Lightning Is the Only Way

The door of the Hunting Guild burst open. "We're back!" shouted a man at the front of a big hunting party. He had multiple scars on his face and showed a victorious smile. Behind him, a gigantic two-handed sword hung, thoroughly drenched in blood. Seven people with different weapons stood behind him.

Most people in the Hunting Guild released a loud "Heeeeeyyy!" in unison and lifted their jugs of ale. The group walked in, triumphantly. The leader of the group noticed that things were a little different. Usually, everyone would stand up and cheer, but many kept quiet this time. The leader furrowed his brows.

He walked to one of the guys he knew. "Did something happen? The cheer this time seems more… subdued," he asked. The guy he asked was the same person that called Gravis a newbie on his first day.

The person smiled bitterly. "Well, something happened when you were gone, but that's not important right now. So, I take it you succeeded?" He asked with a grin.

The leader smiled again and nodded. "Yeah! The Earth Salamander has been slain!" He sat down at the table and took a swig from the man's beer. "Man, that took forever! It put up one hell of a fight. Only when it bit and devoured Mensk, did we finally have a chance to injure it majorly. It fled, and we had to track it for nearly two weeks. Sadly, Jacob got ambushed by a ferocious beast snake and died too. Someone always dies in a hunt for low-grade demonic beasts." The leader sighed.

The man in front of him also sighed. "They were good men." He took another swig of his mug, but it was empty. "Hey, you drank all my booze, Anthony!" he shouted and stood up.

The leader, Anthony, just laughed loudly and ordered more beer. "Calm down! The next one's on me. We made it big this time. The corpse is pretty complete, and we should all make a couple of gold off of it. With this, I should have enough money to buy a Skin-Pill for my son." Anthony leaned back and looked out of one of the windows. "If he can get into the Elemental Guilds, he will get much further in life than his father."

The man in front of him lifted his new mug. "Cheers to that," and he took a swig.

Anthony looked at the man and felt like something was wrong. "So, what happened? You all seem kind of downtrodden," Anthony asked the man.

The man just bitterly smiled. "Well, we have a new guy," he said as he took another swig.

Anthony asked, confused. "That sounds more

you look at the mission board.

furrowed his brows, stood up, and walked to the mission board. When he arrived, he gasped. It was empty. Why was it empty? There always were tens of missions up for grabs. Anthony walked back to the man. "Did the

nodded and took another mouthful of beer. "Not only that. When everyone realized that the missions for ferocious beasts have grown sparse, a group formed to hunt a low-grade demonic

furrowed his brows

the low-grade

at the man and stood up. "No one can hunt that many low-grade demonic beasts in such a short amount of time, especially when they hunt them solo. Even someone with tempered muscles only has a 50/50 chance of winning. Even less

you don't believe me, ask Simone." The man gestured to

him and walked over to Simone, who just sat on a chair behind the counter and read a book.

hand nonchalantly. "All gone,"

whitened. "But, it's only been two weeks!"

with a frown. "Don't shout at me!

Demon?" Anthony asked with a raised

that's his nickname. At least, that's what we call him." She gestured toward the tables, where all the hunters sat. "Look around! Everyone's just waiting for new missions to come. It's even harder

turned upside down. He walked back to his drinking buddy and sat down. He clenched his fist and hit

eyes. When Anthony saw this, his teeth clenched. "Look at you! One guy is taking all the meat for himself, not even leaving us any soup, and you all take it like some abused kids! Does the guild not have any men left?"

seen the guy." He took another swig from his beer, emptying it. "We can only wait until he leaves. Someone

in his eyes. "When I'll

BANG!

and the whole atmosphere changed. Every hunter looked deeply into their mugs, uncomfortably. Silence descended across