The earthy scent of dust and dirt permeated the air. Cobwebs draped across almost the entire ceiling, and an enormous chandelier dangled above the stairs of the abandoned mansion. Moonlight barely illuminated the interior through the windows.

A man wearing a long black coat entered the mansion. He removed it, revealing a long-sleeved white undershirt and a tactical vest designed to be light and comfortable, offering protection against most firearms less powerful than rifles.

Mitchell, the man, knew he couldn't rely entirely on the vest for protection, but it was better than nothing. At least it wouldn't hinder him when facing agile and fast enemies: demons or phantasms that possessed creatures or people.

Tonight, however, Mitchell’s enemy was not the usual ghouls, undead, or possessed humans. He was hunting a beast—a wild Tongan bear, the largest of its kind. The bear had several wounds on its head and a scar running across its face, including one eye.

Throwing his flash bomb before the beast, Mitchell Closed his eyes as he ducked for cover. He could only hear the loud, disorienting bang from the bomb. Meanwhile, the beast groaned in pain because of the flash.

“Not enough, eh!” Mitchell smiled in irony, seeing no weakness in his target.

Approaching the distressed beast was not a good idea. Mitchell saw that there was no opening or weakness in it. While the beast was blinded, he decided to rush to the second floor of the mansion using the stairs.

Hearing Mitchell’s footsteps, the beast followed him and used its huge paws to destroy the wooden stairs. Mitchell sighed in relief as he barely made it to the top. He looked at his gun, a 9 mm caliber pistol. Seeing his low ammunition and the Bear’s capability of shrugging the bullets, he gave up the idea of using it. Aside from the flash bomb that was used up, he only had a grenade left.

“No good…” Mitchell commented, seeing how desperate the situation was.

Aside from the weapons he had earlier, Mitchell had a retractable staff. It’s useless against the beast, and using it would be suicide. The Tongan bear with its tough hide and thick skull was capable of deflecting rifle rounds.

While assessing the situation, Mitchell wondered how phantasms or demons were able to possess such creatures and amplify them with such unholy powers. Not only was the possessed Tongan bear agile, but it was also five times stronger than normal.

How the beast could not reach Mitchell from the balcony on the second floor, nor Mitchell could finish his task. He gave up and lazily sat down on the dusty carpet. He sneezed upon breathing the dust. Seeing that the dust dirtied his clothes, he immediately dusted off his sleeves and stood up.

“I should not wear white during missions next time!” He complained.

From Mitchell’s observations earlier, he noticed that the beast had not only good reflexes but also a faster rate of regeneration. Even with the grenade in his hand, he could not hope to defeat nor deal damage to it. He thought of killing the beast instead, thinking that it may release the phantasm.

Accidentally kicking a small rock and seeing the Tongan bear’s reaction. He noticed that it was also sensitive to sound. The beast mindlessly banged its body on the stone wall below Mitchell. It roared in response and scratched its claws as it desperately tried to climb. However, the beast gave up and went to a distance, where it could see Mitchell from the balcony.

“I should have carried more firepower with me.” Mitchell again complained, looked at the growling beast and commented, “I am not a beast hunter. Why did this assignment fall to me?”

Mitchell gathered rocks from the floor and decided to give up his mission. He believed that he was risking his life for nothing. It was a foolish errand, and the enemy was impossibly strong enough to defeat. The last thing that was on his mind was to die meaninglessly.

The stones that were thrown by Mitchell landed on the ground before the beast. Mitchell observed the beasts’ reaction. As the third stone nearly hit the snout of the beast. It reacted with its claws scratching on the ground. When the fourth stone made it into its head, the beast was infuriated. It charged again towards a weak portion of the wall that supported the balcony.

The shock caused the balcony to shake and caused some of its parts to collapse. The dust plume resulting from the collapse earlier made visibility bad. Mitchell was unable to see the beast and where it was. He decided to exit from the balcony of the second floor and approach the door. It had an old rusty knob that broke when Mitchell tried to turn it.

