The moon hung high in the sky on this particular night, as if a god gazing down gently onto the earth.

The sky was cloudless, allowing the soft blue light of the moon and the glowing runes to shine down onto an open clearing in a forest, where the Willow Caravan had set up camp. A gentle breeze blew, rustling the bushes and leaves in the forest, brushing past Mican who was sitting by the campfire.

The young man rubbed his arms as he sat on a log, in an attempt to warm himself up.

The clearing was empty, as it was likely close to midnight with how high the moon was. Everybody was probably asleep, but Mican sat awake, staring at the sky in thought.

He liked being awake so late, and his endless stamina allowed him to without feeling tired the next day. Night was his time, the time when everybody else fell asleep. He was free to think and ponder without interruption, the silence brought him peace.

The gargantuan dragon head floated in the sky, its eyes shut gently as the blue tattoo-like runes pulsated on its skin, illuminating the night sky. Mican had been resting there for a while now, staring at it up above him.

These days, the young man felt himself staring at it more and more frequently, in wonder. The sensation of unwillingness that he felt when looking at it grew stronger, and he realized that it was no illusion.

What could it mean? What was happening to him?

These thoughts didn’t plague his mind, but rather he purposely kept them there, treasuring them as they filled him with curiosity and excitement.

“Haa…” He let out a soft sigh, feeling high on the emotion of wonder. He leaned further into the log, crossing his arms and resting his head against it.

“Perhaps I’ll stay here for the night…” Closing his eyes, he allowed the soft light to shine down on him as he slowly drifted off into slumber.

“…”

Before the young man could fully fall asleep, his eyes shot open and his mind shocked fully awake, as if a needle full of drugs had been stabbed into him.

As he lay back with his arms crossed, his gaze instinctively glanced over the surroundings, without him knowing exactly why.

The area the caravan had set up camp in had been in the space of a few large clearings in the forest, with him having made his campfire a small distance away from the Ashleye family. There shouldn’t have been anything that would have disturbed him so, outside of the woodland life.

Uncrossing his arms, the young man propped himself up and slowly sat up, his movements careful, confused, but still alert.

There was something off about the night, a fact that struck him just before he fell into slumber. The night was too quiet, especially for being out in the woods. There was almost no sound at all, save for the crackling of the fire.

Goosebumps rose on Mican’s skin as he listened carefully in the night. The almost complete silence greatly disturbed him.

While he had not been in the world for very long, he knew enough to say that the woods during the night was filled with minor noises, be it the chirp of a cricket, rustling in the bushes, or occasional howl towards the moon.

Placing his hand on his knee, Mican stood up. Grabbing a few leftover twigs, he tossed them into the fire as he straightened his back, looking every direction between the trees.

Most of the fires in the various clearings had been doused, as so not to attract wild animals. It was only his fire that was left burning in the night, and even combined with the lights of the sky, it was not even close enough to see through the darkness surrounding him.

“…?”

Before he could even consider the possibility that it was just his mind playing tricks on him, a horrible smell crossed by him, making him instinctively wrinkle his nose in disgust. The smell was like a mixture of rotted animal carcasses and perhaps burning human flesh.

If he had to put the stench into perspective, then he would say that it smelled like death.

Turning his head over to the source of the smell, from the darkness of the trees to his right, Mican’s eyes widened, and his heart began beating faster and faster.

The blue light of the moon shone down like a spear, breaking the dark of night to reveal a singular red hand, grabbing onto the trunk of a tree in the darkness.

The hand was truly strange, looking as if it had been completely skinned yet dripping no blood. It was raw, and disgusting. The size of it was exactly like a grown man’s, but the height of it grabbing the tree was at least fifteen feet.

It was only that singular hand grabbing onto the tree. There was no larger body, or any body at all that could be seen from behind the tree.

“…!” Mican slowly clenched his fists as he took a step back, his eyes wide in slight horror.

Just as quickly as the hand appeared, it disappeared from within the trees. Not a single sound was made, and the moonlight glanced the area once again.

Mican quickly moved his body, turning it every which way, looking for any potential dangers in his clearings. His expression was cold and emotionless, save for his slightly furrowed eyebrows.

What the hell was that? Was it a distraction? Are there more of it? Harold. Should I call go look for Harold, or Melinda? Are they alright? What happened to the other members of the caravan?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Questions ran through the young man’s head as he scanned the forest around him.

Forcing himself to breath in a constant pattern, the young man calmed his pounding heart. Throwing more twigs into the fire, he forced out all of the unnecessary thoughts.

“Krrrrkch!”

The loud sound of snapping rang out in the forest to Mican’s right, followed by a loud crash and whomp as a large tree flattened down, cutting off the path to one of the clearings.

Narrowing his eyes, he noticed that the path was one leading to the assorted resting wagons, where Melinda and most of the others rested.

“Hey!”

“…Argh!!”

“…?!!”

The distinct yet muffled sounds of yelling rang out through the forest shortly afterwards, and light began springing up through the trees.

He could hear the sharp whisper of blades being drawn ring through the trees, and shouts sounded out alongside with them. Along with the shouts came the screams of men.

“Ergh…aaahrgh…” Multiple groans sounded out from Mican’s right, along with dragging sounds.

Immediately facing their way, Mican noticed a great many bloody figures approaching through the trees, being illuminated by the firelight as they stepped into the clearing.

More and more moans sounded out from the trees, mixing into a cacophony of discordant cries that grated at one’s senses.

