Getting closer to what we think the body is we slowed down, becoming weary and guarded against our surroundings.
Corpses of monsters started littering our way. At first, they were sparse and burned like they had been covered in intense heat, trails of dark smoke rising from their bodies. Getting closer the corpses started showing cut wounds and every other one had a missing limb or two.
We spotted a man leaning on a stone, one hand resting on a broken fang of the Cerberus lying close to him and the other clutching a fang piercing his stomach. Blood soaked his dark attire and formed a small puddle under him, He had spiky blond hair, and his apparel where a dark purple sweater and the same colored baggy pants with a torn haori hanging by a thread of his shoulders which considering how hot it got out here told us he did not usually come out here and probably ignored the advice of other adventurers.
Tifa besides me gasped at the site and whispered a name, "Cloud." Before to his side but fighting the urge to pull out the huge fang currently piercing his stomach.
"Check if he is alive." Haruhiro ordered Mary.
"He is still breathing," I informed her before she could get close and waste time checking instead of healing him straightaway. Tifa insisted on staying by his side even if she would not be able to do anything.We all spread out and looked around for other surviving adventurers or monsters.
Jessie found another survivor behind a boulder, hiding from what looked like a big explosion by the scorching marks on the floor and the outward debris flung by it.
As she carried the body back to our healers I spotted the mane of bright red hair and my mind immediately made me think of my mother. I managed to reign it in knowing my mother would not be in that state thanks to a hoard of monsters so small plus my father would be around to help in the fight even if he felt at times unreliable, fighting was one of the things I fully trusted him in.
The red-haired person turned out to be a man with a burn scar on his arm, it looked recent so it could be healed.
He was placed beside the other man "Cloud" as Tifa told us his name and we waited for them to wake up or decide who would carry them.
When Cloud woke up we got ready to leave since he did not want to go back. He looked around and measured each one until his gaze fell on Tifa. "Tif" his eyes locked on to hers."Did you all come from that direction?" his voice contained worry and something else in it, he pointed with his thumb back in the direction we fought the night creature.
We all gave a grim nod and he took a moment to form his question. "Did you encounter an undying fiend?" With another grim nod, he looked around at us all. "Your group must have been massive if some survived, it's not cowardly to run from a fight you know you can't win." His voice turned down and caring as if caring for a group of scared people.
"Run away?" Tifa asked in a bit louder than a whisper.
He gave her a small nod, "Not everyone is strong enough to face them, Tif." He tried to console her. "They are something fierce and usually leave no one alive to spread what happened."No we-" Moguzo tried to say something, probably correct him.
"It's ok, no need to justify yourself to me. I understand." We all gave him an incredulous look.
Remembering its healing having almost no limit, his doubt of us not just fighting and surviving but winning the fight.
"Mary can heal you and your friend then." Not wanting to correct him in case he had a fragile ego Haruhiro volunteered Marys' healing.
Healing them took her about ten minutes enough not to have any discernable wounds on both of them. The red-haired man however did not wake up. "It's because he used up too much mana, he will wake up in under an hour I think." Mary let Cloud after her examination.
"Thank you, I hope to end this hunt in the next 4 hours." He turned to face Tifa "and catch up to you quickly."
She gave a small nod, Jessie had a baffled expression.
"Cmon let's go now." Jessie placed her hands on Tifas shoulders and pushed her away from us towards the direction we had camped on our way here.
"If them knowing each other wasn't clear enough that 'Tif' nickname was like a bettering ram forcing me to accept that they knew each other and probably made a promise when they were younger similar to the game.
I followed them along with the rest of our companions soon after it registered in my head.
---
"What are you doing!!" Jessie yelled and whispered at the same time, and quickly turned around to check her surroundings and saw me walking some steps behind her and Tifa. She quickly pulled her down and lowered her whispering voice down.
We continued our way back to report the completion of the quest.
The sun yanked our attention back to it with the heat it emitted, the pieces of armor we stripped off of Briggs were working in overdrive to keep us cool.
"Shihoru!!!" Ranta suddenly started screaming like a madman. "Do you have magic to keep us cool??!!"
