Houses crackled as they were engulfed in a raging inferno. The stench of charred wood filled the air and pools of blood reflected embers drifting into the smokey sky. Screams erupted from the burning houses followed by animalistic grunts and roars.

"...run!" a familiar voice cried out.

Mere seconds passed until the screaming ceased before two glowing crimson eyes shone from a house's dark interior, the raging flames obstructing the body the eyes belonged to.

"Run, Fuyumi!"

Blood began to ooze from the doorway before it morphed into tendrils that stretched from the house.

"Fuyumi!"

Rows of dagger-like teeth forming an impossibly wide grin became visible as the creature slowly emerged from the house.

"Fuyumi!"

"...Fuyumi?"

Without warning, Fuyumi jolted awake, gasping for fresh air, causing Aoi to reflexively retract the hand she supposedly used to try and wake her up. Aoi took a few steps back as Fuyumi gripped her chest to settle her raging heart. She frantically scanned her surroundings to find that she was still in the inn.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you." she bowed apologetically.

Fuyumi wiped the sweat from her forehead. It was only when her heart rate stabilized and her breathing slowed that she recalled why she was there in the first place. She glanced out the window to see sunlight filtering through the blinds.

"It's just the others were getting ready to leave."

"Right."

Aoi gave a hesitant nod. She didn't expect such a reaction from her. She gathered the rest of her things as Fuyumi continued to sit idly on her bed appearing to be deep in thought. She ran a hand through her hair, a concerned look forming on Aoi's face.

"Excuse me for asking but did you perhaps sleep okay?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me," she replied, peeling the covers off and sliding to the edge of the bed.

Once the girls packed their belongings they headed to the lobby where they met with the rest of their party.

Once they got to the cafeteria, they found all the guests pausing what they were initially doing, as if frozen in time. All of them were staring at the table of rangers—more specifically, Kateshi and his mountain of empty plates on his side of the table—with baffled expressions.

Kateshi had just wolfed down his nth plate of food, making Yakeru and Kenji flush with embarrassment. However, Kazeki seemed relatively unfazed by his party member's animalistic behavior. He has spent a considerable amount of time with Kateshi after all so he must've built up a tolerance to this sort of thing.

Fuyumi stood silently across the cafeteria with an unamused expression plastered on her face as the giant finished gobbling up a creamed bagel in an impressive two bites.

"I think you've had enough, you big ape." Kazeki facepalmed.

Kateshi erupted into a loud burp that sounded more like a roar before responding.

"The cuisines here are simply too exquisite to let go to waste!"

"If they're really that exquisite, I'm sure they won't go to waste." Yakeru chimed in with an awkward smile.

Aoi approached the boys while Fuyumi hesitated, too afraid to be associated with the brute. She was certain that letting an A-rank tag along wouldn't be a big issue but she was slowly beginning to regret her decision. How could the strongest ranger in their team turn out to be the most obnoxious?

"Good morning, everyone," Aoi beamed.

"Hey, g'morning. I was wondering when you two would get here."

Aoi gave Kazeki a slight bow.

"Apologies. I didn't want to leave Fuyumi behind."

"No need to apologize," Kazeki reassured. "Let's eat somethin' before we head out."

Fuyumi contemplated walking out of the inn's exit for a moment. Kateshi was drawing a lot of attention to himself. Yet Kazeki nor Aoi didn't seem to mind since Kazeki resumed gnawing on his apple and Aoi nonchalantly made her way to the food section to pick out her breakfast. Perhaps because they were used to it by now, but she wondered how much time they'd spent together to build up that kind of resilience. Yakeru and Kenji were the only ones fidgeting uncomfortably at the attention their table was receiving.

"Are you going to eat, Fuyumi?" Kenji asked after finishing his scrambled eggs.

With a heavy sigh, she reluctantly made her way to the counter across the cafeteria, avoiding eye contact with her party. It'd be foolish to go into battle on an empty stomach. After grabbing an apple from one of the many fruit baskets, she headed straight for the door.

