Humans fear many things.
Darkness, insects, animals, the depths of the ocean…
Death, hunger, disease.
But in this age, what people feared most could be summarized in a single word: Monsters.
The mist spreading beneath the cliff carried a cold that cut the lungs with every breath. The ground was mixed with mud, and the air was full of dust. Each of the shadows that rolled down the cliff had been scattered in a different direction.
Eren's ribs throbbed as he got up from among the broken branches. The surroundings were unrecognizable; tree trunks were overturned, rocks were shattered, and the mist had settled over the entire valley.
There was a metallic glint nearby. It was the tip of a spear. Raphael.
When Eren approached, Raphael was holding his shoulder, his face scratched all over. Gus was lying on the ground a few meters away, his breath mixing with the gray vapor coming from the wound on his chest.
Raphael: "Are you alive?"
Eren only nodded with his head.
"The others scattered," Raphael continued. "Kayra took Zulu and tried to climb up. Milo fled north. Arlo disappeared. Cain is gone. Leila is gone too. Shirou vanished the moment the carriage overturned, not metaphorically, but literally turned into steam."
Eren's eyebrows furrowed.
Eren: "Leila might have left a mark."
Raphael plunged his spear into the ground.
Raphael: "We'll hold them off here. There are three wolves. They can't come without being seen."
Eren looked at them.
Eren: "There are two of you. Can you handle it?"
Gus, without lifting his face, spoke in a muffled voice: "It's fine. Raphael will strike, and I will disrupt their vision."
Eren said nothing else. He had no intention of staying and fighting anyway. What bothered him was not Raphael's wound, but Leila's disappearance.
The mist thickened. Howls were heard in the distance. One of the werewolves had moved.
Eren followed the sound and entered a path. The tracks Leila left were easy; notches carved into the rock surface with a dagger. They were fresh. It was clear who had left them.
The notches led Eren to the right cliff. As the mist parted, the image became clear: Leila was leaning her back against the rock. Her left shoulder was torn, and rings of fire trembled in her right hand. Facing her was a werewolf with blood dripping from its jaw.
Leila's eyes widened when she noticed Eren, but she didn't have a chance to speak; the creature attacked.
Eren intervened. The weight of the first claw numbed his arm, he swung his sword, but the creature's strength was too much. Leila threw a small ball of fire from the back, and the flame exploded on the creature's back.
The creature leaped back, but immediately recovered. Its eyes were black, pitch black.
Leila gasped.
Leila: "This is not normal. It's more savage."
Eren raised his sword.
Eren: "We're finishing this."
Leila slammed the ring of fire onto the ground. A wall of flame rose, and the werewolf lost its balance as it tried to escape the wall. Eren seized that moment; he swung his sword from bottom to top and deeply cut the creature's neck.
Leila threw a final fireball from behind. The creature collapsed in the flames.
Leila immediately walked over to Eren.
Leila: "Your arm is cut."
Eren: "It's nothing."
Leila: "I said it's cut."
Against Eren's will, Leila sat him down. She took out a thread and began to stitch the wound. Eren held his breath with every stitch, but Leila worked quickly without lifting her face.
Leila: "Be more careful next time. I don't want to deal with this."
Eren just nodded his head.
Leila tied the last knot and cut the thread. "It's done. Now you won't die. Although you wouldn't have died even if I hadn't stitched it."
Just as they were about to stand up, the fingers of the werewolf on the ground twitched.
Eren squinted his eyes.
Eren: "Did you see that?"
Leila looked.
Leila: "What?"
Eren: "His hand moved."
Leila: "He was dead."
Eren: "He was dead," But he wasn't sure.
The mist thinned as they moved forward. The trees were darkened, their branches drooping. A dull thud echoed in the distance.
It was Milo's area.
When they reached the clearing, Milo was kneeling, his hand on the ground, listening to the trembling energy. Nicholas, on the other hand, continued to smash the head of a werewolf he had frozen with ice.
Milo opened his eyes.
Milo: "Kayra and Zulu are clear. Arlo is in a fight. Dusk... I'm losing his sound, but he's close."
Nicholas pulled out his spear.
Nicholas: "The three wolves here are dead, but this side area is full."
Leila frowned. "So many creatures don't normally come down to this area. Safe Haven is a 5-hour walk from here. How can they get this close?"
Just then, a roar filled the valley. It was a dull, deep sound felt in the stomach.
Nicholas turned his face.
Nicholas: "Beta."
Milo stood up.
Milo: "Dusk is with him."
Eren's breathing quickened.
Eren: "Let's go."
The mist suddenly opened to the side. A giant shadow flew and hit the trees. The broken body of a werewolf rolled on the ground. Then dark fragments flew.
Dusk appeared. He was covered in blood. His breath had turned into a black smoke; when he exhaled, a black smoke came out of his mouth. His body was trembling.
Dusk: "Stay away. It's not over yet."
As soon as the words ended, the mist split. The Beta werewolf appeared.
The Beta werewolf's body was muscular and unbalanced, more than a normal fur could support. It roared as its shoulders cracked, and steam came out when its saliva dropped to the ground. It stood in front of Dusk, and black dust spilled from its chest with every breath.
Dusk said nothing. His eyes were completely darkened; his shadow was moving separately from his body.
The Beta lunged forward. Its blow was heavy enough to crack a tree trunk in half. Dusk slid to the side; his shadow, however, stuck to the creature's leg and tripped it.
When the Beta knelt on the ground, Dusk released a shadow burst. The burst left black marks on the creature's face, but the creature did not stop. It attacked more savagely, more viciously.
Leila whispered: "This is not a normal beta."
Eren gripped his sword. "It's Dusk's doing."
