1. Prologue (His Past) - 6. The Hunting Ground

Rose walked along tall and dense trees, trying to find a way out. The forest condition was dark so she had a hard time to see which direction she was walking to. To be honest, she didn't think she could be trapped in this forest because she thought she would get into the city after crossing the fence.
'Tonight is truly extraordinary! After I struggled to escape from that annoying party, now I'm lost in the forest. Is there anything worse than this? ' Somehow she regretted her reckless decision.

In that dark forest, suddenly, scary howls accompanied by clattering footsteps came. In a few seconds, she was surrounded by a group of Shadow Wolves.

'Shadow Wolves? What are they doing in the middle of the city? Is Asteria's security really that bad? And they are this peace alliance leader? What a joke. ' Shadow Wolf was a monster that resembled a black furry wolf. Its bite could cause its victims insane.

The monsters growled, showing their sharp teeth and began to approach her. She retreated slowly until her back hit a large tree. Her eyes swept around her, trying to find a way out but nothing.
'Well ... this is definitely worse than before.'

Suddenly one of them jumped to her, she pulled out her Nightkiss, her beloved whip that tucked inside her dress and slashed it towards the monsters. In an instant, one of the monsters fell accompanied by a groan of pain and didn't move again after a foam flowed out from its mouth due to the poison in her whip.

She attacked them again with her whip, killing several of them. While the rest fled in terror. A sigh of relief came out of her mouth. Luckily, though she was a princess she could fight well. Rebellion often occurred in her kingdom and she was the only heir of her family. So rather than remain a weak princess, she decided to start taking her family responsibility as the Kingdom of Zephyrus' protector.

Her feet moved again, hoping to find a way out soon. But a few minutes later, a big monster came to her. This time it was shaped like a bear, but three times bigger than the original one, on its back there were sharp spikes that were a half meter long, its sharp fingernails gripped the ground.

'What kind of monster is this? I've never seen it before. ' Even though she could fight well, she was not a monster expert. After all, she faced rebels more often than monsters.

Without wasting time, she attacked it with her whip. But it seemed her attack didn't affect it.
'Why my poison can't paralyze it?'

The monster roared angrily and attacked her with its claws. She dodged as she kept moving her hand, attacking the monster with her whip, but in vain. After several slashes, suddenly, the monster shot its spikes towards her. She wasn't ready for this, she could only close her eyes, waiting for the spikes to penetrate her body.

But the spikes never reached her, instead, she could hear clashing sounds.

-Ttrak, ttrak, ttrak --trak, ttrak

She opened her eyes slowly and could see the spikes had broken and scattered on the ground. In front of her, a man holding a sword stood before her. That man had dark hair and wore a white Asterian royal blazer. She was shocked.
'He broke all these spikes in an instant?'

Angel continued to follow in her footsteps. Suddenly, he heard howls accompanied by crashing sounds. He ran towards the origin of the sound as fast as he could and found several Shadow Wolves' corpses.

He approached them to examine it.
'They all died with only one scratch and a mouth full of foam. Is she a poison master? '

Soon, he heard another roar. He ran following the origin of the sound and could see the girl was fighting with a Fiend Bear from a distance.

The monster shot its spikes at her. Quickly, he jumped in front of her as he pulled out his sword and broke all the spikes before reaching her. He glanced at her a moment to make sure she was fine before he turned his attention back to the monster in front of him.
'This monster is too dangerous, I have to take her out of here.'

He noticed a large tree to the right of that monster.
'I have no choice but to try it.'

Angel moved forward as fast as he could and the monster swung its claw towards him. Before its claw reached him, he jumped out to the side, making the trunk his foothold to jump higher and swung his sword.

A groan of pain echoed throughout the forest as his attack had succeeded in injuring the monster's eyes.

Without wasting time, Angel retreated, grabbed the girl's hand and took her away.

They ran through the trees as fast as they could, but strangely the roar behind them kept getting closer.

"That monster is too fast!" she said in a panic.

He stopped his steps as he saw a large hole under the tree.
"Hide here."

She quickly got inside the hole. Meanwhile, he swung his sword up to the tree before jumping in. Soon several branches fell, covering their hiding place.

Note : Whip description is in Glossary

Fiend Bear is one of the dreaded monsters, shaped three times bigger than the original bear. Its skin is hard and thick like a rhino, its claws are very long and sharp and its deadly weapon is the spikes that reach half a meter long on its back. The spikes contain poison that can paralyze its victims in an instant. Even though its body is big, its speed is equivalent to a cheetah.