"Today's the day, men. We'll be the start of a new era. An era of dominance. No more will we be afraid of the monsters in the dark!" Kohei yelled atop a large grouping of wooden crates as we finished packing our campsite.

Cheering filled the small valley at the notion. And even I admit that it was exciting to take part in such a new military movement.

Yasuo took over for Kohei and started giving orders from atop the crates. "Alright! Pack just like yesterday. Personal belongings on the back of your horse and group supplies in the carts" Almost everything had already been packed, but it was uniform to give instructions. Yasuo started stepping off the crates as he spoke his final words. "Today we make history. Work hard and don't falter."

I nodded at his commands, although he paid no attention. But enough of standing around, I hadn't even reached my horse yet. I jogged as fast as I could in my large and clanky armor towards my horse in the back of the formation.

I threw the bag over the horses back and started tying it down, trying to make up time and catch up with the others. Finally, the last knot tightened and I was finished.

Sora was already atop his horse as I stood up and looked around. In fact, it looked like everyone had finished before me.

People didn't notice my lateness, luckily. But baggy-eyed Mahiro was the exception. He spoke. "You're late."

I looked around for a moment before responding. All the crates had been packed and we were almost ready to leave. But back to Mahiro. "My apologies, I had grown distracted."

He quickly responded. "That's even worse. It's not the time for daydreaming."

Mahiro got a small bit on my nerves. He made it out to be that I'm only a hindrance to this company. I didn't want to further the conversation, so I replied with. "I'll be fine."

Mahiro's baggy eyes looked away from me and to the road. "I'm sure you will be..."

Enough of him, I would be fine. Honestly, I had expected much fewer men by the way I was told this caravan was a suicide. I would be more than safe with our company of twenty men. The Doctor needed more attention than any yokai at the moment.

My train of thought broke as a horn sounded, indicating it was time to start moving.

Our horses once again started growing in speed. Within moments we had already started moving at full speed.

There wasn't much to the scenery. Soon enough we had left the valley and the city and entered back into the forest.

It seemed our structure had stayed the same. Mahiro to my left, Sora to my right, Yasuo and Lee in the front-lines. But where was the Doctor?

I browsed through the crowd of unfamiliar faces until I was met with white hair. The Doctor was saddled with Kohei. Unable to even ride his own horse, or, he already had Kohei wrapped around his finger.

And with how Kohei acted towards the old man, I wouldn't be surprised. The Doctor had been doing nothing but inflating Kohei's already bloated ego since he got here.

But enough with all that, I had a job at hand.

We had been riding for a while. I thought I saw smoke in the distance, most likely from the city that called for aid. Which means that we were already in the area were the yokai was spotted.

It looked like Yasuo and Kohei noticed the smoke as well.

After looking around for a bit, Kohei raised his fist, signaling our caravan to stop.

It took us a while to all come to a halt, as always. But with enough time we had all stopped in the somewhat crowded forest.

Trees were everywhere and the road had barely been large enough to fit all of us. So we would go on foot.

We all put a quick stake in the ground and tied our horse's lead to them. The horses could uproot the small wooden spikes if they wanted to, but for the most part, it kept them from wandering when there wasn't a better place to tie them.

After the horses had been settled, we moved to the front where Kohei and Yasuo were waiting.

We all lined up in front of Kohei like we had been accustomed to do.

Kohei spoke as he started going down the line. "The hunt has now started! I want you all to be at your full attention. One mistake could be the death of you." He had reached the end of the line, where I was. Kohei quickly looked me up and down. He took notice of the flower attached to my breastplate. "A sun lily?"

I responded. "Yes, sir. It's of sentimental value."

He thought about saying something, but eventually shrugged. "Fine. Just keep the decorations to a minimum."

I nodded, and off he went. The men next to me leaned over to look at the flower in curiosity.

Kohei glanced over Sora and the few others further at the end of the line, then walked back to his spot in front of us all.

He didn't take the time to talk, instead, he waved over Yasuo and another unknown man. Yasuo introduced the man. "This is our huntsman. He'll be tracking our yokai."

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The Huntsman nodded and spoke. "yokai are strange things, and we still know almost nothing about them. So if you find tracks, alert me first. And if you see it, stay calm and gather the others." Fairly basic. I'm sure most of us already assumed those rules. The Huntsman continued. "And with that, we're finished. Follow me." He waved his hand and started on the trail nonchalantly.

Well then, off to kill a demon.

---

We followed after the man through the dark forest. The dense trees blocked out the little light the moon gave, leaving us relying solely on our torchbearers.

It was dead silent, no sound ruminating from any corner of the woods. The men were tense, as was I. This was the first time anyone was foolish enough to hunt these sinful creatures, and no one knew what to expect.

What felt like hours passed, and no hint of life was found, until.

The Huntsman squatted to the ground. "Ha!" He stood back up and pointed to the ground. "A track in the mud. We can't be far now!"

We kept going in the direction of the tracks quickly. The footprints were heavy and solidly placed in the muddy ground.

The silence soon started turning into murmurs between the soldiers. Spotting more and more traces of the beast.

Eventually, it was there. The charred black figure stood aimlessly in a barren patch of the woods.

The Huntsman raised his hand and signaled the sword bearers to get in the front.

Maybe I should have chosen the bow...

