Kaijin Fighter: So I Have to Make Monsters, So What?

The Hellfire Mountain Range was not a pleasant place.

Located in the northernmost region of the Dozing Salamander continent, this mountain range is one of the few places in the world that had a strangely high concentration of "cursed" aether.

This was the same type of aether that composed the entire body of a certain proto-kaijin and was something that could only be found in cursed objects, cursed body parts, or places where terrible tragedies occurred.

In fact, this concentration was so high that it ended mingling with the innately high Ignatii aether of the continent to create jets of black flames that would occasionally burst out of the mountains and curse anyone who had the unfortunate luck of getting burnt by these evil flames.

Now, it would be safe to assume that with such criteria, the Hellfire Mountain Range was probably home to multiple tragedies that have forever stained the history of the world.

This was partially true.

Over the many millennia, multiple countries and people had recorded all sorts of tragic events happening in this mountain range.

There was the Slaughter of the Olmena Clan, where a nomadic clan of herdsmen was unjustly slaughtered by the Gobana Empire for the sake of expansion. Ironically, the Gobana Empire would be destroyed by a single surviving member of the Olmena Clan, who would go about reviving their entire bloodline through indiscriminate harem expansion.

There was the Defiling of a Thousand Lilies, where one thousand maidens were promptly violated and sacrificed to fuel the dark machinations of a megalomanic queen in the pursuit of eternal beauty and immortality. However, this ended up all for naught when the ritual backfired so hard that the aforementioned queen aged thousands of years in an instant and turned into a cursed spirit whose body was now nothing more than a literal bottle of dust.

And more recently, about a hundred years ago, there was the Plague of a Hundred Eyes. This tragedy was the result of an Aether Emperor's defeat leading to them cursing an entire nation with a terrible disease that caused eyeball-like sores to develop all over their body. Making matters worse, people could actually see out of these eyeballs, so they were driven mad by both the pain of these eyes being in places where they shouldn't have been and being forced to process more visual information than their minds could rightly handle.

All of these moments and countless more contributed to the incredibly cursed existence known as the Hellfire Mountain Range and could all rightly be considered the reason why the place had gotten cursed in the first place.

However, none of these events were the reason why the mountain range was cursed in the first place. They only fueled what was already there.

Every single historical record details that the Hellfire Mountain Range was a cursed place, long before any historical tragedies took place and that all of these events didn't do much other than fuel the already existing curses.

Some of these records even detail that the reason why certain tragedies took place was due to the fact that the people who chased them were actively seeking out places where this cursed energy was strong and wanted to make use of it for their own nefarious devices.

Little did these poor fellows know, they just ended up contributing to the growing mass of resentment, hate and violence that composed the Hellfire Mountain.

There had been attempts in the past to purify the region, but they had all failed.

Granted, there wasn't much of a reason or incentive for people to succeed in doing so.

Due to all the cursed energy flowing through the place, the flora, fauna and the very earth itself began to mutate and incorporate in strange and unpredictable ways.

The aether beasts that lived in the area all had the ability to cast and use curses as easy as someone breathe air.

Most of the aether plants in the area were just poisonous on the benign end or gave their consumer hyper cancer, and could be processed to make even deadlier poisons.

More than one faction has attempted to mine the Hellfire Mountain Range in the pursuit of metals and stones that are so baked with cursed energy that every single aether treasure made with the stuff ended up becoming a cursed aether treasure.

Needless to say, this also applied to the materials sourced from the aformentioned plants and beasts.

Aether warriors of all types considered the place to be a hellish training ground where only the strong could survive...or a convenient place to dispose of a rival.

While those of less reputable walks of life consider the area an unholy land where they can acquire all sorts of materials to help improve their cultivation in dark and wicked and ways.

In those particular circles, they often discuss the possibility of a "source curse", the literal accumulation of all the mountain range's evil and the myriad of ways it could be used.

Of course, this was only a rumor.

...Now for the weird part...

There are, exactly two pieces of information that suggest the origins of why the Hellfire Mountain Range is the way it is.

First, a cave painting.

Older than any historical document in existence, this one painting depicts multiple figures and beasts staring up at the sky as a streaking meteor impacted a series of mountains.

Not only that, but the aether infused in this painting was so incredibly profound that people were able to use their own senses to relive that moment. However, that moment was so chaotic that they couldn't determine any clear details. All they knew in that moment, was that every single living soul in that moment felt that the world was ending...and that fear became infused into the land itself.

The other piece of information was only found in the shelves of an ancient library that once belonged to a famous revolutionary known as the Star Weaver.

In these shelves was her diary, and one of the entries detailed that she found a strange cave that was filled with [Malevolent Gold].

However, in the center of this cave was something...weird.

In the center of this cavern was a strange metal sculpture that looked like an octagonal structure attached to a white metal conical top that vaguely resembled a sombrero.

Sticking out from the octagonal structure were several metal arms of varying lengths.

One was incredibly long, another was spindly while attached to a silver cylinder while the last arm stockier and attached to large and confusing contraption.

Star Weaver had thought of using it for the basis of a Kaijin, as she could feel that locked in its shell was a [Desire] so dense that she didn't even need a core for it.

It was a [Desire] so powerful that it somehow repelled the very curses that had infused itself into the land of the Hellfire Mountain Range.

But, she eventually thought better of it as she could feel from its frame that it wasn't quite yet ready to be reborn as a Kaijin just yet. In fact, she could feel that it had still wanted to keep doing...whatever it is as designed to do.

It just needed some help from someone who knew what it was.

As such, she respected the object's wishes and proceeded to look elsewhere for kaijin materials.

However, she never forgot about this strange sculpture.

Because for some reason, in a land filled with hate, violence, fear and every single negative feeling under the sun and mixed with curses, this strange sculpture remained untouch.

But that was to be expected.

After all, [Hope] had a tendency to burn brightest in the darkest of places.

Unfortunately, bright lights also had a tendency to attract unwanted insects.

...Now to the present...

"Z-zhen Liu? Are you okay?"

"This place is so loaded with [Desire] that it's causing my brain to overload. Give me a second to try and condense all this because holy shit this place is just...wow. I now understand why most of the people who roll through here are evil, crazy, sociopathic or all three at once."

"What are you talking about?! This place is great!" Corpse Doll shouted as she plucked a disturbingly evil-looking apple from a nearby branch and popped it into her mouth like it was nothing more than a delicious snack.

The sounds of the damned could be heard screaming as she crunched down on the pilfered apple, as sickly purple juices leaked from the corners of her smiling mouth.

"You guys want some?"

"..."

"..."

"Sister... I'm not going to tell you that you should probably stop eating everything you find," Porcelain Doll chided. "But maybe you should be a bit more picky about what you eat?"

"Why's that?"

"That apple you're eating appears to be filled with insects."

"Eh?"

As Corpse Doll looked down at the apple, she did indeed find that it was filled with highly venomous centipedes and poisonous worms.

"Bonus snacks!"

"Oh dear..."