The world shook wildly as the monsters invaded the vast field. Their hunger and bloodlust filled the air endlessly. Standing there, a normal human would've felt their soul leaving their body the mont they witnessed that sight.
Yet, the only reaction it brought from Talon was anger and a desire to kill. His senses heightened to the extre and his body surged with power as he grasped his spear with all his strength. The veins in his arms expanded from sheer grip.
Then, he slowly started descending the hill, heading straight toward the giant group of monsters approaching him. His eyes scanned them, one by one as his mind worked out a route for how things were going to transpire.
After fighting monsters for weeks non-stop, Talon started learning what to anticipate and what to do even before he fought them or knew what they could do. His battle senses had already broken through the norm and reached the advanced levels, sothing that the system interface cannot quantify or show, and yet Talon could feel it clearly within him.
As he descended, his speed started increasing gradually. From walking to strolling and from strolling to running then to a full sprint. By the ti he was within range of the monsters, he was already moving at his highest speed.
He was so fast that the monsters were unable to even follow him with their eyes and by the ti they realized it, he was already in.
*Swish*
Like a raging storm, he pierced through their lines, slicing and dicing several monsters almost at the sa ti. His arms moved like flashes, cutting down any enemy in the way as he rushed deeper and deeper into the swarm.
Many monsters tried to blindly attack Talon, only to find themselves on the ground, dead. He didn't differentiate between any of them. His eyes simply moved at top speed, locating a target, killing it, and then moving to the next one the next split second.
Notifications rolled across the corner of his retina at a ridiculous speed as the kill count accumulated at an alarming speed. The more he killed, the more the soul power he stacked and the more points added to his status.
Dozens of monsters fell dead on top of each other, creating many piles of corpses as Talon moved deeper fearlessly.
Talon's thod of killing was brutal. He would either decapitate or pierce their cores, efficiently killing them with one attack. However, what he didn't notice and what Acrypha imdiately realized was that Talon was acting far different than usual.
His style of fighting was now far more aggressive, bestial, and way bloodier. Every attack he perford seed to be infused with anger and hatred that was directed at nothing for so reason.
His teeth were clenched and he had such a dark expression the entire ti that Acrypha could only frown.
'His fighting style is filled with so much anger… and grief.'
"Hah!"
*Swish* *Swish*
His spear dissected monsters ruthlessly and coated him in blood. The blood of his own enemies. His handso face was distorted with the ominous red color as he Talon mindlessly killed and killed. He didn't care what, where, or how. There was only him, his spear, and the monsters he had to attack.
He simply killed, that was the only thing he had on his mind.
'I need more! This isn't enough! This will never be enough!' In his head, a single idea ford. The more he killed, the more he wanted, the more his greed grew.
He knew that each kill made him stronger, made his chances of survival higher, and made his ability to protect his loved ones better.
Yet, that feeling only lasted as long as his greed wanted before it took place and pushed him to do more. It was an endless cycle that he willingly started.
The echo of the noise around him beca a simple background to his thoughts. The voice in his head kept booming loudly and confidently.
'If you killed all these way quicker, things could've been different. Your mother could've lived and you could've saved her. You could've been with her now and yet you're late. So, don't be late again in your life. You are the one to always be one step ahead of everything, even fate itself.' The voice said repeatedly.
Seconds turned into minutes and the fight continued endlessly. Talon accumulated many injuries across his body after a long while of fighting but none of them were dangerous or painful enough for him to stop even for a second. The adrenaline pumping through his body endlessly.
At so point, things started growing within him.
[Ding!]
[Dash had leveled up.]
[Ding!]
[Dash had leveled up.]
[Ding!]
[Ghost Spear Technique had leveled up.]
[Ding!]
[Ghost Spear Technique had leveled up.]
[Ding!]
[Future Sight had leveled up.]
[Ding!]
[Dinsion Harvester had leveled up.]
[You have gained a new ability. 'Berserker's Greed'.]
