Chapter 32: Blood-Stained Snow

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It happened out of nowhere. These people had no idea what would happen to their lives just a few minutes ago when a Dungeon Break opened right in front of their noses while they were enjoying lunch with their families.

What greeted them were not only incredibly harsh conditions in a frozen forest in the middle of nowhere, but hungry beasts chasing and stalking them down at every moment, and also something else.

Something that wasn't just beasts, something that was, in fact, humans.

They weren't there when this happened at first, but it seems they had infiltrated the dungeon right after it opened, as if they had predicted this happening, and immediately went to chase down and hunt the innocents inside.

Although their group was over forty people when they were trapped here at first, their numbers slowly began lowering more and more, from forty to thirty-nine, thirty-eight, thirty-seven... Those who were too slow to keep up with everyone else running together were caught by the wolves.

And that was not even the worst outcome. Shadows were lurking around them, glancing at their misfortune, smiling, and laughing. They resembled humans, perhaps, but they had long ago left their humanity and become something worse than monsters.

Ultimately, due to fear, the group began dispersing across the snowy forests, desperate. Two parents and their two daughters were running away as fast as they could, ultimately ending up separating from the main group in hopes the beasts would not target them in specific.

Of course, the beasts did so, ignoring them and chasing the bigger packs of humans. However, those behind the beasts, those who laughed and smiled at their misfortune, chased them happily.

"Aren't you tired?"

"You're running a bit too fast there, young lady."

"Oi, old man, are you letting your daughters run so fast in this temperature?"

The laughter and comments of creeps chasing them down and stalking them near every tree they went around were making the family go insane.

"Who are you? What do you want? Please call someone! Someone to help us!" The father of the family cried desperately.

FLASH! FLASH!

Suddenly, several shadows appeared, surrounding the entire family. The father was left shocked, looking around while pointing at these strangers with a knife, while the mother tightly held her two daughters in her arms, hugging them.

"What do you want?!" The father cried.

The figures coated in shadows slowly revealed themselves. They were just normal people. Although they were wearing armor and special magic-imbued equipment, hunters

"Y-You're hunters! A-Are you here to help us?" The mother cried.

"Help you? Oh, for sure." One of them laughed—a young and tall man with white hair and an ugly scar in the middle of his face; his red eyes were glowing menacingly. "I'll help you, alright."

"Keheheheh…" The other four hunters with him started to laugh.

The man approached the mother and her two daughters, and the father desperately jumped in front of them, swinging his knife around without any sort of technique.

"G-Get away from my wife and my daughters! O-Or else…!" The man muttered, even if his entire body was trembling in fear due to the enormously overwhelming auras these people were emanating. As a father, he simply couldn't stand still.

"Oi, old man, your hand's trembling a lot." Laughed the white-haired bastard. "How about I have it for you?"

FLASH!

"Huh?!"

Suddenly, a mysterious flash of light reached the man's hand. It was just a second, but his whole hand was sliced off his arm, and the white-haired hunter was holding his own arm while grabbing the knife and drinking the blood coming from the hand's arteries.

"AUGH…!" The father cried in agony, falling to his knees.

"Dear!" The mother cried, hugging her husband alongside her children. "What do you want? Please, we'll give you anything!"

"Anything you say?" The white-haired hunter giggled, pointing at the woman with his knife. "Well, we want your fresh souls and your flesh and blood, nothing much, heheh…"

"W-What…?!" The mother was left speechless.

"Come on, Ricky! I can't wait anymore! I am SO HUNGRY!" One of the other four hunters roared in hunger, and his entire body suddenly shapeshifted into a half-beast monster, covered in white fur and with the face of a bear, leaping over the family. "I'm calling dibs!"

"No! Mama!" The girls began to cry as the beast approached, seconds before tearing them all apart.

However…

SLAAASH!

A knife made of shadows sliced apart the half-beast human in mere seconds, cutting his entire body into pieces that fell over the snow, painting it red.

"Huh?!" The rest of the suspicious hunters were left speechless as the white-haired bastard looked at the overwhelming presence coming from behind his former companion, now turned into a pile of minced meat.

"I can't believe you bastards would go as far as targeting recently opened Dungeons. I see, is this why there are never survivors?" Wondered the young man, walking into the battlefield as his body emanated a gigantic, overpowering presence, shadows covered the family, protecting them from danger. "You damn demon bastards."

It was Jack, of course.

Ricky, the white-haired man who had brought this team of Demonic Humans to hunt down the fresh souls of these innocents, smiled back at their new guest.

"Oh my, what is this? The famous A-Rank Hunter Jack in person! It is an honor! I am your big fan!" Ricky laughed, opening his arms and greeting Jack carefreely.

"Half-Beast Demonic Humans? These savage bastards must be obeying Leviathan!" Fenrir said.

"Hmph, I don't have any intentions of talking with trash," Jack said, having no time to have some small talk with his prey and ignoring Fenrir's words.

