Beyond the Eastern Fortress, In the Eastern part of the monster continent known by humanity, there is a verdant plain upon which monsters of all sizes, all species are roaming freely...

Though, those unlucky enough to meet their path will surely die.

Upon meeting them you will obviously take notice of their unique monstrous utterance similar to both a growl and a snake hissing.

With their head similar to one of a wolf, their bodily stance is similar to one of a lemur, a long and fluffy tail, and their limbs terminated with fairly humanoid hands dotted with sharp and mighty nails.

They roam freely in a horde of about twenty to thirty individuals, with no fear of such things as natural predators.

DeathSeekers, the ultimate predators of the easter frontline.

….

They are completely immune to the four primal elements of fire, water, air, and earth due to their own proficiency in one of these four respective elements; they are an almost impossible opponent for nobles who use one of these four elements.

Besides their half-perfect elemental inclination, DeathSeeker is endowed with furs that they can harden beyond logic, furs that, by being hardened they can use both as a spiky shield and by using their tail as a launcher, that they can project as a hardened and spiky projectile, projectiles that cause the creature they come logged in to lose first control over their body, the speed of the loss of control mainly depends on the mana the victim itself produces, it is an almost instant effect for creature who doesn't have mana.

....

DeathSeeker usually uses their cocoonification ability to store their food (their still living victims) for the long winter they are not usually fond of, the creature stuck in would be kept in perfect condition, healed, and automatically fed by the cocoon itself.

There was a time when experiments were conducted to study the healing abilities of those DeathSeekers in order to apply that ability to modern medicine, but these experiments were later prohibited by the church as a heresy against the human race.

Those entrapped inside the cocoon would be kept alive, even healed, but when they awoke, something would undoubtedly be missing from them; in most cases, it would cause the individual to lose their mind, but in certain cases, it would result in the patient losing control of a specific part of their body.

….

There is no known explanation for how those spikes can have such an effect on a person, as they appear to be some sort of venom-infused projectile yet aren't.

Those who survived with their minds partially intact describe the process of losing control over their senses and their own body as being slowly eaten away from within by hundreds of worm-like creatures, but once that part of the process is completed, and the second part of the process, which involves the comatose state, is engaged, it is described by those who went through it as painless, and as if ones had a long dream, dreams from which one would never want to wake up.

—Paladin Lisan Aristand Encyclopedia XXXIII (Unedited Version), 3315 B.H

(DeathSeeker, the Arbringer of Death of the Eastern Plain)

***

A chill ran through my entire body.

“This can’t be…This can’t be… Please, everything but that… ”

Coming from the ceiling were several loud footsteps, along with that bestial grunt.

Suddenly a loud and rambling rattle reverberated inside the cavity I was in.

Without seeing it, I knew that there was something trying to pass through the upper entrance, but was restricted by its size.

The monster roared out loud.

There was no doubt to what that roar belonged to.

From how the cracking noise, I could tell the whole structure was about to collapse, it felt like the sky was falling on me.

I took my ax and exited from the second entrance, not even a minute later, I heard the whole cavity crumbling behind me.

“No!!” I found myself screaming helplessly.

I’ve spent so much time trying to defend that place, and now in just a fraction of a second, there was nothing left of it.

That place was the symbol of what I’ve bitterly accomplished all this past month.

With several loud thuds, I heard something heavy, landing behind me.

Whatever was behind roared out loud, and from there was no doubt up to what I was against, it was, without doubt, a DeathSeeker.

This monster represented each of my worst weaknesses, it was well versed in magic, was agile, had the defense that I doubt I would be able to pass through, and could even use projectiles.

I have absolutely no chance against that thing, at least not now.

What should I do?

Do I run away?

No~ Not again!

I gripped my ax with all my might.

It’s coming!

Like an avalanche falling on me, I heard the monster charging at me,

I attempted swinging my ax at it, but instinctively knew it was futile, so instead I used both my reality figer and my ax as a shield to tank what I knew was coming at me.

Something hard, heavy, and sharp slammed into me, sending my body flying and rolling several meters down the stream.

My mouth was filled with a salty and thick liquid,

I tried to stand up but as I was holding my arm as a support to make me stand up, I noticed that there was something wrong with it.

On my only left arm, On two points on my forearm. I felt two acute pains.

It was fast but felt agonizingly slow, but I felt my arm being slowly eaten away by something, hundreds of small things were disaggregating my arm from the inside.

I knew what it meant, what it was. And what I had to do.

I had already done this more than once.

The spikes, I had to remove them, but before I could even proceed to anything, I heard a loud thud reverberated again coming fast in my direction, that thing was charging at me once again.

Without any second thought, I turned my heel, I bore with the pain from my hand and dashed straight down the current.

