Only thirty minutes after sunrise, when the sky is still muzzy and covered by thick, dark clouds where a few shafts of light peek over the golden horizon, the news of one of the God Hermes Successors' demise has reached every creature.

His recognition is nothing more than simply Gabriel, a mighty soldier of kingdom Prahan. The only reason why he stands out from the rest is because of his "God Successor" stature, a title that human beings rarely earn.

"Then that means another God Successor will be 'born', right?"

I hear the soldier in front of me talks to the man next to him excitedly. His feature is of one who's going to reach his thirties despite his slim feature and is shorter than the other man by a span ー as I estimated.

"Obviously," the other man snickers mischievously in respond. "Were you not taught when you were young? It clearly stated in the textbook that when one of the God Successors dies, a new one will reborn. All that's matter is how long the election, also known as the "revival", would take."

"Ay," the short man replies. "But I always wonder... Isn't Hermes the messenger of God? How can his power be useful?"

"Hm... You have the point. But the former one was marked as one of the heroes... So I dunno about that..."

Long ago when the humans were overpowered by the other races, the Gods conferred their powers to humans and titled them the "God Successors". There are many races in Gacaea, but the most common of all is the Magical Workers, also known as "people that are born with magic". Call them wizards, supernatural, but they're everywhere you go. Even these men here.

The Magical Workers used to rule over the six realms of Plecaerux, but now that the God Successors are introduced with much greater power than them, they are no longer legendary. Thus, the Magical Workers can't help but envy the God Successors.

"Anyway, I bet he was put in as a reserve. What could he possibly do with his power? Acting as a communication tool for the government?" the tall man laughs whilst bringing up his wine bottle and taking a large sip from it, causing the other man to join in with his mockery.

––He's always the one to talk. But I'm in no place to say it aloud. 

––After all, I'm just their junior and no more than a low-life human...

Gripping my hands, I glance slightly over my shoulder to make sure Mylene follows close behind me as the four of us turn at a valley.

With the fog hastily thickens, I notice an old lady sweeping her front yard nearby. The soldiers' loud chat catches her attention and she turns to look at us. It's the exact moment when I avert my eyes away from her. As I expect, she only stares at us for a few seconds before returning to her work. I'm not sure if it's because for her poor eyesight as she didn't wear glasses or that seeing soldiers lurking around early in the morning is so common, but I'm sure of one thing; when you pay attention too much at somebody, they automatically start to doubt you.

The valley is cramped and tenebrous, tall buildings blocking away the beautiful rising sun. The path points downwards in an uneven slope and is covered in stony ground. Still, we manage to climb down with ease. I help Mylene, though. Despite the fact that she has walked on rocky paths before, I wouldn't want her to injure herself.

Mylene follows after, her dark mantle trailing after her, gently dangling against her back. She dashes her eyes around the area as she parts her lips before her red eyes rest on me. I nod and she nods back. Remembering the deal, she cautiously wraps her hand on the sword by her side in the event.

We enter not too long before the leader raises his hand, causing the rest of us to stop, too. My eyes follow his arm and the creased red fabric. My hand automatically reacts to the sound of the hissing sword as I put my hand on the gun that's buckled at my waist.

There is a long silence, and then, the leader whispers, "There are three of them."

I listen carefully as I observe my surroundings haphazardly. The silence returns again, lacked with oxygen this time.

Then, out of nowhere, the ground between us is perforated harshly like the work of a pneumatic gopher. We stagger back while turning around in shock, keeping a safe distance from the crack.

From beyond the ground, two white figures climb on. Huge bodies that are no taller than an office desk, they are a mix of gargoyle and dragon, and black deep cracks marked along their rough and hard reptile bodies, with the face of a wrongly melted man.

One of them hisses, showing its sharp teeth and its perfectly strong jaw as it slowly approaches us, long, sharp nails noisily click the dusty brick. We back away even more, our guards are completely on.

They are Dogeacs, wyvern-liked monsters that live in Veonem. Perhaps their food source is short at their homeland so they came here to hunt. No wonder for the massacres nowadays.

The leader slowly unsheathes his sword. Before he can make a move on the first of them, a creature whizzes from the hole and soars high in the sky and casts a great shadow on the upper hanging hill, over the artificial ruin.

Catching off our guards, the first one attacks, pushing through the man's defense who stands in front of me. He grunts as he blocks its impact with his sword, trying to push back the heavily monstrous body. I back away, raising an arm to shield Mylene who quickly cowers down behind me.

Up above, a roar erupts, coming closer and closer still. Shadow blinds the blinding ray. Gasping out of surprise, I quickly grab Mylene's shoulder and duck, pushing her down along with me. At the same time, the Dolgeac hovers over us. It spreads out its spiky nails at us, trying to grab a hold of something but fails, missing me briefly by the hair then drifts back to the sky again.

