The young man stood with his hands on the doors, breathing hard. He was slightly bent over, recovering from the run. Sweat covered his face and was dripping down to the floor. His deep, gulping breaths were all that could be heard.

After a few minutes, he stood and looked around the church's interior.

He looked across the room's interior, which was now mostly in darkness, trying to pick out any details or possible signs of threats. He reached around and pulled the lantern from his satchel. Using the built-in striker, he lit the oil within it, lighting the room. He lifted the lantern and began working towards the altar.

In his other hand, he still held his knife. I watched him as he approached the altar, his body language tense and stress clear on his face. He wasn't sure if this was a safe place and was ready for trouble.

It did not take him long to reach the altar and look upon it and the statue. At that moment, his facial expression changed to relief, as he had now realised he had reached the dungeon's centre. He placed the lantern on the altar, pulling his satchel around again and opening it to dig into its contents.

I watched all of this dispassionately. Outside, I knew that Rigger had set up a watch for the doors. Rodrigues was fuming at missing his target and hanging around the southern side of the building. When this young man leaves the church, he will face two of my most competent hunters. This did not give me great confidence in his chances of survival.

He found whatever he sought in the satchel and pulled out a book. It was a worn and battered Bible, with a rosary and crucifix hanging from it, held in place by the weight of the book as rosary beads went through the pages.

"Not what I was expecting."

He placed the Bible on the altar, stepping back with the lantern.

[Challenger's offering has been accepted.]

I was assaulted with images and memories of an old woman holding the Bible, praying constantly to her God. From my perspective, it was clear that I was not the old woman but someone else watching her. I sensed love, respect, and kindness.

As suddenly as they came, they were then gone.

I got the sense of a…. Grandmother?

The young man approached the pews and sat down, placing the lantern beside him. He settled in there for the night, eating and drinking from the supplies he had brought. Unlike Brother Michael, he settled in for the night and got some sleep. He extinguished the lantern and used the pew as a makeshift bed.

This meant I now had time to see what was going on outside.

The two hunters were waiting. Rigger was paying attention to the doors and had settled into a sitting position. The sun was now gone, and he was waiting. Rodrigues was on the south side, still stomping around and swearing in Spanish. After an hour, he settled down and waited.

He slept most of the night away.

He stirred two hours before dawn. After re-lighting the lantern, he ate and drank again. The light would alert hunters outside that he was active again. He waited there for about an hour before deciding to leave.

He extinguished the lantern and reattached it to the satchel. Then, he checked his weapons in the weak moonlight coming through the shattered windows. I could see he was building himself up to go outside once more.

He walked up to the doors, opening one slightly to look outside. I knew the view he would get was that of a peaceful graveyard near dawn, but he was not fooled.

It was just under an hour until dawn. More than enough time to get out of the graveyard to the gates. The problem he knew was that my hunters were out there waiting for him.

The question now was whether he would wait until daylight.

You will be rewarded if you pass through the gates after the dawn light has touched them. Simple enough in theory. Incredibly complicated in practice.

He flung the door open and resumed running. His direction was straight east. He was making a direct run for the gates.

Not a bad idea.

Rigger was ready.

Watching the chase, I concluded that Rigger was a good runner.

By this point, I had known him for over twenty years. Watching him chase down this Challenger reveals something I never really paid attention to. He was short and often bent over. But when he was running, he was surprisingly graceful.

This was quite a surprise.

The young man was now aware that he was being chased and was running as fast as he could. However, the environment was working against him. The mausoleum's statues and gravestones were hindering his progress toward the gate. Rigger had the advantage in the dark.

The young man didn't get far before he realised that he had to stop and make a fight of it. He turned around and faced the fast-approaching Hunter with his knife in hand. Rigger charged right at him, and when he was two meters away, he jumped at his opponent. The Challenger did not anticipate this. I was unable to react in time as he was hit with a combination of a shoulder barge and a clothesline. Both men were knocked to the floor. Rigger was on top.

Both men had their brains out, but were not in a good position. Punches, elbows, and bites were exchanged as he sought to gain the upper hand. In the saw fights, my Hunter had the advantage again.

Rigger was a veteran of fighting dirty. This young man was not. Rigger head-butted him as they tussled on the ground, momentarily stunning him. It was then that Rigger did something new. He slammed the palm of his hand into the boy's forehead, pinning him. He then went down and put the Challenger's neck on his windpipe. The young man screamed in pain, but that was not the worst of it. Rigger bites deep and then pulls back, ripping out the Challenger's windpipe.

