"Effort… is only rewarded when we never give up."
I used to believe in that.
But after four thousand years…
Some things… you're better off letting rot.
——
'The whole team! According to the Duchess's orders.'
'Divide into groups of three. Search every nook and cranny. If you find that monster, kill it immediately!'
In an instant, the Blade family soldiers flooded every corner of the city of Clitus. Footsteps echoed on the cobblestones. Shiny armour. Their eyes scanned the area like blades — cold, impassive and ready to attack anything that moved.
For the first time in many peaceful years, this tranquil city was facing an invasion of monsters. 'That might be me,' I smirked. 'Terrifying indeed.'
'But sadly... I'm scarier.'
I had to curl up so tightly inside the rickety old wooden cratethat it felt as if every bone in my body was creaking.
Although a day had passed, the search was still ongoing.
A day?
But... so what?
It's just a speck of dust in my thousand years of solitude.
——
And then...
'Load these old crates onto the cart!'
A strong jolt caused the crate to tilt. My body was lifted and bounced lightly off the wooden side.
Through a small gap, I could see a merchant shouting and a few burly henchmen struggling to load the crate — and me — onto a cargo cart.
At first, I felt a little worried.
But on second thought.. it wasn't that bad.
Instead of being dragged away by soldiers, I was being 'kindly' transported by these smugglers.
I just hoped they were smart enough not to open the lid carelessly.
To be honest, if I was discovered... I wouldn't even know how to handle it.
'Keep run?'
'Or break them?'
These questions echoed in my head, dry and cold like the invisible shackles that had bound me for a thousand years.
But wait.. why am I thinking like that?
As a cursed being like me... I no longer have the right to ask myself such questions.
__
"Bring that crate down!" came a dry shout.
The carriage stopped, its wooden wheels grinding into the moist soil.
I could clearly feel the slight bump when the car stopped, and I could faintly smell something seeping through the gap into the crate.
The smell of earth, the smell of dampness.
The carriage had stopped in front of an abandoned warehouse on the edge of a graveyard.
It was the perfect place to hide something or carry out secret activities.
That's right — it's far too suitable a place for someone like me.
"You're finally here, then?"
"Are you sure no one's following you?"
A grunting voice sounded suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. The one-eyed man, whose face was covered in scars, turned around, his hand clenched tightly around the metre-long whip.
His gaze swept across his subordinates, 'shining' with a murderous aura that made them bow their heads awkwardly and move out of his way.
"Yes... Yes." A few subordinates stutter.
Already... He dragged a chain. It rattles.. At the end of the rope was the neck of a girl — a cat beast — whose bruised body was covered in torn clothes and deep whip marks.
Without saying a word, he pulled the chain hard, dragging her across the wet ground.
A strong kick hit her in the stomach, sending her flying into the iron cage in the corner of the warehouse.
'Then it's good.'
The cold sound of the iron door latch tore apart the heavy silence.
"They.."
I narrowed my eyes slightly and clenched my teeth.
'Slave traders.'
"This haul will be worth a lot."
"I've just caught two female cats — one white and one blonde.'
'The white one?"
The transport crew glanced at the wooden cage covered with a red cloth that was standing alone in the corner of the warehouse. Their faces showed a mixture of excitement and ...morbidity.
'It's a rare cat. He will definitely be very pleased."
…
I lie still.
I open my eyes slightly and look through the gap.
I observe.
I hold back. A part of me whispers, "Lie still. Pretend to be dead... and wait."
But...
'No... no...!' A pleading voice rang out, then was cut off.
"Shut up!"
The sound of the whip cutting into the flesh echoed sharply through the air.
The iron cages surrounding the warehouse shook slightly.
The figures inside could only tremble in fear.
Casually, the bastard bent down and grabbed the cat's dusty white hair in an isolated cage.
He pulled her out as though she were a sack of goods.
"Let's see," he said.
"A masterpiece, right?" he laughed.
Without waiting for his subordinates to respond, he touched the girl.
"It's not time to deliver the goods yet..." The man drooled. "Let me... give it a little inspection first."
"The blonde cat is yours. But remember... don't make it too tattered.'
His voice was dirty, full of emphasis.
Without bothering to hide it, he dragged the little girl directly into the inner dark room...
'Let me go!' "Huh... huh... Let me go!"
The cat girl's intermittent pleas echoed out as she was dragged into the dark room..
They sounded like a dull blade scraping and tearing, agonisingto the marrow.
'Let the she go!' The trembling voice of the blonde-haired catgirlrose, full of determination.
With red, panicked eyes, she looked straight at the smugglers.
The pain from the earlier whipping did not make her lose her will to break free. She struggled against them, intending to rush towards the doorway.
Just to receive a hit hard in the stomach.
"Cough!"