Dusk suddenly appeared behind the creature and touched its throat with a knife. The Beta werewolf was wallowing in its own blood, but it didn't die. On the contrary, it was raging with anger; its eyes had turned completely white.
It stood up again.
Dusk clenched his lips. "Alright... this has gone on too long."
He stomped his foot on the ground. The shadow cracked the ground and rose. Dark thorns wrapped around the creature's legs. As the Beta howled in pain, Dusk plunged his hand into its torso; the shadow claws shattered the ribs.
In the last second before the Beta collapsed, its fur bristled and it completely fell.
The ground shook. Dusk stepped back, short of breath, black mist pouring from his shoulder. "It's over."
No one approached. Dusk's shadow trembled for a while, then returned to normal.
Although the battle seemed over, the air in the valley did not clear. The mist intensified. It was as if something else was approaching.
Milo put his hand on the ground.
Milo: "Something is moving... but it's not a werewolf."
Nicholas raised his ice dagger.
Nicholas: "How many people?"
Milo: "One. But big."
A red creature appeared among the trees. It was struggling to walk. Branches were crushed with every step.
When it finally appeared, everyone flinched.
It was two and a half meters tall. Gray fat was oozing from beneath its crimson skin. Its eyes were completely sunken, and black liquid was flowing from the corner of its mouth. Its arms were human-shaped, but its fingers were bent like an animal's, and the veins beneath its skin, which contained black blood, were pulsating like flames.
The creature tried to speak, but the sound that came out was a half-choked moan: "—...plea...se... I... don't... want... to... die..."
Eren grimaced.
Eren: "What did he say?"
Leila: "He said he doesn't want to die."
Black tears flowed from the creature's eyes. Then it suddenly screamed and attacked.
As Eren and Leila jumped back, the creature punched the ground. The punch sank the ground half a meter. Milo ran behind the creature and distracted it. When the vibrations in the ground unbalanced the creature, Nicholas rained down ice spears. The ice spears pierced its skin but instantly melted, as if the thing inside was feeding on the heat.
The creature suddenly accelerated. Eren reflexively blocked the attack with his sword, but when the creature's arm struck, Eren flew a meter away. Leila immediately threw a chain of fire; the chain wrapped around the creature's neck, but the creature broke the chain even as its skin burned.
Milo shouted angrily: "This thing is not alive!"
Nicholas intervened.
Nicholas: "Yes, but there are still human remnants!"
The creature attacked again. This time the target was Leila. Eren recovered and ran. He plunged his sword into the creature's wrist, the blade stopping against the bone. The creature pressed Eren to the ground. Its claws were about to pierce Eren's ribs, but Leila increased the fire and burned the creature's back.
At that moment, Kayra appeared and joined his two hands.
Kayra: "I was working on this. Dragon chain pig tie!"
A massive chain wrapped around the creature's torso. The creature was unable to move.
Eren swung his sword with all his might and cut the creature's wrist.
But the creature did not feel pain. On the contrary, it opened its jaw and made a muffled sound: "...I... made... a... mis-take..."
Leila raised her hands, and fires began to form around her. The resulting fires gathered in front of Leila's hands, and Leila threw the resulting fireball at the creature's face.
The creature staggered backward. Milo began to deform the soil around it. Stones glowing orange from the inside came out of the ground. Milo kicked three of the stones at the creature. Nicholas formed an ice spear and threw it like a javelin at the creature's chest; the spear pierced the creature's chest.
The red body trembled. Then that giant body collapsed. A smoke smelling of rotten meat came out. The smell of blood was also heavy.
The creature's eyes were still twitching at the moment of death; the last sentence spilled from its lips: "...run... he is coming..."
Silence.
Dusk leaned over the creature's head. He smeared his fingers in the blood.
Dusk: "Demon tissue... not mature yet. Otherwise! There's no way. I witnessed Captain Azel plunging his sword into its chest as it took its last breath."
Raphael pressed his spear to the ground.
Raphael: "What is this creature?"
Dusk squinted his eyes and looked into the depths of the mist. "This... is just a mutated creature. You don't need to worry."
Eren was about to say something when the mist rippled.
Kayra: "Stay away! There's something strange in that cave!"
Just then, a black liquid, like a coating, began to spray from inside the nearby cave. The shadow, which did not take a dense shape, entered the valley for only a few seconds and disappeared. But everyone felt it: That thing was not human.
Leila: "What was that...?"
The expression on Dusk's face changed for the first time. His shadow retreated, as if it was scared.
Dusk: "No need to name it. This is just a signature."
Milo raised his eyebrows.
Milo: "Whose signature?"
Dusk looked at the ground.
Dusk: "Someone whose name should not be mentioned."
As the mist trembled again in the distance, the cave entrance was revealed. That was the direction the creature came from.
Dusk walked towards the cave.
Dusk: "Wait here. It's not over."
The inside of the cave was not dark; there were black veins on the walls. The veins were moving, pulsating rhythmically. The inside was breathing like a stomach.
Someone was lying motionless at the very back. The young man's body was half-decayed, and black liquid circulated beneath his skin. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing. The veins swelled and retracted with every breath.
When Dusk approached, the boy opened his eyes.
The boy was trembling as if stained with a demon's blood. But he could speak.
"You..." the boy said, his voice shattered. "...compatible... shadow..."
Dusk stopped.
The boy's pupils trembled. "Sigrum said... you would be... good..."
Dusk's heart leaped into his mouth.
Dusk: "Who said?"
The boy coughed up blood. "Sigrum... Zorak..."
The boy suddenly began to tremble, and his veins burst. Dusk tried to suppress him with his shadow at the last moment, but it didn't work.
The last sentence fell before the boy died: "Sigrum—wants you—he—gets—what he wants..."