A Fantasy world also has its Dark side.

After the knight called for me, I ran as fast as I could after hearing that monster beasts were seen in front of the forest's entrance.

I've always known that monster beasts tend to be aggressive when the winter season arrives, since we've been handling such disturbances for the past several years.

But after we saw that thing...

That thing that slaughtered my knights viciously is what truly terrifies me.

My old friend, Kai Heinz If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have been able to return home safely.

But right now, that same vicious thing, which Kai forcibly dragged away further deep in the forest of Eldia, is currently standing in front of me.

"A Monster Beast Salamander!"

"How in the world did it get here on the eastern side!?"

"It's an A-Rank monster beast! Get away!"

A monster beast Salamander, Was a huge beast, taller than the trees, completely concealed in flames as it blazed through its body continuously.

Threat level: A

"Formation everyone! Water Elementalists, shoot that thing!"

I stood in awe, recalling the scenery, when Kai smiled as he lured the Monster Beast salamander away from us.

"---ke!"

His courageous act saved the rest of us.

"---Ke!"

And yet, this thing managed to find its way back and come directly at us.

"Duke!!!"

"Huh?" I flinched after suddenly snapping back to reality.

"What are you doing spacing ou---" *Wham!* As the salamander slammed its hand into the knight.

"Huh?" What just happened? Why did the knight die?"

As I slowly raised my head high, I saw the salamander's huge body emitting several flames as it continuously growled in front of me.

"Duke! Run away!"

.....

.....

Snap out of it, Damian! A leader must remain calm and unfazed. I need to kill this, or else... It'll run amok in our city." Damian pondered, and he slapped his cheeks.

The salamander slowly took a deep breath while its mouth created a compressed flame and aimed it towards Damian.

"Moonlight Swordsmanship! First Form!"

There, everybody witnessed how courageous Duke Damian was to confront a salamander that was ten times his size.

In that instance, the salamander breathed away condensed flames that were specifically aimed at Damian.

But Damian, who performed the Moonlight Swordsmanship stance, instantly disappeared in a blink of an eye. Making the ground crumble and boil as the flames of the salamander hit directly at it.

While Damian was sooner found, floating above the Salamander while raising his sword with both of his hands, a massive, dense, pressurizing aura emitted from his entire body.

"Excalibur!" Damian yelled while he swung his sword, releasing a glittering, bland, whitish aura slash that struck the Salamander directly from above.

Continuously penetrating through the salamander's thick, blazing skin. But the Salamander's defense was truly outstanding as it withstood Damian's attack.

While Damian floated in midair and slowly fell to the ground, the salamander quickly raised its arms and tried to claw him away.

*Clung* The sound that occurred from the collision of Damian's sword and the Salamander's claw.

Damian blocked the salamander's sharp claws with his sword and was completely blown away.

"Duke!" The soldiers yelled with shocked expressions after seeing Damian blown away just by defending the Salamander's attack.

*Boom!*

Damian crashed into one of the village houses. He then slowly got up and regained his composure while blood dripped from his forehead.

"Fire at the salamander!"

The Water Elementalist Mages immediately formed a formation and shot a barrage of Water Affinity attacks towards the enraged Salamander.

Combined with the knights, they attracted the Salamander's attention.

"Enhance physical strength! Javelin Throw!"

"Entanglement Vines!"

"Wind Slash!"

As they poured their ultimate attacks together to defeat the blazing salamander, smoke instantly occurred after their attacks struck directly at the salamander.

But after the smoke cleared, they all stood in awe, seeing the Salamander unscathed by their combined attacks.

"Is this the power of an A-rank monster beast?"

Their eyes wavered as they stood in front, staring at the silhouette of the unscathed salamander.

But before realizing it, a massive aura slash struck directly at the salamander's body. They immediately turned around and witnessed Duke Damian boiling with a dense aura while he glared intensely at the Salamander, who had just been hit by his attack.

The salamander was unscathed by the combined attacks of the A-rank mages and knights. But had received severe wounds to the neck and chest due to Damian's formidable attacks.

"Duke Dami—Evacuate the remaining villagers! The flames of the salamander are starting to scatter all over the village!" As Damian yelled loudly towards his soldiers.

Damian's men immediately surveyed their surroundings, only to see houses covered in raging flames while vaguely hearing screams of despair.

They immediately nodded as they gritted their teeth and did what Damian had ordered them, leaving Damian alone with the salamander.

While Damian confronted the salamander, rumbling sounds were heard from beyond the forest.

Damian stared beyond and saw a mist of smoke enveloping the forest.

The blizzard hurled as the skies began to darken, while the salamander's flames boiled more feisty as it instantly attacked Damian with its claw.

Damian instantly evaded the salamander's attack and swung his sword directly at the salamander's skin. But his flaming body was so thick that Damian's attack didn't even scratch the salamander.

Damian's eyes glowed more brightly while he took a deep breath and uttered, "Moonlight Swordsmanship! Third Form!"

The salamander stared at the agile Damian, who was levitating midair like a butterfly. "Crescent moon slash!" Damian yelled and swung his sword simultaneously while producing glittering aerial aura slashes that struck the Salamander's wide chest.

The salamander, which took Damian's attack openly, received tremendous damage as blood spilled out from its wounds profusely.

"Kruuugaahh!" The salamander growled, and it echoed throughout the place. Damaging Damian's hearing senses due to it being utterly loud.

Damian tried covering his ears as he wore a distressful expression, while the salamander continued growling loudly.

"I need to defeat this beast, but my attacks couldn't completely penetrate through its body. I've heard about salamanders being tough, but this is completely beyond my expectations." Damian mumbled through his head and wondered, "But this is insane; Eldia is on the eastern side of the continent. How is a Northern A-Rank Monster Beast in here!?"

Salamanders are territorial beasts. They mostly tag in groups and live in the Volcanian Mountains deep in the north.

Damian continued wondering as he continuously attacked the enraged Salamander while he heard a familiar voice from afar.

"Father!"

Damian immediately turned around and saw Axel running in his direction. "Get out of here!" Damian desperately yelled back towards Axel.

Without realizing that the Salamander had already swung his arm towards Damian, due to Damian's keen survivability instinct, he managed to defend himself from getting directly hit by the sharpened claws of the Salamander and instantly got blown away.

While Axel, who thought differently, stood and trembled after witnessing the huge monster beast in front of him.

.....

.....

"What is that!? How is it so big!?"

I thought monster beasts weren't that big..."

I started trembling without realizing it. My body started getting pale, and my vision wavered while I stared at the huge monster beast that continuously growled while its body was covered in raging flames.

My father, an S-rank skill user, just got blown away from a single swing of that monster."

That's when I realized that this world was truly terrifying. A world where extraordinary things exist, a world filled with wonders and miracles, a world where everyone on earth fantasizes about living.

A magical world..."

A world where you can be a protagonist?"

A world that was dreamt by several people back on Earth."

A world of fantasy, where everyone dreamt of adventuring the vast lands, accompanying some beautiful saintess, and becoming the country's hero."

Well, fuck that! This ain't a world where you can just become a hero 'cause you got reincarnated or something."

This world is truly dangerous."

.....

....

Axel realized how a magical world could be dangerous. Even with its bright sides, a world filled with wonders truly has its dark side.

And beyond that dark side, Axel stood in awe as he shivered in fear, staring at the salamander's overwhelming presence.

Chapter End.