OREN

Oren is an agility-based ranger hero of the Lightbearer faction. He deals damage at a long range and uses Berserk to teleport and butcher enemies.

Blood. Blood everywhere.

The boy could not tell whether it the was crimson stream pouring from his own forehead blinding his vision, or if the entire village had truly been painted in gore. A vicious tentacle pierced his father's abdomen, lifting him high into the air before slamming him violently onto the sacrificial altar. Another tentacle whipped outward, slicing open his mother's skin to carve a terrifying, inverted triangle into her flesh.

"Got one missing." The hunter's footsteps were drawing closer.

The boy had no strength left to flee. As he slipped toward unconsciousness from blood loss, his fading mind drifted back to a pheasant he had once hunted. He remembered cutting its throat with his dagger, the hot blood had gushed forth, soaking the parched dirt; how it had thrashed endlessly until, at last, it lay still.

Just as the boy had given up all hope, a blinding light pierced the sky, plunging directly into the Hypogean's heart. The priests of the temple chanted in unison as a magic circle trapped the demon within. Yet the Hypogean remained fixed upon the boy. Its four tentacles writhed against the barrier, desperate to break through and complete the final mark.

Struggling to his feet, the boy quietly dragged his battered body away from the scene. He knew the priests hadn't come to save him. None of them would be willing to save a Sinmarked bearing the Mark of Sin upon his brow. They had merely come here to hunt the Hypogean. And perhaps, once it was slain, they would come for him next.

By sheer luck, the boy survived and was taken in by a band of underground outcasts. But their hideout was soon discovered, and the entire band was massacred by the cultists. After venturing outside and narrowly escaping death, the boy was devastated to find himself surrounded by blood and corpses once again. In a daze, he noticed an inverted triangle hidden in a corner: the Martyr's Engraving. As he stared at it, the chaos in his mind gradually stilled into clarity. He realized that the Hypogean had never truly vanished. But he also knew that raw vengeance required power far beyond his own. He needed companions who shared his cause, and an identity that could walk freely beneath the sun.

The boy took one last look at the river of blood. His loved ones seemed to be among the corpses. One by one, they raised their heads and cried out to him: "Kill it. Kill it. Kill... the Hypogean!"

"Captain... Captain, wake up!"

The nightmare shattered, and Oren's eyes snapped open.

"Another nightmare, Captain?" Kaisa asked as she approached with a tray of gauze and tweezers. "Your wound opened up again." She touched the back of her hand to Oren's forehead and signed in relief. "Thank goodness. At least the fever has gone down. When you returned, the wound was still tainted with poison, and it took quite a while to purge it. What exactly happened out there?"

Oren murmured a quiet thanks, peeling away the blood-soaked wrappings from his body. "It's a long story."

A nobleman had placed a private commission with the Grayfox Mercenaries, offering a huge sum of gold and specifically requesting Oren's personal protection. Nobles were known to have countless secrets, but entrusting one's personal safety to a Sinmarked was unusual all the same. Oren had remained calm on the outside, but his vigilance intensified.

As it turned out, his caution was justified. One night, a twisted shadow crept up the bed curtains, and a wicked blade lunged toward the sleeping noble. Positioned in the shadows, Oren moved instantly, intercepting the blow. Roused by the clashing steel, the nobleman scrambled beneath the bed like a frightened quail, quivering in terror.

In the moonlight, Oren could make out the dark figure before him. It was a monster with six tentacles. The tentacles lashed out relentlessly. Oren parried each blow while maneuvering around the creature, gradually circling behind it. But when he caught sight of the monster's back, his heart skipped a beat. That moment of hesitation cost him dearly, and he failed to dodge a side attack. Clutching his wound, Oren used the tattered bed curtains to bind the monster. He then grabbed the nobleman from beneath the bed and carried him out through the window. Out of the corner of his eye, Oren caught sight of three terrifying heads behind the monster, roaring: "Kill him! Kill him..." Each head bore the same Mark of Sin as Oren, glowing faintly red.

"Those are man-made monsters. Alchemical creations, or sacrificial victims," Oren concluded. "I think they're the latter." He had seen countless Sinmarked sacrificed as offerings. The sins of a thousand years ago seemed little more than a fig leaf for these madmen. As long as they claimed to be punishing sinners, anything they did could be justified.

