Blood poured down Tize’s face from the wound on his head, some getting into his eyes. He wanted to wipe it away, but he was pretty sure his right arm was broken while his left arm perilously gripped his shield—clinging to the last hope of salvation, but not his. No, he had to protect those behind him if they were even still there. Just how had it come to this?

This was supposed to be an easy mission. Not just that, but a simple training mission as well. Over the past few months, Tize had become the unofficial secondary trainer of the group. Ever since the raid from the Central Peace, the need to improve their members even more became painstakingly clear. While it had been a resounding victory, there were a few close moments, and several of their members hadn’t been confident enough to fight in the first place.

Whatsmore, after some negative reviews from a few unhappy customers, it became obvious that newer members needed more hands-on training with actual jobs. Strength didn’t always mean competency, especially in a customer service position. Thus, there was a division of labor. Nachi still did the bulk of the training and strengthening of the group, but Tize now escorted those that needed it to help them improve—the field trainer.

The job they were on now should have been babyishly easy. It was to wrangle up a herd of Shoats—sheeps mixed with goats—that had escaped from their farm. Since the monsters weren’t considered dangerous at all, they were being raised domestically in an attempt to establish proper monster harvesting methods. Them being much bigger than normal farm animals meant there was more profit to make.

Tize had brought quite a large group with him since it was a few hundred Shoats they were asked to shepherd. Rezin was along as the more experienced helper since his Curse would be invaluable in this situation, and the boy could always use more training. Laurim had joined as well—still in her training phase at only a Rank 3. Their hope was for her to turn into a Shoat as well to help lead the pack.

The only other Fiend accompanying them was a young man named Dicatta, but everyone called him Dice because of his Curse. He had joined a few months before the raid as a resident student, but after seeing the havoc the Central Peace caused, he decided to become a member after graduating.

Dice’s Curse was absurdly overpowered, one that would put him right at the top of the charts for most dangerous in the world. However, it came with a stupid amount of caveats and conditions that had to be fulfilled. His ability was to cut anything clean through—wood, metal, people, anything. It could be cut into as many portions as he wanted, but more often than not, multiple portions were required.

In order to cut something, each of the portions had to be equal in some way. This meant they needed to be symmetrical, weigh the same, or have the same volume. Things like a plank of wood were ridiculously easy, but anything with oblique shape or uneven weight distribution required some mental calculation to get right. His Curse would help him with that part, but the more obscure the object, the more mental focus it took.

Because of his ability, Dice was often summoned to the cafeteria to assist them. He could chop vegetables instantly or perfectly cut a cake into exactly equal slices. On the offensive side, his Curse meant he could end someone’s life—cutting them in half—with just a thought, and maybe a bit of gesturing for emphasis. For this job though, his Curse wouldn’t be very useful. But that was all the more reason to bring him since he was out of his element.

A newly joined Lesser was with them as well. Their now-oldest member named Ipucco who thought of himself as nothing but a gentleman—ironic because he specialized in cheapshots. The cane he walked around with was actually a rifle in disguise, and the crown of his tophat was spring-loaded. It launched forward whenever he tipped it or bowed, giving those in front of him a sudden walloping.

Also along for the ride, but not as members, were Bray and Mazie. When the young girl heard about the Shoats, she wanted to tag along, treating it like a trip to a petting zoo. Since it was supposed to be exceedingly undangerous, Bray agreed, but Ahvra had turned them both into teenagers just in case.

They were still dealing with monsters after all, and it turned out to be the right choice. If they had still been children, Tize didn’t know if he would have been able to keep them alive for this long. Thankfully, their further developed bodies had let them flee more swiftly.

Finding the herd hadn’t taken them very long. That hadn’t been the issue. They hadn’t wandered very far from the farm. The farmers were able to lead the Fiends right to them, only needing a way to shepherd them back.

Right as they approached the herd, they were met with death.

Monsters come in all shapes and sizes. Most had been encountered by this point since they’d existed for a few decades. This led to them being properly documented with accompanying behaviors and methods of dealing with them—particularly due to The Slayer’s efforts. As a result, every monster had been assigned a tier of danger and difficulty for monster hunters.

The lowest tier was mostly filled with monsters that were made up of two passive creatures—things like Starbits, Crabsters, and Shoats. Even a human should have no problems dealing with them, individually at least. The top tier consisted of monsters that brought about untold destruction, often needing a small army or a Fiend to bring down. This included monsters like Hippagons, Scobrians, and Polar Lions—except for one in particular that had been tamed.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

But on rare occasions, there’d exist a monster that couldn’t be classified into the other tiers. Because no matter what anyone tried to do to stop them, they only brought death. Therefore, they’d been shoehorned into a rather uninspired category known as the ‘Death Tier’.

