User blog:TheKillerMojo/The Order of The Monster Hunters 3

The day was young as the sun’s light began to shower the land in brightness. There was no wind, no cloud in sight, and it began to become warm and humid as the time went on. The monster hunters were on the march despite their battle earlier; they were tired and hungry but many of them were accustomed to such things and simply trudged on and ignored their urges to sleep or eat.

Ivic and Boris were at the head of the army, along with some officers of high status. Jiro was sent scouting far ahead of them towards the monster village that they would soon occupy by Ivic.

The atmosphere around the army was quiet and tense, there was no other sound besides ones emanating from insects and nearby woodland creatures, hopefully. The forest they were travelling was huge and wide while teeming with wildlife; a perfect home for elves, arachnes, or even amazonians.

The men had a few run in with the local monsters but they were immediately scared off by the sheer force of numbers of the monster hunters. With every monster they scared off though the numbers of monsters hiding out in the trees increased. Every man in the army could feel eyes piercing through their souls as if they were being selected to be hunted by their predator waiting to strike.

Ivic and Boris could feel the stares as well but they knew well enough that no monster would ever try to attack a group as large as they were, not without numbers, recklessness, or supreme power.

Suddenly, Jiro had managed to appear out of nowhere as he stood right in front of Boris who fell from the sudden arrival of his close friend. Needless to say, he was very angry that Jiro had once again, made him surprised from his dastardly ninja tricks.

“I swear if I had my axe in my hand right now you would be flying in the sky like a harpy!”

“That is if you can manage to catch a ninja, you overgrown dwarf.”

“SAY WHAT?!”

Once more the two began to bicker with one another, with Boris doing most of the bickering and arguing while Jiro stood there with the usual impassive demeanor. Ivic suppressed the urge to sigh and instead decided to do something about the situation.

“Oi, can you two idiots stop this charade and get on with the bigger picture here?”

Boris glared at Jiro. “Try and tell that to this joker ninja here.”

Jiro remained still, showing no reaction to Boris’ outburst. “It is not my fault that you lack situational awareness, hairy oaf.”

“WHY I OUGHT TO-”

“ENOUGH!”

Ivic fumed with anger and the two men could feel it intensely. They remained quiet and Ivic let out a small sigh. “Right now, I don’t have enough time to settle your petty arguments for the both of you. Jiro, do you have any news on the village ahead?”

Jiro nodded. “There’s nothing significant ahead of us. The inhabitants of the village ahead seem relatively peaceful. I have seen only a few monsters capable of fighting us, besides the simple village guards stationed there.”

“Good, let us make haste and travel towards the village.” He turned to face his army behind him. “Men of the Order, moveout!”

With bellows of orders from their officers, the monster hunters moved on forward towards their first objective in their invasion.

The march through the woods was relatively easy, there were no attempts of an attack from local monsters and the men were grateful for such luck. The road was made of strong stone, and there was even a river running right next to it as they marched through the forest. The presence of the monsters seemed to have faded away, many of the soldiers guessed they wouldn’t be able to get a husband with a big army getting in the way.

An hour had passed while they trekked through the emerald forest, but Ivic had signalled the army to stop when he had spotted a sign with a name on it: it read Demonwood.

“Alright, the village should be up ahead. Jiro, I want you to take a small band of advance scouts and go ahead of the army to surround the village. I don’t want any monster or incubus trying to make a run for it when we arrive. However, do give them the usual message when you arrive, I want them to know that they have a choice in the matter.”

Jiro nodded. “It will be done.” He vanished, and now Ivic was left with just Boris and his remaining members of the monster hunters.

He turned to face his soldiers, looking at the discipline and pride in their eyes. “Men, we will arrive at our destination soon. Be prepared for combat as the locals won’t be happy seeing us. Nevertheless, it is your duty as a soldier of the Order to carry out the will of humanity!”

The thundering bellows of hundreds of soldiers rang across the forest landscape, Ivic winced a little for he had hoped that it did not alert the villagers. With the sounds dying down, Ivic and his army marched forward onto the path of war.

---

Jiro and his band of advance scouts ran fast through the woods in great strides. They all knew the mission and what was at stake, and they will ensure it will not fail. Suddenly, they stopped their movements as they spotted the village entrance. It was a large stone arch with a straw roof being supported by wooden planks and sticks that went over the road and stopped at the sides.

There were a few monsters guarding the arch structure, each of them looking both alluring and deadly. As usual the monsters were of a combative orientation, a lizardman here and there, a minotaur, and even an ogre.

Regardless, they quietly sneaked around the entrance and encompassed the village while staying hidden from the sights of the local villagers. The village itself was small, but nothing less than miniscule. Jiro could see that there were signs on certain buildings that indicated what they were; there was a shop, an inn, and even an apothecary. There were a few houses here and there, but there was also a saw mill right next to the river.

