The boy had spent the past few days inside his cave, doing little more than resting and slowly gathering his strength back.
His cave was vast, almost resembling a small underground workshop rather than a simple shelter.
Along one side stood a large wooden table covered with stacks of books, loose papers, and various notes he had collected over the years.
On the opposite side sat another heavy table, though this one was far messier.
Scattered across its surface were weapon fragments, scraps of metal, broken blades, handles, and other materials he used for his own creations.
He simply called it his craft table.
Against the wall in the center of the cave was his bed—a large wooden frame covered with thick blankets made from soft leather.
It wasn’t luxurious by any normal standard, but to the boy, it was comfortable enough.
For the past several days, he had barely left it.
Now he lay there in silence, staring blankly toward the ceiling as his mind wandered back to his journey through the Abyss.
He had a lot to think about.
The old man.
The flesh figure he had fought.
The mysterious creature lurking within the second layer.
The strange voice that had spoken inside his mind.
And countless other things he would rather not remember.
The boy had been through something that had left a deep mark on him.
He never wanted to experience anything like it again.
To be honest, he doubted anyone his age could have endured what he had.
The Abyss wasn’t simply a dangerous place.
It attacked the mind just as much as the body.
Madness constantly brushed against his thoughts, twisting and distorting them, while corruption seeped into the soul and threatened to unravel his very existence from within.
The boy had survived through sheer willpower, absurd stamina, and the swordsmanship he had painstakingly developed over the years.
On top of that, his natural resistance to corruption and madness had given him a small but crucial advantage against the creatures of the Abyss.
Without those things, he probably wouldn’t have made it back alive.
The boy sighed deeply before letting out a quiet chuckle.
“Man… I don’t wanna do anything right now.
I don’t even wanna go hunting.”
He was still exhausted.
Every muscle in his body seemed to be begging him to stay in bed.
Part of him wanted nothing more than to spend the next few weeks doing absolutely nothing.
Unfortunately, there was a small matter he needed to deal with.
With a reluctant groan, the boy slowly pushed himself upright.
He was currently wearing nothing but a pair of smooth black leather undergarments.
He rubbed the side of his head, his expression filled with exhaustion.
“Ah, man… I thought being the last one left would mean paradise.”
He glanced around his cave.
“Not this hellhole of a life.”
He sighed.
“But if I’m gonna keep running into monsters like those things, I’d better get stronger.”
His eyes drifted toward the craft table.
“And I need better weapons.”
The boy climbed out of bed and wandered over to his worktable.
He pulled out the wooden chair and dropped himself into it, staring at the scattered materials before him.
“Man… where do I even start?”
Nothing came to mind.
A few seconds passed.
Then another.
Those seconds slowly became minutes.
The minutes stretched into hours.
The boy remained seated in the same position, staring at the scraps in front of him while his thoughts wandered aimlessly.
Eventually, he slumped forward.
“Ugh…”
He rubbed his face.
“Perhaps making weapons capable of withstanding my strength isn’t exactly within my craftsmanship abilities yet.”
His eyes drifted toward the entrance of the cave.
“I hate to admit it, but venturing out into those flat snowy plains to search for more books and weapon scraps doesn’t sound like the worst plan.”
He groaned.
“But I don’t wanna go outside.”
He leaned back in his chair.
“Lazing around and doing absolutely nothing suits my current condition perfectly.”
Then—
CLICK.
CLACK.
CLICK.
CLACK.
The boy froze.
His eyes immediately snapped toward the entrance of the cave.
That sound.
He knew it.
The distinct clicking and clacking of wooden limbs moving across stone.
The boy slowly narrowed his eyes.
A moment later, something appeared at the entrance.
A wood person.
But strangely…
There was only one.
The boy stared at it in confusion.
“You’re alone?”
His mind immediately returned to the legion of wood people he had encountered before.
The creatures had been unnaturally harmonious.
Their movements were synchronized almost perfectly, as if they shared a single mind.
Their teamwork had been flawless, allowing them to fight together in both darkness and light while adapting to their surroundings with frightening speed.
It had always seemed as though something—or someone—was controlling them from the shadows.
So seeing a single wood person wandering around by itself was bizarre.
Almost unnatural.
The boy’s eyes narrowed.
“How’d you get separated from the others?”
He didn’t get an answer.
The wood person suddenly lunged.
Its small, nimble feet slammed against the stone floor as it sprinted forward.
In an instant, it leaped into the air, its wooden body twisting as it came down toward him with unmistakable killing intent.
The boy simply smiled.
His hand moved toward the craft table.
He casually grabbed one of his handmade knives.
Then—
WHOOSH!
He threw it.
The blade flew through the air with startling speed and struck the wood person, pinning it firmly against the stone wall.
