STORIES

Splash!

A horse's hoof stepped into a muddy puddle, creating a sharp splashing sound. It was immediately followed by another set of hooves and the heavy, large wheels of a slave trader convoy, cutting through a narrow forest path. Atop the driver’s seats, guards spat out coarse curses at the terrible weather every now and then while swinging their whips.

Heavy rain had been pouring for hours, yet none of them had any intention of stopping.

Inside one of the wooden-barred carriages, a biting chill crept in alongside the driving rain that sprayed through the gaps in the wood. The tattered clothes clinging to the slaves' bodies were already soaked through, leaving them shivering and forced to huddle close together in search of a tiny sliver of warmth.

Among the huddled mass of slaves, the eyes of a young slave girl stared blankly outside. In her heart, she could only hope that her ultimate fate wouldn't be too cruel. If some nobleman were willing to buy her and make her a servant, she felt that would still be far better than being sold off to the mining fields.

Her daydream was suddenly shattered when her eyes caught something through the veil of rain.

She narrowed her eyes. What is that?

In the next second, her heart hammered wildly against her ribs as she realized that the thing across the way was the figure of a human being, sprawled flat upon the ground—almost blending into the thick bushes and muddy puddles at the edge of the road. Just as her mind assumed the figure was likely nothing more than a corpse, the slave girl saw the chest of that figure rise and fall.

That person is still alive! she thought.

"There's someone outside!" the slave girl finally cried out, her raspy voice cutting through the roar of the storm.

Screeech—! The carriage ground to a halt with a violent jolt, nearly throwing the slaves inside off balance.

One of the guards climbed down with an irritated scowl before stomping over to the bars of the carriage.

"What did you say? Did you see it clearly?" he asked sharply.

The slave girl flinched. The little courage she had instantly withered away, but her trembling hand still pointed toward the bushes. "Over there! Y-You can check it yourself, Master Guard! I swear I saw someone there!"

"If you're lying to me …," the guard left the threat hanging, narrowing his eyes.

"You'll pay," he snorted. He then walked over toward the direction she had pointed, holding up a torch whose flame kept flickering weakly against the onslaught of rain. "Damn it ... there really is something here."

The guard squatted down, then roughly flipped the figure over onto their back. "Is this a corpse—no, she's still breathing ...," his sentence cut short. The man’s eyes slowly widened as the torchlight revealed the face of the figure lying in the mud.

"Should I call today my lucky day?" he muttered before letting out a chuckle.

His fingers pinched the woman's chin to get a clearer look at her face. "Beautiful. Someone like this will definitely fetch a high price. The Master will be thrilled to know I found a big fish. Heh, maybe I'll even get a bonus." A sly smirk carved its way onto his face.

Without an ounce of mercy, the guard dragged the body over and threw her into the carriage.

***

Behind her tightly closed eyelids, Ennis—the one who had just been thrown in by the guard—was dragged back once more into the hell of her past. Raging flames danced ferociously, consuming every corner of the cottage she had once called home. The sound of burning timber collapsing clashed with the desperate screams of her husband and young son, trapped inside.

"No ... no ... no—"

"Milady, Milady, wake up."

A constant, gentle tapping on her shoulder slowly pulled Ennis from the nightmare. The woman gasped, her eyelids flying open as her breathing turned heavy. Her hand reached up to touch her face, feeling a few drops of warm tears tracing paths down her cheeks.

The dream faded, yet the agonizing shrieks of her husband and child echoed vividly in her memory.

Ennis tried to steady her racing breath, forcing her chest to rhythmically calm down before her gaze fell upon the figure of a scrawny slave girl with a dirt-smudged face right in front of her around the same age as her son. The child was staring at her with eyes full of deep worry.

"Are you alright, Milady?" the child asked softly. "You kept crying out in your sleep and weeping."

Ennis did not answer right away, she cast a weary glance at the child.

I am Taffi. We found you in the forest while we were on our way, lying unconscious on the ground."

Ennis's awareness gradually piece itself together as her gaze now swept across her surroundings. Inside these bars that resembled a cage, there were at least twelve people including herself.

Almost everyone was in a pitiful state; their faces stained black with soot, wearing tattered clothes that were soaked through, and some were clearly ill. The stench of iron, sweat, urine, and other foul odors hung thick in the air, assaulting her senses.

"Where am I?" Ennis asked.

The smile on the child's face slowly withered away. "We are on our way to the buyer, Milady."

That shift in expression, combined with the conditions around her, was more than enough for Ennis to understand the situation. It birthed an immediate assumption of where they were being taken.

