"What are you thinking right now?" I approached Faris with a question.

He didn't move his gaze from the golden line. "I think we're supposed to follow it."

"I think so, too. You should tell the others so that we can get moving as fast as possible. If we lose track of the golden line, we'll be doomed."

"Yeah," Faris answered solemnly before he started gathering everyone's attention.

While he was doing his duty as leader, I focused on the theories forming inside my mind.

'The golden line moves slower than the average human walks, so there have to be other challenges that this place can offer. Or is it possible that the first trial is just a playground that has the purpose of getting us used to the trials? No, that can't be. The first trial should be one that separates the wheat from the chaff. I have to stay on guard. There will surely be some surprises on the way.'

I took my eyes off Faris for a moment to observe my surroundings some more. You could maybe see a hundred meters ahead in this fog. It was no wonder that I didn't see something that caught my eye. Well, I wasn't expecting to see anything anyway. I was already almost sure that something would jump out of the sand at any moment to provide some extra challenge for us.

I finished my brief thinking session quickly and turned back to Faris. Or at least I was about to do so when there was a weird sound resembling that of a thump and the playing of a maraca. I immediately turned to face the direction the sound came from. It seemed like I had been the only one to hear the sound, as I was the only one who turned.

However, there was nothing to be found in that direction.

"Hey, stop spacing out, idiot. Everybody else is ready to start following the golden line." I heard a female voice come from close behind me.

A voice so annoying should've been illegal, and using it should've been ruled second-degree assault.

I turned to the blond woman, Windy. She held a slim bow in her right hand with her usual expression of disgust on her face, which only left when she was invading Faris' personal space.

"Hmm, I see," I said while avoiding meeting her eyes.

I was good with people, but sometimes I met an individual who I couldn't tolerate. Windy was such an individual. And I wasn't eager to waste my energy on controlling my violent impulses in the presence of such a worthless person.

***

We walked for hours and hours, but even though we had gone far ahead the retreating end of the golden line, there was no end in sight.

During the way there, however, I came to a realization the others were oblivious to for the moment.

The thump sounds that occurred once in a while got louder each time. It was gray sand. Gray sand was falling from the sky, and the amount was increasing over time. I realized what it meant soon after we began walking, but it seemed like nobody else had realized the link between the sand and the golden line.

There was no need to inform them about it yet, so it was best to keep it to myself for the moment. After all, it could prove useful in the future.

As thoughts ran through my mind, I looked around and tried to notice any possible changes on the horizon or below. And that was when I saw it. A dark figure shrouded in fog. A humanoid creature in the distance that was getting larger and larger as it moved closer with swaying steps.

Before I could inform the others, Windy shrieked loudly, "Faris, look!"

I turned my gaze to Faris whose expression went from stoic to shocked in an instant as his eyes went wide when he saw the creature. The situation got more unnerving just seconds later when tens of other figures became visible through the fog.

Faris then walked past me, his sword tightly in his grip and his expression back to normal. I was quick to follow, and soon came the rest.

We got closer to the creatures quickly, and soon their features could be discerned. Their skin was a dark gray shade that matched the clean parts of their worn-down, rusty swords tightly wrapped in their hands with their long fingers. None of them even reached the height of 160 centimeters. As they got closer, their jagged teeth, bald heads and pointy ears were also revealed.

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I glanced to my left and noticed that Faris' hands were shaking. Then I took a look at my own hands, which were still like water in an undisturbed glass. I hadn't played with knives much in the past, but the idea of death wasn't unfamiliar.

When the distance was reduced to about ten meters and we could finally faintly smell each other, the creatures were thrown into a craze and flew forward in a chaotic rush.

For some reason, I could feel a rush of adrenaline before the fight even began, when I didn't even have a clear memory of getting such a feeling when fighting.

I forgot Faris and the others and rushed forward, similarly to the monsters.

The first monster I encountered swung its sword predictably, and I dodged as I closed the distance before grabbing the creature's wrist and guiding my dagger through its throat. As bright purple blood leaked out of the wound and the monster collapsed on the ground, I realized that I had thoroughly underestimated just how sharp the dagger was. Cutting through the creature's flesh felt like cutting through foam. I had barely felt any resistance at all.

Despite my discovery, my focus quickly shifted to another one of the creatures that had its blade aimed at me. I couldn't take too long with a single opponent, and I couldn't overextend to leave myself vulnerable.

So when my next opponent came, I jumped in so close that the monster and I would've been able to hug, and I thrust my dagger into its heart before it could take any countermeasures.

I proceeded to use the limp creature's body as a meat shield for my back by holding it up on my shoulder while bright purple blood flowed from its mouth.

I felt an impact on my back when one of the creatures slashed at its friends, but I ignored the dull impact and focused on what was before me.

Fortunately, the others seemed to be taking action as well, which prevented me from being surrounded.

When I started holding the creature up, I was surprised at how light it was, and that lightness came into play when I rotated violently and flung the creature toward three of its friends.

I left the sight of the creature crashing into the trio behind immediately, however, as my attention was demanded by the one creature behind me.

It swung its sword straight down with overextended movements that were easy to predict, but as time was of the essence and closing the distance wasn't ideal, I decided to take the challenge of brute force head on.

I put my dagger in front of the monster's attack path, and when the sword hit my dagger, sparks flew and the sword came to a dead stop. My brows furrowed at the unexpected development. I had assumed that there would be some difficulty in a clash of blades, but instead an unprecedented strength was gushing out of my shoulders and core that made the effort needed to stop the sword minimal.

Then it clicked.

We were told our weapons would evolve and improve our physical capabilities. And of course, the trigger for evolution is using the weapon for what it is meant to do.

'The key to evolution is murder!'

I exerted some more force and struck the sword away from my sight before aiming my dagger at the bottom of the creature's mouth. I could feel my dagger first pierce the flesh at the bottom of its mouth and then shortly after go through the roof of its mouth and finally reach all the way up to its brain.

Afterward, I withdrew my dagger, and the creature opened its eyes and mouth as it fell backward. The creature then thudded onto the gray sand, immediately starting to stain it with the blood flowing from its mouth and the wound under it.

I looked down, and in the brief moment before I was forced to deal with another of the monsters, I inwardly gave voice to a twisted thought with an indifferent mind.

'Killing these things really doesn't feel that different from killing actual humans.'