The villagers were of monsters of varying species and races, he could spot a few monster and human couples but the majority of the villagers were single as they had no male partners as they continued their daily routine undisturbed.

An advance scout rushed to the side of Jiro as he was still observing the village. “Sir, we are in place now. What shall we do now?”

“Remain as to where you all are, I will go out and give a message to the villagers. If anything happens, you all know what to do.”

“Yes, sir.”

The advance scout then swiftly left Jiro’s presence. Once he left, Jiro vanished and reappeared on the road, far enough from the gate as to not be seen by the guards.

He walked along the path and went towards the gate that was still being guarded by the monsters from earlier. As he approached the gate, the monsters took quick notice of Jiro and began to stare him down. The ogre and minotaur grin deviously as they could feel that he wasn’t claimed by any other monster girl. The other lizardmen were wary of the lone man but they were interested in him as he had a small sword in its sheath behind his back.

He stopped once he had reached the gate, but he was immediately approached by the minotaur and ogre. They were eyeing him like he was a meal ready to be eaten and he knew very well that they were thinking of him like that. Regardless, he remained impassive from the hungering looks and proceeded to complete his mission.

“I’m here to give a message to the people of this village.”

The minotaur step forward, towering over him while hefting her axe on her right shoulder. “Oh really? And what exactly is this message that you bring then?”

“It is that you must surrender your village and its resources to the Order.”

At that moment, the monsters went from lusty and intrigued, to indignant and angry. Jiro knew very well that this would be the reaction he would get but he still had to complete his task. He remained still, even as the minotaur grabbed him by his neck and hoisted him up to her face, showing her disdain for him.

“You think you can say that kind of crap and get away with it? You think this is a joke?”

“It is not a joke, I am merely giving you a message from the army that is heading this way. You have the option of either leaving the village peacefully or fighting against over hundreds of soldiers that will bring the wrath of the Order upon you.”

The minotaur smirked, chuckling even. “Well how about you go and tell your little human friends that we ain’t leaving this place. Not without a fight at least. But before you do go, I think I need to relieve some stress and I think you can help with that.”

Jiro shook his head, or at least what he could do with his neck being held by her strong grip. “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

Her grip tightened around his neck, but he did not wince from the pain that was coiling around his neck like a snake killing its prey. “And what makes you think you can stop me?”

He placed his hand on the handle of his sword. Before she could react, she saw the bright red of his glowing. She didn’t know why but she was shaking with fear as the man she held began to scare her more as every moment passed.

“This will.”

He slashed the demon silver blade across her neck. Instinctively, she had let go of Jiro and tried to stop what felt like her throat bleeding. Before she could realize her situation, Jiro had smashed the pommel of his sword down onto her head with brute force, sending her face slamming down onto the stone path.

Her fellow guards reacted with anger and began their charge at the lone assassin. With a single glare of his crimson eyes, he vanished from their sights; leaving them in shock and dear. They searched frantically to wherever he would appear, holding their weapons tightly, running their eyes everywhere, or a combination of both. However, they were soon incapacitated by a kunai that was aimed at the back of their necks.

Jiro soon reappeared, having nothing but sleeping bodies laying all around him. As the fight had finished, a scream pierced through the air. Jiro turned his attention to the source of the noise and found that it came from one of the monster villagers. She was pointing at him with an accusing finger and had a look of sheer terror on her face.

“K-K-Killer! A K-Killer is here!”

The villagers looked at Jiro, and then they looked at the bodies of their guards lying on the ground. Panic soon erupted within the once peaceful village, with most of the inhabitants fleeing for their lives while some stayed behind to protect the others as they tried to escape. There attempts to escape were thwarted by arrows just landing in front of them before they could leave the vicinity.

Emerging silently from the lines of trees were the advance scouts, their arrows ready to be released in one single moment. They began to surround the villagers, forcing them to close into a tight pack as if they were corralling them into a barn. The fear and confusion were present on the faces of the villagers as looked at their captors.

Children were quietly sobbing as their mothers and fathers try to comfort them during their darkest hour. The monster who were single simply huddled next to another, even hugging and holding each other. The sight of the villagers was a poor and uncomfortable sight, their sadness and tears all enclosed into one area. The men simply tried to ignore them, and occasionally, one of the scouts would glance back at the group, a feeling of guilt stinging at their hearts.

It wasn't long until Jiro had finally arrived and saw the pitiful sight of the remaining villagers. His eyes held no sign of emotion or feeling, much less any guilt from his actions.

He calmly walked to one of the scouts that were guarding the villagers. "Are all the villagers here?"

