After moving far enough away, Ash did some light stretching, feeling his bones settle and crack slightly. He watched with satisfaction as the nightmare creatures began to approach the mist.
The reason he came here was quite simple: to continue saturating his soul core. Over the next month at least, he would try to develop his second core.
Most of the creatures that inhabit this place are Awakened and Fallen monsters, so he doesn't have to worry about his Flaw. Of course, if there was something he couldn't kill, he could simply escape.
Looking through the great mist field, he spotted his first prey. It was a strange creature made of stone, but it wasn't a Stone Saint—it was different.
The creature somehow saw through the mist field and lunged in his direction with its stone sword.
Immediately, Ash raised his own sword, clashing with his opponent's blade. He had to admit, the creature was strong.
Being pushed back, Ash jumped to avoid being cut by the sword. His foot touched the ground and used it as leverage to attack forward, swiftly swinging his sword at the monster, who blocked the attack.
Both began a rapid and intense exchange of attack and defense, leaving no openings.
The abomination, in its monstrous intelligence, launched a horizontal slash which Ash avoided.
Ash raised his sword, launching an attack at the monster's stomach. Seeing this, in an act of intelligence, it moved away. However, this was what Ash wanted.
Changing the angle of his sword, he managed to cut off the monster's arm that held its weapon.
The arm flew a few meters into the air. Ash, without hesitation, launched a second slash that decapitated the monster.
Ash watched as the now headless body collapsed limply to the ground.
[You have killed an Awakened Monster: Stone Knight]
[Your soul grows stronger]
Ash sighed for a moment, then looked at the other abominations and, without hesitation, lunged at them.
For the most part, there were some resembling insects, others with vaguely humanoid appearances. He also encountered a Carapace Centurion at some point, which he killed.
After a few hours, Ash stopped. His breathing was ragged, and sweat ran down every inch of his body. He had been fighting for several consecutive hours and had barely killed about thirty. More specifically, he killed sixteen Awakened Beasts and fourteen Awakened Monsters, and at no point had he obtained a new Memory.
Summoning the endless water bottle, he brought it to his lips, quenching his thirst.
Soul Fragments: [342/1000]
After looking at the fragments he obtained from killing the abominations, he decided to go look for the cores.
The process was slow, taking his time extracting the soul fragments. In the end, he finished with a total of forty-four soul fragments, which he consumed entirely, leaving his soul fragments at three hundred and eighty-six.
The increase in his strength had undoubtedly been notable after consuming so many soul fragments.
He had covered a third of the way to becoming a monster.
Using his guidance ability, he began to walk towards the ruined cathedral where the Fallen Devil was.
The journey was peaceful since no abomination attacked him due to the great mist field he still kept active.
Upon reaching the cathedral, he observed the open door filled with a dense darkness through which he could see nothing.
He knew that if he set foot inside, not half a second would pass before the Fallen Devil attacked and killed him.
'It's best to return later when I get the key from the Lord of the Dead,' Ash thought to himself.
Turning around, he ventured back into the ruined city to continue his hunting.
During the rest of the night, Ash fought against some Awakened Beasts and watched from a distance the fight between a group of winged Fallen Beasts.
After taking a bath to remove the blood, dirt, and smell of sweat, he began walking back to the exterior settlement.
Ash arrived at the edge of the slum, seeing the shack that stood on a stone platform. It was undoubtedly spacious. Roughly constructed from stone brusquely extracted from the ruins, some still bore details from their ancient inhabitants.
Of course, this was the place Ash and Nephis had chosen to stay in the cursed city.
Ash approached slowly, seeing Nephis sitting on the roof with her legs crossed, looking towards the enormous white stone walls that were beginning to show traces of dawn.
Nephis lowered her gaze upon seeing him.
Ash approached, having to lift his face slightly to look at Changing Star.
"How did it go?" asked Nephis.
"Not as well as I wanted. There were too many, so I could only move away and kill the solitary ones," he explained.
Nephis nodded.
Ash watched as the sun slowly began to rise, starting a new day for the Forgotten Shore.
After looking at the sunrise, he turned around and returned inside the house to sleep for a few hours.
....
A few hours later, when the sun was beginning to descend, Ash woke up. Looking through one of the holes that served as a window, he noticed it was afternoon. He had slept at least five or eight full hours, which surprised him.
He supposed he had been more tired than he thought.
Standing up, he stretched for a few moments before going outside. A warm wind hit his body, and the rays of light bothered his eyes a little.
Looking around, he observed Nephis, who was meditating in the shadows.
Upon noticing his gaze, Nephis opened her eyes.
"Good afternoon."
"You know it's afternoon, right?" he asked.
Nephis shrugged as if it weren't important.
"Minor details," she replied.
"I guess you're right," said Ash, looking in the direction of the enormous castle that seemed to shine as it received the light of the nameless sun.
He could observe one or two guards walking along the paths connecting the different towers.
Further below the castle was the exterior settlement, which remained the same as the previous day.
Ash closed his eyes, entering his soul sea. Once inside, he could feel that the sensation had increased slightly, which unsettled him.
After making sure there was nothing beyond the slight discomfort, he left his soul sea with a frown.
'I need to discover what's happening in my soul,' he thought to himself, then looked at Nephis.
"Hey, Neph. Want to go hunting for a while?" he asked, making the girl open her eyes.
"Why?" she asked.
Ash blinked, then shrugged.
"Well, it's just a bit boring fighting alone, and I need someone to watch my back and all that. Of course, it's just a suggestion," he explained without changing his tone.
Nephis stood up, looking at him for a few moments before nodding.
"Alright," she said, looking towards the ruins further ahead.
"I was about to do it anyway," she added a moment later.
Ash nodded, and then the two fell silent. Neither of them was sociable enough to have many conversation topics without Sunny or Cassie starting them, and most of the time Ash simply acted as if he didn't exist—after all, he liked silence and being a spectator.
After the sun fell, both left the elevated stone slab, venturing into the ruins, beginning to eliminate nightmare creatures in small, isolated groups before moving on to larger and weaker groups.
After hunting a significant number of abominations and consuming the cores, they took the meat to store it.
Ash left at least five or six soul cores unconsumed, as he had an interesting place to go soon.