Royal Princess of Blood

A group of monster hunters was walking down the dirt road, and they had just finished hunting some monsters for a job. They were now returning to their city, which was still quite a bit farther away. They walked ever so casually. In fact, they knew this road well, so they knew what kind of monsters usually ended up here. Therefore, they weren’t worried about surprises. And surprises around here usually weren’t the safe kind.

“Man, that was an easy job.”

“It’s the usual job at a usual place, of course it would be easy.”

This crew always wanted to take the easy jobs, they were safer. So they commonly picked the type of job they were familiar with. So, they faced monsters that they had already fought several times before. Therefore, they would always succeed with no losses.

“And the pay is good,” another proudly said, carrying a bag of trophies on his back.

Things were quiet as usual, but they suddenly heard a sound from a distance. A heavy, flapping sound. It was still far, a normal person might not be able to sense it. However, these were hunters of monsters that had sharpened survival instincts. They could sense danger when it was nearby. But this one was strange, it was still so far, yet it caused them to freeze in place.

“W-What…?” one muttered in a low, shaky voice.

They all slowly turned around in the direction of this encroaching doom. And they saw it. Their breath caught in their throats as they beheld it soaring through the sky with its wide dark wings, leaving a pair of dark trails in its wake. It was a creature of darkness. Of bad omen.

At its mere presence, at its mere image, these humans could already feel their absolute inferiority. Their utter weakness, their insignificance. Whatever this thing was, they instantly knew it was something beyond them. It was as if it were divine. It was something they had never seen before. They couldn’t speak nor move, but only watched as it flew past them from above.

Gradually, it shrank in the distance. And when it was finally out of sight, only then did they gasp for breath.

“W-What the fuck was that?!”

“I don’t know!”

“That thing is a monster beyond monsters!”

“That thing was scary, what the hell!”

“What sort of monster even was that? Never seen like it before.”

“Where do you think it’s going?”

“... I don’t want to know.”

Whatever it was, it was fortunate it didn’t attack them or anything. But wherever it was heading, it could mean doom for it.

***

Trigel had been searching and searching the mountains, searching every nook and cracks. Every little place. Every possible place where their target could be hiding or went through. However, he still had not found her. And considering that no one else had sent a signal, that could mean no one else had found her as well. This was not good.

If they had been searching for so long, and found no signs of her whatsoever, that could mean they were hiding in some good place, or they were already gone from this region. He found the former quite unlikely, they would consider that it’s only a matter of time before the demons would find them. Waiting around would be pointless and a waste of precious time.

Therefore, the only option was to slip through without being noticed. Trigel was still trying to imagine how they could have done that. At any rate, they had already wasted a lot of time trying to find them. At this point, he doubted they could still find them around here. Therefore, he thought the army should regroup and think of another plan.

He flew high up in the sky, and once he was high enough, he raised his hand. Flames emanated from his palm before a large stream of it shot upward. There was not much power on it, but only it was wide enough that people from afar should be able to notice.

He maintained the flames for several seconds before shutting them off. It should be enough for the demons to notice. He waited, and gradually he saw more and more demons coming his way. Trigel descended back to the ground.

Among the earliest to arrive was his fellow dread lord, Ongrus. His steps stomped heavily on the ground as he approached.

“Trigel, why did you summon us? Did you find them?”

Trigel shook his head as he looked around at the assembling demons. “No. We’ve searched long enough, it’s time to regroup and rethink our approach.”

The giant demon crossed his arms. “What other approach can we even take at this point? We’ve lost them.”

Trigel let out a long sigh, it was utterly frustrating. “And yet we still have to find her.”

A short time later, no more demons came. “Is everyone here?” he asked loudly. There might be others who didn’t get to see his signal.

“Boss,” one imp raised his hand. “There’s two that ain’t here yet.”

“Hm?” Trigel raised an eyebrow. “Where are they?”

“Last I saw them they entered a cave.”

“Since when?”

“Some time after we began our search.”

Trigel cast his gaze downward. It had been a long time since that had happened. And they were imps, no monster should be able to hold them down for too long. So, he doubted whether they had been stuck in a cave ever since they had entered. They should be out by now. Unless, of course, they encountered something else.

At any rate, it was strange that they had yet to report back. It was something that required investigating. It was a strange development in their search.

“Lead me to the cave.”

***

Trigel, along with a few imps, entered and traversed the cave. And he found drops of blood on the floor and a cave wall. And as he continued on, they came across monster corpses. He stopped and took a close look at them. There were some corpses that appeared to have been attacked by claws, judging from the cuts so close together.

However, there were also wounds that had single deep cuts, and some were stabbed. They were not done by imps, that was for sure. And most of all, there weren’t signs of the corpses being burned by flames, as what imps usually used to attack. Even if the imps were stronger than these, they should have used their flames at least once.

And the corpses, they were slain not long ago.

These attacks were from anything but an imp. But he needed to investigate further. As they went on, they discovered other monsters that were exterminated, but these ones exhibited being killed by imps. Eventually, they reached a large chamber. Inside were the remains of a giant, grotesque creature.

Trigel checked the body parts of the creature. Some parts were cut with a blade of some kind. At this point, he was sure this was where their target had gone through. He felt a bit relieved about that, but it was far from over.

“She was here, our target. The two imps must have discovered them, and they ended up being killed for it,” Trigel said. “Let’s continue onward to the end of this cave.”

They continued until they reached a diverging path. Left with little time and no other choice, Trigel divided the team into two. Trigel continued on until an exit was in sight. He paused and looked around the area. It was then he noticed that some rocks, sittable rocks, were moved in a somewhat circular pattern. They must have been used as seats. But even that was uncertain.

“There are signs. But we have to hear from the other side. But it’s certain they either got out through this side or the other.”

“What’s the plan, boss?”

“Once we hear back from the other team, we’ll gather the army and search beyond the mountain region.”

“Beyond the mountain region?”

“Considering the time, they may as well be out there.” It was going to be another guesswork. But not as if they had any other choice. “We only need another hint, just one, and we can roughly guess the direction they’re headed.”

***

A shadow passed through the plains below, it bore a menacing and enigmatic presence. The creatures that soared the sky sensed its arrival from far away, their instincts screaming to run away, keep their distance. For it was an entity beyond their own existence. Where it could either be their doom or salvation.

Which was what angels were, warriors, soldiers of the gods. Their divinity alone, despite not being on the level of deities, would cause inferior beings to shake in their wake. They were messengers to send the message from the divine, warriors bearing arms to show the gods’ might. Created by the divine to serve their wishes. Among the holiest of beings.

However, this time, this angel was moving neither for doom nor salvation. It was merely nothing but a shell of its former self, driven by a task long given. It followed the trace of a faint divine power that radiated. And given that it now had a single focus, a single purpose, with beastly instincts, it gave its all to track this faint diving power.

It soared through the sky, ignoring everything but the only thing it hunts. Eventually, it arrived in the forest, with a giant crater on the ground. It landed right in the center of it and looked around. It could still sense the lingering divine power, extremely faint, but it was still there. What it was looking for, though, was not here.

With no more lead to follow, it merely froze there in place like a statue. Waiting for any changes. Waiting to sense that divinity again. It was mostly restored now, it wouldn’t make the same mistake it did before. This time, it would never let her go.