Birth Of The Crafts-God

Among the hundreds of desolate beast domains that filled the planet of Eretre, only seven were renowned enough to be recognised by all thirteen city-states. These seven locations were termed as the Seven Cursed Graveyards, with the word 'Graveyard' implying that entering these regions was the same as handing over one's life and death to fate. Even a ninth level Apertures Opening stage practitioner did not have full confidence in being able to enter the core areas of these places and come out alive.

The Seven Cursed Graveyards weren't equally distributed among the four continents; three of the four continents had five Cursed Graveyards, while the remaining two were located in the ocean.

The Beast continent alone had three Cursed Graveyards, two of which were Class S desolate beast domains with the last one being of Class A.

The Forsaken Void Expanse was one of the Seven Cursed Graveyards located on the Beast continent, and it was a Class S desolate beast domain. What this meant was that the desolate beast domain could threaten an entire city-state if all the beasts inside of it were to suddenly go on a rampage. There was also the confirmed existence of a few tenth level desolate beasts and a possible existence of an eleventh level beast.

Such a force was well capable of vanquishing a city-state, after all, the average strength of a city lord was only at the tenth level of the Apertures Opening stage.

The Forsaken Void Expanse got its name from its unique appearance which made one think of the void in space.

On the outer edges of the cursed graveyard, the soil was coloured grey. The texture of the soil was also hard and dried up, almost like a dried clay. Atop the grey soil were grey coloured trees all around. There were various species all over with some resembling the Mesquite and Palo verde trees back on Earth, except that they had grey-coloured leaves.

However, the outer regions of the Forsaken Void Expanse wasn't a forest of grey trees, but more like a savanna.

This environment continued for hundreds of kilometres until a certain point where a 'white line's existed. In truth, this white line was actually just a plot of land that separated the outer region from the inner region. On this land that extended about three hundred kilometres long, the soil was white and rocky with no trees present. It was simply a white rock desert that contrasted with the grey outer region and the black inner region.

The inner region, was the total opposite of the outer region. Not only was the soil black in colour, but it was also loose and a bit moist in comparison to the outer region. There were also more trees here making the region appear to be a forest. However, just like the grey outer region, the trees in the inner region were all black willow and oak trees with black leaves.

If there was one thing the inner region had in common with the outer region, it was that the height and sizes of the trees were absurd. Even the shortest tree in the two regions was at least twenty metres tall (65.6 feet). The average height of the trees here was seventy metres (229.7 feet) and the tallest tree was at least two hundred metres tall (656 feet); taller than the 41 storey Gherkin in London.

With such tall heights, it was only natural for the trunks of these trees to be incredibly thick to support their growth. Many of the trunks of these trees were so wide that they would require at least four men to wrap around them.

The uniqueness of the Forsaken Void Expanse created a bizarre niche and biodiversity.

The combination of the strange soil topography and texture together with the absurdly tall dark coloured trees that shielded the land from the sun, made the Forsaken Void Expanse seem like a 'dead' land from an aerial point of view. Hence the name, the Forsaken Void Expanse.

Just as birds die for food, men die for riches.

As such, even though the Forsaken Void Expanse was an eerie danger zone, it was occasionally frequented by some daring freelancers and pioneers. This was especially so for citizens of the two city-states located on the Beast continent.

At this time, in the depths of the outer region of this perilously location, a battle was taking place. It was between a team of freelancers and a large desolate beast. The desolate beast was five metres tall, easily dwarfing the team of freelancers. However, in this land where the shortest tree was already four times its height, it wasn't anything special.

The depths of the outer region was slightly different from the edges. This was because the closer one got to the white 'line', the more trees they would find.

The current location of the two parties was just a few kilometres away from the white line, and so, they were shielded from the sun by the towering grey trees. However, sunlight found its way down below through the sparse spaces between the leaves, enabling one to be able to retain their vision albeit poorly.

But for stellar practitioners, this wasn't a problem. Even if the entire place was dark, there was still the option of using night vision goggles.

"Graa!"

The beast growled at the team of five freelancers who were fitted in grey tactical battle suits.