Ennis gripped one of the iron bars of the cage. Thus, she channel her strength to bend the bar in front of her. But just as she expected the bar to bend, she was shocked to find that it was her own hand that throbbed with sharp pain, leaving behind a red welt.

A deep frown formed on her brow. What happened? Why couldn't I break it?

Only then did she realize that her body felt completely hollow, as if the flowing energy that usually surged through her veins had evaporated without a trace. Ennis clenched her fists, feeling that the very muscles in her body had also vanished, leaving her frame far heavier than before.

she muttered a single word under her breath, "Priemone."

Instantly, a faint sliver of light pulsed before her eyes, materializing a transparent red status window that only she could perceive.

[ NAME: ENNIS PRIMROSE ]

Strength : 25 (???)

Agility : 25 (???)

Endurance : 25 (???)

Mana Capacity : 0 (???)

[ Condition : All powers of the contractor are currently neutralized. ]

Ennis's gaze instantly froze.

The woman's memories flashed back to the final moments before the demon king cast her out of that dark dimension. That smirk of his was deeply infuriating to remember. Ennis closed her eyes for a brief moment before her fingers touched her own neck. There, hanging from her skin, was a strange crucifix necklace with a small womb-shaped pearl embedded in the center—the object given to her directly by the demon king himself—its purpose entirely unknown.

This necklace ….?

"What are you doing, Milady?" Taffi asked, looking completely bewildered at Ennis, who was clutching her own neck while staring straight ahead with an incredibly piercing glare.

Ennis exhaled a long breath before finally forcing a faint, thin smile onto her pale lips. "It is nothing," Ennis replied in a flat tone.

She then leaned her back against the wooden wall of the carriage once more, staring straight ahead with golden eyes that harbored a brewing storm of vengeance. Even though the demon king seemed to be merely playing games without a care for what she truly needed, Ennis was still grateful for the second chance she had been granted. This was infinitely better than rotting away at the bottom of an abyss.

All of you ... just wait.

A cold glint flashed through her golden eyes.

***

After a full day of traveling, the convoy finally ground to a halt for a brief respite, making use of a crystal-clear river stream to quench the thirst of both the weary people and the exhausted horses. The afternoon was brutally hot, and the slave trader had no desire to incur a financial loss should the slaves die of dehydration along the way. Thus, some of the guards provided them with water and rations of hardtack—a dense, rigid bread made solely of flour and water meant to stave off their hunger.

Meanwhile, a few guards could be seen relaxing beneath the lush shade of the trees, swigging water newly refilled into their leather flasks while monitoring the wooden cages with bored, vacant expressions.

Within that brief window of silence, a raspy voice suddenly shattered the tranquility.

"Cough! Cough! Cough!" One of the male slaves sitting in the corner of the cage began hacking violently. His chest rose and fell erratically, as if his very lungs were being wrung out.

The atmosphere inside the bars instantly turned taut as pitch-black spots began to surface and crawl from beneath the skin of his neck, spreading rapidly like ink spilling across a sheet of paper.

One of them instantly recognized what was happening to the man.

"S-stay away from him!" they screamed hysterically. "He’s infected!"

Mass panic erupted in a single heartbeat.

The infected slave groaned in sheer agony, his body convulsing violently against the wooden floorboards. His naturally dull human skin gradually hardened, sprouting pitch-black scales that gleamed like the hide of a crystalline serpent. The network of his blood vessels blackened, bulging outward and stretching across the entirety of his body like rotted roots.

Before long, the slave’s body gave one final shudder before falling deathly still.

"I-is he dead?" someone asked, their voice trembling with fear.

No one dared to draw near.

Until finally, one slave gathered enough courage to reach out and nudge the shoulder of the infected man.

Yet, the head that had been slumped forward suddenly snapped upward.

"Grrr …," he snarled, completely devoid of his sanity.

"Aaargh—!" The slave recoiled in pure terror, his face draining of all color.

A cascade of hysterical shrieks immediately echoed, piercing the air. The seven remaining slaves scrambled in a frenzy, throwing themselves backward and huddling into the corners of the cage to escape the monstrous threat. The chaotic shoving inevitably jolted Ennis and Taffi, forcing them both to the very back of the enclosure.

Hissing savagely, the slave turned crystal-serpent monster lunged forward, launching a blind, feral assault on everyone around him.

Crack! The impact of the monster’s stone-hard body completely obliterated the supportive beams of the wooden cage—the very bars Ennis had previously failed to damage. The roof of the cage caved in, sending splinters of wood flying in every direction. Due to the violent upheaval, the carriage overturned, causing Ennis and Taffi to tumble hard onto the coarse, rocky ground.

