THE USELESS PRINCE

In a shabby house in the slums, arguably the smallest and dirtiest house in this place, a small girl was huddled in the corner, not daring to say a word.

Her body was trembling, partly because of the cold, and partly because she was afraid.

Her hair was messy, not as smooth as it was in the future.

Her eyes were filled with despair, without any hope for life.

Her body was skinny, almost without any flesh. Perhaps if a strong wind blew, she would be easily swept away by it.

Yes, that was her living environment, the place where she had lived for 5 years.

Furina had lived in this place since she was born, and honestly, this place was no different from hell.

Who said that hell needed demons and fire?

Furina hadn't eaten anything for two days, so she was so hungry that she could eat a horse right now.

"...Mom… I'm hungry." She turned to her mother, who was lying on the cold and dirty floor.

"..." But just like every other days, she didn't respond but just lay there.

'Mom's been sleeping for a long time. She hasn't woken up for days.' Knowing that her mother wouldn't wake up today, Furina let out a sigh.

If Furina didn't do anything, she would starve to death. So, she had to take the risk.

With all her courage, Furina tried to stand up, walked to the door and left the room, facing the person she didn't want to see the most - her father.

Unlike the room where Furina and her mother had just been - a place with no light, the living room looked much brighter.

But at the same time, it was also more stinky and dirty because of the trash, empty wine bottles, and piles of sweaty clothes scattered everywhere, making even rats disgusted.

Furina, having lived in this place for many years, was already familiar with this scent and sight.

She clenched her fists and walked step by step closer to the dining table - where a man was continuously gulping down wine like water.

"...Dad…" She said carefully.

Being interrupted by his daughter, the man put down his almost empty glass of wine and glared at Furina, as if he was looking at something disgusting.

"...I'm hungry...do we have anything to eat at home?" As she spoke, she checked his expression.

But unfortunately, no matter what she said or did, the result she got was the same as always.

"DAMN YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" The man was furious, and threw the wine bottle straight to the floor, causing it to shatter into pieces.

Furina was startled, curling up, preparing to be beaten like always.

That was her family. A mother who spent all of her time sleeping and a father who loved violence and torture.

In the past, perhaps 2 or 3 years ago, Furina had never been beaten like this, the one who was beaten was her mother, not her.

But ever since the day her mother started sleeping and not waking up, Furina started to become her father's target.

And now, being beaten had become one of her daily activities.

'It hurts so much...'

Furina was in pain, but she couldn't cry.

After living in this place for so many years, most of her emotions had disappeared.

She couldn't feel happy, sad, angry, disgusted, ... but could only feel fear.

After her father beat her to the point that Furina couldn't move anymore and could only lie on the floor, he snorted, threw her a moldy loaf of bread, and went back to drinking.

With a weak smile, Furina carefully picked up the loaf of bread and returned to her familiar room - where her mother was waiting.

***

Unlike the last time, when Ash could still walk calmly without worrying because he was very confident in Furina's power and his own strength, this time, he couldn not do that anymore.

Ash had to look back and forth many times, making sure that there was no more danger before daring to take a step forward.

Now, just one moment of carelessness or one wrong choice was enough to reap his life.

And probably Furina's too.

If he didn't want to die, Ash had to be very careful, as much as possible.

But, he also had an Ability called Unlucky and Useless. And because of that, not long after he continued walking, Ash encountered an Abyssal Creature.

'Damn... are you kidding me?'

In front of him was an Abyssal Creature that had the shape of a muscular human, but the difference was that it was made of stone.

Ash didn't even need to look long to know that its name was Cave Golem - an Abyssal Creature with the Rank of Fiend.

But even if its Rank was the lowest, Ash still couldn't underestimate it.

Right now, he was the only one who could fight, but his body felt like it was about to self-destruct at any moment.

Facing an Abyssal Creature Rank Fiend right now was no different than facing an Awakened Demon.

"Wait for me here, Furina." He gently placed the unconscious Furina down nearby and turned towards the Cave Golem.

After all, Ash didn't have the strength to run away, and even if he did, the Cave Golem would still be able to catch up to him.

So, the best and only option right now was to fight.

Yes, it was always fighting.

'Fight…fight…fight…Always fight! I'm so fucking tired!'

***

Summoning the Sword of Dawn - one of the culprits that had exhausted Ash to this extent, he pointed it at the Cave Golem.

His eyes were cold, not revealing any emotions, simply because he no longer had the energy to feel anything.

He only knew that he needed to kill the Abyssal Creature as soon as possible. Prolonging the battle would not benefit him at all.

Having identified his target, Ash began to run forward, but after only a few steps, he collapsed to the ground and continuously coughed up blood. The Cave Golem hadn't even done anything yet.

Ash covered his mouth, but still couldn't stop himself from coughing up blood.

…It seemed like the consequences of using the Sword of Dawn were greater than he had imagined.

If the Sword of Dawn was a human, Ash would be the first to punch that person until he couldn't move anymore.

'Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! How could you do this to me, Sword of Dawn!? You're my most precious Relic?!'

He struggled to stand up, glaring at the Cave Golem that was still standing there.

No, it seemed like it was slowly approaching him.

'It seems like the upcoming battle will be tough.'

Ash gripped the hilt of the sword, forcing himself to stand up, trying to suppress the terrible pain that was tormenting him… then slowly advanced towards the Cave Golem.