was wrong with him, he began to laugh.
A very self-absorbed laugh. Without any explanation provided, the masked hero was laughing at them. Rather than stop, he raised his arms to the sky in an attempt to levitate, which proved to have little success.
With all of them except for one afflicted with numerous injuries and / or a broken spirit, the first thing they found upon arriving at their destination was mockery from someone that resembled a masked hero.
"Well, with all the noise over here, this must be it."
A familiar voice drew closer.
Bal stepped into view. Behind him were the rest of the Starward Diamonds, carrying some tied-up poachers with them.
Masked Justice Hunter stopped laughing, looking at Bal in silence. Bal returned the treatment, not really sure what to make of any of the current scene.
Masked Justice Hunter could feel judgement from the sniper's gaze alone.
"Oh!" Michael yelled out abruptly. "Isn't that the cap-"
Stanley punched him in the face with enough force to knock him to the ground before he could finish that sentence.
"So, exactly what happened out there?" Zara asked.
After the Starward Diamonds had arrived, the masked hero that laughed at them for unknown reasons immediately sprinted off. Bal promised to catch up later and went after him.
Akem had briefly thanked the three he'd met before departing into the outpost.
This left the DBA on their own. Even though it had only been a few hours, it felt like months since the last time they'd all been in one place. After Zara bandaged the gaping hole of a stab wound in Spence's stomach, all that was left was to catch up.
Judah started by recounting his group's encounter with the invisible presence, starting from Spence getting stabbed to them being saved by the old man.
Jean followed that up with an excessively dramatised retelling of how the group had encountered Rondo, before the arrival of Masked Justice Hunter.
This left just one piece of the story missing. Those involved seemed more hesitant to tell the story.
"Well, I guess I'll have to do it." Isa resigned herself. "Oh, before I get onto what happened, I should just say. The thing that knocked us all off that tree, that was him. Or rather, that weird monster he had with him."
"I've got a vague idea from what I saw back there, but just to be clear, what kind of monster was it?"
"Uh, I'm not an expert on this kinda thing. It was mostly silver and red, could fly and it was super fast."
"It was a Valstrax." Luke spoke up for the first time since the fight had ended, eliciting a reaction of shock from most of the group. His voice was still quiet, his eyes still unfocused, but he spoke nonetheless. "He called it Goliath. The elder dragon that's like a comet. That's what Davi's partnered with now."
Judah had already caught a few glimpses of it before, but he couldn't help but grimace at the confirmation. Before he could ask for the rest of the story, Zara brought the mood to an abrupt halt.
"Hold on, seriously. Are we meant to know who you're talking about here? You know someone in this poacher group?"
Luke went back to silence.
"Hey. You know what communication is? At least have the courtesy to pretend to look at me."
"Davi's his older brother, by about three years." Mary told her. "He… left a year ago. So we're here to take him back home."
"That's news to me."
"We weren't exactly hiding it, it just never came up beforehand."
"...Look, I'm not an expert on having siblings, but I don't think a relationship where you get into a fight to the death immediately after meeting for the first time in a year is a healthy one."
"That's a perfectly normal sibling relationship." Jean chimed in from the side.
"I'm talking about real life here."
"No, that's still pretty accurate." Spence added.
"The story isn't done, so could we please focus on that?" Mary cut the conversation off.
"Well, there isn't much left to tell." Fen took over. "They caught up a bit, then he said his whole thing about not going back and also about taking our monsters. Then we fought for a bit. It's embarrassing to admit, but he's stupid strong. He knocked out Isa and Irontusk first, then me and Fang. Since I was unconscious I've got no idea of anything past that, there's only one of us here who can say what happened."
He looked over to Luke, still despondent, before shrugging.
"I still don't fully get it, though." Zara continued her line of questioning from before. "Why exactly are you so stuck on getting him back? Ugh, there's just no good way to ask that question. I'm not saying that being a poacher is fine and I'm not saying I don't understand why you wouldn't be upset over that, but I just don't fully get what's going on here."
