Stories of Sheng Nie's rampage spread throughout many towns and villages. He had saved many from dire beasts with his spectacular weapon that he called a sword. His fighting skills were remarkable and his swords strikes were elegant and deadly. He was an enhanced human with super strength and speed, who was admired by everyone near his proximity. When he had told some people about his past, which gave birth to his desire to kill every single one of those insect-like beasts, many people started knowing about his origin and reasoning.
Everyone who knew about his tale, moved towards the area where the swords were located. Unfortunately, they couldn't approach even a mile from the swords due to the pressure, but they were able to set up establishments there because the stronger and smarter beasts didn't approach that area. Only creatures that couldn't understand the dangers of the swords decided to stay near the swords.
A lot villages came to existence, and from villages towns were build. The place was perfect for them, because the wild creatures were within their levels and the soil was good for farming. Generations passed and their weapons were able to improve. They were able to use iron as a resource to improve their weapons, and rare gold that they made into coins for trading.
Meanwhile, Sheng Nie was exploring the world in exterminating the insect-like beasts, not minding the development of humans their live. His sword gave him the ability to sense the thing he wanted to take revenge on, whenever the thing was within a few miles from him. After a few decades of hunting had passed, he finally noticed that he had stopped aging from the moment he first held the sword. Realizing that it was his fate to put those despicable creatures into extinction, he didn't stop with his massacre until all of them were dead.
…
A soldier of the recent growing city had been sent on a mission with his crew to escort the minister of finance. Little did he know that he was part of a scheme of the other ministers. They were supposed to escort the minister to his family in a rural village, but went to the wrong location due to their map that was falsely marked. This soldier named Ling Lan, knew there was something wrong when they had arrived. They had arrived at a silent dark woodland where no glint of the sun was able to enter. Trying to confirm his suspicion, he knocked on the door of the carriage to notify the minister to come out.
"Is this where your family lives?" Ling Lan asked in case they did live there. When the minister heard his dumb question after looking around, he was dumbfounded why the soldiers would try to prank him. In irritation he yelled, "What kind of sh-". He couldn't even finish his sentence, because a sharp vine had already pierced his forehead.
"Take cover!" Ling Lan warned his comrades after the minister was killed in front of him. His comrades followed his commands, as they left their seat and hid below the carriage along with Ling Lan. It was their first time under the threat of something unknown and sly that was on its own territory. Multiple vines were slithering in the air, in search for them. Since it might get attracted by noise, they kept the sound of their breathing as low as possible.
When the vines had retracted themselves, Ling Lan peaked his head out to see if the vines were still active. He didn't see anything in front of him, but as he looked up, a huge drop of saliva fell on his face. A vine grabbed onto his neck before he could wipe off the saliva, and threw him far in the distance. Knowing where the enemy was and what it was like, he yelled out its location when he had landed on the ground.
The two other men knew they couldn't hide anymore, which was why they went out of their hiding spots in preparation to attack at the confirmed location. The head of a spear and an arrow were able to make holes in its body, but the wound from the spear was able to close itself while the arrow was pushed out of its body. The two were terrified by such ability, and abandoned their offence to run instead.
"Don't leave your back open!" Ling Lan yelled, but it was already too late. A bunch of thick vines came out of the beast's neck, before it strangled the neck of the closest person. It then brought the guy near its mouth, before a vine with a sharp end shot out of it and stabbed his head.
"No!"
Ling Lan struggled to get back up to run away with his friend. His friend stopped to help him out, but Ling Lan declined. He'd rather die than let another of his close comrades die in front of him. He and his two friends were orphans who grew together, and since they were orphans, they had to serve under the eleven ministers who governed the city. From the day they were able to communicate with each other, they had gone through difficulties together and were able to build a strong sense of brotherhood. If Ling Lan were to witness both of his brothers die an awful death within a day, he would surely not be able to die in peace.
"Go!" Ling Lan yelled when the two meters wolf-like beast began to chase after them. The beast was fast even with its size, which meant that he had no chance of running away anymore. When the beast was near him, an arrow passed near his ear before it hit the beast, disturbing its charge. The beast was annoyed from getting disturbed, and stomped its feet on the ground in anger. A thick vine with a spiky tip penetrated through the ground in front of the archer, before it pierced his neck.
Ling Lan dropped on his knees, making his heavy armor clang. He was in complete silence as he stared at his two brothers who lay dead on the ground. The beast that was slowly walking towards him in intimidation, was intelligent and powerful. It purposely killed the humans with no armors first, and it aimed for the open areas that were critical. Because Ling Lan was covered with thick armor, it was only able to do sly attacks and deal blunt damage.