Exiting the "Vanguard" world, I felt a heat coursing through my veins that I had never known before. My body was no longer just flesh and bone; my cells had completely regenerated the moment I entered this passage, and I felt a brute force filling my muscles to the point that my clothes nearly tore at the shoulders. I am much stronger now than when I began, and this is the only price I am willing to pay for my eroding memory.
I walked with heavy strides toward the massive gate standing at the end of the light. A colossal stone gateway was guarded by two soldiers clad in heavy armor. Despite their bulk, I realized my head rose clearly above theirs as I stood before them. I looked at them coldly; their skin wasn't entirely human—hard scales, like lizard skin, covered their necks and hands, glinting revoltingly under the light.
"Halt!" one shouted, raising his spear. "Identity? Are you a tourist?"
I replied in a deep, calm voice from behind my black scarf: "Just a wandering tourist." They exchanged looks, appearing confused by my calm demeanor and my intimidating physique, but they let me pass.
[Valoria City - Central District]
I entered the city. I didn't wish to attract attention, but my towering height and massive frame made me look like a moving mountain amidst the crowd. Everyone stepped aside the moment I took a single step.
I stopped in front of a small stall that wafted the glow of fresh bread. I wanted something to satisfy my hunger before I began. The moment I stood before the seller, the bag fell from his hand, and he recoiled in fear.
"S-Sir..." he said with a trembling voice. "Are you one of the noble lords? Or... are you from the Sura squad?"
I didn't utter a single word. I looked at him from behind the scarf in dead silence. My silence made him tremble even more, and he bowed until his forehead touched the table, stammering words as he offered his services and his humiliation. I felt an internal rage at this pathetic weakness, so I left the stall and walked away without buying anything.
From a distance, I caught sight of the same seller shouting at an old woman and throwing her goods onto the ground because she was late with her payment. "This world is like any other..." I whispered to myself bitterly. "A filthy world built entirely on status and titles, not on human value."
[Brin's Tavern]
I continued walking until I reached an isolated tavern, its name coldly engraved on an iron sign: Brin's Tavern.
I pushed the door and entered. The atmosphere was thick with the scent of sweat and iron. Men with bulging muscles laughed hysterically, drinking a deep red liquid that looked like blood but emitted a heat that made the air vibrate around them. The moment I set foot on the tavern floor, a dead silence fell. Their eyes told me they felt the entry of a "predator" who did not belong to their pack.
I sat on a wooden stool in the corner. A small child came over, his body as thin as a dry bone, carrying a tattered piece of paper. He whispered in a trembling voice: "Sir... what is your order?"
"Water only," I said without glancing at him.
The child turned to leave, but someone tripped him with a malicious laugh. The child's face slammed against the hard wood, and blood erupted from his nose, staining the floor red. The child didn't scream; I saw the veins in his neck bulge as he tried to stifle his sobs, wiping the blood with a shaking hand and trying to get up while the men exploded into laughter.
The laughter continued to echo throughout the tavern, and no one paid any attention to my presence or my reaction; this daily scene was merely a "dessert" after their heavy drinks. I did not move from my spot, nor did a shred of mercy shake within me toward that small body lying on the ground.
I looked at the blood splatter that had sprayed near my boot, and suddenly, a blurred flash crossed my mind... I saw "Kang" beating that poor student in the schoolyard, while everyone watched in silence.
"Damn it..." I whispered to myself in annoyance, feeling a rising disgust in my chest. "What a weakling you are."
My disgust was not for the large man, but for the child wiping his nose with silent tears, surrendering to his fate. To me, weakness is not destiny; it is a sin that deserves punishment.
[Inside Brin's Tavern]
I sat in my place, watching the bloodstain dry on the wooden floor while the sounds of laughter and clamor returned to fill the room as if nothing had happened. I didn't bother myself with the child trembling in the corner; in my dictionary, weakness is the only unforgivable sin.
I began to listen to the conversations of the giants sitting at the adjacent table. Their voices were coarse, making the tavern walls vibrate.
"Did you hear?" one of them said, slamming his glass against the table. "Today in the Grand Arena, Brock will face a member of the Sura Squad!" A brief silence fell before the other exploded in laughter: "They must be joking! Brock is participating? He'll kill that Sura scum in two seconds! Brock doesn't have scales; he has rocks under his skin."
The men began throwing gold pouches onto the table frantically as the betting ignited. "Sura"? The name was strange, but the tone of fear mixed with mockery in their voices suggested this squad held a bloody history here.
Suddenly, the betting stopped. A curtain behind the tavern stage opened, and a woman stepped out. She possessed a sharp beauty, her features standing out starkly amidst the filth of the place, her hair cascading like black silk. The moment she appeared, the men began whistling and shouting.
"The beauty has finally arrived!" one yelled, while she offered nothing but a cold gaze. She walked quickly toward the child, Rio, and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the blood from his broken face.