"If someone wants to leave, then I think they should just be left to it." Laura added in. "He's probably got reasons for it, right?"
Mary stared at them both for a few seconds, before talking in a detached tone of voice.
"I can't say that nothing happened, but for the sake of time I'll summarise it. He's just afraid. He doesn't know what's good for himself, either. That's really all there is to it. No matter how much I expand on things, that's the only conclusion that should be reached. So we have to bring him back. That's all there is to it, got it?"
She paused for a few seconds, with no one else responding.
"How about we go inside?"
As the group stepped into the largest building, what first caught their attention was a group of four at the far end.
They were a group of four guild knights that had acquired great renown in recent times. All known for their remarkable strength, and all known for using weapons that involved guns in some way.
Shriek, the nomad. A descendant of a clan of executioners who was feared for having become the last survivor by her own hands, as well as her berserk nature in battle. She was the wielder of the gunaxe.
Niceman, the undead. A vagrant shrouded in mystery, with even his real name unknown. There were those that called him a zombie, those that called him a curse and those that called him a saviour. Through all of this, the only thing that was undeniable was the bullet scar over his left eye. He was the wielder of the gunglaive.
Unweathered, the shirtless. A man who had never once been seen wearing a shirt. He was the wielder of the gunhammer.
And their leader, Gunbert, the gunner. An elite hunter who stood at the top. As one who sought to be first in everything, he was the only one possible leader this group could have. There was also only one possible weapon that he could wield, and it was the only one of its kind. That was, of course, the illustrious gungun.
There was no name that could've been more fitting for this collective of strong individuals than GUNS.
Though even with all of that said, it's not as though any member of the DBA knew anything about them. The most they got was a general sense that whoever they were, they were important.
"You certainly took your time."
Judah was taken aback.
"You were waiting for us?"
"Of course. I already know who you are."
"Ah, a crazed fan of ours." Jean smiled. "I've been waiting for one to show up for far too long. Okay, so where do you want to me to sign my autogr-"
"No, it's nothing like that. Do you really think that I'd care about a group like yours? I know because the other group you arrived with explained everything to me."
He signalled to the left, causing the DBA to finally notice the Starward Diamonds off to the side of the room.
"Oh." Jean's enthusiasm dropped. "So we don't even get to tell you about-"
"I'm already aware you encountered Fera Gladius."
"Oh."
"How familiar are you with them?"
"What's Fera Gladius?" Spence asked.
"Never even heard of them before today." Zara replied.
"Same." Isa added.
"I saw some wanted posters before." Judah repeated his earlier words.
"Yeah, I mighta heard about them sometime." Fen rubbed the back of his head. "Or I might not have, these things don't tend to stick in my mind."
"What does, exactly?" Zara asked.
"Girls. Also weapons. Oh yeah, armour too. That's about it."
"I know who they are, but that's because I know everything." Jean smirked.
"I didn't know about them before today." Mary quietly added.
"Who's Fera Gladius?" Laura asked.
Luke didn't say anything.
"...Then I suppose I'll explain it to you, since you're so uninformed."
Poachers.
That was the term for those who went against the guild's laws when hunting.
There were those that became poachers for profit, those who became poachers because of a grudge and those who became poachers because they simply couldn't stop themselves from fighting.
Dispatching them was primarily the responsibility of the twelve guild knights. Hunters were of course allowed to fight them, but for the most part they stuck to fighting monsters. There were also bounty hunters, those that focused only on capturing criminals, but they tended to be a lot rarer.
Those that were especially dangerous were given titles and wanted posters, in the hope that anyone particularly strong might be able to capture them with the promise of a reward.
Criminals that managed to get to this level of infamy tended to be individualistic, so it was a strange thing for any of them to form an alliance.
What was even stranger was for an entire group of them to be assembled. But the strangest part was their aesthetic.
