Bells of Despair
A tall man stood in front of two corpses. A pool of blood was splattered on his body and on the floor, but neither was from him. One corpse was a man who was as tall as him while the other, a woman who was significantly shorter. With his long white hair flowing in the wind that came from the broken window, a boy watched the scene in horror.
The man turned and growled as his blood red eyes gazed on the trembling boy. His body erupt in a dark blue flames as he walked forward. "A Demon King cannot roam these lands."
The boy hugged his knees, fear running around his veins as he stared at the man with wide eyes. "Please, don't kill me."
As each second passed, the smell of death became stronger. The boy opened his mouth to scream as his vision turned pitch black. All he could remember was waking up in a dark alley far from his home.
"Warning! A Wild Dungeon has appeared in G District of Bell City. Citizens inside and near the district must evacuate immediately! This is not a drill! The Dungeon is F-rated."
Keith woke up to the sound of the announcement and sirens blaring outside his apartment. He was only in his boxers when put on a sleeveles shirt and a cloak on top of it. He growled and took his sword that was scrambled on the floor. He was a Hunter and he needed to respond to earn EXP and money.
Tap!
He pressed the <Respond> button on his phone. When Demons open a dungeon portal into the mortal world, Hunters would gather to the call of sirens from their phones and from the fifty speakers around each city. Their task was to eliminate the Demon inside before it could escape and wreck havoc.
Each Dungeon— just like the Hunters has a rating of F to S, with F being the weakest and most common, while S is more dangerous and rare. The number of Hunters and the time it needed to respond for each Dungeon required vary on the classification of the Dungeon. If the Dungeon was a regular, the Dungeon would require a small number of Hunters.
However, wild Dungeons meant that the barrier of the portals has been broken and the Demon inside the Dungeon broke free. Wild Dungeons required double the amount of Hunters it needed for it to be taken down since, even the F rated wild Dungeons, could cause great damage if left alone.
"Ah, if it isn't Carefree Bunny." A large man greeted Keith when he arrived at the scene. It was the D rank Hunter, Johhny Jones. He gave Keith the title 'Carefree Bunny' because the latter cared little about his appearance and was still an F rank even after years of being a Hunter.
"Good evening to you, too," Keith greeted back. There was no hostility between him and Johnny because the two of them were always close. They both started becoming a Hunter four years ago, and from then on, Johnny became Keith's parent figure because the latter just reached his 20s while the former was in his mid forties.
"There's no need to cause too much trouble for these little ones."
Another man who was much taller arrived. He had a long wavy blonde hair that he tied with a low bun. He watched the lower ranking Hunters and smirked. "I'm only here because I was in the area and this Demon ruined my date tonight. It's mine. Don't you dare touch it."
"Jeez. Here goes the celebrity B rank," Johnny chuckled to Keith who snorted at his remarks. They were referring to Angel Rivera, the famous celebrity Hunter who did not want to ascend because he would be exposed to greater risks and might die in the battlefield. The man enjoyed the spotlight and the money he earns as a Hunter and a celebrity.
"Now, where is this Demon?!" Angel growled and demanded answers from all the other Hunters. He asked them one by one with each carrying no answer to his questions.
"Could you even begin to believe the rumors that Angel is supposed to be a high-caliber A rank? Some even speculated S-rank," Johnnny asked Keith with a sigh of disappointment. "If I had his resources, I would dominate the game. But sadly, only the rich Hunters get stronger while us bottom feeders stay at the bottom."
"Nonsense!" Angel heard Johnny and went up to him to tell him how poor he was before. Keith could only laugh at them because he knew that Angel told them a plot from his old movie. Everyone knew that he was born with a golden spoon in his mouth.
"But seriously, where is this Demon?!" Angel growled. "Come out, Demon!"
As if he muttered a chant, a giant dome covered the entire district. The Hunters inside panicked after seeing the large-scale magic that was created in less than half a minute. There was no way an F ranked Demon could create this.
"I am here."
They all looked up to see a tall white skinned man hover in the air. His medium length white hair waved in the wind as he watched the Hunters below him. "You were looking for me, now here I am!"
Angel gulped in fear when he saw the Demon. There was something off about him and the dome that he created. If he attack without thinking, he might end up dead before he could cast his skill.
"Why are you so afraid of him, Angel?" a woman laughed. She nudged a man beside her. "Sean, baby? Kill it before Angel could take all the credits again."
"A wild Demon's core should cost as much as your dream diamond necklace, babe," the man grinned. "Let me get that necklace for you!"
Sean slammed his feet on the ground so he could throw himself to the Demon who was far above them. Angel saw this and tried to stop him, but it was too late. When Sean was close to the Demon, his body stopped from advancing. He froze in the air as the Demon raised his opened hand. He smirked and closed his hand, Sean's body closing in on itselff right after.
The woman could only watch as her boyfriend's body crumple to a ball like a piece of paper. The Demon smirked and threw Sean aside. "That was some fun entertainment."
"Sean was C rank...." the woman muttered. "We just got promoted two days ago. We cleared a C rated Dungeon and killed the Demon inside. Impossible."
"It's a fake Dungeon," Keith finally spoke. He clenched his teeth as he watched the Demon smirk at them. He felt the fear slowly emerging from their hearts and he enjoyed it while he watched from above.
"It faked the rate of its Dungeon," Angel growled. "What a trick."
"Bastard!" Sean's girlfriend yelled. She brandished her sword and urged other people to follow her. Angel tried to stop them, but it was too late. The seven people who tried to attack the Demon all ended up like Sean.
"This is bad," Johnny said. He looked around to see all the Hunters cowering in fear. The ones who were just killed ranked from E to C, and all of them were killed in an instant. The Demon did not even struggle to defeat them. Instead, it used some kind of invisible magic to twist their bodies and curl them into a ball.
The eerie screams of the slain Hunters rang inside everyone's ears endlessly,plummeting their morale in an instant. No one knew what to do right now. They were facing an enemy that they knew none of them could defeat.
"I'm the only hope." Angel gripped the handle of sword. "If I didn't respond, all of you in here would have died."
Keith watched Angel as the latter seemed to discover his own resolve. He smirked and waited for Angel to fight. He had seen the man fight before, but his enemies were far weaker than him. The ones that he will face right now was far stronger than any of the ones he fought before. It was his time to shine.
There were several reports that said Angel was almost at S rank power if it wasn't for his stubbornness and cowardice. It was time for Keith to see what an alleged S rank hunter can do. He could not see how they performed because F rank Hunters are forbidden to enter D rank Dungeons and above for their own safety.
Angel ran forward. He was looking up and stopped right below the Witch. He smirked and slammed his sword through the ground. "Golden Rose Magic: Thorn Flood!"
The ground shook vigorously. Keith almost lost his balance when he felt a force similar to a powerful earthquake. When the shaking stopped, giant vines that had giant thorns popped from the ground. The vines surged around Angel, targeting the Demon directly.
"This is your end, Demon!" Angel yelled. "My name is Angel Rivera, and I'm here to—"
It was like a small flash of light passed beside Angel. The man was cut from his words as he slowly glanced to his side, only for him to see that his right hand was detached from his body.
The vines stopped as Angel fell to his knees. Keith's eyes widened and covered his mouth with his hand in shock. All the Hunters lost all hope as they saw their last chance fell to the ground without even putting up a proper fight.
"Hunters kill Demons and then merge our Cores to your soul," the Demon said. "You use our own powers to hunt us. But it's the time for us to rebel against this catastrophe! I am Lord Chiron and I will kill all of the Hunters!"
The fall of their only hope led the Hunters to fall into their own despair.
And Keith was one of them.