Jin Ryu was born just like any other regular human; it wasn't until later that his family and those around him found out that he has a "special" ability.
One day, Jin Ryu, who is 16 years old, was wandering in a nearby forest and picked up a mushroom on his way back; he casually ate it, not knowing that it was poisoned.
To his surprise, nothing happened to him, and that was a good thing.
But it caught the attention of people—a child who is immune to poison—so word reached the local church, and a priest checked him. He tried everything, from curses to all kinds of known poison; nothing worked on Jin Ryu.
A miracle, a child born with a special immunity to all poison and curses, or so Jin thought.
In reality, this ability means nothing in a world where there are multiple other ways to kill someone, be it through magic or simply stabbing with a sword or a knife, so everyone shrugged his ability off when it was convenient for them but used it against him, saying that he should take on more responsibilities since he's "special."
—-
So I was thrown into the frontlines in the army since I came from a below-average/poor-class family. I had no other choice; I wasn't a noble, a hero from a bard's tale, or anything like that, just Jin Ryu.
That was over 2 years ago, the origin of Jin Ryu. Now he is 18 years old, a soldier warring for the holy empire with a reputation of being a "cockroach" for surviving too many battles that he should have died in.
My reputation was slowly growing, and I gained the title "Undying Cockroach."
Normally you would think that's a good thing, right? For Jin Ryu, that was like hell; since he didn't belong to any royal or noble family, it meant his superiors would just throw more work at him and put him in more battles.
"Are you ready for another mission, kid?" That was Captain Daewon, one of my friends and my mentor. He was always looking forward to the next battle so he could earn enough money to send his children to a good school. Of course,that was easier said than done.
Our group of soldiers were all commoners, so it's not like we can make good money even if we perform well. It was never about who has the talent or who works the hardest; it was simply about who was born into the most prestigious family.
We only had each other to take care of, and I owe my life to Captain Daewon since he saved me multiple times. I had the title of "Undying Cockroach," but in reality, a lot of the times it was just me getting saved by my comrades.
Our mission was to investigate a small area near the borders of the northern division of the empire for possible intruders, so we went ahead early in the morning, preparing everything.
"Did you prepare all the tools, Takumi?" said Captain Daewon in a serious tone
"Of course. Do you even have to ask?" Takumi laughed.
Everyone else grinned.
We set out for the designated area.
After hours of searching and investigating the forest in the area, we didn't find anything of importance, so we took a break and set up a camp.
While we were preparing for lunch, a sudden noise was heard by everyone on site; it was the sound of people screaming near the campsite. Everyone freaked out at the unnatural noise.
"We should check it out," Daewon said.
"I'll go check it out first." That was Elise Starwind, our elven archer and scout. She was sent from the Elven Kingdom as an exchange recruit a year ago as one of the tokens of alliance between the Holy Empire and the Elven Kingdom.
Elise went forward to the nearby area where the sound was heard from but found nothing at first glance. Everyone arrived briefly later, and that's when they started smelling blood.
"Seems like a fight happened here," Jin said calmly.
"We weren't informed of any allies or other squads patrolling here, so this must be the intruders' work," said Daewon.
After a few minutes of checking out the area looking for where the blood came from, our recruit Shaun screamed in fear as he looked at a small area near the bushes.
"Holy sh*t! "There's a lot of bodies here," he said while in shock.
Everyone rushed to him to find a scene of gore and blood; even despite Daewon's years of experience, he seemed like he was about to puke, for the scene was too much for him to even handle.
Naturally everyone else almost fainted from shock.
It was only Takumi who kept his cool for a bit while curiously looking at the bodies.
"Something's off about these bodies," he exclaimed.
"These are not human wounds; no human did this."
Everyone else forgot about the bloody scene and looked at the bodies confused.
"You're right, these wounds are not made by blades," Jin said.
"Hmm, for now we should secure the area in case there's anything else," Daewon said in a serious manner.
Elise started looking for any other signs or clues nearby, while Takumi kept searching and inspecting the bodies. Shaun was still in shock, while Jin was with Daewon talking about something.
That's when another sound was heard; this time it was someone running while breathing heavily, and it just so happened it was running in the direction of Daewon and Jin.
BANG!
Someone who was running in Daewon's way got thrown off and tripped on the ground. Daewon and Jin were the first to respond and went to check it out.
It was a soldier panting heavily, seeming to be in shock and fear.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Daewon said while touching his axe.
Jin did the same and put his hand on his old iron sword, preparing for any action.
"I-I-I'm not hostile! "Don't attack me; I'm just trying to run away from the monsters," the man said while he looked like he was about to cry.
"Monsters? What do you mean by "monsters"? Daewon asked as if he didn't believe what he could hear.
"It's like nothing I've seen before; it's like a wild animal but much bigger and almost looks like a human," the man said while still trying to catch his breath.
That's when the rest of the squad arrived at the scene.