Even an Omake, Should it Please You

by DezoPenguin

Because obviously nothing so blatantly screams "humor fic collection" than the struggle of an undying hunter against blood-crazed beasts, lunatics craving the Eldritch Truth, and abominations from beyond the waking world, right? Right? (Now also including "epilogue" chapters taking place after the Night of the Hunt is over, though Balyn's life hasn't gotten any easier.)

8. Just Hoping to Spark a Reaction

With the last of his strength, Balyn swung the extended form of his cleaver in a wild, overhand arc, chopping down into the skull of the raging darkbeast. With a hideous scream, it dropped to its belly in the dirt, the crackling blue sparks that had so entranced the eccentric Archibald guttering out.

Now!

Even as he gasped for breath through the cloth mask covering his lower face, the hunter took two steps forward and rammed his hand through the darkbeast's eye socket, grabbing hold of…whatever was inside there and ripping.

The results were more than he could have hoped. Paarl spasmed convulsively, arching its back, and exploded into a shower of green mist.

Pausing only to scoop up an old, battered badge that had fallen from the creature's neck, Balyn stepped over to the suddenly-appearing lamp and let the messengers whisk him away to the Hunter's Dream.

~X X X~

"Welcome home, good hunter," the Plain Doll said. "You seem to be in high spirits."

"Darned right!" he said, pumping his saw cleaver in the air in an enthusiastic gesture. "I got grabbed on the street, shoved into a sack, and hauled off to a dank cell in some strange corner of the city—but I found my way out, hacked my way through dogs and giant pigs and a bunch of those hooded guys like the one who kidnapped me, and finally took out a darkbeast to make my escape!"

The Doll applauded his achievement…or possibly just his antics.

"That sounds very impressive, good hunter. I have heard from other hunters that darkbeasts were once a great scourge in the ailing land of Loran."

"Is that right? I bet you thought I'd say that I was pretty shocked to fight one in Yharnam, then, didn't you?"

The Doll looked at him without so much as a flicker in her expression.

"Do you really want to ruin the mood so quickly, good hunter?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, I wasn't all that surprised. I kind of expected those sparks from the bolt stuff I found around the village, so the battle played out pretty much how I thought it would. Really, fighting Darkbeast Paarl was a pretty bare-bones experience."