Chapter 2: Harsh

The thick scent of blood filled the air, and corpses lay scattered everywhere. The village was nothing but rivers of blood—the ground transformed into an endless sea of crimson. With every step that Rin took, his shoes sank deeper into the blood.

Mona was by his side, her body trembling, her face pale, on the verge of losing consciousness. She tried to cling to him, placing her hand on his shoulder as she anxiously searched among the corpses for any of her relatives.

But in that very moment, their eyes fell upon a horrifying sight…

Yun's head lay on the ground, his eyes still wide open as if the tears had not yet dried. Beside him were the lifeless bodies of Foss and Mona's parents, their deaths executed in the most gruesome manner.

Mona collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed by sobs; her torrents of tears mingled with the spilled blood around her. She wept incessantly, as if unable to process the shock. Her trembling hand rose to her mouth before she coughed up blood and then fainted, falling motionless.

As for Rin, he remained standing in silence, not uttering a single word. His face was void of any expression, yet his gaze stayed fixed ahead—lost, as if time itself had frozen.

After a few moments, he moved forward with slow, unsteady steps, his body swaying right and left as if it could no longer support him.

Then… he saw his parents' corpses.

At first, he wished he were mistaken—that these were just two unknown bodies bearing a resemblance. But the truth was far harsher than he had imagined.

There they were… embracing each other even in death. Their faces bore serene smiles, as if they had departed in peace despite the massacre.

Rin fell to his knees and clutched them tightly, as if refusing to let go.

He ground his teeth in anguish, his fists clenched so tightly that his fingers nearly pierced his palms. Rage, pain, and despair coalesced within him, yet they found no outlet.

All he could do… was to hold onto their lifeless bodies while his soul slowly shattered.

---

Rin knelt, staring at the sky as his bloodstained hands covered his face.

Rivers of blood began to stream from his eyes—a reflection of the deep sorrow that gnawed at his soul.

Then…

"Aaaaaaaaah!!!"

His scream was like a curse that swept across the world—a declaration of the birth of something new… something dark, something unstoppable.

In that moment, Mona slowly opened her eyes. Although she had lost consciousness from the shock, what she saw before her made her freeze in place.

Rin was kneeling, his body drenched in blood, his eyes glowing with a terrifying crimson light. When she followed his gaze, she saw what he was looking at…

His parents' corpses, still embracing as if they had left this world in peace amid the surrounding hell.

Mona cautiously looked around and noticed small bushes stained with blood and bodies scattered along the path. Her eyes widened, and her expression turned to one of pure fear.

Rin regained his balance and moved toward the eerie sound, but Mona grabbed his arm anxiously and said,

"Don't go! Do you want to die?"

He ignored her, drawing the sword he carried on his back and advancing toward the source with a cold expression.

A savage creature was gnawing on someone's corpse. It climbed a tree and leaped directly to the source of the noise, where it found a wolf.

Mona watched in anxiety, but suddenly she opened her mouth in shock and placed her hand over it, as if she had seen a monster utterly alien to mankind.

Rin had cleaved the wolf into two with a single stroke, then swung his sword to clean it of blood.

Noticing Mona's shocked look, he ignored it and said in a calm tone,

"Let us continue onward."

Mona's mind wandered as she thought of the Rin before her… Was he the same Rin with whom she once played and laughed?

But before she could process her thoughts, a giant wolf—massive as an elephant—suddenly leaped toward her. Its long, sharp teeth glowed with lightning, giving the impression that one might vaporize upon contact.

"Watch out!"

"Ah! Rin, save me!"

Mona screamed, but fear rendered her immobile. The wolf's fangs closed in on her swiftly, and its burning saliva dripped mere inches from her face.

Rin rushed forward, unsheathing his sword and leaping directly into the fray against the wolf.

The beast swung its enormous claws at him, and although Rin blocked the attack by positioning his sword before him, the force of the blow brought him to his knees, leaving him gasping for breath.

"I used all my strength to block that blow… and yet, is this how I end up?"

Rin rose again, attempting to attack, but every time he approached the wolf, a single blow felled him.

His body soon became riddled with wounds, and he finally collapsed to the ground in despair.

Mona ran toward him, but Rin shouted fiercely,

"Run! Get away from here!"

Despite his pain, he fixed his determined eyes on the wolf and swore,

"I swear, I will kill it! Just run for your life!"

Mona felt his agony; she longed to approach and comfort him, but as she moved closer… he looked at her.

She froze in place.

His killing gaze was intense—strong and heavy. His eyes resembled those of a bloodthirsty beast, brimming with hatred and rage. It felt as though something tangible enveloped her and stifled her breath.

