Bloodied rainwater covered the entire length of the ground underneath with the water level slowly rising constantly, making it harder and harder for the guards to keep their footing.
Due to the constant back and forth motion in the same place, they had started to dig themselves into a ditch little by little. The water was coming up to their ankles now and every step felt like they were stepping into quicksand, making it that much more difficult to move around freely.
They were at the end of their rope exhausted both mentally and physically.
The night was long, cold, and wet. There was an ocean of undead in front of them with no end in sight. They were tired, scared, hungry, and losing courage by the second.
Most of these guards had come to this planet accepting the harsh conditions of the three overseeing powers as a means of securing livelihoods and their futures. When, or rather if they managed to reach the Beast World alive, there would be many new opportunities waiting for them there.
Amin (CH 580) was one of the few individuals with the drive to want to go up in the world.
After a fortuitous meeting with an old cultivator that was at the end of his life, he managed to get his hands on a cultivation manual and enough resources to reach the Earth Realm after more than five years of effort.
Wanting to get even stronger, he accepted the offer of the Academy and left his ailing mother in the Beast World in the hopes of catching a lucky break but after spending more than 6 standard months here he realized that was far from the case.
They were mere errand boys, guards, and watchdogs for these rich princes and princesses that were either too bored or simply too lazy to do such menial tasks themselves.
The undiscovered utopia he was looking forward to exploring was nowhere to be seen. Instead, he had to act as a prison guard for the locals that were traded and sold like cattle. And now, somehow, they had turned into these monstrous creatures.
Amin felt like he was living out someone else's nightmare in real life, the only difference being that he couldn't just wake up and find himself back home, back in that small village where he had to do hard labor from sunrise till sunset and fall asleep tired and happy, with a smile on his face.
Where his mother's homecooked meals would be waiting for him every time he went home and where his childhood sweetheart would wait for him under the old tree every night to talk about mundane and boring things that he wouldn't remember the next day.
It wasn't much but it was a good life. And now here he was here...
Standing in muddy, bloody water, injured and tired from all the fighting, having lost almost everyone he had come to know including the old cultivator that had taught him everything, surrounded by horrible things.
He screamed and shouted, bitting down on his lips and drawing enough blood to fill a bucket but no matter how hard he tried, there was no waking up from this nightmare.
"I wanna go back," he cried, using his old metal sword to shakily hold back the snarling undead creatures that filled his heart with fear.
"I want to see mom, to sleep in my own bed, to get a single night's sleep without worrying about anything else. I want to see the sun every time I wake up and I want to see it set. IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?!" he sobbed, talking to himself.
"I don't want to die!" silent sobs turned into full-blown weeping but even then barely anyone other than the guards that were right next to him could hear it.
"RAAUGH!" an undead right in front of his face roared, scaring him even more. Maybe it was able to feel his despair or maybe it just wanted to help him achieve the peace he was looking for.
It grabbed his sword and pushed it down slowly.
Amin's legs finally gave way and he willingly loosened the grip around the sword, letting it fall from his grasp. It was better to just give up. What was the point of fighting?
Amin closed his eyes and opened his arms, embracing the snarling undead that was trying to bite his head off. Yet the pain he had prepared himself for didn't come. He opened his eyes halfway and noticed the unmoving corpse of the undead creature.
He pushed it away and noticed its missing head.
"What?" he mumbled, stupefied.
Amin looked behind him and saw Hao Xuan standing there with his eyes closed. A devilish smile adorned his face as he licked his lips with an expression of pure bliss.
Time seemed to have slowed down for Amin. He noticed Hao Xuan opening his eyes in slow motion, those green pupils corrupted with a tinge of red looking at him with an intoxicated look.
"So....hungry..." his words shook Amin to the core making him take a step back towards the undead.
Right now, he was more afraid of Hao Xuan than the hordes of undead monsters that were a mere arms length away.