“Give me a bit more time- no, just five minutes is enough.”

“Five minutes, huh… Sure, I can give you that much. What do you need us to do?”

“Nothing much.” Fred replies while a drop of sweat rolls down his cheeks. “Continue preparing for the retreat, especially for the tired ones. They’ll get in the way.”

At this point, Gustaf knows that Fred is planning something dangerous. However the determination and confidence he shows is enough proof that whatever he has in mind will not be out of recklessness.

Cassandra and Matt are leading some members to retreat while securing the route. Meanwhile, Azalea is staying on high alert. She has maxed the sensitivity of Pulse around her. This will allow her to act quickly any time the situation needs it.

“Carlo!” Fred calls his close friend. “Prepare to follow-up when I succeed!”

“Alright!” He grins.

If it is a way to deal true damage, then there is one. Unfortunately, it also comes with a great risk, where failure means death. Looking for an opening for the attack to be effective is already a huge challenge. Furthermore, if he does fail, then the rest of the party will be obliged to abandon him and prioritize the lives of the survivors.

They are unable to find a steady pattern in the demon’s series of attacks. However, once in a while, Ur’Yarha dives deep into the sand and disappears from their sight. The surroundings will rumble before it surfaces again, appearing under someone’s footing. It opens its wide mouth as it attempts to swallow the person whole. That is the only movement pattern they are sure of, as well as the only way inside the demon’s vulnerable gut.

All this time they are able to dodge it and prevent any casualty because the licensed demon hunters and few other more experienced monster hunters have extra-ordinary senses. They have warned, instructed and helped the others before the deadly attack takes them.

However this time, Fred is planning to get swallowed on purpose. It is not an ideal method so they are not supposed to use this plan. They are only considering it this time because Fred is a capable veteran hunter with plenty of experience, thus he is not suggesting this just to brag or play hero. If someone like him proposes a dangerous move, it is because they have the ability to accomplish it.

Will it dive or will it continue to squirm around?

A couple of minutes passes before the moment they are waiting for comes. The demon digs into the sand and then disappears from their field of vision. Most of the members of the party have moved to a safe area. Only a few veteran monster hunters and the seven licensed demon hunters remain. The demon can only choose one of them.

Everyone is keeping their senses open, especially Fred because he does not want to miss this opportunity.

The rumbling of the ground is starting. The demon is about to emerge.

But where?

Fred turns his gaze side to side. He is concentrating on the faint movement from the ground that he can feel. He eagerly follows it and at the end of his sight stands the youngest demon hunter.

Azalea will have to time her evasive movements as the demon emerges from the underground so that it will not back away and hide again. While she is waiting for the right moment, someone suddenly grabs her back collar and then throws her out of the way. Even though she is a little unsteady, she immediately recognizes the man that took her place just now. She watches as Ur’Yarha emerges from the underground swallowing Fred on the spot. She stumbles back while the demon digs back and hides itself.

“Are you okay?” Cassandra approaches her.

She felt stiff for a while but she quickly gathers her composure. “Y-yeah.” She fixes her standing posture while dusting her clothes. “That was very unnecessary, though.”

“He must have panicked a bit.” Carlo scoffs.

“What now?” Matt asks.

The ground rumbles again. From weak tremors, it gradually grows into more violent quakes. They struggle to get ahold of their footing due to this unstoppable shaking. While they are being careful not to fall. Ur’Yarha resurfaces again. The ground bursts open as the demon squirms violently, shaking its body and crawling aimlessly.

“Damn, look at all that tossing.” Carlo’s eyes are following the movements of the demon. He looks somewhat amused by it. “I wonder what kind of chaos Fred is causing inside.”

“It’s more than a stomachache for sure.” Cassandra chuckles.

Soon after, the demon starts vomiting blood with dark smoke escaping its mouth, all while its movements are becoming weaker. They notice that a part by its side seems have developed a darker discoloration. It is emitting thin threads of smoke. Now, they know where to focus their next attacks.