Yet, disregarding her fear, she stepped forward and embraced him tightly, crying,

"...Rin..."

She held him even more, as if trying to keep him from drowning in darkness.

"Rin... they're gone... all of them are gone... I have no one left..."

Slowly, Rin rose again, his eyes still bleeding, his features dark and menacing. He looked at her in silence for a moment, then whispered hoarsely, his voice laced with hatred,

"Don't worry... I will avenge you..."

Then, in an even colder tone—as if his words were a prophecy for the massacres to come—he declared,

"I will kill every demonic beast!"

---

The First Encounter with True Danger

Rin stood up, numbness spreading through both his legs as he leaned on Mona's shoulder. She looked at him with worry and asked,

"What shall we do now?"

He replied in a calm yet resolute tone,

"I haven't found Leon and Lina yet."

Mona nodded, saying,

"Alright, let's continue searching until we find them."

Mona and Lina had been close companions, so it was not unusual for Mona to be concerned about her friend. As they continued the search, Rin suddenly silenced Mona by placing his hand over her mouth. Her face tensed, and she froze in sheer terror.

They hid among the trees. Then Mona whispered anxiously,

"What's going on?"

Rin pointed ahead in a low voice,

"Look over there, behind the bushes."

At that moment, Rin's sword suddenly glowed, and the number "1" appeared on it.

His eyes widened in shock as he murmured,

"What is happening? The number is supposed to appear only after killing one of the demonic beasts… but I haven't slain any since I acquired this sword… Was it the previous wolf?"

He dismissed his thoughts and focused on the battle.

He attacked the wolf with renewed strength, colliding violently with it and pushing both of them backward. Rin felt the vast difference between his power and that of the beast.

"Mona, why are you still here? Run! I promise I'll catch up with you!"

But she defied him, saying firmly,

"No! We will go together!"

Rin had no time to ponder her words—the wolf was already preparing for a new attack.

It snarled, and lightning began to envelop its entire body. Boom! Suddenly, it appeared right behind Rin. There was no time for him to look back as the wolf tore at his back, exposing his bones amid the gush of blood.

Mona screamed in terror,

"Rin!"

Yet he stood on, blood streaming from every part of his body. On the brink of death with labored breathing, he desperately fended off the wolf's attacks even as his injuries multiplied to catastrophic levels, making his demise imminent.

"Will I die?

Where are those words I used to repeat?

'I will kill every demonic beast! I will avenge my mother and father!'"

Could he really fulfill that promise? Or was it merely the empty outburst of a moment's anger?

In that moment, Rin's rage intensified, and his murderous intent soared to infinity. Suddenly, he began laughing hysterically, his voice trembling as he declared,

"Mona... I made a promise that I would kill every demonic beast!"

Mona heard his words and could no longer discern which was the real monster—the wolf or Rin.

Rin gripped his sword so forcefully that his veins bulged as if about to burst. His eyes turned red, the veins in his entire body swelled, and then he charged wildly toward the wolf.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Rin unleashed a relentless barrage of strikes upon the wolf, giving it no chance to retaliate.

"I'll finish you with one blow!" he roared at the top of his lungs.

His assault grew so fierce that he forgot to breathe. He leaped high, and with a scream, "Aaaah!" he fought on.

Was he battling the lightning wolf? The sword—limitless in power—had suddenly displayed the number "1." Could it be because of that previous wolf? Yet it had been merely an ordinary wolf! Or was it due to the corpse he had seen? But he had not slain that one himself…

He looked at his sword and found that the number had changed to "2."

Mona noticed and curiously asked,

"What are you looking at?"

He replied coolly,

"Nothing, don't worry."

Yet inwardly he thought, I must keep Mona away from this danger…

Then he said to her,

"Mona, sleep. I will guard this place; I don't feel sleepy."

Mona smiled and replied,

"Don't worry about me."

But moments later, overcome by drowsiness, she lay down. Rin covered her with some clothes he had, then looked at her and mused to himself,

"It seems what I told her was just nonsense—it won't come off on me easily… Fine, I'll tell her the truth later."

---

Revealing the Secrets

During these moments, Rin took out the book he had collected along with his sword, attempting to read it.

"Wait! No matter how hard I try, it seems I cannot read it!" he exclaimed, his face filled with disdain. Then he gazed at the sword he carried, contemplating it. It appeared to be an ordinary sword, yet on the edge of its hilt the number "2" was inscribed, stained with blood.

"It appears that when I picked up this sword, someone had already killed a wolf with it."

