Akhil stood at the mouth of the cave, the cold air brushing against his face.
In front of him, a swarm of beasts gathered—snarling, restless, ready to move out.
Leading them was a massive hound with a thick snout and two curved horns jutting from its skull. Its glowing eyes locked onto him, and for a brief moment, the entire horde seemed to pause.
’Is my luck really this bad?’ Akhil thought, his expression tightening. ’Of all places... it had to be here.’
The beasts stared back, uncertain, as though trying to decide if the lone human in their path was prey or predator.
That hesitation didn’t last.
They began to move.
{Berserk mode activated}
{Effect: Strength +30%. Damage output +10%. Duration: 3 minutes.}
"I knew this would come in handy," Akhil muttered under his breath.
A pulse of heat surged through his veins. His heart raced, muscles swelling beneath his skin as raw power flooded his body. Every nerve lit up, his senses sharpening until the world slowed around him.
He drew his dagger. Then he moved.
The first beast didn’t even have time to react before his blade tore through its neck.
Blood sprayed across the stone floor as Akhil spun, slashing through another. His movements were fluid—almost instinctive.
The beasts tried to swarm him, but his speed was inhuman. He weaved between them, every strike clean, every motion brutal and deliberate.
In seconds, a dozen bodies hit the ground.
The horde hesitated, the smell of blood thick in the air. Beasts that once charged without thought now faltered, their claws scraping against the stone as they backed away. Even their dull minds seemed to recognize what stood before them wasn’t prey.
But Akhil didn’t stop.
"Arrrghh!"
His roar echoed through the cave as he surged forward, tearing through the middle ranks. Flesh split. Bones cracked. The beasts shrieked and stumbled over each other, desperate to flee.
It didn’t matter.
Akhil was too fast. Too ruthless.
Every swing of his blade found a vital spot—neck, head, eye.
By the time the last beast fell, the cave entrance was a graveyard.
{Berserk mode effect has ended.}
The system message faded, and with it, the rush of adrenaline. Akhil exhaled shakily, lowering his dagger. The strength drained from his limbs, leaving behind the weight of exhaustion.
He stood there, surrounded by twitching corpses, his clothes soaked in blood that clung to his skin like oil. The stench hit him full force, metallic and thick, and his stomach churned.
He’d done this countless times before—inside the game.
But this wasn’t a game.
Here, the blood was warm.
Here, the bodies didn’t disappear.
And here, the silence that followed was far too real.
He dropped to one knee, breathing hard.
Every muscle in his body screamed in protest, throbbing from the strain.
’This must be the aftereffect of the berserk mode,’ he thought, exhaling sharply.
{You’ve leveled up}
{You’ve leveled up}
The glowing notifications flickered before him. Akhil groaned at the sight. Two levels. That was all.
His growth was starting to slow down—just as he’d expected. The more low-rank beasts he killed, the smaller the returns. Before, it took only a handful of kills to gain two levels. Now, even after wiping out nearly twenty, the reward was barely the same.
Still, progress was progress. It wasn’t as if he’d expected the system to hand him free power forever.
He flexed his fingers, feeling the faint surge of energy that came with leveling up. His recovery kicked in fast—enough for him to force himself upright, though his legs trembled beneath him.
Then came the sound.
Screeech~
A shrill metallic scrape echoed through the cave, setting his teeth on edge. The noise crawled up his spine like cold steel dragged across stone.
From the far end of the cave, a shadow moved. Something heavy was shifting in the dark, the sound of claws grinding against the rock floor.
Akhil froze, his pulse spiking again.
Slowly, a hulking shape emerged into the dim light—its eyes glinting with a faint, sickly glow.
"You’ve got to be kidding me," he muttered, tightening his grip on the dagger.
----
Hale and Samxon ran, their feet pounding against the forest floor. Branches whipped past them, the air thick with the sound of pursuit.
Behind them, the spider thundered forward—its massive legs tearing through the underbrush with terrifying speed.
From its gaping maw, it shot sticky threads of web that sliced through the air.
Samxon barely managed to dodge, each web striking the ground and clinging tight like glue. The trees they passed were instantly ensnared, bending under the weight of the thick, silvery strands.
"We can’t outrun that thing!" Hale shouted, her voice rough from exhaustion. "We need to slow it down somehow!"
