“Be careful, I heard rumors of some stray Falupians hanging around this area,” Rigle said.

We had been journeying for half a day already and had covered significant ground. It was hard to tell what time it was as the clouds hid the sun, coloring everywhere a gloomy grey. As we moved further and further away from the settlement, the wind seemed to vanish, but that did nothing to reduce the cold, in fact, it seemed to become colder the further away we went.

“Falupians will certainly like to hunt in this environment, the weather is perfect for them too,” Mileena said, scanning around her for danger as she spoke.

“But isn’t it odd? This area should still be within range of the gods' protections,” one of Rigle's party members said; it was one of the men in the party. I wasn’t too familiar with him, and before we set off Rigle hadn’t bothered to introduce him and the other man to us.

“Falupians are different from other monsters, even though they are corrupted by miasma, they still have a little reason left—they are very cunning. Since we are already at the edge of the area the protection of the gods covers, some weak monsters are bound to be lurking around since the blessing is weaker around these parts. Stronger monsters can’t encroach on here since the miasma in them is highly concentrated, but Falupians and other weaker monsters can survive for some time here,” Rigle replied to the man.

We were at the Ulssa steppe. While the weather contributed to the feeling of barrenness this land gave off, looking around at the sparse shrubbery around, I had no doubt that even if the curtain of dark clouds in the sky were to part, allowing the golden glow of the sun to shine on this land, it would still appear barren. There was absolutely nothing beautiful about this place, the shrubs were half dead, the rocks that laid scattered about on the ground a lifeless grey color that only served to enhance just how dull and colorless this land was.

Looking straight ahead one could see the Ulssa mountains, and it looked deceptively close. I knew from Rigle's words that we were still at least a day's journey away, but I hoped that before we made camp tonight we would've at least journeyed to the edge of the steppe. The atmosphere around was eerie. It was quiet, too quiet. If as Rigle said there were Falupians around, I expected to hear their howls, but instead, there was only quiet; even the wind did not blow here.

“OK, let's make camp here,” Rigle said just as it was starting to get dark.

It was a habit of hunters to plan their journey so they could always camp out at night inside the area where the gods' protections still had some effect. Even the bravest hunters never ventured too far outside these areas, as camping out at night in the domain of monsters only made one an easy prey, a lot of the monsters preferred to hunt at night when they had the advantage, their eyes having adapted to seeing in the dark.

“We'll draw lots to determine the turns we'll take keeping watch tonight,” Rigle said, snapping branches from a nearby shrub. The rules were simple, we'd each take turns keeping watch, the person who drew the shortest lot had to go first, and the order would continue that way until morning. Each person had to keep watch for an hour and a half since there were six of us and we'd devoted nine hours to sleep.

One of the men in Rigle's party drew the shortest lot, and after his came my turn, then Mileena, Rigle, the other man then Aurel. Aurel had a stupid grin on his face when the order was determined, but I wasn’t envious that he would go last, I felt pity for him instead. It was my opinion that those who had to keep watch last stayed awake the longest, and that would in turn make them more fatigued during the day. Aurel clearly didn’t see it that way, he only ever grinned like that when he thought he'd gotten the better of someone else.

Since I was going next I didn’t plan on sleeping; I spread my sleeping mat on the ground and laid on my back, gazing up at the many stars shining far off in the sky. From beyond that curtain, he must be watching me, right? I thought to myself, remembering the old man. Which god is he? What does he want with me?

“Hey, your turn is up,” I heard a coarse voice say to me.

It was dark, and except for the moon covered by clouds and the stars, there was no other source of light available; Rigle had warned us not to light any lamps since they could potentially attract monsters—though I didn’t think that it would make any difference—we heeded his warning.

“OK, get some rest,” I said as I got up, moving quietly around the sleeping bodies on the ground, careful not to wake them up, I made my way to the assigned spot to keep watch.

It didn’t feel like any monster would actually come for us, but I still did my best to focus, straining my eyes trying to see in the dark, perking up my ears trying to pick out sounds—it was no easy task, as the howls and growls of monsters in the far off distance made it difficult.

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My shift ended with nothing occurring. I woke Mileena up then went to sleep. When I woke up again, it was still well before dawn, I walked up to Aurel and asked, “Anything happen while I was asleep?”

“Brother, I think if something happened you would’ve found out,” Aurel replied, I couldn’t see his face clearly in the dark, but from the tone of his voice I could detect mockery.

“Well, forgive me for trusting you to be competent enough to deal with any issue without disturbing us,” I said, throwing my hands up in resignation, Aurel shook his head while smiling, amused by my behavior.

