CH 3

C3 – Waren

Shire picked up the crossbow and cocked it into readiness. He loaded the bolt onto the rail and placed the stock against his shoulder. He then plucked up his courage and walked towards the shadowed underbrush of the forest.

“Who’s there!” He raised the crossbow and aimed at the shadows. He put his finger on the trigger and readied himself to shoot immediately. This special crossbow was a weapon invented by the gods to hunt dragons.

The shadow remained silent and stood unmoving. Shire saw the shadow in a seeming daze. Was that another Devil Hunter? It would be best if it was another Devil Hunter.

Then he heard a soft chant.

“Flowing Dark Shadow.” The voice was hoarse and heavy.

The figure in front of him disappeared. Shire’s eyes widened and he quickly turned around. Like lightning, a large hand grabbed his throat. The fingers were thick and strong, and the entire arm was heavily muscled. With just a little bit more force, Shire felt that he would be choked to death.

“Ugh…” Shire quickly threw away the crossbow, pulled out the dagger from his belt, and stabbed wildly, forcing the hand to let go. That person also took a few steps back.

“Waren,” Etienne said, “You were actually forced back by an apprentice. That was kind of pathetic.”

“Everyone knows that you picked up an apprentice from the countryside, a shameless little bastard.” The Devil Hunter cursed.

Shire put the dagger back into his belt and picked up the crossbow.

His eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he recognized the voice. It was that irritating hunter.

The man was about 30 years old. He had a large forehead, wide nose, high cheekbones, and a pair of gray eyes. His short red hair was messy and stuck to his head. He wore a thick black fur cloak over his chainmail. There was not much equipment on his belt — he was traveling light.

His name was Waren. He was proficient in teleportation spells, and this was enough for him to have a place with the most powerful Devil Hunters. Legend has it that Waren was a loner with a bad reputation. He seemed to have a lot of strange fetishes.

What was even more terrifying was that Waren had once been weak and not worth mentioning. However, during a mission, he had reached an agreement with the devil he was hunting. The devil had given him the teleportation spell, and in return, he had given the devil a chance to live.

People who acted that way were commonly known as “devil devourers.” Waren was a heretic among hunters.

From the looks of it, the rumors were probably true. Waren was indeed vicious, evil, and aggressive. Shire thought of the big hand that had grabbed his throat just now, and his heart was filled with disgust. However, to make another move was to invite undue retaliation, so he had to swallow his anger and quietly went back to the burning alder tree.