Chapter 2: Into the Forest

The hunt began deep into the night, as the encampment emptied out one after the other, guided only by the light of the moon. I followed after the estranged crowd of hunters. The high rankers cheered and howled at the thought of the hunt, while the low ranked hunters moved in silence and fear, scattering in all directions.

The more agile hunters stuck to the tree's while the grunts, and melee specialist trudged along the forest floor, climbing over roots and under branches. A hunt for the oni had begun and the forest lit with the glow of distant torchlight.

I had found myself in the company of two hunters I was all too familiar with.

Tara and Hiro had nabbed me because I knew the other part of the patrol route connected to theirs.

That and I was the only other companion they trusted.

We decided on combining our patrol route and extended our search from there.

Though not everyone was eager to begin the hunt for the B-Class monster.

"This is suicide you know that right?" Hiro could be heard shouting from behind me.

Due to his ability being non-combat related he was assigned to stay in the middle and observe our surroundings, while Tara guarded the rear from a sneak attack. Leaving me holding the torch and leading.

"Yeah, that's if it spots us first." Tara jeers, his voice still loud despite being so far behind.

To be honest, I related to Hiro, we were both just D rank hunters and there was a mountain of a difference between D and B.

Our only hope was that Tara could fend it off long enough for the B-rank hunters to get here and deal with it.

"Besides I'm here aren't I?" Tara flexes his muscles and twirls his spear, an excellent showmanship of his abilities. Too bad none of us were watching.

"Between my skills and my ability, I'm sure I can take down a B-rank Oni if I give it my all." He lets out a hearty laugh.

I shake my head and continue walking.

This is going to be a long night.

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'...'

Almost an hour and nothing. No signal flare, no return signal or anything. We had already made our rounds on our patrol route and had just begun extending it past our designated area.

"This is worrisome…" I hear Hiro say.

"Yeah. Oni's are typically battle oriented monsters, the fact we haven't seen one or a single flare hasn't gone off it worrisome."

'...' could the other scouting parties have been wiped out before they could send out the flares?

It was a possibility that didn't sit well with me.

I shake my head in an attempt to clear it.

"We have our orders, let's keep up the search." I say through clenched teeth.

"There's a clearing up ahead, we'll organize our thoughts and decide what to do from there."

We were well off from our patrol route by now and needed a direction to organize ourselves in.

Hiro reluctantly agreed and Tara just haphazardly followed along.

Pushing our way through the suffocating fauna, we eventually made it to the clearing.

A campground used to extend surveys outside of the base. Fresh footprints littered the ground and pathways were cut to show where the others had gone.

'Looks like others have already been here.'

As we dispersed into the survey camp, we each took a moment to gather our thoughts and brace ourselves for the remainder of the night. I pulled out my canteen and took a swig of water. My mouth had run dry in the hours we had been out. Hiro was noting everything in his "Compendium", and had Tara transmogrified his head to that of a Knoll and Sniffed the air.

It looked like a cross between a german shepard and a lab had stuck its head on a human body.

A cool breeze had swept through the area, and with it, a scent that caught Tara's attention.

He let out a rough sneeze and a brief howl before shaking his head back to normal.

Without warning Tara bolted off from the survey camp.

"FOLLOW ME NOW!" He shouted as he disappeared into the treeline.

Hiro stowed his book and I readied my mace and followed after Tara.

Sprinting through the woods in unknown territory made it difficult to keep up with his speed. Barely able to keep him in sight we rushed through the foliage barely dodging the rough bark and sharp branches.

As we began to catch up to Tara we heard a loud whistle followed by a bright orange light.

FWWWIIIIIIIP~ BOOM

A flare had gone off. But not in the direction we were heading.

'They must have found an oni.'

As we stepped through the woodworks and reached Tara, we saw a sight much worse than what we anticipated.

Tara stood, frozen in fear, his hands trembling and the smell of blood had enveloped the air.

