The devourer of darkness

The first hunt

Kenta raised an eyebrow, then lowered it just as quickly. He placed a heavy hand on Ichiro's shoulder and turned to the assembled Hunters.

"Ichiro will be joining the hunt today" Kenta announced. The reaction was immediate. Some Hunters chuckled, others frowned, and most simply didn't care. Yuto, however, looked delighted.

"We don't hunt with our mouths, Teta" he scoffed.

Kenta headed toward the van, leaving them to prepare. Yuto immediately cornered Ichiro.

"You can't even afford a weapon, can you?"

"I'll be fine" Ichiro muttered, refusing to meet Yuto's eyes. Yuto burst out laughing. "Everyone! Ichiro thinks I'm worried about him!" The Hunters joined in, the sound echoing in the staging area.

"Stick to harvesting, brat" one Hunter spat as he climbed into the van.

Yuto leaned in, his hand gripping Ichiro's shoulder. Ichiro stared at the hand with a hollow, soulless expression. "You can't hunt without a weapon, Ichiro. And nobody is going to lend you theirs just so you can drain it or break it."

Ichiro pulled the small dagger from his bag. "I have a weapon. Can I go now?"

Yuto stared at the tiny blade and doubled over with laughter. "Is this a joke? That's a needle! A 'Wreckless' beast would swallow that and ask for seconds. How much did you pay for that? Ten blue crystals?" Yuto climbed into the van, still laughing. 'It was four, actually' Ichiro thought bitterly. A tap on his shoulder broke his train of thought.

"I don't have a Rookie-rank weapon, and you'd only drain the energy from anything higher" a Hunter said with a thin smile. "But I have some L-rank armour I don't use anymore. It's better than going in naked."

Ichiro's eyes widened. "I... I might drain the armour"

"Don't worry about it. It's yours now" the Hunter said, turning to board the van. Ichiro moved to follow, but Yuto blocked the door. "This van is for SR-ranks and above. The 'Rangers' and quacks like yourself are in the blue van." He slammed the door shut.

"Wait!" Ichiro called out. "He hasn't given me the armor yet!"

The van sped off, leaving Ichiro standing in the exhaust.

"Hi," Ichiro said, stepping into the cramped blue van. The Hunters moved slightly to give him room. As he sat down, a man turned to him.

"You're a Rookie without armor? Do you have a death wish?"

Ichiro forced a smile. "I'll be changing once we reach the gate."

"Oh. I'm Gyokuro Nanami. R-rank. As in 'Ranger'."

"I'm Teta Ichiro."

"If you need anything besides armor -- which I really can't spare, let me know. You can DM me in the group chat. You're in the group, right?"

Ichiro blinked. 'There's a group chat? What do they talk about? Who had better kills?'

"No, I didn't know there was a group."

"Nanami, why do you bother with these brats?" another Hunter sneered. "Don't you recognize him? This is Ichiro. Yuto-senpai's favourite punching bag."

Nanami's eyes widened. "Oh... you're the harvester Yuto is always picking on. That's rough. Honestly, Yuto isn't even that great. He's just lucky his family owns the agency and buys him the best gear." Nanami rolled his eyes. "Forget all that. I'll show you the ropes."

Ichiro smiled, a genuine one this time. "Thank you."

The van suddenly groaned and shuddered. It refused to start, a daily occurrence for the

lower-ranked vehicles.

"Not again" the Hunters groaned.

"Those stingy Shibatas" someone complained. "They never give the lower ranks anything that actually works." Finally, the engine roared to life, and the van lurched forward.

"You're late" Kenta said, his voice echoing through the staging area. Even the harvest crews had arrived before them.

"We apologize, Kenta-sama" the driver said, bowing low. "The vehicle had issues."

"Fine. Everyone, gather round!" Kenta commanded.

"Hey," a voice whispered. Ichiro turned to see the Hunter from earlier.

"Sorry, I forgot we were in different vans" the man said.

"You don't need to apologize to me, sir" Ichiro said with a bow.

"Right. This might be a bit big for you, but you'll manage." The Hunter opened his palm, and a suit of steel armor accessorized with blue and a purple crystal materialized out of thin air.

Ichiro gasped. He'd only ever seen 'spatial storage' in movies.

"There you go" the Hunter said, handing it over.

"I'm Ryo Subaru. SSR" the man said with a wink. 'Super Special Ranger'.

"Thank you, Ryo-senpai!"

Ichiro looked at the armor. It had small blue crystals on the brims and a decent sized purple crystal on the chest plate. Nanami leaned in, whistling. "That's a fancy rig for a Rookie. Get it on, quick."

Kenta began the final briefing. "We're heading into the Darklands today. Stay alert. Lower ranks, you are to stay directly behind the high-ranked Hunters. There have been reports of 'Severe' beasts migrating into low-rank territories. We operate within a 0.5 Li radius. Do not wander off. Stick together!"

"Yes sir!" The hunters chorused in unison .

The engineers opened the massive portal, and Kenta led the way.

Ichiro followed Nanami his hand gripping the small dagger so hard his knuckles were white

"You'll be fine" Nanami whispered giving him a reassuring smile "You've got this"

'And I thought I was the only dork in the world' Ichiro thought, a strange sense of calm washing over him. 'I guess you're never truly alone.'

****

Ichiro knew these terrains well. He had harvested here dozens of times, or at least skirted the edges of the Mainland. This was the home of Grade one and two beasts, but these days, the land was eerily quiet. The Beast Realm was essentially one massive, interconnected cave system. Myths claimed a fallen Beast Lord had carved the entire realm out of a single mountain, and looking at the sheer, jagged rock walls, Ichiro could believe it. The air was thick and stale, smelling of damp earth and the metallic tang of Mana technology.