Throughout recorded history, only four Death Tier monsters had ever existed. And thankfully, a hero always rose to the occasion to save humanity from destruction. The first monster was called a Pwhaleican, a cross between a pelican and a whale. This giant bird could attack from both the sea and air and was known for swallowing ships whole. After years of terrorizing the eastern coast, it was finally brought down by a young boy barely in his teens—a feat that would earn him the moniker: The Slayer.

The second Death Tier monster was killed about a year later. It was a beast called a Stegatortoise, but more commonly known as The Moving Mountain. Unlike the other monsters of the same tier, it didn’t have any aggressive tendencies. However, with every step it took, it wrecked the world around it.

This giant sentient-landmark was taken down by The Beacon. Since her Curse only dissolved the beast’s flesh, its massive shell was left behind. The shell has since been taken over by refugees and turned into one of the biggest new colonies on Rathe. There are currently plans by the Central Peace to turn it into a hub city once a theme has been picked.

The third and fourth monsters were fairly recent. Just over a year ago, a Beehexoth was killed by Drim and Phon Drazah, though few actually know that tale. And just last month, a Mam-moth was killed by a squad of soldiers led by Captain Jaid Luciri of the Central Peace.

It was a giant wooly moth that liked to careen into any substantial lightsource it could find, usually destroying it. But thankfully, Jaid had been able to strike the killing blow before all of Shindig was destroyed. Rumor has it, though, that the monster had strange black arrows pierced into its wings that grounded it before the destruction could get too bad, not that anyone could ever confirm the source.

Over the past decade, more monsters of that scale had likely been killed by The Slayer and The Beacon without them realizing or reporting. But now there was a fifth Death Tier monster.

When the group approached the herd of Shoats, the world suddenly shook. It was too brief to react, to flee, to do anything. If only they had run at that point.

The ground opened up beneath the herd, and almost the entire flock was swallowed whole. The mouth—no, beak—that had consumed them shot up a moment later. And it just kept going, the mass of flesh jutting rapidly out of the ground as the monster slithered into the sky.

At first glance, it just looked like a giant massive monstrously sized worm, easily as big as the tallest building in the world. But once its entire body had surfaced, wings sprouted all along its body—the wings of an owl.

Quickly named as a Wowl by Laurim, the monster’s wings did not flap like any normal bird. No, the worm was divided into clear sections—an uncountable number given their current vantage, but a few dozen at least. Each section had four wings sprouting out of them, but they weren’t flapping, they were spinning. Each section was like a propeller, rotating, half one direction, half the other, and somehow keeping the Wowl afloat in the sky.

Maybe they were just too stunned, their legs locked in awe and fear, but no one had moved. Not the Fiends and not the farmers nearby. Maybe if the farmers had gotten into their trucks at that very moment, they could have escaped. Because then the Wowl chose its next target, its next meal.

Tize did all he could to try and stop it. He shifted his gun into a sniper rifle and took countless shots at what he had to assume was the Wowl’s head. The goal was to try and distract it, but the monster was unperturbed. All the sections suddenly spun the same direction, and the Wowl rushed forward, diving at the group of farmers.

Hopefully some got away, but most just vanished. The Wowl buried into the ground, cracking through the road and vehicles like they weren’t even there. It was possible it would leave for good, but they weren’t going to take that bet.

Tize ordered them to run in the opposite direction, through the woods. As they bolted, Laurim informed them of what she could. It was a monster she’d never heard of, but she could make some educated guesses given its base components.

Worms didn’t have most conventional senses, but they could feel vibrations and notice changes in light. Odds were, if they’d stayed perfectly still, the Wowl may have never noticed them—not that it was particularly an option when it could just pop out of nowhere. However, owls were known for their exceptional hearing, so it probably would even hear their breathing even if they didn’t move, assuming there was nothing else to drown it out.

Since they were running, they were luring the monster right to them. But what other choice did they have if it was still hungry? Taking action was still better than standing around and hoping for the best. Thankfully, since everyone was at least a Lesser, they could move faster than a good chunk of other land animals.

That was all that saved their lives when the ground erupted from behind them, just a few feet from death. Laurim had been bringing up the rear, so the flinging dirt launched her into the air. She quickly morphed into an egg midflight and was spat out as a Hummingfly that darted over to the front of the group before changing back.

The Wowl flew back into the air and scanned the area for sound, likely wondering why it didn’t have tasty human morsels in its stomach. Tize stayed behind, ordering the others to run ahead. He pulled out his gun again, disabling its silencing functions, and began firing, hoping to draw the monster away from his companions.