Nyxar was left alone there; the moment he was left behind, the werewolf and the large-figured guard sealed the entrance to the underground tunnel. Now the place looked like a natural hill covered with bushes.
The first thing Nyxar did upon emerging was to look at the sun, which was about to set. The entire sky was painted in a light orange hue.
"How many days has it been since I last saw this sun?" There was a longing in Nyxar's thoughts, and his thoughts continued.
"How lucky were the people who lived hundreds of years ago, to have lived in such a world!" This deep thought momentarily relieved Nyxar's headache.
"The last time I saw this sun was during that terrible accident," he said, taking a deep breath and looking at the sky.
A strong wind blew against his face, further disheveling his black and white hair and pushing it onto his small forehead. Since his hair was a bit long, it obstructed his vision.
"And this wind, it's so pure," he thought, "I think this will be a little cooling for my body that burns without fire," and he took off the black t-shirt he was wearing. As the t-shirt moved completely away from his face, a screen appeared in front of him.
On it was written:
[Destination: Broken Bridge]
[Reach before one hour, otherwise it will attract many beasts]
A map was attached to the screen.
"Huh... Here comes my first curse 0!" Nyxar's legs began to walk towards the location indicated on the map.
Nyxar walked along, gazing in wonder at the places he passed. Broken, massive buildings, crumbling roads, and vehicles lying scattered and abandoned everywhere – all were overgrown with gigantic plants and endless vines. After traveling a short distance, Nyxar stopped. His eyes fell upon something.
It was the dead body of a reddish-colored mutated armadillo, ten feet long. Its left eye was mutilated, and one of its front legs had been torn off. The killer must have been intelligent, because the armadillo's hard armored shell was completely undamaged; it had been killed by tearing open its underside and stomach. The armor wasn't a single continuous piece, but rather four sections, one behind the other, like four plates placed diagonally one after another. And because it was a mutated armadillo, each piece of armor was like a thick iron plate.
"I don't know who killed this, but whoever it was must be a monster. But I should thank them, it's going to be helpful to me lot."
Nyxar stared intently at the armored creature for a while.
"I don't know what kind of danger I'm going to face, but whatever it is, a piece of this armor will definitely be helpful."
Following that thought, Nyxar's sleepy eyes searched in all directions.
The screen reappeared.
[Forty minutes remaining before the 0 curse awakens]
The announcement on the screen spurred Nyxar into action. Nyxar, who had been turning his head in all directions like an owl, stopped his gaze at one spot—a small, broken, and dilapidated building. He walked towards it.
There, he found a four-foot-long rusty iron rod, with a piece of broken building cement the size of an apple stuck to its end. The other end was broken in half, making it sharp.
He picked it up and immediately went to the dead armadillo's body, beginning to tear at its armor. He dragged the armadillo's body and propped it upright against a large tree. Although the armadillo's body was ten feet long, its height was only four feet, which proved somewhat helpful to Nyxar.
He pressed his left foot against the armadillo's armored section. Holding the middle of the iron rod with both hands, he thrust it with all his might precisely between the armor and the flesh holding it in place.
The rod did not go all the way in, but it had penetrated enough for the subsequent tearing process. Only Nyxar must have known the urgency of the situation, like a runner in a race, because all his actions were so swift.
He pushed the slightly embedded rod further in and began to tear at the armored section, from which dark red blood began to flow.
Since Nyxar's legs were pressing against the armadillo's armor, the blood stained Nyxar's white pants red.
After a brief struggle, the iron rod tore off the first section of the armadillo's armor, starting near its head. Nyxar's body was slightly sweaty. The armadillo's body now looked like a broken shell; the area where the armor had been removed was a mass of flesh and blood, resembling the gills of a shellfish. The sight disgusted Nyxar.
But he had no time to examine it or be surprised. He pulled and tore off a nearby vine. After removing the leaves, it looked like a wooden rope.
He tore the vine into two pieces and tied one piece to his left arm, attaching it to a two-foot section of the armor. Although it wasn't a complete arm guard, but it was enough to cover Nyxar's entire arm. In his other hand, he held the iron rod, which had an apple-sized piece of cement at its end, and tied the remaining piece of vine to it, gripping it tightly. Nyxar looked like a warrior with a spear in one hand and a shield in the other.
He tried out some fighting actions with the weapons in both hands. He swung the arm with the rod like a sword; it worked reasonably well, but the arm guard wasn't very comfortable. "Huh... this isn't as much as I expected, but it's much better than nothing. After all, these two items might even save my life." After looking at the map on the screen for a few seconds, Nyxar started walking towards his target.
From tearing apart the armadillo's body to crafting weapons, everything was completed in just twenty minutes.
After another ten minutes of walking, the ancient warrior reached his destination.
The screen displayed the information inside Nyxar's head.
[You've arrived at the destination, your curse instincts awakens when you face your opponent]
The place was shrouded in a faint darkness. With the help of the full moon's light, Nyxar's sleepy eyes could see a little. It was a broken bridge; many of the pillars supporting it were broken. It was standing with the help of a few pillars, and of course, there were some rusty vehicles here and there with plants and vines growing on them.
Nyxar's heart beat a little faster, but his face didn't show it much; perhaps it was due to his poker face, but his attention was focused in all directions.
"I need to acquire the curse of some weakened beast. After all, we undergo the evolution of whichever beast we face. Power isn't important to me; surviving today is enough, I have to remember everything what my father told me about these curse when I was kid".
His thoughts were interrupted by a sound and a warning sensation from his body.
Suddenly, a figure began to emerge from the faint darkness on the opposite side of the bridge.
Nyxar's instincts told him this; after all, his instincts had evolved. The figure was start to approach Nyxar.
[Your curse awakened]
[Your path is Hybrid]
[Your major beast is Honey badger]
"Wait...What!?... Honey badger? Hell nah...