The sky of the northern Demon Realm always reeked of rot.
The clouds were a bruised dark blue, and the rain falling through them was closer to blood than water.
Chujeok-chujeok.
Thick, viscous red rain, blood rain, soaked the earth.
A stench mixed with a fishy metallic smell and sour acidity assaulted the nose.
This was the frontier of the Demon Realm, 'Black Valley,' a slum where lower-class demons gathered.
True to its name, it was a black valley where not a single ray of light entered.
Crawling on the squelching black mud was a gaunt shadow.
It was 'Kkabi,' a goblin so thin his ribs protruded sharply.
"Where... isn't there anything..."
Kkabi's nails were already completely broken from digging through the mud.
For days, the only thing that had entered his stomach was muddy water.
His vision kept blurring from the pain that felt like his stomach was gnawing on itself.
But he couldn't stop.
The moment he stopped, he would become fertilizer for this terrible Black Valley.
It was then.
Deep in a mud pit, something faint caught his fingertips.
Kkabi hurriedly scraped away the dirt.
A half-rotted, black root vegetable revealed itself.
"F-found it...!"
Kkabi's bulging eyes rolled back.
It stank, but it didn't matter.
Right now, to him, this rotten root was the greatest feast on earth.
Afraid someone might see, Kkabi hurriedly brought the root to his mouth.
Drool flowed down, soaking his chin.
Kwajik-!
Just before he put it in his mouth, a terrible crushing sound hit his ears.
At the same time, a sharp pain like being burned shot up from the back of his hand.
"Kkeuaaack!"
Kkabi screamed and rolled on the ground.
A heavy steel boot was crushing Kkabi's hand holding the root.
Between the crushed finger bones, the mashed root mixed with dark red blood oozed out.
"Oh, oh, ughhh..."
Kkabi writhed in pain and looked up.
There stood a shadow as massive as despair.
An orc clad in thick plate armor from head to toe, the warlord ruling this area, 'Gark.'
Picking meat scraps from between his teeth with his tongue, he let out a fishy laugh as if looking down at a bug.
"Kkabi, you rat-like bastard. I'm pretty sure I called for you?"
Gark put strength into the toe of his boot and ground down.
Udeudeuk. The sound of hand bones twisting like they were being ground in a mill rang out.
"C-captain...! Please...!"
"The tribute for this month was short. Did my words go in one ear and out the other?"
"No! It's not that... there was nothing to eat... Next time, I'll definitely fill it next time! Please just this once...!"
Kkabi begged, burying his head in the mud.
But there was no mercy in Gark's eyes.
No, he wasn't interested in tribute in the first place.
He just needed a toy to soothe his boredom.
"Having nothing is your problem."
Gark pulled a crude hand axe from his waist.
The heavy lump of iron glistened, soaking up the red rainwater.
"If you don't have money, shouldn't you pay with your body? I think your skin might be worth something if I peel a bit off."
"P-please spare me! I'll do anything you order...!"
Kkabi struggled to pull out his crushed hand, but Gark's foot didn't budge.
Gark yawned as if annoyed and flicked his wrist.
Seogeok.
There wasn't even the sound of cutting wind.
The dull-looking axe blade passed like a flash.
"...?"
Kkabi blinked blankly for a moment.
It didn't hurt.
However, something just fell onto the mud with a thud.
A pointy, long, familiar piece of flesh.
It was his left ear.
A beat later, black blood spurted like a fountain from the severed section.
"Ah... Aah..."
Hot heat swallowed his head.
"Aaaaaaaack! My ear! My ear!"
Kkabi rolled in the mire, clutching the severed area.
Blood gushing between his fingers flowed ceaselessly.
Seeing Kkabi panting as if breathless from extreme pain, Gark and his subordinates clutched their bellies and giggled.
"Kuhahaha! How unsightly. Making dying noises just because a rat got its ear cut off."
"Captain, that was a very clean cut."
"Just a warm-up. Noisy bastard. Next time, it's your neck. Let's go."
Gark, losing interest, kicked the severed ear away and turned his back.
Until the heavy footsteps faded away, Kkabi buried his face in the cold mud and vomited only beast-like groans.
It was unfair.
