I had been travelling for the past three days. No place to stay, feeding on rabbits, fish and birds. sleeping beside a tree. But after such an exhausting journey, the destination was in front of me. An abandoned mansion. Deep in the mountains. I dismounted Schneider and went on foot to explore this antique manor. The sun was setting. It was a silent evening. I could hear the breeze rustling the leaves.
I remained on guard but for some reason, I could not sense any dark energy nearby. Schneider could not have been wrong. Piron's sense of detection and tracing is unmatched. The way they access mana is just remarkable. So considering that a vile demon is waiting inside for me, I remained vigilant and slowly advanced to the door. It was old and rusty. With a little push, the door opened. It made a creaking sound. I went inside and looked around. You could only see vines, dust, the fallen roof and rats roaming around. I kept walking looking around. Staying alert. As I did, I sensed a presence behind me. I slowly put my hand on my crossbow and immediately pirouetted to take a shot. The arrow hit the wall and a second later, an ugly gampeer fell on the ground. Others slowly emerged through the walls. Some came out of the cracks.
I was completely surrounded. Gampeers are blood-thirsty scavengers that usually live in old and abandoned buildings such as this. They coexist and hunt in a pack. And it seemed like I came across one. There were at least fifteen of them, surrounding me and looking at me with yellow eyes, making strange sounds. I put back my crossbow and brought my sword forward. There was a moment of silence and then suddenly each of them rushed at me. The first one leapt at me. His mouth wide open, revealing his yellow fangs. With a click, I unsheathed my sword and with an outward swing, I cut his head off. The Gampeer's body disintegrated in the air. Meanwhile, the others attacked.
Another attacked from me behind. I backed kick him. The impact lifted him in the air and he hit the wall. One from the front came at me with ferocious speed. I dodged his talons and pierced my sword through his skull. I heel kicked another, cut down two more. And so like this, the Gampeers kept coming and I kept cutting them down. Moments later, nothing was left but black soot-like powder on the ground. I was a little tired. But not tired enough to let my guard down. These Gampeer's were guarding something. So I decided to find out what. I roamed around the old castle. It was almost night and as the full moon shined bright outside, a strange surge of dark energy engulfed the whole mansion.
It was oozing out of every single fragment. That is when I heard a shriek. I immediately drew my sword and remained still. I wanted to let it come to me. Another shriek and it made me turn. But there was nothing. I heard scratching sounds and gurgling from behind. I turned and saw a beast gasping. It shrieked and struck me with his huge claws. I managed to block the attack but it lifted me in the air and I was tossed across the room. I hit the wall hard. But I immediately came to my feet. The demon howled at me and dashed at monstrous speed. I held my sword tight and charged forward. The demon was enormous. Huge fangs, a long whipping tail and razor-sharp claws. His whole body was black with green eyes penetrating from his skull like two emeralds.
It charged at me with great strength. But I deflected each of his attacks. Finally, a wide- slash and I found my opening. As his claws, we're about to chop my head off, I ducked and slashed my sword horizontally, lacerating the demon's chest. I did not stop at that, I spun and slashed the demon's hamstring and kicked it's back. The demon fell forward but before I could make the final move the demon whiplashed on my face, with its tail. The demon took that opportunity and hit me with his huge arm. I was once again, launched in the air. I hit the ground hard. Before I got up, the demon pinned me down with his huge claw on my face. I could not move and it bit my left shoulder. The demon pierced its huge fangs into my flesh. Sudden pain and burning sensation took hold of me. At that moment, my survival instincts kicked in. I grabbed the demons head with my right hand and penetrated my thumb into its eye.
The demon opened its jaw and let me go. I kicked the demon off me and immediately grabbed my sword and went for his head. But I was too slow, the demon hit me again and my face rebounded against the ground. The impact knocked me out. When I got conscious it was already morning. My shoulder wound was closed. My head was spinning... I grabbed my sword and managed to get back on my feet. The demon was nowhere to be found. I went outside and looked around. My blood is a poison for any beast of the dark. They can harm me but cannot feed on me. He would have collapsed somewhere. I had to look around. My shoulder was gravely injured.
I whistled and a moment later Schneider came to me. I opened my bag on the saddle and took out the cashfer herb. It acts as a painkiller. I mounted Schneider and rode in search of the demon. I looked around for a while but found nothing. I had started to feel drowsy. As I was riding, I saw a girl on the road. She was carrying buckets full of water. I pulled Schneider's halter and dismounted.
"Pardon me," I called her. "But you should not wander around here. There is a demon on the loose."
The girl looked at me in shock.
"I am sorry sir. But I did not see anyone." She said.
"Trust me. You do not want to be out here right now. Go back to your home and stay inside." I said.
As I turned around, a wave of dizziness, took over me and I went to my knees. The girl let go of her buckets and came to my aid.
"Sir, are you okay?" She asked. She saw the wound on my shoulder.
"You are hurt. You need help," she said.
"I am okay. I can look after myself." I tried to stand up but could not.
"Please, let me help you. My house is nearby. You can rest there." She said. I was too weak to continue. At the moment, it seemed like a good option. So I grabbed Schneider's halt and followed the girl. Schneider helped me walk. A few moments later, we came to an old house. I followed the girl inside. The house was quite small. Only two rooms. It was a little dark inside.
"I am sorry. The place is a little dirty." She said
"Who am I to judge?" I said.
The girl asked me to sit down. Meanwhile, she went to get some bandages and got water for me. I removed my cloak. My shirt was drenched in blood. But fortunately, the wound had closed up, but obviously, I lost a lot of blood. Hunters had faster healing compared to normal people. Otherwise, I would have been long dead. The wound would completely heal in two days time. The girl came with a pot full of water and some ointment. Appeared to be an anti-septic.
"Thank you," I said. "I can do the rest."
"Please, let me help. You are not in a condition to manage it yourself." The girl argued.
"You have done enough," I said.
I removed my shirt and her eyes dilated in horror. My whole body was covered in scars. And my left shoulder was chewed out. She lowered her head and stayed silent. Meanwhile, I cleaned my wound. It stung as I did it. I opened the jar she gave me and applied the ointment.
"You can look up now," I said.
She raised her head to look at me.
" I am sorry. It is just that I was a little stunned." She said.
"It is okay. Anybody would have been." I said.
"Do you live here on your own?"
"Yes. I live here alone." She answered.
"I see. Well, I should be on my way." I said. I stood up to leave but a wave of weakness took over me.
"Please, you can stay longer. You need to rest." The girl said.
I was very weak. So I decided to listen to her. I sat down and leaned against the straw wall. A moment later, I dozed off. I did not know how long was I asleep but something woke me up. It was the demon's dark aura. He was nearby. As I opened my eyes, I heard Schneider's voice. It was night and the house was abandoned, the girl was nowhere to be found. I grabbed my sword and went outside.