The sky was dark and gloomy. Remnants of blood and corpses were scattered all over the village.
The air was thick with a stinky smell, and the water pool had turned into a swamp of rotting flesh mixed with stagnant water.
The walls of the houses were shattered and stained with dried black blood.
All the windows were broken, and shards of glass were scattered everywhere.
The fertile fields surrounding the village have turned into a barren, lifeless wasteland.
The animal corpses looked dried and twisted in unnatural positions. Their wide eyes showed the intense terror they had felt before dying.
Silence dominated the village and, the only sound was the wind whistling through the broken windows.
In this horrific scene, Commander Elena arrived at the village with five new members from the Golden faction. They moved forward carefully.
One of them, Jett, sighed as he pinched his nose.
"The smell here is awful."
Another one, Sulvan, replied.
"Yeah… it really stinks out here."
Marcus, who carried a massive hammer over his shoulder, looked at the scattered corpses.
"For the saints' sake… what the hell happened here?"
Sulvan rested his hand on the hilt of his sword while staring at the mutilated bodies.
"The creature that did this seems disturbingly patient."
He pointed at the scattered remains while Elena, Marcus, Jett, Samara, and Pedro observed the scene around them.
"It looks like this creature enjoys tearing apart bodies and torturing them. That's unusual for chaos beings."
"Most chaos creatures only care about feeding. They devour their prey completely and then move on to look for more."
Samara frowned slightly, trying to understand.
"So you're saying it's not a chaos creature?"
Before Sulvan could reply, Pedro answered instead.
"No, it's definitely one of those damn creatures. But this one seems to have some level of intelligence compared to the others."
Samara nodded slowly.
"Ah… I see."
Marcus laughed sarcastically.
"Are you stupid or what? What else could destroy an entire village like this?"
"No I'm not, you idiot," Samara snapped while sticking out her tongue at him.
Commander Elena sighed deeply, her expression serious.
"That creature might be a corrupted leader."
Jett looked at her in surprise.
"Shit… why would a corrupted leader appear in the Northern Plains?"
Elena looked around the ruined village.
"I don't know. But we need to report this to the military council as soon as possible."
Pedro nodded.
"Yeah, we should deal with whatever did this before things get worse."
Sulvan looked around carefully.
"Elena, do you think it's still nearby?"
Elena glanced toward the north.
"I'm not sure. But we should leave before evening."
-----------------------------
"I never thought I'd miss that old pile of trash I used to sleep on in the house. This thing is even worse." Jin muttered as he was more annoyed than ever
After waking up, Jin threw on his sandals and walked toward the nearby river.
He took off his clothes and jumped straight into the cold water.
"Ugh... this water is so cold. If it weren't for that old man, I would be relaxing right now in the warm and lovely public bath."
Jin rubbed his shoulders and back while looking at his body.
"Well… at least it's not bad. I've started growing some muscles."
He flexed his arms a little and laughed quietly.
"Hehe… not bad at all."
It had been about two weeks since Jin started chopping tree trunks every day.
At first it was extremely hard to keep doing it daily, but by the end of the first week he slowly got used to it.
Still, something felt strange about how fast his muscles were growing.
But he didn't think too much about it.
"It's probably just genetics."
After about half an hour Jin finished bathing and walked back.
His grandfather was already there, cooking meat over the fire.
Jin looked at him with annoyance but still sighed.
"Alright, alright old man. What's the surprise today?"
Adrian smiled.
"Consider it a small reward for all your hard work these past days."
"I'll accept it. But I'd appreciate it more if you brought me a better mattress instead of that shitty one."
Adrian laughed.
"Alright, alright. I'll look into it."
He looked at Jin carefully.
"You look both better and worse at the same time, kid."
He pointed at Jin's messy hair, the dark circles under his eyes, and his slightly improved body.
Jin sat down next to him.
"Of course it's bad. I've been swinging that stupid sword every day. You have no idea how painful it is to cut wood with that thing."
Adrian kept laughing.
"Well, your condition will improve soon."
After finishing the meat, Adrian smiled.
"Come on. Let's enjoy this delicious food."
Jin sighed and grabbed a piece of meat.
"Alright, I'll take it. At least it smells good."
"Hahaha didn't I tell you I'm a skilled Chef?"
