The inside of the gate was as expected. Light-emitting crystals, with backup illumination from florescent flora. Mushrooms... do they count as flora?

Shit, I'd probably be dead already without Airi.

<100% chance is indeed quite probable.>

I needed to remove the setting that made her sound like me.

Of course, I wasn't the raid leader, being both late and a slacker. Instead, the agreed-upon leader was a mage of the great European guild, Chariot. A woman by the name of Theresa. It was only a minor surprise that the raid leader was a woman. In games and in companies and in militaries, it had always been rare to see women leaders. However, this was now the reality of the life-or-death Earth we lived in.

Strangely, women had a few percentage points higher chance than men to awaken as hunters. The head of the (International) Hunter Association was a woman herself. Despite that, men still – somehow – accounted for almost two-thirds of the leadership in hunters. This was both unsurprising yet unfortunate. Unsurprising, since we already had historical evidence to predict this. Unfortunate, since I wanted to bang hot, capable women.

Tch. That's not the point…

The advent of magic did away with essentially all martial differences between men and women. However, women were relatively more likely to go a more magic-heavy route than men, that is to say, become "mages". Though, not to say that melee warriors didn't use a similar amount of body-enhancement magic.

"Okay, B-classes in front. You two, the frontline tank and off-tank. You, the backup. I'll be watching from the rearguard. Easy peasy", Theresa commanded calmly and firmly, honoring the name of Chariot. A large guild would have plenty of hunters highly skilled in leadership. A choir of confirmations rang out and the group quickly got in a rough formation.

"Remember to keep your eyes on your party but also the raid members you haven't met. It's hard to fight with strangers, so acclimate as you go. Of course, we're all C-rank and above here, so this is just some casual pep talk. Let's go wreck this place!", Theresa said with enthusiasm, eliciting a minor bit of claps and yells of encouragement. It was time to go forth, away from the pre-cleared entrance, and towards the scent of danger.

I stayed near the back, observing with Angela. Yeonhwa was at the front, by Jack's side. Seemed that she decided on melee. Ranged classes outside of mages weren't exactly popular. Gunners were a bit rare, since it was quite expensive to buy high-class equipment, as magitech was still in its infancy. Archers were more common due to the type of "drops" hunters got from the dungeons, but those were still completely eclipsed by the highly versatile and destructive "class", the one of every nerd's fantasies: mages.

I briefly checked out Angela's legs and lamented her lack of thigh exposure. Wasn't that the entire point of female mages…? I had to correct this failure in the future, no matter what.

Besides the lack of hypersexualization, Angela was a stereotypical mage, and I... well, I was technically a mage. However, I could fight in both ranged and melee, similar to many of the other hunters at the forefront of humanity. The unique magics I honed were focused on versatility. That being said, this was real life, and I learned a bit of combat arts as well.

Not knowing how to wield a weapon was a huge issue, especially when starting out. Unfortunately, I was part of this non-combatant group in the beginning, but luckily survived anyway. Yet, being asked to make a living and not get yourself killed in the face of real combat with a variety of monsters was a larger demand than it sounded. Few people spared the time to learn a large variety of weapons and martial arts, or even spells, opting for only one or two combat paths.

Here I had two cheat codes.

One, I simply didn't cheat – I didn't use many weapons, and the ones I did use were easy to at least not die with. The sword, the spear, the... okay, that was it. The typical fantasy weapons, duh. They had a reason for being popular, and that was due to how easy they were to use, besides just being cool. I also used to defend with a shield, as long as I didn't have to do anything fancy. Parrying was way harder in real life than in games.

Two, my unique magic, 'Blacklight'. It wasn't clear at first that it was "unique", and in a sense, it isn't. In fact, I shared it with my guildmates. They just couldn't do much more than the basics, expect for a select few of the better ones. But 'Blacklight' turned out to be ridiculously versatile in my hands. It was a magic about magic. A magic to craft magic. And through it, some incredible feats such as my dear Airi. And it was where I got my moniker.

I glanced at Angela – who was actually contributing to the raid – as she fired off a couple ice spears. Inwardly, I sighed at the thought of a redhead not using fire magic. Despicable!

Of course, I knew other magics. In fact, I was pretty good at learning them, in part due to my mastery of 'Blacklight'. The more one mastered one skill, the easier it was to mastery something similar. Truly, a cheat code. I probably would have literally only been B-rank without it. Yes, I was still B-rank now, but I assure you, good sir or madam, that I am on par with the A-ranks! And so, I would likely be considered a mage rather than a magic swordsman or such, despite preferring melee combat.

The non-adventure continued without issue, with me garnering some glances as I did essentially nothing. Were they hoping for something? The vanguard mostly made sure the mobs didn't get too close while the rearguard blasted away. I was part of the group which was supposedly blasting, but hey, our dear raid leader was here taking care of the work quite easily, so stop looking at me! Although, even Angela would pitch in a zap or boom every now and then, probably since she wanted to keep her mana regenerating rather than stagnating uselessly. Still, this cave was surprisingly simple for a mid-C gate, although we did have a rather large ratio of B-rankers to pave a smoother path.

