No words could describe Alex's desire to kill the young man who ruined their entire plan. He had done what none of them expected; a preposterous, foolish act they never believed a young man whose only Scintilla rank would dare attempt.
Thinking back on it now, his appearance in this kind of place wasn't normal to begin with. They were blinded by how weak he seemed, as the captain of his team, Alex deeply regretted his arrogance.
Normally, hunters of their experience would have detected the scent of blood immediately. But the air in the room had been thick with the odour of decay, providing the perfect cover for the metallic smell.
He hated to admit it, but it was as if the young man had planned everything from the beginning. If there was any creature capable of distinguishing the smell of blood from rot, it would be the horror — and it was standing outside the door now.
Alex tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword. As much as he wanted to carve Aurora into pieces, he could not afford to divide his attention right now. That thing outside was no joke, even with his full team alive and the traps they had originally prepared, he could still not guarantee the hunt would be successful.
And right now, the situation is far worse.
His objective had shifted from hunting the Cinder Hollow, to survive under its rampage.
Nearby, Titha coughed violently, forcing up what little remained in her stomach as she struggled to stand. Though she had killed countless times before; but seeing the corpse of your close friend, and knowing the fate that you're probably next did hit different.
Next thing she knew, a gigantic shadow burst through the doorway, and was closing in on her like a violent gust of wind.
Alex reacted instantly.
His body dispersed into streaks of light, with lightning speed he withdrew his sword, and clashed into the charging shadow.
The impact released a massive shockwave, which nearly tore the remaining walls apart. Aurora had noticed the dust falling from the wooden ceiling, cracks began to spider across the timber, as if it had finally reached its limit after years of abandonment.
Without a second thought, he sprinted towards the window, with its glass already shattered from the collision. The chill dusk air hit his face like a slap, there was only three stories worth of distance between him and the ground, but it looked like a mile from up here.
He didn't jump straight away; that was a one-way ticket to obtaining a cast. Instead, he swung his legs over the sill, facing back into the room. His fingers were clamped onto the cold, brick edge as he lowered himself, with his body dangling in the air. By hanging at full arms-length, he'd already "cheated" the distance by two metres.
"No you won't!" Seeing the culprit was about to escape, Titha reached out her hand in his direction, and a purple glow began to gather around her palm.
Suddenly, a faint tremor rippled through the air. More dust started to sift down from the ceiling in thin, ghostly streams, until small chunks of plaster began to rain onto the battlefield below. The hunters barely had time to look up before—
*CRASH*
The ceiling gave away in a single, thunderous collapse. Stones and timbers were slammed into the room, and a violent cloud of dust erupted outward, swallowing everything in a choking, blinding storm.
Aurora took a deep breath. Before the dust had reached him, he spotted the narrow decorative ledge of the second floor just beneath his feet, and let go.
He effortlessly landed on the window sill of the second floor, and repeated the process. By the time the dust storm had settled, he was already on the ground.
Without hesitation, he shoved the injured finger into his mouth. After seeing what his blood had done earlier, he did not want to repeat his lunacy and face that monster again.
Alex might have been the strongest person in that team, but Aurora doubted even he could defeat that abomination. He was a little disappointed that he couldn't get a close look at the creature's appearance, but neither did he want to be in that situation.
After all, it had taken less than thirty seconds to track the scent of blood and arrive at their location, and managed to take out their teammate without making a sound.
Aurora continued to suck on his finger as he ran away, desperate to find a better hiding spot. The idea of trying to leave this forgotten town did not even cross his mind, because it was irrational. It was getting dark, he didn't know where the exit was and neither what's beyond the town.
That was why he wanted to lure the Cinder Hollow in the first place — Two dogs fight for a bone, and a third runs away with it.
He could only hope Titha and her friend will put up a good fight before they die, that way the creature may sustain some injuries, preventing it from hunting him in the morning — when he planned to escape.
A minute passed by, and the sounds of the battle had vanished — not because Aurora had gotten far, but because a winner had been decided.
Knowing this, he quickly slipped into a crumbling building at the edge of the street.
He held his breath and forced each step to be lighter than the last, straining to silence even the faintest scrape of his soles against the floor.
But it was useless.
The shadowy beast had suddenly descended into frenzy, as it began to tear through the surrounding structures as if it was in a smash room. To avoid being caught in the chaos, Aurora dropped even lower and crawled forward; inch by inch as he put more distance between himself and the monster.
However, fortune was not on his side.
In the midst of its furious rampage, the creature's jaws lashed out wildly, heading straight toward the building where he hid. A bite that meant for nothing but rage tore open his cover with cruel precision, as if it was planned by fate.
"…You've got to be kidding me," Aurora muttered under his breath.
As the creature's blood-soaked jaws lunged toward him, he closed his eyes and let out a helpless laugh, a gesture of surrendering to his terrible luck.