'What a waste of time' Ichiro thought, trying to steady his breathing. 'It feels like a poultry farm. Or a pen' . He was lying to himself, of course. His erratic thoughts were the only thing keeping his panic at bay. Why did they have to visit the Darklands on his very first day? His trembling hands, white-knuckled around his dagger, betrayed his true feelings. 'Right. A pen. The beasts are the livestock, and we're the butchers... no, that would make this an abattoir' . He inhaled sharply as they crossed the invisible boundary into the second territory. The temperature plummeted, a chilling draft whispering through the cavern like a warning. He glanced at Nanami. The Ranger was intensely focused, wielding his voulge with a grim determination that intimidated Ichiro. Ichiro just wanted to talk, to push the silence away.

"You Hunters have done a great job cleaning this place out" he whispered. Nanami grinned, though his eyes never left the shadows. "It's mostly the high ranks. Besides, the Darklands are where the real work begins. Anything we find here is like killing a rat. The beasts moved further north once they realized how easy it was for us to hunt them here."

'I hate rats' Ichiro thought. "Okay" he muttered.

The troop arrived at a Komon -- the massive gates that guarded bordered territories. Stronger beasts built these walls to claim their space, and for a long time, they were impenetrable. Now, Mana-tech could bypass them.

[Komon] an automated voice announced, sending a shiver down Ichiro's spine. He recognised the voice now -- it was the mobile gauntlet every captain wore, Ichiro had seen it enough in the movies.Captain Kenta raised a hand, and the troop halted. Only the high-ranked Hunters remained close to the Captain. Ichiro knew one of them was Ayumi Nagi, the youngest and fastest-rising female Hunter in the city. Emiko followed her religiously on Rednote. Ichiro tried to catch a glimpse of her face, but she remained a distant, armored figure.

[Komon -- Gaining Access. Thirty minutes remaining.]

The wait was agonizing. The silence of the cave pressed in on them, broken only by the hum of Kenta's gauntlet and the occasional clink of armour. Nanami's grip on his weapon was so tight his knuckles were white. Ichiro could hear his own heart, a frantic drum in his ears. Every shadow seemed to move.

"It's taking time because our troop has never opened this specific gate before," Nanami whispered.

"No one has ever opened it?" Ichiro asked, his stomach knotting.

"No, others have. But our battalion doesn't have the data for it yet." The countdown continued. Twenty-nine minutes. Twenty-eight. Twenty-seven. Ichiro shifted uncomfortably. "That's a long time. Are you sure it's safe to..."A shadow exploded from the darkness.A blur of black hide and purple eyes pounced on Ichiro with a guttural snarl. The sound of its claws scraping against the stone floor was like nails on a chalkboard. Ichiro hit the ground hard, the monster's talons sinking into the opening his left shoulder. A high-pitched ringing filled his ears. 'Am I dying?' he asked himself 'Bastard' Ichiro thought as his vision began to blur. 'You said there were no beasts here'.

He heard someone screaming his name, but it felt miles away. He reached for his dagger, but it had been knocked from his hand. His limbs felt like lead. The beast held him down, its weight crushing his chest, its claws digging deeper into his flesh.

"Ichiro!" It was Nanami. The Ranger rushed forward, his weapon aimed at the beast's tendon. But the creature was fast. Sensing the attack, it leaped into the air, using Ichiro's chest as a springboard to propel itself away. Ichiro felt the breath leave his lungs as the beast's hind legs kicked off him with a sickening thud. Nanami's voulge only grazed its obsidian, rock-like skin.This was no ordinary beast. It was vaguely humanoid but twisted, with disproportionately long limbs ending in razor-sharp talons. Its body was a void of unreflective black, and its eyes burned with a malevolent purple light. A Core Devourer. Sixteen others appeared from the shadows keeping the other hunters occupied.

Nanami spun, his voulge becoming a whirlwind of steel. He moved with a seasoned grace, deflecting the beast's lunges and searching for a weak point. The Core Devourer was agile, a shadow dancing on the edge of the light. Nanami managed to land a solid blow on its elbow, sending it back with a shriek. But as Nanami prepared for a finishing strike, a chilling growl echoed from the side. Another beast -- smaller, but just as vicious, darted from the shadows toward the prone Ichiro.

"Ichiro!" Nanami roared.Without hesitation, Nanami abandoned his fight with the Grade three Core Devourer to protect the Rookie. He intercepted the smaller beast, sending it sprawling with a powerful strike, but the distraction was fatal.

The Core Devourer seized the opening. It was upon Nanami in a heartbeat, its talons sinking deep into his chest. Nanami gasped, his eyes wide with shock. He tried to fight back, but a golden glow began to emanate from his chest -- a light that rapidly dimmed as the beast began to gorge itself.It wasn't biting, It was sucking.Nanami's body went limp. His eyes glazed over as his Hunter's Core -- the very essence of his power was devoured in a silent, grotesque feast. The beast pulled back, its purple eyes burning brighter with satisfied hunger, leaving Nanami a hollow shell.

"Nanami!" Captain Kenta's voice tore through the chaos. Kenta lunged forward, his blade wreathed in blinding crimson Mana, but he was a heartbeat too slow. The Core Devourer hissed mockingly and dissolved into the shadows just as Kenta's blade sliced through the air. Kenta fell to his knees beside his fallen comrade. The silence that followed was heavier than the darkness itself. "Nanami!" another Hunter, Geto cried out, rushing to his side.Nanami forced a weak, blood-stained smile. "I... I got it" he whispered.