Lee, Mahiro, the other swordsmen and I all got to the front. Yasuo and the spear wielders slowly started surrounding the yokai, keeping it from running.

Sora and the archers were in the back, preparing for their shot.

Kohei didn't participate, he only stood on the sidelines and commanded us. He waved at the swordsmen to start moving up.

The yokai was strangely oblivious, it's blank eyes were staring ambiently at the sky.

Something was wrong.

I searched frantically throughout the valley, it was right under our noses.

Oh.

Who's next to me? Mahiro to the left. Lee to the right.

I threw my hand over Lee. Mahiro and the rest got swallowed into the earth, consumed and wrapped in the muddy draping.

Lee glanced over to me as he realized what had happened, then over to the backlines, waiting for Kohei to command.

Kohei stood tall, trying to see what had happened, to no use. There was no time to find out what happened.

He screamed the orders throughout the forest. "Fire! Fire!" Lee's face turned white as the command was spoken, and I'm sure my face the same. Kohei yelled again. "Get down!"

Lee and I launched into the wet ground just as the bowstrings went slack.

There wasn't enough time to look, but I heard the loud footsteps of the creature slop through the mud. And the sound of arrows whisping past our heads.

An ungodly moan resonated from the creature in pain, it was farther away now.

Kohei bellowed the order again. "Fire!"

Again the arrows flew over us.

Again the creature kept trudging through the soggy ground.

And again Kohei commanded. "Fire!"

Arrows pierced the yokai to no avail for a third time.

The spear-wielders at the edge of the field started shouting. It had hit the wall.

Armor clashed together. Spears splintered. Footsteps continued.

Slowly I pushed myself up from the mud along with Lee. I wiped the filth from my eyes and regained my vision.

The spear-wielders were lying on the ground, no blood in sight. The archers were in the back.

The swordsmen.

I shuffled across the ground towards the spot in which they had fallen.

The ground was strange, and upon further inspection, I realized it was mud coated fabric.

This must have been a hunter's trapping pit.

I called into the deep hole in the ground. "Is everyone alright?"

A simultaneous groan of pain responded from the swordsmen. Good. I stood to my feet and waved over anyone that could come, and together we started finding the edges of the fabric.

An unknown face shouted as we all grabbed a corner of the cloth. "Pull!"

We tried to pull the men up with the fabric, but to no avail.

I squatted next to the hole again. "Can any of you stand?"

Mahiro's voice replied from the dogpile of men. "I can."

"Good. Lee, come here and hold onto me." With that Lee jogged over and grabbed to the back of my breastplate. I leaned farther in and held out my hand. "We'll pull you up."

Mahiro nodded at me and started pushing away the men from on top of him. Eventually, the baggy-eyed man grasped my hand, and we pulled him up with minimal effort.

We continued this with the others until we could lift the more injured with the cloth that engulfed them.

The swordsmen weren't badly hurt, some could walk it off and others needed more attention, depending on how deeply buried they were. But they were getting the help that they needed, next was the spear-wielders.

I looked around at the edge of the valley. It looked like most of them had already started moving about. The others that took the brunt of the yokai's attack were talking with Kohei. I started sprinting over to help.

Sora caught up with me while I ran through the valley, it looked like he had the same idea as I.

We slowed a bit as we met. Sora questioned. "What happened?"

I responded through my pants for breath. "The yokai... Led us into a hunter's trap."

He raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

We arrived without another word.

I took a moment to breathe before I tried to analyze the situation, it was all going too fast.

Kohei was the first to speak to us. "Yasuo was thrown into a tree. He's breathing, but unconscious."

Sora pointed at another man, propped against a tree. "And him?"

"Trampled... His leg looks severe, and he's been talking about a shortness of breath." Kohei pointed towards Yasuo. "One of you help me carry him to the Doctor."

Sora got to Yasuo first, and started to lift with Kohei. I guess the one with the broken leg was for me.

He looked over to me as he struggled to breathe. "I..." He took in a sharp breath. "I can walk on this leg." He patted on his only leg that wasn't turned out of its socket. "So I'll just hop..."

I forced a grim expression away. "Yes... Well, I think I'd still like to assist. It's a long way to the horses."

Without fighting back he responded. "Ok..."

I got on a knee and threw his arm over my shoulders. Slowly, we stood.

It was a long way to the Doctor, and I could see his eyes start to wander off into the distance, sleepy. I quickly started a conversation to grab his attention. "Hey! Hey... So, um. You said your breathing is short?"

He snapped back into reality. "Oh, yeah. My lungs hurt a whole lot. And I'm not really able to breathe."

"Hmmm... Well, focus on your breathing until we get there. I'm sure the Doctor can patch you up."

"I don't like that Doctor..."

We weren't far now. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him..."

We finally reached the others. And from the looks of it, people had started setting up a temporary camp.

A passerby took noticed of the injured spear-wielder I was walking with and spoke. "Medic's tent has the green banner."

I nodded and moved towards the tent without further discussion.

We pushed through the cloth door of the tent. And the soldier sat on the first table available.

The Doctor looked up from the random man he was inspecting.

He looked like he was actually inspecting that man for injuries. Maybe he could be of use after all. He may be mad, but he was still a Doctor. Just maybe, he could help us in this fight.

The Doctor looked over the injured soldier I was carrying and spoke. "Oh, my... you look like my next passion project!"

Nevermind.