This is a multimedia webnovel with giant city-crushing monsters, a valiant man who dares to fight them, a hero who loses himself on a righteous path, and a darkness which conceives a profound love. But I suck at descriptions, so I strongly encourage...
"I don't know how long this is going to take," Hatasuko admitted as he stretched his aching legs.
"It doesn't matter. Hey, Vaida, I think there's a grove just south of here. Should be a lot of aterpomus trees in this region," Lazaro said.
Hatasuko saw a spark of joy flash across her face. Lazaro quickly walked away from the sail-ranae while staring intently at the ground, looking for more of the right-sized rocks. Hatasuko glanced away from his friends and stared at the small house near the end of the narrow peninsula. He saw a faint flicker of candlelight that pierced through the darkness, though it barely overcame the glow of the stars shining on the ocean's surface. He let out a tired sigh and started walking toward the home.
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"Thank you for doing this, Hatasuko. I am an optimist, or at the very least, I am an artificial optimist. But my darling Hayana has trouble seeing the beauty that hides itself in the world around us. I know that she's miserable. Our children have grown up and moved away, so I was the only thing she had left," Sokaido explained.
"Do you know how long you've been dead? A lot can change over time."
"I died in an attack over five years ago. Nobody expected the attack because the Interfecti struck less frequently back then. Besides, the Catena Islands had just been attacked in the year before that. I was trying to sell a boatload of piscileo when the monster appeared on the horizon. There were very few survivors. When islands are attacked, there isn't really a way to escape, so... everybody dies."
"I know. Even when my friends and I tried to save people on Catena Island One, a huge fraction was wiped out. How is there any beauty in that?" Hatasuko asked.
"Every time the Interfectus attacks, we learn a little more. Every time we learn, we quietly come closer to finding the secret to victory. That's what I tell myself, anyway."
Though there was some truth to this, Hatasuko knew that humankind was still far from finding a way to stop the monsters. In all available history, Lazaro was the only person who had ever inflicted a wound on the shadow demon, and it was a wound that easily regenerated. Hatasuko sighed from the hopelessness of his campaign, but he tried to clear his mind. He let out a quiet sigh as he walked up to the front door of the candlelit house. Sokaido's soul stood at the very edge of the vortex of agony.
"Hello! Is anyone there?" Hatasuko asked as he banged his fist against the door.
When Hatasuko took his hand off the door, he could hear strong winds blowing as weak waves crashed in the distance. He heard the quiet patter of footsteps moving inside the house. The footsteps came closer at first, but then they stopped altogether. The footsteps then slowly started moving away.
"Hayana, please open the door! I have a message from your husband."
The footsteps stopped once again. Hatasuko smiled when he heard the patter of her footsteps coming closer, but when she opened the door, she looked miserable. Her brown eyes were wet with tears. Her blond hair was shuffled into a mess. Though a candle and starlight illuminated the house, it still felt like a shrine to heartbreak.
