Chapter 4: The Ruined Fortress

Chris woke shortly after sunrise, his body still aching from everything that had happened the previous day. The injuries on his leg and side were still painful, but after resting through the night, he felt considerably better than before.

Getting up from the deer hide, he put on the clothes he had dried beside the fire and ate some of the leftover deer meat from the previous evening. Afterward, he reached for the water he had collected from the river and took a few small sips before putting the bottle back into his backpack.

Once he was ready, he left the watchtower and entered the fortress, immediately heading toward one of the larger buildings.

The building appeared to have once been a barracks, and after entering through its partially collapsed entrance, he began searching through the ruins.

The interior looked like the remains of an ancient battlefield, with collapsed ceilings, broken beds, destroyed furniture, and moss covering sections of the walls.

While searching through the ruins, he noticed something unusual.

Part of one wall had collapsed, but the stone around the damaged area looked completely different from the rest. Instead of simply breaking apart, the stone appeared to have melted before cooling again, leaving behind a rough surface that looked almost like solidified lava.

He crouched down and examined it closely.

He had seen something similar once before while traveling near a volcano.

"What in the world happened to this place...?"

For a moment, he wondered if the fortress had been attacked by some powerful fire-element beast, but the thought didn’t make much sense. The walls were extremely thick, and similar damage could be seen in several other areas of the fortress.

During his years in the Wilds, he had studied countless records about the beasts living in the world, including their abilities and elemental affinities. Even before entering the Wilds, he had spent considerable time researching them while living in the city.

There were powerful fire-element beasts capable of producing enormous flames, but even the strongest ones generally relied on their bodies and physical strength when attacking heavily fortified structures. He had never heard of a living beast capable of melting stone walls this thick with its flames alone.

Shaking his head, he continued searching.

Eventually, he found several racks filled with weapons, but most of them were completely ruined. The metal had corroded so badly that many weapons broke apart when he touched them.

He also found several sets of neatly folded clothes, but they were so old that they disintegrated the moment he tried to pick them up.

"Damn... what a waste of time."

Even if he found more clothes, weapons, or supplies in the other buildings, they had probably already been destroyed as well. Unless he found high-level equipment, he would likely leave this fortress empty-handed.

High-level weapons and armor were extremely rare and expensive, but they were also much more durable than ordinary equipment. Time alone couldn’t easily destroy them.

He was about to leave the barracks when he noticed a broken mirror leaning against a wall. Only a few pieces of glass remained attached to the frame.

Walking closer, he wiped the dust from one of the larger shards with his ragged sleeve and looked at his reflection.

He almost didn’t recognize himself.

His hair had grown long and messy after years in the Wilds, and his face was covered by a thick beard. Dirt covered his skin, while his clothes were torn and stained from countless battles and days spent traveling through the wilderness.

After staring at his reflection for several seconds, he reached into his backpack and pulled out the special knife he had purchased shortly before entering the Wilds, using almost all of his remaining savings.

It was one of the few high-level items he had owned, and despite years of use, the blade remained sharp and difficult to damage.

Using it, he carefully cut away his beard and shortened his hair until he looked much more presentable.

After finishing, he looked at his reflection again.

His black hair was now short, and although he was still covered in dirt, his face was recognizable again. He had always been considered handsome, and even after spending years surviving in the Wilds, that had not changed.

What had changed was his expression.

The cheerful and energetic young man who had once been praised by everyone had disappeared. His eyes were colder now, and the hardships he had experienced had hardened his expression, giving him the appearance of a soldier who had spent years fighting on a battlefield.

He couldn’t help but smile slightly.

"At least I’m still handsome."

Leaving the barracks, he entered the ruined building beside it. Several large holes had formed in its walls, making it easy to enter.

After looking around, he quickly realized that it had once been an armory.

The room was enormous, with hundreds of weapon and armor racks extending from the entrance all the way toward the other side. Unfortunately, almost every rack was empty, leaving only a few racks closer to the entrance with equipment still resting on them.

Walking deeper into the room, he examined what remained.

There was a spear, a sword, a heavy hammer, an axe, and a bow.

Bringing out his system, he examined each weapon.

[Iron Spear - Uncommon.]

[Iron Sword - Uncommon - Enchanted.]

[Iron Hammer - Uncommon.]

[Iron Axe - Uncommon.]

[Wooden Bow - Uncommon - Enchanted.]

Chris’s eyes lit up.

Thankfully, all of them were equipment he could use.

Even though he possessed a Mythic-rank talent, he had never managed to tame a single beast, which meant he had been unable to increase his level rapidly like other Beast Tamers.

A person’s class dictated how they could increase their level.

As a Beast Tamer, he needed to tame wild beasts in order to progress, but because every contract attempt had failed, he had been stuck at the same stage for years.

Through years of hunting and surviving in the Wilds, he had still managed to reach Level 9 by gaining experience from killing wild beasts, but Level 9 had become a hard cap for him. If he wanted to reach Level 10 and undergo his first evolution, he needed to tame a beast.

As a Level 9 Beast Tamer, he could only wield weapons up to Rare rank. Anything above that was useless to him for now.

