A dark night.
Only the hooting of owls echoed through the empty ruins.
Unlike Hamel and his group, who had entered the castle early, the demon hunters had taken up positions in the courtyard.
A hunter tossed firewood onto the campfire.
─Crackle
Red sparks shot up.
One of the hunters sitting near the fire looked steadily at the logger and spoke.
“Cavil, didn’t you cross the line earlier?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Cavil, the one who had thrown the wood, frowned and replied.
An older hunter with graying hair spoke calmly.
“You know. Don’t provoke the order’s priests for no reason.”
“Ah, you mean from earlier?”
Cavil snorted and flopped down. He leisurely resumed polishing his sword and went on.
“You have to put a stop to things like this from the start. Otherwise they take you for granted and treat you like a servant. Arrogant priest brats.”
Cavil spat to the side, then grinned.
“Mr. Cal, you worry about useless things. He’s nothing but a husk. Isn’t it laughable that such a young brat is an Exorcist priest?”
“……”
“Those so-called saints are probably all empty boasts. That’s how the order’s people are.”
“…How long have you been doing this work?”
At Cal’s question, Cavil tilted his head.
“Hmm… about five years, I guess.”
“I see. No wonder you seemed like a face I hadn’t seen before. So the rookie was you.”
─Suddenly
Cavil’s hand, which had been tending his weapon, froze.
At the same time, the murmurs of the hunters nearby fell silent.
A cold hush settled over the ruins.
After a moment.
“…What did you say? Say that again.”
“I said you are a rookie, right?”
“Has this old man gone senile?!”
Cavil sprang up and kicked at the campfire.
Ash and sparks flew everywhere.
As Cavil leveled the sword he was holding, Cal quietly laid his hand on his hand-axe.
A middle-aged hunter watching tried to restrain Cavil.
“Wait! Stop. What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
“Didn’t you all see that crazy old man starting trouble?”
Cavil spat and seethed with anger.
The middle-aged hunter who’d been stopping him spoke with a serious look.
“Watch your mouth. That’s why you’re treated like a rookie.”
“What?”
“Mr. Cal is a living legend around here. The demons he’s hunted could make a small hill—most of us here owe our lives to him.”
Cavil finally paused and looked around.
Several hunters glared at him with hands on their weapons.
He really didn’t intend to fight, but if he had swung his blade—
Startled, Cavil’s bravado deflated and he slowly lowered his sword.
“…Still, that’s all old stories, isn’t it?”
“It’s not like those stories came out of nowhere, you fool.”
The hunter who’d sighed turned his head slightly and looked around at the others as he spoke.
“Let me say something too. Lately, besides Cavil, there have been others rude to the priest and his group—cut them out. We’re here to hunt demons, not pick fights.”
“……”
Some of the young hunters averted their eyes or spat on the ground in displeasure.
A few muttered in annoyed voices.
“When you cower like that, the order guys see us as fools.”
“What?”
“We’ll handle ourselves, so you all go tinker with your bells and things, that’s what I’m saying.”
One young hunter said that, snapped, and strode out of the castle.
A few others followed him.
Cavil also followed and said, “Times have changed. If those priests were really that great, people like us wouldn’t exist.”
“……”
Most of the young hunters had lost family to demons.
They had lost parents, wives, children, and taken up arms for revenge.
They hated demons and resented those who had failed to protect them.
Their target, needless to say, was the order and the Exorcist priests.
Other hunters knew their circumstances, so they had kept quiet until now.
“This is maddening.”
The hunter who had stopped the fight scratched his head, then turned to Cal and asked,
“What will you do?”
“I only kill demons. I’ve given fair warning; now it’s up to them.”
Cal stared into the fire as if uninterested.
Only for a moment.
Suddenly Cal turned his head sharply toward the gate through which they’d left.
“……”
“What’s with the sudden look?”
Cal, still watching the gate, asked quietly,
“…Where are the ones who said they’d patrol the surroundings?”
“Huh, now that you mention it, it should be time for them to be back.”
Cal gripped his axe and stood.
“Everyone, get your weapons.”
“Why, what’s wrong?”
Some hunters, sensing his seriousness, awkwardly stood with weapons in hand.
Then Cal murmured.
“The smell of blood.”
“What?”
“I can smell blood.”
Cal fixed his gaze on the gate; his lips trembled slightly.
What on earth had he sensed?
A hunter seeing this side of Cal for the first time swallowed dryly and looked toward the gate.
It was then.
─Step step step
Footsteps came from the direction of the gate.
A black shape finally appeared.
‘Is that… a bear? No, something…’
At a glance it resembled a bear, but something was wrong.
Its arms stretched long like a human’s, and it was probably twice the size of a bear.
Its jet-black fur, like spilled ink, was stiff as felt.
And its face—
Bear-like yet oddly human, with a huge mouth capable of swallowing a person in one bite.
It slowly looked at the hunters and opened its maw.
Strips of red flesh, as if freshly ripped, stretched with wet sounds.
From its throat came breath mixed with the rank stench of beast.
“Grrk.”
The hunters who’d been through thick and thin froze.
What had happened to those who’d gone out earlier?
They were young but not unskilled. Even if careless, they couldn’t have been taken without a sound in so short a time.
It was unbelievable.
They couldn’t even draw breath, and then—
“Get a grip!”
Cal stepped forward with two axes in his hands.
“Ah…”
Only then did the other hunters flinch and level their weapons at the creature.
