Chapter 8

Two shadowy figures manifested out of the ground with the exact body shape and aura of Jirochou.

The shadow clones however didn't have a face and were made entirely out of some kind of black matter.

Although, they did manage to replicate the suit Jirochou was wearing and the two daggers in his hand.

Speaking about it, Kaminari just happened to notice the daggers that magically appeared in his hands and shortly disappeared afterward.

"Let's go, young master"

Without wasting time, Jirochou grabs a hold of Kaminari and started running off towards where the civilians are.

As for the two shadow clones, they both look at each other and nodded before turning around as they headed off at the two hobgoblin warriors, intending to divert their attention.

After a while, Kaminari and Jirochou reached where the large rubbles blocked the path from the wreckage done earlier by the monster.

"Young master, hold on tight"

"Hm...?"

Jirochou tensed his legs and leap up over the rubbles with Kaminari in his hand as they stayed in the air for a few seconds before landing on the other side.

"..."

Kaminari was a bit stunned by the sudden leap and couldn't react for a few seconds before he felt someone's gaze and acted calm, trying to act nonchalant.

"What are you looking at?"

"...Nothing, young master"

Jirochou just stayed silent, not planning to expose him.

"Oh... and also, put me down"

"Understood"

Jirochou nodded and did as he was told as he calmly lowered Kaminari down.

"That's better"

Kaminari cleared his throat and straightened his back as he patted his body out of dust and dirt.

Having finished tidying up, he nodded at Jirochou which the man understood, and started leading the way at the front.

Keekekeke!

Kekeuke!!

Goblins started to show up the more they got closer to the place the civilians were which made Kaminari feel concerned about their wellbeing.

And as for the goblins, they were all naturally killed by Jirochou in a mere span of a second every time he see or even hear one.

Only after a while did they see the group of civilians huddled up together in the distance with rocks and sticks in their hands, trying to fight off the goblins away.

Keekekkeke!!

This however didn't work at all and only made the goblins amused and cackled maniacally as they started playing around them.

'Hm...? Is that?'

Kaminari narrowing his eyes saw a familiar person at the front of the group with a stick in his hand, waving it at the little vermins.

He saw Wataru struggling to fend off the goblins while safeguarding the pair of mother and daughter at his back but what made him open his eyes wide was the missing left arm on his body.

Seeing this, Kaminari felt furious and glared at the goblins.

"Jirochou!"

Hearing the anger in his young master's tone, Jirochou nodded and immediately flashed away, disappearing and shortly appearing beside Wataru.

"W-What?!"

Wataru flinched and felt his entire body tense up from the sudden appearance of a mysterious individual.

"W-Who are you...?"

"..."

Jirochou stayed quiet and didn't bother to answer his question as a dagger magically appeared in both of his hands.

With a single step forward, Jirochou arched his back and instantly speeded up toward the goblins as he beheaded all of them in a mere three seconds.

Slash~ Slash~

The rampaging goblins who even the Mochi Guild Hunters had a hard time fighting were immediately obliterated by Jirochou.

He looked nonchalant as not a single sweat was on his body, looking like what he did was nothing great.

As for the civilians who saw this, they all gulped and sweated, feeling the invisible pressure that was coming off from the man.

For a few seconds, nobody said a thing until Wataru decided to man up and walked toward the man.

"T-Thank you for saving us!"

"..."

Jirochou still stayed quiet, waiting for Kaminari to arrive as he just stood still in silence.

As for Wataru, he felt his heart rate beat rapidly as the more the man stayed quiet, the more he felt nervous.

"H-Hello...?"

Wataru kept squirming from side to side and really wanted to get away from this awkwardness.

Just as he thought that this would continue forever, footsteps suddenly sounded from the distance which was closely approaching their location.

"T-That... that..."

Wataru squinted his eyes in the direction of the sound to get a better look and saw a familiar young man running towards them in the distance.

"Y-Young master!!"

Wataru was about to sprint off toward Kaminari when a silhouette passed by him in an instant and arrived in front of the young man.

"Young master"

Jirochou appeared beside Kaminari and bowed at him respectfully with his right hand on his chest.

"Hm, good work"

Jirochou slightly smiled and nodded in acceptance at his young master's compliment.

As for Wataru, he was confused at the scene and looked dazed for a few seconds before figuring out the situation.

