The Creature Who Escaped (2)

One of the many second White Gates opened quite near the guild and Ms. Emilia decided to send the assault team with Faust as support. Nathaniel didn't want to go because he didn't enjoy the atmosphere from the first gate.

"I'll be the backup," he said.

The official backups quickly agreed and said they would be the backup to back up the backup.

Matt was excited to work with Faust again. Who wouldn't? A monster they couldn't defeat became a piece of cake with Faust's help. Well, mostly a piece of cake. Mr. Faust couldn't fight for them like Mr. Nathaniel could. They still had to fight themselves.

Nevertheless, Matt was excited. And his excitement soon turned hesitant as he turned around and found Mr. Nathaniel following them into the gate.

"Mr. Nathaniel sir…?"

"I'm the backup," the tall man said. "Don't worry, I won't steal your glory. I'll stay in the back."

It seemed like Mr. Nathaniel…

Matt winked at his team leader boss. I understand, Mr. Nathaniel team leader sir. At least, that was what he wanted to do but he couldn't wink so he ended up shutting both eyes.

His second-in-command smacked him upside his head and the sound reverberated in the cave.

It was a small cave this time, just barely twice their height, and the sides were already illuminated by some unseen light. Somehow, Mr. Faust had deviated from the main force and was now standing very back, walking side by side with Mr. Nathaniel as if he didn't plan to participate at all.

"Those rocks are mana-infused," Nathaniel said. He pointed to the cave walls. "This whole cave is money waiting to be grabbed."

"Nate, can I talk to you about something?"

Nathaniel looked at him sharply as he heard the seriousness. "I don't want to talk about the giraffe."

Ah, yes, the giraffe that was still on the loose. A hint of annoyance flickered over his face as he remembered being thrown over the railing.

Faust hadn't been thinking about that but now he was.

"We can talk about the giraffe after," he replied. "President Ilorov wants you to stop coming to the training center for a while."

"If it's the repair fee, I can pay."

"It's not the repair fee."

"Then why?"

"Talcot doesn't like to see things being destroyed."

"Ah." Nathaniel nodded thoughtfully. "I'll be careful in the future." And that was the end of the discussion and the strongest hunter began talking about the rocks again.

Nathaniel wasn't wrong. There was something rich behind the rocks' simple appearance. Faust touched the surface of one gently. It crumbled into dust. Surprised, Faust took a step back. As soon as he left, the particles on the ground gathered and returned to its previous rock state.

Faust touched it again and it underwent the same process. This time, however, it was faster and after Faust destroyed it for the third time, he confirmed his hypothesis. The particles could reconstruct but they couldn't recreate the same rock shape. Every time, it was differently shaped.

It made sense. This was, after all, a breeding hive.

Up ahead, the assault team stopped, forcing the two to stop as well. Faust turned back to look at the gate in the far distance behind them. They'd been walking for quite a while now and it was getting ominous despite the light. That seemed to be the consensus as he met Matt's eyes.

"We haven't met a single monster," Matt said.

One of the team members said, "Maybe they're all asleep."

Faust decided to search for the signs of the monster. Since there was light everywhere, he didn't consider it a problem. Reaching gently with his mind, he tapped into the light.

And he soon found that it wasn't the type of light they'd thought it was.

Hundreds of souls floated in his mind's eyes. They were flatted and spread so thin that it was hard to separate one from another. Each was layered on top of another but they all moved in their own direction, at their own pace.

In slow motion, Faust watched the team leader take in a breath as if to sigh. To his horror, a detached piece of soul began to slither into his mouth.

Stiffening in disgust, he flashed to the man's side and clamped his mouth shut. The soul darted back as if it were a living creature.

"...! Mmmmhmmm!" Matt struggled for words.

Faust quieted him with a slap on his head. A shield of light immediately formed around them and the souls edging toward the humans jerked away as if stung. He could see the souls the hunters had inhaled were being expelled from their bodies.

"What are you doing?" the second-in-command asked but her question was quickly answered as the sound of crawling insects reached their ears and the loud tapping of fingers against a glass window was heard from above the shield.

Tat, tat, tat, tat…

The group gulped as they looked up. There was nothing but they could all feel it.

A hand tapped Faust's arms and he realized that he was still clamping Matt's mouth shut. Faust removed his hand apologetically.

"What is it?" Matt asked. "Why are they invisible?"

"I can feel the monsters," Nathaniel said. "I felt it the moment I entered the cave but it wasn't as strong as now."

As they spoke, even more souls had gathered outside the dome and the area around them became brightly lit so brightly lit that it felt as if they were in a blinding white room.

"Mr. Nathaniel!" Matt's voice rose slightly in panic at the invisible monsters. "What kind of monster are we facing?"

