Boom—!!
A thunderous explosion echoed above the darkened city. The citizens hiding in their homes trembled. Through the cracks in their doors, they saw a swarm of "Mysteries" sweeping toward the roof of the tavern, only to be frantically cut down by two figures.
"It's the people the Marquis brought! The Marquis has come to protect us!"
Seeing this, the man of one household brightened with joy, though he did not dare speak loudly and could only lower his voice.
"Thank you, Marquis... Thank you, Marquis... Thank you for avenging my little son who was eaten..." The woman beside him dropped to her knees in the house and repeatedly kowtowed toward the tavern, her face streaked with tears.
"Dad, I think there's someone on the road?" A young boy blinked through the crack in the door and spoke uncertainly.
"Don't talk nonsense. How could anyone be on the road at a time like this? Wouldn't that be courting death?"
"But there really is..."
The man peered through a crack on the other side of the door. Sure enough, a figure in a black robe and bamboo hat was walking down the road toward the tavern.
"Has he gone mad?!" The man's pupils contracted slightly.
"Dad, a monster is flying down over his head!" the boy cried out again.
A monster that had originally been flying toward the tavern suddenly spotted the figure below, immediately changed direction, and swooped toward him at high speed!
By the dim starlight, they could see that it was a vicious bat-like monster. When it opened its mouth, its bloody maw was large enough to swallow their entire house. Seeing the bat charge toward them, the woman let out a piercing scream.
Just as the bat was about to swallow the figure and their house whole,