"Y-Young master, this is...?"

"He's part of the clan"

Kaminari didn't explain anything more than that due to the man's sensitive background. After all, the Hidden Guards Unit was supposed to be a secret only known to the higher-ups of the clan.

Hearing the vague answer, Wataru nodded and was smart enough to not ask any more questions.

"What happened to your arm?"

"A-Ah, this? It was just an accident, young master"

Wataru flinched from the question and sweated as he kept averting his eyes away from his young master.

"Hmm..."

Kaminari narrowed his eyes in suspicion and glanced behind him which was where the civilians were huddled up.

In there, he saw a bald man with tattoos covering half of his face hiding quietly amidst the group while the man's eyes were constantly averting away from his gaze.

Seeing this, a seed of doubt was planted in his mind as he turned to stare back at Wataru.

"Was it really just an accident?"

Kaminari stared at Wataru with sharp eyes as he unconsciously exerted an invisible pressure that made the driver gulp and turned pale.

"Oh?"

Jirochou feeling the faint aura from Kaminari made him raised his eyebrow as he suddenly thought of something and silently smiled with a knowing look

As for Wataru, he was sweating due to the pressure and had no choice but to tell.

"T-That... I-I may have been accidentally pushed to-"

Wataru was about to continue his story when Kaminari patted his shoulder and shook his head, expressing to not proceed with the story anymore.

"No need, I got the gist of it from just hearing the first sentence"

Kaminari straightened his back and walked toward the group of civilians.

As for Wataru, he wanted to stop him when Jirochou grab his shoulder and shook his head, hinting to stay still.

Meanwhile, the group of civilians nervously made way for Kaminari and he soon arrived in front of a ferocious-looking man.

The man had a shiny bald head with tattoos covering half of his face while wearing a tank top and black pants as a tattoed symbol was spotted on his left shoulder.

"You... what do you want?"

The man looked at Kaminari with a pale face and a hint of anger while sweat trickled down his forehead.

"Were you the one who did that to my driver?"

"..."

Hearing no answer, Kaminari's eyes turned cold as the pressure that was coming off him started to increase.

"Y-You Fucker! What do you think you're trying to do?!"

"..."

"D-Do you think I'm scared of you just because you're some rich kid!"

"..."

"Y-You're not the only one who are friends with a Hunter!"

This time, Kaminari didn't stay quiet as he couldn't help but formed a smile on his face and stared at the man coldly.

"I see... so your confidence comes from the backing you have, am I right?"

"..."

"So that's how it is, it must have something to do with the tattoo on your shoulder... perhaps a yakuza or some gang organization"

"So what? Are you scared now, kid? Let me tell you, our group has multiple Hunters. So you better stop or you'll get it!"

"Hm? Is that a threat?"

Kaminari smiled even more coldly at him as a hint of anger could be seen in his eyes.

"Y-Yeah! What are you gonna do about it, huh? I-I can make your family disappear with my pals just like what I did to your driver's left arm!"

"Oh? So you do admit it?"

"That's right, that fucker wouldn't let me get a taste of that mother"

"..."

"Since we're all going to die anyway, I'd rather get a good taste before I die. So I pushed that guy into the goblins and got his left arm cut, he deserved it for being a suck-up"

Kaminari was fuming on the inside, listening to the audacity of this man's words.

"Very bold, very... very bold indeed"

Kaminari lightly chuckled and felt amused on the inside.

"Not only did you purposely harm my family's driver but you... You, threatened my family... My. Fa. Mi. Ly"

Kaminari burst out a laugh, feeling even more amused as he turned to stare at the man with a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"Say, tell me... have you heard of the Ryuji Clan before?"

The bald man instantly turned pale from hearing that name and suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

"Oh? So, you have heard of it before... that's great! Well, let me tell you one thing..."

Kaminari slowly approached the bald man until he was close enough to his ear and whispered a sentence that made the man shocked to his core.

"My family name is Ryuji... and I'm the young master of the Ryuji Clan"

The bald man flinched and instantly plopped to the ground as his back turned cold from the sweat, feeling that the young man wasn't lying at all.

And if he wasn't, then he truly is doomed as he started to regret his action. Perhaps the next day, the news would report his dead body being found in the rivers as the thought of that made him gulp.