“What a luck!” Mitchell frustratingly shouted.

The beast growled downstairs and struggled to climb. Due to its weight and the height of the balcony, the beast couldn’t find a way. Again and again, it battered itself against the wall, but when it had enough; the beast rested and sat on the floor while looking at Mitchell from the balcony.

Looking at the window beside him, Mitchell realized that escaping may be the best option for surviving the night. He could get another contract from a reasonable client, the less he could care about the current job. The obscure agreement about the contract that he signed was suspicious enough. Taking care of a possessed beast is another.

Trying to jump outside of the window, the locked door with the broken knob suddenly opened. Someone from the inside kicked the door. As the dust cleared, Rolly Floyd emerged. One of Mitchell’s hunter friends, who was not included in the contract, kicked the door.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Rolly was a huge man in his 30s, he had a dark complexion and muscular build. He was carrying a powerful grenade launcher and was slinging his favorite weapon, the Grinder SMG-02. It was a fast-firing and well-balanced sub-machine gun. Seeing him in his khaki military uniform, Mitchell knew that things were getting serious.

Seeing at his counterpart, Rolly looked at Mitchell who was about to jump to the window. He immediately grabbed Mitchell by his collar and dropped him to the floor.

“Are you nuts? You would not survive the fall!” Rolly reprimanded Mitchell and continued, “You want to become a vegetable just because you want to run away from your contract?”

“I don’t care, man. Beast hunting is not my thing!” Mitchell replied.

“Then you should have read your contracts properly!” Rolly replied and sighed about his friend’s recklessness.

“Are you going to help me, or not?” Mitchell asked Rolly who was standing before him.

“Of course!” Rolly replied and grabbed Mitchell’s arm to help him stand up and then said, “More reinforcements will come!”

Two hunters suddenly appeared. One was a marksman, and the other was an expert in hunting beasts. Mitchell looked troubled upon seeing the others. With many hunters, he’ll get a few shares in the reward that he expected.

“Wait, wait! You are inviting more? How about the compensation!?” Mitchell complained to Rolly.

“You were about to abandon the mission earlier. Also, the council found the contract malicious. The contractor didn’t even deposit the partial, so the contract you signed was void!”

“WHAT!!?” Mitchell shouted with disappointment, hearing what Rolly said.

“We will deal with that matter later. What’s important is we deal with that beast!” Rolly said and signaled the two hunters.

One of Rolly’s men, Eckart “Sharp eye” Manson, added, “We will include beast hunting in your skills, at least on your resume.”

“Why you!?” Mitchell, angered by what he heard, threw a fit on the man.

Eckart ignored Mitchell’s demeanor and focused his green eyes on the surroundings. His gray cloak, elegant suit, and white shoes identified his personality, which Mitchell found unnecessary and pompous. Eckart then looked from the balcony and saw the Tongan bear which was looking up to them.

“Mitchell must have made this beast angry that it wouldn’t leave him alone!” Eckart commented, based on his observations.

The Tongan bear angrily grinned, seeing Eckart from below, and started to growl. Pointing at the beast, Eckart tried to scare it by shooting a few rounds. However, the missed shots and the sound of gunfire did not make the beast flinch.

“What are we dealing with here?” The beast hunter, clothed in thick fur, asked.

Upon checking the beast, the beast hunter flinched. Even a seasoned veteran like him giving off such a reaction made Rolly and the others worry.

“We are not dealing with something ordinary here! Even the best traps we could find won’t hold this one!” The beast hunter, Lewis Anderson said.

“I hear that this brat here is an exorcist, we are not dealing with an ordinary possessed beast here. We must devise a plan that would put the beast in place and the exorcist would do his job!” Eckart suggested to Rolly while referring to Mitchell.