She doubled over, collapsing onto the cold ground. Clutching her stomach, she gasped for breath, letting out a choked sob.
But her tear-filled eyes were still trying to look towards the door, where her young mistress had just been dragged.
This was .. not the gaze of a slave.
Instead .. it was the gaze of someone who was so desperate that they had lost all sense of fear.
…
The smugglers laughed and sneered.
'Stupid cat...'
What do you care about it?"
Then you'll be 'taken care of', just like her.'
One of them slowly approached with his hands clenched tightly around the whip and a distorted smile spreading across his face under the creeping oil lamp.
…
"Heh..."
"You've got an exciting body, huh?"
...
I closed my eyes.
I can feel the familiar sensation of cold seeping from deep within my chest and spreading to my fingertips.
It is so cold and unpleasant that it is almost disgusting.
It's a feeling that I have etched into my mind for a thousand years.
Fury.
My hand is clenched.
'After all... I was once human!'
I open my eyes.
The whispers in my head have stopped, along with the questions of right or wrong, true or false.
Only one thing remains:
'Enough.'
My finger rests on the lid of the crate.
A loud click. I push myself up onto my hands, and the dim light from the storage door shines on the icy parts of my body.
The smugglers are interrupted and stare at me in shock — I am the person who has just stepped out of the crate that they thought was abandoned.
I twist my wrist, hearing the joints pop with dry cracking sounds.
'What the hell?!' One of the smugglers reacts first, instinctively touching the handle of his knife.
I lift my head and look straight into the eyes of the man holding the blonde girl tightly.
"…Are you ready to pay the price?"
My voice echoed — low, cold, and dry, like stone grinding against iron.
"All of you… bastards."
The warehouse froze.
The air felt dense for a moment.
"..."
"Who are you?!"
A man shouted, stepping forward.
"You... where did you come from?" He broke the heavy atmosphere, swinging the knife in his hand and widening his eyes.
But then... He paused.
His gaze met mine, and just a few seconds later...He sat down, his whole body trembling and his lips quivering. "No... it's not... not a human..."
I took a step forward.
The smugglers swept away — panic took over, pushing reason to the edge. A smuggler recoiled, slamming his back into a wooden shelf and turning as white as a sheet.
The one-eyed man paused inside the room. He looked around, trying to make sense of the situation.
He was about to shout ... rush outside.
But his throat was choked when it caught my fleeting glance.
Empty.
Without a hint of emotion.
'Big brother... Is he a monster?'
'So what if he is?'
He gritted his teeth, trying to suppress his trembling breath.
'Don't tell me ... you're afraid of him?'
He pointed forward, his voice lowering as if he was trying to restrain himself.
The man standing closest to me backed away in panic.
'Clack.'
My footsteps echoed on the stone floor.
They were soft and slow, but in that moment, they sounded like a death knell.
"Stop right there!"
... A few other men hurriedly drew their swords. Many of them were so nervous, however, that they couldn't grip the hilt properly.
"Don't come any closer!"
They shouted.
But nobody dared to move.
I was the only one who took steps towards them.
I.. looked at them as though they were a swarm of bugs around a decaying corpse.
"Kill..him!"
The man suddenly shouted.
But.. while he hadn't finished speaking.
'whoosh'
Darkness flashed in the blink of an eye.
"Crack"
The sound of the arm being twisted was like breaking a rotten wooden branch.
"Ah... AAAAAAA!"
Screams tore through the warehouse.
He collapsed, writhing in pain.
But I'm not finished yet.
A kick landed squarely on his chest.
It was so powerful that it sent his muscular body flying backwards, knocking down the group behind him.
They all fell.
Their weapons fell onto the ground.
'You... What the hell is going on?!'
The rest of the guys took a step back, their faces contorted with fear.
I raised my head and looked directly into their eyes.
"I...?"
I clenched my hands. The sound of my joints cracking echoed like the wind whistling through rocks.
The smugglers held their weapons tightly.
Desperate !
They rushed towards me.
...
Seven or eight people charged forward together.
The sound of steel hissed.
The knife blade flashed in the light.
I didn't back down. There was no need to swing my arm.
I tilted my body slightly to avoid being slashed on the head.
My left hand grabbed the man sword-wielding's wrist.
Rumble !
At the same time, I swung my legs horizontally, sweeping straight into the pillow of the axe-wielding man.
The sound of breaking bones echoed through the air.
The two men collapsed instantly.
Releasing the first man's wrist, I allowed him to kneel down and turned to face the third man, who had just lunged at me. I threw my elbow straight at his chin.
Huh!
He fell backwards, unconscious, before his head hit the ground.
'Monster... This is a monster!"
One of them hissed, dropping his weapon and turning to flee.
"Crack"
I launched a neat, straight kick into his spine.
He collapsed like a sandbag, losing consciousness before he could scream again.
