Chapter Forty-Five: The Hunter’s Dark House

“This is all the information we have,” Catherine said calmly, gazing at her team as she waited quietly for questions.

“Behemoth? You’ll be dealing with them frequently in the future, so it’s not a bad idea to get acquainted early,” Zhao Tianxing mused, his hand idly stroking the blade of his sword lying across the table.

Ji Ning seemed unimpressed, prompting Avra to explain, “Behemoth is a monster mentioned in the Bible. According to legend, on the sixth day of creation, God fashioned Behemoth and Leviathan from clay. Its tail stands firm as a cedar, muscles solid like stone, bones as hard as brass and iron. In the Middle Ages, Behemoth was seduced by demons to join the ranks of Hell, becoming the King of Excess, one of the Seven Princes of Hell, representing the antithesis of hope.”

“I’m an atheist; I don’t read the Bible,” Ji Ning replied with a shake of his head. His indifference toward religion stemmed largely from his first exposure being a George Carlin stand-up routine.

Qin Mo shot him a helpless look. “The Bible is required reading for the Supernatural Theory class. If you paid even half as much attention in class as you do at mealtime, you wouldn’t be so ignorant.”

Ji Ning offered a sheepish grin, recalling that he barely scraped by that course with a passing grade after pleading with the professor.

Catherine tidied up the documents in her backpack and distributed them to everyone. “These are the missions issued by the Foundation. We can choose one as our midterm project. Once confirmed, we’ll receive more detailed information and gain certain permissions within the Foundation.”

“This one—find the stolen sculpture—it sounds like a beginner’s quest,” Ji Ning said, his years of experience at dodging work making him spot it immediately. Compared to the tasks requiring the destruction of cults or ritual sites, searching for a missing sculpture seemed oddly out of place.

Catherine hesitated. It was precisely because the task seemed so simple that it felt suspicious. No matter how short-staffed the Foundation was, it seemed unlikely they’d list a mere theft as a formal mission.

“Don’t you find it odd?” Qin Mo voiced her concern directly. “The mission description is a single sentence: ‘Find the stolen sculpture.’ Why is this even on par with the other assignments?”

Avra, however, seemed unconcerned. “What if it really is that simple? The Foundation’s swamped cleaning up the mess left by the Cult of Carnal Desire. Maybe they truly are stretched too thin.”

Zhao Tianxing was equally indifferent. Whether it was catching a thief or busting up a cult gathering, it made little difference to him.

“Let’s put it to a vote,” Ji Ning proposed slyly. “Raise your hand if you’re against taking this mission.”

Catherine and Qin Mo raised their hands. Avra didn’t; she shared Ji Ning’s view that, no matter how tough things got, searching for a lost sculpture sounded better than fighting fanatical cultists. Zhao Tianxing didn’t bother to raise his hand either—he simply couldn’t care less.

“Then it’s decided,” Ji Ning said, grinning at Catherine.

Catherine glanced at Qin Mo, and the two exchanged a resigned look before entering the mission selection command into the computer.

The follow-up information displayed in the holographic projection was sparse, almost suspiciously so, as if the Foundation were still withholding intelligence. Nevertheless, they read carefully.

According to current information, the Foundation suspects that the theft at the Massachusetts branch on April 16, 2018, was the work of the Black House Hunters. The stolen item was a sculpture depicting a being with a lion’s head and a worm-like body. Inscribed in Greek on the base: “Desire is the measure of all things. Do not be bound by the reins of morality. Do as you will, with whom you will.”

The Black House Hunters are an anomalous criminal cult, primarily active in former Soviet territories. Their activities include extortion, murder, robbery, gambling, prostitution, human trafficking, drug and arms dealing, and underground fighting rings. While these activities are not anomalous in themselves, the group’s supernatural abilities significantly impact their operations.

The Foundation first became aware of the Black House Hunters on March 22, 1998, through an Interpol informant. Further investigation revealed files related to the group in Department “P” of the recently-dissolved GRU, with former members confirming their existence. Department “P” seemed unable to fully control or eliminate the organization’s threat; one document described them as a “Hydra”—destroyed multiple times, only to reappear months later, stronger than before.

Victims of the Black House Hunters have been found impaled by massive organic spines—chitinous on the surface and structurally similar to coral, yet containing human DNA. These victims often showed signs of ritualistic cannibalism.

Because the Foundation considered the Black House Hunters to be little more than a regular gang with ties to the Cult of Carnal Desire, little specific information exists. The only known fact is that all members bear the “Skull of Orrokos” tattoo.

After reading the brief dossier, Ji Ning immediately looked to Avra.

“I can’t deduce the meaning behind the sculpture’s imagery without seeing it myself,” Avra admitted. “But the Greek inscription translates as: ‘Desire is the measure of all things. Do not be bound by the reins of morality. Do as you wish, with whomever you wish.’ Orrokos is a high-ranking warlock within the Cult of Carnal Desire—one of the four saints. Believers think his authority encompasses strength, war, violence, savagery, and hunting, as well as the seemingly contradictory traits of loyalty and betrayal. His titles include: the Horned Beast, the Barbarian Lord, and the Pale Hunter. Orrokos is said to possess unnatural physical strength, the product of alchemical and mystical experimentation on slaves. He was obsessed with the ruler of the Inner Sanctum, Matriarch Asvighosha, serving as both her bodyguard and gladiator.”

“According to records, between 1600 and 1200 BCE, the great warlock Yann invaded the city of Jel and entered Matriarch Asvighosha’s palace. He demanded she leave and deliver a message to the Daevas of Daeva, or suffer consequences. The matriarch refused, ordering Orrokos to destroy him. Orrokos hesitated; ‘his enslavement runes seared his ravenous soul, his body became spirit.’ He turned on his mistress, striking her with the same fists she once used to beat him, reducing her to ‘dregs, ash, and starlight.’”

“Orrokos is usually depicted as a tall, muscular, one-eyed giant wearing a belt. His symbols include a double-headed axe, a single-eyed skull, a hunting spear, broken bones, clenched fists, and a mighty elephant.”

“I knew it,” Ji Ning sighed. “Nothing involving the Foundation and the Cult of Carnal Desire ever turns out simple, no matter how ordinary it seems. In the end, we’ll still end up risking our lives against those carnivorous fanatics.”

Catherine, oddly, felt a little less anxious. If it had been described as a straightforward theft, she would have been even more uneasy. With the Foundation, the simpler the case appears, the more terrifying it often is—like calling a hurricane that just destroyed a city ‘a passing breeze’ on the mission notice. The true scale, the cause—a cult ritual, the city ruins a sacrificial altar to an eldritch god, unseen things lurking below—those details are only revealed after you survive the ordeal by the skin of your teeth.