[Mission Completed.]
[Reward: 100,000 Goldi]
[Walk straight to the southwest until you find the Fire Berry.]
[Once you find the berry, the system will immediately assign you a new hunt!]
"Please, just shut up!!"
Zhen lowered his head slightly to inspect his palm. The joints of his fingers were slightly cracked, stained with the dark crimson of monster blood—etched like a grotesque work of art.
"You really are cursed!"
He turned away, his eyes catching a glimpse of his own shadow.
"A cursed land!"
The Burdon region, desolate and lifeless, felt like an open grave. In the distance, he saw countless heat lines shifting—phantoms twisting into illusions or things that defied all logic.
Sometimes, they appeared massive, dark, grotesque—creatures or objects so absurd, they felt alien even to a Northern Hunter.
Zhen narrowed his eyes.
"To hell with all this. I want water!"
He kicked at the sandy ground, glaring at the sky so bright it pierced his pupils. His face flushed red, as though the sun had dusted his pores with fire powder.
Zhen tilted his head back, trying to confirm that the grains brushing his skin were merely carried by the wind. But he realized—too late—that they were falling.
'Sand rain.'
His eyes instinctively reacted, trying to shield themselves from the onslaught. But he was a second too late—a single grain slipped past his dark pupil, searing hot as it sank in. Zhen winced, the sting melting inward.
He rubbed his eye roughly, until a thread of clear mucus leaked out slowly.
"...I have to move," he muttered hoarsely.
The mirages danced wildly again as Zhen quickened his pace, but he didn't care.
The system stayed silent, as if letting him get lost.
A wave of hot mist rolled toward Zhen, blinding his vision. It veiled the path ahead, moving like clawed fingers trying to grasp him.
"Another trick of illusion!"
Zhen wiped his eyes with the dusty back of his hand, never taking his gaze off the southwest.
Half an hour had passed. He had assumed the sand rain had stopped—he no longer felt the grains dirtying his scalp. But he was wrong.
As he turned back to check, he realized too late—he had just crossed the final boundary of the sandstorm zone.
His gaze snapped forward again, his mind disoriented by mirages. A blazing red horizon stretched wide, hypnotizing the cone cells in his macula, forcing his eyes to squint reflexively.
"The edge of Burdon...?"
He froze, trying to digest the confusion spiraling through his thoughts. That's when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a massive stone at the edge of the horizon. His mind crashed like waves against the shore, struggling to convince his body to move toward the stone.
But his weight had changed—multiplied a hundredfold. Each step became slower than a crawling snail, as if gravity itself was resisting his will.
Zhen no longer felt as though he was carrying a heavy burden or being crushed by a boulder. The sensation had gone deeper, as if a Lilliputian had been trapped inside the body of a giant who embraced the earth itself. His spirit and strength would surely collapse if despair struck him too soon.
Beads of sweat—each the size of a corn kernel—poured from his pores, mourning in silence for their master who continued to fight against the crushing weight of his own body.
It had been three days. Three days of relentless steps on this unfamiliar, haunting horizon.
'Master, because you have fed us willingly… I shall tell you something about the berry horizon you now walk upon.'
The skull spoke again. At the very least, having a pet that could talk was time-efficient.
'Then speak. Tell me.'
It was nearly impossible to open his mouth—his cracked lips stuck together, sealing every crease and refusing to part.
'The Berry Horizon is a false landscape—an illusion sown by the Fire Berry farmers, to grow the rare Stone Tree. From within that stone will bloom thirteen Fire Berries... hidden in its heart.'
Zhen opened his eyes, scanning his surroundings in search of the so-called Stone Tree. This time, one focal point stole his speculation.
'Is the Stone Tree you mentioned that large rock in the corner over there?'
'Yes, Master.'
It felt as if Zhen's mind was a rusted engine being forcefully cranked back to life.
"So... you're telling me this entire horizon is a manipulation—deliberately planted to deceive the senses of Hunters searching for the Fire Berry?"
His lips now bled as he forced his mouth open—horrifically—using both hands to tear the dryness apart.
The skull said nothing this time. It stayed silent. No answer.
"ANSWER ME, DONO!!"
His voice, thick with restrained fury, cracked with command—words trembling under the weight of demand.
"M-Mercy, Master! Yes... it's all true. The magical manipulation of this horizon can only be performed by someone who has sacrificed thousands of souls... to perfect certain elements that remain a mystery within Horizon Magic itself."
Zhen paused, his breath ragged, his suspicions mounting. This pet of his... this talking skull—was it hiding more than it told?
If he didn't figure out how to outwit his current state, strange occurrences like this would continue—crashing down on his soul, breaking his body piece by piece.
Like now.
Both his legs suddenly gave out. Collapsed, paralyzed—nerves and muscles vanishing into thin air, swallowed by the illusory horizon crafted by human hands.
"Why won't you show yourself before me?! Why is it only your voice that echoes in my left ear, Dono?!"
Fresh blood began to drip from his left ear. His eardrum throbbed, ringing in sync with a swarm of phantom bees. The man stared blankly into the void, while deep inside, thousands of tactics spiraled within the neural battlefield of his mind.
"I cannot take form... because I've been kept as a pet—and I haven't been fed by Master. Also, the food I require..."
Zhen understood the hint all too well. But that didn't mean he trusted it—not entirely.
Especially not enough to barter a soul for a skull he'd received as a mere system reward.
He'd rather hunt blood for himself.
"Your food is souls, isn't it? Of course I know that. I understand what you want… but you're a pet. So what exactly do you expect from me?"