Seeing this, Kaminari's smile disappeared and was replaced by an indifferent and cold look.

"I hope you can prepare your will before tomorrow comes because you won't be seeing daylight ever again"

Hearing this, the bald man shivered and felt his entire body cold from the sweat as he unconsciously peed himself.

This scene made Kaminari let out a sneer as he couldn't help but back away from him in disgust.

He was about to mock the man when Jirochou suddenly patted his shoulder, halting his action to a pause.

"Young master, I believe it would be best to resume this after we get out safely from the current crisis"

"Hmm, you're right"

Kaminari gave a side glance at the terrified bald man before looking away.

"Okay then, let's go"

•••

Several minutes ago...

Hah~ Hah~

A group of four was running away desperately with strange pieces of equipment on their body.

Naturally, this was the Mochi Guild Hunters that ran away earlier and abandoned the civilians the moment they saw their team leader die.

"W-Was this really a good idea?"

Hiromoto bit his lip and slightly closed his eyes, looking as if he felt regret at his action.

"Stop acting like your some nice guy, you were the first one who wanted to run away the moment Gaku died"

"..."

Shogo sneered and spat saliva on the ground at the shamelessness of this man, glancing at him with a mocking look.

Feeling the gaze, Hiromoto averted his eyes and turned red from his words.

"Stop speaking nonsense and focus on protecting the rear, Hiromoto!"

Sasha glared and reprimanded him, afraid that another monster would come out and ambush them from behind.

"Cough... I was just making some conversation"

Hiromoto cleared his throat and looked indignant at the unfair treatment which got everyone to roll their eyes.

"Stop yippy yapping and start moving you, shitheads!"

Sasha grinds her teeth and gave a cold eye to each and one of them, feeling annoyed at their antics.

"Chop, chop... you heard the lady! Let's start moving, guys!"

Daiko clapped his hands and started to increase his pace, moving ahead to scout the path.

The group watched as Daiki's back started to disappear in the distance, leaving the group in silence.

"Man~ I feel bad about that young man"

After a while, Hiromoto couldn't handle the awkward silence anymore and broke the atmosphere with his words.

"There's no need to feel bad, that kid was rich and loaded. He was probably some arrogant prick anyway"

Shogo spat on the ground out of bitterness and felt envious of the young man's wealth.

"Stop spitting on the ground! It's disgusting!"

Sasha slowly backed away with disgust in her eyes as her action made Shogo pop a small vein in his forehead.

And being Shogo himself, he wanted to start a dispute battle with Sasha when Hiromoto suddenly interrupted him.

"Hey, guys? Isn't Daiki taking a bit too long at his recon?"

"Huh? He's probably just messing around. You don't need to worry too much about him and as for you, woman!"

Shogo nonchalantly swayed his hand, refuting Hiromoto's worries as he started berating Sasha with his crass comments.

Sasha however didn't just stand still and listen to Shogo's rubbish as she started to fight back.

The two of them bickered back and forth for a few minutes until Hiromoto had to butt in and mediate between the two.

Just as they were busy with their antics, something rolled toward their feet which made them all stop and turned to look down below.

"...!"

They all turned ghastly pale, seeing the familiar round object beneath their legs.

It was the head of Daiki, one of their comrades as his face still had its eyes open, making it look like he died without even him knowing.

Kiieekeekeke!

A sudden cackle echoed in the air, snapping them out of their dazed state as they all simultaneously turned to where the sound was coming from.

And there, they saw a tall humanoid and greenish-skinned monster with a leather robe and a wooden staff in its hand. It looked the same as a goblin but more smart-looking and mature.

Meanwhile, the hunters felt their minds break down from the cold and horrifying pressure that was coming off from the monster.

The pressure or aura was even more terrifying than the hobgoblin warrior they saw earlier.

Kiieekeeke!

Seeing this, the monster formed a creepy smile on its face when it saw the humans staring at him in shock and horror.

It couldn't help but laughs out loud, looking again at the appetizing expression they had.

Kiieekeekeke!!

As if the monster had enough fun, it snapped its fingers as multiple wind slashes appeared and flew towards the Hunters with a frightening speed.

Swish~ Swish~

They couldn't react at all and had their heads all sliced and beheaded as their headless bodies slowly flopped to the ground.

Thud!