Chapter 10

Near the encampment, suspicious eyes pierced Rion and Lucius who were dragging around an unconscious body.

Rion caught the eyes of Larsson and walked over quickly.

Larsson crossed his arms and frowned, "Why's he tied up?"

Rion sighed, "Lucius and I were attacked by three hunters who ambushed us. When confronted, they merely smiled and attacked us with no warning...This guy," Rion nudged with his leg, "...is one of the berserkers. He was accompanied by another berserker and archer."

His frown deepened. It was moments like these where Rion thought this Larsson and the other Larsson were completely different people.

Rion waited patiently, attempting to discern Larsson's thoughts through his expression.

"That's my buddy Mike," yelled a hunter who ran hurriedly towards them.

Lucius frowned.

"Haha, yeah. Your buddy Mike almost cut us in half," Lucius smiled sarcastically.

The hunter grimaced and stared at the unconscious hunter.

"There's no way… right? Not him too… He's a friendly guy…"

The wording seemed odd to Rion who had just arrived. A dreary premonition entered his mind.

Rion frowned, "Not him… too?"

The red-haired leader spoke up, "Similar cases have been happening. Hunters randomly attacking others; luckily, there have been no casualties so far…"

His voice trailed off, Rion unable to bring him the news that in fact there were casualties.

"...About that…" Lucius rose his hand up while speaking, "I kinda pulverized the other two bastards into natural fertilizer."

Larsson's brows narrowed and he glared at the shorter and scrawnier kid.

"You killed them?"

"It was them, or us," he pointed out as a matter of fact.

"What about tying them up?" Larsson's muscles tightened as he approached Lucius.

Lucius's smile did not look at all shaken, "...What's done is d—"

Before the situation could escalate any further, an interruption came.

"Sir! Two of the turned hunters we captured were very aggressive upon waking up… One of us was caught off guard and fatally injured…" A hunter ran quickly with heavy breaths. As if ashamed, she looked to the side and whispered, "We had no choice but to take one out…"

"...Well, that's four casualties now."

The four people glanced at Lucius with a disapproving eye.

"...Not the appropriate moment?"

Rion sighed as he along with the others ignored Lucius's words. "This is probably something from the dungeon. If they were enemies from the beginning, mindless actions like these would be too illogical."

Larsson seemed to agree and began walking towards where the female hunter pointed at.

Screams from the same direction came as they approached quickly. As the howls increased in intensity and pain, they began running to see three diabolical-looking hunters savagely fighting four unarmed hunters.

Rion's feet glowered in mana and loud stomps sounded as he quickly rushed towards the three hunters who sported a familiar smirk.

The four struggling hunters quickly dashed towards Rion and Larsson desperately for safety. His sword slashed towards a savagely grinning man.

A screech sounded as the two blades met each other with power.

Rion fainted a slash and quickly pierced at the hunter. With an easy block, the hunter knocked Rion's sword up and another enemy pierced towards his stomach.

Unwilling to be run through with the sword, Rion turned his torso and instead opted for a cut.

With a feeling of fire running through his abdomen, Rion's nose was scraped by a fist as he barely moved out of the way. The heavy puncher overextended and Rion would not let the chance go.

His elbow cut towards the side of the man's head and smashed the head of the enemy. He quickly brought his sword to the side to hit aside a piercing blade.

To the side, Larsson had quickly dealt with a hunter and was now knocking out the one who had cut Rion's abdomen.

Rion panted heavily and doubled over to rest his arms on his knees. An intense fire made itself known as he bent over and he quickly brought his hand to the bleeding gash.

The blood wasn't enough to faze him, it was always a risk in this line of work. His thoughts drifted towards a more relevant topic and took a dark swing in a realization.

"We left Mike back there."

Rion did not like the sound of the silence that was now reigning the camp.

Larsson ran his hand through his hair, "He's with Lucius and Ron."

"It's because Lucius is there that I am concerned," Rion admitted. The red-haired female hunter that had run with them frowned.

Larsson's brows twitched in realization. "He killed the other two, huh?"

"...Yes. I should probably run back to see if he's still… alive."

"Alright then. I'll see what I'll do with these three rabid hunters… By the way, that looks pretty painful. Get it checked." Larsson nodded at Rion who began running back.

...

Fortunately, Mike had not yet died and Rion was healed quickly by one of the healers standing by.

"...So what are you gonna do about Lucius?" Rion whose body armor now had an unnatural gap asked Larsson.

He was silent for a few seconds before he spoke up again, "I'll probably have to discuss this with the other leaders. I have an inkling feeling that the turned hunters were already killed the moment they began to be mind-controlled."

Rion was mute at the revelation. If that were to be true, more than 8 hunters would have already turned. Out of the 75 hunters that had come here, just the 8 would mean more than 10% dead hunters just from being possessed.

"...Does that mean it won't even matter… if we try to save them?"

Larsson took on a dark visage.

He sighed, "Let's call everyone back." He took out a red handgun from his pocket and quickly shot a blinding yellow-colored flare into the sky. A screech sounded as the flare shot up and exploded into yellow.

…

It was a very dreary ambiance. No one could bear to speak; especially with the tragic scene present to their eyes.

