When Unwan was in the orphanage, he would watch strange night creatures through the barred windows on the streets. They could appear anywhere at night, yet they avoided people's homes, or at least some of them.
First, they disliked bright places, even if delicious humans were present there. Sunlight could kill them, though ordinary light wouldn't, yet they still hated it.
Second, it was because of a metal ore called Themir dug from the earth. Themir had no magical properties, but it was the only ore that could negatively affect Night creatures. It was rare, but the kingdom distributed a mixture of them 80 to 20 with regular iron, as every kingdom cared for its people. Hanging this alloy on doors, windows, or similar places guaranteed that night creatures wouldn't enter homes.
Unfortunately, themir ore couldn't be found in fountains or statues. The ore was a dark mix of red and pink, while statues didn't even have a trace of bright red, only gray.
Unwan forced himself to think. He had ideas, but no solution emerged. Yet he couldn't build his life on thoughts alone and then collapse.
Night creatures began appearing at sunset. They usually appeared in the darkest places. That's why the Shining Kingdom recommended not going outside for an hour after sunset.
It was only a recommendation, not a rule. Those who trusted themselves, their grimoires or their spell could hunt them freely. But Unwan didn't consider himself strong enough. Even defending himself now was extremely difficult.
As the night creature's growls grew louder, Unwan's anxiety increased. He didn't know whether to stay or run. After all, this would be his second encounter with death.
Yet this one felt far more horrifying to Unwan, even if the first was terrible. Because this time, unlike before, his body would actually be eaten. If he survived for a while and saw the creature devour his organs…
Unwan imagined it and begged his mind not to create such terrifying visions.
At that moment, the silhouette of the Night creature appeared. It looked like a wolfish monster, about 200 meters from Unwan. Whether it could see him was unclear; probably not yet. If it saw a human, it would leap, but for now, it stood frozen.
But that didn't mean Unwan could escape. The creature could just be waiting. Moreover, it was wolf-like, making running nearly impossible.
Unwan's mind felt like it exploded. He couldn't distinguish between fear, freezing, fleeing, or fighting. Finally, as if his mind gave him the choice, he became completely numb, almost as if his own head ached from it. Unwan no longer had any emotions. He no longer feared the wolf-like creature; he only cared about surviving. Then he repeated these great words to himself:
"Faith and hope cost no coin."
He forced himself to ignite his hope. It was as if he wanted to fight this creature valiantly, even if he died. Now, he prepared himself mentally.
– A person unafraid of death is a blade of slaughter.
Unwan didn't know this himself. But somehow, he had entered a state of 'flow'. In his mind, only two things remained, as if everything else had become irrelevant.
First, how much he needed to strike the creature. Second, how he could inflict damage. At this moment, the latter was the greatest problem. Ordinary humans could harm Night creatures with a blow, but it effects to Night creatures like slap.
As if noticing this, the Night creature began running toward him. It moved so fast that it covered more than half the distance in less than ten seconds. Unwan tried his best to stay calm.
"Believe, believe," he told himself.
As it drew closer, Unwan understood what he faced. The creature's skin was completely black, if we can call it skin. It had no eyes where they should be, yet it moved directly toward Unwan. Its mouth was twice the size of its head, lined with three rows of sharp, sword-like teeth, opening wide as it advanced.
The Night creature was about two to two and a half times larger than a normal wolf, but it didn't matter to Unwan anymore.
"Anyway, this place will be my end," he thought.
He ran toward the Night creature. Faking death was useless, running was futile.
The creature lunged at him with its huge mouth. Being an ordinary human, untrained and unfit, Unwan couldn't outrun it. But he sidestepped to the left just in time. Yet the creature threw its full weight onto him, and he collapsed under it.
Falling with twice his weight, some of Unwan's bones broke. But now, it didn't matter. The pain was immense, yet insufficient to stop him. Instead, in that moment, his eyes noticed something.
The creature's eyes weren't in its sockets but at the top and bottom. They were so black that Unwan had missed them initially.
Finding the weak point, Unwan mercilessly started hitting the Night creature's right eyes as fast as possible. But this did not bring victory. The wolf-like creature slashed at Unwan's body with its sharp claws on its forepaws. He cut Unwan's body as easily as his clothes.
Blood was oozing out, and seven claw marks were left all over his body. The claws had also damaged some of the orbs, and because of that, Unwan's mouth began to bleed. And the pain seemed to repeat itself again.
But Unwan didn't give up; he struck one of the creature's eyes so many times that yellow blood began to flow from it.
But the fight wasn't over yet. The creature quickly turned its head and aimed its huge mouth at Unwan's face. And…
It succeeded.