I wasn’t actually sure if we had learned a lesson from fighting against the magic demon. It threw some cold water on the assumption that Frank was testing us, or training ways in which we could improve. In the end, it had been the sorcerer’s own pride and folly that had allowed us to wipe him from the planes. Ego was a double-edged sword, and I was a sloppy duelist.
Three Hunters in the same place sounded dangerous. Exciting, even.
“Do we know their levels or capabilities?”
Rodney shook his head. “Just number and location was all Passage was able to get without being caught.”
Reasonable. Despite never having seen or spoken to the demon that assisted the Blank, he was exceedingly helpful. A third demon in our odd family that I shouldn’t discount. Like a distant cousin or something.
I shook those thoughts away. “Alright. I guess we just pop in and play this by ear then? How bad could it be?”
Wight rolled his eyes at me, but didn’t disagree.
“You ever…” Rodney tilted his head as he looked at his screen. “You ever worry about the morality of this? Killing Hunters, I mean.”
I shrugged in response. “I’m part demon, part divine now, right? Neither side of me has any issue with what we’re going to do. They could be bad eggs like the betrayers.”
“Or three newbies trying to get by.”
My hand rubbed at the side of my gun holster. He could be right, of course. That would be a nice test - see how I reacted to stumbling upon fledgling Hunters grouped up to avoid getting pulped by the constant danger in the Lowers. It would be underwhelming when I put a Cannon through them all, though.
For as much as I didn’t want to be a cold-blooded murder when it came to my own kin, Partridge was right about one thing. The Hells would fuck you, sooner or later. Every Hunter was a walking corpse once the contract was signed. Some lasted longer than others, death allowing them some rest and a chance of sanity before it was stripped away. Few flourished, and none remained unchanged.
I was an outlier in a way, because I was the supposed chosen one. Not that it meant I was altogether fine or sane. I just compartmentalized things in a way that kept me functional. In a way that allowed me to kill all demons.
[Eric. Now you are a Demon Hunter Hunter.]
A grin crossed my mouth as my thoughts vanished away, and I raised an eyebrow toward my patron. “Ah, but aren’t you a Demon Hunter Demon?”
He furrowed his brow and cupped his beak in thought.
[So now I am a Demon Hunter Hunter Demon?]
“Right.” I nodded slowly. “Now imagine you were working for Pearl, against other patrons.” He regarded me blankly as he tried to arrange the words.
[A Demon Demon Hunter Hunting Demon Hunter Hunter Demon?]
Rodney sighed. “Would you two fuck off already? Portal is about to spool up.”
I gave Wight a wink and turned toward the portal device. Weapons at the ready, and a job that needed to be done. Part of me hoped that they had Domains, or were high enough level to make this a challenge. While I shouldn’t court death, putting a single shot through them all and going home would be a wet blanket on my otherwise perfect birthday celebrations.
If you ignored the damage sustained and odd magic stuff. I looked down at my shredded leg to see the wound. Mostly healed by now, but there was still a lingering purple hue to that area. My demonic regeneration clearly needed a bit more time to deal with whatever that was. I caught Wight looking down at it, too.
“It’s not like… an infection or something that’s going to mutate or kill me, right?”
[Unlikely, Eric.]
I would have preferred a ‘no’, but I took what I was given.
“Location is… well, they’re doing something with pigmen.” Rodney looked up and shrugged. “Always back to the pigs, huh?”
“Hell does love a cliche,” I said with a grimace. They couldn’t be too high level if they were up against pigmen, but I had been surprised by the gross demons before. To send three was a recipe for disaster at best. Hunters did not work well together.
I was about to prove that point.
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The portal illuminated in a red light, bathing us in the warm glow of Hell. Wight put his hand on my arm, his intention to step through at the same time as me. It saved a few seconds, so why not?
Together, we stepped through the portal and out into the familiar amber-lit rock scenery of the Lowers.
Immediately, I searched for energy and used
//Visual confirmed.
“I have cut any other connections.” In truth, I didn’t even take the time to try to spot if the Org had an eye on the trio. There was a risk I’d be spotted as soon as I arrived, and taking the time to feel around would put us at risk.
//Audio confirmed. Targets are two o’clock current orientation.
We really needed to get a compass. With a raised eyebrow, I took in our surroundings as Wight pumped his shotgun. Just outside of a pigmen town, it looked like. Not quite as built up as the city, but larger than their usual small hovels. Already the familiar smells of their filth wafted down through an unseen breeze to our location amongst some upturned rocks.
Interestingly enough, there were no sounds of combat.
