****(POV)

"How long have we been walking?"

"Too fucking long."

"Eh, I wish we only had to walk."

"True, now starts the annoying part."

In front of us is a massive cliff.

A mountainous disaster zone.

Our destination is hiding in there.

We must be crazy to have come here.

For sure.

Still, it can't be helped.

There is something we must accomplish.

This is the first step of our plan.

At first, we were worried about assassins following our mercenary group.

Now, it doesn't seem to be an issue.

I guess they simply botched their work.

They probably assumed we died in the death domain.

Honestly, we were all convinced we would perish.

We only survived thanks to him.

The sectmaster!

This is why we need to do this.

Do it for us, do it for him, do it for the sect.

He did say something about lacking funds.

We simply need to figure something out.

"Boys, from now on only death awaits. Once more we will fight for our lives, but I trust all of you."

I look at all of them.

They are fucking smiling.

Yep, this would have terrified them before.

Not anymore.

They are teasing each other.

Betting on who will shit his pants first.

How many would go crazy to see such a scene?

Probably a fuckton haha.

"Let's go!"

We are all equipped with climbing equipment.

By that, I mean spikes designed to dig into the rocky walls.

Some rope.

Nothing else.

We start to ascend.

Before long it already has started.

"Big bird on our six!"

"We are eating barbecue tonight boys!"

They are still joking around.

Meanwhile, there is a giant Eagle charging at us extremely quickly.

Time to show this creature our teamwork.

We are all linked to one another by ropes.

As the creature approaches, one of us jumps off.

Surprised the monster gets its head chopped before it can do any real damage.

We quickly reel our companion back to safety.

"Hehe, this is surprisingly fun!"

"What happened to your fear of heights?"

"Please, that was a long time ago. I'm part of a badass sect now. Can't show any fear."

"True that."

All the while coming here, we have been training.

The harshest physical training there is.

Something is definitely weird about this situation.

Men that showed no improvement in the last years are becoming stronger.

Many of the rank 2s are reaching the peak.

It doesn't make any sense but who cares.

The more we climb the more enemies appear.

Mostly flying ones.

All rank 2 or 3.

This should be enough to make us despair.

Yet, we keep progressing steadily.

One meter at a time.

"Don't worry boys. We only have a few thousand meters to go!"

"Hell yeah!"

"Wanna bet on who kills the most birds?"

In a cheerful atmosphere, we continue the killing.

It takes us a long time, but finally, we manage to reach the top.

As we observe our surroundings, we can't help but sigh knowing this has only just begun.

The rocky area is so vast.

More importantly, we are not exactly sure about our destination either.

We take a short break.

In the middle of the night, we get attacked.

Bipedal lizards.

A few dozens of them.

Sharp claws, sharps teeth, extremely fast.

We quickly get encircled by the bloodthirsty creatures.

We instantly adopt a fighting formation.

Moving in unison.

With every creature defeated the rest of the pack simply becomes more violent.

We keep slaying and slaying until finally, the last one falls.

"Talk about suicidal lizards!"

"I'm surprised they didn't retreat."

That's the thing with this place.

Actually, there are many disaster zones like this one.

We call them the savage zones.

Not that they are more dangerous.

This is simply about their nature.

A very primal one.

Eat or get eaten.

There is no hidden rule, there is no mercy.

Should you fall here you will die.

Without a shadow of a doubt.

I can already foresee what will come.

We will struggle so much here.

We depart.

All kinds of giant creatures inhabit this place.

The worst is that as we progress, we become more and more bloody.

This in turn only attracts predators.

Still, there is nothing much we can do about it.

We will simply meet ferocity with ferocity.

This is similar to back in the days.

When we fought as a legion.

We used to mow any opposition on the battlefield.

Very much like we are doing right now.

Except that there are no cries of terror.

No one begging for mercy.

Only roars.

That is when appears a huge creature.

Big frame, short legs, long neck, sturdy scales.

It has teeth big enough to crush us in a single bite.

We simply start running.

Meanwhile, the thing is chasing after us.

Eating mouthful after mouthful of small creatures while it is at it.

We need a plan.

That is when one of us exclaims that he can see something far away.

What looks like a small cavern.

"Head in there! Hurry!"

Caves are extremely dangerous.

We don't have any time to, however.

Either we get in and survive or we fight here and get annihilated.

We slide in.

I use a spell to enchant our weapons.

Fire can be extremely useful as well as dangerous.

For instance, it can antagonize a nocturnal creature easily.

Usually, we would slowly and carefully explore this place.

No time.

There are tunnels leading god knows where.

They seem to have been formed naturally.

Probably from an earthquake at some point.

After all, it isn't the same width everywhere.

That is extremely good news.

We slowly step inside while being careful.

That's when it barges in.

The head and the long neck of our pursuer!

Fuck!

We jump aside to evade it and slash.

It barely does anything.

This thing is extremely resilient.

We could hack at it all day that it wouldn't matter.

We simply run.

There is nothing else we can do.

In the background, we can hear the monster ramming itself against the rocky walls.

Trying its best to reach farther inside.

After a few minutes, we seem safe.

"Wait look at that!"

"This is spooky, isn't it?"

On the walls are drawings.

Drawings of what seems to be the creatures residing in this place.

"Isn't that…"

What has he seen?

I come closer.

That is when I see it.

A drawing of the creature that is chasing us.

The big scary monster, that one.

Except that on the wall, it is drawn extremely tiny.

"Leader! Look at this!"

He is shining his enchanted weapon on…

Oh my god!

Another drawing.

One I truly hope isn't accurate.

What the fuck is this?!

Whatever it is it would be as big as a mountain!