Azura gasped for air, his breaths coming in rapid, shallow bursts.
Encountering a monster in the middle of the woods is a really bad situation to be in—he was about three miles away from the camping site, the nearest help. In addition, he fired his rifle, and yet it did nothing to this monster.
It drains the willpower he has in his body completely.
Suddenly, a painful grunt escaped his mouth as his perspective shifted into a blur of motion.
"Kahhk!!"
A forceful impact hits his chest and launches him away, stopping only when he crashes into a tree five meters behind him. He could feel something crawling in his throat before he spewed blood out of his mouth.
Judging from the sharp sting in his chest, a few of his ribs are certainly broken.
Never in his life had he experienced something like this.
Living in poverty, not wanting to cause trouble that might cost him money, Azura had always kept his head down. Whenever there was a conflict with someone, verbally or physically, he always took the apologizing route.
As long as he's pitiful enough, usually, apologizing will always work.
It's humiliating, but he couldn't afford to stand for himself when his life was already wobbly.
He lived his life this way for the sake of Caelum.
Although people looked down on him because of that, at the very least, he lived a safe life.
So the sensation of pain that struck him right now came like a tidal of surprise.
It hurts... My body, this fucking hurts.
Sprawled on the ground facing up, Azura could see that the moon was bigger than normal.
It looked as if it was about to fall.
Azura was uncertain whether his eyes were playing tricks on him or not.
Groaning in pain, his survival instinct helped him to sit up despite coughing blood a couple of times in the process. He crawled back and leaned over to the tree before looking up weakly, only to see the furred creature striding towards him.
His vision was a blur, but adrenaline kicked in when Caelum flashed in his mind.
At that moment, fear was replaced by determination as he saw his rifle and grabbed it.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Out of desperation, he shot the furred creature a couple of times to no avail.
The bullets didn't even graze its skin, they bounced right off.
Azura raised his gaze as the furred creature stood towering before him, boasting its hulking size and sharp fangs. Grinning, it raised its claw, about to deliver the killing blow, ripping the life out of him.
However, in the following second, its ears perked up—sensing something.
Even then, it was too late to react when the ground beside Azura tore asunder before an icy spike burst out, impaling the furred creature in its abdomen. An agonizing howl resounded— the furred creature was evidently in pain.
It then quickly broke the ice spike, breaking free with its monstrous strength.
Leaping away, the furred creature made some safe distance from another, haunting creature.
It was the creature that Azura saw earlier killing the moose, the Lich.
"I didn't expect to meet you here, Serkan. Seems like you, dogs also heard of the rumors"
"Don't bother to try competing, Yongrui. I'll make sure your trip from China will be a waste"
As a silent observer, Azura witnessed Serkan, the furred Werewolf, effortlessly pulling out the ice spike from its abdomen. Blood flowed, but the wound mended in mere seconds—leaving no trace at all.
But what surprised Azura was not that, it was the fact that these monsters could talk.
Fluently that is, almost as if they were humans.
Realizing that these two monsters could talk his language, Azura hisses in pain to reach for his wallet in his pocket. His action prompted the Lich to glance at him and see him taking out a picture of Caelum when he was little.
"I- I have a little brother," Azura panted weakly, pleading. "Please, let me go. Don't kill me..."
Listening to this, the Lich tilted its head.
Splash!
"Aaarrgghh!!"
Displaying complete indifference toward him, the Lich summoned an ice spike and stabbed both of Azura's palms. He writhed in pain, tears flowing out of his eyes as the pain was too overwhelming for him.
Ignoring Azura's wail of pain, the Lich and the Werewolf began to fight.
Both of them were engaged in a fierce confrontation, spreading destruction to the woods.
Thick trees and even the ground were devastated by their fight.
Realizing that this was his only chance to flee, with the two Supernatural creatures trapped in a fierce fight, Azura clenched his jaw and started pulling his hands out of the ice spikes, crying in pain in the process.
I can't die here, Caelum... I still can't leave him behind, not when he's not ready.
Even though the situation he was in was dire, Azura clung to his little brother.
He was unwilling to surrender to death and abandon Caelum in this lonely world, much like their parents had in a tragic accident when Azura was fifteen and Caelum was only nine. If that happens, he knows that Caelum will not survive.