"Sacrifices? Monsters?! Damn it, that pathetic noble never mentioned anything about this!" Kaisa clenched her fist and slammed it against the wall. "Captain, can't we just kill him?!"

Oren understood Kaisa's anger. She herself was a survivor of a forbidden ritual, yet was being wanted by the soldiers. A mere girl forced into hiding as a fugitive, the intention behind it was obvious. So Kaisa had abandoned her plan to clear her name and instead joined the Grayfox Mercenaries, a group composed of countless "sinners." Together, they would destroy the evil rituals in their own way. Hatred might make them powerful, but impatience would only lead them to ruin.

"Calm down, Kaisa. The angrier you are, the more clearly you need to think." Seeing Kaisa regain her composure, Oren nodded with satisfaction. "Let's go. First, let's find out what the young nobleman is hiding."

Oren and Kaisa infiltrated the nobleman's castle, where the cowardly nobleman had apparently hidden all his unspeakable secrets, keeping them buried deep underground. Oren knew the tricks of nobles all too well and had little trouble finding the hidden basement. Kaisa raised a torch, illuminating the dark room.

Oren narrowed his eyes as he stared at the unfinished inverted triangle of blood on the floor. Suppressing his anger, he walked over to a wooden table covered in ancient scrolls. "Sin", "Mark", "Sacrifice", and "Immortality". Familiar words caught his eye. After a quick glance, Oren returned the scrolls to their original positions, carefully concealing any trace that they had been disturbed.

"Perhaps we should give him a chance."

Several days later, the Grayfox

Mercenaries captured the monster. Oren severed its three heads with eyes still open and threw them at the nobleman's feet Ignoring the nobleman's piercing screams, he planted a foot on one of the heads and looked down at its twisted face. "Mission accomplished." With that, he turned to leave.

"Wait! Wait a minute!"

Oren raised an eyebrow. He turned his head and waited patiently for the nobleman to speak.

"There's another monster... locked up in my basement. I... I caught it by chance. I didn't tell you before. The previous monster tried to kill me because of it. Yes. that's it!"

"The pay."

"Triple the pay!" the nobleman blurted out.

"Kaisa, take them to collect the coin." Oren rested a hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist, his gaze fixed on the trembling man. "I'II handle the monster."

Leading Oren to the hidden basement the nobleman rubbed his fingers together with a nervous, sickening grin. He unlocked the door and subtly coaxed Oren onto the inverted triangle on the floor.

"Just a moment. I have the monster sealed inside this magic circle." The nobleman drew a knife across his finger, preparing to fill the final gap in the mark.

Oren seized the opportunity. He leaped out of the magic circle and kicked the nobleman into it. Coldly, Oren watched as the nobleman was swallowed by the dark red light. Familiar tentacles emerged from the mark, pierced the nobleman's body, and drained his vitality. The incomplete mark on Oren's back seemed to sense the Hypogean aura and grew faintly warm. An intense, stinging pain ran across it, dragging memories of the past back into his mind.

"The Martyr's Engraving..." The voice that echoed in his mind made Oren frown. He immediately drew the specially crafted dagger he had prepared in advance, its blade imbued with holy power to combat Hypogeans.

"Martyr's Engraving." Another tentacle slowly emerged from the mark, and the Hypogean's voice grew clearer. The two tentacles lunged straight at Oren, eager to complete the unfinished ritual. In the cramped basement, there was little room to maneuver, forcing Oren to confront them head-on. His holy-infused dagger could do little more than scratch the tentacles: it lacked the power to deal a lethal blow. The best course of action was to destroy the mark. But doing so would also mean allowing the Hypogean to escape.

"The angrier you are, the more clearly you need to think." His own words echoed in his mind. He dodged the tentacles and drove his dagger into the mark on the ground, destroying it. Sensing that the flow of Arcana had been severed, the tentacles began to retract. Before Oren could strike, he watched as the tentacles vanished back into the ruined mark. Oren clicked his tongue in surprise. He stepped around the nobleman's corpse, gathered the scrolls concerning Hypogeans and markings, and tucked them into the leather pouch at his waist. Then he took the torch from the wall and tossed it onto the wooden table.

Oren emerged from the flames, where his companions were waiting outside the door.

"Got the gold?"

"We got it, Captain. But what should we do about the fire?"

Oren didn't pause his stride. "Leave it. Trading with a Hypogean is playing with fire, and he who plays with fire gets burnt."