Instantly, the area transformed into a horrific slaughterhouse.

Unshackled from its prison, the crystal-serpent monster went on an uncontrollable rampage. Two slaves who happened to be closest to it became its immediate victims. It ripped through the chest of one slave, killing him instantly, while its grotesque jaws clamped down on the neck of another, sending a torrent of fresh blood spraying across the dry earth. The sound of tearing flesh and snapping bones clashed with the terrified screams of those unable to escape, painting a crimson tableau beneath the blazing afternoon sun.

"Ugh ... a complete mess," Ennis muttered.

Seeing ennis moving, the monster turn its attention toward her. Driven perhaps by sheer muscle memory and the deep-seated combat instincts forged within her soul, Ennis's body moved entirely on its own.

She rolled onto her back, seized a thick fragment of the shattered cage floorboard from the ground, and hoisted it above her with both hands to brace against the monster's oncoming, razor-sharp claws.

I can't hold it off much longer! her mind groaned.

"Grrrrhhh!"

The monster continued to bear down with crushing force, while Ennis's newly weakened arm muscles trembled violently under the strain. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and the veins in her neck strained against the immense pressure of the beast hovering over her. Damn it, this body is utterly useless!

"If only ... if only I had my power back! Ennis hissed through gritted teeth, cursing the helplessness that currently bound her.

Crack! Fractures rippled along the surface of the wood she held.

It took mere moments for the wooden plank to shatter into splinters under the weight of the monster’s claws. Ennis's heart hammered wildly against her ribs. For a fleeting instant, a wave of fear gripped her mind—would the second chance granted by the demon king truly vanish in a trivial place like this before her vengeance could be realized?

Splash!

The silver tip of a spear suddenly shot forward like a bolt of lightning, piercing straight through the crystal-serpent monster's skull until the sharp edge protruded from the opposite side. The strike passed so remarkably close that the blade lightly grazed Ennis's cheek, nearly impaling her head along with it. Thick, dark crimson blood erupted violently from the puncture wound.

It thoroughly drenched Ennis's face and tattered garments.

The crystal humanoid-serpent scales monster convulsed one last time before finally collapsing onto Ennis's lower body.

Once assured that the monster was entirely dead and motionless, a guard holding the shaft of the spear roughly yanked his weapon free. The man spat onto the ground, casting a dismissive glance at the shivering remnants of the slaves.

Paying no heed to the state of Ennis or the other slaves, the guard bent over, grabbed the leg of the slain crystal-serpent monster, and dragged its heavy corpse away from the scene.

Ennis remained sitting stiffly upon the muddy earth, attempting to steady her frantic breathing.

However, completely unnoticed by anyone—even Ennis herself—the monster’s blood that had flowed heavily across her neck seeped into her mysterious necklace and was slowly absorbed.

Shortly after, hurried footsteps approached. The owner of the slave trading enterprise—a fifty-five-year-old man dressed in fine silk—returned from his business only to be greeted by a sight that shattered his heart.

His eyes widened in absolute horror as he saw his carriage reduced to splintered ruins, while several of his valuable assets lay brutally slaughtered, their bodies torn to shreds. Out of the many slaves he had departed with, only five remained breathing, including Ennis and Taffi, who were still seated on the ground.

"My cargo! My precious merchandise!" the slave owner shrieked hysterically, clutching at his graying hair as he stared at the wreckage. "Damn it!"

A second later, he whipped around to face his guards, his face flushed with unbridled rage.

"Move these remaining to the back of the spare wagon, immediately!" the slave owner barked, his voice shrill and trembling. "We need to move right now! Get this convoy rolling before this rotten damage and curse spreads to the rest!"

***

The brass lens of the spyglass turned, locking its focus straight onto the far end of the narrow path at the forest's edge.

Astride the wooden watchtower, a sentry narrowed his eyes. Within his circular field of vision, a battered slave carriage was limping heavily toward them. Atop the driver’s seat, the slave-trading merchant stood in a panicked frenzy, waving a white flag through the air with all his might.

The sentry lowered the spyglass and leaned over the tower railing.

"Open the gate!" he bellowed. "The slave supply convoy is here!"

Creaaaak—BOOM! The three-meter-high wooden barrier swung open slowly with a heavy, grinding groan. The convoy rolled inside, cutting through the courtyard of a military outpost that stood squarely at the vanguard of a mountain pass—the gateway leading to the dungeon.

