Deep in the ancient forest of West Virginia.
"ROOOAR!"
The mutated three-fingered freak let out a savage bellow after its transformation.
The sound wave shook dust from the rafters of the wooden shack.
Nina, still tied to the chair, twisted in agony as blood trickled from her ears. Her head was filled with nothing but a high-pitched ring.
The creature spread its massive arms like a raging grizzly and charged straight at Soren, clearly trying to crush him in a deadly embrace.
Every step it took made the floor tremble.
Soren stepped back, demonic power surging from his body. In mid-air it condensed into a glowing purple giant hand that clamped down hard on the charging freak.
"Huh?"
He frowned. The ghost hand that had never failed him before was meeting serious resistance—this thing's body felt like a solid iron ball.
His shotgun appeared in his grip again.
BOOM!
Silver bullets wrapped in demonic energy slammed into the monster's chest, sinking deep into its flesh.
The creature didn't even grunt. It simply clapped one huge hand over the wound.
Black mist immediately rose from the bloody antlers on its head, flowing rapidly toward the injury. The wound sizzled and smoked. Moments later the deformed muscles wriggled and pushed the bullets out. The damage was already healing.
"Tanky bastard," Soren muttered.
His eyes quickly scanned the creature's body, focusing on the fleshy antlers and the way the wounds had reacted. His expression turned serious.
No wonder they used to call certain demons "antler freaks."
The purple giant hand suddenly tightened.
But instead of attacking, Soren used the monster as an anchor and yanked himself forward at insane speed.
The three-fingered freak saw its prey rushing straight into its arms. Its dinner-plate-sized hands swung down with terrifying force.
Right before impact, Soren lightly stepped off the air and vaulted over the creature's head.
As he sailed past, both hands locked onto the slimy, blood-covered antlers.
SLAM!
The monster's palms crashed together in front of it, sending a shockwave that blasted wooden planks and dust everywhere.
Still in mid-air, Soren gripped the antlers with all his strength. He planted both feet hard on the monster's back and poured demonic power into his arms. Two massive purple hands overlaid his own.
"SCREEECH!"
The creature shrieked in agony as pain exploded from its skull. The sound was enough to make anyone's hair stand on end.
It reached up with thick arms, trying to rip Soren off its back.
Soren braced his legs, twisted his core, and put every ounce of strength into one violent pull.
"Get… the hell… OUT!"
With a sickening wet tearing sound, he ripped both antlers out by the roots—along with chunks of dark brain matter still attached.
The moment it lost its power source, the giant body deflated like a popped balloon, collapsing into a stinking pile of rotten flesh.
[Ding!]
[Mutated Freak Killed. Points Awarded: 300]
[Current Points: 5,000]
Soren's eyes lit up at the notification. He didn't even bother catching his breath.
He turned toward the few remaining deformed freaks in the cabin and gave them a friendly smile.
Nina's brain had completely blue-screened.
She had just watched one of those ugly freaks die, come back to life as a terrifying monster… and then watched this Asian guy brutally rip its antlers and half its brain out in the most violent way possible.
Now the man was turning that same excited look toward the rest of the freaks.
As she watched them die one by one, part of her felt satisfied.
Another part of her was absolutely terrified.
Because after finishing off the last freak, Soren looked disappointed. He glanced around at the corpses like he still wasn't satisfied, then slowly turned his head toward her.
Nina's heart seized. She started thrashing wildly in the chair, tears streaming down her face.
Soren looked at her freaking out and raised an eyebrow.
What's she so scared of? I'm not a damn cannibal.
He felt a little deflated.
The remaining skinny freaks hadn't mutated when they died. It seemed to depend on how strong their bodies were. Only the three-fingered one had been sturdy enough to handle the demonic power. The rest were just trash that stayed dead.
He walked over to Nina and looked down at the woman still chained to the chair.
She stared up at him in pure terror. His lips moved, but all she could hear was constant ringing. Her eardrums had been blown out by the monster's roar earlier.
"Never mind," Soren sighed.
He shook his head and broke the spiked chains off her.
Judging by her cheap clothes, she was probably just another unlucky tourist.
Poor people shouldn't make life harder for each other.
Without another word, Soren turned and left the wooden shack.
The deeper he went into the forest, the more twisted the surroundings became.
It was supposed to be spring—everything should've been blooming—but the ground was covered in thick layers of dead leaves. The trees were pitch black, completely bare, with no green in sight.
Soren slowed his pace and carefully observed the environment.
Every so often, he saw hollowed-out corpses hanging from the bare branches high above. Some were animals. Others were humans still wearing modern clothes.
All of them had been killed horribly. Many still showed clear bite marks.
His eyes narrowed. This looked like some kind of territorial marking—warnings left by a beast to scare off outsiders.
Further along, he noticed the same strange rune carved into almost every tree trunk.
The symbol was simple: a closed diamond shape with the bottom lines extending outward, forming something that looked like a fish (ᛟ).
Soren stopped and studied the rune for a while, thinking.
No idea what it means.
He kept moving. Not long after, a lonely wooden cabin appeared ahead.
Rotting wooden posts were scattered around it. The place had clearly been abandoned for years.
He pushed open the door. A wave of stench hit him immediately.
In the center of the room stood a creepy scarecrow facing the entrance.
It had no head. Both arms were raised above where its head should be, in a surrender pose.
Instead of hands, twisted tree branches grew from the ends of its arms. From a distance, they looked exactly like bloody antlers.
Soren frowned. It looked strangely familiar.
But scarecrows like this showed up in pretty much every horror movie. He couldn't immediately place which evil god it was supposed to represent.
"Tch."
He rubbed his brow and decided not to overthink it. After thoroughly searching the cabin, he found no clues about the demon and almost no signs of recent human activity.
He returned to the scarecrow for one more look.
That's when his foot suddenly pressed down on a loose floorboard.
He pried it up.
A set of stairs leading underground was revealed.