Fingers moved to tie a cloth over his eyes, stirring the air around him with a creeping chill.
He was tall, built like a force of nature, his presence radiating unshakable conviction. Ito could feel it—whoever held that sword did so with lethal grace and dangerous mastery.
"How could you blindfold yourself like that, when the Undead is already eager to tear you apart?" Ito whispered from behind the ravine, a scorching grassy hill lying between them.
[System Alert!]
[You must complete the mission!]
[Your Goldi will soon burn out!]
The system's voice slapped him like a wave of cold water. Reality snapped back—he was now an Official Blood Hunter, with duties to fulfill and Goldi to collect.
"This isn't normal... I can't remember my mission at all."
"Can you repeat my mission?" Ito asked, troubled by the sudden blank spots in his memory.
[Hellhunt System Activated]
[Mission: Collect Three Eyeballs]
[Target: Roto (Eye Monster)]
[Level / Threat Class: A]
[Location: Turv (Western Fire Crater)]
[Rewards]:
• 900 Goldi
• Monster Eye Orbs can enhance magic
"Alright. I'll finish this quickly."
Leaving the Forbidden Valley behind, a mix of unease and duty clung to Ito's chest. He glanced back once more, remembering that eerie scene that had made his skin crawl.
Reaching the Western Fire Crater was no easy feat for a Hunter who couldn't read a map. The escapees from Hell Prison hid in territories where no humans lived—though some managed to camouflage themselves among the masses. It was all a mystery, until someone received a mission tied to it. The system decided everything.
Sweat dripped from his forehead. "I can't take this anymore!"
Ito bundled up his outer clothes into a makeshift pack, tying it to the end of a long stick, leaving himself in just a shirt and shorts, trying to look like a wandering traveler.
'How can the system not know I can't read maps?'
He walked forward, brushing dry grass with his hands, unsure whether to turn or go straight. But every time he guessed, he was always right—never once had he been wrong.
"Be a lucky man, and you'll survive no matter where you are," he said to himself.
Without a second thought, Ito wandered on, humming softly.
A giant red post marked with the word "Turv" stood before him, as though welcoming his arrival. His footsteps halted as he gazed at the blazing crater in the distance.
"Looks like I'll have to use my magic in the fight later."
Ito passed under the red pillar, stepping into the fiery crater.
"Magic always drains me dry—unless I had a soul-eating pet or something. But where would I even find one of those? It's always the lucky ones who get the rare stuff."
He paused, glancing around warily. "As long as that Northern Hunter doesn't get it…"
"ITOOO...…"
A strange voice suddenly echoed his name, distant, like it came from the abyss.
"ITOOO...…"
Another voice followed. Ito turned in every direction, trying to locate its source.
"I'M WAITING FOR THE NORTHERN HUNTER… NOT YOU…"
The booming voice made Ito roll his eyes.
He needed to outwit whatever monster was lurking out there.
"You could fight me while you wait for the Northern Hunter. Sounds like a solid deal, doesn't it?"
The hot air continued to blow in waves against him, as if trying to scorch him where he stood.
"I'M WAITING FOR THE NORTHERN HUNTER… NOT YOU…"
The heat kept rising, biting into his skin like a thousand searing needles. Ito tore off the last of his clothes, now left only in shorts. A thick silence draped the air like a curtain.
'Damn it, this monster's heat feels like hell itself.'
Thinking fast, Ito devised another plan.
"I'm friends with the Northern Hunter, so… if you want to fight him, you'll have to go through me first."
He waited.
Silence.
"I'M WAITING FOR THE NORTHERN HUNTER… NOT YOU…"
Ito gritted his teeth in frustration and began picking up small rocks, hurling them in random directions to lure the monster out.
"I'm shirtless and ready to duel you!"
Then, the heavy voice vanished.
From behind the craggy rocks of the crater, a figure slowly emerged—moving without a sound, yet every step it took dried the ground beneath. It was massive, twice the size of a grown man, with three eyes aligned vertically on its face. All three began to open—red, yellow, and green—each with a living pupil, darting about hungrily in search of prey.
Ito took a deep breath.
"You call my name, then repeat the same sentence over and over. That's boring, you know?"
The creature froze. All three of its eyes locked onto him.
Without warning, the yellow eye flickered faintly. A ripple of heated wind unfurled from the monster's body, brushing against Ito's skin like a thin mist—painful despite its softness.
Ito raised his hand, shaping a circle with his fingers. An ancient chant slipped quietly from his lips.
'Creatures like this… can only be beaten with magic.'
"Yuruna shuuu… pierce the false eye with the sealing wind…"
The air around him began to stir—not loudly, but with deliberate rhythm. He didn't fight the heat head-on. Instead, he guided a soft current, his own conjured wind, to prod at the blind spots surrounding Roto.
As the wind crept toward Roto's face, the yellow eye began to tremble, sensing danger.
"One…" Ito whispered.
