Pendant

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"Ha-a-a." Khuan is panting heavily because he just ran back to the town.

"Help."

"Please, save me!"

"Where is my baby? Where is she?"

Various cries and screams can be heard all over the town. Although this town is considered small, it is still composed of almost 2 hundred families.

After running for some time, Khuan reached the front of their house.

"Granny? Kniana? Can you hear me guys? Where are you?"

He hurriedly opened their door, however the doorknob is locked. He then ran towards the back of the house. There was a small wooden door, just half the size of a normal door and it was covered with vines and plants. It was their emergency door.

He almost broke the wooden door because he was becoming more and more nervous about Granny and Kniana's safety.

'Pang'

When he finally opened the door, he found himself in their small kitchen. He then shouted again.

"Granny, Kniana, where are you-"

"Stop, you may attract monsters."

"Granny, there you are. Where is Kniana?

"She is in the room, quick, pack your important things too, we're leaving."

After knowing that both of his loved ones were safe, he hurriedly ran into his room. He prepared his bag and filled it with some clothes and necessities. He cannot bring too much things, only the important ones. It may slow them down if ever they encountered a monster.

Monsters have abilities like some snakes. They can scan their surroundings using their prey's temperature. Although staying in the house may be safe for some time, it will be a different story if it enters your house. They will surely see you.

'Boom' 'Boom'

While packing, Khuan heard sudden explosions. He became more tensed and ran towards the room where Kniana and Granny are packing.

'Boom' 'Bang'

When he gets out of his room, he suddenly saw both Granny Cyn and Kniana in front of his room. Granny Cyn put her index finger into her lips, as if saying Khuan to be quite.

Khuan then became less tensed seeing that they were safe. However, they still have a problem. There is a monster in the house.

"Gran, you go first. I will distract the monster while you run towards the mountain. I'll follow after."

"No, you must not stay here. We are going together."

"Gran, it will only lead to our death. Please, I promise, I will be safe."

After thinking the pros and cons of Khuan's decision, she nodded and said, "Okay, but you better be fast boy."

The two women then proceeded towards the back door. The monster is most likely in the front door because it is where the noises came from.

Khuan walked nervously towards the living room. It was then when he saw a 4 feet tall mouse-like creature.

Initially, monsters looked like enlarged viruses and bacteria. However, due to their incompatibility with Debhia's environment, they forcibly combined themselves together with some animals. It resulted to this kind of mutations, animals became enlarged and stronger.

"Damn, it is definitely a mutated rat. How can I fight that?"

Khuan became terrified. These kinds of monsters needed at least 20 W-Rank Magicians or 5 X-Rank Magicians.

He is only a V-Rank Magician, the lowest among the rest. To make things worse, he only knows fire magic. He never had the chance to buy skill books because they were too expensive.

"I just hope I don't die."

He casted Fireball on his hands. An small ball of fire started glowing from his hands. It is larger than usual, maybe because he is already desperate?

'Bang' 'Bang' 'Bang'

He casted Fireball thrice, pointing it towards the mouse.

"Shrieeeeeekkk"

The mouse became enraged. He look at Khuan with eyes filled with killing intent.

He then quickly ran towards the back door. Before leaving, he first locked the door and placed some wooden boxes to block the mouse from escaping their house.

He ran towards the mountain in hopes of matching the pace of Granny Cyn and Kniana who are already heading towards the mountain.

Suddenly,

'Boooom'

The mouse broke the wall of their house. It quickly scanned its surroundings to find its prey who had just escaped.

Seeing the mouse had already escaped, Khuan stood nervously behind a tree.

The mutated mouse walked slowly past some trees which are just meters away from Khuan.

"....."

It became silent?

Khuan slowly moved his head to find the monster. Unexpectedly,

"Shrrieeeekkkkkk"

The monster roared at him, it already found him. It was probably because of the high temperature of Khuan's head. He just finished running and he is very tensed now, so his body is normally in high temperature.

"Damn, eat this!"

Khuan casted another Fireball.

However, after his 4th cast, he felt that his mana has already depleted.

"Fu#k"

He cursed inwardly and started running towards the mountains.

"Follow me, you rotten mouse."

He then continued his running towards the western part of the mountains. He was sure that Granny and Kniana headed towards the east, so he cannot let the monster go there too. It would be a disaster.

