"... There's certainly ways to figure out the likelihood, but... No guaranteed test, not like there is for, say, cancer or PTSD. There's no blood test or psych eval that can tell for sure. No, you'll only know when you have to bloody your blade. Do you hesitate? Or are you eager, despite the fear? When it's over, do you never want to do it again? Or do you long for it the next morning at breakfast? Even if the blood and gore makes you sick to think of, do you dream of the hunt?" – Norah Trevelyan, the Dullahan, on hunters' instincts

  Emma sucked in a lungful of fresh morning air to calm her nerves, and turned away from the rift humming between the trees of the national park to look at her team. Behind them, a couple of tired-looking young reporters took notes behind a few members of the guild that had been sent as support, in case of emergency.

  The four of them looked suitably nervous to be under the scrutiny of journalists, even if they weren't from any big name outlets.

  No, actually, Lawrence seemed calm enough, towering over everyone. He had a chain shirt on over a jacket of some kind, and a kettle hat helm, casting his bronze-tanned face in darker shadow, with a bearded axe in one hand, and a round shield in the other. The front was painted with some symbol or rune she'd never seen before, but it seemed sturdy enough. At least enough for the gibbering little cretins they were to hunt.

  Next to him, on his right, was Hannah. She wore a leather coat that wouldn't be out of place on a civilian, but Emmas magical senses could tell the thing was enchanted. Not strongly, of course, but enough to turn aside a stone spear, and that was good enough for her.

  Even so, she looked the mage up and down with a critical eye. Hannah may not be a front-liner like her, but she still needed to have at least some armor beyond that, and none of them had worn their personal equipment during training at the guild.

  She was pleased to see the woman had sturdy-looking steel greaves on, and her weapons, those she would use her abilities to control, were in plain view, unhidden and unhindered. None were drawn at the moment, but they didn't need to be – a thought was all it would take to have them hovering around her like snakes ready to lunge.

  Will was fidgeting next to her, full of nervous energy. He kept drawing his sword, checking it, checking its scabbard, and sheathing it every minute or so. It was short, much shorter than hers, but also thinner, and built to have a nasty thrusting point, though the hilt and cross guard was... lacking, at least by her estimate. It made the thing look more like a spike of steel than a sword.

  Still, it would do the job fine, especially in the hands of an assassin with his ability. His armor, as far as she could tell, was jazerant, thin chain sandwiched between two layers of soft, flexible leather, and a skullcap that he'd tucked his curly ponytail up under so it wouldn't get in his way during the hunt.

  That was good. Most of their 'training sessions' had largely been demonstrations of abilities, skills, and physical limits, then Emma 'quizzing' them on standard tactics and procedures. They hadn't really had time for much else, not in the scant week Fools Tarot had given them to get ready.

  Max sat off to the side, on a tree stump, her leg bouncing anxiously while she stared at something only she could see and muttering to herself quietly enough Emma couldn't hear, despite her enhanced senses.

  Her system screen, probably. Still can't believe that's real.

  The fact some hunters had 'systems' wasn't exactly a secret from the general populace, but Emma had mostly seen them in movies and figured they were probably an invention of Hollywood, so even now, she had trouble believing they weren't fiction.

  The shorter woman wore a half-breastplate over a long tunic of chain, a thick leather gauntlet on her sword hand, and a small round shield of the type that was strapped to the arm on the other. It had a battered steel plate over the front, but it looked like it would hold even if the plate came off.

  Probably picked it up from a paw- wait, where's her helmet?

  "Max," she said, and the other vanguard almost jumped out of her skin. "Where's your helmet? I seem to recall you telling me you had one and didn't need one from the guild."

  "Oh, I uhhh..." she started, her face turning bright red. "Sorry. My cat... got sick in it last night, and I couldn't get the smell out..." she explained with a grimace.