The assault team had gathered in a small group and faced the outside with their weapons drawn. Faust and Nathaniel stood a few steps away. Nathaniel was inspecting the shield, blocking away as much of the light as he could with his skill.

"It must be a light-type monster," Nathaniel replied hesitantly. Even he didn't know but this most likely wasn't a simple monster who could turn invisible. "Faust, do you sense anything?"

"...It's not a physical monster," Faust said eventually. He tapped the shield gently with a finger and it reverberated in the dome-like a delicate wind chime. Outside, the tapping suddenly paused so Faust did it again.

Tiiing…

The tapping grew soft and the light began dying down.

Tiiing…

Tiiing…

Every time the sound reverberated, the darker it grew until the last of the light disappeared and reemerged as hundreds of small white creatures standing on their hind legs and watching the hunters with cocked heads.

They looked like rabbits but they weren't. Small wings and long tails set them apart and a pair of tiny antlers adorned the top of their furry head.

Faust dismissed the shield and let Nathaniel take over.

One of the rabbits opened its mouth. From the small body came a short but high-pitch screeching sound. When it finished screaming, it looked at the hunters and at Nathaniel's glowing blade.

Another rabbit pushed it aside and opened its mouth. "You aren't the Light Lord," it screeched in a more coherent voice. "But you know the light."

Matt stumbled a few steps in a surprise. "Did it, did I just…?"

"What are you here for?" it asked.

"We're here to kill you," Nathaniel replied.

The rabbits looked at him and then at each other. Then they all threw back their heads and laughed. It was a cacophony of loud cackles. And then they all stopped laughing at the same time.

"You can't kill us," the first rabbit said. With a soft 'tiiing', it disappeared into the air and emerged on Nathaniel's shoulder. A soft paw slapped the man's ear. "You can't touch us." It jumped onto the ground again.

However, besides the screeching mockeries, Faust could no longer feel the hostility from before. It seemed like his shield had resonated with their light.

Were they light-type monsters?

"Are there any Dragon Servitors in the back?" Nathaniel decided to ask, dusting his shoulder in disgust. "I won't kill you but I'll kill the dragon slaves."

The rabbits exchanged a glance and cackled. "We ate the slave and we will eat you too if you don't leave."

The assault team took another step back at their response. Ate the Dragon Servitor? Was that even…possible? Just what were these creatures?

"Go on, go back," the rabbit said. "But you have to leave the wind chime behind. It belongs to the Light Lord."

"What wind chime?" Matt asked slowly.

The rabbit pointed a paw at Faust. "That."

"That's a human."

"No, we don't want the disgusting human. We want the wind chime."

Tiiing. The rabbit appeared in front of Faust. "You made a sound like that. We want it."

They seemed to have mistaken his shield for something special. Faust squatted down and conjured a spherical shield for the rabbit.

The creature gingerly poked the sphere.

Tiiing.

Its eyes lit up in delight and it rapidly attacked the sphere.

Tiing! Tiing! Tiing! Tiing! Tiin—

Nathaniel snatched it from his hands. The rabbit watched the strongest hunter with anxious eyes and rushed to stand on his shoulder. The hunter just grinned and chucked the sphere as far as he could into the darkness.

Tiing! The sphere bounced. And then the whole cave was engulfed in the sound of tiny feet thundering to chase after the rolling sphere.

"Oh my Light Lord!" the rabbit on Nathaniel's shoulder screeched before it leaped from his shoulder and chased after them with a sense of desperation.

"Let's go. God knows how long your little shield can last," Nathaniel muttered as he bodily pushed his stunned assault team to the gate.

Faust watched the rabbits disappeared into the darkness. There was an unexplainable feeling of loss as he felt his shield tumbling further and further into the darkness. And soon, the little rabbits disappeared into the darkness and the sound of their small paws faded away like the light in the cave.

Without their souls, the cave became pitch black and Nathaniel cursed as he stumbled into his teammates. "Faust, are you sleeping on the job?"

Two small orbs lit up their path seconds later and one accidentally smacked into Nathaniel.

When they spilled out of the gate, the gate began closing on its own. However, the sense of loss lingered and Faust rubbed his arms.

Haaaaa… He stopped the shield spell and he could almost imagine the rabbits clutching the tiny orb in adoration and then their grief at the sudden darkness.

They were greeted with the back-up team who looked uncommonly relieved to see them alive and well.

"A hunter on the west coast got his arm bitten off by serpents that apparently lived in the walls," one of them told Matt. "Man, that sounds scarier than any black gate hunts I've been on. What did you guys meet in there? You look like you didn't even fight at all."

"We met some rabbits…"

Faust let their voice drift into the background as he spotted Collin in the small crowd by the backup team. It didn't make sense for the instructor to be here but Faust went to him anyway. Sure enough, his brother was waiting for him.

