*Clack*

I whirl around, taking my eyes off the fight for just a moment. What was that? However, when I check, no one’s there. Are there other monsters here? Quickly, I pull up the System map of the dungeon but there are no other lights nearby, although, I do spot a few dots far away in other parts of the city representing other Servants of Belziarde. The dots are blinking and I assume that means that other Hunters are engaging them. When I turn back to the fight in front of me, Penelope shouts in joy!

“Look! Reinforcements!” She points to the side-alley next to us. Unfortunately, the woman is right. There are many new Hunters streaming out onto the road.

“Hahaha we caught up to the Mini Boss! Come on! Let’s get it!” A fresh-faced man who I haven’t seen before leads his pack of baying men like jackals smelling blood. His brilliant blue eyes are striking against the bright Hawaiian shirt he’s wearing. Waving a machete, he dashes in. “Quickly! The others will be here soon!”

“Damnit…” I mutter. Despite what Penelope thinks, this is not good news. Now that other people have arrived, there’s going to be more competition for the last hit. “Yin! You good?”

“Y-Yea.” The beautiful girl spins on the spot and sprints back to us like a ghost. “I think it’s almost over!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure…watch!” My words turn out to be prophetic. In a moment, as a third group of new Hunters appears on the left side of the road, the Daemonic Minotaur roars and raises its axe to the sky!

“GRAWWWRRR!”

*KRAAANG!*

Lightning bursts down and smites the axe. The beast’s chilling eyes gleam red as flames erupt from its purplish fur.

System Notification:

Lvl. ??? Daemonic Minotaur has activated skill,

Belziarde’s Blessing!

Effects: ???...???!

“Everyone stay back! Whatever that just did, it’s not good.” I hold Yin back with a hand. In the chaos, as two more groups join the fight, I still have an uneasy feeling about the alleyway behind us.

*Clack*

Is it just me? Or did something move? I feel killing intent. But it’s hard to tell with so many Hunters in one place. Damnit, I can’t focus on two things at once!

“It’s almost dead! Look it’s on fire!” The leader of the third group, a tall youth with wavy red hair cackles and hefts a shovel with a sharpened point. “Kill it!”

“RAWRRRR!” A combined cheer to match the minotaur’s rises up from the members of the third group. My eyes widen in disbelief. You’re kidding me? You really think lightning just hit that thing by coincidence? Obviously it’s powered up, not weakened! How did your ancestors survive long enough to have you!

“Oh my…” Yin beckons several members of the priest’s group back. They’re a little smarter. The black-suited salary woman painfully hobbles back to us, spitting on the ground.

“Ugh, this bastard almost got us!” She curses. “I’m Andie by the way.”

“I’m Tatsuya! Nice to meet you!” The priest-like man also introduces himself. His white robes are oddly enough, untouched despite the brawl. He looks like he’s ready for Sunday worship. “This is wild! I love this kind of game!”

“Tatsuya, shut up! This isn’t a game!” Andie shouts at her friend, trying to smack him on the head. He blurs, instantly dodging with a surprisingly good reaction. The man only seems to take it in stride, smiling all the wider as if enjoying the thrill of good fun. “Sorry, he’s always like this. But he knows how to fight!” She apologizes. Meanwhile, out on the battlefield, I see several of the newcomers get blown away. They tumble through the air like bowling pins and only stop when they reach walls or the road.

“Arrgh!”

“It’s too strong!”

“You said it was weakened!”

The wavy red-haired boy grimaces as he realizes his mistake. He shouts at us from across the road while the minotaur rampages through the newcomers.

“You guys tricked us! It wasn’t weakened at all!” Instantly, the public sentiment goes bad as several of his men pick up the cry. Ugh there’s always someone like this in the beginning.

“You tricked us!”

“Scumbags using us as bait!”

“Bastards letting us tank the boss’s skill!”

These idiots get on my nerves. Yin is even more angry. Her fists tighten as she yells back,

“Who the hell told you to join in on our kill! You tricked yourselves, idiots!”

