Waves crash against the sand as Asmen, a member of the Dier clan, wipes the smoke off his glasses with the sleeve of his black jacket. The kappa he summoned lunges at Noman.
The boy ducks, rolling onto the beach, and the monster flies over him, landing on the promenade. It quickly turns back toward him—
Noman grabs a handful of sand and throws it at the kappa's eyes.
The vile beast tries to wipe it out, making a gross, wet noise as it scrapes at its face. Noman is about to kick the monster when—
"If you do that, I'll break your stick," Asmen says.
Noman freezes, not wanting the monster within it to be released.
That's when Eva comes charging toward them, fishing rod in hand. She whips the line out, the hook catching the kappa.
"You ugly fucker, go back home!" she shouts, yanking the rod back and casting the beast into the sea.
"Tough luck." Asmen takes the stick. "Now let's see what monster you memorized."
The stick snaps.
"Pahahahahaha! You didn't!" Asmen shouts, full of disbelief.
A creature from the east side of the country known to guard the groves of the dead — a lambshire.
Manifesting from the broken stick is a humanoid creature standing on its back goat legs, with human‑like arms above them. It crouches, long ears hanging beside its goat skull, horns curling forward. Handcuffs clamp around its wrists.
It glares at Noman, sharp red eyes piercing into his soul — both figuratively and literally, since this monster can't see normally and relies on sensing souls instead.
"What is that!?" Eva shouts, quickly looking at Noman, who seems to be panicked and fascinated.
"Capture Noman and kill the rest," Asmen proclaims.
"Baaaaaarrrrrr!" Strong goat legs burst out of the sand as it springs toward Noman.
Noman uses his red scarf and pulls the lambshire to one side where it misses its attack, and, taking the opportunity, he runs, grabbing Eva by the wrist and running past Foster, who just seemed to catch up to them.
"Where the hell are you—" Foster was about to ask, only to see the lambshire chase after the pair. "Fuck that." He runs after them.
Ruby's Rest isn't a large town, meaning there aren't many places to hide, but Eva knows some places.
Standing in the back alley of her father's restaurant, Eva, Noman, and Foster all try to keep themselves hidden.
"What was that?" Eva asks. There was a sense of wonder behind her eye, like seeing the Sea Lord for the first time.
Noman's eyes light up, and in one breath he begins to talk:
"It's a lambshire, a creature that eats bones. They're only violent if you try to dig up bodies. They guard human graves and keep people away from them so they can eat their bones once the body is fully decayed. They are mainly found in the east and have multiple variants. They say they originate from goats and dogs, as well as some people believing that they came from a human and a goat—"
"Shut up, we get it," Foster shouts, looking at the boy with anger. "But seriously, what are we doing? Why are we helping him?" Foster says, whipping his head around to Eva, who's peeking out of the alley.
"Fuck off then. The festival is boring as shit. This is way more fun," Eva says, still looking around for the lambshire.
Foster lets out a shaky breath. "I hate that I love you," he mumbles, but as he tilts his head up, about to wipe his eyes with his hand, he sees it — sharp red eyes.
Looking down at the trio, the horned beast sits quiet, watching, lurking, judging them as if it's figuring out which one is weakest.
"Guys, it's up there." Eva quickly looks up, but Noman doesn't move, breathing in then out. It looks down at them and then stands, walking away.
"Where is it going?" Foster whispers.
"They're blind," Noman reveals.
"Didn't it look at us though?" Eva asks, thinking about climbing up the ceiling to attack the creature first.
"They see souls, which makes it hard for them to judge if the person they're looking at is the thing they're hunting," Noman says, folding himself back from talking about their sense of smell and strength to break open bones.
"What do we do? It's going to keep looking for us, isn't it?" Foster says, not sure if he should move or not. But as he struggles with the idea of being safe, a man screams.
Causing Eva to dash out of the alley. "Where you—!" Foster follows after her, and Noman watches as they leave, looking to the side and finding a poster of today's Sea Lord Festival.
In front of Eva's restaurant, her father blocks the hit of the lambshire with a frying pan. The metal bends around its hand, but the hit smacks Eva's father in the side, knocking the man into his restaurant wall. Eva runs out from behind the restaurant to see this take place.
"Dad!" she shouts, but she stops as the lambshire looks at her.
Kneeling down, it springs off the ground and launches itself at Eva.
Her vision spirals as Eva is pulled out of the way by Foster, the fist of the lambshire crashing into his ribs, and a crack could be heard from within his body.
Eva looks in shock as Foster drops to his knees, clutching his chest.
"Are yo—" but she didn't have time to react as the lambshire attempted to kick her, but she grabbed its leg, her side hurting as a blunt force pile‑drives into her.
"You ugly rabbit," she says, spinning the beast and letting it go. She feels her side tingle with pain as the beast simply leaps back onto a fence separating the wagon road from the path.
Eva and the lambshire stare at each other, about to fight, when it looks up at the roof of the restaurant where Noman stands holding the poster of today's festival and rips it in two.