The Burning Mountain Village (Please Bookmark)

By a lake in the primeval forest, blazing flames shattered the peace that should have belonged to the mountain village.

The small mountain village was not large.

At a glance, it contained only a little over a hundred households.

They were wanderers of this land, using fruits and animal hides gathered from the forest, along with some food they cultivated themselves,

to trade with the distant city for daily necessities.

According to the history passed down orally among the villagers, over the past century or so, the people of the village had wandered to many places throughout this forest.

The land in this primeval forest was fairly fertile, with abundant natural resources.

But unfortunately, because of mutant beasts and monsters born under the influence of the Blood Moon, the mountain village was always forced to wander from place to place.

During their long years of wandering, the mountain village had been unable to grow its population or accumulate much wealth.

They could only toil day after day to survive.

Even the gains they won by risking their lives could only be sold to the city folk at extremely low prices.

In exchange, they obtained essential supplies and the more precious medicines used to suppress Blood Moon radiation.

However, in recent years,

the village's situation had improved somewhat.

Because several years ago, the village had struck it lucky and produced a Supernatural Being.

Just as certain unique animals would undergo beneficial mutations after being exposed to the Blood Moon's radiation,

there were also a very small number of lucky humans.

After enduring the radiation, not only did they survive, but they gained physical abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and even all kinds of more unimaginable powers.

Such people were known as Supernatural Beings.

The birth of a Supernatural Being greatly elevated the village's status.

Thus, this village of only several hundred people was qualified to settle in a relatively safe area.

After a day's labor, the old people in the village would sometimes sit on tree stumps and dream that, after several generations of hard work, their grandsons and granddaughters might one day live in the city.

They would no longer need to wander outside every day...

But dreams were beautiful, while reality was cruel.

Beneath the Blood Moon's shroud, forbidden zones spread. In this gradually collapsing world, even megacities inhabited by tens of millions were under threat.

Let alone these small villages living in the wilderness.

Safety was only temporary luck. Death and danger were the inescapable shadows hanging over everyone's heads.

That morning, more than ten evil ghosts attacked the mountain village.

Unlike the incorporeal evil ghosts, these creatures mutated from humans had bluish-green skin and pale fangs as sharp as rasps.

The bluish-green evil ghosts launched their assault on the mountain village from different directions.

Perhaps it was because they had enjoyed peace for too long, or perhaps the gap between them was simply too great.

Before long,

the defensive line formed by the village men had been completely crushed.

The evil ghosts born from Blood Moon radiation stood nearly 1.9 meters tall on average, with bulging muscles beneath their blue-black fascia.

Moreover, unlike the mindless living dead that possessed only hunting instincts,

these evil ghosts still retained a trace of human malice. They were crazier and more cunning, knowing to split their forces and attack the weak first, leaving the village's capable men scrambling from one place to another.

"Ha!"

The men wielded pitchforks and clubs, charging the evil ghosts with all their strength.

But their average height was under 1.7 meters, and their muscles had weakened from chronic malnutrition.

As a result, their weapons could leave only faint, insignificant white marks when they struck the evil ghosts.

And the apparently enraged evil ghosts merely waved their hands casually.

The men flew away like battered rag dolls, crashing hard into the surrounding earthen walls. After a few convulsions, they could no longer move.

In the past, some of the mountain villagers might have volunteered to stay behind and cover the others' escape.

But the hope they had finally glimpsed after several years of development made these villagers hesitate.

The consequences of hesitation were fatal.

The evil ghosts had already completely surrounded the little mountain village from every direction, and most of the adult men bore injuries to varying degrees.

Even so,

even when they were severely wounded, with blood pouring from their foreheads and blurring their vision, the men refused to retreat even half a step.

After all, hiding in the earthen houses behind them were their wives and children.

No one wanted to watch the family they wished to protect die horribly before their eyes.

So even if they had to die, they wanted to die before their families did.

"Rinzi! Run, all of you!"

The man holding a pitchfork crawled out from the collapsed wall, barely straightened his back, and stood in front of an evil ghost.

"Fool!"

The evil ghost leading the charge was somewhat larger than the rest.

Twelve iron rings were strung around its thick wrist, and the red glow in its eyes seemed more savage than that of the other evil ghosts.

Whoosh!

Seeing the middle-aged man foolishly blocking its path,

a trace of impatience flashed across the evil ghost's face. It raised its hand, and its fan-sized palm came crashing down from above.

A shrill tearing sound, like the roar of a beast, exploded beside his ears.

Before the palm even landed, the man's facial skin was already flapping uncontrollably in the surging gale.

"Ah!!"

Inside the room behind the man,

the woman pulled her young daughter tightly into her arms, not daring to let her see her father's miserable death.

The girl called Rinzi curled up in her mother's embrace like a frightened little animal.

Though her body trembled without stop, the girl tightly clutched the strangely shaped knot of rope in her hand.

God, if You truly exist, please save the people of this village.

The girl prayed in her heart.

But what use was that? If gods truly existed in this world,

then why did They watch countless refugees struggle desperately beneath the Blood Moon's radiation?

And why did They allow man-eating monsters like these to roam freely?

However...

This time, the gods seemed to have truly responded.

Crack!

The expected sound of shattering did not come. The man's furious roar continued to ring out, mixed with a dull swallowing sound.

Gulp!