The leader of the small group stood out, his long claw-like weapon pulsing with enchantment—Cassian could feel the mana radiating from it. "You seem to know a bit more than the ones I killed," Cassian taunted, then lunged forward in a blur. Before anyone could react, he drove his blade through one of the cloaked figures to the left of the claw-wielding leader. "Don’t you?" he asked, his voice cold. The leader, terrified, realized he faced a Circle Warrior. He swung his claw in a desperate arc, but it only carved three deep gashes across his already-dead friend’s face.
Cassian’s eyes widened, caught off guard by the enchanted claw’s pulsing power. As the leader’s strike missed, the other cultists attacked in unison, forcing Cassian to step back. A horizontal slash came first, followed by a spear thrust from the side, then a sword strike aimed at his legs. Cassian leaped, dodging the blows, but the claw slashed upward again. He parried with his sword, redirecting the attack toward another cultist who had just lunged at his feet, slicing a chunk of flesh from the man’s shoulder. Cassian was still mid-air as two more attacks came his way.
The wounded cultist groaned in pain and stumbled back, clutching his shoulder. The other two pressed their attack instantly, giving Cassian barely a moment to land before he had to weave back, dodging their strikes with ease. The claw-wielding leader charged again, unleashing two rapid diagonal slashes. Cassian slipped past them effortlessly, his movements fluid. With a flick of his wrist, he sent a green slash of energy at the oncoming cultists. The swordsman blocked it, sliding back from the force, but the spear-wielder wasn’t so lucky—blood burst from his chest as the slash tore into him, making him clutch at the wound. Meanwhile, the cultist with the wounded shoulder, still clenching it, staggered forward to attack again.
The wounded cultist, clutching his bleeding shoulder, lurched forward with a desperate swing, but Cassian was already in motion. His green blade flashed, severing the cultist’s neck in one clean stroke, sending the head rolling across the ground. The swordsman charged next, his blade arcing toward Cassian’s chest. Cassian sidestepped with eerie precision, grabbing the man’s arm and flashing a wide, predatory grin before hacking it off at the elbow. Blood sprayed as the severed limb, still clutching its sword, fell into Cassian’s hands. With a vicious flick, he hurled the arm back at its owner, impaling the swordsman through the chest with his own weapon still gripped by his own severed hand. The leader froze, terrified by the gruesome spectacle.
The spear-wielder, reeling from the gash in his chest, made a final, feeble thrust. Cassian was too quick, spinning and cleaving his blade through the cultist’s torso, splitting him from shoulder to hip. The body crumpled, blood pooling beneath. The leader, the only one still uninjured, swung his enchanted claw in a frantic attack. Cassian parried with ease, then slashed downward, severing both of the man’s hands in a single stroke. The claw-weapon clattered to the ground, leaving the leader weaponless, trembling in terror and pain. He tried to scream, but Cassian’s hand clamped around his throat, choking off the sound. "Well, now," Cassian said, his voice calm but dripping with menace, as he thrust his sword into the leader’s thigh, drawing a muffled whimper. The man’s throat remained clenched in Cassian’s iron grip, stifling his agony. "Can you answer some questions before I kill you painlessly?" Cassian added, his eyes glinting under the moonlight.
Cassian flung the leader to the ground, making him cough and writhe in agony, unable to clutch his crushed throat or bleeding thighs with his severed hands. "So, tell me," Cassian growled, looming over him, "how many of you are attacking us? Include the number of mages, their ranks, and any Circle Warriors."
"I don’t know..." the leader rasped, glaring at Cassian with venomous eyes. Cassian smirked, no stranger to torture—having endured intense sessions twice himself, he knew how to inflict pain. He pressed his boot onto the man’s foot, grinding it into the dirt, stretching the torn thigh muscles. Before the leader could shift to ease the torment, Cassian drove his sword through the man’s other foot, pinning it to the ground. The leader groaned, his body convulsing in pain as both feet burned with intese pain. Cassian leaned harder on the pinned foot, his voice low and menacing. "You don’t wanna die painlessly?"
"Fuck you..." the leader screamed, spitting toward Cassian, though the spittle fell short, nowhere near him. Cassian sighed, unfazed. The man clearly wouldn’t talk, but it didn’t matter—there were others he could interrogate, and one of them would surely beg for a painless death.
The leader showed no sign of breaking, and Cassian, sensing it, yanked his sword from the man’s foot and released his grip. The cultist scrambled back in a panic, but Cassian’s blade flashed, slashing across the man’s eyes. Blood flooded the leader’s vision as he screamed. "As you wish..." Cassian said coldly, carving deep gashes across the man’s body—not fatal enough to kill instantly, but ensuring a slow, agonizing death. With a final brutal kick, he shattered the leader’s bones, leaving him writhing and screaming in the dirt as Cassian turned to hunt for others who might talk.
Cassian’s vow never to harm the innocent held firm in his mind, but these cultists deserved every ounce of pain he could inflict—without a shred of guilt or remorse. His killing domain surged, fueled by each death, growing more powerful. His speed had increased by a few percent since the slaughter began, a boost purely from his domain, though his physical capabilities remained unchanged.
As he moved, a stray thought crossed his mind: ’Would the system count these boosts in my status?’ He hadn’t checked his system status once during the fight, but now, in a brief moment of relative safety, he muttered, "System status..."
[Name : Senior Trainee Cassian ven dyke
Warrior level : Adept
Training Field (Status: Available)
Sword Mastery: Adept Lv3
Gale Whisper Sword Style: Lv9
Full Body Massage Mastery: Lv2 (191/1000)
Mana Rotation and Sealing Techniques : Blood Fire Tempering
Rotations for Second Seal: 61/100
Fire Mana Crystal: 1kg
Heart of 3-Star Monster: (0/5)
Accepted Tasks : The Skilled Masseur: (0/10)
Completed Tasks: Path of the Gladiator (Completed)
Beginner Monster Slayer (Completed)
Path of the Composed Warrior (Completed)
Cassian was right—his system status revealed new numbers. Dexterity and intelligence had each climbed by less than ten points, but all other stats surged by at least ten, a massive boost. This added power, stacked atop his already superhuman abilities—far beyond multiple normal humans—felt overwhelming, like the strength of a strong, normal human piled onto his existing might.