The devourer of darkness

The underground kingdom

Captain Kenta returned to the hunters Erika had successfully arranged. He tapped his gauntlet, and a holo screen appeared displaying the paths they were to take to the caves.

"Torches" he said asking for the hunters to power on their mobile gauntlets. The blue light was barely noticeable even in the darklands. It was better to see the paths, than to prevent assassination. To Ichiro it was a questionable strategy, but what could he do to stop them

'and I'm not even a part of it' he shrugged slightly. In truth he wasn't part of it because his armour's gauntlet was simple steel, nothing much to create the beautiful and illuminative blue light

'ahh... I can't even comfort my self'

****

For every two hunters facing forward, there was a high ranked hunter facing backwards. Kenta being part of the hunters forward had Geto take his place behind. After the arrangement, Ichiro and Yuto ended up together with Ryo behind them, despite all of Yuto's tantrums all Erika said was: "You can join your ancestors then"

Erika surely was not afraid of the Shibata clan to mention their ancestors.

"You shouldn't be here, Ichiro-kun. You could die, or are you really trying to prove a point because I say all you can do is pick Mana?" Yuto whispered. Ichiro grimaced, but he ignored Yuto. After all, Yuto was right; he never really became a hunter for the buoyant pay , he simply wanted to prove to everyone who underestimated him, especially Yuto

'the pay is only a bonus'

"Don't you dare ignore me..."

"Shibata Yuto, be quiet" Ryo ordered. Yuto swallowed the rest of his words, but satisfied himself by giving Ichiro a glare worthy of casting curses of death on him.

"We move in three"

'three, two, one'

The army of twenty marched steadily, no one in their right mind would hurry to their death. The blue light each gauntlet produced made the journey even scarier to Ichiro. All it reminded him of was the road to the pearly gates. He kept rehearsing Kenta's plan in his head.

It was simple -- first the lower ranks attacked, then with a decoy the higher ranks would pull the beasts out of the caves and finish them in an open space where they had at least an upper hand. After encountering the beasts in the unsafe hall, entering their personal habitat would be the worst mistake they could make, also there were no other beasts outside the caves.

'This is the smartest thing Captain Kenta had suggested so far'

[Detected beasts -- fifty metres, eleven degrees southeast] the gauntlet announced.

By now everyone could see the mountains that made up the caves. It was a miracle to Ichiro, a cave in a cave.

[Detected beasts -- twenty five metres]

Ichiro could feel his heart race the closer they got, until they finally reached the mouth of the first cave. It was much bigger than the others, and clearly the only one fit to be a kingdom. Besides, the map strip led them to it.

[Detected beasts]

'We don't need you telling us that!' Ichiro wanted to yell, but Kenta tapped on the device, and released the bug-like detector. It flew into the cave and in less than no time Kairo was back online

"I have received the information...uhhh..."

Kenta could overhear her tapping the keyboard furiously, and it was disturbing, but he took a deep breath

"What have you seen?" He asked quietly

"I will guide you as much as I can before I go out of line, I think the path is a mess...I can find a wall here, but it insists that this is the path" she said. Kenta nodded holding his hand up, he waved

"Ready when you are" he said in the normal voice his troop could hear.

"Go straight ahead" she ordered

"We move in three"

'three, two, one'

The troop marched forward into the cave, with the blue lights still serving as the only source of light. Infact the darkness was even worse in the cave and the narrow parts ruined the formation, as it was only enough for two people to walk comfortably at once. Ichiro thanked God for the lights, what if he stepped on Yuto? It would be the death of him.

"Go right"

Kenta took a right turn and as usual the troop followed him. They marched for about ten minutes before

"Look to your right, can you see a wall?" Kairo inquired

"Yes" Kenta replied stopping, the troop stopped with him as well

"Keep going North" Kenta ordered

Kenta continued and so did his troop without question. They came to a wall, but on the left and right there were paths.

"Take a right turn, you should return to the path you missed because of the wall"

Kenta stretched his hand to the left, and immediately the troop moved.

"Do you see a path?"

"Yes"

"Take your left"

"Take your right"

"You are on the correct track now."

With Kairo's help -- which was as it should be, the troop returned back on track. Although the hunters saw it as just marching in circles, they dared not to complain. But that was until

Kenta looked left and right, and glanced at the wall in front of him. He averted his gaze and tapped his earbud

"We are at a dead end" he muttered

"There is nothing on your right or left?"

"Nothing at all...only a wall with writings on it."

"Can you read the writing? What language is it?"

"It looks Japanese, but...I do not seem to understand it. If I read it to you by syllables, can you find a way to translate?" Kenta asked glancing at the hunters on his sides.