"Haa! Haaaa! Haaa"

He is already breathing heavily, the mouse seems to be agile. So he cannot stop, unless he wanted to be eaten.

He was running when suddenly, a rock hit his foot.

"Aaaaaahhhhhh."

He fell into a shallow cliff.

"Aaarghh"

Blood came out from his mouth. He can also feel that some of his bones were broken. He was lucky because the cliff was not too high.

"Sshrrrrieeeekkkk"

The rat screamed at him. It did not seem to follow him though. Is it because it is afraid of jumping?

Khuan hurriedly moved his body. Luckily, he can still walk. He looked at the rat, but it seems like there is still no sign of jumping.

'This is my chance, I have to run, fast!'

He tried to run but his body is aching so much. He can only make his walking pace faster.

When he was walking, he suddenly saw a cave. It was kind of small but there were no monster.

'I can rest here, I must stop my bleeding first or I will die.'

Khuan entered the cave. At first, he thought it was a small cave. However, as he walked into it, it stretched longer than what he had expected. The space was also getting wider. It seems like it was actually a big cave.

'Herbs, medicinal herbs! I need to find some. I need to cure myself fast. Granny and Kniana are still out there.'

He forcibly moved his body to find some herbs that may help his wounds. However,

'Baam'

Khuan's body collapsed. His body could not accommodate walking anymore. Some of his small bones were also destroying his organs as he moves more.

'Is this the end?'

He felt that his body is slowly losing its energy. He was sure that he is already dying. He reached the pendant of his necklace. Then, he cried.

'Mom, Dad. I'm sorry.'

While his tears were pouring out, the pendant of his necklace vibrated.

It was glowing dark red, contrast to its original color which is dark green. It continued shining bright red, it was as if it was full of blood. Suddenly, it spew out red mist covering his surroundings.

He unconsciously took his necklace and threw it into the ground, he then crawled moving away from it too.

However, after throwing the necklace, it did not reached the ground. Instead, it stayed on the air. It was actually floating in the air. It was very mystifying to look at.

"Is that really my pendant?"

After watching it, it suddenly emitted more and more mist.

He unexpectedly felt his blood resonating with the pendant. He felt that he is recovering. The broken bones were also fixed in an instant.

'What is this?'

'Is this Mom and Dad's workings?'

After feeling that he is already healed up, he proceeded to stand up. When all of the sudden,

'Booom'

The pendant exploded. The red mist was also starting to disappear. It was then when he saw the thing left by the explosion, it was a rotating black orb.

"What the hell is that?"

He looked at the black orb from far away. It was so black, it even looked liked it was darker than the night. It was also emitting an eerie atmosphere.

He wanted to check the rotating orb when it unexpectedly stopped. After pausing for almost 30 seconds, it started to move slowly into him.

He unconsciously stepped back. However, the black orb continued on moving, it was also starting to move faster. He felt that the ball is definitely dangerous so he ran away from it by instinct.

"Why is this orb following me?"

He ran quickly. 'Why the hell do I need to run a lot today?' He was furiously complaining inside his head, when suddenly, a rock hit his foot again

"Dammit, what is the problem with this rocks."

He cursed, it seems like rocks are starting to sprout on the ground like mushrooms whenever he stepped into it. However, without even having the chance to stand up, the black orb is already at the back of his right hand.

"Arrrghhhh!"

He shouted in pain, his right hand feels like it was being eaten by the black orb.

He tried pulling it out but nothing to avail. It is like the black orb is already connected to his nerves and muscles.

"What? How can this things be so sticky? Please get off of my hand!"

The back of his hand was also starting to become pitch black in color. He then became terrified.

'My right hand looks like Willia-'

Because he was already starting to freak out, he can only think of one way to save his precious right hand, breaking the black orb. He tried to find some rocks to break the orb when he, out of the blue, found a chest.

The chest looked majestically big. It was full of exquisitely made carvings too. However, due to the dust and dirt covering it, the chest looked like it was actually just your typical old house chest. But its appearance is not important now.

"Chest, maybe it was left by some adventurer-type magicians. There may be some tools in there."

He hurriedly ran into it. He tried to open it with his left hand because his right hand is already numb, it opened easily because there were no locks nor chains.

When he saw what was inside though, he became dumbfounded.

"A book?"