Something had stopped him in his tracks. Ahead of him was a monster that none of us could hope to defeat.

It stood ten feet tall, with eight legs,sharp as a blade, a bulbous abdomen, at its rear was a spinneret, but most noticeably was its head, A misshapen and squished face of a bull with two large horns jutting from its forehead. It was an Ushi Oni, an A Rank disaster monster.

It was eating its most recent catch. A batch of low ranked scouts.

Using its powerful jaw it tore off the arm of an armored hunter, you could hear its teeth crunch through the metal like it was nothing more than a piece of hard candy.

"A-!" Hiro had let out a terrified gasp as I quickly covered his mouth from screaming.

'Th-this wasn't in the debrief!' This kind of creature is much smarter than the average oni and much more dangerous, it would take all of the B-rank hunters here just to take it down!

Tara had begun to slowly step away, careful not to make any noise or to garner its attention during its meal.

I took a deep breath and slowly reached for the flare gun in my pocket, we'd have to run as soon as I fired this.

'...' but even then If i did, would we even be able to survive? If we back away now it might not notice us, then we can send off the flare.

I slowly began to unbuckle the holster, planning our next step of action.

Tara was nearly back to us. Quiet as a mouse, each step was small and almost non-existent.

'Good, just keep that pace.'

The sound of flesh tearing and the ravenous appetite of the Ushi Oni was overpowering in comparison to the cat-like steps Tara made.

Though the pounding in my chest made them both sound like feathers falling in comparison.

A few more steps and he'd be back with us.

'We might just make it out of this.'' I take my hand off of Hiro's mouth and gesture towards him that we were going to sneak away once Tara was with us.

He seemed to have understood by nodding.

Unfortunately though our luck wasn't going to allow that.

FWWWIIIIIIIP~ BOOM

A second signal flare had gone out behind us at the survey camp. Illuminating the forest and exposing us to the Ushi Oni.

'A second flare!?' then that means!?'

As the flare had revealed us, the Ushi Oni stopped eating and slowly raised it's head to fac us. Its maw was covered in the blood and remains of its victims. As it spotted us it seemed to smile. Bits of flesh and metal gleamed in the flare's light.

The worst case scenario had become a reality.

"R-RUUUUUN!" Tara screamed as his legs changed shape.

He lept over us and bound himself to the tree lines hopping into the illuminated forest.

Hiro turned and ran, screaming all the way as the Ushi Oni began its charge toward us.

Its eight legs kicked up the dirt and sliced through the woodwork as it rampaged.

'CRAP!' I turned and ran, following after Hiro.

My legs pumped against the ground, my breaths were heavy and the panic had settled in that this may be it. That I may die tonight.

The sound of trees collapsing and heavy arachnid appendages whipping through the air, terrified me to no end.

'DAMNIT!'

I didn't like the idea, but the only way we were gonna survive was to lead the Ushi-Oni to the survey camp and pray the hunters there could take care of it, or at the very least slow it down.

I had long lost sight of Hiro as he disappeared into the wood works ahead, leaving me and the beast alone in the woods.

The beast let out a guttural roar followed by a strange sound.

'MROOAAAR- shliiiick' Missing me by just mere inches, white webbing flew past my head and plastered the tree in front of me. The impact alone made the old wood creak on impact.

'Of course it has webbing.' I attempt to break its ability to fire webbing at me by weaving in and between trees to maximize cover. Dodging between trees and breaking line of sight worked to dodge the webs but it didn't do well to cover distance away from the bovine arachnid. Turning around for a brief moment only to see that the beast was only a mere few trees behind me now sent panic down my spine.

With only a short distance left between me and the clearing I hurriedly threw myself between the trees and out into the survey camps clearing. I could practically smell it's rancid breath at this point.

Stepping into the clearing, preparing myself to selfishly use the hunters here as a distraction from the Ushi-oni. A blade came flying towards me instead.