"Not gonna have breakfast with us?" Kazeki asked.

"I'll just meet you outside."

She didn't look back as she walked through the door and disappeared around the corner. Yakeru and Kenji inwardly shook their heads as they expected this outcome.

Once outside, she settled down on a bench carved out of what used to be a small boulder across the street. She watched the pedestrians walk by as she ate her apple. Minutes went by until she was left with the core. Standing up she walked over to a nearby garbage bin but noticed something along the way.

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Approaching her direction were four armed men. Their flashy armor seemed to catch the attention of other villagers as well. Out of all the village guards she's seen she's never encountered one armed with anything other than a spear or a longsword. Although two of them had sheathed swords the other two had hatchets and a staff. Their matching color schemes and insignias told her they were from the same clan.

'More rangers?'

As the rangers marched forward, the supposed leader of the party finally locked eyes with Fuyumi. He waved and, to her dismay, approached her. She narrowed her eyes expectantly as his group walked toward her.

"Not many guards that use daggers. You out on a mission too?" the leader asked with a smile.

"Why's that any of your business?"

His eyebrows flicked up in surprise for a moment. Like most, he wasn't expecting such a prickly response. Two of his team members tilted their heads while the other narrowed his eyes. It didn't take the leader long to collect himself, however.

"Just wondering is all."

The door to the inn swung open and out marched Kateshi followed by the others. If it weren't for the other rangers sporting flashy armor they might've missed Fuyumi. If Yakeru and Kenji didn't know any better they'd think she was making small talk with a few colleagues. The flashy rangers looked over to see the hulking brute trudge over to them causing one of them to gulp down saliva.

"Ah, there you are, Fuyumi!" he said before looking at the four rangers with a wide grin. "Greetings!"

They were taken aback by his loud yet friendly personality, despite his intimidating build.

"Uh, yeah, hi."

Fuyumi inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. Despite his obnoxious aura, she deduced it was good for one thing and one thing only: taking the spotlight off of her.

"Hey," Kazeki greeted. "Just passing by?"

"Yeah. We got a mission to exterminate a nest on the south side of this mountain."

"Really? We're actually doing a dungeon raid at the southern base of this mountain." Yakeru replied.

Fuyumi knew where this was going. If she didn't act soon, there'd be another team that would slow her down.

"Why don't we-"

Before Yakeru could finish, she grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him away.

"We're leaving."

This ultimately forced Kenji to follow suit. Kazeki and his group looked back and forth between the rangers and Fuyumi who was rapidly gaining distance.

"I guess that's our cue."

Kazeki and Kateshi waved to them while Aoi gave them a slight bow before leaving.

"You could've at least said 'bye' to them." Kazeki teased after catching up.

She didn't respond to his playful jab.

"She's always like this. You'll get used to it." Kenji responded for her.

Kazeki glanced back at the other rangers to find them still standing there. Perhaps they were stunned that Fuyumi was willing to walk off. Or, since they were all going in the same direction, it'd be awkward to follow close behind without interacting with them.

Since the path to the base of the mountain had many twists and turns, it took hours to reach ground level. Once they finally set foot on relatively leveled ground, they were greeted with jungle scenery. Vines tangled in the branches above drooped down and moss covered the trees. Chirps reverberated throughout the green thicket as the rangers stepped over large roots that bulged out of the soil. The scene resembled a primordial landscape, untouched by man.

Small luminescent plants grew on the exposed tree roots, leaving a subtle blue hue on the surrounding area.

"Wow, look at all these glitter bulb flowers! I bet this place would look beautiful at night." Aoi thought, crouching to get a better look at the exotic plants.

"Yeah, but give them an extra 50 years or so and these things will turn into philorium sacks."

Aoi's expression fell slightly to Kazeki's words. Yakeru and Kenji looked at him with tilted heads.

"Philorium sacks?" Kenji echoed.

"They're glitter bulbs that start producing philorium inside," Kazeki explained. "It's a chemical that ignites when exposed to oxygen."