Fera Gladius was a group that consisted entirely of outlaws that fought alongside monsters.
While not all of its members were wanted for poaching, since it was a group that went against the guild's hunting policies it had been classified as a poacher group.
It had suddenly appeared in the third zone of the FG several years ago, carving out an area that it marked as its territory.
The first incident that involved the group was several years prior, with the disappearance of several monsters around the third zone.
Several hunters went to investigate, but only one was returned.
Attached to his body was a letter of introduction from the leader.
While it may have seemed tame in comparison to everything else about them, the last remaining oddity was in how they presented themselves.
They claimed to be a kingdom.
"Huh? For real?" Laura asked.
"Yes, th-"
"People can just go and start a country like that? It's that easy?"
"There's nothing really stopping someone from just declaring that they're the ruler of a country, I suppose." Judah told her. "Most people don't bother, though."
"Hmm. I may have to try that at some point."
Gunbert tried to refocus the conversation.
"Establishing a country by itself is hardly anything illegal. Even if they weren't already almost entirely wanted criminals, the guild's problem with them is the disruption they're intent on causing. They've been attacking hunters all over the third zone and kidnapping monsters to add to their ranks. Not just from here, there's been sudden monster disappearances reported around the world recently. That's about all of the information you need to know for now. I've been told that you're monster taming hunters, so I can ask you. When you were in combat with them, did anything strike you as strange about how they fought with the monsters?"
"Like what?" Fen asked.
"I wasn't specific, was I? Just say whatever stuck out."
He thought about it for a while. As did most of the group. Only Zara came up with an answer.
"The guy with the Kushala. It only acted whenever he ordered it to. Could've just been that it was really obedient, but something felt weird about it. It only moved when he said, you understand? That's different from it following orders. It felt more like direct control."
"That stuck out to me as well." Lotus agreed.
"Hm?" Judah looked over. "You fought against the same poacher they did?"
Lotus stared at Judah.
"Of course not! Why would I have been there? I wouldn't have any interest in saving anyone from your silly group! How could you have gotten that idea?"
"What?"
"It was Masked Justice Hunter! He told me everything!"
"Oh, the laughing guy? Do you know him?"
"Yes! We go way back. In fact, he's the Starward Diamonds secret tenth member. You never knew he was a part of the group before because he's a secret. But he's such a nice and kind guy that he went out of his way to save your useless subordinates so you should be grateful."
"Oh. Well he seems nice… if a bit eccentric. I'll be sure to say thanks next time."
Spence's eyes were sparkling ever so slightly. "We should get a secret tenth member too."
"Yeah. I liked his style." Laura agreed.
"Hmm. Well, I do have to remind you that we're still waiting for two more members to catch up with us here, but I can't deny that a masked hero would be very appealing to have."
"This is really pushing it, isn't it?" Zara asked from the side, quietly. "I can get the two idiots but there's no way the captain still can't tell, right?"
"For once," Isa replied with a similar volume "I wish I couldn't tell that he's being fully honest."
"Can we move back to the topic at hand, here?" Bal asked. "You're gonna bore the damn guild knights to death. We fought against that guy's underlings and noticed something similar to Zara. Compared to fighting against you guys it was a completely different experience."
He began to recount the battle.
"The monsters with the ones that we took down instantly wouldn't do anything, no matter what happened. On the other hand, the monsters ordered to attack before their respective poacher got knocked out wouldn't stop attacking. Get it? Whatever it is, it's safe to say it's unnatural."
Isa thought things over for a second.
"That sounds like brainwashing."
"It's almost impressive you know what such a word means." DPSG remarked while pushing glasses up.
"It's not that complex, idiot. Everyone knows about it."
"The reality of it is usually pretty different to the fictional idea of just taking over someone's thoughts though, you know?" Zara told her. "I could maybe sort of understand something like that working on a person, but not a monster."