  Emma grimaced, too, at the thought of wearing that with a hunters nose. She nodded quickly, then leaned her head back to pull at the straps of her own helmet. "Jesus. Alright. Take mine, for now, then. Can't have our tank go without head protection," she said and tossed the thing – a skullcap like Wills, probably even the same model from the same company – to her teammate, who caught it only a little awkwardly in one hand.

  "Tell me before we leave next time, though, okay? We keep spares for reason," Emma scolded her, and the woman stammered out another apology.

  "Alright, we're scheduled to start in two minutes and thirty. I know you all know this, but I'll say it again – the RMB does not like it when hunters go in before their permit officially begins. So, this is your last chance to pull out if you're not sure about this line of work," Emma told them, resting the tip of her longsword sheath on the ground. "Once we're in there, there's no going back. You'll have to stick it out until the end of the hunt, you got that?"

  ""Yes, ma'am."" She watched them for another few heartbeats to make sure none of them were going to back out; Will and Hannah looked at each other and nodded, Lawrence set his jaw, and Max swiped away some screen only she could see and stood.

  "Good. Now, you've been warned about it before, but you cannot hesitate in there, even if it turns out you're not a hunter after all," she said, looking Lawrence in the eye. "I hate to single you out like this, man, but it goes double for you."

  "No offense taken, boss. I know healers are the least likely to have it," the big man said, and Emma nodded.

  "Alright. Don't underestimate 'em. They may be small and more than a little stupid, but goblins can and will still stick something sharp where the sun don't shine if you let 'em, okay? If any of you quit, I want it to be because you wanted to, not because you got your insides fucked up by one of these little shits, alright?"

  Emma stopped and checked her watch under the cuff of her gauntlet. "It's go time! Eyes up, they'll be waiting on the other side," she called, and turned on her heel, tearing her sword from its sheath. She was started to get excited, too, even if it was just goblins. "Be careful, but let's try to enjoy ourselves."

  Then she was inside the rift, Max right behind her, shield ready and raised. She hardly had time to catch her bearings before she caught a greenish grey blur, and raised her gauntlet to stop a stone axe from smashing in her unprotected skull.

  She grunted and threw her arm back, sending the goblin careening back into the darkness while it screeched in rage. Three more poured out of the inky black, and she opened her mouth to give orders.

  "Ge-"

  "COME AT ME, YOU FILTHY LITTLE FUCKERS, LET'S GO," Maxs voice rang in her ears, almost staggering her with the volume, while the vanguard smashed the hilt of her sword into the steel plate of her shield.

  Okaaay, not so shy about monsters' attention. Good to know.

  Emma bit her lip to keep herself from laughing – she had to seem professional for the newbies, after all – and stepped around the side of her screaming fellow as the goblins trained their beady little eyes on her and rushed towards her shield. She saw a flash of movement on the other side of Max, with a glint of steel catching light from the rift, and a goblin gurgled out its death rattle as Wills thrust found its mark.

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  Good, good. Will and Max have the instinct, at least. Even if Lawrence and Hannah don't, the three of us are probably enough.

  Not to be outdone, though, she slipped the blade of her sword around Maxs back as one of the goblins' axes skittered off her shield and stuck the tip in its eye, and out the back of its skull, sending it staggering back with a howl of agony, pulling her with it.

  Hardy little shits. Must've missed the brain stem.

  The hunter set her feet and twisted at the hip while turning the blade in the things head to pull it away from Max before it could free itself, throwing it against the wall beside the rift as the silhouettes of Lawrence and Hannah took shape in the swirling light. With a sharp exhale she rushed towards the thing before it could get back to its feet and kicked it in the jaw about as hard as she could with a sharp crack and the unmistakable crunch of bone.

  It was down for the count, though not dead yet, so she took the opportunity to step on its neck until she felt it snap and give under her weight while she looked back at her team.

  Maxs sword was slick with blood already, and two more goblins lay twitching at her and Wills feet, next the first he'd taken out, though the assassin was breathing heavy and shaking a little.

  "That's four, then?" she asked, counting the bodies again. Yes, four.