In the front, Yeonhwa and Jack seemed to be getting along. The newbie's tension was slowly leaving her shoulders. She had equipped a small shield and a longsword, both looking decently expensive. A small shield... I saw a dagger at her hip as well, but that was typical in case the main weapon was knocked away. Of course, knocking away soul-bound weapons was useless, but the latency until it could be called back still remained. The stranger issue was that she had not one but two daggers on her hip. Was she going to wield one in her offhand? Certainly, some people have done so, but not with a shield equipped.

As I mulled over our newbie's strange choices, the raid got to a larger clearing, and as expected, it was a camp of monsters. Filled with unfallen and their shamans, who could revive the lesser unfallen, it was likely going to be a decent test. Especially with the higher class minotaurs and trolls. It was as if this dungeon had the theme of tanky monsters. I was already itching.

'Airi.'

'I'm going to kill them myself.'

'Right, right. I'd be dead without you.'

"Wait up", I said, putting some strength in my voice. "Excuse me, would it be okay if I cleared this room?"

A momentary silence.

"Blacklight, right? If you think you want to, then sure. Please, safety first, though. We'll rush in if there's any sign of difficulty."

Theresa readily allowed me. How reasonable.

"Thank you, I took a vacation and it was a bit too long. Also, the flight sucked."

A bit of laughter rang out. Good. It was time to scratch my itch. I walked to the front and surveyed the monsters slightly below us.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Do get ready for possible friendly fire though."

'Airi. Darkeating Cerberus. Sound good?'

'Shamans a bit too spread out. Trolls too tanky. Minotaurs too minotaur.'

'It's fine, I wouldn't even be able to stretch if it ended with one attack. I want to leave one shaman alive after the initial blast anyway, just focus on clearing the minions. It would be good if a troll was removed as well.'

Killing is like art. And art requires some inspiration, not to mention a nice bit of material. Comedy is all about the setup.

'Haha.'

"Darkeating Cerberus", I muttered softly, already reveling in the destruction to come. Well, it was just a test, but I was hoping for a good result. Although it was more like a squid, "Cerberus" certainly sounded way cooler.

My mana circulated and persuaded the power of heaven and earth to my cause. Soft crackling seemed to come from arbitrary places around my body as the density of magic diffracted light, as if ripples in a pond.

"Devour!"

I lept a bit forward, into the clearing, as I unleashed the area-of-effect magic of my Blacklight system.

First, a minor explosion reverberated with deep bass, then thick rods of mana erupted, becoming akin to tentacles, flexible and waving around – the many "heads" of my "Cerberus". Finally, the name of the "Darkeater" series was displayed. From the mouths of Cerberus came the fires of judgement, a purplish-white light like a stereotypical laser, enwreathed in black arcs of "lightning" – the so-called Blacklight.

ZZZZZZ! and an FWOOOOSH! followed the thrashing beams of light, burning through the minions in its wake and setting light to anything flammable it touched.

The unsuspecting mobs shrieked in horror, as the ones who were burning alive seemed to compete in a yelling contest. It was such an angelic choir, singing just for me.

My eyes alight, I threw myself into the fray, barely stifling my growing laughter, my Cerberus banishing the dark around me. Thankfully, Airi could control it well enough to not fire on my raid partners, although they have doubtlessly already erected a shield.

A minotaur rushes furiously at me. Listen kid, I want cows, not bulls. How dare you show your milkless body in front of me!

My fangs bare at his rush, but his shitty body was already melted by Cerberus. How frustrating.

'Airi...'

The lasers around me turned off their stream of energy like a closing faucet, revealing my ravenous maw.

"ROAAARRR!!!", the cavern resounds. The surviving monsters seem to think it's their filthy chance. They're right. Their chance to die horribly. I wonder if the ones still burning alive will live longer. And I sure hope Jack and Angela make sure no idiot gets in my way.

"Oooomumumu!", an unfallen shaman chants to revive one of his brethren. Heh. That's why I left one. To see its face crumple as I rip it to shreds.

Bang, a small noise resounded as I kicked off the air itself and flew at the only living shaman, catching it by its shoulder, and staring at its surprised eyes. My left arm was already penetrating through its right chest, and the resulting shockwaves had shattered his entire right torso into fragments. When would the pain and fear catch up on its ugly face? I patted its chest in an attempt to get the nerves to fire faster, as my right hand crushed its shoulder. Just a moment, and…

Ah, there it was, finally. The sweet despair, even if it were a little itsy bit, it had finally begun to show! Ahaha, good boy!