They had been in the midst of whatever mission for at least fifteen minutes, by my approximation. Can’t be too low level, then. Otherwise, they’d already be melting from the constant heat and corruption of the Hells. There wasn’t enough smoldering debris to signal they had already killed off the pigmen, either.
“What do you reckon, Wight?”
[I believe we should not underestimate our opponents. Not only will they put up a good fight, but we are likely to get in the middle of our targets and the pigmen.]
Very astute of him. That sounded like what I would have said. It was easy to judge a Hunter by their weakness - they were human still, after all. A shot to the head or even enough physical trauma to the rest of them, and they’d die pretty easily. We were glass cannons in a way. With their abilities unknown to us, we could easily fall into a trap or be disarmed or neutralized in some interesting way.
Not overpowered though, I was sure of that. Despite the utility abilities taken as patron boons, our attacks had grown in power to an unexpected degree thanks to my awakened fate laboring me with so many extra strengths. Now that Wight was a separate fighter of his own, we had doubled in effectiveness, if not more. A danger beyond our paltry level.
Revolver spinning into my hand, we made for the outskirts of the ramshackle town. At first I had considered the viability of just lobbing Mortars throughout the buildings from afar - but they had teleports back home as well. Or worse, they had come in from the Org. Last thing we needed was for someone to run away and tell on us. Too much at risk.
We’d have to approach the quiet way. Hope they didn’t have any manner of tracking… hmm. I hadn’t considered that - if any of them had a Blank on watch, then I’d have just snipped away their connection. That might send them into a panic, or put them on higher alert.
This was getting the gears turning, more than an evasive sex magician. I cursed myself internally for that sentence. As we reached the back of the first hastily-built house, I crouched down and sighed. If only we had a sniping ability like Gunther.
We edged along until we reached the corner to get a better look at the town proper. A street ran between the two rows of buildings, a dirtied thing that was just a couple of moisture levels away from being a river of sludge. At present, it was a thick layer of shit and dirt. I could see figures moving in the buildings opposite, their darker silhouettes in the gloom of the interior shifting back and forth.
//Picking up… thirty pigmen in current range. Roughly four per house, four out on the main road.
I nodded. Wouldn’t be a terrible place to blow off some steam, all things told. I still had a sore spot from having to run from the possessed blue-pigmen when trying to rescue Max. That was already atop the large amount of disdain I had for these demons already.
Wight followed on behind me as we passed an alley, sticking to the backs of the outer buildings still. Didn’t want to get caught up in a firefight before meeting our targets. Crossing three off the list in one go would be great, and any that escaped would be a massive thorn in my side. Very difficult to catch them again, especially if they caught sight of me.
Of course, we did have two options for restricting their ability to run. Destroying their return artefact was the first. Difficult if you didn’t know what it was or where it was hidden. The second was Wight’s Domain. He could only use it once a day… and we didn’t often employ it due to how much it drained both of us, but it was a failsafe. A good backup plan if everything else fell through.
‘We can use Domain if need be?’ Best to make sure we were on the same page.
[Correct. Unless they have something that combats it.]
Knowledge was power, and going against an unknown Hunter was asking to learn a lesson the hard way. Then again, most of my lessons were that way. Not that you could really teach much to the man who had survived being in Hell without a return artefact twice. Maybe the third time they could keep me.
We paused as the sound of movement and gruff voices came from the next alley.
//Hold. Two pigmen.
It sounded like a conversation that I wasn’t keen to really get my ears any closer to and find out what ailed them. Shooting them wouldn’t be advisable given the ruckus and collateral we’d cause.
I held up my index finger and thumb and pinched them together a couple of times. Our signal for requesting the distance between things.
//Twelve to fifteen feet.
Pretty close then. I raised an eyebrow to Wight, and he returned a nod. A risk to be taken, but they weren’t budging and we didn’t have many other options to proceed. Revolver holstered, I withdrew my knife. Behind me, my patron placed down his shotgun and took out his own dagger.
Jaw clenched, I moved as close to the edge of the wall as I thought safe. Gave the hand signal for a recon to make sure no other eyes were waiting in the wings to jump in and ruin our parade.
//Hold… area clear.
That was all I needed to hear.
My feet dug into the dried stone, and I stepped out into a quick sprint aided by demonic energy. Wight just behind, the demons having a terse conversation barely had time to turn toward us before we were both upon them.
Our blades went straight for their throats. No breath, no voice, and their demonic blood pulsing down their bloated forms. Panic took them before any more sensible option had them moving, and almost in concert, they slunk down to the ground against the buildings on either side.
We moved back away. Shadows. Silent killers without hesitation or mercy.
Something for even the worst demons to fear.