  "Yeah, boss. Four," Max huffed out. "I... I think I got it. Hunters' instinct, I mean."

  'Dhampir' laughed, and patted her on the shoulder. "Yeah, you do. Good work, you two," she said, turning towards Lawrence and Hannah, to make sure neither of them were suffering rift-sickness. The sudden shift in environment could make even higher ranked hunters sick to their stomachs.

  Lawrence had a hand on the wall of the cavern, gagging. "Gods, the smell," he croaked, and Max gagged as well, as if Lawrence mentioning it made her aware of it.

  "Holy shit I can taste it," she whined, sword clattering to the floor as she heaved.

  "I did warn you yesterday," Emma reminded them.

  "I thought you were exaggerating," Will said with a cough. "Jesus Christ."

  "What is that? It's like..." Hannah shuddered and covered her nose as she tried to describe it.

  "Don't. Don't describe it. Trust me, you'll make it worse," she warned the mage, whose eyes widened at the warning and nodded sharply. "Here," she said, pulling a tube of something from a pouch. "Put a dab of it under your noses. I knew you wouldn't take it seriously without smelling it yourself, so I didn't offer beforehand. Now you know."

  Hannah motioned her thanks, and did as instructed before passing it to Lawrence.

  "Take a drink of water, wash the taste out of your mouth. Once your stomachs are calm, we'll move on. I don't want any of you puking on my back when we get to the worst of it."

  "It gets worse? Oh god," the mage said, and three more voices joined her in the chorus of displeasure.

  "They are goblins. If anything, Hollywood doesn't do the filth justice. Anyway," Emma turned towards Max. "Is your system one of those that has a mapping function?"

  The vanguard started a little when she addressed her suddenly, but shook her head quickly. "No, not yet, anyway."

  "Huh. Shame. So, how much experience'd you get from those two?" she asked, looking over the corpses again. The fatal wounds were too large to be made by the near-spike of a sword Will used, too thick in the thrust, and that one seemed to have poor edge alignment on the cut, something Wills sword simply couldn't do.

  "Oh, uhh... My- mine doesn't have experience or levels. It just... It lets me choose what to improve. Oh, and it gives me quests! I gotta do those to get the points I need to buy upgrades and stuff."

  "Did it give you a quest today?" Hannah asked in between long, slow breaths.

  Trying to get used to the smell, maybe? Hmm...

  "Yeah, it, uh..." Max stopped, and swiped through something a few times, then nodded. "Yeah, it wants me to kill eight goblins. Damn it, I was hoping it'd count yours, too... It needs me to be the one to kill them..."

  "Does it have a time limit or anything like that?" Emma asked, leaning her head back a little and rubbing at the spot where her helmets strap would normally be. It felt a little exposed, not having a helmet on. "We could try and make sure you get the killing blow."

  "Umm, no, no time limit. It just says 'First Hunt! Slay eight goblins.' and then '2/8'. The reward is... Two 'insight' points."

  Emma hummed in response, considering it. "It says first hunt, right? Should probably get six more for you, then. Just in case. I've heard enough horror stories about other hunters' systems to not want to take chances with yours. Everyone agreed?"

  "Yeah, no problems here, boss," Will said raising his hand a little. Hannah and Lawrence likewise indicated their assent.

  "Alright, then..." The Ten of Swords clicked her tongue a few times while she did the math in her head. She'd studied the files on the rift the guild sent her until her eyes burned, so she was confident in knowing the general layout and number of goblins within. "There should be between twenty five and thirty five more of the little bastards in here, so we probably won't have to do anything specific, but let's save the last one in each encounter for Max to make sure. Is two... er, 'insight', you called it? Is that a lot?"

  Max shook her head quickly again at the question. "It's the same amount I got for registering with the RMB. And for applying to Fools Tarot. I can get a single E-rank ability for five points, or a single D-rank ability for ten."

  Will whistled sharply at that. "Does that mean you could get a B-rank for twenty? Or an S-rank for thirty?"