The turned hunters who had recklessly attacked others had been tied up together. As time passed, one after another began foaming at their mouths and spurting blood in all seven orifices.

The numbers inscribed in the bone rose again. The light of the numbers 34/100 contrasting against the dark night sky.

It was a panicked yell that brought every hunter present to see the scene.

Some turned their eyes away, some watched in horror, but no one felt good about the first deaths of the night.

Mike, who Rion had brought tied up was a corpse now. His friend was mourning over his dead bloody body; a common scene for each of the eight other corpses.

Mistaking his characteristic silence for dejection, Lucius who did not know Rion very well patted his back.

"...There was nothing else we could do."

Rion's thoughts were elsewhere, thinking about what they'd do about the ghosts whose ambushes were multiplying in frequency. Soon, the number would reach a point to where they'd be forced to kill the ghosts and reach 100 kills on the bone.

Instinct told him and many other hunters that it most likely would not be good news.

"Hunters, immediately move away from the dead companions," Ryoha yelled. It was her natural voice when she was not speaking robotically.

The grieving hunters who followed orders by instinct moved away as one corpse trembled uncontrollably. In agonizing realization, the hunters moved farther away from the corpse that was close to detonating.

"...That is brutal," Lucius pointed out.

As the body's blood splattered through the scene, a ghost appeared hovering over the remains. Seeing the hunters, its face warped into a disgusting face of resentment and screeched loudly. Several mana blasts made their way and deleted the existence out of the world.

More corpses trembled and the hunters could only watch on the morbid scene.

Seven ghosts that had exploded out of the corpses of the turned hunters were promptly vanquished.

Numbers rose again on the bone, taunting the hunters who watched on gloomily. 42/100

Just 58 more and their burning question would be answered. 58 more, and more hunters would die. All the surviving hunters were gathered together. Out of the 75 hunters that had come here, only 60 were present and alive; the rest, most likely perished.

"Do we have any leads on how they were possessed and how we can avoid it?" Alessandro spoke up. His expression was not happy.

"Well, we can clearly see those wretched things that came out of their bodies."

Muttering to himself, "I guess I'll just have to tell the ghosts that I do not consent to them entering my body…" the few who heard Lucius took note of his strange humor. "...Maybe if they give good enough candy I'll be persuaded…" Rion's hand reached to his face, feeling a headache coming.

A cold wind brushed against the hunters. It was an unnatural and ominous feeling that it gave rise to. Rion's spine tingled as he quietly surveyed his surroundings. His eyes had gotten used to the permanent night setting but just getting used to it was not enough to have a clear vision in the night.

It was quiet. A loud silence piqued the hunter's attention. No one spoke anymore as people held and readied their weapons.

"Watch the front," Larsson spoke loudly enough for everybody to hear but not too loud to allow other sounds to camouflage.

The more physically vulnerable hunters moved to safer positions within the ranks. It was not a sneaking suspicion anymore to them but a fact that they were under attack.

They quickly moved and stared towards the forest, awaiting the attack.

They did not have to wait too long. A dark mana blast was quickly headed towards an A-Ranker's face.

A mana shield quickly came up and protected the hunter.

Overpowering the hastily made barrier, the glass-like mana shield cracked but turned the mana blast to mana fumes.

Immediately a barrier came out and became a protective wall for the hunters.

Curses rang out as dozens of blasts quickly made their way to the hunters. The blasts clashed against the wall and the threatening hammering sounds did little to assuage the hunters' raging heartbeat.

"Fuck! We can't afford to stay here," yelled a hunter, voicing the thoughts of others.

"CLANG—" Immediately as the hunter yelled, a sharp sound caught people's attention. Ghosts armored to the teeth repeatedly bludgeoned the mana barrier strengthened by numerous mages.

More mana blasts crashed against the barrier and created cracks in the blue transparent glass.

Rion became unhesitant in his actions as he mightily swang his sword across the air. The hunters looked at him weirdly— it was a strange sight for someone to be slashing randomly at the air, after all.

Other hunters who had been present with Rion at the B-Class raid smirked as they braced for the incoming impact.

A giant sword, from out of the sky, slammed against the ground and embedded itself onto two ghostly shades.

With the huge impact, a cloud of dust rose and the ghosts quickly shifted to regain their balance from the earth-shaking sword.

Pale replaced the healthy vigorous color in Rion's face as mana quickly drained out of his body.

Rion did not have too much practice with the inherent sword skill, and he had injected more mana in an attempt to create a stronger giant sword.

Berserkers did not have a great capacity of mean like mages and with such a huge sword that had been summoned, Rion's mana capacity had drained more than 25% at once.

Rion who had been at the edge of the wall felt his instincts screech at him as he quickly threw himself aside. Vicious dark transparent claws had missed his brain by mere millimeters. Facing a barrage of attacks, Rion quickly hurled his body backward.

To the scene, hunters who had been close to him were struggling with the owners of the horrifying claws.

Their appearances were identical to the ghosts that had appeared out of the exploded corpses of the possessed hunters. It was not an uneducated guess to believe that these ghosts would possess them.

As he rushed forwards, one hunter was overwhelmed by three possession ghosts who madly rushed at her and fell to her knees. The three ghosts disappeared into the hunter's body.

Rion's blood ran cold as a terrible feeling rose against him.