Their eyes widened in response before snapping their gazes back and forth to the dozens of glitter bulbs that surrounded them.

"Oh, no need to worry. They're harmless as they are now." Aoi reassured.

Indeed, they had nothing to fear but something about walking through a future minefield was crazy to think about. Despite being in earshot, Fuyumi seemed indifferent to this information as she pressed forward.

Sunlight struggled to pierce through the thick leaves above. Exotic birds, once perched on a root, dispersed once the rangers walked too close. Fuyumi glanced down at the mission sheet periodically as they continued their trek.

"This place is supposed to be near the mountain, right?" Kazeki asked.

"Yeah," Fuyumi replied curtly.

"My only hope is that our foes will put up a good fight!"

"You always wanna fight somethin'."

Aoi giggled in response to Kateshi's comment. Kobolds were D-tier monsters while he was an A-rank ranger. If anything, he'd wipe the floor with them.

"Perhaps you shouldn't get your hopes up. These will be D-tier monsters after all."

Kateshi looked at her as if trying to process what she'd said, a big smile playing on his lips after.

"Then I shall have the boss fulfill my desire!"

"The boss would be C-tier at most," Yakeru explained, brushing a loose vine out of his path. "Chances are, it still wouldn't even be a fight for you."

This didn't seem to concern him. Instead, his wide grin persisted as they continued forward. As they maneuvered through the lush jungle, Yakeru noticed that Fuyumi had stopped. He came to a halt behind her and found her staring at something in the distance. A figure obscured by plants lay on the ground several feet in front of them.

"Is something wrong?"

As usual, he didn't get a response. Instead, she walked forward to get a better look. Yakeru looked back at the others who shared a similar quizzical look as he did before he cautiously approached her again. As he did, the figure slowly took on a humanoid shape...but its scales, pointed teeth, and tail made it clear this thing was anything but human.

"A kobold..." Yakeru muttered.

A gaping hole in its chest cavity exposed its shattered ribs as green fluids oozed out. Its scales were cracked and torn, the fleshy body underneath looking shriveled almost like a deflated balloon. There was a large bite mark on its neck as well.

A primitive spear was lying at the monster's side. According to his sister's stories, kobolds weren't the brightest creatures but they were intelligent enough to use weapons.

But this wasn't the only deceased kobold they'd stumbled across.

"There's another over there too." Kenji pointed at a kobold slouched against a tree with green blood spilling from where its head used to be.

"And another over there," Kazeki said.

A handful of kobolds would usually stand guard at their dungeon's entrance. So it was safe to assume that they weren't going to find many bodies outside. However...

"If these things couldn't protect the dungeon, there's a high likelihood there'll be casualties inside too." Kenji deduced.

A thought came to Yakeru's mind. Adrian had said in the past that some rangers would go out of their way to reap rewards from other rangers' missions.

"You think other rangers came by and raided the dungeon already?" Yakeru asked Kenji.

"It's unlikely. Some of these kobolds have bite marks."

Aoi scanned the area, trying to absorb this information before her eyes landed on Fuyumi. Surprisingly, she didn't seem too concerned about the corpses surrounding her but rather she was focused on another detail the others seemed to miss.

"Fuyumi?" Aoi asked.

Fuyumi stared at a gash in the side of a tree. Within the gash was a red liquid. Sliding her finger along the substance, she could easily tell what it was.

"Blood."

Aoi tilted her head in confusion as this only formed more questions than answers. Kobolds' blood was green in color yet there was red blood at the scene as well. No other deceased life form was there other than the kobolds. Not only that, the red blood seemed to only appear in gashes in the environment, almost as if someone used their body as a weapon, punching holes and decapitating these kobolds, devastating their surroundings while injuring themselves. But if that were the case, wouldn't there be a trail of blood left behind by their self-destructive actions?

Not only that, there were several paw tracks in the soil as well. Fuyumi's fists turned white as she clenched them in realization.

"Bloodhounds were here."