Some hands shook.
Still, they could barely move.
“Y-yeah! What kind of pathetic hunters are you!”
One hunter raised a heavy crossbow and aimed.
The large crossbow, fit for bear hunting, had a silver bolt notched.
“Good!”
“Let’s do it.”
As they muttered and readjusted their weapons—
Cal, staring at the monster, twitched his nose.
And at that moment—
─Whoosh
His head turned.
“Behind you!”
At his urgent shout, all the hunters followed Cal’s gaze.
At the end of it—
“…Huh?”
The hunter who’d aimed the crossbow stood frozen.
Only then did he notice the shadow falling over him.
The smell of the beast and the scent of blood stung his nose.
─Gush
Blood poured over the hunter’s turned face like a waterfall.
The creature held the heads of the hunters who’d gone ahead.
The crossbow hunter stared dumbly and muttered, “There’s another one…?”
─Crack
That was the last sound he made.
The newly appeared monster swatted with its forepaw, and the crossbow shattered like a toy as the hunter’s neck snapped.
Then—
─Crunch
The monster plucked the twisted neck from the body like pulling a potato and held it.
It rolled the removed head toward the fire as if toasting it, then suddenly burst into laughter.
“Kirk kik kruk!”
The monster smacked its forehead as if something were funny, giving off an unpleasant chuckle.
Another monster at the gate barked like one regretting it, then pretended to spit.
But the spit stuck to the fur on its chin and dribbled to the ground.
“Kik kik kruk!”
“Krrrurk!”
Another monster watching found it amusing and repeatedly smacked its forehead.
The spit-tryer growled low and threatened it.
“……”
The monsters, after glaring at one another, turned their gaze to the remaining hunters.
It wasn’t hard to see what that meant.
In the frozen silence, as the monsters slowly began to move—
“Everyone run!”
Cal shouted and charged the nearest monster.
Not to win. If he could hold even one back, a few might escape alive.
To buy a moment.
He swung his axe—the one that had felled hundreds of demons—like lightning.
However—
─Crack
The sound wasn’t the swing of an axe but a dull bone-snapping crack.
The monster struck Cal as one swats a mosquito.
With a single blow, the monster’s forepaw sent his body flying.
Finding it amusing, the monster let out a grotesque laugh.
“Kyahaha-hah.”
“……”
Cal was felled by a single blow.
Everyone stared dumbfounded as if unable to believe what they saw.
─Step step step
The laughing monster approached the fallen Cal and reached out its hand.
The hunters could easily foresee what would happen next.
They were all going to die—torn apart by those huge, sharp teeth. Perhaps their heads would be ripped off.
The first would be the fallen Cal.
Yet the hunters were powerless.
All they could do was press themselves to the ground like insects and wait for their turn.
The moment the monster grabbed Cal—
─Rattle
Something unbelievable happened.
“…Huh?”
A middle-aged hunter let out a stunned sound.
Suddenly thorny vines shot up from the ground and bound the monster’s hand.
Black, ink-like blood dripped from the monster’s arm where the vines had latched on.
“Grrk?”
The monster tilted its head at the unexpected interference.
Before they knew it, a priest stood before it, frowning.
“A stupid-looking demon.”
Ono muttered with a book in one hand and a mace in the other.
“Kirr-rrrk!”
Another monster lunged and tried to smash Ono down.
No—more precisely, it tried to strike him.
─Screech
A sharp slicing sound rang out.
The attacker stepped back with a long gash along its shoulder.
“Grrrrr!”
It retreated with a blood-curdling scream.
In front of it stood a knight with a red plume, casually flicking blood from his sword.
Then he spoke calmly.
“No matter the monster, you don’t insult someone by their looks.”
“Those things bowl with human heads—what nonsense are you talking about?”
“…Now that I think about it, that’s true.”
They spoke as if having an ordinary chat.
The hunters watched, wondering if they were dreaming.
The priest glanced at them and scowled as he shouted,
“What are you lying around for? Get up quick before I clean this old man up myself!”
The priest grabbed the fallen Cal and flung him at the stunned hunters.
It was when the middle-aged hunter reflexively caught Cal that the bound monster roared.
“Kahruk karuk!”
As if warning them not to touch its prey, the monster raised its unbound hand and came down on Ono.
However—
─Snap
“…?”
Even that arm was snatched by newly sprouted thorny vines.
The ground trembled as dozens of vines burst forth and wrapped the monster tight.
“Krarararak!”
‘Bound’ wasn’t enough to describe it.
The thorny vines dug into the monster’s flesh as if hungry.
As flesh tore, the monster screamed in agony.
An overwhelming sight.
A hunter watching muttered, “Th-this is an Exorcist priest…?”
“What are you talking about—what the hell is he?”
“To think there is an Exorcist priest this strong…”
The hunter blinked, and Ono, looking incredulous, twitched the corner of his mouth and muttered,
“That’s it? You’re impressed by just this?”
“…?”
“You need to see that guy to know what strong really means.”
Who was he referring to?
Just then, the middle-aged hunter looked puzzled—
─Boom!
The ruined castle shook and blue light burst from every window.
“Yeah. That guy.”
Ono snorted and looked at the blue flames.
Only then did the hunters realize whom he meant.
The Azure Flame priest.
“Hamel Saint Gilmore…”
“Yeah, that guy is the real monster.”
He was the young priest they’d been looking down on.
