Meya arrived at the town in the dead of the night. This town, called Lepphia, was situated next to a small mountain. Skittering about, Meya noted that this town’s Hunter’s Association building was substantially smaller than the one back in Ulstaza. She also noted that the town itself was quite bare, without a single luxury building in sight.

Meya walked through the town in search of a suitable place to say, careful not to make a sound. She soon discovered why this town was so bleak: this was a small mining town. This was beneficial for Meya in many ways. For one, she could always hid in the mine shafts if need be, as her web traps would be much more effective within the mine’s enclosed space. She’d also be able to easily prey on the miners. Mining is a dangerous job, and cave-ins and “other accidents” can happen at any time, you know?

Meya grinned to herself and walked into the mine shaft located at the foot of the mountain. Her near perfect night vision allowed her to see everything in the mine shaft as if it were under the midday sun. The lack of a magical aura surrounding the site meant that the mine wasn’t a magic material mine but a normal one, meaning the security around it was a lot more lax. Meya easily slipped past the Sentry Ent stationed in front of the adit.

Following the minecart tracks, Meya made for the heart of the mine. The tunnel itself was surprisingly large, though not large enough for Meya to be able to easily swing around her guandao. After some time, Meya suddenly stopped. She slid her guandao off of her back, staring deep into the mine, and in one swift motion, stabbed her guandao up into the ceiling. A shrill, blood-chilling screech rang out in the tunnel, and the small reddish-brown body of a lesser imp appeared, pierced by Meya’s guandao.

“I know you’re here, summoner.” she said, freeing her guandao from the ceiling and the body of the disintegrating imp. “Hurry up and show yourself. I’ve already seen through your illusions.”

“Ohohoho! Indeed, it seems you have.”

A tall, hooded figure walked out from one of the branching tunnels, followed by two more lesser imps. His eyes glowed blood red as his pale lips slowly crept into a large grin.

“What do you want, elf?” Meya said, pointing her guandao at the figure. “If you don’t want me to gutting you you’d better call off those other demons behind me.”

“Ohoho, looks like it’s no use hiding anything from you!” the figure replied, lowering his hood to reveal two long pointed ears. The elf gestured, and three clawed demons appeared out of nowhere behind Meya.

“So, elf, who are you and what do you want?” Meya said, still pointing her guandao at the elven summoner.

“So hasty! Young people these days…” the elf shook his head and chuckled. “Oh, but where are my manners? I am Spurius Joshentius Martialis, and you may refer to me as Joshua. A pleasure to make your acquaintance. As you have remarked, I am indeed a summoner, a daemonmancer to be precise. Ah, no need to introduce yourself, I already who you are, Meyalize. Now, enough fooling around, let us get to the business at hand.” Joshua reached deep into his robes and pulled out a purple plate engraved with the Hunter’s Association’s coat of arms. A faint magical pulse emanating from it confirmed its validity.

“I’m sorry to say that I’m here on official business, and I will have to cut this idle chit-chat short-” In a flash, Meya leapt forward and thrusted her guandao towards Joshua, cutting him off, while simultaneously gathering a ball of mana with her free hand.

Using the palm of his hand, Joshua redirected the strike to the side with his palm. He engulfed his other fist in a black fire and punched at Meya.

Reacting quickly, Meya clenched her hands into a fist. The mana ball completely covered her hand and forearm and instantly formed into a magic gauntlet. Meya brought her arm up in front of her to meet with Joshua’s fist. After a brief second of contact, the shockwave caused by the clash sent both parties sprawling backwards.

Regaining composition first, Joshua shouted in a demonic language. All six demonic beings lunged at Meya. He then sat down in a meditative position and started chanting in the same demonic language.

Meya turned around with some difficulties and used her guandao to hold the bigger demons back. The imps seized this opportunity to jump onto Meya’s abdomen and started clawing and biting at her human back. Crying out in pain and annoyance, Meya swung her clawed hand backwards, beheading one of the imps while critically wounding another.

While this was happening, one of the demons climbed on the back of another demon and jumped over Meya’s guandao and landed on top of her. The demon grabbed onto Meya’s shoulders and hips and brought its teeth down on her neck.

Almost. The demon barely even saw Meya bring her own jaws onto its face. Meya’s dagger-like teeth stabbed into the demon’s skull like a hot knife into a stick of butter, and with a great twist of her neck Meya separated the demon’s head from its body, flinging it into the wall. Meya glanced backwards. A Lightning-fast kick impaled the remaining unwounded imp through the heart, killing it instantly.

Now with her back free of any danger, Meya turned her full attention to the last two demonic enemies in front of her.

With the hand she used to bat back at the imps, she grabbed hold of one of the demons’ head. It screeched in pain as Meya applied more and more pressure onto it, before it inevitably exploded in a shower of blood and gore. Throwing the headless body to the ground, Meya jumped at the last demon. Her human-legs-turned-chelicerae’s large fangs plunged deep into the demon and started pumping vast amounts of potent venom into its system. In a matter of seconds, the demon fell to the ground, blood flowing freely out of all its orifices.

A slow clap rang out from behind her. Meya turned and found herself face-to-face once more with Joshua. The elf had finished whatever he was doing and was walking slowly towards her. Meya picked up her guandao and pointed it once more at Joshua. She snarled.

“Oh my! How rude of you. I was just about to compliment you on that marvelous performance back there.” Joshua said. A grin crept slowly up his face. “It was simply amazing! The power! The passion! The carnal rage! Being able to bring this absolutely stunning show to light has brought tears to my eyes!”

Joshua stood in front of the guandao’s tip. He placed his index finger on the tip of the it. “You know, those demons are able to stand up to any A class creature. In other words, you are simply a monster! I would have loved to play around with you some more, but it seems as though my companions have finally caught up to me. It’s time to wrap things up!”

Meya jumped back. Her whole body shuddered as a part of her started screaming at her to flee. To flee as far away as possible, and never look back. Joshua chuckled at Meya’s reaction.

“Now then, let me formally introduce you to my new friend. Behold! Azalandra!” He turned to Meya,”Please do treat him kindly, won’t you…?” Joshua stepped back and gestured into the dark.

Suddenly, the darkness started moving as four glowing red eyes emerged slowly from within. Two shadowy claws extended out from the darkness, pulling itself slowly towards Meya, animalistic grunts and otherworldly screams emanated from the being as Meya stood there, frozen in fear.