God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Cain plunged the heavy blade in his hand into the squirming back of a {Crimson Direwolf}. The life in the struggling creature's eyes was snuffed out, and its muscles relaxed.

Letting out a deep sigh, Cain ignored the system notification and bent down to scour through the corpse at his feet.

'Lucky...' He pulled a bright red gem from the chest of the corpse and brought it closer to his face for inspection.

'Not bad... Grade 8 blood mana shard.'

Shaking his head, the gem disappeared from his hands. All around him were the corpses of more than a few creatures. The corpse of a larger {Crimson Direwolf} stood at the entrance of a cave its majestic head blown apart, its initial features unrecognizable.

Cain felt a shiver run down his spine as he saw what Jenny's bullets could do. Thanking his lucky stars that they weren't enemies, he limped toward the cave.

His body was all torn up, and despite the help of the {Weak Blood Carapace}, his regenerative abilities were not nearly enough.

Shaking his head, Cain checked his spoils...

A few mana shards, some potions, and a basic rune that was of little use to Cain. There was also a strange arrow he had gotten from defeating a special-grade creature known as a {Wither Beast}.

The creature carried a strange rot that destroyed any living cells it came in contact with, and the arrow it had produced wasn't much different.

***

{Whisper of Wither}: Weapon (Special)

Type: Arrow.

Skills: Purge of Decay.

Description: There is no good thing in decay as it is the harbinger of death. It consumes all life just as it will be consumed one day.

Purge of Decay: This arrow inflicts a rippling rot onto a target. The power of the rot is proportional to half of the host's magic stats.

***

Cain stared at it for a while before placing it carefully into his {Armament Armory}.

Susan and Jenny were already spotted in the cold, damp cave, awaiting his return. They had been resting in the cave when a group of wild aether beasts began making their way there. Since they were moving fast, Cain and the girls were unable to escape in time and were forced to fight.

The melee was quick but brutal. The direwolves fought like their lives were on the line, and that ferocity cost Cain a lot. His armor did a very good job protecting him, but it too was forced to bend and contort under the force of powerful jaws.

Despite all these, he had come out on top. He had won, but it didn't feel like a victory. Instead, he felt as though he was struggling to survive.

The aether was different from the normal world. The only similarity between both realms was the ashen clouds that covered the sky. Staring at the layers of pearly blanket, he fell into an ominous mood...

"That's the last of them," Cain said as he fell to the ground in a heap. Beads of sweat formed on his head as he fought the pain back.

"Stay still..." Susan said as she placed a hand on him and began treating his wounds. A soothing radiance danced from her palms and onto his wounds.

"Healing is becoming ineffective due to the severity of your wounds. Stop getting hit all the time!"

Despite her words, Cain could tell she was concerned. Despite the combined effort by him and Susan to heal his wounds, they grew in numbers and severity with every fight he had, which was getting too frequent in his opinion. His stamina and mana reserves were also getting low. His regeneration rate was just too slow.

'Swinging that blade all the time is really going number on me. I need to find a better weapon to use.'

The {Scale of the Abyssal Flame} was an exceptional weapon. The material used in its production was not only durable, but the skills attached to it made it so that any creature that met its edge was either split apart or crushed to pieces.

The only problem was the strain it had on his body and energy reserves. Using the sword swallowed his stamina even more than his Ki and devil essence. Although he couldn't track just how much devil essence he had, he could still tell it wasn't a lot. The worst part was that he didn't know how to increase it and could only rely on its passive regeneration.

Cain let out a chuckle but winced when Susan applied some pressure on his bleeding arm. Looking at him wallow in his pain must have been enough to satisfy her as she quickly continued healing him.

Letting a sigh out, he gritted his teeth through the pain. His eyes took on a darker shade as he transferred his senses to the {Dark Soul}.

Observing the world through the eyes of the {Dark Soul} was a bit weird. Its eyes weren't like that of a human. Everywhere was enveloped in a dark shade, and the only way for Cain to separate living beings from inanimate objects like rocks was the amount of light they gave off. The brighter the lights the more powerful they would be.

Inanimate objects had a slight radiant glow covering their bodies that outlined their shapes.

This quality made Cain understand why it was able to find and pursue him despite the darkness of the abyss. He could see in the perpetual darkness because of his devil eyes, but it still wasn't comparable to the unique eyes of the {Dark Soul}.

Seeing through its eyes, Cain gave it a mental command to move through the fragmented lands. Hiding in the shadows of the surrounding terrain made the {Dark Soul} almost unnoticeable, but it could still move across normally.

Well, as normal as a specter of darkness could be...

Cain began plotting their next course of action...

'The next one is covered with too many aether creatures. However, the alternative is finding a way to bridge the gap between those two. That... That would be impossible.'

Right now, Cain was faced with a dilemma...

He was being forced to choose between trying to bridge or cross a large gap between two medium-sized landmasses. The only problem was how wide this gap was. It was well beyond his range of metal manipulation, so that was a no-go as well. The only other path to move forward was even worse.

There was a large landmass situated to the right of the two medium-sized landmasses. Getting into it wasn't going to be an issue, but they would have to fight their way through the hordes of creatures that were perched there. There was no lack of them in terms of variety. From what he could see, there were aether beasts that could fly, run, and burrow.

And they occupied every nook and cranny of the place. Cain had no idea why they hadn't broken out into a fight of epic proportions considering that most aether creatures fought and killed one another quite often.

The only way through it was to fight to the other side, but Cain deemed it almost as difficult as trying to cross the divide between the two medium-sized landmasses.

Cain let out another sigh and sent another mental command to the {Dark Soul}.

'What a headache...'

Right now, he was torn between the two decisions. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how impossible it would be to cross the divide between the two medium-sized landmasses. The divide was just as large as a large-sized landmass.

Which meant, he only had one option from the beginning.

'Damn it!' Cain cursed and gritted his teeth internally.

He then turned to look at Jenny and Susan. Taking a deep breath, he relayed their situation in a heavy voice. Seeing the dark looks on their faces made him feel cold inside, but he knew he couldn't keep any information from them even if he wanted to...

"This... This is bad." Jenny said with a tired sigh.

They had been fighting for a long time and were in dire need of rest. Jumping into another battle would undoubtedly end up with them dead.

"I think we should circle back and return to our original path. We might be able to find better paths to take." Susan said coldly.

Cain simply shook his head, "That will take too much time."

"Then what do you have in mind?" Susan said with a raised brow.

Cain smiled and shrugged, "We need rest first of all... We can't do anything until we have gotten some, at least."

A look of relief appeared on the faces of the two girls,

"Yes! I think we should rest as well!"

"Rest is very important..."

Cain fought the urge to laugh back...

Shaking his head, he got up from where he was seated,

"You guys should have some rest. I'll take first watch."

Without even waiting for them to protest, Cain moved out of the cave with terrifying agility. In the blink of an eye, he was gone...

***

Standing on top of the cave, Cain's eyes were darker than usual. An excited grin was on his face as well. The {Dark Soul} had finally set its eyes on the aether beast he had been stalking for a while.

'Soon... Very soon...'

With a smile, Cain sat and crossed his legs while activating {Emblem of Darkness}. That way, his chances of being disturbed while busy would be reduced.

He pulled a giant gem from his inventory and placed it on his lap. The crystal produced a fiery glow, and the world around him seemed a bit brighter and hotter the moment it manifested into reality.

'Time to call on support...'