Returning to the time before the unfamiliar ogre was found by Pascal's party:

In Prumund Village, northeast of Pauli's Village, an abrupt event occurred. It should have been an ordinary morning. Yet turmoil was bound to fall upon the peasants' village.

That cold morning, there was no rooster crowing to wake up the people. Livestock were still locked in their cage, eyes wide in terror. The usual whirr of carts used to carry goods was silent today. Not even the chatter of people was heard

For today, it was about the growling, munching, and bone-crushing sounds. The villagers would rather hear the monotonous sounds of their mundane everyday life activities than those sounds.

15 minutes ago, half of the village population suddenly turned into night eaters. Their normal human bodies were now deformed in so many ways. Their bodies became 2 or 3 times larger, some even 5 times larger. The skin was covered with scales strong enough to dull a common-class weapon.

Their veins grew larger and ramified. The one distinctive feature of an eater was its blood. Unlike humans, their blood was purple. The flow of the disgusting purple liquid was visible through the large veins, making all eaters have similar colored veins that wrapped around their bodies.

"Mother!" A girl, not older than 5 years on Earth, shook a female body lying on the ground. Half of it was crushed beneath a big chunk of stone wall and rubble. It was nothing less than death.

The girl kept shaking her lifeless mother. She didn't know it yet. Her eyes were covered with her own blood. Her nervous system had not caught up with the current condition of her head. Thus, she didn't feel any pain, only a warm sensation on her head.

In between shaking her mother, she rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe the blood. But the blood poured on her like fountain water. In less than two minutes, that small girl would die.

Sure enough, the blood started to flow less. She finally began to see again. As she saw her mother's state, the little girl froze. She had no words. Inside, she was broken. She was old enough to understand that her mother had died in a very horrible way.

"Nora. Run!"

The little girl spun her head, meeting another female. Her tears started to flow when she saw the woman's look of fright.

"Sister. Mother, our mother, her head is crushed."

The woman didn't say anything. A sense of relief washed over her when she learned that her only sister was at least breathing. She sprinted toward the girl like she had never run before.

Unfortunately, today's destiny was cruel. When the female thought she would reach her little sister, her consciousness dissipated into thin air. Halfway through her route, her body was split in half. The limbs crashed to the ground, and the torso secured its place in a giant lizard-eater's mouth.

It was right in front of the poor little sister's eyes.

Munch, munch, munch, the lizard chewed on the young female's tender bones and supple skin. Its eyes were steady on the little sister, ready to plunge over her if she moved even a little. In its mind, there was only eat, eat, and eat. The sisters must be very unlucky. This particular eater preferred the brains of young females and kids more than anything. If they were old, it wouldn't even spare a glance at them.

The little girl's legs failed as she heard the crushing sound of her sister's bones. She dropped her body into the pool of her mother's blood. Her vision got blurry, and her ears rang. She had lost too much blood.

The lizard swallowed its breakfast all at once. Clearly, it wasn't enough to fill its stomach. It then walked to the helpless little sister, stomping on the big sister's limbs without a care.

The little girl just sat there, surrendering to her fate. She was so little in front of the hungry lizard anyway. She had no power to resist. Even her strong, independent single mother was only a chuck of flesh in the eater's eyes. She closed her eyes and prayed to God for a savior.

Then...

Bang! Bang! Bleccc!

Instead of the lizard piercing teeth on her flesh, it was the two loud sounds and the sound of viscous liquid bursting.

The little girl opened her eyes with the little energy she had. A second ago, the God of fate spun the wheel of life again. She was spared from death, at least this time. The lizard had fallen to the ground, quivering with half its head blown.

It was hit by two special bullets shot from a shotgun.

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Right after the shots, afterimages of half-masked men in black swished inside the village. They moved too fast for normal human eyes to see.

It had nothing to do with the little sister's prayer, but a party of holders had arrived.

"Kill them!" The man holding the shotgun shouted. His robust voice put the other six men on high alert.

"Yes, boss." They replied collectively. Activating their skills, picking their weapon, they charged towards the eaters. In a split second, a number of skills activated. The area was filled by colorful energy bursts that tinted the air with rainbows.

