Story Two: The Sunset Monster
Chapter Six: Merith and Her Son, Arcmor
With hurried yet hesitant steps, Hans made his way through the forest. His thoughts were clouded by what he had done—had he made the right decision? Before he could delve further into his mind, he tore through the spiderwebs obstructing his path, only to find himself in a vast clearing covered in yellow flowers. In front of him stood an old wooden cottage.
He stepped forward, trampling over the flowers without care, and called out in a strong voice:
"Merith! Where are you? I need to talk to you!"
Merith emerged from the cottage, holding her bow, an arrow charged with a gray aura aimed directly at Hans. Her eyes burned with anger as she spoke sharply:
"You coward, leave my place immediately!"
Hans took another step forward, his voice calm yet firm:
"I know what happened to you, and I know how your mother was killed... Merith, stop this madness. If you're seeking revenge, go and kill Colt and Sirin. But why are you tormenting the townspeople? They aren't the murderers—they are victims too, living in despair and fear for years."
Merith smirked with scorn and fired her arrow at incredible speed. The arrow spiraled in a hazy vortex before striking Hans directly in the neck, causing him to collapse to his knees. She let out a loud laugh, but a noise behind her made her freeze.
She turned around—only to find Hans standing there, completely unharmed.
"I knew you would attack me," Hans said with a faint smile. "But tell me, why did you drag innocent people into your revenge?"
Merith pulled out another arrow, muttered a spell under her breath, and let it fly. But Hans tossed a paper onto the surrounding flowers, which suddenly sprouted up and blocked the arrow.
"Talk to me," Hans continued, walking toward her slowly. "If you think I caused a child's death because of my cowardice, that doesn't justify your daily slaughter of innocents. Children have been orphaned, women widowed... Is this your idea of revenge? Is this what your mother died for?"
Merith's eyes trembled with rage as she spoke in a trembling voice filled with hatred:
"You don't understand anything! This town killed my mother! Their ignorance of magic destroyed her life, made her suffer! She helped them—she healed them, delivered their babies, hunted for them in the winter, planted crops when they were starving… And what was her reward?! They desecrated her corpse!"
Hans froze, staring at her in shock as she continued, her voice thick with bitterness:
"Can you even imagine that? The men of the town, one after the other, because of a ridiculous lie spread by Colt—that violating a dead witch grants immortality! I saw them with my own eyes… I saw them devouring her body… And Colt was the first!"
The flower barrier around Hans vanished, but he did not move. He simply looked at her—not with pity, but with understanding.
"And what about the women and children? You sentenced them to die too?"
She screamed in fury:
"They deserved to die! If they were innocent, they wouldn't have stayed here! That cursed disease they were born with is proof of their corruption! My mother stayed here for them—she tried to save them! But they never deserved it!"
She raised her hand and began chanting a spell. A wavering gray light surrounded her palm before she hurled it at Hans. At the last moment, Hans threw a paper that transformed into a fireball, blocking the attack. But instead of retaliating, he said:
"You're afraid, aren't you? If you truly had the strength to kill those who wronged you, you wouldn't waste your power on the innocent."
Her lips quivered with rage, and she screamed:
"I am not a coward like you! Do you want to see what I can do?!"
She pulled out a dagger, slashed her palm, then drew a circle on her forehead with her blood and began chanting an even stronger spell. Hans felt something strange and immediately stepped back, readying several papers between his fingers. But he suddenly stopped when he heard a terrifying sound.
A monstrous roar shook the air.
A massive creature emerged from behind the cottage. Its body was a horrifying fusion of human and beast—a massive right arm adorned with lethal claws, a head roughly human-sized but reptilian in features, eyes like those of a serpent, a split tongue, fangs as sharp as swords, and curved antlers like those of a stag.
Arcmor.
The beast stood behind Merith, extending its colossal hand protectively over her before lowering its head toward her. She gently caressed it, as if it were a pet dog. Then, she looked at Hans with a sinister smile:
"My dear son... kill everyone in the town. Start with this coward!"
Hans' feet felt rooted to the ground as Arcmor stepped forward, its powerful roar reverberating through the air like the stench of decayed corpses from demonic rituals. Hans hesitated for a brief moment before tossing a Rose Shield paper—but the massive creature swiped it aside with its giant hand, shattering the shield along with Hans, who crashed into a tree.
Despite the pain, Hans forced himself to stand and began running as fast as he could. But Arcmor pursued him relentlessly.
Suddenly, Hans turned around just in time to see the beast slam its enormous hand onto the ground, launching itself into the air. In a split-second decision, Hans threw a Vanishing Stone onto the ground, disappearing just as Arcmor crashed down like a meteor, obliterating everything around it. The monster grasped a tree with its massive hands and ripped it from the ground, hurling it wildly in every direction. When it grew bored, it let out a deafening roar, shaking the entire landscape.
Hans hid behind a tree, catching his breath, but his heart pounded violently as if ready to burst. The pain was unbearable. Suddenly, he felt an intense pressure on his chest, as if Arcmor's roar was crushing him from within.
"Damn it… his voice is going to kill me!" Hans muttered, ripping another paper and throwing it away, but to no avail. In a moment of desperation, he began running again. As he fled, he whispered an unexpected spell, unleashing a powerful bolt of lightning into the sky. But the monstrous echo of Arcmor's pursuit followed close behind.
Hans kept running, his breath ragged, his heart throbbing painfully. Fear and panic began to overtake him. When he finally caught sight of the town in the distance, he turned around—only to see Arcmor's antlers charging straight at him.
In a split-second move, he used an Explosive Stone, causing a powerful blast that hurled him toward the town. Despite the painful explosion, he steadied himself and headed toward a red house. But Arcmor was still chasing him.
Before Hans could reach safety, the enormous beast lunged at him. He managed to use more Stone Barriers to create distance, but Arcmor relentlessly continued its pursuit, demolishing the house completely.
At that moment, the monster turned toward him once more—just as he saw Miray and Colt emerge from the wreckage.
Hans had no choice but to throw a paper at a nearby rock, transforming it into a temporary shield, before leaping toward them in pain. But the beast didn't delay in striking him once again, sending him crashing into another house.