Chapter 1 - Prologue (Part 2)

Shion and Shishio left the Jotoheim of Halmsay and went to the markets to buy some essentials before heading through the city's giant gate. Several city guards guarded it, and everyone in and out of the city had to undergo a screening beforehand to ensure that no contraband was brought along. That being so, the two students had their IDs and luggage inspected before they were permitted to move on.

The guards then pulled the lever, and the gate slowly rose. The gate was not directly connected to the outside world, but a warped door that was pitch-black in color spiraled in the middle like a black hole. Once they passed through that black hole, they arrived at the outside world, wearing masks, goggles, and hoods.

The snowy ground had disappeared from under their feet and was replaced with hard, dry soil. Behind them, the Jotoheim of Halmsay was like a semi-spherical structure standing in the middle of a barren desert. The sky over them was as dark as the replicated sky in Halmsay, but it was not because of the time. They could still see their surroundings well, though the world was formed only with shades of soul-less gray. It wasn’t a sight to see as they traversed the dead Earth, but they had to reach their master’s residence, The Jotoheim of Chanines, which was forty-five miles due west.

“Let's go,” Shishio said as he turned to Shion.

They began to dash through the barren Earth. They passed over the trees, which were pitch black and as hard as a stone. The remnants of the human population could be seen scattered throughout the wasteland, along with ruined houses and fragments of the glorious days when humans could walk freely on the Earth.

They dashed through the terrain faster than average horses, which was only possible after intense training with their master. Otherwise, the journey would take about half a day, maybe more. Nevertheless, Shishio hoped someone would spare them dinner: with their current speed, they would arrive at their destination within two hours after dinner.

About halfway through their trip, they felt something strange.

“Shishio,” Shion called out and suddenly stopped, getting into his fighting stance.

Shishio, doing the same, gritted his teeth. “I know,” he said. He pulled out his weapon, a long spear made of a sabertooth’s tooth from his back.

A wolf-like creature stood still from the top of the desert hill and watched them down.

“A Hyewolf,” Shion put his hand on his sword’s hilt. He quickly recalled how to deal with them. He remembered Aldrich once mentioned it when he brought up the list of monsters that roamed outside the cities.

“Hyewolf is a hybrid creature mutated from a hyena and a wolf,” Aldrich stated in front of his students. He pointed at two pictures between the standard hyena and wolf. “However, its size was much larger than theirs. An adult Hyewolf can be three meters tall and seven meters long.”

“That’s absurdly huge!” One of the students exclaimed in shock.

“I won’t go out from here if that means I’ll meet one of them,” another chipped in.

“Yeah!”

“But, Shion and Shishio always go back and forth to another Jotoheim. Have you ever encountered Hyewolfs on your journeys?”

Aldrich calmed the class down. “Relax. These creatures belong to the northeast of Mauverich, near the Mauredere mountains, where the land was higher than here. The chance to meet them around this area is slim,”

That was what Aldrich said. But, here they were, finally meeting them in the flesh. However, what appeared before them was even more significant than the size of two average adults Hyewolf put together.

His thought was interrupted as Shishio summed it up in a word. “Shit!” Shishio knew this was bad news. Even though it was that big, they might be able to handle one Hyewolf. However, Hyewolfs permanently moved into groups.

And if all the group members were as big as this one…

“They’ve surrounded us.”

One by one, parts of the Hyewolf pack appeared. They took stances in all four directions as if encircling Shion and Shishio, leaving no room for escape. This was the Hyewolf's way of hunting, stalking their prey from afar and surrounding them where they wanted.

“That's no ordinary Hyewolf,” Shion said, referring to the biggest Hyewolf that stood before their path. “I saw there was a red stone on his forehead. Is it someone's pet?”

“Who’s a psychopath who let go of such a big pet in the wild!? And have a pack at that?!”

Shion took out his sword. He aimed it at Hywolf, who seemed to be the pack’s leader. “We can take him down first to bring down the pack’s mentality. If they still refuse to back down, we'll kill them all.”

“If only it were that easy,” Shishio grumbled. He held his weapon tightly, trying to calm himself down.

“I heard that Hyewolf’s blood is a pretty potent antidote,” Shion recalled, his face full of determination and glee. That was when Shishio knew that there would be no Hyewolf left after this fight if it was for their Master.

TO BE CONTINUED...

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