Soli was sitting in the tent, wrapped in the warm fur blanket as the weather had grown colder. Gray, who had given up his family's tent to stay with him, was sleeping soundly by his side. Soli was staring at the system screen, as usual. Since he wasn't sleeping, he used the time to try and understand how the system worked.
"Why did it activate now?... Was it because of the lizard I killed?... But that doesn't make sense..."
He lowered his gaze before muttering quietly, "I've... taken many lives before, but it never activated then. So what does this mean?..."
"And does 'Final verdict' mean that I... can end all this?"
The unanswered questions kept swirling in his mind. He wasn't the type to leave anything unexplained, and the system was full of mysteries.
"Borgada."
But his deep thoughts were interrupted by a voice from outside his tent. It woke the boy up. Within seconds, the village chief entered. That was the title they called Soli by. Although he didn't know its meaning, he still responded to the call.
"Hey, old man... Don't you think your constant visits are getting a bit annoying?"
If the chief understood him, he probably would have laughed at the sarcasm. He visited them every single morning without fail, bringing them food. He'd sit and chat with the boy for a bit before leaving.
After the chief left, Soli stood up. He was only wearing his pants, his chest bare. He put on his guard uniform, grabbed his dagger, and headed out. The sky was slightly cloudy, but the cold was intense.
After the hunters' trial and the funeral ceremonies, the hunters had returned to their work, taking the newcomers with them. But something was different. They were coming back later than usual. Also, the villagers were gathering large amounts of striped leaves and wood, covering their tents with the leaves. The villagers' movements were gradually decreasing. At first, they used to fetch water and wood in normal amounts, but now they were stockpiling huge quantities.
"It looks like Long-face isn't coming today either..."
Soli was walking around the village on his usual patrol, occasionally passing other guards on their rounds. He had noticed several changes since the sky had become cloudy and the air turned cold. He saw that the number of guards was gradually decreasing. Some were go to gather leaves, others to fetch water. Some were even just sitting in their tents, doing nothing, and no one was holding them accountable for their laziness.
Maybe it's because the lizards have lost interest in the village, Their attacks had become increasingly rare, almost nonexistent. These days, they were lucky—or unlucky—to kill even two, a far cry from the four or five they used to take down regularly.
"Do they all hate the rain that much?"
He spoke quietly, his gaze fixed on his new dagger. His fingers traced the length of the blade. He owned two daggers now: the one he'd received from the Chief, and this new one. It had a sharper gleam than the others and cut through everything much more cleanly.
***
A week passed, and the clouds now blanketed the entire sky. No guards were left on patrol except for Danny, who walked through the early morning wearing his guard uniform—the one protected by hard scales and lined with warm fur. With his hood up, he moved slowly around the village, until he spotted a lizard skirting the village's edge before turning back toward the forest.
"Finally..."
Soli followed it slowly. He had leveled up, and his strength had improved from gathering the shards, but it still wasn't enough to take on an armored lizard with three deadly weapons head-on. He had to stay hidden and move carefully.
He trailed it a short distance from the village.
"It stopped..."
The lizard halted and crouched low, just like they do when they're covering their eyes. He drew both his daggers, camouflaging himself among the bushes, waiting for the perfect moment. Then...
"Now!.."
But before he could even finish the word, something grabbed him from behind. A hand clamped over his mouth. The hand was cold, unnaturally so, even for the freezing weather.
He turned and saw it was one of the hunters. The man's face was etched with a worried, fearful expression that made Soli obey and freeze in place. The hunter handed him a cloak made of those striped leaves to put on, Note that the leaves were cold, although the weather was cold, the coldness of the leaves was lower. before pointing toward the lizard.
Whoooosh!
A rustling sound moved through the bushes and trees. Then, a tall, white creature emerged. It had two long arms that reached the ground, sharp claws, and a distorted, terrifying face. It was one of the "Night Folks"! But it was still morning—why was it out?
"What's happening?.."
The creature approached the lizard crouched on the ground. It circled it, making that annoying, loud clicking sound, then stopped directly in front of its head. The white creature's head slowly bent down toward the lizard. It seemed to be inspecting it for a few seconds before letting out one of those distorted screams Soli had only ever heard at night.
Soli gritted his teeth and covered his ears, and the hunter did the same. But the hunter's eyes were darting around them in panic, as if he was terrified of something else.
Finally, the lizard made its move, launching its first attack. Its heavy, wrecking-ball of a tail swung through the air before crashing down with immense force toward the Night Folk creature. But the creature simply raised its slender arm and caught the lizard's tail mid-air. The crushing tail, which had been one of the biggest threats to Soli and the other guards, was now held in a one-handed grip as if it were a mere twig.
SLAAASSHH!!
Before the lizard could even react, struggle, or break free, the creature ripped the tough tail off with terrifying ease. The lizard let out one of its distorted, laughing-like screeches, but this time it was higher-pitched, filled with raw pain. It raised its two bladed tails, but it was useless. The creature caught them, one in each hand. A single one of those tails could have sliced through Soli's arm like butter, but they seemed to have no effect on the creature's grasp.
The lizard was trying desperately to break free, pulling back with all its might, but it was no use. Its clawed feet dug into the earth, yet it couldn't gain even an inch of ground.
The creature yanked the lizard toward itself, then placed one of the bladed tails into its mouth and bit it off with ease, swallowing it. Then it did the same with the other tail. All while the lizard kept letting out those distorted, laughing-like screeches and digging its feet frantically into the ground, the monster was pulling it closer to devour the remaining three tails. And then...
DRREEB! DRREEB! DRREEB!
The sound of heavy, rapid footsteps made the ground shake beneath Soli and the hunter like a destructive earthquake.
"They're here..."
More Night Folk emerged from every direction, swarming around the lizard from all sides. They clicked intensely before unleashing their unified scream. This time, the two men couldn't bear it; they nearly lost consciousness. A trickle of blood streamed from their ears, but they endured, clamping their mouths shut and gritting their teeth for a few seconds. And then... utter silence.
The Night Folk creatures swarmed the lizard with brutal force. Their strikes pierced through its iron-like scale armor as if it were nothing. They sliced into its flesh with their claws, grabbing chunks of meat and tearing them away. The lizard tried to struggle, but the creatures pressed its body down into the earth, rendering its efforts useless. All it could do was let out those distorted, pained, laughing-like screeches before finally succumbing to its fate, dying slowly and in agony.
Taking advantage of the Night Folks' distraction with their prey, the hunter and Soli began to slowly crawl backward, trying desperately to avoid making a single sound. And even if they had made a noise, the sounds of ripping flesh, shattering bones, cracking scales, and the general splatter of blood drowning the scene were far louder than anything the two could have possibly produced.
The two moved away from the danger, then stood and ran at full speed until they reached the village. There, the hunter rushed straight toward the elders' meeting tent, with Soli following close behind. They burst in, and the hunter began shouting words whose meaning was clear to Soli, even if he didn't understand the language. The elders' faces showed clear worry, but not the kind of intense panic that comes from complete surprise—it was more like the grim concern of people who had been through this before.
After the news spread to the rest of the villagers, they stopped what they were doing and all headed to their tents, closing the flaps securely behind them. Meanwhile, Soli went to his own tent and brought Gray inside with him. He fastened the tent flaps tightly, making sure the ropes were secure.
Gray settled onto the wide, warm Fur mat, while Soli remained seated, poised and ready for a fight. One question echoed in his mind:
"Why... why did they come out during the day?"