I have to hide the smile growing on my lips. Damn, when did this girl get so fierce?

*Clack*

Once again, the faint sound of movement comes from behind. I don’t turn all the way around this time. Instead, I rotate my eyeballs slightly in their sockets, trying to take a peek without moving my head. I see something blurry and black in the shadows.

Who’s there?

“ARRRGH!” A devastating cry rises as the minotaur swings its flaming axe in a circle, catching some of the second group of newcomers which has tried to muscle in on the action. The man in a Hawaiian t-shirt ducks under the gleaming axe-head and slices his machete into the beast’s right thigh. It drops to one knee. Then totters. The axe slips from its hands. Then it clenches its fist and whirls, pummeling the man whose machete is stuck in its leg.

“Not good!” His expression goes ashen as he lets go of the machete and dives backwards. Even still, the Daemonic Minotaur’s massive fist crashes into the pavement beside him and the resulting impact is like a bomb. Flames spew out and the man is sent flying away. The Eighth Servant huffs, its eyes closing halfway as it sways, just barely upright. He did it! The legs are done!

“It’s almost dead! Finish it, Yin!” I call out. She hesitates for just an instant before running in. None of the other groups are as fast as her with her Lvl. 10 speed.

*Clack*

Then something bursts out of the shadows behind us. It’s a person. Black robes flutter, and underneath, full ebony plate armor is revealed. The shady corrections officer from earlier, Jian, makes a mad dash for the injured minotaur as well.

He’s fast!

The man runs even faster than Yin who is completely unaware that he’s coming from behind. A medium-length saber is drawn from his belt and I realize he’s been waiting this whole time to go for the last hit. This bastard’s actually a high-level Hunter! He’s going to outrun her!

“Oh no you don’t!” I didn’t come this far to let someone steal my disciple’s kill out from under us! As Jian dashes by, I leap forwards, tackling him. “OOMPH!”

*Wham*

We both go down, in a tangle of limbs and plate armor. It hurts. He’s stronger than me physically, definitely a higher level. However, even though the impact feels like it may have broken my arm, I’ve done my job. He’s late now. All he can do is disentangle himself as Yin arrives at the fallen minotaur first. She raises her sword on her and hacks it under the beast’s chin!

*Schlick!*

The blade catches on the minotaur’s thick neck muscles. Yin pulls back, dodging out of the way as the Eighth Servant makes a last pained swipe for her. When it misses, it roars painfully.

“Grawr…”

“You’re tough!” Yin suddenly draws her sword all the way back, “But someone taught me how to deal with bastards like you!” Then she rams the tip of the katana straight through the minotaur’s eye.

*Puchi*

Congratulations, you are now Lvl. 6.

The System notifies me that the Mini Boss is dead while awarding me some experience. Shakily, I rise, only to get smashed in the head.

“You goddamn interrupting thief!” The corrections officer flings a gauntleted fist at me. I see stars from the unexpected blow. When I hit the dirt, he clambers on top of me. “I was going to get there first! But now you’ve ruined everything! Do you know how long I had to wait!”

“Get away from Mr. Hei!” Penelope suddenly appears, waving her metal spiked bat in what could vaguely be described as a swing. Jian eyes it as it passes by him harmlessly and laughs while throwing another fist at me. This time, I manage to turn my head to the side and avoid it.

“Please, little woman. You’re no warrior. What’re you trying for, this man already has a girlfriend.” He spits on my face. “When I’m done with you, I’m going to find out what she got!”

“Back away!” Tatsuya appears with his mace as well as the black-suited salary woman, Andie. “She might not know how to fight…but we do! This man’s part of our party!”

“That’s right!” Andie agrees. The man on top of me stays his fist. With a disdainful sneer, he rises, but not before kicking me in the stomach. A burst of pain hits me but I hold it in.

