Most people are bound by the strong chains of their desires. When you have blood, food, water, and company, you can't help but ask yourself what else you need for happiness? Many would dream of what people in the fort have—constant protection from experienced individuals who were also military before the system, constant moral support in the form of morning prayers, or encouragement around a dim fire in the bloody light of day. Even if not the tastiest, the food is far from scraps, and clean water, which millions, if not hundreds of millions of people, could only dream of at this time.
So what could a person still desire while being in such a place to achieve happiness?
This question is quite complex yet simple. It's just the basic desire for something better.
Even if you have everything you need, you will still always strive for something better, wanting more and more until you finally feel your limit. There's nothing good or bad about this; it's just a basic human need. At least that was how Asan reasoned, watching every evening as Geographer repeated his mantra about the Alps and his great goal of creating an ideal place to live. And it actually worked, because even Asan was swayed by these words and followed the Geographer's group with Janschwalde. But maybe it's better to think about such things in a safer environment rather than when you're about to fall off a four-meter-high fort wall.
When Asan hit the ground, he felt a dull, piercing pain at the back of his head, which greatly stunned him and made him spit out saliva from his mouth.
Blood crept up his nose, and on his tongue there was instantly the familiar and unwanted taste of blood. The pain, though dull, was felt throughout his entire body because he had hit his head. A searing fear in the lower part of his chest, somewhere around his stomach, finally made him do something about the creature sitting on him.
The monster was tearing at Asan's shirt on his chest, desperately trying to reach his ribs. Despite the intense pain, the boy tried to raise his hand, but after hitting his head, he did everything very slowly, so along with the searing fear, there was also a searing pain. Nevertheless, Asan's palm managed to touch the face with holes, and without wasting a second, he sent a huge amount of his mana, creating a fairly large dark-colored fire.
The subsequent howl of the creature indicated that it was experiencing intense pain, causing Asan to only increase the mana flow in his hand. Soon, the boy received a notification, which made him stop the flow and lower the creature next to him, involuntarily groaning from the pain.
[Congratulations! You have killed 'Fog drone'].
The pain in his chest and the back of his head made the boy breathe heavily, greedily gulping air. All sounds blended together, making it seem to the boy that he was completely alone in this fog, but soon he heard sounds reaching his ears. Sounds of battle.
He heard the tearing of flesh, the breaking of bones, as well as human and non-human cries. Around him, a battle had erupted, and the boy soon became part of it. Before he could react, he felt someone next to him, another creature like the one lying beside him.
Clenching his teeth tighter, the boy barely managed to dodge the hoof that was flying straight for his head and flipped over, trying to get back on his feet. Blood immediately started flowing down from his chest, staining the almost clean pants he had found in one of the houses recently. But the creatures, just like Asan, didn't care about this at all.
The monster immediately crouched down, getting into a squatting position and lunged towards Asan, who was quite predictable. However, despite this, Asan was stunned by the creature's speed, which was equal to his own, forcing the boy to barely manage to dodge. The other Ronnie, on the other hand, were already slower than Asan; honestly, he thought they were much weaker than him or any other member of the strike team. But upon realizing what he was up against, the boy's face changed, and he forgot about the bleeding wound in the form of six crosses on his chest. It was then that Asan realized the creature wasn't stupid but had some kind of tactic.
After the failed jump, Asan noticed how its outlines merged into the mist, and the presence that he felt dissolved just like the monster.
"Fuck, is it going to attack with sudden strikes?!" Asan swore, barely feeling a light breeze from behind.
Immediately, he bent down and saw a shadow of the monster flying over him. Without wasting time, the boy summoned a new knife from his spatial storage and lunged forward, jumping onto the back of the drone before it disappeared from his sight. The monster clearly did not expect this and began nervously trying to escape his grip, but a precise strike to the back of its head calmed it down. Dark, tar-like blood spurted out from the creature's neck, splattering on Asan's face, but he didn't notice.
Asan was faced with another new notification, which he naturally ignored as he got to his feet, feeling his lungs burning and his head splitting from a severe migraine.
Without waiting for another such attack, the boy headed towards the nearby sounds of battle coming from somewhere to the left. After a few seconds, he saw the scene of a fat man nicknamed Stiletto barely defending himself with his spear against two monsters that, unlike Ronnie, were not charging straight at him but rather playfully circling around, trying to surround him. Although Asan did not particularly like Stiletto, he did not want to see him die. As he understood it, Stiletto was a reasonable guy because he usually lashed out at them for a reason. He genuinely thought about and worried for the camp's well-being, constantly suspecting both the strike team and the rest of the Geographer's group.