"I said I don't!!!!!!" In a burst of frustration, Shihoru raised her voice.
Everyone in her party froze and looked at her. Their faces had an expression of looking at a whole new person.
A moment passed in silence before her mind processed her little outburst. Silence ruled for a second before she burst into tears, Yume quickly rushed to her side and started consoling her and giving Ranta the stink eye.
I moved to Haruhiros side and asked in a hushed tone "What kind of magic does she specialize in?"
"She is good at... umm support I think?"
"You are the leader yet you don't know what your team is good at?"
"I just recently became the leader and well.. to tell the truth I don't feel up to it."
"I doubt many leaders chose to be ready for it, I think it's more of a trial and error. Of course, try to keep the number of errors as small as you can. To do that you should know the strengths and weaknesses of your party to know when and how to use them. I would say you got the advantage since you're a thief and can jump back from chaotic fights and take in the whole battlefield but everyone can do it unless you have a skill to help you hide from enemies in plain sight." My mind went back to thinking about what a thief could do as a leader.
"Yeah I know someone who can teach me a skill like that.... and thank you for the advice, I do need it to keep us all alive, my party I mean." Haruhiro rubbed the back of his neck and gave me a wry smile. "Any chance you'd be willing to join our party and be the new leader?"
His voice must have been loud or something because his whole party was on us after those words came out of his mouth.
"Hiro don't leave us!!!!~" Yume started bawling.
"Parupiro I am going to be the next leader so keep your trap shut!!" Ranta looked like he was about to pop a vein on his head and his teeth were grinding back and forth.
"Your a great leader, you have done so well keeping us alive, and we trust you." Shihorus chimed her opinion in her usual shy voice.
"Haru, you are doing great." Mary came to his side, laid a hand on his shoulder, and gave it a little squeeze and a smile.
I looked around, seeing the faces of his supporting party. "And the team has spoken, guess you're stuck being the leader indefinitely." I gave him a shrug with my face clearly saying 'What can you do.'
"I don't know what you guys see or like in me being the leader, I feel like I'm failing all the time, stressing out over everything," Haruhiro asked them, his voice cracking.
Yume tilted her head, "You kept Yume alive so far, you're our scardy cat leader." She stated as if it was something obvious.
"You're doing great Haru, keep being yourself and we will follow." Mary tried to encourage him further.
We kept talking the rest of the day, with Briggs joining us in the discussion of how to be a better leader. The girls joined Jessie and Tifa when they were sure Haruhiro would still be their leader. their discussion looked serious and almost heated to the point where Jessie might have gotten her ass handed to her due to a fight she started by pulling Tifas hair and punching her in the face. Which did nothing but make Tifa fight back, Briggs and I had to hold them back or one would end up with something broken.
We had to keep them separate with our two parties in the middle and them on each side the rest of the day.
---
Word count: 1573
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As we trudged onward, the air grew thick with the acrid scent of charred flesh and the metallic tang of blood. The desolate landscape stretched endlessly before us, a graveyard of twisted monster corpses strewn haphazardly across the cracked earth. The farther we advanced, the more gruesome the scene became—bodies no longer just scorched but hacked apart, limbs severed with brutal precision, dark ichor seeping into the dirt. It was as though we were walking through the aftermath of a storm of violence, each step heavier than the last.
When we came upon the man slumped against the jagged stone, my breath caught in my throat. His spiky blond hair was unmistakable, even matted with sweat and grime. Blood pooled beneath him, soaking into the dry ground from the massive Cerberus fang impaled through his midsection. The beast itself lay dead beside him, its broken fang clutched in his trembling hand as if it were a trophy—or a curse. His dark purple sweater clung to his frame, torn and stained, while the tattered remnants of a haori hung off his shoulders like a shredded cape. The heat out here was relentless, shimmering off the ground in waves, and that haori marked him as someone who wasn't an adventurer from Tsige and hadn't heeded the warnings about this unforgiving terrain.