  "Uhhh. Yes? But also no?" Max started to reply, but Emma gestured towards the pressing dark, now that they were all relaxed enough to talk.

  "Go ahead and keep talking, it's not like we can sneak up on goblins in the dark," she told them, and pulled a chemlight hanging from a string from under her breastplate before cracking it. "But we should get moving so the support team doesn't get antsy."

  Max, as they'd practiced, took point, her shield raised halfway, but she turned her head halfway to continue explaining when Will prodded her shoulder.

  Emma was pleased to see, as well, that the other hunters hadn't forgotten their chemlights, either, and her activating hers had reminded them to do the same.

  "They, um... C-rank and higher abilities need me to buy prerequisite abilities first. So, yes, the amount of insight points they cost increases like you said, but no, the practical cost is much higher," the vanguard said over her shoulder.

  Will nodded at the explanation, eyes alert and searching the darkness, but also a little distant.

  Probably thinking how convenient it is. Too bad for him artifacts that can give you access to a system are ridiculously expensive, even among ability-granting artifacts.

  "Maybe with a blank skill book..." the Ten of Swords muttered to herself, but those were just as expensive, and she knew it. Multi-use, though. Would make it worth the price.

  "What's that, boss?"

  "Just thinking out loud a little, Lawrence, don't worry about it."

  "Oh! Maybe..." Emma heard Hannah say suddenly, before trailing off.

  "Everything alright?"

  "Oh, um, yes, I just..." the Ten of Swords heard the sound of a knife being pulled free from its sheath, and she half turned her head to watch from the corner of her eye. "Had an idea..." the mage said, her chemlight dimming suddenly as her hand wrapped around it.

  Satisfied nothing had snuck up on them, though, Emma turned back to the front, to be ready for more goblins. This deep into the cave system, the walls were getting tighter on them, and they could only reasonably fight two or three abreast at a time, so she changed her grip to a half-sword, with her left hand wrapped around the blade.

  A moment later, Hannahs dagger floated overhead and in front of them, the cord with her chemlight on it dangling like a pendulum. It made the shadows dance and flicker a little, but overall, it improved visibility by a good four or five meters.

  "Yes! It wor- Incoming!"

  Max was already moving before Hannah could finish her warning, slamming the rim of her shield into the ribs of a goblin that had leapt for her from the dark and sending it crashing into the wall of the tunnel. The vanguard hunter didn't have time to deliver a coup de grace, however, as five more of the hideous little creatures poured out of crevices they could only barely see with Hannahs chemlight illuminating them.

  Her idea to send a dagger with an active chemlight floating ahead of them was probably what caused the goblins to leap from their ambush spots early, before the hunters could be completely surrounded by them.

  There was little time for an analysis, however, as Will had already pinned another with a thrust of his spike-sword while Max worked to take its head off with a brutal chopping swing that saw her move her shield arm away from her body.

  Emma rushed forward to intercept an axe-blow from a goblin aimed for that exact opening, catching it's haft on the blade of her sword before tilting her weapon so the crude axe slid towards the guard instead of her fingers.

  "Keep that damn shield up, girl. What's the point of it if it's not covering you at all times?" 'Dhampir' hissed, and pressed her weight into the goblins axe, forcing the smaller riftbeast to the floor with a shove, where she kicked it in the temple to daze it, before stomping its skull to mush with her heel, blade raised to menace its comrades.

  "Y-yes! Sorry! Thanks!" Max stammered, adjusting her guard as ordered. With the precious breathing room killing those two goblins had given her, she sucked in a deep breath, and hammered her shield again, shouting obscenities at them loud enough to make Emmas ears ring in the tight corridor.

  But if mine are ringing...

  Her gaze darted over the goblins who visibly winced at the auditory assault, their eyes whipping to the source of their discomfort, and she lashed out with a quick, wrist-powered cut with the tip of her longsword, half jumping out of her skin when her focus was interrupted by a sharp cry of pain from the assassin covering their left flank.