He is just like Laszlo, only on the other side of the barricade.
Approaching the nearest creature to him, Asan raised his knife and immediately launched what he thought was a sudden attack. But it only seemed that way, for the creature calmly dodged the sharp, bloodied blade aimed at its neck. With a fluid motion, like a wave, the creature arched and shifted its attention from the dagger to Asan. It immediately tried to disappear into the mist, which Asan strongly did not want, so he made a quick lunge, standing directly in front of the creature. Naturally, now the creature had to engage in battle. Although it had only three short fingers, each one bore long claws that were quite sharp. Barely managing to dodge the wide swings of the creature, Asan tried to find the perfect moment to counterattack the monster using his dark magic.
After a few seconds of desperate defense, the creature finally made a mistake, exposing itself on the left. Asan, not missing this favorable moment, called upon the stream of mana within his body and directed it toward his palm. A surge of dark flame burst forth, immediately hitting the monster's side and dealing damage. Its pale skin, which blended with the mist, quickly turned yellow, and the smell of pus hit his nose. But Asan did not stop there and pressed his hand as close as possible to the disgusting skin of the monster, further intensifying the flow of mana into his hand, mercilessly expending it.
Soon enough, the creature slowed down and could no longer fight effectively, allowing Asan to defeat it with only light cuts on his jacket. However, with each passing second, he felt increasing weakness throughout his body due to the lack of mana and constant bleeding from his chest.
He couldn't help but want to check his status in the system when he was interrupted by a desperate cry for help coming from the stiletto.
"BAK-, let go! H-help me! Lord, help me!" The man cried out, forcing Asan to immediately move towards the voice.
Seeing the stiletto in his field of vision, Asan noticed that it was lying on the ground, holding a spear in front of itself, trying to defend against the monster's attacks. But it wasn't working well because Asan could see that the creature had managed to hit it multiple times in the stomach with its sharp claws. Without wasting a second, Asan rushed into battle, throwing a short knife forward, trying to distract the creature from the stiletto and focus on him instead, at the same time summoning another knife, the last one he had. Since Asan didn't practice much with throwing knives, it was gratifying to see that he hit the creature, even if it was just the handle of the knife.
But thanks to this, Asan managed to slightly stun her with the suddenness of the Attack and calmly kill the monster by thrusting the blade into its neck, right up to the hilt.
The dark, tar-like blood of the monster flowed onto Asan's hand, causing an unpleasant sensation and burning where it touched. The boy immediately pulled his hand back as if scalded and felt it burning.
Stilet, in shock, looked at the fallen body of the monster to his right, darting his gaze between it and Asan, who was looking at his hand. After a few seconds, he leaned on his spear and managed to stand up and approach the boy.
"Th-thank you..." he hissed quietly, feeling an awful pain in his stomach area.
Asan, switching his attention to Stilet, nodded silently and focused on the wound on his stomach. It was terrible. Pieces of flesh were sticking out of him mixed with torn clothing.
On its belly were numerous small but deep wounds from which blood was streaming like a stream. Looking at Stilet's face, the boy saw fear and tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. Stilet put his hand on Asan's shoulder and spoke quietly, his voice terribly weak.
"Hey… You have a doctor, right? Please take me to him, I'll give you everything, everything I have, just please help."
Stilet's head suddenly dropped to the ground as he spoke, causing Asan to freeze in shock and look bewilderedly at the falling body of the soldier in front of him. When he realized what was happening, his eyes widened, noticing how Stilet's mouth opened and closed a couple more times. But that wasn't the main reason.
A meter away from himself, Asan noticed another creature from the mist that looked completely different from an ordinary drone. Two…
Two meters tall, perfect physique, and very long arms with two long spike-blades visible on the forearms. The creature theatrically brought one of the blades to its face, which resembled a mallet fish in shape, and doused it with black liquid from hundreds of tiny holes.
Asan felt severely nauseated but managed to swallow the bile that had risen to his throat before the creature attacked him lightning-fast. Managing to lift the spear from underfoot, Asan held it out in front of himself, trying to block the attack and felt the incredible force of the monster's blade, which sliced through the shaft in a second.
Asan watched in slow motion as the blade relentlessly moved toward his eyes, about to cleave his head in two. Only one question echoed in his mind.
"What kind of monster is this?!"