Very quickly...
Only one person remained: the one-eyed man, who was still struggling.
He had just enough time to lean against the wall before the knife in his hand started to shake.
"I... I'm from the Vincent family!"
You can't kill me!'
He hissed, trying to move towards the door while swinging the knife.
Like a dry leaf in a storm.
I walked over to him.
My gaze was still blank.
'Really?'
I raised my face.
My voice was as cold and steady as a rock at the bottom of an abyss.
And at that moment...
He paused.
His gaze, filled with fear, suddenly turned to despair.
He understood.
Today...
Whoever he is,
No one can saved him.
...
But then —
'Stop!'
A hoarse scream rang out, cutting through the tense atmosphere.
Despite his mouth being covered in blood, another man rushed forward and grabbed the blonde cat.
The blade pressed against her pale neck.
"If you take one more step... I'll cut her throat."
He hissed.
Hands clenched.
The blade was buried so deep that it left a thin trail of blood.
The girl held her breath.
Her body stiffened.
Her eyes were wide open, looking desperate.
...
There was a moment of silence.
I looked at him.
I met the gaze of someone willing to sacrifice other people's lives.
...
A sigh.
'Those...' I gritted my teeth. 'The kind of trash.'
…
'RRRrr!'
The sound of bones cracking echoed as his knife-wielding fingers were twisted and crushed by an unexpected grip.
'Ah... AAAAA!'
He roared, dropping the knife and dropping to his knees.
But that was just the beginning.
Right under his feet, a fishy smell rose from the rotten ground.
One hand.
White.
Bony.
Cold.
Rise up.
They grabbed his ankle tightly.
'What... what is this?!'
Before he could regain his consciousness, another hand — then another — emerged from the ground and gripped his body tightly, like a vice.
And..
That pulling force did not belong to a living person.
"No, no!"
"Save me — Noooo..oo!"
He struggled frantically, but to no avail.
"Should I kill him?"
The thought flitted through my mind.
A pleading gaze.
A face contorted with the agony of facing death.
I had seen eyes like that hundreds, even thousands, of times before.
I felt their pain.
I once wondered whether I would be any different from them if I killed him.
But then...
The filth.
The chains.
Those slaves..
I no longer wanted to ask myself that question.
In an instant, his torso was pulled to the floor, dozens of dry, bony arms rising up to grip his neck and pull him to the cold ground.
A terrible cry echoed throughout the warehouse.
"GAAAAA—"
He had already been choked.
The sound of tearing flesh was creepy.
Blood gushed out onto the floor, forming a dark puddle.
The blonde cat girl collapsed, her eyes fixed on the spot where he had just been dragged away.
His legs had been torn off.
I stood there silently, looking at the scene.
My last shred of humanity has now completely given way to the monster within.
It was just ... a predetermined outcome.
"Y... You..."
The one-eyed man's voice suddenly trembled like a whistling wind.
He fell to his knees. His entire body went limp.
"Lich..."
His chapped lips could only manage to whisper those two words before he began to sob desperately.
'Please... Please... spare me... I just follow orders..."
He bowed to the ground, trembling.
…
'Phew.'
There was no need for me to move.
One of bony arms rose and squeezed his head as though it were rotten fruit.
"Repent.."
A brittle crack.
His body fell down and motionless.
His eyes remaining wide open in a final display of panic.
___
'Hu... hu...'
There was a little girl standing there.
A village.
Once her home.
Now, it was nothing but a cold, desolate ruin.
The thatched roofs that had once echoed with laughter. The little roads covered in wildflowers... Now, only memories remain.
'The monster has taken everything.'
The girl choked back her breath.
'The lives of loved ones...'
She let out a sob, her tiny shoulders shaking in the cold night air.
A pair of eyes watched the girl amidst the smoke and flames.
No words...
Just ... turned away silently.
___
Just like last time...
The cat girl huddled in the dark corner of the room, her hands tightly covering her mouth in fear.
Only when I turned my back did she dare to rush out and embrace the blonde girl.
'This is the key.'
I dropped it without hesitation.
My footsteps echoed hollowly on the stone floor, which was stained with dark red blood — much like my own eyes at that moment.
…
And
For a moment, I could sense the newly freed slaves watching my every move.
The extreme fear had gone.
But it wasn't gratitude either.
They were simply the eyes of people who had just witnessed something beyond good and evil.
…
I pushed the warehouse door slightly open.
The sky was dark, and moonlight glittered through the clouds.
For me...
It was just another familiar night.
"Th.. thank you, sir." A trembling whisper echoed from behind.
I stopped..
But didn't turn around.
There was no need — no one needs to thank a monster.
I pulled the hood of my cloak up over my head.
I strode into the darkness again.
I left it all behind — again.
...The beastman slaves wept silently.