Roaring
A terrifying roar erupted across the sea of sand.
But the sound itself was not the only thing that shook the desert.
It carried with it boundless rage and hatred, emotions that seemed to rise from the deepest abyss of a living being.
The sand began to tremble.
Tiny grains shifted as vibrations spread through the ground.
Slowly, the movement grew stronger.
Then the mana in the air turned unstable.
Something black began to rise from beneath the soft sand.
The dunes split apart.
A shape emerged little by little.
First came its head.
Scales belonging to a reptilian beast glistened beneath the sun.
Then came two crimson eyes, burning with a horrifying light.
Its exposed fangs dripped green venom onto the earth, and smoke hissed wherever the liquid touched.
It was a serpent.
A gigantic serpent.
Yet its size was not the most striking thing about it.
No.
It was the scar.
A massive, wide scar stretched across its body, where broken flesh and damaged scales remained visible.
Though the wound had healed, its mark remained.
And perhaps because of that, the serpent's eyes burned with such furious red light.
"Hiss..."
The great serpent let out a low sound and turned its head.
Its gaze locked onto something nearby.
Not far from it floated a tear in space itself.
Black cubes revolved around the opening.
The surrounding mana was dreadful, as if it defied the very laws of the world.
It was a Rift.
The serpent remained there for minutes... then hours.
With every passing second, the fury in its eyes deepened.
"HISSS!"
Suddenly, it raised its head toward the sky.
The sand shook violently.
The air trembled.
Crimson mana burst from its colossal body.
These were the signs of a sacred creature consumed by wrath.
It was true that it was only a C-rank monster.
But this serpent was different.
It had never been an ordinary beast.
It was a predator.
A sacred existence.
One feared by every creature in the desert.
Yet today, the serpent had learned something.
It was not invincible.
It was not the strongest.
And the path before it was still long.
That human... with his deceitful tricks... had made it realize that truth.
And so, thoughts were born within the serpent's mind.
It did not forget debts.
It would grow stronger.
It would cross that black hole.
It would find that human.
And when it did...
It would give him despair.
Pain.
Death.
As those thoughts intensified, the serpent slowly buried its immense body beneath the sand once more.
Its first mission was simple.
To become stronger.
And because of that...
Today would be a nightmare for every other creature in the desert.
When the great serpent vanished, silence returned to the endless wasteland.
Only the scent of blood in the air, and the distant roars that echoed from time to time, proved what was happening.
The serpent had begun.
Warm sunlight fell upon the outskirts of the city.
It stretched over the snow-covered streets, painting the white world in gold.
But none of that mattered.
.
The rays slipped through the window of a room inside the Wanderer's Tavern.
They landed upon a bed where someone lay beneath the blankets.
His handsome face looked soft and innocent.
His long hair was scattered across the pillow.
He looked like nothing more than a sleeping boy.
As the sunlight touched his face, his eyelashes trembled.
Slowly, I opened my eyes.
Those pale eyes of mine reflected the light like frozen moonlight.
"Huh...?"
I stared around the room in confusion.
"Where... ah—"
Pain suddenly shot through my body before I could finish speaking.
"I'm alive...?"
The pain confirmed it.
Ignoring the ache, I looked around again.
This room felt familiar.
"Damn it..."
I gritted my teeth as the pain dragged me back to reality.
I threw the blanket aside and raised my hand.
My pale arm was wrapped in white bandages.
"Tch."
With my other hand, I tore them off.
Beneath them were wounds, cuts, and scars.
But none of that mattered.
"...What the hell?"
My eyes fell to my right shoulder.
A horrifying scar stretched from my shoulder down to my forearm.
It looked less like a scar and more like the remains of a burn.
I still remembered the feeling of venom dripping onto me.
The sensation of my body being crushed.
The suffocating darkness.
I exhaled and lay back down.
"I survived."
All other thoughts were pushed aside.
"I'm alive."
There was only one thing that mattered.
"I didn't die."
I had survived.
Yes, the price had been great.
But I did not care.
"I'll keep going."
No one truly understands death until it comes close enough to touch them.
"I'll keep living."
What is death?
What is life?
No one understands their worth until they feel them slipping away.
"Heh..."
I covered my eyes with one hand, a smile appearing on the lower half of my face.
"Damn."
The smile vanished.
My expression twisted, and I clenched my teeth.
Then droplets of water began to fall from beneath my hand.
"Damn..."
The shell I had built around myself had cracked.
"Damn!"
The tears would not stop.
Chaos slowly spread through my chest.
I had been afraid.
Yes.
I had felt fear.
I had felt despair when I entered the serpent's mouth.
No one could understand that terror.
Few people are ever given a second chance.
And I had nearly thrown mine away because of arrogance.
"The giant serpent..."
I had been arrogant.
When I reached D-rank and combined my power with my element, I thought I was invincible like a fool.
"Damn..."
Blood dripped from my lips where I had bitten them too hard.
Amid the storm inside me, two feelings remained.
The first was fear.
The second was survival.
With those crushing emotions surrounding me, I closed my eyes once more.
Darkness took me.
I felt something soft brushing against my face.
Then wiping the blood from my lips.
That sensation made me open my eyes.
"Mo..."
Confusion filled my mind when I saw someone sitting beside the bed.
For a moment, she looked like my mother.
When I finally focused, I spoke.
"Marcella?"
The haze vanished from my mind.
There she was.
A beautiful woman with chestnut hair and pistachio-green eyes.
She sat beside me, holding a delicate cloth.
"You're awake?"
Her voice was lazy and gentle as always.
But beneath it, I sensed something deeper.
Worry.
Yes.
There was worry in her voice.
A kind of worry I could not fully understand.
"Yeah."
I rubbed my eyes slowly.
She reached forward and wiped my lips again.
"Why is there blood on your lips?"
She asked in confusion while staring at me.
"It's nothing."
I couldn't tell her why.
So I closed my mouth.
But another feeling rose inside me.
I was happy.
Yes.
Truly happy.
Why?
Because I had not felt this kind of care...
This kind of concern...
For a very long time.