Rin recalled that when he first touched the sword, a jolt had rendered him unconscious. But upon awakening, he realized that some information had been imparted to him. He immediately recognized the impending catastrophe when Mona roused him.

"This sword holds memories of the past… but how has the truth been concealed?! It turns out that no one was aware of the emergence of this demonic gate!"

Rin wondered why everyone remained ignorant of the gate's appearance. Through the sword's memories, he discerned that the previous catastrophe was the most terrifying ordeal humanity had ever faced—nearly leading to its extinction—until an unknown hero emerged and established a vast organization worldwide to hunt down these demonic beasts.

That hero harbored an intense hatred for the creatures that emerged from the depths of hell and led humanity in the extermination of every demonic beast on earth.

Rin began to ponder in bewilderment,

"How has this crucial part of history been concealed from the world?! Have the memories of all humanity been tampered with? Or are there hidden forces…?"

Boom! In a single stroke, Rin decapitated the wolf, then raised its head toward the sky. He was on the verge of losing consciousness as his sword began drawing the wolf's corpse, absorbing its blood from the blade's edge. Rin screamed fiercely, as if he were burning in relentless flames; the pain overwhelmed him, and he lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground.

Mona rushed to him, shouting his name,

"Rin! Rin!"

She managed to carry him on her back and lit a small fire in a safe spot far from the beasts. Sitting beside him, she carefully began tending to his wounds.

After some time, Rin slowly opened his eyes and saw Mona grilling fish. In a weak voice he asked,

"What happened...?"

Mona turned to him, then rushed over and embraced him with deep concern,

"Rin! Are you alright?!"

He answered in a tired voice,

"I'm fine..."

He tried to rise, but Mona stopped him, saying,

"Your injuries are very serious! I thought you were dead!"

He reassured her with a slight smile,

"Don't worry—I'm still alive."

Then Mona curiously asked,

"Rin, where did you get this sword? And how did you become so strong?"

Leaning against a tree trunk, Rin took a deep breath before answering,

"While we were wandering in the forest, we heard a strange sound coming from an odd old man… He asked me some questions, then vanished. After he left, I found this sword."

Mona furrowed her brows in confusion and asked,

"But how did you know about the coming catastrophe?"

He answered seriously,

"It seems this sword contains information about the catastrophe, but there are mysterious details I still don't understand."

Suddenly, interrupting his own words, he clutched his stomach and said,

"Oh, I'm very hungry… Is the fish done?"

Mona laughed and replied proudly,

"Of course! I caught it myself!"

Rin laughed and said,

"Wonderful! Alright, let's eat."

As he ate, his thoughts drifted back to his encounter with that old man. It appeared that this sword carried the memories of another—a previous bearer. Clearly, that person had slain countless demonic beasts. Yet, where had the kill counter vanished when I was playing behind the scenes? How did this gate reappear? And what is the secret behind these mysterious weapons?!

Rin realized that he might not be the only one to have acquired this power; likely, others in the world had experienced the same. What puzzled him even more, however, was that the hero who had saved humanity was never named, nor was the organization he founded, or any prominent figure from that mysterious history.

"It seems the memories of this sword are limited…"

Rin recalled the moment he killed that wolf—he was on the brink of burning to death from the sword's violent reaction.

"I must absorb all its blood to gain its strength and combat experience… If I fail, I will burn until I turn to ashes!"

Though deeply worried about what the future might hold, he felt a measure of relief when he noticed that the giant wolf remained motionless—lying suspended in the air without any reaction.

"If it awakens, there will be no chance for humanity to survive its onslaught… its stomach could swallow half the world!"

Fortunately, it seemed that most of the other wolves had returned to the gate, while a few continued to roam in search of prey to satiate their hunger.

Rin sighed and looked up at the sky, saying,

"Ah… It seems that this vast world is shrouded in mystery."

---

World's Geography

This world is divided into seven main regions:

1. The Southern Forest – Characterized by unpredictable weather, sometimes hot and sometimes cold.

2. The Eastern Plateaus – Where the weather remains hot all year.

3. The Northern Mountains – Known for their cold climate and continuous frost.

4. The Western Desert – Marked by extreme heat with occasional rainfall, bordered by the Blue Sea.

5. The Green Plains (Central Region) – Enjoying moderate weather throughout the year.

6. The Blue Sea – Sharing similar weather conditions with the Western Desert.

7. The Frost Mountains – Located on the border between the Northern Mountains and the Green Plains, characterized by low temperatures and frequent ice.

Rin lives in the Central Region, right in the heart of the Green Plains.