How long could a pest even live

Ever since Boar gained the ability to think, he and Alexandria had been inseparable. Together, they wandered the depths of the forest, watching each other's backs and facing every hardship as one. They fought, bled, and grew together.

Alexandria was impatient and rash, while Boar was calm and calculating.

With every battle, the duo grew stronger, until few within the forest could even pose a threat to them.

The Thousand Emerald Green Forest had become little more than a playground in their eyes.

There wasn't a single region where their paws and hooves hadn't tread… except that courtyard.

That single, eerie place in the center of the forest. A place neither dared approach.

A suffocating aura constantly shrouded the courtyard, as if the very air screamed at them to stay away. Even with their strength, their hearts quivered in dread whenever they drew close.

But now, the threat they faced was something entirely different.

It felt like a natural disaster had come to life.

BOOOM!

A terrifying pressure exploded from above, crushing the rocky slope and sending debris flying like shrapnel. The ground trembled. Pebbles scattered like raindrops. Trees shivered beneath the sudden weight of an unseen force.

"Very interesting," a voice echoed from above, cold and amused. "Who could have thought... the forest, nearly devoid of mana, could birth not one but two Stage 2 beings."

From within the folds of a dark robe, the man's eyes gleamed with an unnatural light, swirling with twisted delight.

He now believed it.

The rumors of Demon Queen Noctyss' tomb being in the forest were real.

"Is this… my Lord's will?" the man whispered, voice trembling with devotion. "The Lord has accepted my sacrifice… and now offers me a path to ascend."

A sinister grin spread across his face—warped and jagged, enough to make any sane being recoil.

This man was no ordinary warrior. He was a Stage 2 being from the Abyssal Pact—a forbidden cult whispered about in the darkest corners of the Eldros Kingdom.

Everything happened too fast.

The warriors who had been tormenting weaker beasts below suddenly stilled. Their laughter vanished. Their expressions turned stone-cold.

Without hesitation, they moved like shadows, swiftly blocking all possible escape routes.

"Don't look back. Just run!"

Boar's voice was low, firm. Despite the chaos, his gaze remained fixed on a single direction—their escape path.

He feared Alexandria might lose control in the heat of the moment and throw herself into a hopeless battle.

Then a bone-chilling wind swept across the mountainside.

A voice, soaked in bloodlust and madness, rang out like a thunderclap.

"Hmmm…"

"Trying to escape? Too late."

The robed man appeared behind them without a single sound—one moment distant, the next standing at their backs like a phantom. It was as if the very air had bent to his will.

Then he began to chant, low and reverent.

"O, Dread One who lurks beyond stars… accept this blood and breath. Flesh offered, soul broken, your hunger sated…"

"Embrace these lost sheep, my Lord."

A crimson magic circle bloomed in the air behind Alexandria and Boar. Blood-red runes twisted and spun along its edge, glowing with an unholy light. The space around them warped, and an ominous hum echoed through the forest.

"No…!" Boar's pupils shrank. A monstrous suction force erupted from the circle—pulling not at their bodies, but their very souls.

The cultist's face was now filled with what could only be described as divine pity. His eyes shimmered with false mercy.

To him, this was a blessing.

He would guide these lost creatures to the righteous path—through sacrifice.

The crimson circle pulsed violently. Its pull multiplied a thousandfold.

Alexandria staggered.

Her world began to spin, her limbs trembling.

She could feel something deep within her being starting to peel away.

A blurry, smoky figure began to lift from her head—a fragment of her very soul.

Boar roared.

His eyes turned bloodshot, his body trembling in rage.

He could feel the light fading from Alexandria's body, her breath weakening with every passing second. Pain unlike anything he had felt before clawed at his heart.

He had always been calm.

But now… his fury was like wildfire.

"STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU DEMON!"

The black-robed man's lips curled into a pleased smile.

He had expected resistance. But to last this long?

'This shouldn't be possible,' he thought. 'Unless… they were touched by something…'

His expression twisted into something truly ugly.

Meanwhile, Alexandria's consciousness dimmed, her vision hazy.

"Is this… how it ends?" she wondered.

Memories flashed.

Her days as a wild creature playing with prey, the joy of ascending, the thrill of battle beside Boar. A smile tugged at her lips despite the pain.

She remembered how petty she used to be.

And oddly… in her final moments, a certain image surfaced.

A tiny mosquito. Barely clinging to life.

She nearly laughed.

Even now, in the face of death, her thoughts strayed to such trivial things.

'He's probably dead by now,' she thought bitterly. 'How long could a pest even live? A few days? A week?'

…

Above them, the black-robed man watched with anticipation. He could taste it—the moment of completion. His sacrifice was about to be accepted.

Then—something changed.

His head slowly turned. Eyes narrowing.

He looked to the sky—through clouds of dust, smoke, and swirling aura.

A shape approached, cutting through the fog like a falling star.

It was… a mosquito.

But not any mosquito.

It was hideous, nearly the size of a chicken, its wings humming with malicious energy. It radiated a sickly aura, so intense it seemed to rot the air around it.

Death. Decay. Dread.

The embodiment of pestilence.

Ricky had arrived.

In the blink of an eye, he vanished—and reappeared directly in front of the cultist, his gaze cold and unreadable.

The black-robed man stiffened, his ritual disturbed.

The circle faltered for the first time. Its pull weakened.

Boar and Alexandria gasped, the tight grip on their souls loosening slightly.

Alexandria's bleary eyes flicked up and locked onto Ricky.

A strange expression formed on her face.

That aura…

She knew it.

It was the same oppressive energy she had felt near the courtyard. That being hidden within the stone walls.

But how…?

Wasn't this mosquito just a pest?

Boar, too, was frozen—staring at Ricky with wide eyes. A deep, instinctive sense of familiarity clawed at his memory.

They had seen him before.

But never like this.

Not as a monster that even nightmares would fear.