The boy chuckled as he stood from his chair and casually walked toward his new captive.
When he reached the wall, he looked up at the struggling creature.
A mischievous smile spread across his face.
“You’re gonna be my little test subject.”
The wood person struggled desperately, its tiny wooden limbs twitching and kicking as it attempted to free itself.
The boy simply watched.
Eventually, its movements slowed.
Then stopped.
Its body hung motionless against the wall.
It wasn’t dead.
It had simply accepted its fate.
The boy laughed.
“Good.”
He folded his arms.
“You guys caused me enough hell, so I think it’d only be polite to return the favor.”
He turned away from the creature.
“But I have other matters to attend to.”
He glanced over his shoulder.
“So you just wait here and be good.”
The boy walked toward the entrance of the cave.
Before leaving, however, he glanced down at himself.
Then he looked toward the entrance.
He chuckled.
“This should be good enough.”
And with that, he stepped outside.
He was going hunting.
The moment he emerged from the cave, however, his expression changed slightly.
His eyes drifted downward.
Far below was the chasm.
A seemingly bottomless abyss separating his cave from the snowy plains above.
Even after everything he had experienced, the sight still caused an old fear to creep into his heart.
He knew what he had to do.
He needed to jump across the chasm and land on the jagged rock wall opposite him before climbing up.
But before attempting it, the boy suddenly turned around.
“Almost forgot.”
He returned to his cave and grabbed a handmade axe from beside his craft table.
Then he walked back toward the edge.
He took a breath.
Bent his knees.
And sprinted.
His boots struck the stone floor as he accelerated toward the edge of the chasm.
Then he jumped.
For a brief moment, he was suspended over the darkness.
The boy reached the opposite ledge and planted his feet against the rocky surface.
His muscles tensed.
He pushed off with all his strength.
His body shot upward.
His hands caught the jagged rock wall.
Stone fragments broke loose beneath his fingers and tumbled into the darkness below.
One particularly large shard came loose and flew past him.
Another struck the side of his head.
“Ow!”
The impact nearly knocked him loose.
His fingers slipped for half a second.
The boy’s heart jumped into his throat as his body tilted toward the chasm.
He immediately tightened his grip.
“Not today.”
He pulled himself closer to the rock wall and continued climbing.
Several minutes passed before he finally reached the top.
The boy hauled himself over the ledge and collapsed onto the snow for a moment, breathing heavily.
When he finally raised his head, his eyes widened.
Before him stretched an enormous, seemingly endless expanse of white.
Snow covered the land in every direction.
Snowflakes drifted through the air, carried by the cold wind.
And among the ordinary white flakes, he could occasionally see black ones drifting down from the sky.
The boy slowly stood.
His gaze traveled toward the distant horizon, toward the place where the sun should have been rising.
But there was no sun.
According to the books he had read about the ancient world, there had once been a goddess known as Queen Saris, the goddess who encompassed all stars.
The stories claimed that during her battle with a great and terrible deity, she had obliterated the sun itself.
The boy wasn’t sure how much of the story was true.
But the world certainly seemed to support it.
The clouds above were an unnatural gray-black, spreading across the sky like an enormous blanket.
There was no sunlight.
No warmth.
Only the dim, perpetual darkness that made the world feel as though it were trapped in an endless night.
The boy pulled his axe into a more comfortable position.
His objective was simple.
Find books.
Find weapon scraps.
And, if possible, hunt a wild beast that hadn’t been corrupted.
He began walking.
Not long afterward, he discovered a collection of old scraps and several arrows half-buried beneath the snow.
The boy crouched down and inspected them.
They were damaged.
Rust had eaten away at parts of the metal, while the wooden components were cracked and worn.
“Not worth it.”
He left them behind and continued forward.
The farther he walked, the more unsettling the landscape became.
Bones began appearing beneath the snow.
Then corpses.
Some were ancient, little more than skeletal remains.
Others were much fresher.
Far too fresh.
The boy slowed down.
A dark red trail ran through the snow from one of the bodies.
Fresh blood.
The metallic scent filled the freezing air and assaulted his nostrils.
He frowned.
Something was wrong.
He continued onward.
More corpses appeared.
Then more.
Wolves.
Huge birds.
Monkeys.
Even tigers.
The bodies were scattered across the snowy landscape, as though some unseen predator had torn through the local wildlife.
The boy crouched beside one of the corpses and studied it carefully.
He frowned.
“Hmm…”
He looked toward the surrounding landscape.
“I mean… whatever did this seems pretty strong.”
Then—
The ground trembled.
The boy froze.
A low vibration traveled through the snow beneath his feet.
His eyes slowly widened.
“What the…”
The trembling grew stronger.
And somewhere beneath the endless white plains, something enormous seemed to stir.