The sun slowly moved towards the horizon and the demons weren't anywhere to be seen. Kumo and the clan hid in the trees, keeping an eye on the human settlement at the bottom of the mountain.

They waited some time after night fell and once they were fully cloaked in the darkness of night, they made their move. The other Hunters used [Stealth] or [Skulk] to approach the walls of the settlement, but Kumo used [Shadow Walk] which made her practically invisible.

Silently, Kumo leapt, catching one paw on the wall and pulled herself up just enough to peer over. Only two guards walked the walls, but they'd have to be quick. or they'd have to fight the entire town. A second later, Sanya had joined her, taking in the two guards. Kumo pointed to Sanya and then to the right guard. She nodded.

Like it was choreographed, they both hopped onto the wall and sprinted as quietly as they could to their targets. These humans wore simple leather jerkins and had bows strapped to their backs. Kumo's target must have sensed something was wrong because he started to turn around.

But it was too late.

Kumo snatched his head into her claws, one pressed tightly against his mouth and the other slashed across his throat. The human died with the barest whimper that was stifled in her paw. She laid him gently on the wall.

A glance to the other side showed that Sanya had easily done the same. Kumo looked down from the wall into the quiet village below. Flickering candlelight glowed from a few windows, but most were shrouded in darkness. There were well over a hundred houses in this small village, but as long as it didn't become a fight, that just meant more Soul Orbs.

Sanya gestured to the Hunters down below and one by one they ascended the wall and then silently dropped into the village below. It would be a massacre.

Just like the demons almost massacred us.

Kumo squeezed her fist hard to stop the shaking in her paw. She wouldn't let thoughts like that hold purchase. The attack below was the solution.

Kumo joined the throng of otters sneaking between houses. She moved towards one of the houses that was lit as did Sanya and a few other carefully selected Hunters.

All of those set on the awake humans waited for the others to do their grim work. Around her she could hear the barest hint of doors opening and the smallest gurgle of humans drowning on their own blood that carried on the breeze. With the majority of the attacks already underway, Kumo gently twisted the knob that led to the house before her.

Her target was the only two story house in the village so she assumed someone important lived here. Someone with enough work that they needed candles to continue working even at night.

As the door swung open, the first room held a large rug and a few chairs that looked like they were for entertaining guests. One opening looked like it led off to a kitchen, but another door lay ajar and the candlelight flickered out of it.

Kumo crept forward, the rug helped muffle her footsteps even further. She peeked inside of the room and a man with red hair and beard sat at the desk, one hand clenched in his hair.

Irritably, he snatched a piece of parchment from his desk and unstoppered an ink well so violently that he was forced to clean up a few drops before a quill finally appeared in his hand. He wrote furiously on the parchment as he went about his business.

Despite the anger not being like her, the man reminded her of Tiria. There was a weariness to him that shouted of being constantly overworked. That exhaustion Tiria showed as she sat at her desk and attempting to organize the clan was understood much better now. Food, new monsters, battles ahead - it seemed like all of those concerns were now on her plate.

This man must be the leader. Only a leader like Tiria would have so many worries that required action so late at night.

As she studied him, her paw leaned a bit too far forward and the floorboard beneath her creaked. The man's head whipped around even as she pulled back out of sight.

Short demanding words spewed from his mouth, but Kumo couldn't understand the human tongue. Either way, she'd been caught out. Hopefully, the clan had taken out most of the rest of the humans already.

Activating [Quick Steps], Kumo rammed into the door with her shoulder and the sound it made slamming into the wall broke the silence of the night. While hidden from her eyes, The red-haired leader had pulled a knife from somewhere and he stood in a combat pose ready to receive her.

Hatred drilled into her from his eyes. She'd had to count the missing from her clan just that day due to her weakness so she understood the hatred that he laid on her.

It didn't matter. If she had to choose between another's clan and her own, she'd choose her own every time.

As she ran forward, Kumo pulled two maces out of her [Expanded Pocket]. She swung both maces low, seeking to break the human's knees, but he dodged by leaping directly for her. Sloppy. Her very first attack had put her so out of position.

His knife plunged down towards her shoulder, but Kumo ducked turning off [Quick Steps] and pushing to activate [Commander] the second that the human was airborne. His knife bit into her all white summon and in a burst of Aether, it disappeared. Before it could completely vanish, it rolled backwards just as Kumo rolled forwards.

She immediately shot back up with her maces at the ready to continue the fight, but the leader had run outside instead. He started shouting as loud as he could into the night, but his yells died on his lips.

