In a vast expanse of a snow-covered forest, a young man walked slowly, his trail of footsteps stretching far into the distance, disappearing within the thick mist that ruled the wilderness.
Wearing a thick and long coat made out of the fur of some kind of monstrosity, the young man walked with caution, his hand clutching tightly the hilt of a black cleaver.
"Urgh... That's it! I can't no more! I'm frickin' tired! My legs feel like they will fall off!"
Halting his steps and sitting down on a rock after walking for hours straight, Neo groaned in pain and looked at the map in his hands.
It now had been three days since he left the cave and chose to reach the fortress in the north, however, even after walking almost a hundred miles without almost any rest, he was nowhere near reaching the border of the forest he was in, known as the Shivering Woods.
Not only that but there was an even bigger issue at hand... He was starting to get hungry.
While it was true that he could satisfy his thirst with the water from frozen lakes or slowly streaming rivers he could find on his way, he couldn't do the same to his hunger.
Strangely, despite walking for several days in the wilderness, he crossed paths with no beasts or animals that he could have at least tried to hunt down for food. The whole forest was eerily desolate and vacant of any life which gave him the creeps.
Hell, he couldn't even spot any fruits around that he could have used to relieve his craving even a little, which made him feel even more helpless!
If things will go on like this there was no question about it... He will die quite a miserable fate!
"Hey, look at the bright side. At least you don't have to risk your life and fight horrors. Isn't that great?"
Neo laughed with sarcasm at Zen's words.
"Bright side? I would rather fight with a nightmare than starve to my death!"
After all, dying from hunger was no less than torture. The feeling of his own body consuming itself from the inside was something he never wished to experience for himself.
"...What should I do?"
Pondering silently with the map in hand, Neo hummed only to be surprised the following second.
[Eat the Core.]
"Huh? This voice... Aurora?"
Neo felt shocked hearing Aurora's voice again after three days, however, soon that feeling turned into confusion and a deep scowl.
"Core? What's that?"
[In your pocket.]
Neo's frown deepened, however, soon realization surfaced on his face, and put his hand into a pocket before pulling out the small orb he chewed on accidentally.
"Core... Is this what you're talking about?"
[Yes.]
Neo became surprised.
"And you want me to... Eat this? No, you must be joking. Just look, it's solid like a rock! My teeth will break if I do, no question!"
Then he silently added;
"...And I will also possibly choke to death if I try to swallow it whole."
[Just do it.]
'...'
Neo remained silent, contemplating for several minutes whether he should do it or not. Then, after a rather lengthy silence, he just sighed helplessly, threw the Infected Core into his mouth, and began to chew on it gently.
However, even after doing so for a full minute, the core remained whole and unbroken. It truly felt like he was trying to gnaw on a fricking rock!
...A rock that tasted like shit!
'No. This won't work...' Neo sighed and was ready to take to Core out of his mouth when the change happened.
"Huh?"
Almost as if throwing sugar into hot coffee, Neo felt the Core suddenly begin to dissolve, filling his mouth with a great amount of juice that made him wish to spit it out right then and there!
It tasted just like sour, rotten flesh, just in the form of liquid!
"Urgh... What the hell is with this taste?" after forcing himself to swallow everything, Neo stuck his tongue out in disgust before his body froze in surprise.
[Your Legacy {Enhanced Senses} mutates scarcely!]
[Legacy {Enhanced Senses} - 1/100!]
"Wha-"
Neo was stunned seeing the new floating message, but even before he had the chance to speak another change happened.
All of a sudden, the darkness that swirled outside his senses seemed to move and retreat a bit, giving him more area to inspect and discern than before!
Moreover, he could even feel how his touch, his hearing, and all the other senses of his became sharper and more sensitive just a tiny bit while his hunger, which was there a second ago, vanished!
No, that wasn't quite right. He was still hungry, he could feel it. It was just that it seemed to have been eased through unknown means!
As Neo remained still, flabbergasted, suddenly the tree branches and the leaves on the bushes began to shake and tremble wildly despite the lack of wind, attracting his attention right away.
It was almost as if the whole forest all of a sudden came alive, frightened by the approach of something... truly dreadful.
"I don't like this..."
Having a sense of foreboding upon seeing the unnatural phenomenon occurring around him, Neo stood up slowly and raised his weapon, his trembling fingers tightly clenching the hilt of his Bone Cleaver.
He turned his head from side to side and perked his ears nervously to see if he could catch something, however, as the whole forest began to shiver more and more, it was a rather challenging task to do.
[Behind.]
'Huh?!'
Shocked by Aurora's sudden warning, Neo quickly spun around and stared ahead, only for his face to become as pale as a sheet of paper.
'C-Curses!'
Right before him, unknown when or how, a ghastly creature stood silently on top of a tree, glaring down at him from above with its bloodlust-filled eyes!
The beast looked like a hybrid between a panther and a wolf, its body, which seemed to be injured by some sharp object, being the size of the former than the latter. Also, its claws, which seemed to be half-transparent like crystals, were so sharp that they easily drilled themselves into the thick tree branch it was standing on!
Though, the most striking trait that horrendous thing possessed was the way the mist swirled around its body, giving it a ghostly and fearsome aura that gave others a sense of despair!
Seeing the fiend, Neo froze motionless, his face losing all color in a split second. He knew that, even though the creature was heavily wounded for some reason, he stood no chance if they clashed!
There was just simply no way he could kill that thing, not even with his Artifact! Just looking at the horror told him it was on a whole different level than the Augur Beast he happened to kill!
'Curses!'
Realizing this, Neo clenched his teeth with a darkened face, and after remaining still for a few moments he tightened his fingers around his weapon's hilt and...
Began to run away.
Right, if he wished to survive there was just no other choice for him but to make a run for it! After all, even a fool could see how he had no chance of killing that nightmare!
At least, not in his current state and with his current strength.
"It's already too late..."
"What do you mea-"
Neo asked confused, only for the words he wished to say to get stuck in his throat and his feet froze the very next second.
Once again, unknown how, the beast appeared in front of him out of nowhere like a ghost, with the only difference that now it was a few meters away from him, lunging itself at him with a deep thirst for blood visible in its eyes!
And to his utter disbelief, the speed with which it was moving was fast, incredibly fast, to the point where he had no chance to dodge in time at all!
"Crap!"
Neo cursed and despite knowing he was done for, he moved his arm and swung his Bone Cleaver with all his might.
Yet, just as he began his swing, under which the fiend's claws had already reached his face and were an inch away from slicing through his skull, right into his brain, something flashed from the side with speed as fast as a bolt of lightning!