“Heh…whatever. Don’t know why you’re helping him. He’s using you guys, just like me. Now that he has the System Reward, he’ll just leave you. You’d be better off partying with me! I’m Lvl. 12, I can help you guys hunt down the other Servants!” The correction’s officer looks from one man to another, seeing if anyone is interested in his offer. However, surprisingly, no one goes to his side.

“We already know these two are stronger than us. But they earned the reward fair and square! Besides, we got loads of experience! We don’t need a snake like you! Who knows when you’ll bite us in the back!” Andie spits. Footsteps appear and Jian’s expression grows dark.

Backing away, he snarls,

“Fine! If that’s what you losers want to think, that’s fine. If any real Hunters are interested, I’m going after Grom the Unstoppable to the East! Meet me over there if you want to see what a real party is like!” With that, he turns and leaves, his ebony plate armor clanking into the night. The sound of footsteps grows closer.

“H-Hei? HEI!” Yin bursts out of nowhere with tearstained eyes. Next to her, I see Penelope and the others watching with some concern as she quickly sits down and pats me all over. I grunt as she feels my ribs and arm. “Are you hurt! Where is it! Show me!”

“Ugh…damnit!” I sit up, and quickly clap a hand to my mouth as an intense pain sears through my side where he kicked me. “Son of a…man, I didn’t think he’d punch me like that. After I went easy on him too.”

“Pfft.” Several of the watching faces smile and laughter breaks out. They seem to think I’m joking. Little do they know, I seriously would have killed Jian if I had known he was such an annoying bastard. Yin tries to push me back down, but I shake my head painfully and get up anyways.

“Relax. It’s just some bruises, it’ll heal. Just didn’t expect him to be such a high level. What level are you now anyways?” I ask, lowering my voice. Yin smiles, shakily, relieved that I’m okay.

“I’m Lvl. 15 now. And…” She leans in and whispers in my ear, “The reward…it was a System Skill!”

“Huh!” My eyes go wide and I quickly blink them and pretend like she didn’t just say that. Suddenly, Tatsuya breaks in. The white-robed man leans in close and puts a hand on our shoulders, steering us away from the others.

“Okay guys! Let’s give our heroes some space! Hei’s hurt, let him get some air!” He says loudly. As the others move away, he begins to whisper, “Alright you two. Nice job out there. Hei, that was some brilliant shot-calling. And as for you, girl? Those moves…flawless, like watching the warrior goddess herself. You guys earned the reward, but I don’t like some of the looks those newcomers are giving you. I think you guy should skedaddle! Go on, get out of here!”

“W-What? But Mr. Tatsuya, we can help you level! It’s not fair that we’re the only ones to enjoy the reward after we all suffered…” Yin protests but the priest simply splays his hands out and pushes us into the alleyway while looking over his shoulder. Several other people wave and wink, blocking the view of any onlookers.

“It’s fine. Listen, you should temporarily leave our party. That way, when the others come, we can invite one of them in and prove to them that you’re no longer with us. Otherwise…I think they might give you a hard time. Just get out of here for now. If we meet up later on in the dungeon, I’ll be counting on you to help us!” Tatsuya replies while giving us one last shove.

Huh...maybe it's because he's a priest but this guy sure does understand human nature.

For some reason my eyes are a bit wet, but I hold out my hand. The man shakes it.

“Thanks, Tatsuya. Tell everyone else as well. You guys didn’t fight too bad.” I say. Yin gives me a look.

“Hey it was their first time!” She says indignantly, “You should praise them a little more!”

“Hahaha, I’m sure from Hei, that’s high praise! Alright, get a move on, you two. Or else it’ll be hard to explain if they see!” Tatsuya turns around, whistling as his hands behind his back shoo us off. Exchanging glances, Yin and I have no choice but to accept his offer and disappear into the alleyway. Running off, my mind is a bit distraught. Damn, I feel kind of bad that I used them as bait now. But…in the end, we got the System Skill! Now the question is, just how powerful is it?