Jin chewed while looking at him.
"Stop bragging, old man."
Adrian smiled slightly.
"But really… you look better than before. I think your training is working."
"To become truly strong, your thin body needs to grow stronger and tougher."
Jin nodded while chewing.
"Yeah yeah… sure."
Adrian looked at him carefully.
"You really look like your father."
Jin paused for a moment.
"My father?"
Adrian looked up at the sky.
"Even though your father died foolishly, he was extremely strong."
"Strong enough to make even an old man like me feel jealous."
Jin kept chewing as he replied.
"A strong man doesn't die as a fool… right?"
Adrian clasped his hands and looked at him.
"Yeah… you're right."
Then he asked.
"Do you want to hear a little about how they died?"
Jin sighed.
"Yeah sure go ahead."
Adrian stared into the fire burning in front of them.
"First… let me tell you a little about the Chaos Creatures."
-----------------------------
Elena and the rest of the team headed north through a forest on their way back to the city.
Jett sighed heavily, breaking the silence.
"There's no doubt this news will worry Morgan and the other leaders in Anvil, right?"
Pedro replied while casually sticking a finger in his nose.
"Do you really think the leaders care about something like this? They're already busy with the reports about that continent where a level seven gate appeared."
Sulvan cleaned his sword with a cloth.
"The level seven gate… I've been hearing about it a lot recently."
Samara was lost in thought while eating a piece of meat.
"Can you imagine the power of the creatures coming from a level seven gate?"
Marcus looked at her with disbelief.
"You're eating after what we just saw in the village? You really have an impressive appetite."
Samara rolled her eyes.
"Oh come on. In times like this, food tastes even better."
"And you have no right to talk about my appetite. Just look at yourself."
She glanced at his overweight body with obvious disgust.
Marcus gritted his teeth.
"Tch, you know nothing about beauty. Girls fight just to talk to me every day."
The group started joking and laughing.
Suddenly Elena stopped and raised her sword.
"Something is coming. Get ready."
Sulvan grinned.
"Whoa… finally something interesting."
Marcus immediately lifted his hammer while Sulvan drew his short sword.
Samara stepped back and raised her bow while Jett prepared his flames.
Pedro stayed behind them, his abilities focused on healing and defense, so he carefully watched the battlefield in case someone got injured.
Everyone became alert.
Then a group of ugly creatures suddenly appeared from the trees.
Their bodies were twisted and their faces looked horrifying.
Their hands had long claws and their teeth were sharp like daggers.
These monsters were called Chupacaras.
"Oh… just Chupacaras," Elena said calmly.
She raised her sword and rushed forward.
"Swish… Swish… Swish…"
Elena cut through dozens of them with effortless movements.
Marcus laughed loudly.
"Haha. You're honestly scarier than they are."
He raised his hammer high and smashed it down on the head of a Chupacara that jumped at him.
Then he swung his hammer left and right, crushing several more skulls with powerful blows.
Jett and Sulvan split apart.
"Suvan, I'll take the left side. You go right," Jett said while moving.
Jett unleashed fire balls towards the, burning many of the Chupacaras.
At the same time Sulvan moved among them like a dancer, cutting them down one after another.
Samara giggled.
"Hehe… my turn."
She pulled back her bow and aimed carefully.
Then she released the arrow.
It flew forward at high speed before exploding, destroying several Chupacaras instantly.
Pedro raised his hands.
"I will pray for the forgiveness of your sins."
He activated his magic and strengthened everyone.
After about fifteen minutes of fighting, the ground was covered with the corpses of Chupacaras.
Everyone stopped and breathed heavily.
"Damn… there were way too many of them," Marcus said while resting his hands on his knees.
"I'm starting to feel hungry," Samara said while lying on the ground and holding her stomach.
Sulvan looked around nervously.
"Guys… this many together isn't normal."
His face was pale as he looked toward Elena.
Elena wiped the sweat from her forehead.
"We need to leave now."
Jett drank some water and frowned.
"I want that too. But why so suddenly? I need a break first. I can barely move."
At that moment a cold shiver ran through all of them.
Their expressions changed instantly.
Everyone stood up and looked around with fear.
Elena bit her lip, her voice tense.
"We're too late… it's the Chaos Leader."