"If you see a wildebeest in the Demon continent, run."
"Fucking drunk bard... Who would run away from a mere wildebeest? They aren't even above the second grade."
"Spoken like someone who doesn't even know the first thing about the Demon Continent."
"You..."
And so the first bar brawl of the day began.
Vera sat quietly in a corner, drinking a pint of beer. Vera had reached the frontier city a few days ago. He'd applied to enter the demon continent. Fortunately, today was the day they'd let him in.
Just as Vera had finished up his breakfast, the brawl had also come to an end.
"Don't ever fucking mess with a bard again."
Now that his breakfast entertainment had come to an end, Vera took a final swig of his pint and left for the gateway.
The weather in the frontier city was rather pleasant, considering the quite literal hell on earth that stood beside it.
Thankfully, the frontier city had patterned pavements; otherwise, Vera would've camped out until he was given the permit.
Overall, the city had a nice atmosphere. It almost reminded Vera of home.
By the time Vera reached the gate, he'd already walked off his breakfast.
He saw the admissions officer standing at a counter near the gate. The man let out a gruff aura.
"Are you Vera?" The admissions officer spoke, his gruff tone contrasting his cheery expression.
"Yes." As Vera spoke with him, he noticed his face was riddled with scars.
"Please present your permission slip and identity documents." The admissions officer asked, seeming somewhat unfamiliar with the process himself.
As he'd received Vera's documents, he fumbled through various registers until he found the right one.
After flipping through a single page, the attendant hurriedly scribbled Vera's details into the register.
"Umm... Do people not come through here that often?"
"Yeah, you're the second person to have entered the Demon Continent this year."
Vera was startled by the attendant's declaration. It was already April, yet only one person had come through the gate until now.
"A lot of people do apply for passes; however, most get rejected. Most of those who do get approved chicken out and rescind their passes."
"Is that so... Work must be treating you well."
"Haha... You said it; I get paid a whole year's salary, but I only come in 2-3 times a year."
The martial association sure does treat its employees well.
Having finished noting down Vera's details, the attendant escorted Vera to the gate. Ahead of the gate was a simple jetty, with a few well-made boats attached to its ends.
The attendant led Vera to one of the boats while getting on it as well.
"You're coming?"
"The association is definitely kind, but they wouldn't pay me a year's salary for simply filling a register three times a year."
The attendant set sail after Vera entered the boat.
While the waves moved with a sense of violence, the ferry was almost peaceful. The attendant seemed very familiar with the route. The ferry lasted for almost an hour or so. During which Vera and the attendant chatted freely, unbothered by the raging waves trying to capsize their boat.
In contrast to the attendant's appearance, he was a rather amicable man. During their journey he'd spoken about his time as a wandering warrior and how he was recruited by the association.
However, despite his carefree expression, his hands trembled as they got closer to the Continent.
"You can stop here, boss; I can swim the rest of the way."
"Ahh... My hands gave it away, didn't they?"
"Don't worry about it; I'm a pretty good swimmer."
"Well then, I'll be taking that offer." The attendant spoke with a somewhat cheery tone, clearly unable to make eye contact with Vera.
As Vera climbed on to the bow of the boat, the attendant called out to him.
"Vera... Even though you are the strongest master... if you ever see a wildebeest... RUN."
Vera turned back to look at the attendant, surprised that he knew of Vera's title. However, all he saw was a trembling warrior. Clutching at a scar on his face, while trembling like a child.
"Umm... I'll be sure to."
Vera dived off the bow. With his speed, he was able to reach the continent's shore within a few minutes.
As he got onto the sand, he looked back at the attendant. He was still waiting, making sure that Vera had reached the shore.
Vera waved at the attendant, letting him know that he'd reached the shore.
As the attendant saw that Vera had reached the shore, he turned the boat back immediately and rushed to the jetty.
"You didn't need to keep up the cheery face... I would've understood."
Vera murmured under his breath as he walked away from the shore, his body disappearing into the maw of the Demon Continent.
Vera sat by a makeshift camp, grilling the corpse of a third-grade demonic beast. His refined aura was betrayed by the tufts of mud stuck on his hair. Just as the meat was ready, Vera heard a twig crack from behind him.
"Not again..." Vera pulled the skewer away from the fire, laying it down against a rock.
Vera had lost count of the number of times he was challenged by a demonic beast at this point. Emphasis on the fact that he was challenged.
Within barely a week of his time on the demon continent, he'd already fought hundreds of demonic beasts. Most of them ranged between first and peak grade.
While the Demons were courteous enough to let him ready himself, they weren't courteous enough to accept rejection.
"In times like this I miss you, Blue Ogre." Vera murmured under his breath as he approached an opponent who didn't understand consent.
Vera stretched out his wrists, getting ready to eviscerate his newest challenger as fast as he could.
A small golden light erupted from Vera's feet as he dashed; the ground beneath him trembled as he moved.
In less than a moment he'd already gotten behind his challenger, a first-grade troll.
The troll's head pressed into the canopy of trees, almost forming a wreath around its skull.
As the troll turned its head back, Vera gained a firm grip on its calves.
With his feet firmly planted into the ground, Vera turned his torso, lifting the troll off the ground.
The troll still hadn't realised what'd happened. Its body hurtled through the forest, shattering any trees that stood in its wake.
Vera dashed to the troll. Within a second he'd already gotten behind the troll. While he maintained pace with the troll, he pressed his left arm against the troll's back. Wrapping his right arm around its elbow.
As he stomped against the ground to stop the troll's flight, leaves flew off the ground.
A loud thud soon followed. The troll had been flipped off Vera's shoulder, its body crashing into the ground with a resounding dull thud.
The sound sent all nearby animals scurrying away in fear.
The disoriented troll lay down on the ground, its back facing Vera. Without much hesitation, Vera raised his foot, his qi manifesting around it...
Vera walked back to his camp, picking out troll brains from his hair, eager to have his first meal of the day. Only to find that his skewers were missing. The dark bags under his eyes exacerbated his exhausted expression.
"Fuck... which demon ate my skewers?"
Vera scanned his surroundings until a vague silhouette caught his eyes...
Under the canopy a four-legged animal stood staring at Vera as it chewed on his skewer.
Its eyes shining with a ghostly hue.
Until his departure, Vera had heard of what to do if he saw a wildebeest.
But no one ever told him what to do if a wildebeest saw him.
The eyes grew from one to two, then to five—until they turned almost innumerable.
The ghostly hue from their eyes spanned into a vast expanse. Bringing the horizon into night.