Was picking up a rotten fruit because he was hungry a sin?
Was being trampled on because he was weak natural?
Blood rain poured down onto Kkabi's gaunt back.
In this Black Valley, weakness was a sin, and strength was justice.
That rotten law pierced painfully into Kkabi's bones.
...Until that sky collapsed.
Tuk.
It was silence like a lie.
The sound of rain that had been beating his eardrums until just now stopped as if cut by a knife.
Kkabi, sobbing with his face in the mud, slowly lifted his head at the strange sense of incongruity.
The flow of air was changing.
The humid and heavy atmosphere of the Demon Realm was pulled taut as if pressed down by something.
Kugugugu...
The sky cried.
Dark clouds created a massive vortex, and the ceiling of the sky, dark blue like a bruise, cracked open like a glass window—Jjeok.
What poured down from that torn gap was not rainwater.
"...Light?"
Blinding, brilliant, and holy golden light.
It was a radiance too alien and overwhelming, not matching the dull and dirty landscape of the Demon Realm.
Hundreds of meteor showers pouring from the sky slammed down towards the Black Valley village.
Kwa-aaaaang-!!
A meteor struck directly in the middle of the village.
With a roar shaking the earth's axis, a massive shockwave spread in all directions.
Gark and his subordinates, who had been mocking Kkabi just moments ago, were bounced into the air like bowling pins.
Kkabi also was plunged into the mud and rolled over and over.
How much time passed?
When the thick dust cloud settled, a deeply gouged crater opened its mouth in the village square.
And at its center, the source of the problem was embedded.
A blinding golden fragment the size of a fingernail.
A fragment of the
Thump... thump...
Kkabi stared into the pit as if possessed.
It was not a jewel.
Like a living heart, it was emitting red light and pulsating regularly.
It was a strange magical power that made him forget even the pain of his severed ear.
Just then, a sticky whisper reached Kkabi's ears.
'It hurts, right...?'
An auditory hallucination? No, that fragment was talking to him.
'It's unfair, right...? They trampled on you. They cut off your ear.'
Kkabi's empty eyes began to be slowly dyed with greed.
The red blinking of the fragment resonated with Kkabi's heartbeat.
'Eat it... I'll give you power. Eat it... then everything will change.'
"Eat it...?"
It was the moment Kkabi muttered unconsciously and tried to raise his body.
The massive shadow that had been sprawled over yonder staggered and stood up.
It was the Orc Captain Gark.
"Kugh... Damn it, what is that?"
Gark, shaking off the dust, fixed his gaze on the center of the crater.
Instantly, his eyes gleamed like a beast.
He knew instinctively.
That the energy emitted by that small fragment was unusual.
If he only had that, he might be able to escape the fate of acting as a captain of a mere slum like this.
"T-that... is immense energy. It's mine!"
Gark adjusted his grip on his axe and sprinted toward the crater.
Thump, thump, thump. Heavy footsteps rang out like an earthquake.
Seeing that, goosebumps rose on Kkabi's spine.
Instinctive fear.
But a greater, unbearable thirst burned his throat.
'If I lose that, I'll live trampled on for the rest of my life. No, I'll die.'
"No..."
Kkabi screamed like a beast and began to crawl on all fours through the mud.
"It's mine... It's mine!"
A running orc and a crawling goblin.
Looking only at physical ability, it was a fight that was no match.
But Kkabi had no retreat.
Not even knowing his nails were being pulled out, he scratched the mud floor and threw his body desperately.
Gark's massive hand reached out for the fragment.
At the same time, Kkabi's gaunt hand also rushed toward the fragment.
A difference of 0.1 seconds.
Just before Gark's fingertips touched the fragment, Kkabi, who was swifter and more desperate, snatched the fragment.
"This rat!"
Gark raised his axe in fury.
But Kkabi did not hesitate.
He didn't have time to think about what he was holding or what would happen if he ate it.
He tossed the snatched golden fragment straight into his mouth and swallowed it immediately without chewing.
Gulp.
The moment the fragment passed his throat and touched his stomach.
Kkabi's entire body went stiff as if electrocuted.
"Kugh... K... Aaaaaaaack!"
It was not the beginning of a blessing.
It was the opening of a terrible disaster.