“Alright everyone, it's time to wake up,” I heard Rigle's voice say, it was still a little dark, but I saw his silhouette moving about as he went to rouse his party members.

We rolled up our sleeping mats, did a quick inspection to make sure our equipment was in good condition, and then set off. Our pace was a bit slow early on, since it was still dark we were struggling to see ahead of us, so we didn’t cover good ground; however, after about two hours of walking it started to get bright, and our pace increased.

Once we made it to the edge of the steppe, Rigle made us stop our march. He gathered everyone and gave us more warnings, “Just ahead is the Ulssa mountains, as you know it is outside the area protected by the gods, so it is a place inhabited by monsters. From here on our journey is going to be more dangerous, so everyone has to be careful. I'll arrange the formation we'll be moving in now,” he said.

Me and Aurel being warriors were chosen to be the vanguard, I was the damage dealer and Aurel the tanker, Rigle and one of the men in his party were in the middle, they had the responsibility of assisting both the vanguard and the rear guard in the event we were attacked; Mileena and the other man formed the rear guard. So, we formed a partnership of two arranged in three columns.

Immediately we stepped into the Ulssa mountain, Rigle's actions proved his wisdom and experience again, as we were Immediately attacked by Falupians. The entry was a valley, and on the mountains around a horde of Falupians stood, growling at us.

“Get ready, they are going to swarm us!” Rigle yelled as he drew his weapon.

As if right on cue, the monsters ran down the mountain. Falupians were not particularly strong, but they were fast, incredibly so. They seemed to move with the wind.

Falupians were said to be winter wolves corrupted by miasma, and looking at them I could see why. The only major difference was the color of their fur, while the winter wolves had pure white fur, these Falupians had dark grey fur; however, they had a lot in common with the winter wolves. They were big, the biggest wolves I’d ever seen, tall and majestic, but their height and size didn’t affect their speed at all.

“Be careful! Their fangs have paralytic poison, don’t get bitten!” Rigle yelled out again just as the Falupians descended on us.

Even before the Falupians reached us the rear guard had been firing arrows into the horde of monsters, but they couldn’t reduce their numbers by much, with most of their arrows failing to hit any of the Falupians; fast as they were it was easy for them to dodge projectiles.

Aurel and I being the vanguard were the first to come into contact with the monsters, but our formation soon became meaningless as it didn’t take long for us to be surrounded. I swung my sword, aiming for the heads of the monsters with each swing, meeting little resistance as I cut through flesh and bone, decapitating the monsters my sword landed on.

I considered using magic, but fear of attracting other monsters stopped me. Monsters being beings infected by miasma, unlike other animals, were very sensitive to mana. Growing up I’d often heard stories of unfortunate mages who became nourishment for monsters due to carelessness, this trait of monsters was a major reason why many hunting parties were formed without mages.

Aurel looked to be struggling with the speed of the Falupians, but his reflexes were good enough, so he waited to be attacked and simply stabbed or slashed at the monsters once they got into his striking range. When a group swarmed him, he flung them away using the broad side of his bastard sword.

Rigle was using his spiked whip effortlessly. The finesse and technique he used to manipulate the whip, swinging and changing its trajectory to chase after its target with one fluid motion, was a sight to behold. The way he fought relied heavily on his experience as a hunter, instead of trying to keep up with the speed of the Falupians, he predicted their movements and attacked just fast enough to catch them. No matter how fast the Falupians were, they couldn’t react in time to dodge his whip, so the spikes on the whip sank into them, robbing them of their lives.

Mileena having figured out early on that her bow was useless substituted the bow for a short sword and a small shield. Other than me, she was perhaps the fastest in the group, but no matter how fast she was it was impossible for her to keep up with these monsters that seemed to be riding the wind. She watched their movements, waited for them to lunge at her, she either blocked their huge bodies with her shield and then stabbed their necks, or she simply used her shield to bash them away. She left her back to the other rearguard and fought without reservation.

The two men in Rigle's hunting party were the weakest in the group, and they struggled the most. The man in the rearguard fighting with Mileena had an easier time since he was fighting stragglers that made it past me, Aurel, and Rigle, and in the rear guard Mileena did most of the fighting, his main job was to protect Mileena’s back. The one in the middle of our formation was breathing heavily already, fatigue making his movements dull and sluggish, whatever techniques he possessed completely missing as he swung his glaive around.

I swung my sword, again and again, harvesting the lives of the monsters with each swing, but it was only after hours of fighting that it appeared their numbers began to dwindle. Just as I was feeling relieved, thinking there would be an end to the fight soon, I heard a loud thud behind me. Turning to look, the man fighting beside Rigle lay on the ground, motionless.