"I can try" Kairo muttered. He read out the syllables he could identify, and after about five seconds, she found it "It's Jodai ninhongo; ancient japanese"

Kenta furrowed his brows "the beasts speak Japanese?" He asked astonished

"We can't beat the fact, and Kenta...you might want to move away from that wall"

"What does it say?" Kenta asked

" Ō, so no shin ni somuku bekarazaru chokumei o kudashi tamaheri. Kegaretaru mono no kuni ni iraba, kaijin ni kiseshimeyo, to.; 'For the king had given his servant an imperial order, that he shall not disobey; burn them to ashes that enter the kingdom foul.' "

"Retreat!" Kenta barked, the confused hunters were going to muddle about but Kenta commanded again

"Retreat!!"

Immediately the hunters moved ten metres away from the wall, a trapdoor opened in the ground, and the flames flickered out -- the flames that would have consumed them.

With heavy breaths, the hunters recovered from the shock. Kenta glanced at everyone

"Are you all alright?" He asked calmly

"Yes." Erika replied, she walked forward and with furrowed brows "but Kenta-sama, how did you know there was a trapdoor?" She asked

"That is not what is important Erika. The most important fact currently is that they must be other traps here..." Kenta stopped his eyes widening with shock and concern as he watched Ichiro walking right to the trap.

"Teta, you can't go there..."

Ryo rushed to Ichiro with the speed of light, and held him in place while the other hunters stared at Ichiro like he had gone crazy. They knew from the onset that carrying a civilian along was a big mistake. It was unfortunate Ryo wanted to join him.

"Ichiro-kun, let's go back" Ryo whispered pulling Ichiro from his arm

"But..." Ichiro was struggling now, all he wanted was a peek into the trapdoor and all everyone thought was him being on a suicide mission

'I love my life better than all of you, barbarians!' with a strong movement, he flung Ryo's hand away, and squatted, peeking inside the furnace that was left just smoke and nothing more...or

"The fire has stopped burning" Ichiro said

"There could be more, there is more" Ryo whispered, he kept his voice low because he did not want to shock Ichiro making him slip, and he also thought the young man was unstable in the head because of his latest experience, or was there something pulling him to the trap? Ryo still wanted to reach out to Ichiro, but Kenta stopped him

"Kenta-sama..."

Kenta inhaled "Teta, move away from there... now" he ordered sternly, but Ichiro ignored him, poking his face lower into the furnace. The rest of the hunters watched with fear, their armours becoming heavier than usual, there was no way they wanted to end up like Ichiro.

By now the smoke had cleared and Ichiro could see clearly as a result of the lit cinders on the floor "there are stairs, we are on the right track... the beasts are underground" he said turning to the rest of the hunters

"That could be another trap, Ichiro" Ryo said convincingly. Ichiro shook his head

"There are stairs..."

"Let me see that" Kenta flung Ichiro away and peeked inside the trapdoor himself.

Ichiro was upset that the captain threw him to the floor instead of appreciating him for his discovery

'it is why all you ever do is hunt beasts...the brutality...' Ryo pulled Ichiro up

"You should never scare us like that" he said warningly. Ichiro was lost, only his dad ever feared for him, and Emiko. Others were glad if he got it bad from the gods

"Speak for yourself, Ryo" Erika said scoffing, her voice was shaky although, it was clear they had thought the worst

"Yeah, he's not even useful to us..." Geto agreed with her. He had thought the worst of it all, just like Ryo -- perhaps the beasts were using some dark magic to hypnotise Ichiro.

"Everyone" Kenta's voice was coming from the pit

"Teta is right, this is the path" he said

************************

The hunters wore their masks, and proceeded carefully as a result of the cinders on the floor. There were weird looking engravements on the wall, and the aura was entirely dark, and no one had to tell them to be quiet about their operation. Once or twice a hunter's greaves would crush a cinder, or collide with the stones on the floor, it all added to the ominous nature of the underground kingdom.

Ryo watched Ichiro for long, he had a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but decided to keep them for later. Of course there would time later, Ryo did not plan on losing his life nor Ichiro's. The captain's gauntlet kept warning them of the danger ahead

[Grade six beast -- ten metres]

[Grade six...] Kenta pressed a button and the gauntlet went quiet.

All the they saw at first were purple eyes shining in the dimlight, but the lamps flickered on and the complete form of the beasts were revealed. Most hunters had never encountered Grade five beasts, let alone -- grade six, so the sight was even more terrible, even worse was that there were fifteen of them. The creatures stood almost eight feet tall, each with black and thick skin like that of the rhino, almost discouraging anyone who thought of cutting through its flesh. They snarled in practiced unison revealing a maw that carried sharp and uneven teeth, proving that infectious beasts not only poisoned but fed on their prey. Their emaciated torso showed how starved they were, and their elongated claws and poses revealed that not only Kenta and his people were interested in hunting.