With a tiny motion—almost like blowing out a candle from afar—Ito pushed the magical wind through the narrow slit of the yellow eye. The Sealing Wind made Roto groan, not loudly, but like the sound of a breath caught in its chest. The yellow eye fogged up slowly, losing its function.
One eye down.
The Eye Monster stumbled a step back. It wasn't an attack—it was the retreat of a creature disoriented, unable to see.
"Still underestimating me?"
Ito grabbed a handful of dry dust from the scorched earth and whispered his second chant.
"Yuruni shuuu… reveal the fracture beneath your skin…"
The dust began to dance lightly before dispersing into the air, clinging to the creature's body. Ito spotted a small crack beneath the third eye—the green one.
The Sealing Wind now moved sharper, more precise, yet still invisible.
The green eye narrowed, catching the scent of approaching magic.
Roto trembled, then hissed deeply—but before it could act, the wind slipped in from below, creeping through the new fracture and striking the green eye from within.
The green eye slowly turned black.
"Two…"
Now only one remained—the red eye at the center of its forehead, staring unblinking from the very beginning.
Unlike the others, the red eye didn't blink.
It lived.
It remembered.
It hated.
Ito knew: to take that eye, the wind alone wouldn't be enough.
He sat cross-legged. His eyes closed. Left hand open, right hand forming a simple seal.
"I am not the Northern Hunter… but I hunt by the same will. If you can still hear me… then allow me to wield your forbidden magic."
Ito called upon the Forbidden Wind.
Ito's wind magic slowly transformed into a gentle vortex. It wasn't an attack—it was a coaxing breeze, like that moment before… "the seduction of time."
The red eye couldn't resist. And slowly… it weakened.
The monster froze. Its body stiffened.
Roto was finished.
One by one, its three eyes detached—falling to the ground, not with blood, not with a blast—but like petals, loosened by wind.
Ito rose again, breath heavy, body slick with sweat. But the three eyes now lay before him—intact and alive.
"Three…" he whispered, "...and in the end, you acknowledged me, even if I'm not him."
The three eyes rested before him. The red one looked at him one last time before its color faded, dimming like embers after a night-long fire.
Ito reached out and touched the green eye first. Its surface was slick, faintly warm, and felt like holding fragile dew. He picked it up carefully, placing it into a cloth pouch he pulled from his clothing bundle.
The yellow and red eyes followed. Each time he touched one, his body reacted—a subtle pressure rose up his neck, like whispers from creatures that once peeked into this world through the cracks of death.
Once all three were secured, the wind around him began to still. The heat withdrew too, as if its source had died with the creature.
Ito exhaled deeply and collapsed into a seated position.
"If every Eye Monster is like this, I will go insane," he muttered, utterly drained.
He tilted his head to the sky, letting the remaining wind wash over his face. His body bore small wounds and crimson scratches, but none were deep. He had survived.
Not by overwhelming power, but by understanding,They only needed to be met with patience and sensitivity.
'Just like how the Northern Hunter handled the Undead.'
Ito rose slowly, brushing dust and leftover heat from his shorts.
There was no body.
The monster wasn't dead, perhaps.
It had only surrendered its eyes… whether in defeat, or something else entirely.
Night had fallen when Ito found a shaded crevice between the rocks, just enough to rest. He lit a small fire using wind magic directed at dry twigs. The flame wasn't big—just enough to warm his body and bring a sense of safety.
"Tonight feels different. There's something in the air I can't quite grasp."
The three eyes he had brought—red, yellow, green—were wrapped in cloth and placed not far from him.
Even in the silence of the night, Ito felt like he was being watched. By the eyes themselves.
He unwrapped one—the yellow eye. A soft light shimmered faintly, even without any external magical source.
"Are you alive?" Ito asked softly.
And as if in response, the yellow eye pulsed gently, sending a wave of warmth into his palm.
Suddenly, in a flash, a vision passed through his mind.
He saw a snow-covered plain. Someone stood in the middle of a blizzard, wearing a long cloak with the symbol of the Northern Sky on their back.
Ito gasped.
The image vanished, but its cold lingered.
He looked at the three eyes as they began to resonate. Like three notes forming a chord, they hummed together, sending a subtle vibration through his chest. He quickly rewrapped them, but the effect didn't vanish right away.
His body shivered with heat and cold at once.
He stood and gazed at the night sky. The stars above appeared to shift, forming a strange pattern he didn't recognize. But deep in his chest, he knew—it wasn't random.
It was an ancient sigil, known only to senior hunters. A call that only appeared to those who had touched relics of high-level monsters.
"So, these aren't just eyes," Ito whispered.
"Why was the Eye Monster waiting for the Northern Hunter?"
As if trying to answer, the night wind curled around him, whispering something into his ear—a faint voice of a woman.
"Ito… Be careful…"
Hearing it sent chills through him. He tried to recognize the voice—foreign, and yet strangely familiar.
Then, suddenly, a small point of light appeared in the distance, drawing closer.
Ito prepared to cast a spell again, until he realized…