Carlos and Cassandra are aiming to target the dark spot while the rest remains alert and defensive. The demon only continued to rampage like a squirming worm. It is ignoring the rest of the hunters around it. Ur’Yarha is not actively attacking but its aimless struggles with that huge body still poses danger to all of them. Although, seeing that it neither attacks nor defends itself, Cassandra and Carlos are taking advantage of this chance to concentrate their coordinated attacks on the target area.

It took several more strong attacks of fifth-degree ki beams and high-tier water blades to finally see a deep crack in the darkened area. Ur’Yarha’s moves have also steadily weakened. Then a couple beams of Ki erupted from the inside piercing through the demon’s body. Thick dark smoke escapes from its mouth and other orifices of its head before its movement finally came to a full stop. Gustaf immediately orders his golem to deliver a strong blow to the cracked dark spot. The golem’s large rock fists almost crumbled before the crack gave out and opened a hole big enough for a person to pass.

The smell of a rotting fish is wafting out as they slice and dig into the flesh of the demon in order to reach its internal cavities. Aaron and Carlo lead into the inside of the demon while the others are on stand-by outside. The healers need to be ready as soon as possible.

When Aaron and Carlo returns, they are supporting Fred side by side as he is full of burns all over his body and large parts of his light armor has been destroyed or melted. The both of them also came out with the same burns in the exposed parts of their body.

“What in seven hells happened?!” Cassandra asked while they carefully lay Fred down.

“Healers, hurry!” Gustaf commands and then Matt immediately follows.

“Argh-!! I didn’t expect the acid inside would be this strong.” Fred explains while sitting on the ground. “Still I managed to pierce its core before I get completely digested.”

His arms and legs are covered with third degree up to fourth degree burns while his torso has some second degree burns. If he is not healed immediately, he may not be able to use his limbs properly for the rest of his life.

“This is bad.” Matt’s voice is shaking. “I don’t know if I can completely heal this level of injuries, but I’ll do my best.”

“Sorry about that.” Fred rethinks his actions. “I should have applied stronger layers of protection around myself.”

“Some accidents always happen in hunts. Bro, maybe it’s time for us to retire.” Carlo suggests while trying hard to conceal the pain from his wounds.

“You can’t heal it?” Azalea asks Matt.

“I’m trying.”

“I’ll do it.”

Azalea comes closer to Fred to observe his burns. Then five overlapping magic circles appears one after another. It moves from the ground up to over his head. It shines as if it is raining particles of light.

“Heaven’s Blessing.”

After Azalea utters those words, Fred’s wounds started healing. The flesh, the blood vessels and even the nerves are regenerating back, until it is all covered by the skin again. Azalea snaps her fingers and then the same magic circles appear over Carlo and Aaron. Their burns also healed as if they were never injured.

“High-tier healing magic.” Matt mumbles, his mouth wide open and his eyes sparkles.

Five overlapping magic circles appears in front of Fred again.

“Purify.”

The circles glow emitting bubble-like light that pass through Fred’s body and then comes out carrying dark particles inside. After Fred, Azalea casts the same spell on Aaron and then Carlo.

“I healed your wounds and removed the toxins that you have absorbed in your system.”

“What? There were toxins too?” Carlo says while looking at his body.

“Wow, you just saved my life.” Fred stands up energetically.

Azalea smiles. “As I should.”

“I didn’t expect Lone’s successor to be an expert healer.” Cassandra says. “After all, she’s one of those very few and very rare type of mages who refused to learn basic healing magic.”

“Right, my master have massive ego.”

“You really learned that magic on your own?” Matt interjects.

“Yeah, why?” Azalea looks at the overflowing curiosity in his eyes. “You want to learn too? I don’t the book with me but I can give you my notes. Hope that helps.”

“Great! You promise that, huh!”

“Y-yeah. Do you really want to specialize in healing magic? Why?”

“Why?” He snickers as if the answer have always been obvious. “Because hospitals and medicine are expensive.”

“Alright!” Gustaf raises his voice. “We have confirmed that Ur’Yarha is dead! Let’s get ready to return to the camp and rest! We will report to the officials first then collect our rewards and loots after!”

The rest of the party members also raised their voice in agreement.