Kenta took a deep breath "I leave it to you Geto" he said

Yuto would love to grumble; talk about how much it was he who was supposed to be in charge, but ever since the trapdoor, he had gone as quiet as death itself, and in front of the most deadly creatures he had heard of, he became as pale as a ghost.

Ryo tapped Ichiro on the shoulder "I have a lot to ask you, you should not die" he said, and just like that he was gone. The rest of the higher ranks had left them as well, all alone.

"Ichi-chō no kanata yori sonata no ki o kanji, waga mi ni katariki; izuku e kari ni yukamu, ban-san no on-mi-zora ga onozukara ware-ra ni tsukaeshi toki wa! (We sensed you from a cho away, and thought to ourselves; why go out to do the hunting when dinner can serve us itself!)" With that the beasts launched a uniformed attack, their purple eyes shining brighter.

"Attack!" Geto ordered rushing into the beasts. Everyone moved except for Yuto, who kept shuddering, even to Ichiro's surprise

"Yuto" Masaru pushed Yuto away just in time before a beast pounced on him, he managed to save Yuto and injure the beast that made it retreat for a while

"Are you alright?" Masaru asked breathing heavily, Yuto shook his head vigorously

"I can't do it, Masaru... I'm too weak" he shook his head again. Masaru shook his head as well, Yuto could not be having a breakdown right where they needed help from everyone

"I can't even take a Grade three beast on my own... how can I handle a grade six?" Yuto asked rhetorically

"Are you crazy? Do you know who you are? Look, Ichiro's holding his own against a grade six and you think you can't? You are the heir of the Shibata clan, killing these things is what you do best" Masaru said assuringly, Yuto glanced at Ichiro who was having it hard... perhaps even worse, but the civilian kept getting back up on his feet because he simply just wanted to live. "You should never see yourself as weak, you are the best of us" Masaru said fiercely, Yuto nodded

"If Ichiro is holding his own, I can" he convinced himself, Masaru nodded "you can" he agreed

"Thank you" Yuto muttered. A moment of fear had dullen his pride, and for once he was grateful.

Ichiro coughed up blood, and crashed to the floor

"Ukiyo no hitobito wa yowaku, shite muryoku nari. (Inhabitants of the secular realm are weak, and helpless)" the beast snarled and raised its hand to land a blow, but an arrow shot through its hand.

"You make a good decoy" Geto grunted putting his life force into his grip. He was struggling, but still found time to mock Ichiro. Since Yuto was taking the time off, he decided to fill in the gap

"Is that all you are good for?" He asked pushing hard with his blade as it refused to cut through. The only effective weapons were the spears and voulges, or Yuki's arrow and bow. The other weapons required too much strength and stamina.

Ichiro stood up, and held unto the voulge like Masaru was doing, and immediately Yuki retreated to a distance which was how he worked better, he struck the beast, it was faster than him, and despite the distraction of Yuki's sudden movement, it caught the voulge widening its eyes that were already as scary as they looked. It dragged the weapon with enough force that sent Ichiro crashing into the cave walls.

"Nanji ga buki mo, mata aware nari. (Your weapons are just as pitiful)" saying what Ichiro considered gibberish for japanese, it held the voulge up and broke it in two

"Noo!" Ichiro cried upset, he ran towards the beast but another blocked his path

"Ware-ra wa hito ni taishite yuruyaka ni ariki (We have been lenient with the humans)" it said letting each word digest, sadly the hunters understood nothing "Karera wa waga tawamure o yowami to minasu ni itatta... mohaji warera ni jihi wa nashi. (they have chosen to take our desire of fun for weakness...we shall no longer be merciful...)" It picked Ichiro up and threw him across the wall. The rest of the beasts hearkened immediately, and all of a sudden the limbs Ichiro and the rest had mistaken for hands turned out to be forelimbs, as the beasts got on all fours.

Their speed increased, and Geto who was known for his speed and precision began to miss, infact his shield was broken already. The beasts had not shown them their best earlier. The beasts aimed to inflict injuries to poison the hunters, whose armours kept them protected except Ichiro -- his armour was plated. The beast threw him against the wall again, and while he tried to hurry away as it was fast approaching, perhaps too fast for its size picked him from his legs, and kicked him. Ichiro stared at the mess around him; Yuto had fallen to his face and Geto kept missing. To him, the beasts were simply having fun before they allowed them reach the afterlife.

"Kore wa bushi ni arazu, tada no tawagoto yo. (These aren't warriors, these are jokes)"

'how long can a diversion last' Ichiro moved back the closer the beast approached him. It cackled and opened its mouth, but not to roar