"The point still stands that there's something weird about it." Bal looked to the ceiling. "The guys that we captured are refusing to say anything about how they got their monsters, so we're at a loss unless one of them cracks."
Gunbert mused on this from atop his chair.
"Well, let's move on. Since they're all using monsters to fight, that makes them more of a threat than the average poacher, so we've decided to enlist the help of you hunters. Do you understand? Just think of this like a regular hunt, half of what you'll be fighting are monsters anyway. In the same way as your usual business, you'll be rewarded with an increase in hunter rank proportional to the threat of those you defeat."
He looked around the room.
"Any of you who aren't prepared for the idea of fighting other humans, hurry up and make your exit."
None of the eighteen there seemed to plan on moving, so he continued on.
"Then let me start by explaining how Fera Gladius is organised. At the top is the king, then beneath him are seven generals. Each of those generals then has authority over their own group of pawns. The main threats are those generals, so I'll brief you on each of them. We've assigned each of them a recommended hunter rank, in the same way the guild would for monsters. You could also consider it a ranking of how dangerous each is considered."
Inside a castle a short distance from that spot, a gathering was taking place. The hall was loud, rambunctious. That was a banquet.
The tables were highly varied in the number of seats. At one in particular were four chairs.
One was occupied by a particularly flamboyant man. The next was occupied by a white-haired woman, every part of her appearance radiating apathy. The third was a woman in full armour, her helmet having a distinctive mohawk-like horn built into it.
"Hey, want to know what I heard earlier?" The flamboyant man didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "That idiot Rondo and his legion got completely decimated by some hunters they picked a fight with."
He threw his head back and raised his arm to laugh at the information he'd just relayed, before continuing on.
"Well, I guess that's what you get when you act so full of yourself all the time. It's karma. Divine retribution. Things balancing out. The prideful falling is always such a beautiful thing, don't you agree?"
He waited for a second before growing annoyed.
"I asked if you agree or not. I could at least get an answer."
"The words that pour from your mouth have about as much value as the dirt I walk on. Maybe a little less. Do you take the time to acknowledge every piece of dirt?"
"Huh!? You're so full of yourself. What even gave you the impression that you were worthy of someone like me talking to you in the first place? I could've been talking to Nitro here!"
He finally turned to look at her.
"Why on earth are you trying to eat spaghetti with your helmet still on, fool?"
"I see… so that's why I couldn't taste anything. This must be the work of a Thriller agent!"
"You really love that Thriller thing, don't you?" The white-haired girl disinterestedly asked.
"What are you talking about? How would I love the organisation that's my sworn enemy!? They're the ones who secretly control the guild with their cabal of superhumans, they're the ones who put the bounty on my head and they're the ones currently preventing me from eating this plate of spaghetti."
"Are all of those on the same level of importance to you?"
"Be quiet," The flamboyant man interrupted them. "He's here."
Three men entered the great hall.
At the very end of the room was a table for eight with three seats still left open. The one wearing sunglasses stepped forwards first, seemingly without even a drop of concern. The man with his appearance obscured followed after him. That left only one, still seeming intimidated.
The man at the end of the room called out to them.
"So, you return from your expedition completely empty-handed, but with a heavily injured Kushala Daora and minus about twenty four pawns… why don't you tell me what happened?"
Rondo decided to answer first.
"Davi had noticed some intruders nearby, so my legion and I followed him to repel them. When confronting them, I was informed of a group of hunters and monsters nearby. I went to capture the monsters on my own, while leaving my legion to deal with the first group of hunters."
He paused for a few seconds.
"I was able to handle the group easily enough, but they were saved by some kind of masked superhero. He was stronger than I expected and badly wounded my Kushala, so I had to retreat. I did manage to save it, though. It's currently recovering. I… don't know what happened to my Legion. They've yet to return."
"Huh, got it." The one Rondo was answering too gave a pause of his own. "So that's it. I see now. The other guy was strong, so I guess there wasn't anything you could've done about it. That's why you let the Kushala I gave you get injured, is that right? I get it."