In the courtyard, dozens of heavily armored soldiers who had been busy sharpening swords and preparing war gear instantly halted their activities. Every eye locked onto the ruined carriage for a brief moment, before their interest evaporated just as quickly when they found nothing remarkable about it. The arrival of slaves was a mundane affair.

The slave guards moved swiftly, unboarding Ennis and the four remaining slaves.

Bound by heavy chains rattling around their wrists and ankles, Ennis and her group were forced into a neat line. At the very front, the slave merchant wiped the cold sweat from his brow, plastering a forced, sycophantic smile on his face to greet the outpost Captain who was marching over. However, the merchant's smile froze instantly upon seeing the look on the Captain's face. The middle-aged man in silver armor, red stripes, a maroon cloak stared, beard around his cheek at the line of slaves with eyes ablaze with furious wrath.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the Captain roared, his voice booming so violently that Taffi cowered in fear, hiding herself behind Ennis's frame. "Only five people?! I need numbers to fulfill this month's quota before the dungeon storm arrives, you piece of trash!"

"M-Mercy!" the slave owner stammered, his bloated body trembling violently. "We were ambushed on the road! One of the slaves became infected and slaughtered half of my cargo—"

"I don't care about your excuses!" the Captain cut him off coldly.

He turned his back on the merchant, waving his hand dismissively toward his subordinates.

"Soldiers! Hang him!"

"Right away, Captain!" Two brawny knights stepped forward, roughly seizing the merchant's arms and dragging him toward the gallows at the corner of the courtyard.

"W-Wait! Wait! You cannot do this to me!" the slave owner shrieked hysterically, his legs kicking against the dirt as he begged, tears streaming down his face. "We have a written agreement! I have served this outpost for years! Captaaaain—!"

The agonizing wails were entirely ignored. The Captain did not bother to glance back even once as the merchant's heavy body was dragged away. Instead, the knight’s piercing gaze shifted, pointing directly toward the leader of the hired guards who had been standing frozen with a deathly pale face.

"All of you ... you are my soldiers now. Prepare them for tomorrow's mission."

The knight Captain then cast a degrading look down at Ennis and the four remaining slaves still bound in chains. "Throw them into the horse stable over there. Don't let them starve to death before dawn," he commanded coldly before turning on his heel to leave.

Ennis merely observed the scene in silence, allowing her body to be roughly shoved toward the stable.

Beneath her disheveled hair and a face stained with the blood of the monster, Ennis's golden eyes flashed sharply, locking onto the back of the knight Captain. A Royal Knight ... should I kill him? Ennis mused inwardly, recognizing the emblem engraved into the man's armor.

It was the exact same emblem borne by the people who had persecuted her.

Ennis lowered her head and drew a long, slow breath. No. Not yet.

Be patient. You need to find information first, she reminded herself, taming the fire within.

She could not afford to act rashly.

***

The pungent stench of rotting straw, horse manure, and ammonia immediately assaulted the senses the moment the heavy wooden door was slammed shut from the outside. Darkness enveloped the room, leaving only beams of moonlight piercing through the sparse gaps in the wooden walls. Outside, the coarse laughter of soldiers swigging alcohol clashed with the howling of the cold night wind.

Ennis stepped forward, feeling the chill of the dirt floor beneath her bare feet. At her ankles, rusted iron chains clanked with every movement she made.

Beside her, Taffi walked with unsteadiness. Before the child could reach the pile of straw in the corner of the stable, her scrawny little body collapsed, falling flat onto the ground right in front of Ennis's feet. The child's breath shortened, puffing out faint plumes of cold air.

Ennis halted her steps. She looked down, staring at the sprawled figure of the child. Instead of kneeling to help her up, Ennis merely used the tip of her foot, touching and lightly nudging Taffi’s shoulder to rouse her.

"Hey," Ennis called out in a low voice. "Are you alright? Wake up."

Ennis paused for a moment before adding, "You will get sick if you lie there."

A faint groan echoed softly. Taffi’s eyelids remained tightly shut, while her breathing sounded shallow.

"Just leave her be," another female voice chimed in from the darkness of the stable's corner.

Ennis turned her head, spotting an adult female slave sitting with her back against a supportive wooden beam of the structure. Her clothes were just as tattered as the rest, torn in several places. "She’s still a child, she is bound to be exhausted, both physically and mentally."

"Haaa ... but we are all exhausted," the female slave continued, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling of the stable. "You had better save your strength for tomorrow. We must conserve our energy if we want to survive inside the dungeon. I bet you anything that tomorrow, we will only be used to harvest shards."

