The terror of Abyss Demons was known to everyone.

These horrifying monsters held immense hostility toward all living beings outside their own kind and would tear them apart without the slightest hesitation!

And the Winter Forest,

as the birthplace of the Abyss Demons, naturally contained the largest concentration of them on the entire Anqieka Continent! Among them were even “Demon King-class” Abyss Demons capable of becoming walking disasters! It was recognized by every major faction across the continent as an absolute forbidden zone.

However, forbidden zones had their uses as well.

In order to better punish those guilty of unforgivable crimes, many rulers would exile prisoners deep into the Winter Forest and leave them to fend for themselves.

Of course, these so-called “criminals” were not always true sinners.

Naturally, because of the Abyss Demons, nearly all of them met the same ending regardless of guilt—

death without even an intact corpse.

......

......

Under the dim, gloomy sunlight, a heavily wounded man covered in injuries—clearly someone who had suffered brutal abuse—was struggling through the deadwood forest.

Because of his thin clothing and the fact that he had been walking through snow for so long, the man was trembling violently from the cold. His legs had already turned purple from frostbite, covered with grotesque, nauseating sores.

However,

despite his miserable physical condition, the man still clenched his teeth tightly, enduring the biting cold and the intense pain from his wounds as he desperately ran forward with all his strength!

The reason he was running so frantically was simple.

Behind him,

there was a white figure straight out of a nightmare.

An Abyss Demon!!

At this moment, the man—Akat—was drowning in despair.

Originally, he should have smoothly inherited his family’s noble title and spent the rest of his life enjoying wealth and glory. Instead, he had been framed by his own uncle, stripped of his inheritance, falsely accused of murder, and exiled into this horrifying Winter Forest?!

Of course,

as an ambitious young man, he had no intention of giving up so easily.

Deep inside his heart, he still carried a plan for revenge! As long as he could leave the forest alive, he intended to gather his former supporters and fight against his uncle once more!

After all, there really had been people who successfully escaped the Winter Forest alive before.

If others could do it, why couldn’t he?!

Unfortunately,

before his revenge plan could even begin, it already seemed on the verge of total collapse.

Because shortly after being thrown into the forest by the griffin knights, Akat discovered in terror that he had been locked onto by a bloodthirsty gaze.

That gaze was like the stare of death itself, causing his pupils to shake violently, his scalp to go numb, and his soul to tremble uncontrollably. Even the final meal sitting in his stomach felt ready to come back up from sheer fear.

When he shakily turned around,

he saw, to his utter despair,

that he had been targeted by a wolf-type Abyss Demon.

Although the six-meter-tall monster had not yet released black aura energy, the overwhelming killing intent within its blood-red vertical pupils and the terrifying pressure radiating from its body instantly destroyed any desire Akat had to fight back!

His own strength wasn’t weak at all. As a fourth-tier fighter, he was absolutely considered talented among people his age.

However,

the combat strength of an Abyss Demon started at fifth-tier minimum!!

How the hell was a fourth-tier fighter supposed to resist one?!

And besides, the wolf before him was obviously far beyond ordinary fifth-tier strength!

Even his family’s knight captain probably couldn’t defeat this thing!

Let alone himself!

The moment he realized that his revenge plan was about to end before it even began,

Akat’s heart nearly shattered.

Fear and despair twisted his face grotesquely. Combined with the blood and mud smeared across his features, the once handsome young noble now looked more like a ridiculous clown than an aristocrat.

“Run!! Hurry and run!!”

That was the only thought remaining inside Akat’s head.

Even though his rational mind told him there was absolutely no way he could outrun the Abyss Demon behind him—and that he might as well lie down and wait for death—

under overwhelming survival instinct, who could willingly accept death so calmly?

Akat was no exception.

The full potential accumulated over twenty years exploded from his body in an instant! Supported by all the magic power within him, Akat desperately sprinted deeper into the forest!

However,

the harder he ran, the deeper his despair became.

This man who once believed himself strong had already begun letting out near-hysterical cries.

The reason was simple.

No matter how desperately he accelerated, even after using every ounce of magical power in his body, he still could not shake off the gigantic white wolf behind him!

The distance between them remained constantly fixed at around ten meters.

And the wolf’s horrifying crimson eyes never once shifted away from Akat’s back.

Sometimes,

when Akat tripped and fell,

the giant wolf would even “thoughtfully” stop moving, quietly waiting for him to crawl back up before continuing their little game of chase.

It was clearly toying with its prey.

As though it intended to wait until the prey completely exhausted itself before finally devouring him.

‘Goddess... what... what did I do wrong?! Why do I have to suffer through something like this?!’

After realizing this, Akat nearly burst into tears.

The only ending waiting for him seemed to be getting ripped apart by the giant wolf.

The thought that he, the dignified son of a marquis, would die so meaninglessly beneath the fangs and claws of a beast pushed his sanity closer and closer to collapse.

Other than continuing this utterly pointless escape,

the only thing Akat could do was desperately pray in his heart that the giant wolf would change targets!

After all, he wasn’t the only person exiled into the Winter Forest to die!!

Go eat somebody else instead of me!!

‘Goddess! Please give me a miracle! I don’t want to die! If you let me return alive, I’ll build ten churches for you!!’

The miserable son of a marquis cried out endlessly in his heart, desperately praying for a miracle.

And this time,

it seemed the Goddess actually answered his prayer?

After recklessly crashing through a dense patch of bushes, Akat suddenly stepped into some kind of special barrier.

The surrounding scenery abruptly distorted, and the world before his eyes underwent a complete transformation!

??!!

‘Wha—?! What happened?!’

When Akat opened his eyes again, he discovered in shock that the surroundings were no longer filled with those endless grotesque giant trees.

Instead,

he had arrived at a ruined altar.

Or perhaps...

a palace?!

“Where... is this?!”

Looking at the ancient stone pillars towering around him like heavenly columns, staring at the ruined throne atop the platform that had long ago been crushed beneath massive boulders, and observing the broken murals covered in ancient, unknown writing—

Akat froze completely, as if struck by lightning.

His heart could not calm down no matter what.

“Where... where am I?? Hm?! Wait!! Where’s that Abyss Demon?!”

Suddenly snapping back to his senses, Akat hurriedly turned around in terror.

However,

he discovered in astonishment that behind him there was only a crystal-clear lake.

The bloodthirsty white giant wolf was nowhere to be seen.

Even the terrifying pressure constantly emitted by the beast had completely vanished, as if everything before had merely been an illusion.

Still,

the joy of surviving disaster did not allow Akat to relax in the slightest.

His nerves remained stretched to the limit.

The reason was simple.

The giant wolf might be gone—

but across the lake, dozens of eyes were still staring at him as though he were a delicious meal.

And without exception,

every owner of those eyes was an Abyss Demon...

Seeing this, Akat couldn’t help inhaling sharply.

“But... why aren’t they attacking?”

That didn’t match the nature of Abyss Demons at all.

Amid his terror, Akat noticed something unbelievable.

Although the gazes of those Abyss Demons were horrifying, none of them seemed to have any intention of crossing the lake to kill him?

“What’s going on...?”

Akat muttered to himself in confusion.

However,

right at that moment,

a strange voice suddenly echoed directly inside his mind.

The voice sounded mechanical and eerie, impossible to identify as male or female.

The instant he heard it, Akat’s entire body violently trembled. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

—Do you want revenge? I can give you power~~—

After hearing that whisper resembling a devil’s temptation, Akat immediately began shaking uncontrollably. Frozen in terror, he nervously looked around in search of the speaker.

“W-who’s there?! Who said that?!”