In the darkness, black blood pumped from the wound. Rigger's lower face was covered in blood, and I realised he was chewing on the flesh of the Challenger, just ripped from his body.

Even I was shocked at that.

It did not take long for the challenge to die, drowning in his blood.

[A Hunter has made a Kill]

"Well done, Rigger. I will leave you to clean up the body."

I did not hang around here. I directed my other hunters to deal with the horse outside.

Due to the time of day, I knew that the body would not be buried until tonight. What little the young man had was split, mostly going to Rigger. I kept the boy's knife from the Way, along with the other two blades. In the end, he had virtually nothing to split anyway. My hunters will be disappointed by that.

I started using [Hide the Crime!].

I waited to see what the reaction to this would be.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Senior Ahmed appeared two days later.

We had a tense discussion, during which I confirmed that the young man had come and failed the challenge of New Midian.

Senior Ahmed was not unhappy that the young man had come to New Midian but had done so without the permission of the higher-ups in the Way of Athamos. I saw that as a 'they' problem.

He soon departed, leaving me relieved but still watchful.

May continued, and I had the Hunters in the forest at night while I watched during the day. There are no signs of Way activity in the forest anymore.

The end of May had two significant events within a few days, each informing the other. It was not until the next delivery of papers from Portland that I got a better understanding of what had happened.

As part of the alliance with Germany, Russia began work on the Trans-Siberian Railway line. It was a significant undertaking, and German engineers played a crucial role in accelerating its completion. The rail line consisted of four tracks, two heading in each direction. The endpoint was Vladivostok, the major Russian city and naval base in the East.

Tsesarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov (later Czar Nicholas II) attended, representing the Imperial Russian family. He opened the station to which the first line was now connected. This marked a significant shift in the Far East, enabling Russia to project its power more effectively. The Imperial Prince used the first train to travel the line to get there.

As part of his visit, he was sent to Japan to visit the islands as part of a diplomatic mission. It was when he was there that an attempted assassination was made on him. He was slightly wounded in the event but survived. The Russians blamed the lack of Japanese security for the attack, and both sides made several very harsh speeches. It was revealed that the attack was organised by Russian dissidents and Japanese Ultra-Nationalists worried by the planned deployment of more modern German ships to Vladivostok. It did nothing good for their diplomatic relations, which were already strained.

Reading more on this topic took me into June.

June brought visitors.

Five riders came up the track to the gates, so I went to get a better look at them.

They were young. I guessed it was in the late teens and early twenties.

I watched them as they dismounted. Their glances and forced conversation spoke volumes to me. They were nervous but hid it behind bravado. As they approached and dismounted, they encouraged one another, bragging about how easy this would be.

What would be easy?

They had supplies with them, ranging from guns to shovels.

"They do not have the look of grave robbers."

The more I watched and listened, the faster I concluded why they were here. I was right; they did not have the local bearing of grave robbers but of young treasure hunters.

They have been lured here by the rumours of the hidden gold. They were seeking to make a quick fortune. I could not blame them for that. Well, I could blame them for not listening to the other rumours about this place.

These young men had no chance.

I looked up and checked the sun's position in the sky, guessing it was just past midday. It was a likely cloudy day; the sun was occasionally obscured but never for long. Around the dungeon, summer was in full bloom, and everything was alive and green. Within the dungeon, the same was true. The flowers, the trees, and the grass were thriving. I thought it was a bit of a shame that the area would soon be turned into another site of slaughter.

I could have spent more time paying attention to them, but I wasn't interested in them. I knew I was becoming more callous and unempathetic. After witnessing so many deaths over the last 21 years, I was becoming immune to the effects. I couldn't deny that this was in many ways a damning condemnation of my loss of humanity.

I waited to see if they would chicken out at the last minute.

They spent ten minutes getting ready and continuing to psych themselves up. In the end, they gathered enough courage to pass the threshold into the courtyard. They ignored the plinth's message and took the northern route into the graveyard.

[Alert! Intruders are not recognised as Challengers.]

"Here we go."

I contacted my hunters and informed them about the group and their destination. I directed them to the point where I knew the ambush would happen. Over the years, I had come to understand and know my dungeon exceptionally well. I had wandered through the maze of passes countless times from different perspectives and had worked out all the best ambush locations.

I never had a lot to do during winter.

