Alliance of Hunters

With the wind in his stride, Anselm charged directly at the Ghost Ape with a smile across his face.

'I can't fight the Ghost Ape head on. With a beast like this, its weakness lies in disrupting its balance and catching it off guard.'

As Anselm approached the ape, a white fist came crashing down from above him. The ape's fist was so powerful that it separated the wind in its path.

'Too slow.'

In that instant, he swiftly sidestepped and dodged the attack. The ape's fist made contact with the ground, shockwaves sending the dirt and dust that covered the surface flying into the air.

In the instant that the ape had yet to retract its fist, Anselm sprinted faster than he ever had before and on one foot leapt forward. Putting his entire body weight and momentum from the jump into the attack, he slashed at the ape's right heel. The moment he landed, he twisted his body and leapt in the same direction he came from, slashing again at the back of the ape's heel with perfect precision.

Turning to look at the heel he attacked, the only thing Anselm could see was a light wound that seemed to do nothing more than shave the fur from that region. There was no blood nor deep cut.

'Damn it. The Ghost Ape's body is tougher than I expected. I'm still too weak to be able to cut deep enough and wound it heavily.'

As though it was staring at an annoying fly, the Ghost Ape coldly looked down on Anselm with its twisted face. Bringing its arms up, it started to alternately beat its chest with open hands like it were a war drum. In a rhythmic pattern, its speed gradually accelerated until with each strike, tremors travelled through the ground. Facing its gaze, Anselm pondered over the best way to defeat the ape.

'This must be one of its aura techniques. Now that I've entered Vitalisation, I can faintly detect a power rising inside the Ghost Ape. I need to finish this quickly before it reaches its peak state. Maybe I can interrupt its ability...'

Anselm darted towards the ape in an attempt to flank it and slash at a weak spot that he could injure with his current strength. After travelling a dozen metres, before he could charge any further, a powerful force sudden suddenly erupted from the Ghost Ape as it stopped pounding its chest.

Moments later, another white fist abruptly appeared in front of Anselm - the speed of it vastly exceeding that of when it attacked before. Although he could see the fist, his body was too slow to react.

The fist fiercely connected, completely overpowering him despite his futile attempt to dodge. He was sent flying and knocked dozens of meters backwards before colliding with a tree; the impact of his body on the tree injuring him even further.

'Such strength…'

After laying paralysed on the ground for a moment, Anselm struggled to rise to his feet as he coughed blood.

'I can't move well like this.'

Struggling to barely stand on two feet, he thought of how to deal with the current situation.

'I'm in no state to fight anymore. My organs have been damaged, a few of my bones broken, and…'

He looked down at his sword, or rather now part a sword.

'My sword broke from that last blow. I couldn't attack the Ghost Ape even if I were feeling suicidal right now.'

With blood leaking from his mouth, he looked at the ape ahead of him, a hint of confusion evident in his eyes. Walking towards the cave, its back faced him, leaving it vulnerable.

'So it thinks its attack has already killed me. Ha. It looks like I'm nothing to the ape. How stupid of me to think that I could fight a demonic beast with the measly new strength I gained. Time to leave.'

Anselm turned around and limped back into the forest. Although he wouldn't be able to navigate well, he really would die if he continued staying here. The moment the ape realised he was still alive would be the end of him.

Faltering through the forest, his injuries showed no signs of improving; they only seemed to worsen. With a pale face, blood still trickled from his mouth, staining the plants around him crimson red.

His eyes began to close as his vision turned blurry. Mustering any strength in his body, he faltered forward.

'No… I can't die here like this'

Taking a few more steps forward, his legs eventually gave way - his body crashing to the ground. On the forest floor, he was surrounded by an army of crimson-dyed vegetation. The forest was deathly quiet. Anybody who arrived here would be oblivious to the deadly battle that took place.

Gently, his eyelids covered his eyes - like curtains drawing shut at the end of a play.

In the moment before his eyes completely shut, a flash of blue suddenly engulfed his vision, disappearing nearly instantly.

After that, everything went black.

----------------------------------------------------

Opening his eyes unhurriedly, Anselm was greeted by the sight of nothing but darkness above him.

'Where am I?'

With little effort, he managed to pull his body up from the ground and stand on his two feet.

Inspecting his body, he shockingly found that there were no signs of any injuries.

'I've been completely healed?'

Confused, Anselm lifted his head and studied his surroundings. Everywhere he looked, there was nothing but darkness. Even as he turned his eyes to stare at his feet, he saw that there was nothing beneath him, yet he was standing perfectly fine.

'What is this place? Have I been sent to purgatory?'

He continued to inspect the void that he was sent to.

After what seemed like hours, Anselm caught sight of a light in the distance. Focusing his gaze, he could make out the silhouette of a person; however, as the figure approached, he noticed that it was more of a spirit. It floated instead of walked and it was pale azure in colour.

"Hello?" Anselm called out to it.

The spirit didn't respond.

He warily walked towards the spirit until they were separated by only a few meters

As he walked closer, he was shocked by what he saw: the ethereal figure was none other than a beautiful young woman. Her youth seemed to be everlasting as she looked at Anselm softly, a hint of love radiating from her gaze.

'Such a beautiful spirit, but what is she doing here?'

With a smile on her face, she gently spoke to Anselm, "You've had it tough, dear child."

Stammering, he replied, "I-I… Who are you? And where am I?"

The spirit let out a long sigh.

"Child, who I am is of no relevance. More importantly, for you to appear here means that you've died."

'I knew it…'

Anselm clenched his fists and tightly shut his eyes.

"No! I can't die here! I still need to live on and find my parents. I refuse to die without knowing why they left me!"

As Anselm said this, a mix of sadness and worry flashed through the spirit's gaze. She slowly approached him.

"You must be feeling terrible, child. Don't fret; you haven't died yet. Do you recall the ring on your finger?"

'I.. haven't died?'

Anselm looked down at his right hand and focused on the ebony ring, a smile forming on his face. Of course, he remembered it. This was the only item he had left to remember his parents - the only possession on him when he was abandoned in the village as a baby. With special exceptions, he rarely ever removed the ring from his finger.

"That ring is a powerful aura artifact - something that even Life Master warriors would envy. Within the ring, there exists a spatial dimension."

Shock surfaced on Anselm's countenance as he hastily looked up at the spirit, a warm smile still stretched across her youthful face.

"So, you mean to say…?"

"Yes. We are currently inside the ring; however, this is only one small part of it. The rest of the ring has been sealed off."

"So how do I unseal it? Or even leave this ring? I can't be stuck here forever."

"You have to become the true owner of the ring and make it acknowledge you. That is the first trial. The ring has brought your spirit into this place, but your physical body outside is still heavily injured. When your spirit leaves the ring without its protection, you will truly die.

My time here is drawing to an end. You will soon face a tough trial, but don't give up. The path to becoming a powerful warrior is not an easy one. Good luck and goodbye, child. You've grown so much…"

Slowly fading away, the final part of the spirit's words were muttered quietly so Anselm couldn't hear them.

"Wait! I still have more questions."

Anselm shouted as the spirit of the young woman faded away completely.

'I still don't understand what's really happening here. The spirit said that I have to face a trial before I could leave this place. Does that mean I'll die if I fail?

Thinking about the spirit, she was always smiling at me. Why was she in this ring anyway?'

Standing alone in the darkness, Anselm awaited the trial.