My face still enraptured at observing this creature's pain, I brought my knee to meet his abdomen with a bisecting blade of blacklight. Materializing it in these kinds of quicktime situations was a skill I had trained much in. His body now split in two, I kicked away the useless legs still hovering in the air and gripped his spine through the neck – before ripping the cord out along with his skull.

Tsk. I had wanted to leave the entire spine intact, but it seemed to be impossible to do so without a more surgical removal of the surrounding flesh. Or a better spine. Annoyed, I flung the still-conscious head into the cave wall, feeling the monster's skull fail upon my backhanded strike.

A minotaur was behind me.

I swiftly turned my body and fired the Darkeater Laser I had already prepared in my right hand.

The headless minotaur kneels as his strike continues with its momentum. I didn't even dodge, but the shitty axe simply merely bounced off my shoulder with a slightly annoying sound, spinning backwards out of the carcass's grip.

Was I simply going to let this idiot fall to his rest? Hah.

I caught the carcass in a mesh of blacklight, like a giant hand.

While I stepped forward, my hand was still kept back, like a pitcher's posture.

Various strength-enhancing buffs circulated as I accelerated the carcass through the entirety of my "extended" arm, straight into the minotaurs right in front of me. One of them becomes a splash of flesh and bone, knocking the other two off balance. My sword had already materialized within my grip. It was a bit nostalgic, as I hadn't used a weapon in a while.

With a step and a slash, the two became four. Four pieces of minotaur.

Finally, all that was left are four trolls, one flaming troll corpse, and one stupid lesser unfallen.

I flung a minor bolt of lightning at the small hindrance in the same movement of bringing my blade back to my side. It probably died.

The slower trolls have somewhat crossed the distance.

First, four was too much. As I leapt towards the closest one, I experimented with the physical power of a new magic.

'Chew'. That was the simple name of the spell.

A giant maw of dark bared its fangs at the direction my right hand opened in.

I closed my hand, and the two halves clamped down, with the troll in between.

The sharp "teeth" penetrated, and the mass of magic crushed.

The body of the troll was rendered obsolete, but incredibly still alive. It was indeed a troll.

But the maw didn't simply dissipate. That was the point of this efficiency-based close-ranged spell. Just chew again.

'Chew!'

With a crunchh, the troll was minced enough to be cooking material, which I threw in the face of the next troll.

Right before I penetrated its bulging abdomen with my sword.

I liked this sword, which was custom-ordered to be excellent at channeling magic.

'Flamethrower'. A mid-tier flame magic. Unfortunately, it should have been named something cooler, but this was reality. Still, it was exactly as it was named – a flamethrower. And it was now pouring hot, pressurized gases through my sword straight into the abdomen of the beast, bursting out in yellow and blue flame

"RRRAAAAAaaaaa....", a roar which started out strong, and ended up like its owner. Dead.

I kick the waste into the other burning dump of organic matter.

Now, this was good – there were two left. The right number to play with. Haha. Sometimes, I really did like trolls.

'Hexblade.' I enchanted my sword's edges with oscillating blacklight. It was time to practice cutting again.

"Hmph!" I grunted once, my sword moved once, and the right arm of the right troll was cut. Oh right, let's get rid of the already-cut meat. A flick of the blade and the arm was flung into the distance. Slightly inefficient. I'll have to do it in one motion, twisting the blade as it finished cutting. The troll's left arm was removed from its premises smoothly. Yes, that was it.

Of course, it wasn't like the monster needed its lower half either. The limbless torso fell, almost hitting the ground by the time the last troll reached me. Troll were slightly dumb but it surely could tell I had just completely mauled every one of its kind. Roaring in fury and fear, it brought its club on my head.

But its wishes weren't realized and it hit its own ally – I had kicked the limbless troll to be a shield of meat. Wood and skull kissed, and a second roar joined the first. Ahaha, this was why "two" was a good number to play with.

I moved, and the club was cut in two, the plane of the slice also severing some troll fingers with it. I brought my lifted blade low, and once again, a left leg left its owner.

I looked smugly on the two monsters still alive, roaring in the pain of their incapability and inadequacy. Well, perhaps it was simply the pain of being dismembered, who could know? Regardless, it was thing of beauty, almost. I sliced off part of the last right leg, like a thick cut of ham.

A roar. I wait for a slight lull in the music before repeating. A roar. Oh, the leftover arms should probably go first… Yes, they have gone. Now, back to ham. A roar. No, wait, it's more like a scream now.

Haha. Ahhh.

"Kai!"

…A different kind of shout. It's Angela. I have the urge to roll my eyes as my smile fades into annoyance.

...

Yes, they're right. Of course.

"Chew."

It was over.

'Is it because of them? Airi.'

'...This is too much?'

'I see. Hmm. Sorry.'

Yes. They were right. This was enough. I was still annoyed, though. Even if they were right. Because I wasn't wrong, either.