It had the body of a primate but covered in a mix of grey and black hairs that were twice as long as the arm of an adult. A long black tail that slithered around like a snake was attached to its rear end. Its eyes were like that of a lemur, except they had a peculiar crazy look hint a hint of violence with them.

At the monster's arms were hands and feet similar to a gorilla's, but with elongated nails that resembled claws. On its mouth were three pairs of fangs; two that dropped from the left and right side of its upper jaw with the final pair jutting upwards from the central area of its lower jaw.

The creature looked like an abomination that frequented one's nightmares, but the team of five freelancers, it was a dangerous target that was equally valuable.

It was a desolate beast known as a grey Púcaí.

"Condo, ensure that the monster doesn't get away." A man who looked like the leader of the group yelled out.

"Roger."

"Neslie. Provide cover fire and be on the lookout for predators."

"Okay, boss."

"Coco, Loffi, with me."

"Alright." Two voices responded at the same time.

The leader of the group suddenly lunged at the monster with a vestige in hand. The vestige looked like a great sword with jagged edges like a chain-saw blade. It shone with a mysterious red light and the man brandished it at the Púcaí.

"Die."

The creature let out a shrill cry as it swung its right claw at the blade.

*Clang*

The sound of metal clashing with metal resounded in the area as the man's assault was successfully blocked by the monster. Its claws remained intact even after going head-to-head with a Grade 3 vestige. Furthermore, even though he was the one who had launched the attack, the man seemed to be losing ground against the monster.

It could be seen that if the battle was a 1-v-1, it would be difficult for the man to get the upper hand against the Púcaí. Fortunately for the man, that wasn't the case.

Two shadows flickered from the left and right sides of the monster as the two combatants —Coco and Loffi— suddenly appeared a few metres away from it.

Coco was a lady and she held a pair of black daggers in her hand that gleamed with a deadly light. As for Loffi, he was a 2.3m (7 feet 6 inches) 'giant' that held a pair of axes that were half his height.

The two combatants swung their weapons at the Púcaí, aiming at its blind-spots as it was occupied with their leader.

"Kraa!"

The weapons tore through the monster's fur and landed on its skin, eliciting a painful cry from the monster.

However, the vestiges weren't able to dig deep and only created a shallow cut in the creature.

Not satisfied, the duo wanted to execute a second move, but the Púcaí reacted quickly.

It shoved away the middle-aged man in front of it before turning to its right side. In the process of doing so, it attacked Loffi with its left claw and swung its tail at Coco who was at its left side.

*Bam*

*Clang*

Coco was thrown out by the tail while Loffi, who reacted to block its claws with his axe, was also sent flying.

The Púcaí wasn't satisfied with just shoving away the attackers as it prepared to lunge at Loffi who was now positioned in front of it.

*Bang*

A gunshot sounded like a peal thunder, but before the Púcaí could even react to the sound, its right eye was pierced by a bullet.

"Kraaa!"

The monster cried out in pain as it began to flip around and rampage about.

"Retreat."

The leader called out, prompting Loffi and Coco to distance themselves from the monster.

Neslie, who made the shot, hurriedly changed his position before the monster could recover from the pain.

After the Púcaí got used to the pain, it growled and turned in the direction of the shot, but didn't see anyone.

Infuriated, it immediately turned around and attacked the first figure it saw, who just happened to be the leader of the group.

*Bam*

The monster's claws swung down at the man but was blocked by the toothed-blade.

However, the force from the attack was too much for the man as his knees slightly bent —almost breaking from the force abruptly channeled into them. The hardened grey soil underneath the man's legs sink by three inches as the man held on.

"Boss!"

The team cried out.

"I'm fine. Focus!" The man yelled as he burst out with his full strength.

The energy of a six level stellar practitioner burst out completely from the man as he forced away the claw of the beast.

But just as he did so, its free claw suddenly zoomed in an swatted the man away.

"Nolan!" Coco screamed as she watched him get flung away like a rag by the monster.

The other members of the team were both worried and stunned. Who could believe that a sixth level stellar practitioner was suffering this badly under the hands, or claws, of a peak sixth level desolate beast?