Chapter 18

"Well. Aren't there too many rookies here?" Sam said, looking at Power, then at Aki and Kobeni, and lastly, Denji, who was with Aki. They were all in front of Makima. Sam was trying to do his best to avoid looking at Himeno, to ensure that no one found out.

"Aren't you a rookie yourself?" replied Aki. "These two had more training than you did. As for Denji, I don't think he belongs here."

"As if I care what you think," replied Denji to Aki.

"Now, everyone, shut up," Makima said, taking control of the situation. Sam put his hands in his pockets and waited for her to say something.

"You know about the Gun Devil, right?" Makima asked, looking at Sam specifically.

"You don't need to explain," he nodded.

"You already explained yesterday," Denji said, blushing slightly as he made eye contact with Makima.

"So, it's reported that there is a devil in a hotel. Many private devil hunters were killed inside. And when we tested it, there was movement from the Gun Devil's fragment. So, this means that the devil has consumed a fragment as well. Your job is to kill it and retrieve that fragment."

Sam thought for a bit. The Gun Devil was supposedly dead. The nations were trying to collect as many as they could from its original body so that it might be used as a weapon someday. But here, to control people, they were told that the devil was alive so that they could control arms production.

[Ding. A mission triggered.]

[Retrieve a fragment of the Gun Devil.

Rewards: Increases the Devil Hunter's aura, increasing the experience gained when killing a devil by 100%

+90,000 XP]

Hold on a second. Usually, when the system offers a mission with such a high reward, there is a high risk attached.

'Shit. I remember now. The Infinity Devil.' Sam remembered his foe, the one they were supposed to fight.

'Lucky, the mission says get a fragment, not to kill the devil.' He sighed in relief.

"Sam. Is there anything in my mission that makes you feel relief?" Makima asked, snapping Sam out of his thoughts.

"Yes. I'm not alone," Sam replied.

"No, he's lying," Power interrupted. "He's sighing in relief since he won't have to make the steak he promised me. Sam is the kind of person who tends to forget and then tries to escape from their debts."

"True," Himeno said.

Sam shot her a glare. Himeno laughed. "You should see your face."

"So funny."

Makima rolled her eyes. Coldly, she said, "Dismissed."

-x-X-x-

"Why did you stop to buy all of this?" Power asked Sam, who had just bought a bunch of pizza bags and nutrition pills. Anyone looking at him might think that he was going on a family trip, but that wasn't the case.

In front of the Infinity Devil, there is a chance that they would be trapped for a long time in a dimension where time was frozen. It meant that there would be no food.

And other than that, Sam didn't feel worried at all about anything going wrong. As he remembered, he had a candy that would make him immune to any effect a devil's power might produce. He thought of using it against Makima when the time comes, but he didn't mind sucking on that candy for a couple of minutes.

"I'm trying to make it up for you," Sam looked at Power.

"What kind of person is he?" Aki asked Himeno. "To bring food when we're hunting a strong devil."

"It's his hunch. Don't go against it," Himeno said.

"And here I thought Denji was the worst," Aki replied.

"What's your gut telling you, Sam?"

"It tells me that it's the Infinity Devil. Wanna bet on that?"

The two rookies behind her exchanged glances and started shaking.

"Hehe. Maybe, but the odds are too low for that to happen. If that happens, then you get infinite time to play."

"By the way, that makes me wonder." Power jumped on Sam and placed her elbow on his shoulder. "What were you playing yesterday? She was screaming like... how do you humans say it in your jokes, 'eating her meat.'"

"Okay. I think we wasted enough time. Let's get in," Himeno said, taking her team to enter the building.

Sam turned to Power and whispered, "I licked her meat, you know. And then, I put a sausage inside it."

"A sausage? I get the first metaphor, but the second?"

"I'll tell you later." Sam then stared at the hotel. It was empty, that was for sure. As for his back, it was tickling badly. "This whole building is a devil. What does your blood scent tell you?"

"I don't smell any blood," replied Power. "Strange. If what Makima was saying is true, I should be smelling a devil and a bunch of dead humans' dried blood by now."

Himeno stopped, turned to Sam, and said, "In that case, there are two good ways to deal with this devil, if it is what you're saying it is. First, use explosions. And second, find out where its heart exists."

"Let's get in anyway. We would locate its heart. In the worst case, I'll use this sword," Aki said.

"Don't dare," Himeno warned.

"That would only happen if this rookie's theory proved right," he replied. "My bet is it's wrong."

"How about this?" Sam thought for a moment and said, "There is one way to find out, can you guess it?"

"Getting in," Aki replied.

"Everyone, please be gentle enough and grab your phone. Start your stopwatch and enter with me," Sam thought a bit.

He remembered that they would end up in the devil's stomach, which happened to be a hotel floor that he didn't remember.

It would be helpful if they ended up somewhere else.

They entered the hotel, and they walked. Sam was still holding his pizza.

"Nothing is happening yet," said Aki.

"Look at your stopwatches," Sam said. "If we're in the Infinity Devil's domain, time would stop. This moment is infinity."

Everyone looked at their phones. The stopwatches stopped counting time.

"We're screwed," Arai put his hands on his head. The short girl, Kobeni, joined her hands together.

"Why did you have to bring us with you?" Kobeni asked.

Sam didn't want to tell her that he wasn't confident about taking that devil down on his own. Even when he was strong, he needed help.

"Oh, just be thankful that we didn't end up in its stomach," Sam said, placing the pizza bags down. "And be thankful that I brought the highest calorie food that I could find."

"That's my human," Power said, sitting down and grabbing a pizza box.

Sam stared at her with wide-opened eyes. "Little shit. We need that for later."

"Well. Well. Congratulations on avoiding my stomach. But good luck surviving on what food you have left," echoed a voice through the hall.

Sam sat down and looked left and right as he grabbed a slice of pizza.

Himeno's rookies started running left and right. Wherever they went, they would appear back at their starting point. It was as if this place, despite being so simple, was a maze that led to the same starting point.