Past Hagon's terraced fields lay a narrow gorge, surrounded by sheer cliffs that stood like a folding screen.
Finally, the entrance to their destination, the 'Valley of Light,' revealed itself.
This was the only gateway through the rugged western mountain range that led to 'Dowon'—a fertile and safe paradise.
"Ah... There it is! We just need to cross that!"
"We made it! We survived!"
The refugees, having reached the end of their death march, cried out in jubilation.
Through the cracks of the tightly shut, colossal fortress gates, warm and holy golden sunlight seeped out. The sweet scent of peach blossoms tickled their noses, allowing them to briefly forget the stench of blood.
It looked like a true land of hope, completely isolated from the hellish world outside.
But that hope was brutally betrayed right at the doorstep.
"Lord Liu Zhang! Please open the gates! Please!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Liu Bei pounded on the colossal steel gates with his bare, bloodied hands.
The skin on his palms had already burst open, exposing raw bone, but he did not stop.
"We have children and wounded! There are monsters chasing us from behind!"
Following Liu Bei's desperate scream, the refugees flocked to the base of the fortress walls, wailing in unison.
A child crying while clutching their mother's hem; an old man groaning while clutching a severed arm.
Their eyes were filled with a desperate longing for the salvation that lay beyond the gates.
"Are we not of the same blood?! We are your people! Please, show us mercy!"
Liu Bei shouted until his throat felt like it would tear apart.
Just as his desperate cry echoed through the gorge, a cold voice rained down from atop the ramparts.
"...Mercy?"
Far up on the towering walls covered in thorny vines.
Standing there, atop a structure that rose like a giant watchtower, was the 'Lord of Thorns,' Liu Zhang.
He was clad in heavy, dark green plate armor.
Living thorny vines squirmed like snakes through the gaps in his armor, and the massive leafy pauldrons wrapping his shoulders made him look like a giant carnivorous plant.
Liu Zhang looked down at the base of the wall.
His eyes glistened with a murky green hue, clouded by pathological paranoia.
"Rats dirtying my territory dare to speak of mercy?"
"Lord Liu Zhang...!"
"The stench is revolting. The smell of blood, the smell of sweat... and the rotten stench of losers."
Liu Zhang crumpled his face in disgust, covering his nose.
To him, the beings outside the walls were not people to be saved, but merely germs contaminating his perfect paradise, 'Dowon.'
"Contaminated things cannot enter."
Vwoooom—!
The
Simultaneously, the ground shook violently as if struck by an earthquake.
"Go back. No, die right there."
Ruuuuumble—!
An unbelievable sight unfolded before Liu Bei's eyes.
The ground in front of the fortress walls cracked open, and massive 'Iron Vines,' harder than steel, erupted from the earth.
These were no simple plants.
They were hideous vines with sharp metallic thorns protruding from their surfaces.
Dozens of vines tangled and knotted together, covering the fortress gate.
It was a gesture of absolute rejection, completely sealing off even the cracks where the light of hope had leaked through.
"No... No...!"
Liu Bei tried to reach through the vines, but only red blood splattered as the sharp thorns pierced his skin.
The door vanished before his eyes.
No, it had become a wall.
The warm sunlight and the fragrant scent of flowers were forever imprisoned behind the cold, heavy iron vines.
"Do not dirty my Dowon. Die outside. That is your fate."
With Liu Zhang's cold-hearted sentence, his figure vanished from atop the wall.
All that remained was a tightly shut wall of despair, and hundreds of lives abandoned before it.
"Ah..."
Liu Bei collapsed, his legs giving way.
In front of him was an impenetrable wall of thorns.
And from behind, the cries of predators who had caught the scent of blood were drawing closer.
They were completely isolated and helpless.
*
In front was a wall of thorns; behind was the maw of predators.
Just as the refugees, trapped in a perfect dilemma, began to step back in terror...
Sssss...
From the dark forest behind them, a bizarre wind began to blow.
It wasn't the metallic scent of blood or the acrid stench of beasts.
It was the dizzyingly sweet, hazy scent of rotting flowers.
Clink, clink.
The sound of chains dragging against the ground echoed from the darkness.
The refugees' eyes, filled with terror, snapped toward the sound.
"Khee-hee-hit... Khee-hee-hee-hit!"
