The benefits of joining their camp beca apparent imdiately. The first thing he did was take a shower — they had managed to secure large quantities of clean water, and the first structure they’d completed fully was the bathing area. The showers weren’t private like the one in his assigned room back with the Moon Breakers, but he wasn’t about to complain.
Stripping off his attire, he happily washed away the gri and blood that had hardened on his figure. His finger brushed across his white hair as it slowly began to regain its silk.
It didn’t take long for him to regain his vigor. Imdiately after drying himself, he went towards the food section.
Since he had yet to prove his worth, his portion was smaller than the others’. But that was expected. He never assud he’d get anything for free, he always worked for what he got.
Once fed, he went towards his assigned tent. Its interior was bigger than he expected and surprisingly didn’t reek of monster insides.
*****
The next morning, he approached the gathered group of Chosen. Seraphina stood at the center, as usual, drawing all the attention.
"We have gathered here to approach the ruins of the fallen kingdom," she spoke, her gaze stirring them slightly.
"You can get familiar with each other later. The sooner we depart, the better."
None of the group dared voice their objections. All of them shot north, eyes scanning every nook and cranny for possible ambush.
Azrael took the opportunity to observe his teammates. Besides Seraphina and Isolde, three others from the camp had joined them. The first one was surprisingly Jas. For what reason the man was going on a scout mission when he was supposed to be a guard—at least to Azrael’s understanding—was unclear, but not important enough to dig into.
The other two were won, they looked eerily similar — high chance of being siblings.
’Being too attached will only bring trouble,’ he thought, eyes narrowing. He could already foresee one of them dying and the other going mad, becoming nothing more than a liability.
’Hopefully, nothing like that happens.’
The golden grass swayed in the wind, so of the leaves fell over their forms. Yet not a single sound ca from the group as they sprinted onward.
Soon they reached the edge of the ruined kingdom. Small houses appeared on the horizon — modest compared to the looming structures ahead. Yet they were massive, nearly three tis the size of any human ones, a reminder of how large the native beings of this world must have once been.
A golden river traced the curvature of the earth, on its curves, the majority of the houses were built.
"From this point on, monsters will start appearing. The guards aren’t dispatching them so far from the camp."
Seraphina whispered loud enough for Azrael to hear.
"There are two things you need to watch out for."
Azrael’s focus broke at the sound of a faint footstep across the river.
A hunched creature, nearly three-and-a-half ters (~11.5 feet), erged from behind one of the ruined houses. Its body appeared frail, with a neck, torso, and legs too thin to support its massive head. An uncountable number of golden eyes all over its head observed the surroundings with keen interest. It moved like an elderly person with its hunched posture and the wooden cane it used to support its body.
Azrael felt his breath hitch due to the large amount of Corruption the monster gave off.
Na: [Unnad]
Race: [Seeker]
Danger Level: [Feral]
Corruption Rank: [Profane]
’Its Danger Level isn’t an issue. But that Corruption Rank is a whole different matter.’
The sheer volu of Corruption in the Seeker’s body made Azrael instinctively step back. Even if its Feral classification ant it couldn’t fully wield that Corruption, he wasn’t about to take chances.
"This is the first one," Seraphina brought him back to reality. In their group, everyone had felt the danger and took a step back — even Isolde. Only Seraphina remained still.
"If that thing grabs you... The only thing left to rember you by would be a hollow husk."
’With that Rank of Corruption, no surprise,’ Azrael thought grimly, eyes locked on the grotesque figure.
"They are sensitive to sound, so take care to be extra careful... Also, despite how it looks, it can run very fast."
Unwilling to face such a thing head-on, they changed their course.
Contrary to Azrael’s expectations, nothing ca out of the golden river as they crossed it.
’Well, Isolde would have warned us if there was sothing in there,’ he thought, casting a glance at the girl who seed surprisingly relaxed.
Once on the other side, he paused to examine the nearest houses.
"Don’t bother," Jas whispered to him. "We already searched the nearby ones. Nothing useful left."
Azrael nodded silently, gaze going towards Seraphina. "You said there are two things to worry about. What’s the second one?"
She spared him a glance, her voice growing colder. "Don’t go too near the kingdom itself. Last ti we did... sothing resembling a knight appeared out of nowhere and assaulted us."
Her palm tightened into a fist.
"Sparing the details, once we returned, we were one mber short."
’Is she frustrated because she lost people... or because she wasn’t able to defeat whatever attacked them?’
Azrael tried to figure the woman out. Between their interaction in the mountain range and Isolde’s not-so-ironic use of the word ’perfect’ to describe her, he suspected there was more than a little narcissism at play.
’Well, narcissism is what gives people confidence in situations where they’d otherwise be scared out of their wits... So perhaps I need to beco even more narcissistic myself.’
They continued their march silently until the reason for the expedition appeared before their eyes.
Two figures clad in shattered golden armor, with black flowers blooming from their helts, ca into view. Both carried long black swords that looked sharp enough to rival Azrael’s scythe with ease.
The most attention-grabbing sight, however, was that one of them held golden chains, dragging behind it a bloodied mass of flesh and skin. Whatever being it had once been was now unrecognizable.
The mass of guts left a crimson trail behind it as the two knights moved with deliberate steps toward the south.
Na: [Pawn]
Race: [Unworthy Knight]
Danger Level: [Savage]
Corruption Rank: [Twisted]
’Troubleso,’ Azrael grimaced. The last ti he had encountered a monster with these paraters, he had managed to defeat it — but only because he’d caught it off guard and knew where to strike. Even then, he’d ended up gutted, his stomach torn open, minutes away from death. If he hadn’t entered the Rift at the last mont managing to heal himself, he would have been dead a long ti ago.
"Are these the things that attacked you and the early expedition team?" he whispered, already bracing for a possible fight.
"No," Seraphina said bluntly. "They’re too weak to challenge ."
Neither Jas nor the siblings seed surprised by her statent.
Unsure if she was overestimating her ability or being dead serious, he asked. "Then... are we here to fight them?"
Shaking her head, Seraphina stepped forward, her voice cool as ice.
"No. We’re here to stalk them."
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