Tifa's gasp beside me shattered the silence. "Cloud," she whispered, her voice trembling with a mix of recognition and dread. She rushed to his side, dropping to her knees, her hands hovering over the fang as if she could will it out of him without causing more harm. Her eyes were wide, glistening with unshed tears, but she held herself back, knowing one wrong move could end him.
"Check if he's alive," Haruhiro ordered, his voice steady despite the tension crackling through our group. Mary stepped forward, but I beat her to it.
"He's still breathing," I said, catching the faint rise and fall of his chest before Mary could waste time confirming it. "Heal him now." Tifa nodded, clinging to his side helplessly as Mary knelt beside him, her hands glowing faintly with the soft light of her magic.
The rest of us fanned out, scanning the area for signs of life—or danger. The corpses around us told a story of a brutal fight, and the eerie stillness that followed suggested we might not be alone. Jessie's sharp cry drew our attention moments later. She emerged from behind a massive boulder, dragging another survivor—a man with a shock of bright red hair and a fresh burn scar snaking up his arm. The ground near where she'd found him was scorched black, littered with debris flung outward in a starburst pattern, evidence of a massive explosion.
My heart lurched at the sight of that red hair, a fleeting image of my mother flashing through my mind. But I shook it off—she'd never be caught in a mess like this, not with a pack of monsters this small. And if she were, my father would be right there, sword in hand, reliable as ever in a fight despite his occasional flakiness elsewhere. This man wasn't her. He was just another battered adventurer.
Jessie laid him beside Cloud, and Mary set to work healing them both. Tifa stayed glued to Cloud's side, murmuring soft reassurances under her breath. The rest of us kept watch, the oppressive heat bearing down on us as the sun climbed higher in the sky.
Cloud stirred first, his piercing blue eyes fluttering open. He groaned, shifting slightly, then froze as he caught sight of Tifa. "Tif," he rasped, his voice rough but laced with relief. His gaze swept over us, assessing each face before settling back on her. "Did you all come from that direction?" He jerked his thumb toward the path we'd taken—the one where we'd fought the night creature just hours before.
We exchanged grim nods, and his expression darkened, a shadow of worry crossing his features. "Did you encounter a creature that looked horrifying?" he asked, his tone carrying an edge of something deeper—fear, fury, or maybe both. Another round of nods confirmed it, and he exhaled sharply, rubbing a blood-streaked hand across his face. "Your group must've been massive if some of you survived. It's not cowardly to run from a fight you know you can't win." His voice softened, almost paternal, as if he were comforting a group of shaken novices.
"Run away?" Tifa echoed, her voice barely above a whisper, a flicker of indignation in her eyes.
Cloud gave her a faint nod, his expression gentle. "Not everyone's strong enough to face them, Tif. They're something fierce—usually leave no one alive to tell the tale."
"No, we—" Moguzo started, his deep voice rumbling as he tried to interject, likely to correct Cloud's assumption that we'd fled.
"It's okay," Cloud cut in, raising a hand. "No need to justify yourselves to me. I get it." His tone was understanding, but it left us staring at him in disbelief. He genuinely thought we'd run—and survived by sheer luck. The idea that we'd not only fought but won against an undying creature of the night seemed beyond his comprehension, given the creature's reputation for limitless regeneration.
Haruhiro, stepped in before the misunderstanding could spiral. "Mary can heal you and your friend, then," he offered, nodding toward the red-haired man still unconscious beside Cloud. No point in bruising the guy's ego if he needed to believe we were just lucky survivors.
Mary's healing took about ten minutes, her hands steady as she channeled her magic into their wounds. Cloud's stomach knitted itself back together, the fang pushed free and clattering to the ground, while the red-haired man's burn scar faded to a faint pink line. "He's not waking up yet because he's drained his mana," Mary explained, glancing at Cloud. "He'll come around in under an hour, I'd guess."
Cloud nodded, flexing his newly healed arm. "Thank you. I'm hoping to end this hunt in the next four hours." He turned to Tifa, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "And catch up to you quickly."
Tifa returned a small nod, her expression conflicted. Jessie, meanwhile, looked utterly baffled, her mouth half-open as if she couldn't decide whether to laugh or argue.