Accompanied by creeping laughter, the shadows of the forest parted, and a man revealed himself.
A skeletal body with no flesh to be found.
Draped over it were tattered robes woven from mushroom mycelium and cobwebs.
On his head, he wore a giant, glowing mushroom like a crown—a grotesque figure.
He was the madman dominating the north of this dark forest, the 'Shaman of Madness,' Zhang Lu.
"Die, die... keep saying die, and you really think you'll die? You poor things."
Zhang Lu walked out as if dancing, spinning the chain in his hand like a fire whizz.
At the end of the chain, a giant Censer shaped like a skull hung, making a whirring sound.
"Pain is a disease! Sorrow is a sickness! This body has come personally to cure you!"
Zhang Lu swung the censer wide into the air.
Thick purple smoke exploded from the skull's eye sockets and mouth.
It was the dust of death, mutated by the power of the
"Here, breathe it in! Paradise is right under your noses!"
Whoooosh—!
The purple fog crawled along the ground like a living snake, engulfing the refugees.
Trapped at the canyon entrance with nowhere to run, the refugees were swallowed helplessly by the mist.
"Cough! W-what is this... Gag!" "I can't... breathe... Sob..."
Sounds of painful coughing echoed through the gorge.
But that pain lasted only for a moment.
"Sob... Sob... Hehe... Hehehe?"
The refugees' voices, mixed with screams and wailing, instantly began to turn into grotesque laughter.
Having inhaled the spores, their eyes were dyed a chilling neon purple, covering the whites.
Facial muscles, once contorted in fear, slackened, and the corners of their mouths curled up, ripping toward their ears.
It was not the expression of rational beings.
It was the expression of beasts high on drugs.
"It doesn't... hurt..."
An old man, whose arm had been torn off just moments ago, raised his tattered limb and burst into giggles.
"I'm happy... I feel so good... You too... You come here too..."
The old man bit into the neck of his granddaughter beside him.
Flesh tore and blood spurred, but even the girl being eaten didn't scream. Instead, she burst into laughter with an ecstatic expression.
"Kyahahaha! Warm! It's warm, Grandpa!"
A living hell unfolded.
A frenzied scene where people hugged each other, ate each other's flesh, shared blood, and laughed maniacally.
It was a feast of horrific 'Happy Cannibalism,' like a swarm of starving ghosts dancing.
"W... What is this..."
Liu Bei stepped back.
His back touched the cold wall of steel thorns.
There was nowhere left to retreat.
"Captain... Our Captain..."
The young man with the broken leg, whom Liu Bei had carried on his back just moments ago, approached him with a staggering gait.
There was no focus in his purple eyes.
Around his mouth were smeared fresh blood and bits of flesh, as if he had just chewed on someone.
"Let's be happy... together. Yes?"
The young man grabbed Liu Bei's leg and sank his teeth into it.
"Ugh!"
Blood spurted from Liu Bei's calf.
Instinctively, he raised the sword in his hand.
He could behead the young man with a single strike.
But Liu Bei's hand was trembling like a leaf in the wind.
"Please... Please stop! Snap out of it! We're family! I carried you all the way here!"
Liu Bei wailed and pushed the young man away.
But he couldn't cut him down.
If it were a hideous monster, he could have swung his sword without hesitation.
But even if they had gone mad, these were the people he had risked his life to protect.
"Ehehehe! Family! That's right, we're family! So we have to mix flesh!"
The pushed-away young man didn't care; he crawled back and bit Liu Bei's ankle again.
Behind him, dozens, hundreds of 'laughing corpses' were reaching out towards Liu Bei, closing in.
"Behold! That beautiful sight!"
Watching the tragedy unfold, Zhang Lu fell into a state of ecstasy and began to dance joyously.
"A world without pain! Rest without sorrow! I have granted you true peace! How merciful am I! Kee-hahahaha!"
The madman's laughter and the refugees' insane cackling mixed together, filling the gorge.
Amidst that chilling dissonance, Liu Bei was crumbling, isolated and alone.
"Ah... Aaaaaah...!"
Between the impenetrable wall and his family gone mad.
The worn sword Liu Bei held dropped powerlessly to the ground.
Even the last light of hope that had dwelled in his eyes was being extinguished, covered by the purple madness.