Persevering was his only choice, he must survive this night.
No matter what, he has to live.
Azura endured the icy sting with every inch of pull before he finally wrenched his hands free from the ice spike. His hands were trembling, and the pain was unfathomable, yet he forced himself to stand up and limped away.
It was hard to focus and think, he didn't know the direction to go back to the camping site.
But for now, he only tried to get away from those two monsters.
With each step he took, he could hear the sound of fighting getting further and further away.
Leaning on a tree trunk for support, he took a breather as it was getting harder and harder to breathe properly. Azura wanted to rest, but he knew that if he did—then he wouldn't be able to walk anymore.
Just then, a blinding light came into view from his periphery suddenly.
Glancing at the light, hope came back to him.
People! Other people must be around to hunt the moose. I have to get to them.
Thinking that it must be other hunters who were also vying to hunt for a moose, Azura smiled in hope and made his way toward the light. He dragged his hurting body to reach the light as it was the only hope of survival.
Eventually, he somehow made it to a clearance, a glade in the woods.
He stumbled and fell to the ground.
But when he was about to get up again, an innocent light voice seeped into his ears.
"Mister, are you lost...?"
Upon hearing this, Azura looked up before he saw a figure standing not far from him through his blurry vision. Despite the blur, he could vaguely make out that the figure was a little girl no more than ten adorned in white children's sleepwear.
Despite finding it weird to see a child here, he stood up strugglingly.
"What are you doing here? Where are your parents? It's not safe, come with me" He said.
Regardless of his predicament, he wouldn't abandon a lost child in the middle of the woods, especially now that he knew monsters lurked. If he left her here, she would've been an easy prey for those two he had encountered earlier.
Grabbing her hand, he tried to pull her away.
However, Azura was surprised when the girl didn't budge from her spot.
He tried pulling a couple of times but it felt like he was pulling a rock, unable to be moved.
"What in the world...?" Azura mused out loud in confusion.
Just as he turned to look at the girl again, his eyes widened in surprise when he realized that the little girl's innocent eyes turned sinister. Her sclera turned black, and her iris glowed very red, like jewels of Hell itself.
"Moron, what kind of girl would be here in the middle of the night?" She mocked suddenly.
Azura was stunned, but he screamed in agony when the innocent little girl, who turned out to also be a monster, ruthlessly bit into and tore off his right arm. As he was screaming, the girl callously began devouring his torn limb as if it were a mere snack.
It sent his mind into peril as he stumbled across another monster.
Damn this night! Is tonight the night monsters broke loose to feast freely?!
Pressing his head against the ground, he suffered an excruciating torment of his limb being savagely ripped away. This hunting session was supposed to be a normal one. He came to get his money to pay for his and Caelum's tuition, and perhaps even treat Caelum to a good meal once in a while.
But now, the night turned into a nightmare instead.
Crash!!
Out of nowhere, a powerful blast hurtled him away again—rolling across the ground.
His severed limb made a gory trail of blood on the grass.
Azura lay supine once more, but this time, sheltered under the sprawling boughs of a weird ancient tree adorned with glistening leaves. Through the fissures in its majestic canopy, the silver full moon could be seen shining brilliantly in the sky.
Its shine was so strong that the night relinquished its usual darkness, the night was bright.
The sound of roars and fighting could be heard surrounding him, and when he managed to tilt his gaze around, he found different kinds of monsters were fighting among each other— there was an all-out brawl around him.
Due to the loss of blood, however, the sound began to become muffled.
He couldn't hear properly anymore.
Meanwhile, the monsters engaged in battle on the glade realized that the moon was nearing its zenith. With heightened vigor, they intensified their onslaught, each creature focused all of its energy on reaching the ancient tree at the heart of the glade. Its leaves, once glowing silver, now began to lose their color, and gradually transformed into an ominous shade of black.
"What? The Lunaris Heart is losing its energy?!"
"Someone is absorbing the energy, no... this rare chance will not slip my hands!"
"Get out of my way!!!"
Not knowing that the battle intensified, Azura slowly succumbed to the darkness.
His eyelids became heavier by the second.
But oblivious to him, his hand rested on the robust root of the tree beside him, and the shiny silvery energy could be seen flowing into his hand—forming a glowing sphere, located right at the center of his chest.