"Dad's okay now," Collin said without preamble. "But the doctors said the spell you cast wasn't a healing spell. No healing spells had ever worked on dad and the doctors want to know if you can teach them the skill."

Faust didn't know how to reply and so he took a few moments to consider his words. "It's not a healing spell," he finally said. "It's something I can do as a light-type hunter."

Collin nodded. It didn't seem like he cared much and now that Faust thought about it, that was probably his brother's preamble.

Faust awkwardly shifted on his feet. "Is there anything else? If not, I have to go seal a few black ga—"

"My colleague wants to invite you to our team dinner. He wants to thank you for helping him yesterday in the fight against Mr. Nathaniel."

Wow, that sounds like something Faust wouldn't enjoy at all.

"I can't go, sorry. I have…things to do."

Collin nodded again. "You don't want to go because you think he's weak."

Huh? "What?"

"You look down on him, don't you? You look down on all of us."

"Listen, Collin. I don't know what—"

His brother just took out a piece of paper from his pocket, grabbed his hand, and slapped it onto his palm. "Here's the address. He really hopes you'll go." And then Collin turned around and left.

Faust was starting to think his brother had some serious mental problems.

He unfolded the paper and glanced at the name. It was a rather fancy restaurant.

In the end, Faust ended up going but he brought Nathaniel as the backup. He didn't want to give up the chance to eat something so fancy but he also didn't want to be talking to anybody. Nathaniel could easily steal the attention from him and let Faust eat in peace.

"Ah," the poor hunter from yesterday said in surprise and awe. "Mr. Nathaniel! I didn't know you were coming. If I did, I would've dressed better."

Nathaniel batted a hand. "It's just dinner. We're here to eat, not to talk politics."

Hopefully.

"I'm John Hamilton," the hunter said, offering Faust a hand to shake.

Faust had just washed his hands. What a waste to shake hands and have to go wash them again. Nathaniel sensed his conflict and grabbed the offending hand in a firm handshake instead.

Mr. Hamilton led them to the table where the rest of the instructors had already gathered. There were only eight of them and Faust's eyes immediately landed on his brother and the woman next to him. Sally was Collin's fiancee, a fellow instructor at the Association. She smiled at him and he smiled meekly back.

They didn't know Nathaniel was coming so there was only one available seat. Everyone had to move a bit closer to make room for another.

"Wine, Mr. Nathaniel?" Mr. Hamilton asked, standing up and leaning forward with a bottle.

The hunter nodded and dark liquid flowed smoothly out of the bottle and swirled gently before stilling in the wineglass.

"Mr. Faust?"

Faust shook his head as he accepted the glass of ice water Sally passed him.

In the end, it was a good dinner. With Nathaniel present, Mr. Hamilton didn't really spend too much time on Faust and Faust managed to eat well without being noticed. And Sally was constantly refilling his ice water without his prompting. Every time she did that, Collin slammed back a glass of wine as if it were water. Even when Sally wasn't refilling the water, Collin was still slamming it back as if he had a grudge against it.

"...Is your brother okay?" Nathaniel muttered to Faust.

Thankfully, everyone else had dissolved into their own small conversations so no one really noticed Collin's drunkenness besides the trio next to him.

Sally was gently trying to pry the wineglass out of her fiance's hand.

Then, Collin abruptly stood up. The plates and forks clattered loudly on the table and the rest of the table turned to their colleague. They discovered the flush on his cheeks and his stumbling steps.

"Collin got drunk again," muttered someone.

Seated two seats away from his brother, Faust had only a few seconds to brace himself before Collin stumbled his way to him and hauled him up by his collar. "You!"

Faust wrinkled his nose at his breath.

"You…" Collin growled. "You little shit!"

The man then let go and stumbled over to Nathaniel. He couldn't quite haul the strongest hunter up so he settled for pointing a finger at Nathaniel. "And you!"

The rest of the table watched anxiously.

"You big turd of—"

Sally clamped a hand over his mouth and pushed Collin back down to his seat with a nervous smile. "I think he had a little too much to drink so I'll take him home first."

Nathaniel nodded with a completely serious face. "Of course. Don't worry about it, I understand."

The table just looked on with horror. Very soon, the dinner ended and the diners went their own separate way after reminding Mr. Nathaniel again that he definitely should ignore whatever Collin had said.

Faust drove them home. It was a quiet car ride with the windows down.

"...What do you think he was going to call me?" Nathaniel asked at a red light Faust didn't bother to turn green. "A big turd of what?"

"Don't ask me."

Nathaniel angled his head to look at him from his lowered seat. "I understand if he calls me a big turd but he had to add an 'of' at the end. That just means he had something else planned. Can you—"

"I'm not going to ask him, Nate."