There was no use trying to challenge it, I was too weak, I can’t win, but as long as I survive, I will…

Using my Reality figer as a shield, I ran with all my might to the location that I thought might offer me a chance of survival, the only place I think that thing won’t pursue me.

The beast was still chasing me, I could tell by the increasingly loud footsteps.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a hundredth of a projectile raining down dangerously close to me, I could hear their landing on the flowing water in which I early went through.

But nevertheless with all the strength I could muster, I ran.

I knew my escaping place was getting closer and so was the thing behind me. From how fast it was getting, I had the feeling that it was deliberately slow earlier and deliberately avoiding to kill me on the spot earlier, because it could, in other words it was playing with me, but now maybe because it knows what I was planning to do, it decided to finally get serious in its chase.

I could feel my escape location, as well as the thing behind me, approaching.

Because of how fast it was suddenly becoming, I had the impression that it had been deliberately slow earlier, avoiding killing me on the spot because it could easily do so if it wanted, in other words, it was playing with me, but now, perhaps because it knows what I was planning, it has decided to finally get serious in its pursuit.

It roared in frustration because I had arrived at my destination, and with my mightiest jump, I jumped headfirst first dive to the Frozen Hell.

I had managed to flee the Deathseeker. But I felt no pride from it; instead, my heart was drowned by shame; I ran with my tail between my legs after swearing to myself not long ago that I would never run again.

Once again, what I thought was mine was taken away and destroyed, and all I could do was flee.

There was no pride to get out of this, for this is just the beginning.

I brought my unresponsive forearm to my mouth during my dive to retrieve the spike that had become lodged in it.

I was able to retrieve one of them from the wound when I heard hundred of a sharp cry from all sides.

Fighting that thing would have meant death for me, but escaping here was a bet in which the first part consisted of escaping without being killed and the second part consisted of surviving the swarm of Drayke that would be swarming me during my dive.

The place I wanted to escape isn't just the frozen hell, but a specific location within the frozen hell.

The frozen hell is so named not because the entire ravine is frozen, but because there is a section between the bottom of the ravine and the higher part of the ravine which is always chilly and foggy, as if in an eternal winter.

And perhaps, as a result of the unique climate, a certain species of concave-shaped giant mushroom has grown on each side of the ravine, and these mushrooms have grown so dominant that species of plant and monster have proliferated in mass on the territory, creating a hanging jungle in the middle of the frozen hell.

It is the green-crystalline refraction of the water agglomerating upon those concave mushroom caps that has inspired the Frozen Hell nomination.

That place was my current destination.

But to reach that place, I’ll have to go through the first layer of the ravine without being eaten away by Wyverns which are nesting in mass on each side of the first layer of the ravine. Wyverns are giant lizard-like magical beasts with bat wings instead of front arms that are said to be descended from dragons. Their size can range from a large horse to a large house.

And for the time being, my most fervent wish is that every Wyvern in the area is the size of a large horse, because the instantly recognizable sound of flapping wings approaching indicates that there is a swarm of Wyverns coming at me from all directions.

When diving head first here, I thought that my only problem was the Wyvern who would attack, but I had another problem ahead of me. The landing.

I sent my reality figer as an eclaireur to prepare myself for the landing.

“Guh!!”

Something, which I assume is a Wyvern had grabbed by the feet with its claws, it tried to lift me somewhere when I felt and heard something crashing against it with a sharp cry.

The Wyvern dropped me off, but another one clawed onto my feet, only to be driven away by what I assume was a breath of fire.

Wyverns, like any dragon-like monster, are capable of breathing FIRE to some extent; I was once left only to be clawed on the rib by another one.

The surrounding Wyverns around me grew louder and louder.

These things are swarming around me as if I were a meal.

Suddenly I felt something from the reality figer, I sent out as an eclaireur, so I brought my hand to my mouth and retrieved the second spike, which I used to repeatedly stab into the Wyvern skin. Their skins and scales were softer, much softer than that monster's.

It let out a pained screech that apparently caused the other Wyvern to withdraw for their flapping suddenly stopped net, it then let go of me, but I didn't let go of it, instead climbing up with my feet firmly hugging around its legs and the spikes as firm anchor deep into its skin, it then performed a barrel-roll to shake me off, but I persisted.

From its screech, I knew that the Wyvern was falling and dying, but it was doing everything it could to keep falling to its death, so it was flapping its wings with all its might...

I knew the suspended jungle was close because of the Reality figer I sent ahead of time, so I maneuvered my body and the dying Wyverns so that its body would be the one crashing onto the ground instead of mine.

And not even a second later, we crashed with a loud thud into a surface filled with water, it was the Wyvern that took the majority of the damage, but that didn't mean mine didn't, upon the crash my body was sent bounced away by the bump.

I felt like my body was falling somewhere.

I gradually lost consciousness.

"Please not the bottom layer." I weakly muttered before giving in to exhaustion.