Mitchell shook his head and replied, “No, no, no! I decided to quit this contract because I’m not skilled at beast hunting, and someone deceived me into taking this mission. Best we leave now!”

“No, that would not be a good idea!” Lewis replied and continued, “That beast can hunt you anywhere, track you whenever place you want to go. It would not give up until it will have your flesh. It’s better to exorcise it now!”

“Again, not my specialty! I don’t exorcise beasts,” Mitchell objected.

“Rolly, do something about your subordinate! If we kill the beast now, the phantasm will hold its grudge and track us. Finding another exorcist takes time because only a few took such a profession. You understand this well!” Eckart looked at Rolly.

Rolly, who understands Mitchell’s personality, replies to Eckart, “No, we can’t force the guy. “

“You are hiding something from us, Rolly!?” Eckart asked him in suspicion and pointed his rifle at Mitchell.

“Is that a threat, weirdo?” Mitchell replied to Eckart’s actions.

“Something like that!” Eckart smirked and continued, “Help us exorcise the beast and we’re done here!”

“I may not want to fight beasts, but seeing you make me want to beat you up!” Mitchell replied defiantly.

“Stop it, both of you!” Rolly yelled at the two and stopped them. “The beast is gone! Stop fighting you two!”

All of a sudden, Lewis, with his instinct as a beast hunter, noticed something amiss. He unsheathes his machete and says, “This is no time to be fighting, guys!”

Rolly signaled the others and went inside the door where they came from. However, before they could enter, the roof collapsed covering it. Rolly looked at Mitchell, who was stiff defiantly sitting on the floor and yelled, “What are you doing!?” Mitchell replied and said, “It’s here!”

The Tongan bear suddenly leaped from the collapsed parts, taking advantage of the rubble, and leaped before Rolly and the others. Seeing this, Rolly fired one smoke grenade to cover Mitchell and disorient the bear. Eckart and Lewis made it to the beasts’ flanks and attacked it with their weapons. Lewis with his handgun while Eckart with his rifle.

The beast roared angrily and slammed its paws to the ground, creating a quake that disoriented Rolly and the others. It made a section of the roof of the mansion fall to the ground and created a dust plume.

All of a sudden, a bright flame suddenly engulfed the beast. It was warm and comforting, not hot or burning. Eckart and Lewis also felt the warm sensation that the flame radiated. He could hear someone chanting somewhere, but the source was faint.

Rolly, seeing the scene, smiled and calmed down, “Silly Mitch!”

Eckart and Lewis retreated to see the scene. They realized that an exorcism had been performed when they noticed the fluctuating aura of the beast. The loud groan of the beast was calmed down, but Lewis and Eckart could not see due to the smoke and dust obstructing their view.

As the dust cleared, the Tongan Bear, once a possessed beast, was unconscious. Mitchell was in front of the beast, still engulfed with the bright orange flame. Slowly it died out and the warmth it radiated faded. Eckart, seeing this, could not believe his eyes, seeing a rare exorcist with the power of the pure element.

“The pure flame, this is a rare incidence!” Eckart commented and looked at Rolly.

“I would keep my mouth shut if I were you!” Rolly warned Eckart.

“Of course!” Eckart smiled and replied, “I will keep my mouth shut, but I cannot guarantee others will!”

“What do you mean by that?” Rolly asked.

Eckart looked at Lewis and said, “Just be silent about what you have seen here!”

Lewis nodded in reply and left before Eckart. Eckart then shifted his views to Mitchell was still on the floor kneeling. As the pure flame faded from his body, with his clothes intact and unconsumed by the flame, he collapsed to the ground and slept.

“I’ll take care of him!” Rolly said and approached Mitchell.

“We will take fifty percent of the rewards. That’s the price for our silence!” Eckart replied.

Rolly tried to protest, but Eckart did not respond. “Geez, having you around can be a blessing and trouble.” Rolly commented on Mitchell and continued, “The time has not yet come, soon… everyone will know at the right time!”