Kumo stepped outside and it became obvious why he'd stopped. Maybe only two other fights were still going on, but many of her clan simply watched them, their claw work in the night already finished.

His shouts only reached those already fighting for their lives or the corpses of his friends and family. Tears started to stream down his face as he sprinted towards where one his guards still miraculously fought against Sanya.

There would be no salvation for any of them.

Kumo shoulder-checked him and the leader went sprawling across the little cobblestone road that ran from their gate towards the center of town. He pulled himself slowly from the ground. He spat vile words that she didn't know, but she understood. Tears, helplessness, hatred. These were universal.

He wasn't weak - not in his heart at least. He didn't freeze knowing that even if he killed every otter here by himself that he'd already lost. Everyone important to him was already dead. He resolved himself to die fighting and he stood to receive her charge.

His limbs had a bit of reach on her, but his knife lost out heavily in that regard to her maces. He dodged well as she wove a tapestry of attacks with her maces and [Phantom Strikes], but if he had any other active skills other than whatever helped him dodge, she saw no sign of it.

Kumo tweaked her [Fighting Style] redirecting the attacks of (Oppressive Downpour) from direct attacks to ones that blocked off movement. Her flurry of blows turned from an assault to a cage.

He lunged forward in a feint before trying to dive off to the side, but Kumo calmly took a step back and [Phantom Maces] closed the attempted hole in her cage. Again and again, he tried to break himself out, but every time steel or misty Aether slammed him back inside.

He didn't even realize that she was forcing him backwards until his foot hit the wall of the house behind. With the way back blocked, Kumo swung both maces with all her might - one high, one low, both horizontal.

It was impossible to dodge, but he tried anyways.

He kicked off of the wall and launched himself forward to get inside the range of her attacks just as he had inside, but Kumo was ready for the trick this time. A [Phantom Strike] appeared behind her mace directly in his path. It put a strain on her Domain, but was manageable.

The handle of the mace of Aether struck first, halting the man's attack, and the real maces struck after. Another handle crashed into his shoulder. He stumbled to the ground, but she wasn't finished. A step to the side gave her enough space to bring the ball of her mace down right on his calf.

A crack rang through the dead town before the leader screamed out, clutching at his broken leg. He couldn't have walked if he wanted to, but Kumo didn't relent and the leader never rose again.

Human defeated!

20 Soul Orbs received. Current Soul Orbs: 242

Both Kumo's fur and the ground was covered in spatters of blood. She returned her mace to her [Expanded Pocket] and looked down at the bloody remains of her foe. He'd been strong for his progression, but his progression was weak.

Kumo turned from the gore of her opponent to the Hunters that had gathered around her. Silence had returned to village.

"Dory," Kumo said, "go get the Inquisitors and bring them inside." The otter sprinted off while Kumo looked through the crowd until she spotted her second. "Sanya, did you see an Encampment Crystal anywhere?"

"I saw it!" Tomlen said, one of the youngest of the Hunters still with them.

"Lead me to it."

Kumo and the rest of the Hunters followed Tomlen as he led them to a building that looked like a small church. A steeple shot upward from one section of the church which seemed attached to a small one room house at the front. Unlike the rest of the buildings, this one's walls were made from stone bricks that matched the color of the mountain beyond.

They all stepped inside. What Kumo thought was a house was the main body of the church. Rows of pews filled it up and ran directly towards the section of the church that was the steeple. It was completely open and an Encampment Crystal hovered there.

Kumo stepped past the bloody remains of a priest who'd been there during their attack and placed one paw on Crystal.

This Encampment is currently unclaimed. Would you like to claim it? Caution: As you are not a Progenitor, most benefits of this Crystal will be locked.

Yes.

Residence Menu:

No Body or Heart Orbs.

Use Soul Orbs to increase Stats?

Kumo gave a grim but satisfied nod before turning to address the waiting otters. "We came here to kill demons and they were stronger than we expected, but with this, we can even the odds."

"What's the plan?," Sanya asked.

"It looks like kills are worth double during the Monster Surge so we need to find something to kill. I want scouts out before dawn getting a lay of the land. I want Inquisitors wearing human garb on the wall and I want someone to take stock of any food the humans had here."

"Are we staying here?" Someone else asked in the crowd.

"For now."

Kumo waited patiently as the otters looked around at the human buildings and the bloody form of its former priest laying near the pews.

"I wish we had some Cleaner Slugs." That was Floren's voice. She knew it.

"Get to work!" Kumo snapped as she walked back towards the leader's house to see what other information she could find.