She exhaled a heavy breath. "Just thinking about it is exhausting."

The female slave snorted coarsely, averting her face to the side. Her dirty fingers moved to scratch at her own head. "Arrgh, damn it! If only the Order of the Primal Knights had succeeded in killing the Demon King back then, the state of the world wouldn’t be in such a chaotic mess!"

Hearing the name of her order uttered, Ennis’s heart inadvertently hammered wildly. Shock and confusion instantly surged like a tempest inside her mind. She knew exactly what had transpired in that battle, because she was one of them.

Yet, why was this woman speaking such words?

Ennis stare closer toward the female slave, her gaze demanding an explanation. "What are you talking about? Isn’t the Demon King still sealed? That seal shouldn’t have been broken yet."

The female slave turned, staring at Ennis with a deeply furrowed brow of bewilderment. However, Ennis paid no heed to her perplexed stare and continued to press her with another question. "Is that war still going on? Is that the reason why you—this wretched kingdom—need a platoon of troops just to mine inside the dungeon?"

Hearing the barrage of questions from Ennis, the female slave instead stared at her as if the woman standing before her were some strange creature that had just crawled out from the bowels of the earth.

"You don't know?" the female slave asked, letting out a short laugh as if in utter disbelief. "Have you been living in some isolated cave or something all this time, to not know what has happened to the world?"

For everyone else, this was common knowledge known even to a small child. How could the girl in front of her be completely oblivious? Yet, seeing that Ennis's expression did not waver in the slightest and instead radiated absolute seriousness, the female slave gradually ceased her mocking laughter.

The atmosphere within the stable suddenly turned icy beneath the intimidating glare of Ennis's golden eyes.

"Are ... are you serious that you don't know anything about it?" the female slave asked to make sure.

"Yes," Ennis answered firmly.

The female slave caught her breath for a moment. Staring intently into Ennis's eyes, she finally realized that the woman before her was telling the truth. The female slave exhaled a long breath, shifting her sitting posture to a more upright position, and then patted the straw beside her.

Ennis sat herself down next to the slave.

The female slave’s gaze turned distant, staring blankly into the dark corner of the stable as if casting her memories back into the past. "Ten years ago …."

Hearing that number, Ennis jolted. She reflexively cut the conversation short, her voice trembling slightly. "Wait, what do you mean by ... ten years ago?" she demanded.

For Ennis, the memory of being betrayed, crucified, and cast into the abyss felt as though it had happened just last night. How could the outside world have already rolled onward by a whole decade?

Did time move at a much slower pace within the Demon King’s dimension?

The female slave rolled her eyes, scoffing at Ennis's thoroughly bewildered interruption. "Geez, you really have been living in a cave or something, haven't you? All of this started ten years ago, right after that great war ended."

She shifted her position again, then resumed her tale. "At that time, a group of miners discovered a mysterious cocoon deep inside the dungeon. One of the miners, driven by curiosity, tried to approach and touch the surface of that cocoon."

The female slave shuddered, as if she could feel the raw terror of that event. "In that exact instant, the cocoon sucked them dry. Every ounce of their life energy, blood, and bodily fluids was drained to nothing. They died right there, turned into wretched mummies."

Ennis narrowed her eyes, listening intently without interrupting further.

"It didn't stop there," the female slave continued. "After claiming its first victims, a pitch-black smoke in the form of a toxic miasma began to spew forth from the cocoon, blanketing the entire area of the dungeon. Anyone who entered and inhaled that black smoke immediately lost their sanity and mutated into a ferocious monster. Furthermore, that miasma caused the native monsters of the dungeon to evolve, making them many times more vicious than normal."

The female slave paused her words for a moment, her countenance darkening further. "The curse chose no victims. Never mind common folk like us, even the royal family living behind their grand fortress walls became infected by the miasma and perished slowly in agonizing pain."

"Months after the period of national mourning, the king finally appeared and announced to the public that the Order of the Primal Knights, the vanguard of the gods who had always been our primary protectors, had mysteriously vanished," she stated with bitter disappointment.

“The king told the people not to worry or be afraid; he said that scientists had succeeded in creating a weapon.”

"And so ... here we are," the female slave continue to tell the stories while scratching her head once more, staring down at the chains on her own feet.

"Yeah ... and that's not even the main problem," another male slave, who had been huddling silently in the dark corner of the stable all this time, suddenly chimed in. "Every time the king obtains a new weapon, the cocoon and the monsters guarding it inside also grow stronger by the day. It's as if they are evolving along with us."