[Skill: Hades's Land lvl 6] (AoE)

A man kneeled down, and two massive earthen hands emerged from the ground, smacking some big eaters all at once.

[Skill: Brute force lvl 7] (Buff)

[Weapon: Red Titan Axe lvl 8]

A big sized man waved his Red Titan Axe with extreme physical attack, smashing the tough-skinned eaters into pieces.

[Skill: Route to Victory lvl 9] (CC)

[Skill: Porcupine's Surprise lvl 2] (Burst)

A man threw black light balls at several small eaters, stopping them from moving. Then he charged, touching the eaters with his hands in a sequential manner. One second after the touch, porcupine quills grew inside each eater, piercing through their flesh one by one.

[Skill: God of War's Blessing lvl 5] (AoE)

A man summoned a magic circle area, blessing every ally inside with extra physical attack and physical resistance.

[Skill: Thread of life lvl 3] (Burst)

A man tightened a massive eater with a super-sharp magical thread, pulling it through the air and slashing it into layers of body parts.

[Skill: Wind Sickles, lvl 9] (AoE, CC)

A man sent thousands of sickles made of compressed air to the weaker, lower-class eaters. The sickles fell like rain, gnawing on the eaters piece by piece.

Not even a minute later, the eaters were silenced by the power of a S class holder's party.

"Boss, the only living human is this girl over here." Another man appeared with the previous little sister. She was unconscious, but her wound had been perfectly healed. The man reported the situation to an athletic man standing on top of a roof—the boss himself.

He was dressed in black.

A piece of black mask covered the boss' whole face. His highly sustainable black turtleneck shirt made of modified natural sources enhanced the muscles on his torso. His black cargo pants suit his build so well. Harnesses were tight to his chest. Two smaller guns were holstered there. His hooded trench coat in a similar color completed the fit.

The only thing that was not black on him was his blood-red ribbon. The boss' shining black hair was long and wavy. He had tied his upper hair with a ribbon, leaving his lower hair free. He didn't like the sensation of a hair tie pulling on his scalp. So he used a ribbon instead.

The boss fell silent as he studied the young girl from above. Nobody knew what was inside his head.

The boss then jumped to the ground.

This is very bad. He thought.

Indeed. The situation was the worst. Normally, large numbers of humans could not just turn into eaters simultaneously. To turn more complex creatures like humans, the eater must be at least an A class. Yet they didn't find a single A class eater.

"Take care of her."

"Yes, boss." The subordinate then moved to do his business.

"Yoro." The boss called with his robust voice for another man.

"Here." The wind sickle man replied, short and ready.

The boss fell silent again, trying to deduce what had happened. Although the other subordinates were curious, they waited patiently for their boss.

"Monsters. Any type of monster, trace it." His tone was sure. There was a glint of ire in his eyes. He concluded what had happened, and it couldn't get any more accurate. He had been searching for a top-secret criminal for almost five years. There were reports of the criminal crossing the border of Orienterra Imperium and Steinyord, the land of monsters, multiple times. At the same time, this particular event was not so unfamiliar to him.

He put pieces of information together, information that was forbidden to be known by anyone in the Empire but him and a few others.

"Understood." Yoro nodded his head. He didn't question why but ran his special skill instead.

[Skill: Sensory Overload: Nose lvl 10]

Humma. The boss mumbled under his breath, a single name that he knew so well.

There's no doubt about it. So, you're using your brain now? His whole body was shaking as he realized what the meaning of this event was. Yet he smiled. A mix of anger, fear, and excitement filled him. He was angry because of the event. He was scared because of the meaning of the event. But he was overjoyed because he finally had a clear clue where the top-secret criminal was.

"Report, boss. I smell an ogre. The scent originates from a Steinyord border not far from here. It seemed to have gone to the southwest, to Sanlow Village."

I knew it. If it's you, you'd do something like that, using an ogre to do your tricks. He smiled fearlessly at the idea.

"Sanlow is our next destination. We don't want another eater outbreak. But before that, clean this place."

" " "Yes, boss. " " "

***