The Huntsman Of Death:A Gamer's POV As Side Character

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Walking out, I noticed many pairs of eyes staring at me. I didn't know their intention, not that I needed to guess.

Time to find a scammer to scam... I mean, hire a tour guide.

Many demons, despite trying to act uninterested, looked around me curiously.

'They might either be wary of me or thinking of a way to rob me.'

Soon, I found a hunk.

A half-demonic human who, despite being huge, looked malnourished.

"Stay away."

His words stopped as I slammed a pouch containing coins on the table.

.......

Emerging from the inn, I traveled to the wasteland through the gates.

The heart of the Demon Continent's desert was a desolate, unyielding wasteland that stretched as far as I could see. There weren't any direct gates from human land to here, so I had to fork up quite a sum.

I hope the investment pays off without me ending up in a grave.

The air was thick with oppressive heat, mingling with the dark ash drifting down from the sky like fragments of an ancient curse.

Each breath tasted of bitterness, scratching at my throat and lungs. Shadows from jagged rocks fell across the sand, distorted by the eerie, pale sun that barely penetrated the ash-laden clouds overhead. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The ground underfoot was a dense, dark gray sand, rough and unyielding, stretching in uneven dunes and hardened patches.

Here, the sand seemed almost alive, as if each grain held a memory of violence and despair. Gusts of wind swept over the dunes, stirring up small clouds of ash and sand that clung to my clothes and skin, their edges as sharp as needles.

Standing alone in this vast, desolate expanse, I felt the weight of the place bearing down on me. I pulled my cloak tightly around myself, the coarse fabric scratching against my skin as I adjusted the turban wrapped around my head and face. Only my eyes were exposed, narrowed and cautious as they scanned the horizon.

In my grasp, a figure knelt, shoulders sagging and breaths shallow, his body already broken by the relentless desert. His torn clothes clung to him in patches, barely concealing bruised and battered skin. His head was bowed low, and each labored breath rattled in his chest.

So much for being the strongest.

'Did this guy run on steroids to get this big without much strength?'

"Sorry, I don't think I... gasp... cough..."

I tightened my grip on his shoulder, feeling his weakness through my fingers. He was on the brink, barely clinging to consciousness, yet I could sense his faint, flickering will to survive. His spirit, though fractured, resisted complete surrender.

The wind picked up again, a dry and unforgiving whisper that sent more ash spiraling around us. The air felt heavy, charged with an ominous weight, as if the land itself watched in silent judgment. My gaze drifted over the horizon, where nothing but endless dunes lay ahead, and yet I could feel the oppressive nature of the place.

Sighing, I gave the steroid oxhead a pitiful look.

"I will take it from here. You can depart." I spoke to my guide, who was shedding tears of blood.

I kinda... I mean, hired him for this trail for bloody 3000 crypts using his financial obstruction. He was half-human, ostracized by human land, so this place was his only hope.

As I moved forward, I ignored the man left behind in the sand, who seemed to be on the verge of passing out. My mind was already focused on the path ahead, reaching into my cloak to pull out a worn map.

The parchment was brittle from age, edges tattered and darkened from countless journeys. My finger traced the faded ink lines, finding the mark that represented my goal

The placed called as the rift of Shadow Dunes.

There lay in the highlands, a rare elevated expanse in this barren desert with a shadowy thick tree. It was said to be a place untouched by time, where shadows gathered unnaturally, shifting like living things. I rolled up the map and tucked it away, setting my gaze on the distant ridge rising faintly against the horizon.

Hours passed as I trudged across the wasteland, each step sinking into the gritty, shifting sands. The heat bore down mercilessly, sapping my strength with each grueling mile. A faint, acrid scent lingered in the air, as though the land itself were still smoldering from an ancient fire. There was an eerie silence here, broken only by the whisper of ash sweeping over the dunes. It was as if the land held its breath, waiting.

Finally, I reached the scorched place. The sand here was different, unnaturally smooth and blank, almost as if it had been stripped of all color and life. It was a ghostly white, contrasting starkly with the darker dunes around it. The blank sand gave the ground an unsettling, lifeless quality, like the remnants of a barren wasteland where nothing dared to grow.

Ahead, the ground rose slightly, forming a ridge with sparse clusters of overgrown trees scattered across the crest.

The trees were twisted and gnarled, with bark the color of charcoal, and sparse branches stretched outward like skeletal fingers clawing at the sky. Their roots dug stubbornly into the lifeless ground. The leaves, dark and brittle, hung in sparse clusters, creating an eerie canopy that cast long, jagged shadows over the sand.

I moved closer, my steps echoing in the unnatural stillness. The place held an odd eerie sensation, and how could it not, after all, this was a graveyard of demons stopped by a single human.

And I was here to reclaim the legacy he left behind.

....

Climbing up the parched rocky highland, I arrived at an elevated top crowned by grotesque, eerie trees.

"The sun is already setting... I should hurry..."

My journey until now had been smooth... Quite smooth, so much so that it was unbelievable, but all this was mere hope given to the traveler.

Because hidden beneath the ground were lofty, eerie monsters, they bided their time during the day and bore their fangs at night.

However, you were safe if you knew. Otherwise, if you didn't do anything, just sleep, you wouldn't even know when a monster emerged from the ground and engulfed you.

Walking around, I traced the contour of a tree, looking for the main trunk.

"It should be around here," I muttered while stretching my hands.

Despite maintaining a calm facade, I started getting anxious as the sun was sinking fast.

It might be troublesome once it completely sets.

The world slowly went black around me, and dusk was around the corner.

Just then, the tree slowly started to vibrate as if coming alive.

"Fuck... I am coo..." I swallowed my curse as, through the thick foliage, I finally found a small manhole.

My eyes lit up, and I sprang up toward it, emitting a crunching sound that echoed as my steps crushed the scattered dry barks.

Reacting to me, the trees began to converge, commencing movement by swaying branches. Rolling the corner of my eye, I spotted a sharp tendril shoot up.

I stomped the ground, jumping up.

CRANG!

Somersaulting in midair, I rolled on the ground, avoiding more branches while pulling out a few sets of grenades. Biting the pin, I pulled it and threw it.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The tendril shots blasting toward me exploded in a series of explosions. The fire cloud even carried toward me.

"Damn!"

I swallowed hard as I fired from the left while branches from the right approached. The front had already been lit, and a burning, piercing sensation had already shrunk my skin along with fragments scratching me.

In an instant, I arrived at the decision that it was...

"Now or never."

With a scream, I braced myself, running through the sea of flames that alerted the tree. It shot through the fire, but by that time, I squeezed my body and jumped into the hole.

Then, finally, a voice echoed through the darkness, deep and resonant, as if spoken from the depths of the earth itself.

'I found it.'

That was my final thought before the darkness all around swallowed me.