Rondo grimaced, but failed to work up the courage required to talk back.
"Crescent Apocalypse Excommunication Salutation Alternative Rondo. Known as the Molten Conqueror. Fera Gladius refer to him as their Rook of Storms. A disowned eldest son of a noble family who became a criminal, gathering a decently sized group of followers through his charisma. Wanted for poaching and theft. Estimated hunter rank is…"
"Wait, wait. I'm totally confused" Isa interrupted Gunbert. "Why does he have two titles? And what's a recommended hunter rank?"
"I would appreciate it if you'd refrain from cutting me off, but I suppose you wouldn't know. Wanted criminals are typically assigned a title by the guild. Fera Gladius also gives a title to each of its generals that they usually introduce themselves by. To give you the best idea, I thought I'd just give you both. As for the recommended hunter rank, one is given to those with wanted posters to get a general idea of their strength. In the same way there are required hunter ranks for quests, think of it as a warning to not take them on if you're too weak. Anyway, Rondo's rank is exactly one hundred."
The DBA went silent in response to this information.
"Where are you getting all this information from, anyway?" Bal asked.
"Well they usually introduce themselves by their title. But for things like the structure of the organisation, we've captured poachers before and gotten the information from them. That's all they gave up, though. They wouldn't give up the secret of how the group fights alongside monsters. Continuing down the list."
"Well, it's not all about you. I've still got two more to ask questions. Let's go with you next, Nebulo. Why exactly did you return empty-handed after going into battle? Don't tell me the superhero got you too."
"Nay." The man with the obscured face responded to the king while kneeling. "I discovered a separate group of hunters and monsters. I intended to quickly dispatch the hunters and capture the monsters, but an unexpected obstacle entered. He seemed to be nothing more than an old man with a sword, but that was a vast underestimation. He was able to block my attack without even glancing in my direction. I determined that the three monsters weren't worth the risk of facing him and hastily retreated."
"Oh?" A woman at the table finally seemed to take an interest in the conversation. "Was he stronger than me?"
"I didn't observe enough to be certain, but I am afraid that could be the case."
"Huh… that's weird. Maybe it's interesting."
The masked man continued to bow, not talking any further.
"Nebulo. The Demon Mist. Designated as that group's Knight of Mirage. A descendant of a clan of assassins known for taking on any kind of contract work. Robbery, poaching, assassination. Whatever people are willing to pay for, he's already done it. His estimated rank is two hundred and seventy two."
"Well, I suppose I can't fault you for being sensible. You're as cowardly as always, though. Let's just move on. Hey, David. Just to round things out, tell us what kind of strong individual you got scared off by."
"Hey, come on now." Davi answered with a smirk. "Just who do you think I am? Nothing like that happened to me. I found the monster-taming hunters myself and fought the ones these two leeches didn't get to. But both the hunters and the monsters were so weak that it wasn't even worth taking their monsters. Monsters like that'll just drag this place down, you know?"
"There's something you're hiding, isn't there?" A different voice from the table asked. "Something seems a bit off, David."
"Huh. What could that be, exactly? Don't act like you know me, freak."
"I'm just saying that something about you seems different to usual. Like something happened… or maybe you're hiding something."
"Oh, I see now. How could I not realise?"
Davi suddenly leapt over the table, throwing out a punch as he approached the ground. His brief flight was hardly graceful, scattering what lay upon the table as he went. What followed the attack was even less graceful, the chair his victim sat upon instantly smashed to pieces as its occupant flew backwards into the ground.
"This is what you wanted, huh!? You were acting like you knew me, but you don't seem to realise that I'm kind of a moron! If you want me to beat the hell out of you then you gotta be direct and tell me!"
The man that he had knocked flat slowly rose back to his feet in an unnatural manner, almost looking like a puppet being dragged by strings.