Skills that had been lying silent for a while now started leveling up one after the other. It was as if even they had been waiting for this mont for a long ti, eager to explode just like Talon was.
'Not even enough! More! I want more!!'
Even as his arms grew numb from all the killing, he didn't stop for a second to rest or retreat. He only kept increasing the intensity, challenging his own body without any restraints. The pain rged with the thrill of going on a rampage and completely clouded his brain.
He was simply feeling like he was on another plain of existence where nothing was normal. There was only him and the red color that he was creating with each move. Like a painter who drew red with each stroke of their brush, creating a perfectly distorted piece of art. A cursed image of anguished souls that were reaped endlessly.
Ti passed and the monsters around Talon eventually realized the huge problem they were facing. The human that they ca to kill wasn't dying. No matter how many attacked him, he seed to vanish and appear again, killing dozens of them in a few seconds.
He was brutally destroying them, one after the other and their instincts started reacting to that. Fear crept into their hearts as they started retreating slowly, realizing their enemy was the predator and they were the prey instead of the opposite.
However, as more and more of them started trying to escape back into the forest, Talon appeared like a ghost right in their way. His eyes were deadly cold and yet had a hint of madness within them that terrified even the brainless beasts.
They could see death within those eyes. Yet, before they could even try to change directions, Talon swept through them. In a matter of monts, the growls of hunger turned into screeches of pain and fear.
***
The entire forest shook with the howls of death. It reached so far and wide that the rest of the survivors heard them clearly.
"Where is this coming from?"
"I don't know."
"Wait… Didn't the leader go in that direction on his own?"
"You're right…"
"He isn't responding to the device. Is he ok?"
More and more people started noticing the abnormality and eventually, they decided to go check out of worry. Even though they hesitated, it didn't take them long to make a decision since they couldn't find any more monsters in the areas they were hunting.
It was as if all the beasts had run away sowhere.
Rushing through the forest, they followed the howls for a while. Eventually, they found traces of a huge stampede of monsters that moved in one single direction. Broken trees and flattened grass with countless footsteps.
"This many footprints… H-How many monsters went that way?" One asked with a horrified look on their faces.
The more they followed the traces, the more they started fearing for their lives. Even with a rough estimate, they can count thousands of monsters. Easily over two thousand if they had to roughly estimate.
That was almost as many monsters as the battle of the campus so they naturally had their hearts beating loudly from fear.
"Leader!! Where are you?!"
"Leader!!"
As they called for their leader, they moved after the traces. Even with their fear, they were still worried about Talon. If he was in danger, then they had to help him.
Eventually, they ended up reaching an open field in the heart of the forest. There, they witnessed a sight that made them halt in their places, shell-shocked to the soul. Their eyes were wide open and yet what they saw seed almost like an illusion.
It was by far the most shocking thing they witnessed with their own eyes. As far as the eye could see, there was only blood and dead corpses. The vast field that stretched for hundreds of ters was completely covered in dead bodies. Not even a single spot was left clean or untouched.
There were so many that they even piled on top of each other from lack of space. It was an utter massacre of a scale they couldn't even imagine. The stench of death made many of them look away and fight the urge to vomit. It was simply too much to handle even for battle-hardened warriors like them.
This was ssed up, on many levels than one.
"... What is this?" One asked weakly as they took a step back in fear. "What happened here?"
"L-Look there! Isn't that…" One of the survivors noticed a silhouette standing in the middle of this ungodly massacre. The silhouette was completely covered in blood from head to toe, seemingly appearing like a demon from hell.
"It's the leader…" One murmured as they covered their faces.
Hearing those voices, Talon turned around as he stared at them silently for a mont. His gaze sent chills down their very souls. This wasn't the leader they knew… At least not when he is acting normal.
They couldn't recognize him from fear. Yet, ignoring their looks, Talon opened his mouth and spoke.
"You arrived a little late."
A//N: If you enjoyed reading, don't forget to support the book with GT and PS. Thank you!
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