I caught a spear-like thing that almost hit my chest.
Argh!!
It happened so fast that my mind couldn't even comprehend it, but somehow my body reacted before I could sense anything.
They came closer to me in concern.
.
" Captain! "
" Boss! "
" Nams! "
" Captain! "
" Captain! "
"Are you ok ? " , They asked in unison .
I tighten my grip.
" Yes , I'm Fine "
The spear in my hand was still vibrating.
It's not a spear but a horn.
A Duman's horn, thrown like a javelin.
And from the darkness beyond the tree line, I saw them.
Eyes.
Dozens of them.
Glowing like embers in the void between branches.
Waiting.
Watching.
They knew we were coming. Or rather—that one thing knew.
Something appeared behind them. Behind the large tree .
Those Duman. Especially that one .
Crack!
Crack!
Dry leaves snapped under something heavy.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
My brain didn't want to accept any sound besides my loud heartbeat and the cracking of dry leaves.
Nams! stop panting.
I gritted my teeth .
"It's here, " I hissed .
" Boss? "
It stepped out from behind the tree.
This… was no ordinary Duman. Its posture was wrong—not a mindless predator, but something calculating. It held itself with a dreadful, alien awareness.
What type of Duman is this ? It clearly has a brain and can think like a normal person should.
"Gha-Ruk... skra... Oroz... Zekk " , A voice like grinding stones and tearing meat scraped through the air.
Eh ?
My mind went blank for a second. It overloaded.
The team froze beside me .
" Boss? What's going on?"
It can talk ?
What's going on, I haven't seen any Duman who can do this .
The voice was too creepy to comprehend its presence .
I looked at its horns . They weren't just on its head. They spiraled down its arms, protruded from its spine, a forest of twisted, dark bone covering its entire form.
"Captain!" Ethan's voice was a strangled whisper from behind his scanner. "Three hundred and forty-seven horn signatures… I'm reading three hundred and forty-seven!"
He sounded terrified.
He should be terrified.
We all should be.
I had never even heard of a Duman with over a hundred horns. This was a category of its own.
My blades were in my hands before I decided to draw them. The familiar weight was the only solid thing in the world .
" Boss! I'm kinda running out of bullets "
"Marcus, handle the others. I'm taking this Demon Class on my own," I ordered, my eyes locked on the Duman.
"Captain! I'm coming with you ." Ethan stepped forward .
" Nams! You don't think I'm letting you go alone, right?"
Obviously not. Every time we're together on a mission, she stays with me—the same thing she did with my mom.
"Boss! I can still fight alongside you " , Clara smiles.
Weakly.
" I'm coming too. " Veyna's hands had stopped shaking. His eyes were pure, cold hate.
What are we doing? The enemy is right in front of us. Why are we talking? Why isn't it attacking?
Marcus looked at us and mocked playfully .
" Huh ? Huhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Are you guys telling me to die alone or wha—
Not a blur. Not a teleportation. One moment it was hundred feet away. The next, it was behind Marcus, a spiked arm already in a vicious arc toward his skull.
" Ma— " I tried to warn him but it's too late .
He reacted , way faster than I'd ever witnessed. He barely stopped its arm from hitting his head .
" Arghhh! "
We sprinted towards him .
What's with this Duman ? I'm the first person it could've attacked but it choosed the last person.
Marcus flew away and hit a tree.
" Sophie, check Marcus!" I roared .
" Yes , Captain. " she was already sprinting toward him.
"And you all—keep them safe until I come back," I ordered.
It ran , again .
"And don't you dare follow me,' I ordered, already sprinting toward the Duman.
" You're not running this time!"
But does it want to run? Or is it just playing with us . I don't care now .
"CIMY , lock my blades."
I sheathed my blades again and sprinted toward it .
Faster , Faster , Faster .
My legs pumped, muscles burning.
It's not enough.
I need to move faster .
Faster!!!
Is it running or playing? what does it want to do?
It moved way faster than before.
We are close .
WE are .
WE were close—
It just vanished before my eyes . Not even leaves of dead branches sounds anything.
I stopped.
My sweats are falling from my forehead.
Haa...Haa....
I wasn't thinking carefully. Now I needed air—too much air.
Haa...haa....
• • •
Marcus was leaning against the tree, one arm hanging limp, blood dripping from his forehead into his eyes. Clara was crouched beside him, her medical kit open, hands working fast to wrap his wounds.
" Fuck, it was strong, " Marcus said, trying to force a smile despite the pain.
" Marcus! Just stay still " , Sophie ordered.
" Dumbass, " , Veyna muttered, but his eyes weren't on Marcus. They were scanning the darkness, sword ready.
Ethan's scanner was beeping erratically. "It's close. It's—"
The air behind them split open.
Not literally. But the darkness moved, and suddenly the Demon Class was there, standing twenty feet from the group, its head tilted in that awful, calculating way.
They didn't even have time to scream.
It moved. No . It vanished.
Veyna was first. He swung his blade—a perfect arc, faster than most RAW soldiers could track—but the Duman simply wasn't there anymore.
Then it was inside his guard, a clawed hand closing around his throat and lifting him off the ground.
"Veyna!" Sophie lunged, both blades flashing.
The Duman used Veyna's body as a shield. Sophie pulled her strike at the last second, throwing herself sideways to avoid hitting him.
She crashed into the dirt, rolling.
Ethan fired his last bullets—three shots, center of the mass. The Duman didn't even flinch.
The rounds flattened against its hide like raindrops on stone. It dropped Veyna and turned to Ethan with that terrible, deliberate slowness.
