[Your injuries are not that severe. Survive for one minute until full recovery.]
---
[Quest Received!]
[Slaughter the two who are trying to kill you—in the worst way you see fit.]
[Reward: ???]
A second sun towered over him, inches from touching the clouds. It was so bright that anyone who stared at it was instantly blinded by the rays.
A cosmic star meant to destroy, and Victor was right under it.
His skin slowly desiccated to the point that his mummified tissues shed off like a snake's skin before evaporating into nothingness.
'What a dangerous situation I have found myself in,' he thought.
Even though his flesh desiccated, the body he now possessed regenerated automatically, replacing the damaged areas with new muscle fibers and tissues.
This process was excruciating beyond the word pain; however, his tolerance proved useful in this situation.
The pace at which the tide of the battle had changed truly surprised him.
He had been enjoying the fight too much, seeing them as weak insects, and had felt the urge to crush them.
That urge only buried itself in him whenever he was in that form. It was like a natural instinct of a predator—a higher being that wanted nothing else but slaughter. For him, it couldn't be controlled, so he went along with the instinct.
Although he possessed not an ounce of remorse for those he killed, he enjoyed the electrifying thrill.
He was not under any orders, nor was he used as bait or at the bottom of the food chain any longer. He decided his fate now, and this was not how he was going out.
He must survive. He must live. He must discover the true potential of this power.
'I have not familiarized myself with this skill yet or learned how strong it is. But I know it possesses the affinity of speed, and that's what I need.'
Lunar Dash!
[You have now activated the skill: Lunar Dash...]
Victor sluggishly stood up, his feet as unsteady as jelly. He was weak, especially in the legs, due to the large amount of blood he had lost.
It was only because his ruptured organs were repairing themselves that he was able to stand. His ribs had fixed themselves, and his lungs were closing up.
He could still feel pain, but it was not as excruciating as it had been immediately after he was hit.
Victor locked eyes with Raymond. The tension in the air became hazardous. Amik, at the side, had an angry expression. He didn't like how Victor's attention was focused on Raymond.
He and Raymond were of the same rank, so he deserved the same attention.
Feeling left out, that was why he had sneak-attacked Victor. Yet even that hadn't earned him so much as a glance.
"YOU THINK I'M AN ANT, DON'T YOU?!"
Amik pulled out his great and mighty saber, pointed the tip of the blade to the sky, then impaled it deep into the earth. Immediately, it began draining energy from the ground.
The surrounding pressure grew denser, his presence thickening as crimson rain poured down upon him.
He smirked before whispering, "Chaos Land..."
And everything turned thick red. Thousands of small spikes, formed entirely of that same aura, pointed their deadly fangs at one individual—Victor.
Now, he was faced with two disastrous conjunctions of elements, both draining vast amounts of energy from the earth.
Just like how plants receive nutrients from the soil, Lumia energy also derives from the earth—abundant and powerful, yet at the same time, consuming nutrients and killing plant life.
The blades launched toward Victor simultaneously, moving as fast as bullets.
They were faster than the eye could see. However, the moment one got inches away from burying its sharp end into the protagonist's flesh, it disintegrated into small particles of energy dust before being carried away by the wind.
"What?!" Amik blurted out, surprised. Even Raymond, standing within his fiery expanse, raised a brow.
Victor's eyes, the same gray as the moon's crust, emitted an aura that dissipated into vapor around him.
The aura resembled a starry, cold night sky—dark, with small twinkling stars that, despite their efforts to shine, failed to brighten the abyss.
After all the blades were neutralized, there stood a hollow vision of the former protagonist. Upon locking eyes with him, those completely white eyes sent an unsettling chill down Raymond's spine.
'This guy... This is no beast,' Raymond thought subconsciously. 'This aura... I feel danger from it. The speed at which he neutralized Amik's Chaos Blades was unbelievable.'
He had once confronted Amik's Chaos Blades, and they were as destructive as an atomic bomb. But still, this one person had cut them down like they were nothing.
'Just what the fuck is he?!'
Raymond glanced at the yellow ball of flames in the sky before chuckling.
"It's finally finished..."
He hadn't even finished his sentence when Victor leaped with such force that the earth beneath him was ravaged.
The instant he reached the gigantic flame ball, an arc-shaped slash flashed, severing the orb in two halves. Then, multiple more slashes ran across the divided parts, slicing them into small cubes.
It was so fast that he had already landed back on the ground before the segmented pieces even appeared on the flaming sphere.
"Weak."
That was the only word he uttered before it exploded.
The sky was engulfed in a dome of thick flames, the temperature surging off the scales for miles.
"No... my attack..." Raymond murmured, but he quickly crossed his large hammer in front of him.
The next moment, a white light flashed, and he was sent tumbling across the ground.
"Urgh... what the..."
With a slight brush of wind, Victor appeared, looking down at the fallen Raymond.
"Humans. As weak as ever. Finally, the stupid human I share this pathetic vessel with activated the skill."
His eyes darted to the fallen warrior.
"This is not who I fought, is it?" Raymond asked.
"Ah, yes, it is not."
"I am the Great Shadow Wolf, one of the right hands of the Dark God... Borack."
"And now that you know my name... you shall die."
****