The atmosphere in the air began to shift as the truck stopped just outside of the tunnel exit leading to Harrowstead. Shuten Douji had sent a crew of Oni further ahead of us to scout the area and inform us of the situation, leaving us to sit in silence as we waited for a report back. Archie, of course, complained at that, but Shuten Douji assured that his men would protect his parents if they were found to be in danger. I truly felt for him, but Shuten Douji made a point that if we were killed the moment we exited his parents would be in worse danger. He hadn’t argued at that, but he looked like he would’ve liked to.

  To quote Clarissa, Archie looked like shit. His blonde hair was glued with sweat to his forehead, he breathed like he’d been running a marathon, and he fidgeted like a runner preparing to run at a track meet. Lochness didn’t look much better. She couldn’t sit still for any longer than ten seconds. She’d look at one of us in the truckbed, hiss as if to as if we’re there yet, and when we’d tell her that we weren’t she’d bite us then move on to the next person.

  “The exit to the tunnel is in the back of the Harrowstead Stadium, right?” Yugo had asked Shuten Douji, who’d been seated at the head of the truckbed behind the truck’s back window.

  “Sure is. It’s set up so it looks like an employee exit for the stadium.”

  “I see, I see…” Yugo nodded. “And how come nobody ever peeked back there to enter the tunnels?”

  “We always had people standing guard. Never the same guards, though. Whenever someone would get close to the entrance, we’d deflect or have someone cause a problem outside to distract them.”

  “Seems a bit crude.”

  “It is, but it works. You don’t always need to overcomplicate things. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best.”

  Yugo turned to Archie, who’d been sitting beside him. “What do you think? The Silent Hand are spies! They should have flashier exits and entrances, don’t you thi–”

  “I know you’re just trying to distract me,” Archie noted, staring into the truck bed. “And while I truly appreciate it, you all have been doing it for the past two hours. That’s stressing me out more than the anticipation of arrival.”

  Lochness agreed in her own way, hissing at Yugo before resting around Archie’s neck. Our mentor coughed.

  “I see. Alrighty then. I guess we’ll wait in silence.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “I think it’s efficient,” Somnia said quietly from beside me. “‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’, right? It works for them, so…” Yugo gave her a soft smile with a face that said he wasn’t particularly interested in the topic. Somnia lowered her gaze. “Nevermind…”

  Thankfully, the awkward silence didn’t last much longer. Shuten Douji received messages on his flip phone from the Oni that traveled ahead of us. None of us were surprised when Archie and Lochness began badgering him with questions about his home. Unfortunately for Archie’s anxiety, Shuten Douji didn’t mince his words.

  Harrowstead was suffering from a Curse invasion, just like Miyafoku had been before I’d joined the Seekers. The biggest difference, however, was that instead of the relatively weak Jikininki they were dealing with, Harrowstead was dealing with what the frantic citizens had called “the Demogorgon’s Demons”. Shuten Douji and the Oni driving the truck hadn’t been fond of that title, while Somnia seemed to take issue with the fact that they were the Demogorgon’s Demons for some reason. Archie, meanwhile, looked like he’d just watched his dog die. As for me, though, I had no way of comparing the Demogorgon or its demons to any other opponent we’d faced up to this point.

  That was where The Historian came to fill the gaps, speaking into my ear as we prepared to exit the tunnel. I wasn’t sure why he hadn’t said this to everyone out loud as we moved, but as he went on it became evident that he’d been trying to protect Archie’s sanity. I’d heard people mention the “Typho-Gorgon War” up to this point, and that Typhon was supposedly the strongest Myth in Minashire’s history, but I hadn’t heard that much about the Demogorgon up to this point. As he told it, it was simply a battle for power – both Typhon and the Demogorgon fighting for control of Minashire. In the end, Typhon killed the Demogorgon but ended up getting killed itself by Nori Knight and her legendary platoon. Despite history remembering Typhon as being the strongest, the Demogorgon was significantly more destructive – having the ability to create and control “Demons” on par with the strongest fighters of that era.

  “There are tales that say Typhon attempted to eat the Demogorgon soon after killing her, but this was stopped by an organization known as the Demogorgon’s Temple”.

  “Organization?” I whispered, walking behind Somnia as Shuten Douji led us up a barely lit staircase out of the tunnels.

  “A cult,” The Historian said frankly. “A cult who famously operated out of Harrowstead.”

  “Alright!” Shuten Douji called the moment he made his way to the top of the stairs. “My men have informed me that the streets are empty. We won’t need to worry about running into any townspeople, but that doesn’t mean the Demons have gone anywhere. Keep an eye out, because there’s no telling whether they’re waiting to ambush whoever they can or this is simply a lull in combat and it’ll kick off again as soon as we exit here.”

  “Please, I just want to get to my family. Can we leave now?”

  Shuten Douji nodded. “I won’t hold you back any–”

  Archie and Lochness both burst out of the door the second Shuten Douji let a sliver of light show. The Oni King followed behind him shortly after, leaving Yugo, Sommia, and me on the staircase to follow after them.

  “Alright, you guys. Same rules I always give: keep collateral damage to a minimum. If you see people that need help, help them. Got it?”

  “Got it!” Somnia and I said in unison.

  Yugo nodded. “Good. Now, let’s see what’s happening in Harrowstead.”