∞××∞

Eighteenth day of Panca’xahr, 4043 AOT

Ylam City Hall, Aesbyl Region, Surus

After resting in their camp for half a day, some of the hunters has returned to the city and scheduled a meeting with the designated persons-in-charge in the sponsored hunt. The hunters that returned includes Gustaf, Aaron, and Azalea.

The rest of the hunting party are staying in the camp to look after the area. They have to take note of the movement of monsters because the death of the demon may have an effect on the environment and the balance of power in the area. Some monsters may become partially disturbed and attack nearby villages or small human settlements. This usually happens five out of ten times and it is not the hunting party’s duty to settle however since they are still in the area then it is better than doing nothing. They also have to safeguard the corpse of the demon because hungry monsters may eat it along with the important loots. Aside from monsters, bandits also exists in the desolate desert and they may come and steal demon parts that they can sell in the black market.

Gustaf’s group left the camp before the sun rise, and reached the city to schedule a meeting at past seven in the morning. They are only able to schedule in the afternoon, and it is already late when they are called into the meeting room. Inside, the city mayor, Brandon Shilan, and representatives from the Hunter’s Council and BIDAO are present.

The leader, Gustaf is the one who delivered the news of the death of Ur’Yarha and success of their mission. Aaron helped in filling in the details. The representatives recorded the report and confirmed. Afterward the monetary rewards will be arranged and they can claim it after a few days. Both Gustaf and Aaron will return to the camp to discuss with the rest of the party about how the loot from the demon will be divided. Things like the armor, bones, horns, fangs, scales, and other parts of the demon can be taken and made into an item, armor, or weapon. Whoever is granted with that part can either sell it for a high price or have it made into something like high quality weapon.

Azalea only returned with them because she plans to leave immediately after collecting the rest of her belongings in the hotel room that was assigned to her. She does not intend to take any of the rewards or loot because she plans to travel into the neighboring country, Westar, the next day.

The sun is already setting when the meeting ended. Azalea wants to return to her room and pack her things. Unfortunately, she caught the attention of that one troublesome individual. On her away out of the city hall, Brandon Shilan approaches her.

“I am impressed by what I heard today.” Brandon says with a confident air around him as he walks side by side with Azalea. “So, you can do some very high level magic at a very young age. Healing magic, right. Impressive, impressive. Isn’t it too risky to be in dangerous situations all the time?”

Azalea halts her march as they exit the city hall. “I can take care of myself just fine.”

“Really?” He smirks while looking at her from head to toe.

“…”

“I’ll allow to become one of my people. You’ll be treated well. You’ll also be paid well. Name your price.”

“I’m not interested.”

“Hey, hey. Come on. An offer like this will never come to you again.”

“Really?” She thought. “That’ll be great.”

“How long do you plan to be a demon hunter? One stroke of bad luck and you’ll lose your life. If you decide to become one of my people, you can live in luxury. I’m very interested in you, you know.”

“Well I’m not very interested in you.”

“What?!”

“If you have nothing else to say, I’ll take my leave.”

Brandon tries to grab her arm but Azalea smoothly evades it.

“Bitch! You better listen to me while I’m being nice!”

“I’m trying my hardest to be very nice over here too.”

He scoffs. His face turns red with anger. “Don’t get too cocky. Just because you’re a little pretty and talented. If you don’t choose your side properly, you’re going be in a lot of trouble.” He gestures towards his bodyguards. “Why don’t you try and attack me? Heh-”

“Go to hell.”

Azalea backs away swiftly distancing herself away from Brandon’s group. She then casts a spell that filled the surroundings with white thick smoke. When it dissipated, she is then nowhere to be seen.

“What the-… FUUUUUUCK!!!” Brandon screams gritting his teeth. “Where did she go? Find her!”

“Y-yes sir!”

“Some lowly bitch tries to humiliate me?! Hah-! Of all people, me?!” He turns to his secretary. “Order them to find her and bring her to me.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to mess around with the hun-”

“Am I asking for you fucking opinion?”

“N-no.”

“Then do your fucking job!”