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Definite, I unhesitatingly stand back to counter-pose. I quickly pull out the gun from my hip and the one on my back whilst glancing at the background again. I click my tongue in disappointment to see that the monster is nowhere in sight.

"Stay close to me," I command in a firm tone.

"Understood!" she answers quietly and firmly, the dark blue hood covering her expression.

Nodding, I return back to face the creature. Not waiting too long, the Dolgeac appears and revolves at our direction again. Guns readied in my hands, I quickly position them at eye level. The creature continuously moves its position, from left to right, then right, and left.

––There!

I immediately fire nonstop once it's exactly in my aim. The Dolgeac dodges my shots constantly, spinning its body to the left in a perfectly straight line then does another roll to the right. The metals screech and disintegrate into the wind as the creature heads directly at us like an incoming bomb. 

––A waste of bullets!

"Duck!" I yell, clicking my tongue and immediately lower my weapons.

Mylene breathes, in confusion, and stoops down, covering her head just in case for an impact.

We duck one more time, however, the Dogeac is closer to reaching us this time. I stand up. The sound of swords clashing against invulnerable skin echo throughout the area. The leader is currently using his fire magic to make the monster cowers back every time he takes a step forward. It almost looks effective as he laughs satisfactorily until the monster jumps forward when the fire vanishes, growling and bringing its jaws forward to mack the man, causing him to scream.

The short man suddenly shouts, "I can't cause a damn impact on them! We have to find their weakness first!" He draws back his sword and blocks another hit from the creature that he's dealing with as it jumps forward. The monster angered at its effortless attacks, steps backward cautiously and begins flapping its wings. "Uh-oh."

"I know! I'm trying!" I shout back.

"Well, try harder, brat! This thing is flapping its wings!"

Keeping my eyes on my enemy, I inhale heavily. Taking a few seconds to gather my nerve, I glare at the creature determinedly.

"Come here," I mutter, putting one of the guns in my hands back in its place, then surreptitiously grab a hold of one of the knives strapped on my left hip.

The Dolgeac, as if accepting my challenge, lets out a roar and pushes forward more. The black wings flap violently as it advances its head, its facial expression tells that they're no fools.

"Closer," I continue, breathing heavily. "Closer."

And it does.

Once it's in a required range, the Dogeac opens its mouth to lets out another roar, or perhaps to bite me.

––This is it...!!

I bring up both the gun and the knife in my hands. Realizing what's about to come, the monster quickly closes its mouth.

––I knew you'd do it, too.

I swing the knife toward its eye. Flying with all its speed with only the hope to eat us, the Dogeac is unable to stop. There is a bloody splashing sound as my knife meets the flesh. A blood-curdling scream painfully tears the air as the Dogeac crashes into me, landing harshly on the ground, its claws clinging onto me, scratching, begging me to let go. Yelling helplessly, I hold its neck tightly as I randomly grab a crack of the floor to stop the force. However, the monster's head is brought closer to mine instead. Teeth snapping dangerously close to my flesh, I lean my head backward whilst pushing it back, holding it in one place.

The stoppage's painfully aching. My back scrapes against the rocky surface to the point it can leave scratches, with my neck titles to the right and my backbone is dangerously close to being damaged. Thankfully for my grasp around its neck, I'm able to survive the intended bites of the monster.

With sharp intake of breaths and my chest pounds vacillatingly nonstop, I huff, "I found it! Stab at where is unprotected!"

The others gaze at me in bewilderment of what just happened, then breathe and return back to killing the monsters using the technique I just discovered.

Inhaling and grunting heavily, I use all of my force to push the monster off me. It groans and shrieks a vengeful bellow that's dripped with pain, continuously rushing toward me instead.

Suddenly, the Dogeac is picked up off me and pushed to the ground. With a knife in her hand, Mylene breathes shortly then raises the weapon up and brings it down at the monster unhesitatingly. The tearing, sanguinary squashy sounds of flesh echoes throughout the area.

But that isn't all.

She stabs its head multiple times, swinging the blade up then down as if one wasn't enough.

I sit up slowly with wide eyes and my mouth hanging opened at her unnecessary violence. When she's done, Mylene slowly turns around and faces me with sweats dripping down her forehead from the heat of the sun, mouth parting open in gasps. Her hood covers one eye, her other velvet-colored one stare at me in relief.

"Elius," Mylene says slowly, waking me from my daze. "Are you alright? You look really... frightened."

It takes me a long hesitant moment to answer. "I... I'm alright."

She smiles and lends me her hand to help me up. I shakingly hold it and stand up. The Princess can sometimes be so deadly.