"The mountain weeps. Amidst the swirling grey fog. The four beasts. Beasts of Clay and tempest. Wild like flowing blood. A garden of roses. A garden of corpses. Follow the road down below."
"The mountain is most likely referring to the Sunrise Shadow Peaks. 'Amidst the swirling grey fog'... That must also be the Field of Skulls. Then, the garden of roses must be be Malady's Garden. But, what about the garden of corpses? Are they the same place, or do they refer to two distinct areas?"
He paused for a moment,
"And then, there are the Beasts. Abominations? Or perhaps something else..."
Nero groaned,
'It's still too confusing for me to decode.'
He let out a sigh.
There was no use thinking of it for too long.
He slowly rose to his feet.
Although his survival was important, he also had to hunt. More so because his food supplies were running out, but also because he had to acquire more Seals of Sin.
He could tell that this was the key to his survival.
As long as he count obtain more Seals of Sin, he would be able to fight and defeat even stronger foes.
His current goal was to gather a thousand of them.
And at the moment, he only had three.
***
Name: Nero.
True Name: Armageddon, Angel of Judgement.
Seal Rank: F
Seal(s): Seal of Divinity (locked).
Relics: Silver Blade, Wandering Spirit's Journal.
Skills: Heretic Eye.
Description: Town Guard.
Sins: Heretic, Witness.
{Heretic}: You are one who truly does not believe. Thus, you have been deemed a Heretic by the heavens and have acquired the Curse of the Divine Will.
{Witness}: The Heart of a Heretic is the One true witness, for it is the only thing not bound by belief. The Witness cannot be easily afflicted by knowledge and madness.
Seals of Sin: (3/1000).
***
The river he had washed down from was filled with all sorts of corrupted creatures.
However for the most part, these creatures were rather harmless to humans. That was why the area surrounding the lake was considered a Category Blue zone. Meanwhile, the area with the cave would be considered a Category Green.
In terms of the certain death quality, both areas were rather mild.
Still, a creature such as the Soul Amalgam was lurking right in the fringes of a Category Green zone. Such a thing made Nero fearful to no end.
Still, it was time to leave the cave. Even if it was for a little while.
Although there was still daylight, it was murky and diluted by the semi-dark sky. For some reason, the sunlight seemed to shy away from this terrible place.
Nero's body tensed up when he heard a chilling cry come from the depths of the dark woods the river cut through.
The area where the cave of the Soul Amalgam was on the edge of the woods, so it was relatively safe and didn't see much traffic.
'It will be fine. Everything will be fine.'
As he walked away from the cave's mouth cautiously, Nero felt something strange.
Like a pair of eyes boring holes into his neck.
He froze.
'Already?!'
He drew the Silver Blade and turned around.
He half expected it to be just his nerves playing tricks on him again.
But it wasn't.
His face paled as his eyes caught onto the blood red orbs staring at him menacingly.
The thing glaring down at him was an enormous wolf-like creature.
Its fur was matte black, and its eyes glowed with crimson flames, like the color of blood.
It bared its fangs to reveal canines that were as long as daggers.
Its black tail whipped about, revealing that it was covered with numerous curved barbs.
Even worse, Nero noticed that there were actually two pairs of eyes glaring down at him.
The damned beast had four eyes.
However, one of the eyes seemed rather damaged.
Nero frowned.
Upon closer inspection, he realized that the beast was quite wounded.
Nero suddenly realized something.
'It wanted to rest and recover within the cave...'
Wounded creatures seeking shelter in the cave would have become prey to the Soul Amalgam.
Luckily for the poor beast, the Soul Amalgam was dead. In its stead, however, was Nero...
Nero took a moment to size the thing up as he brandished his blade.
If it was not injured, then perhaps the bare would have ended poorly for him.
But he could tell its injuries were quite severe.
Nero sucked in a deep breath.
A look of determination flashed across his face as he took a form step forward.
Not only did he had his training, he also felt a bit stronger than before.
If he couldn't defeat this damned thing here, he might as well go find a tree to hang his noose from.
The wolf-like abomination jumped down from the mouth of the cave and began to circle around him.
Nero bent slightly into a low crouch and steadied his weapon.
The calm before the storm...
His thighs trembling from the tension, Nero was the first to move.
With a burst of speed, he rocketed forward, drawing a wide arc through the air.
The Abomination snarled as it opened its unsurprisingly wide maw up to reveal numerous rows of sharp teeth.
Nero stopped mid swing and kicked off again the ground to kill his momentum.
His pupils shrank to pinheads as he slowly observed every movement the Abomination took.
In its current state of injury, the creature was not as fast as it had once been.
However, that mattered little as it was still faster than he was.
But besides that, it also couldn't help but reveal where its injuries were. Either by relieving the area of pain by clenching certain muscles, or not leaning in a foot that has an injury.
'Found it.'
Ducking to the side, Nero dodged another lunging bite and closed in.
His breathing narrowed with his vision and he hissed our a sharp breath.
The edge of the Silver Blade sang the midday's chorus of the wastelands, reflecting the dampened light for just a moment before it was stained with blood.
The Abomination yelped and tried to run back, but Nero wouldn't let it.
Pushing his weight into it, he maned to topple it over.
Pulling his weapon out, his eyes turned savage for a moment as he stabbed down again.
The wolf Abomination was stubborn and refused to die without a fight.
It's sharp claws torn at his skin, ripping through it and into muscle with ease, covering him with deep, bloody gashes.
But Nero was also stubborn and refused to leg go, stabbing down at what he could only assume to be vital spots over and over again.
Finally, the Abomination couldn't endure its wounds anymore.
With a finally chilling cry, it collapsed to the dirt, dead.
***
{Rejoice, Heretic. You have slain a Mirehound}
{Seals of Sin: 4/1000}.
***
Collapsing to the ground, completely exhausted and thoroughly wounded, a strange light appeared in Nero's eyes.
'This... could this be?'
Could it be, that in his misfortune, he had stumbled upon a rather useful hack?!