Beneath gray, despairing skies, a young man walked, sifting through the forlorn ashes with every step as his blonde hair swayed in the chilly winds.

Daru seemed to be the only color in the god-forsaken domain, which increased his visibility to those who inhabited the gray lands.

He had decided to remove his Oni Mask.

The feeling of seeing clearly rather than from behind a mask felt much better, and even though the eye opening of the unholy-looking mask was quite generous, nothing could beat the natural feeling of unimpeded vision.

There was also no reason for him to use its deceptive abilities here.

Earlier, he had watched from behind a stone slab, witnessing two Damnedlings — both strangely different in appearance — tear each other apart.

The loser ran like the one he fought, and the winner gave chase, seemingly determined to end the other's life.

This confirmed the honorless characteristics of the Damnedlings.

If he wanted to kill them, then he had to make sure they couldn't. A plan formed in Daru's mind.

He couldn't wait to encounter another of the abominations so he could test if his strategy would be effective.

Unlike what he felt from La Filosa, the dread inflicted by the Lost Damnedlings seemed almost laughable, especially after what happened to him two hours back.

Hatred was indeed powerful in its own way.

Daru simply found it impossible to fear the shameless, hateful bastards, wishing nothing more than to find the one who ran from him and slaughter it ten times over for what it did.

If he couldn't, its kin would do.

There was a wide, howling river preventing him from moving in a straight line to the distant mountains, and so Daru had to wrap around, looking for a different path.

He had been carefully advancing for the past hour when the silhouette of what seemed to be yet another ruin, but this one an entire settlement rather than one massive structure, came into view.

Daru's eyes narrowed as his imagination ran wild, but he didn't stop.

He advanced ever closer to the rubble of the ancient settlement.

Naturally, he noticed that the mist there was thicker, more ominous, and so Daru's vigilance was on high.

He was almost certain he would have to fight there — an idea he didn't hate, especially if the enemy would be the hateful, hunched abominations.

But aside from this, there was also the possibility of gaining something, perhaps loot chests or other forms of rewards.

Daru soon arrived at the collapsed, ancient stone walls, observing them closely with his eyes for a while and appreciating the strange feeling they gave him.

There were a few engraved runic alphabets in them as well, but unlike the ones in La Filosa's lair, they didn't give him any sense of foreboding or unease.

They were simply that… obsolete, ancient runic letters that he couldn't understand.

After a few dozen seconds of appreciating the collapsed architecture, he proceeded to enter the huge gap in the walls, which he suspected had been a huge stone arch before its ruined state, based on the curved and rubbled slab of ancient stone lying close to it.

Ten moments later, Daru found himself walking on an old stone path in the middle of ruined accommodations — small grass and strange flora now growing in the cracks.

The thick mist only added to the eerie atmosphere.

However, Daru was holding up quite well for an eighteen-year-old young man travelling in a misty, monochrome world where vile horrors schemed and lurked even against each other.

His heart was beating relatively normally, given he was in such a somber and hopeless domain.

Soon, curiosity got the better of Daru, and he entered one of the time-worn abodes to see if he could find something.

There was no door, so he merely entered the doorway.

Very slowly and carefully. Daru didn't want to suffer from a nasty ambush.

The vile things had no honor, after all, and since he already confirmed this, he could only blame himself if he still fell prey to them.

But nothing attacked him.

The ruined residence was huge. However, it was simple — no rooms whatsoever, and everything was in plain sight.

There was a half-surviving wooden table, destroyed chairs, cold and cracked stone beds, and a few other unusable furniture.

Looking around, Daru noticed something fairly whole atop one of the old shelves.

His brows curved upwards.

'A carrot?'

He walked over and observed it for a while. The root vegetable was impossibly healthy, greatly astonishing Daru.

It also wasn't dusty, unlike everything else in the residence.

He picked it up, and to his surprise…

[You have obtained (1) Limbo Carrot.]

'An item?' he mused, quickly tapping on his belt bag to check the description of what he assumed to be a consumable.

==

Name: Limbo Carrot

Type: Consumable

Tier: C

Level Requirement: None

Description: A humble root that thrives where souls stagnate; perhaps the gods pity the lost… or simply enjoy watching them struggle for a longer time.

Effects:

[Rare Mercy]: Grants the damned wretch a 10% hitpoint regeneration bonus for eight hours; remains active even in combat.

[Satiated Soul]: Lucky wretch wouldn't feel hunger for eight hours.

==

Daru couldn't help but frown.

While he did like the consumable's effects, he did not like being called a wretch, as he wasn't one.

Nonetheless, it seemed like an important resource in this god-forsaken realm, so Daru kept it.

He looked around, hoping to find more, but he didn't find anything else of value.

So he turned and headed for the doorway.

...And then he barely heard it: draggy footsteps in the ancient stone path, heading for the abode he was in.

But Daru didn't panic, positioning himself beside the doorway, tachi poised to strike in ambush.

He didn't prefer such a method.

However, based on his previous encounters, the vile spawns had no honor and would flee without hesitation when losing.

He knew by instinct he wouldn't be able to kill anything if he didn't do this.

Furthermore, who could say for sure that the one entering was a Lost Damnedling?

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