Born in apocalypse

"Are you sure this is the correct path, Azarex?" A voice echoed in the surroundings as it broke the infinite tranquility of this cold and calm realm.

The owner of the voice was none other than Dhruv who after walking nonstop couldn’t help but begin to question Azarex’s navigation ability.

If they were walking on the right path and Azarex’s previous calculation that the parameter was roughly 5 km away from their initial location was correct, then they should have already arrived there but that wasn’t the case.

Even After walking for more than a couple of hours, there wasn’t any sign of a parameter near them. Forget about the parameter, they hadn’t even seen the shadow of that damm thing—only endless snow lay around them.

"I’m not sure what is happening here either, Master... I am precisely following the path that the eagle took while following the messenger," Azarex apologized with a confused expression.

Azarex was sure that he was following the right path... but his master wasn’t wrong either. They had been stuck here instead of reaching the boss’s location.

"Hmm! Now what... we can’t afford to wander in this endless snow, now can we? See if you’ve missed anything," Dhruv suggested, now beginning to get seriously annoyed by the endless snow.

"As you say so, my lord."

As he replied, Azarex began to feel embarrassed and disappointed in himself. Despite the trust his master had placed in him, he couldn’t complete a single task correctly.

Where he should be proving his worth he was bringing nothing but failure to the table.

First of all, he couldn’t navigate the area properly, leading to him losing all the undead he had brought. If that was the only loss he could consider it as a mistake and move forward... but was that the case.

Because of his failure in properly scouting the area, he almost led his master into the mouth of literal thunderstorms. It was because of his master’s insight and power that they had survived.

That wasn’t the end either... what happened after they entered the cave was something he could never forgive himself for. Right under his nose, something had attacked his master, and he didn’t do anything.

He was so incompetent that the only reason he realized there had been an attack on his master was because his master had informed him. Once again, he couldn’t do anything.

Even though he hadn’t voiced anything, right after that moment, Azarex felt that he didn’t deserve the title of guardian.

The only reason he didn’t voice his thoughts at that moment was that he had a slight hope... hope that he would do everything right after that moment forward and atone for his sins.

But alas, that was nothing but mere wishful thinking on his part.

’Why couldn’t I do a single thing right?’ Azarex thought while lowering his head.

’Why am I so bad at any job?’

’Why do I always have to rely on Master?’

’Why can’t I shoulder his work like my brother?’

’Why am I so incompetent...’

’Why am I so naive...’

’Why...’

’Why...’

’Why...’

Numerous thoughts were wandering inside his head every second, and with each second he was getting drowned by his own thoughts, his own judgments.

Before he could reach the depth of no return, a voice came knocking...

"Huh! Did you find anything, Azarex?" Dhruv called out.

"Huh!... ahh! No, Master, I’m looking..." Quickly collecting his thoughts, he began to recall the path the eagle had taken while following the messenger.

To be more precise, he wasn’t really recalling anything in particular, as there weren’t any landmarks left in the snow which didn’t help here where everything looked the same.

In rare cases, if anything appears it quickly gets drowned by the falling snow.

What he was recalling were the traces that his undead had left in the sky while traveling. Being a mana-sensitive being, Azarex was capable of tracking the mana signature of any creature that used magic.

And being the master of that undead, this ability of his had heightened as well.

Looking at the sky, he traced the mana left by the eagle. Even though the mana was getting thinner as time passed, it hadn’t been too late.

’Hmmm! We are exactly below the mana traces left by the eagle meaning we are on the right track... if that is the case then what am I missing?’ Azarex thought as he felt something wasn’t right.

While trying to find what was wrong with this place, he quickly shared his findings, "Master, we are precisely following the same route the eagle had taken. Uhmm! Should I share the vision with you?"

Thinking for a second, Dhruv replied, "No, there is no need for that. Continue following the path. If you find any irregularities, quickly inform me."

"As you wish, Master." replying this, Azarex continued his train of thought while following the track.

Dhruv’s own thoughts weren’t that different from Azarex’s, as he was trying to solve the same thing. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

’Huh! What is happening... what is wrong with this place?’ Dhruv thought as he remembered his past experiences.

’Man, this place is really weird... Not a single normal thing has happened since entering this dungeon. At the very start, we were greeted by a Tier IV monster... then that fucking thunderstorm!! I mean how was that even allowed here?’

Not wanting to recall what had happened afterward, Dhruv stopped himself and focused on the problem at hand. He was about to let his mind wander but stopped as he sensed something.

Activating his mana sense, he peered through the veil of snow in front of him. It didn’t take him long to realize what he was looking at.

’Hmmm! A Tier II monster. Interesting!’ Dhruv found the monster intriguing as it was the only monster he had found in hours.

After crossing the bridge, there were a few monsters, but after a few minutes, they began to appear more rarely until he couldn’t find a single one in the last four hours.

With an intrigued expression, he began to move toward the monster.