"Rio! What happened?" she asked, her voice choked with worry. The child raised his head quickly, trying to force a smile distorted by pain: "Mom... don't worry... I just fell." A naive lie, but it was his only attempt to protect her from these monsters.
The mother looked at the men with burning rage. "Marcus... did you do this to him again?" The massive man who had tripped the child laughed, sipping the red liquid: "What's wrong, sweetheart? We were just joking with the little one; he needs to learn how to stand on his own feet." He motioned for her to go inside; she grabbed Rio by the hand and left toward the back, tears glinting in her eyes.
I watched the scene in silence. Family drama was not among my objectives; all I wanted was to finish my mission and leave this swamp. However, it seemed that peace was an impossible request.
A massive shadow loomed over my table. One of the men who had been laughing moments ago stood before me. The width of his shoulders equaled the width of the table, and grey scales protruded from beneath his leather clothes.
"Hey... you..." he said in a gravelly voice, leaning his body toward me. "Looks like you're a new face here. Where did you come from?"
I didn't answer. I didn't even lift my eyes from my glass. My disregard for him was enough to shatter his pride in front of his comrades.
"When I talk to you... answer me!" he roared, reaching out his massive hand to violently grip my black scarf, attempting to pull me from my seat.
In that moment, I moved. It wasn't a human movement; it was an explosion of raw power. I seized his wrist with a hand that matched his in strength, and before he realized what was happening, I lifted him into the air as if he were a feather.
"CRAAAACK!"
I slammed him with all my might onto the wooden table. Not only did the table shatter, but everyone heard the sound of his bones splintering as he screamed in a pain that tore through the tavern's silence. His massive body lay twisted atop the wreckage, his face hitting the remains of broken glasses.
Everything in the tavern stopped. All eyes were fixed on me in a mixture of shock and terror. No one dared to move.
I brushed off my hand coldly, feeling that old instinct awakening within me—the instinct I had tried to suppress to avoid trouble.
"Damn it..."
Their silence didn't last long. The looks of astonishment transformed into wild, animalistic rage. The men began rising from their seats, and the sound of tearing skin could be heard as long, sharp claws like daggers protruded from their fingers, and their teeth lengthened to reveal yellow fangs dripping with saliva.
There were six... no, eight human monsters rushing toward me all at once.
I didn't give them a chance to think. I grabbed the first one by the throat before his claws could reach my scarf, feeling his windpipe shatter under my grip, then threw his massive body into the second one who was about to spring. The place turned into a silent execution arena, save for their screams and the sound of flesh hitting bone. A kick to the chest shattered one's ribcage, and a backhand strike crushed another's jaw.
I moved like a hurricane among them, showing neither mercy nor hesitation. Dark red blood began to stain the wooden tavern walls, and the floor became sickeningly slick. Within minutes, everyone lay around me; lifeless corpses and broken bones of men who thought their bulk would protect them from "The Glitch".
I stood amidst the wreckage, my breath calm despite the chaos. I looked at my stained hands and my scarf, which was dampened with a bit of their blood. "Damn it..." I whispered to myself in annoyance. "Now the hunts and the trouble will begin... this wasn't part of the plan."
In that moment, the inner door opened, and the woman (the mother) stepped out. She froze in her tracks, looking at the massacre that had befallen her tavern. She covered her mouth with her hand as she witnessed the broken bones and the blood filling the place, then lifted her eyes toward me with a look that wasn't fear... but something resembling relief mixed with awe.
"T-Thank you..." she stammered in a trembling voice.
I was surprised by her words. I didn't expect gratitude amidst this destruction. She continued, trying to pull herself together: "I will hide this incident... I'll tell the guards it was a fight that broke out among them because of wine and betting... don't worry." She paused for a moment before whispering: "Thank you, Mr...."
I looked at her and said my only word: "Ray".
"Thank you, Ray..." she said with genuine gratitude.
From behind her long skirt, the child, Rio, emerged. Blood was still drying on his nose, but his eyes were shining with a powerful glint I hadn't seen in this filthy world before. He wasn't afraid of the corpses; instead, he looked at me as if I were a miracle descended from the sky.
I headed toward the tavern exit, but a small voice stopped me at the door: "How do I become like this?" I stopped without turning around. Rio continued in a voice full of confidence: "I want to be strong... I want to protect my mother... I want to tear apart anyone who tries to touch us."
I turned to him with half a face, looking into his small eyes with a coldness that shattered innocence: "If you want strength... you must first taste the bitterness of pain... a pain that makes you forget even your own name."
"Please... teach me!" Rio shouted impulsively. The mother quickly placed her hand over her child's mouth, apologizing embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, Mr. Ray... he talks too much and doesn't know what he's asking for." She bowed to me and said: "You will always be welcome in Brin's... your tab is always on us as a token of thanks for your help."
I stepped out of the tavern into the cold night air, leaving behind the scent of death and the gaze of a child who had begun to realize that the world has no mercy for the weak.