Ch 1: A CAVE, A MAN, A MONSTER

The Continent of Edea.

In the northernmost part of the Continent, there was a cave where the magical silver mithril was mined about ten years ago. Now, the magical silver had been mined out and the cave had become a dead cave, a place where no one would come.

However, it was not silent, with occasional drops of water dripping from the ceiling of the cave and the voices of the bats that roosted there echoing.

It was horrible, dirty, distorted, gloomy, and stagnant. But In a sense, it was also quiet and peaceful.

And then...

A bat let out a strange low voice and started to fall to the ground. Consequently, all the other bats began to fall as well. But before even hitting the ground, they all burst out in blood.

From the darkness of the cave, something emerged following the bloody fireworks. What emerged from it was a distortion. It was a newborn monster.

A monster in the form of a large eye except for the change that it had no eyeball. In change, it had a dark gloomy hurricane-like tunnel for an eyeball.

A few seconds later, hordes of the otherworldly monsters came pouring out of the eyeball monster.

Within minutes the cave was full of monsters of various kinds and sizes.

.....

Blizrest

West of Castle Hell Blaze

The cold dark wilderness that the northerners called the haunted forest had been drying out. Like a black and white picture of eternal peace. The rare few clusters of mud and rock growing up high in the air resisted the cold breeze and wrapped up itself in white snow.

The silhouette of a man with a silver sword and crossbow on his back grabbing onto the ledge of a rocky mountain could be seen faintly.

His intuition told him that something was living on this mountain. Something foul.

The mountain that was once dimly lit was now completely dark. In the dark, the sparsely standing trees looked like giant offspring.

He had already trekked a long way up the mountain. But he still had a great distance to cross. The more he climbed, the clearer the feeling of unrest became.

Despite the feeling of unrest, He kept on climbing but his face was covered by a cloak, so no one can see what he looked like. His unhurried, firm steps left his footprint on the snowy path.

At this time, suddenly he stopped because he sensed an odd silence in the surrounding. When he tried and concentrated on the surrounding area, he got a reply.

The rustling of leaves, fluttering snow falling, and distant cold breeze blowing against his face.

All of a sudden a shadow emerged from the dark of the wood. It stood in front of the man. The wind had stopped as soon as the shadow appeared, weirdly. Still, It was very cold as if announcing the man's perilous situation.

Seeing this unholy shadow the man armed himself with the silver sword. His hands trembled from the weight of it, or perhaps from the cold. Yet at that moment, the man stood there under the black sky, unwaveringly with his blade pointed at the shadow.

The shadow grew closer. First, it revealed its eyes which were black, deeper and darker than any human eyes without a shred of white, a blackness that devoured light like an abyss. Its dark lifeless eyes were locked on the sword in his hand.

The next frightening thing noticeable is how its oversized mutant head and neck are not in a straight line but slanted, disfigured, and twisted like squeezed rags.

Its hand and feet are like dead rotten fish. With the addition of overgrown nails which were stained by blood gave off a razor-sharp brilliance.

Its whole body was enveloped by a miasmalike sticky substance, producing gross feelings.

"Hmm..? An Egusi." He lifted his sword high over his head, disobedient.

The sword came shivering through the air.

The Egusi met the sword directly with its disgusting yet sharp claw-like hand. When the blade met its sharp claws, there was a clinking sound of metal on metal; but following up the man gave a really hard push. As a result, The Egusi was forced to retreat and fall back, its back against a tree, like an animal it screamed in pain. But it turned around and tried to bite him. However, the man was quick on his feet and was able to dodge the coming bite in time.

'Foul monsters,' the man muttered. The fight continues.

A scream echoed through the forest night, the egusi is finally killed. The fight lasted for a few minutes. The man is panting, and as calmly as possible he removed his hood and breathe in the frosty air.

His face was paler than a frosty mountaintop. The long passage of time has left its mark on his handsome face indicating his growing years. His glowing red eyes show his mutant identity. But his most unique feature is his grey hair.

After killing the monster called Egusi, he took some parts of it and burned the rest of the body. The smell of burnt rotten flesh tickled his nose.