" It's toying with us " , Ethan said, horrified.
Ethan's scanner fell from his shaking hands. "Captain... Captain, where is h—"
The Duman's arm shot out. Ethan flew backward, ribs cracking audibly, and landed in a heap beside the tree where Marcus was slumped.
Ethan didn't move after that. He just lay there, breath shallow, eyes closed.
"Ethan!" Clara screamed.
The Duman turned toward her voice. Slow. Deliberate. Like it had all the time in the world.
Because it did.
Clara stood between it and the others. Her blade was drawn—shaking, but drawn. Her eyes darted from the Duman to Ethan to Marcus to Veyna, calculating, always calculating.
She was trying to find an angle .
But there was no angle.
"Clara..." Marcus's voice was weak, slurred.
Blood still dripped from his forehead.
His left arm hung wrong—dislocated, maybe broken.
But he was pushing himself up against the tree, forcing his body to move when it should have stayed down.
"Clara, run."
She didn't look at him.
"Shut up, Marcus!."
The Duman took a step toward her.
She didn't retreat.
Another step.
The moment where the concept of time had no value to them . Everything was so loud yet it doesn't sound anything.
She shifted her stance—feet wider, blade angled low. A defensive posture. Waiting for it to come to her.
Like a smart person. The dumbest kind of smart.
It came.
Not fast this time. Not a blur. It walked toward her like a person walking down a street, unhurried, unconcerned.
Each footfall crunching dead leaves. Each one step eating the distance between them.
Clara held her ground.
Ten feet.
Five.
Three.
She moved.
Her blade flashed upward—a diagonal slash aimed at its throat.
Perfect form.
Perfect timing.
Against any normal Duman, it would have connected. But this one caught her wrist.
Just... caught it. Mid-swing. Like it had known exactly where her strike would land before she even thought of throwing it.
Clara's eyes went wide.
It squeezed.
Crunch.
"AHHHHHHH!" Her scream tore through the jungle, sharp and raw. The blade fell from fingers that no longer worked. Her wrist bent at an angle wrists shouldn't bend.
It didn't let go.
It pulled her closer. Brought its face—that nightmare of twisted features and void-dark eyes—within inches of hers. Its breath smelled of rot and old blood.
"Clara... skra... weak..."
It threw her.
She hit the ground ten meters away, rolled twice, and didn't get up.
Silence.
It seems like all concept vanished for a few moment .
The Duman stood there, surrounded by bodies.
Veyna gasping.
Ethan unconscious.
Clara broken.
Sophie bleeding.
And Marcus.
Marcus pushed off the tree.
His legs shook. His arm hung useless. Blood painted half his face. But he stood.
"Hey, ugly," he called out, voice cracking. "Yeah, you. The one who looks like someone tried to draw an octopus from memory and fucked it up."
The Duman turned toward him.
Marcus smiled. That same stupid, infuriating smile he always wore. The one that made you want to punch him and hug him at the same time.
"Clara was my friend, you know. Before all this—" , he stopped for a moment, " Before Duman and missions and watching people die."
He took a shaky step forward.
"She used to bring me lunch when I forgot mine...she... she used to cover for me when I showed up late to briefings...used to call me an idiot to my face, which I respected "
Another step.
"And Sophie? That girl's got more courage than anyone I know. She smiles at things that should make her run. She smiles, you monster."
Another step.
"Ethan barely talks, but when he does, it's always the right thing. Always. Like he's been saving up words just for the moment they matter most .
Another step.
"Veyna lost his sister to your kind. Did you know that? "
" He fights every day with a hole in his chest where his heart used to be. And he still gets up. Still swings his sword. Still tries."
The Duman watched him approach .
It stood still.
Curious, maybe. Or amused.
Marcus stopped five feet away.
His good hand reached down and picked up Clara's fallen blade.
The weight was wrong—he was left-handed, and his left arm was useless—but he held it anyway.
So here's the thing," Marcus said, voice dropping low.
"You hurt my family. "
"You broke them."
"And I'm probably going to die in the next thirty seconds."
He raised the blade.
"But I'm gonna make sure you remember the idiot who made you work for it."
He charged.
He wasn't fast—not anymore, not with his injuries. But he was creative.
He used the trees, the terrain, the shadows.
He swung wild.
He used unpredictable angles that made no sense but somehow kept him alive a second longer.
Then another second.
Then another.
The Duman swiped at him. He ducked—not gracefully, but desperately, throwing himself sideways and rolling back to his feet.
It lunged.
He sidestepped, stumbled, and slashed at its passing arm.
The blade bit shallowly—barely a scratch—but it bit.
For the first time, the Duman made a sound that wasn't speech.
A grunt Of surprise? Pain? Annoyance?
Marcus laughed—actually laughed—and kept moving.
"See, asshole? Not so tough when someone fights back, huh?"
It spun, faster now.
Less playful.
Its arm caught him across the chest and sent him flying into a tree trunk.
Crrack.
Marcus slid down, leaving a dark mark on the bark.
The blade fell from his hand.
He didn't get up.
The Duman walked toward him, slow again.
The amusement was back in its posture. It wanted to savor this one.
Marcus looked up through broken ribs and blurred vision. Blood bubbled at his lips when he spoke.
"Clara... Soph... Ethan... Vey..." He coughed. His blood sprayed from mouth. "Boss... I tried... I really..."
The Duman raised its arm for the final strike.
Marcus looked at it and smirked .
" Boss is still alive, right? , He will beat the shit out of you, Dumbass "
Its arm got severed in mid—strike.
___________