"That didn't feel nearly as good as usual. Your soul wasn't in it. Did something happen at all? I'm getting worried about you."
The man spoke with genuine concern more than present in his voice, a tone completely unbefitting words from a victim to their attacker. In response to that sincerity, Davi grinded his teeth together.
Another punch followed, knocking him to the ground. Not stopping at that, Davi began to repeatedly stomp on him.
The man that had been a voice of authority until Davi's turn to speak sighed and tried to remind him of something in vain.
"Hey, lay off Craft already. We promised that we're only allowed to hit him three times each at the table, remember?"
"Craftwork. The Pincushion. Fera Gladius' Bishop of Pain. A sadomasochist who considers himself a researcher of human psychology. His approach is to put people in dangerous situations for the supposed sake of recording their reactions. He was an ordinary hunter once upon a time, but one day suddenly defected from the guild to fight a monster that was forbidden to hunt. He was completely normal before this incident, apparently. Wanted for poaching, murder and illegal experimentation. Estimated hunter rank is 272."
"Wait. What did you say his name was?" Zara asked.
"Craftwork." Mary answered in his place.
"No, I'm not asking because I forgot, I'm questioning the absurdity of it. Is that like first name Craft, surname Work? I can't think of why someone would be called that."
"It's the name that he started going by after defecting from the guild. His real name is Florian Hutter. Moving onto the next up the list…"
"You were told to stop!" Rondo yelled out, finally bringing an end to Davi's stomping. He didn't stop because he was told to, though.
"Hey, what's this about now? You forget how this thing works? Not sure of what your own place is? Did the shock of losing that bad fry your brain? I don't answer to you, little conqueror."
"We're meant to be apologising to the king for failing to capture any of the monsters, what on earth are you doing?"
"We? We!? We!? Were you not even listening? The ones who failed are you two. I've got nothing to do with it so don't drag me down to your level."
"This is why I can't stand you. You always act as though you're above the rest of us!"
"As though?"
Rondo stepped forward, brandishing his sword. Davi smirked, almost seeming impressed.
"And here I thought you were nothing without your followers. That's fine by me." He completely lost focus on Craftwork and drew his tonfas, getting into a battle stance. "If you're looking to die, I'm more than willing to help out."
"David Gilmore."
Mary and Judah both grimaced. They had been expecting to hear his name at some point, but they still couldn't properly prepare themselves for it. Not realising the connection between them and not being the type to care even if he did realise, Gunbert continued on.
"Limit Breaker. Known internally as the Knight of Heaven. The most recent recruit among the generals and the youngest there. In spite of his age, he's strangely powerful. On top of numerous cases of poaching and assault, he's wanted for the murder of the legendary guild knight Arthur Luciotus, the Dragonsbane."
"...When was that?" Judah forced himself to ask.
"Hm? It was about seven months ago. He joined Fera Gladius shortly afterwards."
Judah looked to Mary and Luke, who didn't respond.
"He started being called the limit breaker after several eyewitness accounts of his fight with the Dragonsbane described him getting stronger as the battle dragged on. Taking everything into consideration, he's been issued an estimated hunter rank of 333."
Rondo drew closer, dragging his sword across the floor. Davi lowered his arms, getting ready to jump between the table.
Someone stood between them.
"What? You want a piece too?" Asked Davi.
The imposing woman covered in bandages sighed in response.
"When used for anything other than punishing the wicked, violence is a sin. I have no interest. I just wish to remind you two of your place, since you seem to have forgotten. We are before his majesty. This is the castle. And we should be dining. The king appointed you both as his generals. Act in a way befitting that position or I'll have no choice but to burn the both of you away."
"Sacred. The Preacher of the Inferno, or the Bishop of Flame. Real name is unknown. Her defining features are the burn scars covering her entire body. She came from an isolated country to the west. Her crimes include arson and murder."
"Not poaching?" Bal asked.