He had used a bow for a long time when he first entered the Wilds, but the weapon had eventually broken after he was attacked by a group of wild beasts, and he had barely escaped with his life.

Finding another usable bow immediately caught his interest.

Picking up the sword and bow, he examined their enchantments with his system.

...

[Iron Sword - Uncommon - Enchanted.]

[Attack: 40.]

[Enchantment: Recall I, Bleed I.]

[Recall I: User can recall the weapon to his hand from a distance of 20m.]

[Bleed I: Afflicts the target with the Bleed status effect, dealing 5% of the weapon’s Attack as damage per second for 5s.]

...

[Wooden Bow - Uncommon - Enchanted.]

[Attack: 40.]

[Enchantment: Recall II.]

[Recall II: User can recall the weapon to his hand from a distance of 50m.]

...

’I hit the jackpot!’

He had initially expected to find an elemental enchantment or something similar, but this was even better.

Weapons with the Recall enchantment were extremely rare. Not even one in a thousand enchanted weapons possessed the ability, yet he had somehow found two of them in the same room.

The enchantment would be incredibly useful in a dangerous battle. If he was forced to drop his weapon or throw it away during a critical moment, he could simply recall it back to his hand from a distance.

The Bleed effect on the sword was also useful. It could inflict an additional 10 points of damage over five seconds on top of the sword’s original 40 Attack.

He was extremely satisfied with the two weapons and decided to take them.

Turning toward the armor racks, he found that he didn’t have nearly as many choices.

Only five pieces of armor remained, and four of them were heavy metal armor that was unsuitable for him. The final one was a set of black leather armor.

He approached it and examined it with his system.

[Light Leather Armor - Uncommon.]

[Block: 40.]

’Excellent! Finally, some clothes to wear, and it’s even light armor.’

He quickly tossed his ragged clothes into his backpack. Even though they were barely usable, the cloth could still be useful for bandages or other purposes.

Putting on the black leather armor, pants, and boots, he watched as the equipment immediately adjusted its shape to fit his body.

Taking the sword and its scabbard, he attached them to his waist. He then took the bow and arrow holder, which contained ten arrows, and secured it to his back.

Happily, he left the armory.

Today had turned out to be a very good day. After spending years struggling to survive with almost nothing, he had finally obtained a proper sword, a bow, and a set of armor, all of which were far better than the equipment he had been using before.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t take everything else with him. There was simply no way for him to carry other weapons and pieces of armor through the Wilds.

Chris looked toward the enormous castle-like structure standing in the center of the ruined fortress.

He had spent the morning searching through the outer buildings, and the massive castle was the final place he wanted to investigate.

Adjusting the sword at his waist and making sure his bow was secure on his back, he began walking toward it.

He hadn’t gone very far when a strange smell reached his nose.

Stopping for a moment, he looked around and tried to identify it. The scent was faint, but as he continued toward the castle, it gradually became stronger.

Soon, he noticed something lying on the ground near the castle walls.

It was a pile of beast droppings.

His expression changed slightly as he approached and crouched down to examine them.

Some of the droppings were old and dried, but others looked considerably fresher.

Very fresh.

Judging by their condition, some of them couldn’t have been more than a day old.

That was strange.

He had spent years tracking beasts through the Wilds and had become familiar with the tracks, nests, markings, and droppings of countless species. Usually, he could identify a beast from its traces alone.

But he couldn’t identify these.

The shape and appearance were unfamiliar, and there were several differences between the older and newer droppings that made it even harder to determine what kind of beast had left them.

He slowly stood up and looked around.

A feeling of unease began to spread through him.

There were no signs of beasts anywhere else in the fortress, yet the area around the castle contained fresh droppings.

His gaze slowly moved upward.

At first, he thought the dark shapes on top of the castle were simply parts of the ruined structure, but after focusing on them for several seconds, he realized what they were.

Nests.

There were many of them scattered across the upper sections of the castle.

Even from this distance, their appearance was strange. He had seen countless beast nests during his years in the Wilds, but he had never encountered anything resembling these.

His expression became serious.

The realization came quickly.

This wasn’t just an abandoned castle.

It was the territory of flying beasts.

He had entered their territory without realizing it.

The beasts had probably left the fortress sometime yesterday to hunt, which explained why he hadn’t encountered any of them after arriving.

But if they had left to hunt... They could return at any moment.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind...

*ROAR!*

A distant roar echoed through the fortress, and his entire body tensed.

Turning around, he looked toward the distant sky and saw several enormous beasts approaching from far beyond the fortress walls.

More and more appeared behind them.

They were flying toward the castle.

Even from this distance, their enormous size was impossible to miss. Their bodies resembled those of serpents, long and thick, but each one possessed a pair of massive wings that carried them through the sky.

Chris’s face turned pale as he watched the flock rapidly approaching.

"Fuck!"

There was no time to think about why such creatures lived here.

Turning around, he rushed toward the castle.

The outer wall had several large cracks and collapsed sections, providing an opening wide enough for him to enter. He quickly slipped through the broken wall and pressed himself against the inside, hoping the ruined structure would conceal him from the approaching beasts.

The sound of the enormous wings grew louder as the flock drew closer.

"Damn it! You’ve got to be kidding me... I need to hide fast."