Welcome to the Demon’s Cabin - Chapter 2

He clenched his teeth against the agony. Curled in on himself as he rolled endlessly, waiting only for his body to finally stop, a sudden sensation of weightlessness seized him.

The downhill path was connected directly to a cliff.

Thrown into open air, he squeezed his eyes shut as he realized he was about to fall with no hope of stopping.

“Ugh… …!”

An impact that felt like his bones were shattering struck him, followed by an indescribable wave of pain.

His vision spun, and his entire body trembled as if it had completely broken down.

He lay sprawled in the grass in a miserable state, groaning in pain. When he tried to move, his limbs only twitched uselessly, like those of an insect.

His body would not respond. Already battered beyond recognition, it seemed to have been completely destroyed by the fall.

If only the cliff had been unimaginably high, he might have died instantly and without pain. Instead, it was an awkward height. Not enough to kill him, only enough to hurt like hell.

Kyaaahhh, kieek…… kraaahhh!

The chimera’s varied cries buzzed faintly in his ears. It seemed his eardrums had given out as well.

Not just his hearing, but the sensation throughout his entire body dulled. It felt like he was sinking into a deep swamp he could never escape.

Summoning his last strength, the man barely managed to turn his head. Forcing his eyelids open through the pain of twisting bones, he saw the chimera pack standing atop the cliff.

‘Wait, on the cliff?’

He doubted his eyes. No matter how hard he stared, it was unmistakable. In his blurred vision, the chimera pack was clearly standing calmly above the cliff.

“……?”

‘What kind of nonsense is this…….’

The momentum that had made them seem ready to chase him to the ends of the world was nowhere to be found. They were merely pacing back and forth at the top of the cliff.

One of them roared, its red eyes blazing as though it might charge down and tear him apart at any moment, but the others immediately let out timid cries, kieek, kieek, and held it back.

So his eardrums had not burst. Their cries had simply grown quieter? He could not believe it.

They even seemed hesitant, as if they were afraid of something…….

The mighty chimera pack? Those powerful monsters?

The strange standoff between him and the chimera pack ended when the leading beast roared in frustration and turned its massive body away.

It seemed to be the leader. As soon as it turned, the entire pack followed and vanished into the forest.

“Haah…… cough! Hrk…….”

The moment he let out a breath of relief, a violent coughing fit seized him. Blood surged up his throat, filling his mouth with a metallic taste.

At least for now, the relief of being alive washed over him. Whatever the case, he had avoided being torn apart on the spot. That alone was something.

‘Then this place must be another monster’s territory…….’

For a chimera pack to retreat in fear, it had to belong to a truly terrifying monster.

Under normal circumstances, he would have fled in terror, but not now. Whether it was a monster king or an emperor did not matter anymore.

His body was already drained of strength from something as small as turning his head. There was clearly no hope left.

He would die soon regardless, and when the owner of this territory found him, all they would find was a corpse. Whether his body was torn apart and eaten after death made no difference.

‘I never imagined I would die young like this.’

It was bitter enough to have been born wrong because of his mother, to have lived an unhappy life. And now, as if that were not enough, he was going to die because of that mad woman. Why had his life turned out like this to the very end?

“……! ……!!”

That was when it happened. A sudden loud sound seized his fading consciousness and shook it violently. Through his muffled ears came a high-pitched sound, one that almost resembled a woman’s voice.

A woman’s voice, in a place where no human could possibly survive. He thought he must be hearing some utterly ridiculous hallucination.

The forest of the Black Mountain Range was a place where surviving even an hour was a miracle, thanks to the monsters swarming within it. Even the outermost edges were only explored occasionally by carefully selected teams of powerful aura users, so how much worse would the depths be?

Clenching his brow as he struggled to hold onto consciousness, his blurred vision sharpened slightly.

Turning his eyes toward the direction of the sound, a hazy blue color came into view first. A clear, expansive lake. Even to someone on the brink of death, it looked rather beautiful. Around it, flowers of various colors seemed to be blooming here and there.

‘No, what kind of ridiculous hallucination is this? Is this my life flashing before my eyes? That cannot be it. I have never seen someone like that…….’

As he stared with trembling pupils, lost in confusion, the woman’s figure drew closer and grew clearer. A green skirt, a white blouse above it, and honey-colored hair that fell to her chest came into view one by one.

Against his murky vision, like dirty paint smeared at random, only the woman appeared unnaturally clear.

At last, her face was fully revealed under the sunlight.

At the sheer absurdity of the situation, the man’s eyes widened as if they might pop out.

Thump, thump. His heart began to race wildly with overwhelming fear.

His already unstable breathing completely slipped out of control.

“……! ……A-are you……!”

An unpleasant ringing filled his head. Between the high-pitched tones, he vaguely heard the woman shouting something as she came right up to him.

Panting for breath, his vision slowly darkened. It felt as if a large, powerful hand had wrapped around his throat and was squeezing.

The large eyes set in the woman’s face were unmistakably red.

A color no ordinary living creature could ever possess. The cursed blood red eyes that were nothing less than the symbol of blasphemous beings.

‘And with a human form on top of that……!’

There was only one answer.

A demon.

The absolute ruler of Hell. Evil that desires the ruin and death of humankind.

‘O Mater. Have you truly abandoned your disloyal servant……’

Unable to endure the despair and terror, the man’s breathing grew thinner and weaker. His eyelids felt unbearably heavy. As his blue eyes, writhing in misery, slowly faded from view, they finally closed completely.