"No. She's never hunted a monster, in fact. She seems to disagree with the entire concept of it and preaches cooperation with monsters instead burning all those who disagree with her. Estimated rank is 431."
"You're always so damn stuck up, Sacred. Why not let the two of them at each other? The weaklings can sort themselves out. It might come as a surprise to a fanatic like you, but a bit of entertainment goes great with a meal, so that's an added bonus."
"Don't think that I won't take the opportunity to punish you the second you step out of line, you fiend."
"Huh? I wasn't even doing anything yet. Though if that's what you want, then I guess there's no helping it!"
His face broke out into a grin as he reached under the table for his weapon.
"Ripper. Real name is Lugo Strigoi. Known as the Bloody Devil, or the Rook of Slaughter. A former hunter with the guild who was of no particular note, but after the fighting in Dia twenty years ago he defected from the guild. He now hunts anything. Monsters, people, it doesn't seem to make a difference to him. He's been captured multiple times but always broken out shortly after. From the reports, he's seemingly impossible to kill, always getting back up after injuries that seem fatal. Estimated rank is 450."
Unbeknownst to those being briefed on them, it looked as though a free-for-all could break out in that very group at any moment.
The four criminals resembled wild animals sizing the other up. Once one of them made a move, there was no doubt that things would descend into a bloodbath with only a single survivor, at the very most.
Sacred and Ripper's factions of pawns stared at each other, ready to follow their leader into battle. The rest of the pawns observed the situation with varying levels of caution.
Nebulo was still kneeling as he had been while telling his story, refusing to get up until given permission. The last general at the table carried on eating without any concern.
"Hey, break it up! I don't need you killing each other here! Listen to me!"
Only one held the authority to try stopping them, but his words seemed to fall on deaf ears this time.
"What good are pieces that don't follow orders? I swear. Hey, Minerva."
As he spoke to the woman next to him, she finally looked up.
"Yes?"
"Can I ask you to deal with this? You're the only one who can solve this problem."
"Hm? What problem?" She glanced around. "Oh, that. They're such trouble. But I guess if you say that I'm the only one that can, then I've got to be the one."
She didn't go to attack them. She didn't fire anything off or throw anything. She didn't even move.
"Hey. Knock it off, would you? You're too loud."
Harmless words, delivered with little emotion. And yet, the entire room stopped moving.
An overwhelming, crushing pressure was emitting from where she sat. What swept through the room could only be compared to the feeling of inescapable death.
The pawns didn't even dare breathe. Even Nebulo, who was still kneeling with his eyes pointed to the ground, seemed to shake slightly.
Rondo lowered his blade instantly. Sacred returned to her seat. Ripper's expression took a few seconds to return to normal before he remarked "Well, not that I felt much like fighting anyway." and returned to his seat.
That just left Davi, who shrugged.
"As if I'm in the mood to deal with you."
"Minerva Manul. The War Goddess. They call her their Queen of Everything. A former guild knight with a promising future… that one day that slaughtered her own comrades without explanation. There's no crime more grievous than a guild knight turning traitor, so naturally every capable hunter in the surrounding area was sent to deal with her. A hundred versus one. The result was a massacre."
Gunbert took a long pause, staring forward.
"She couldn't possibly be given a rank any lower than 999. There's no creature in the world more powerful or more vile than that woman. Fighting her is a guaranteed death sentence if you're too weak. My group will be the only ones responsible for taking her down. Your job is to prevent the rest from interfering with that."
The one sitting on the throne sighed and sat back.
"I'm glad that disaster was avoided without any bloodshed."
He threw himself back into action with an unpredictable recklessness, almost resembling a jack-in-the-box, and clapped his hands together.
"Now with all that talking out of the way, let's not be so heavy-spirited anymore. Forget all of that. Who cares that much? This is a banquet. We're here to celebrate another day of freedom, so what are we wasting our time for? Let's begin!"