Yet the pain he expected never came.
After a hesitant pause, he reached up and touched his head.
Everything felt… intact.
He slowly opened his eyes, with confusion stirring up inside his chest.
The Cinder Hollow was a gigantic wolf with black fur. Even at Aurora's height of 180 cm, he was still several centimetres shorter than the length of its jaws alone. He was certain that the creature had grown during the battle; its size must've increased at least sixth-fold from when he first saw it.
More importantly, the beast had collapsed onto itself, with its massive body trembling weakly and limbs slack against the ground as if all its strength had drained away.
'...Jackpot.'
Aurora quickly scanned his surroundings for a weapon, he didn't bring the sharpened wood stick and glass shard with him when he realised this beast alone was enough to deal with the hunters.
Still, they had truly gone all out to deliver him such a gift — Aurora had not expected the wolf to be wounded this badly, he took his statement about the hunters back; if time were plentiful, he might even search for whatever was left of their body, and give them a proper burial.
No, all jokes aside, he should definitely check on their remains later, there might be some valuable items left behind.
Then a thought pierced through his mind:
'What if they're still alive?"
At the same time, he spotted a long, sharp glass shard lying on the ground.
"There's only one way to check—" he murmured as he approached the beast.
He could no longer sense its breathing, if it still had life remaining, Aurora would've been killed the moment it collided with him. His plan was simple; he wanted to slice its stomach open, and see if the remains matched the four hunters.
Just as his fingertips brushed against the black wolf's coarse fur, his body jolted violently without warning.
A searing warmth surged from deep within him — there was an invisible current bursting free like a rushing river, pouring relentlessly into the wolf's body.
'What?' Startled by the sudden, inexplicable turn of events, Aurora instinctively snatched his hand away.
He didn't like where this was going—
And turned away without hesitation, ready to flee.
But then he saw something had blocked the doorway—
As the last traces of the sun had vanished from the horizon, a shadowed figure had stood in the entrance.
It was Alex, Titha was nowhere to be seen.
He could barely stand straight, with one of his arms missing. Blood was dripping through his damaged armament, and there was a giant wooden spike that had pierced his thigh.
"Found you," he said with a faint laugh. Even in the darkness, Aurora could see his grin.
Aurora threw the glass shard at him with all his might, then sprinted toward another doorway leading deeper inside the building.
He was quick, but it was no match for Alex.
The wounded hunter dissolved into light and reappeared instantly, and grabbed Aurora by the throat in a flash.
"You really thought your plan could've worked?" his grip tightened, crushing Aurora's airway.
"I must give you credit. If it weren't for Titha's noble sacrifice, I likely would've died."
"Noble…my ass…" Aurora rasped, using what little breath had left in him:
"You…used her… didn't you…"
"Haha…HAHAHA!" Alex burst into laughter.
"You're really a sharp lad, you know that?"
"So what if I had her as my shield? It was all your fault to begin with!" he continued to scream:
"None of us would've died if you had simply obeyed!"
"And… what? So… I could be… killed by you?" Aurora wheezed as he punched him, but Alex stood unfazed, as if the punches carried no weight.
He continued to strangle him by the throat with his remaining hand.
"Yeah." Alex nodded mockingly.
"But it wouldn't be us directly. Afterall, you're good looking and are a Blessed, we were planning to sell you at the slave market."
"But you're right, it's no different to death."
"And you're about to taste it right now."
Aurora's vision darkened, consciousness finally began to fade. He had a feeling it would all end like this, since he was alone in a fantasy world, ignorant of its rules.
He felt like he tried his best, it was a game with a survival rate of 1%. All the odds were against his favor, but he won't use it as an excuse.
It was his destiny to begin with, bearing no motivation. If this ever got back to the organisation, all they would think of was 'as expected from the failure'.
But, when death was really about to arrive, he felt something different.
An unfamiliar rhythm of heart beat, a more colorful view.
'How pathetic…' he thought as his eyes closed.
'It only came when I had no use for it anymore…'
…
*CRUNCH*
Aurora felt the pressure around his neck had vanished, and air could finally go back to his lungs again.
He slowly opened his eyes, and before him, was a sight he will never forget—
The black wolf stood beneath the moonlight, with Alex's severed lower body lay discarded on the ground.
The star constellations shone blue luminance on to the canvas, carving a silhouette of the mysterious and majestic figure.
The wolf lowered its head, and from its jaws came a deep voice.
"Master."
Aurora froze.
He couldn't make sense of anything that was happening, yet his mouth subconsciously curved into an uncontrollable smile.
No words could describe how he wanted to freeze this moment forever, to embrace the burning sensation flooding in his heart for eternity and beyond.
"Oh boy…" stars had filled his eyes, as he contemplated the sublime before him.
"I'm getting fired up…"
"…Guess I'm still alive after all."