"C'mon, let's go," Jessie said finally, planting her hands on Tifa's shoulders and steering her away from Cloud, back toward the direction of our camp. The nickname "Tif" hung in the air like a battering ram, hammering home the obvious—they knew each other, probably from way back. A promise made in childhood, similar to the game.
I lingered for a moment, watching Cloud hoist himself to his feet, then followed the others. The sun blazed overhead, its heat merciless as it reflected off the armor we'd stripped from Briggs, now jury-rigged to keep us cool with the enchantment working in overdrive. The tension from the encounter lingered, but we pressed on, eager to report the quest's completion.
"Shihoru!!!" Ranta's voice suddenly shattered the quiet, loud and grating as always. "Do you have magic to keep us cool?!"
"I said I don't!!!" Shihoru snapped back, her voice rising in a rare burst of frustration that stunned us all into silence. Her party froze, staring at her as if she'd sprouted wings. Her wide eyes darted around, realization hitting her like a brick, and then she crumpled, tears streaming down her face. Yume was at her side in an instant, wrapping her in a hug and shooting Ranta a glare that could've melted stone.
I sidled up to Haruhiro, keeping my voice low. "What kind of magic does she specialize in?"
"She's good at… uh, support, I think?" he mumbled, scratching the back of his head.
I raised an eyebrow. "You're the leader, and you don't know what your team's good at?"
He winced. "I only recently took over, and honestly… I don't feel cut out for it."
"Most leaders don't choose the role—they stumble into it," I said, crossing my arms. "It's trial and error, but you've got to keep the errors small. Know your party's strengths and weaknesses, and figure out when to push and when to pull back. You're a thief, right? That gives you an edge—step back from the chaos, and read the battlefield. Unless you've got a skill to vanish in plain sight, anyone can do it, but you're built for it."
"Yeah, I know someone who could teach me a trick like that," he said, rubbing his neck with a sheepish grin. "Thanks for the advice. I need it to keep us alive—my party, I mean. Any chance you'd join us and take over as leader?"
His voice must've carried because suddenly his entire party swarmed us. "Hiro, don't leave us!!!" Yume wailed, tears welling up again.
"Parupiro, I'm gonna be the next leader, so shut it!" Ranta barked, his face red, veins bulging as he ground his teeth.
"You're a great leader," Shihoru said softly, her shy voice cutting through the noise. "You've kept us alive, and we trust you."
Mary stepped closer, resting a hand on Haruhiro's shoulder with a reassuring squeeze. "Haru, you're doing great."
I glanced around at their earnest faces, then shrugged at Haruhiro. "Looks like the team's spoken. You're stuck with the job."
He sighed, his voice cracking slightly. "I don't know what you guys see in me. I feel like I'm failing half the time, stressing over every little thing."
"You've kept Yume alive this long," Yume said, tilting her head as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You're our scaredy-cat leader."
"Keep being yourself, Haru," Mary added. "We'll follow you."
The rest of the day passed in a blur of conversation, Briggs chiming in with his own gruff takes on leadership as we walked. The girls eventually drifted over to Jessie and Tifa, their discussion growing intense—too intense. It started with Jessie yanking Tifa's hair in a fit of frustration, then escalated when she landed a punch square on Tifa's jaw. Tifa didn't hesitate, lunging back with a fist of her own. Briggs and I had to dive in, hauling them apart before bones started breaking. Jessie was spitting mad, Tifa's eyes blazing with fury, and we spent the rest of the trek keeping them separated, our two parties forming a buffer zone between the simmering pair.
The sun dipped lower, casting long shadows across the wasteland, but the heat didn't let up. Neither did the tension. We'd survived monsters, undying creatures, and now each other—barely.
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Word Count 1758
Which of the two do you guys think was better? It was basically the same chap but in the second one I had the Grok AI tool add more detail but the kept story the same. had to correct somethings that didn't go the way I wanted the story to go but it was not much. Leave a commet letting me know which one you prefer.
PS: The name for the Demons from Kimetsu no Yaiba bounce around because I don't know officially what to name them yet so, some ideas might be helpful.