"And the leader?" Lotus asked. "They've got to have a king to be a kingdom."
Gunbert stared over at him for a few seconds before answering.
"We don't know a thing about him."
"Huh? I thought this was meant to be a whole army made up of known criminals?"
"For the army, that's true. But we don't know who the king is. He's never been seen by anyone outside of his organisation, so we can't identify him. The only information we have to go off are his letters, where he refers to himself as the King of the Wild. Even with his identity unknown, if he was able to bring such a wide array of dangerous individuals under his command then that can only mean that he's a threat, so his estimated rank is also 999. The same case applies as with Minerva. Only my group is qualified to deal with him. The rest of you will be responsible for the trash."
The sound of a sheath tapping against the ground was heard approaching the building.
"Hmm… is this the right place?" They heard someone ask as they got closer. "I got a bit lost. Ah, some of you I recognise. This must be it, then."
"What are you here for, exactly?"
"For signing up to fight those poachers. What else?"
Gunbert sighed.
"Look, I'm aware that you must possess at least some strength to get here, but this isn't the kind of thing that a man of your age should casually join in with. This will be a life or death battle, and we need capable-"
The old man fumbled around his pockets, before pulling a guild card for Gunbert to inspect.
His eyes instantly widened.
"Th-the sword saint?"
"The sword saint!?" The rest of his group yelled back in unison.
"The sword saint, huh?" Bal remarked from the side. "Don't get to see someone like that every day."
"The sword saint?" Most of the DBA asked in unison, being completely clueless about famous hunters.
"Yes, sword saint. My real name works just fine too."
"I-I'm sorry. We'd be honoured to have your participation in this hunt!"
While Gunbert re-explained things to Akem, Isa shuffled over to the SD.
"Hey, who is this guy?"
"You don't know? How uninformed can you be?" Lotus asked.
"Very. Now fix it."
Bal started explaining for her sake.
"Akem Okino. The sword saint. Hunter rank 999. An unparalleled longsword wielder who's said to have become one with the blade. As far as swordmasters go, you can't get much better than him. That's the extent of what I've heard. To be honest I didn't know that he was still alive, to be even more honest I didn't think he was fully real."
As Gunbert finished his explanation of everything, it seemed as though conversations were at an end.
To summarise, the DBA were mostly in ruins. They had encountered those with strength beyond their own and found out about the existence of even harder-to-reach individuals in just a short span of time.
"It'll be okay." Judah thought to himself, trying to force himself to not get overwhelmed. "I know that I'm still weak. I know that. But we've already come this far. Davi is just around the corner. One of our goals is in sight. So all I have to do is get better. Then I can keep everyone safe while taking him back home. Besides, Terrence should be getting back soon enough, so I'm sure that with him on our side we'll be-"
"Oh, I forgot to mention one last thing." Gunbert stopped himself just before he left. "The operation begins a week from now. Prepare well."
With those words he departed, ignoring the despair inflicted.
A week. Seven days. One hundred and sixty eight hours. Ten thousand and eighty minutes. Six hundred and four thousand, eight hundred seconds. Considering how little time they had left, there wasn't enough of it to waste calculating the number of milliseconds.
What could be achieved in a week? Those burdened by feelings of powerlessness certainly didn't believe that anything could be enough to bridge the gap between them and those they had just encountered.
The one who felt those feelings the most intensely of them all continued to stare forward as he had been this entire time. But, it wasn't as though the information shook him to his core. What would a stricter time limit matter? He'd already known from the start that he could never catch up.
The very next morning, Luke Gilmore disappeared.
TO BE CONTINUED
And we're back with the first chapter of this year. It took too long again, but it was less than last time, so who cares that much?
Writing exposition is tiring so I decided to get it all over with at once. Sorry if there's too many at once, but at the very least no more major characters should be introduced for a little while. I promise that at very most I'll only be introducing minor ones, ones only important to flashbacks or ones that have already been shown off but not named yet.