Jack immediately attacked, and his shadows suddenly materialized into dozens of knives, which he launched against the leader and the remaining lackeys.

FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! 

They were rather dexterous and not that weak, being able to easily reflect the attacks and jump around, quickly transforming into their Half-Demon forms, which were all of different-looking half-beast humans.

CRASH!

Their leader, Ricky, slowly began to transform as well while reflecting the attacks, quickly turning into a four-meter-tall white werewolf with sharp red eyes. 

"Oi, oi~ That's not how you greet your fans, mister Jack." The white haired bastard laughed, holding all the Shadow Knives thrown at him with his hands. 

"{Shadow Detonation}"

"HUH?!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! 

Of course, Jack wouldn't simply use such a stupid attack without thinking of a follow-up, and a proper one at that. Two of the Demonic Humans that had at least one knife in their bodies exploded into pieces and died on the spot, while the rest were heavily injured. The only unfaced one was their leader, Rick. 

"I can't believe you fell for that." Jack laughed, his body suddenly beginning to distort as his shadows generated dozens of wolf-like jaws and red eyes.

"And I can't believe you've wiped my entire squad!" Laughed Ricky. "Well, it's not like there aren't more around." 

Jack looked into the eyes of this new Demonic Human. Somehow, he felt like he remembered him, like he knew him from somewhere. However, there was not much time to remember. He immediately leaped to fight, clashing against the white werewolf. He quickly summoned his Black Demon Sword, Gram, and started unleashing countless attacks, swinging his weapon wildly like a berserker. The family was safe inside his Shadow Realm for now, and he had sent multiple Fenrir Doppelgangers to go look for everyone else, at the expense of his own Mana reserves. 

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! 

Ricky intercepted his savage attacks with his bare claws, which continued to grow sharper claws of almost metallic power. Demonic Power was flowing through his body. Jack squinted his eyes with fury. The stronger and more durable a Demonic Human was, the more human souls and human flesh and blood they consumed. To maintain their power, Demonic Humans must consume people. One of the reasons they would pick this dungeon break was to get some easy meals. 

"Kehehehe! Is that all you've got, Jacky~?!" Ricky laughed, unleashing a barrage of slashing attacks and kicks that began to slowly push Jack back. 

BAAAM!

"Ungh…! This bastard…!" Jack muttered, his eyes beginning to glow with fury. His shadows expanded around, suddenly generating several wolf-like jaws and devouring the corpses of the Demonic Humans, consuming them and giving him the ability to regain his health and mana and also acquire some of their abilities at random. 

"Hoh! You're not so different from us!" Laughed Rick. "I can't believe we meet once more in these conditions... My friend. Do you really not recognize this face? Or this damn scar you left on me?"

Ricky's face suddenly changed back to his human form, revealing the truth to Jack, who had yet to remember before. 

"Y-You are…!" Jack was left shocked. "Rick?!"

Ricky smiled back with a demonic smirk; his eyes glowed bright red. Utilizing this opportunity, he leaped forward and attacked Jack with everything he had. 

"So you finally remember me, Jacky!" Laughed Ricky. "It has been a WHILE since that Dungeon Break, hasn't it?! Our lives had SURELY given a WILD turn! Don't you think?! Kehahahahaha!"

Jack's face distorted in fury and frustration as he remembered who his opponent was. It was a bastard he hated the most, a man that treated him like ** when he was a porter, and the one that left him to die in that Double Dungeon Break where he was hunted by monsters until Fenrir found him. 

It wasn't someone dear to him or whatever; it was a bastard that got away from that incident where dozens of innocent porters like him died, and he got away with it and disappeared for a while. 

"To think you became a **ing Demonic Human, this is ironic!" Laughed Jack. "I'll make sure to **ing kill you this time, Rick!"

"Hah! Try it out, you mother**ing porter!" Rick laughed, clashing against Jack with his sharp wolf-like claws. His powerful demonic aura constantly grew larger, resembling an ever-growing wave of dark red and blue flames. 

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Meanwhile, Fenrir used over twelve Doppelgangers to chase down the people who were still alive while hunting down the monsters chasing them and, at the same time, devouring the Demonic Humans of lower ranks who were trying to have an easy meal. 

"W-What the ** is this damn dog- Uaaggh…!"

CRUNCH!

One of them was devoured with a single bite, while the rest of Fenrir's body shifted into countless shadows, catching the other Demonic Humans trying to run away and eating them mercilessly as well. 

The rest of the innocents that he was trying to save were so scared that they were all trembling in horror as they saw him mercilessly devour people alive, even if they were demonic humans. 

"Mommy, the dog ate the bad guys!" 

"D-Don't look at him!"

As a mother covered the eyes of her little boy, Fenrir looked into the distance. 

"Dammit, what the heck is going on with Anna all of a sudden? Can she even fight a C-rank monster?" 

Fenrir could sense Anna through the doppelganger he left behind for her and found that the young lady was already getting herself into more trouble! Can Anna truly handle a C-rank monster by herself? 

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Chapter end