The group focused on reaching the church, using it as the starting point. Many of the stories they had heard indicated the gold was there. I learned this as they spoke to each other; some of their bravado had been replaced with a more focused desire. In that, they were correct; the gold was there.

Rigger was taking part in today's hunt. I had offered to stay out of it, but he chose to join in instead. He would be the slowest to arrive at the place I had chosen for the ambush, not because of his lack of knowledge of its location but because of that big ball of light in the sky.

I followed behind them a short distance, but several metres above the ground, which allowed me to get the best view of the area. They were close to the Spirits' hunting grounds, but I was not concerned with her making an appearance. Due to the sun's position in the sky, the light was far too strong, and the shadows too limited.

Four Hunters versus five young men. I knew who I was betting on.

When they first entered the graveyard, they were agitated and alert, but as they walked on, they became more relaxed as the immediate dangers presented themselves. I knew this was a fatal mistake, but what could I say?

Well, I was sure I could say a lot about it, and now was not the time.

I followed them, noting that we were near where I had arranged the ambush. This was going to happen in a slightly different area. The path ahead of us curves slightly and will close to a junction. It will take you down to the next ring. This was an extended area of footpath, and it was here that the ambush was going to take place.

I gave the order when I was sure they were far enough along.

These young men never stood a chance. Two Hunters emerged on both sides and hit them from those directions. They spotted them relatively quickly, and their conversation turned to cries of panic and alarm. Three of them gave in to their fear and tried to run, while two acted more sensibly.

They went for the guns, and I will give them their due; that was the smartest thing they could do. Unfortunately, the hunters were too close.

The three who tried to run did not get far as my hunters used their secondary weapons to wound them. Each of them had different blades that impacted their bodies and cut deep into them. The primary concern was the two going for their guns, so my Hunters focused on them first.

I was not interested in what happened next.

I turned away and looked over the graveyard. I ignored the sounds of screaming and pain as my hunters went to work. There was even a gunshot, which did cause me to turn back. It seemed that one of the youths had managed to get the gun out and had fired off, but missed his target. His target in this case was McGregor, and he was now expressing his unhappiness at that in a very sadistic manner.

I turned back to the graveyard, thinking about what would come next.

[A Hunter has made a Kill]

I was confident that the dungeon would be fully repaired when I levelled next.

[A Hunter has made a Kill]

I find it annoying that I still cannot do it yet. I was a bit upset that the church looked so messy when a challenger arrived at it.

[A Hunter has made a Kill]

I knew that I would get an extended list of possible options to introduce to my dungeon when I levelled.

[A Hunter has made a Kill]

But I've been thinking about it and what I want next. I had to be more careful with my choices now, as the time between levelling was increasing and would only get worse.

[A Hunter has made a Kill]

And that was the end of it.

I turned back to the slaughter below. And that was the right word to describe it. My Hunters had gone a bit overboard this time with the mess. I have noticed over the years that when killing together, they were becoming more sadistic and crueller as each tried to outdo the other. I could have words with them, but they were operating within the terms of their contracts.

In the end, I decided not to rock the boat as it might cause problems I did not want to deal with.

"You know what you have to do now."

I let them get to work. As I did, I opened their status screens and looked at who had done what.

Rodriguez had gotten two kills while the others all had one additional kill added to their tally. Roberson was only two kills away from his next level. That was a good sign for him; the others were still building towards their next threshold.

As for myself, I'd reach 62 out of the 80 I needed. At the current rate, I suspected it would probably be another 5 to 7 years before I reached it. I was very confident that I would be a level up before the turn of the century.

Things will start to change soon. Technologically and socially. It wouldn't be pronounced at first, but more and more motorised vehicles will begin to appear. I had already seen reports of the first 'motorised carriages' starting to be used. Also, I was seeing more reports of other technical innovations. Politically, I could see the powder keg building in Europe and knew that it would eventually blow up, but who would be involved was anyone's guess now.

"Yes, changes on the horizon."

I said this to myself as I moved back up to the top of the spatial bubble. My hunters were digging graves and would soon be moving to the horses. I was not interested in this until it was time to split the loot. Why did they do this? I look to the horizon in the distance.

I had reached a sort of accord with the Way of Athamos. My dungeon was known, but I had been able to keep the death toll low enough that it did not attract much attention. All in all, I was happy with where I was.

But I knew a storm was building.

When it finally broke, humanity would come to understand the true horrors of industrialised warfare.

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