The scout nodded. "Yes sir, we haven't seen any villagers escape once we revealed ourselves to them. Although, there is the small possibility of a wandering villager in the woods. We can send a small team of scouts to make sure there aren't any."

"See to it that you do, also, grab a few scouts and have them tie up the guards to the trees. I do not want any problems occurring when the army arrives." The scout soon left his presence and Jiro then turned around to walk back to the village entrance to wait for the remaining forces to arrive.

Boris wasn't a patient man, of course when the time calls for waiting, he would abide and wait. However, if he waited too long and did nothing to quell the boredom that would built up in him, he would find things to do quench it, even if it was at the expense of others. The march he on was a cause of his boredom at the moment, with nothing to do or anything to fight, he settled on the one thing that would pass the time and make him feel not bored, singing.

Boris had a nasty reputation in the Order of Monster Hunters as being an awful singer. For him, he would say that he sung great ballads and epics of sheer amazement. For the ears of others, he would be practically yelling words with no sense of grace, just spit and absurd loud noise where one can't make out any words he sang out at all.

With that being said, Ivic and the unfortunate sods who stood close to Boris were being what they would call tortured by the sheer power that boomed out from his voice. He was so loud in fact that he practically scared away a'lot of the monsters who were preying on the men from the beginning of their march. The remaining men who could only hear the echoes of his voice gave a silent prayer to the gods for making them not go through such goddess forsaken pain.

'''"WITH NOTHING BUT MY BEARD AND AXE, I'LL BE MARCHING TO THE SOUNDS OF WAR

ALL I ASK IS TO HAVE A CHANCE TO FEAST IN THE HALLS OF WARRIORS,

AND MAKE MY ANCESTORS PROUD!

I'LL WIN EVERY FIGHT AND DRINK EVERY MAN DOWN UNDER THE TABLE AS I RAISE MY MUG UP HIGH!

NO MATTER THE CHALLENGE, I'LL HEED THE CALL, I'LL BECOME THE MAN THAT EVERY BARD WILL PRAISE IN THEIR SONGS!"

Boris did not stop his rambunctious chanting, despite the cries and desperate pleas for mercy from his fellow comrades in arms. Ivic was almost tempted to stab Boris until he finally saw Jiro standing right at the village entrance. He silently gave a small prayer of thanks to the gods and he proceeded to get back to the task at hand, but first he had to do something important at the moment.

He pulled out his blade and proceeded to knock the blunt end onto Boris' helmet, immediately stopping him from singing and instead shout in pain.

"AGH-WHAT DID YA DO THAT FOR?!"

"WE ARE HERE YOU IDIOT!" Ivic shouted as he pointed to the village.

"WE ARE?"

Boris looked to where Ivic pointed and realized that they indeed were at the village. "Oh we really are here. Well then, let's get moving on shall we? Glad that I sung so the time could pass, huh Ivic?"

If Boris could see the face of Ivic, it would be the face of a man who fell into complete shock from utter confusion or witnessing something of utter insanity. Ivic stood silent as Boris happily walked towards the village with him carrying his great axe. He soon recovered from his ordeal and mutter something under his breathe relating to the poor intelligence of barbarians.

Jiro was greeted warmly by both Ivic and Boris as the trio met again. Ivic's ears were still ringing a little bit with the earlier singing act of Bori but he managed to stay focus on the mission that they were currently on.

"So Jiro, how did the assignment go?" Ivic asked, looking at the sleeping monsters who were currently tied to trees with rope. "It seems that you had trouble with the locals here."

Jiro looked at the incapacitated monsters. "They were simply just in my way, if they haven't interfered, then maybe they wouldn't be in their predicament as they are now."

"Speaking of predicaments, I heard from the scouts that the villagers are still here correct?"

Jiro nodded. "Indeed, no one has reported any villagers escaping and we have already ran a full run over the area already to ensure no one had escaped."

Ivic gave a small pat on Jiro's shoulder. "Good job, i guess it's my turn to do my part now."

Boris looked dumbfounded at the two. "Uh, what am I gonna do then?"

Jiro looked over at Boris and pointed his thumb at the sleeping monster women. "You can help guard them and make sure that they don't go on a violent rampage when they wake up which I am sure that they will."

Boris shrugged. "Eh, might as well."

"Okay then, you two go ahead and do your own things, I'll go ahead and deal with the villagers."

The two then left, leaving only Ivic and his consciousness out in the entrance of the village. He looked around and saw the soldiers complete their own individual or assigned tasks. He even saw a few pitching up tents or making fires for dinner when the night comes. He let out a deep breath of air and walked towards where the villagers were held and hoped that he wouldn't fail with the negotiations.