Looking further back behind them the forest’s foliage and trees ruffled, seemingly twisting and writhing under the blue moonlight, as evidently, even more figures approached through the trees. It was almost as if the forest itself had come alive.

“Hmm…” Gazing at the scene, Mican remained unperturbed.

Clenching his hands into fists, he began slowly walking towards the approaching group.

…

As the danger approached, now was the time more than ever to stay calm. The thought didn’t even have to go through Mican’s head before his mind relaxed and his body tensed up.

With narrowed eyes, Mican inspected the hideous group in front of him.

“Unnrgh…” The figures entering the clearing made an assortment of disgusting noises.

Groans, moans, and shrieks sounded out into the air, overwhelming the sounds of the other campfires.

The figures were indeed as Mican had noticed, covered in blood. The smell of it filled the air as they approached, forcing him to wrinkle his nose in distaste. The creatures were humanoid, their figures almost identical to a humans, except that a great deal of them lacked features that would make them one. Their skin was completely missing, leaving only the rawness of flesh.

Blood dripped from many of them, but some of them were completely dry. With the scent and noise they gave off, the young man was in wonder at how they could completely sneak up on him and the caravan.

The figures still had teeth in their open mouths, along with large, gaping eyeballs. In the place of their noses were only two empty holes, the nostrils of a human.

As more and more figures came through the woods, Mican was able to observe them in better detail. Some of the figures had clothes on, and even skin. They had all of their organs, and some even wore armor on their bodies.

“…”

The realization dawned on Mican that these ‘creatures’ were not exactly creatures at all, but humans. They were humans that had long died, though, which shocked Mican, but not to a great extent.

As someone from a world of entertainment, Mican was slightly familiar with the concept of the undead, which allowed him to adapt to the situation in a very timely manner. The ones with the clothes and armor must have been recently deceased.

Looking around the small clearing, the young man quickly realized that the creatures weren’t coming out of merely one side, no, but were instead slowly encroaching onto Mican’s campsite and surrounding him from every single direction.

“Ahhhh!” The harsh scream of a man rang out from the other clearing, one of pain and suffering.

Darting his eyes to the blocked tree, the young man knew that he had to make his decision quickly, and decisively. Staying in place to wait for help would only serve to get him surrounded, especially with the sheer number of the enemies.

Looking to the left of the fallen tree, Mican’s thoughts jumped to a large passage in a section between the trees, much farther away from him. The passageway led to a much larger clearing where all of the normal caravan members were, so he knew that they couldn’t approach from that direction.

Swiveling his head around one last time, Mican arched his back, springing into a full-on sprint towards the pass. The clearing wasn’t large, so the creatures had already come into the campsite, shambling their way towards him.

“Unngh!” A loud groan sounded out as one of the skinned freaks nearest to him jumped out, grabbing and biting at the young man’s legs.

“Krckshw!” A startling crack sounded out as the creature’s head crashed directly into Mican’s sprinting legs.

He only spared it a moments glance, continuing in his dash, only running forwards as it smashed itself onto his legs. Its head flying out like an arrow, along with a dark-red spray of blood. The creature wasn’t able to stop his momentum for a even second as he sped along, ignoring it.

“DIE!” A cry left Mican’s lungs as he barreled into the first group of creatures to meet his path.

He swung his left arm in a brutal arc, his fist clenched with his veins pulsing.

A slam sounded out as his arm connected with the first creature, dragging it along with his limb, catching three more of its companions with its body.

The four of the creatures were flung back into the approaching crowd, tripping a great deal of them as if a bowling ball through pins.

Using the momentum of his swing, Mican pushed his right shoulder ahead of him like a battering ram, slamming into all of the monsters in his way with the force of a bear.

“GRRAAGH!”

Multiple cries sounded out as Mican brute-forced his way between them, his momentum only stopping slightly due to their sheer number. The young man was like a berserker, unstoppable and immovable, as he ran through the crowd.

Surprisingly, the monsters weren’t that tough. They may have looked monstrous, but their bodies only had the toughness of a regular human being, which was a very welcome surprise to him.

Warm blood splattered across his face as their limbs flew all over the clearing, the disgusting stench still clinging to his nose. Smelling it, he was only encouraged to go faster. He felt danger, a great one.

While the freaks were great in number, they clearly had little to no reasoning left in their heads. They didn’t even try to stop him from exiting the clearing, only lumbering forwards to attempt to catch them in their reaches. The ones that got in his path were of sheer coincidence, having come from the direction of the pass.

The collapsing tree that got in his way to Melinda’s caravan was what he was mainly worried about, it was far too obvious to be a coincidence. It seemed like the attack was planned, and there was a mastermind behind this.

Due to the absolute sheer mass of the enemies, Mican was forced to stop running. His paced slowed down to a speed akin to fast-walking as he made his way through the pack.

There must have been at least a few dozen of them, and potentially even more if they had the luxury to attack the other caravan members.

“Die!” Mican gave a battle-cry, diving through the crowd in burst of energy before the pass.

Loud cracks and the tearing of flesh hung in the air, and blood painted the path that Mican left behind in the hoard.

“DIE!” His own hoarse cry gave him courage as he shattered the monsters’ heads, punching gaping holes through their body, leaving their limbs askew through the clearing.

Where he could not kick, he would knee. Where he could not knee, he would punch. Where he could not punch, he would elbow. Where he could not elbow, he would break in their soft heads with his own, splattering their brain matter behind them, covering himself in their filth.

He used his entire body as he massacred his way to the pass, and the intense stench of blood hung in the air in the path behind him, spreading through the woods.

“DIE!”