Samxon didn’t answer. His jaw tightened, his eyes burning with something between fear and fury. Then, without warning, he skidded to a stop and turned.
"Fuck this!" he roared.
Before Hale could react, he charged toward the oncoming monster.
Lightning burst across his skin, crackling violently as his hair stood on end.
{Warning! Power surge exceeding Mutant level}
The red system prompt flashed in front of him, but Samxon ignored it completely. His focus was fixed on the enormous spider barreling his way.
The creature seemed to sense the shift in energy. It slowed, its cluster of eyes locking onto the glowing figure before it. The sound of its mandibles clashing together echoed through the forest, sharp and metallic.
A wave of killing intent radiated from it.
Samxon only grinned.
His speed suddenly multiplied—his body blurring into a streak of light as he tore through the ground.
The spider slammed its legs into the earth, sending chunks of dirt flying, but Samxon was gone before the impact hit.
A flash of lightning sliced past the creature’s flank.
It spun around, confused, its many eyes darting wildly—then caught sight of him sprinting up a nearby tree, using his momentum to hurl himself into the air.
As he rose, lightning crackled violently around his fists. Sparks danced across the sky.
"Die, you piece of shit!" he bellowed, slamming his joined hands above his head.
{Zeus Bolt activated!}
The system voice rang in his mind as he plummeted toward the beast like a living thunderbolt.
The strike landed with an earth-shaking crash. His hands slammed into the spider’s hardened carapace, and for a moment it resisted—until the shell began to split under the sheer force of his power.
"Chiiiwik!" the monster screeched, writhing in agony as smoke and sparks poured from the cracked armor.
Crack!
The shell finally gave way.
Splaaat!
Dark, viscous blood exploded from the wound, drenching Samxon from head to toe.
The spider’s legs twitched once... then went still.
And Samxon stood over it, chest heaving, lightning still flickering faintly across his scorched skin.
"I’ll kill that bastard if I find out this was a trick." Samxon sank to his knees.
Smoke curled from his scorched skin, and faint currents of electricity still danced across his arms. Parts of his clothing and flesh were singed from the charge.
Hale hurried up to him, surprise and irritation mixed on her face. "That was overkill," she said, taking in the wreckage Samxon had made. "You pushed yourself way too far. Don’t make a habit of this or you’ll actually die."
"Shut up," Samxon snapped, breath ragged.
Hale rolled her eyes and tore a strip from her tunic. She pressed it to one of his bleeding wounds; he flinched but said nothing.
"Are you sure that person wasn’t lying? Who knows what kind of beast we’ll run into if we press deeper," Hale asked, eyeing the shattered carcass.
Samxon’s eyes burned with something like hunger. "Let’s keep moving. If it was a lie... I’ll kill him," he gritted, forcing himself to his feet.
Hale tried to stop him, but Samxon wouldn’t be held. He turned his gaze back toward the fog-thickened trees.
’He gains nothing from lying to us,’ Samxon thought darkly. ’And if what he said is true, that thing will make me stronger — and then he won’t stand in my way.’ The face of a certain somebody crossed his mind, making him tighten his fist.
Meanwhile, inside the cave, Akhil’s breath caught as the creature came into view.
It looked like a twisted hybrid of man and hound, but where hands should have been sprouted long, razor claws.
{Demonic Bonehound}
{Mutant level: 3.5}
{Level 60}
’Of all times, it had to be now,’ Akhil thought, frustration boiling in his chest. ’The gap between level 25 and 60 is just too big... but if I can—’
He tightened his grip on his blades.
The beast stared at him for a moment, its glowing eyes unblinking. Then it moved—so fast that it almost vanished.
Akhil’s instincts screamed. He swung his arms up, trying to block whatever was coming.
Swiish~
A violent gust of air rushed past him. He blinked, heart pounding, but the creature was no longer in front of him.
A cold shiver crawled up his spine. He turned, slowly—
Red eyes glared back at him from behind, calm and merciless.
Splat!
Pain tore through his chest. A deep gash opened across his torso, blood spilling onto the ground.
Akhil’s breath hitched. His eyes went wide, then glassy. The strength left his body all at once, and the world tilted.
He fell forward, face hitting the cold stone floor, as everything around him began to fade.
’Blood....’