The mist surrounded him from every direction , not gray, but black, carrying a strange and filthy stench. It covered everything, and nothing could be seen through it.
The ground beneath Daniel’s feet was shaking, but he couldn’t feel or hear it. All his senses had weakened to their lowest point.
"No sign of Drael, and no matter how far I walk, there’s no end to this place... what the hell is this?" he muttered, starting to regret entering the mist.
Maybe they should’ve searched for another shortcut from the beginning, but it was too late for that now. The only thing he could do was hope that Drael was still alive.
"Hm?" He suddenly felt a strong sense of danger and instinctively drew his sword.
The white aura around the blade flickered like a cold flame, but even that barely illuminated more than a few meters ahead, just enough to act as a faint light.
Still, he knew it wasn’t enough. Death energy spread beneath his feet, forming a circular mark around him. He stood still, not moving an inch, trusting his intuition, he was surrounded.
Then came the sounds, the scraping of flesh against bone, the dry laughter, like nails dragged across metal.
Dark shadows began to form and gather around Daniel.
They were something between beasts and humans, their bodies made of damp skin and layers of decaying flesh.
Their heads had no eyes, only open mouths with long, black teeth. From their breathing holes, black vapor leaked out.
They crawled on all fours across the ground, occasionally letting out distorted screams, though Daniel could neither see nor hear them properly.
His sense of danger suddenly grew stronger, it was like they were already attacking.
He held his breath and focused. The only sense that still worked, at least a little, was his smell, even if it was faint.
But their disgusting, rotten odor was so strong that he could still sense where they were.
He raised his sword. The aura flared out, spreading like a wave of light that cut through the air.
Then, a drip. Blood. Something had just fallen to the ground to his left.
Daniel didn’t hesitate. He turned and swung. The blade sliced cleanly through something, cutting it in half.
The sound of cracking bones echoed faintly through the mist.
One down.
He could feel it, something had died. He could even sense that his EXP had increased slightly.
Without overthinking it, he kept fighting, relying only on instinct and smell. Every time he sensed the smell of blood, he turned and swung.
His sword left trails of white light, and wherever that light touched, the mist burned away, turning into a red vapor.
The monsters screamed, jumped, and lunged, but none could cross the death circle he had formed.
Even when they managed to reach it, the Law of Death instantly disintegrated them into ashes.
Each time one got close, the sword struck with inhuman speed, slicing through their throats in silence. The only trace left was the spray of fresh, bloody mist.
One of them attacked from behind, its long, whip-like arms lashing out.
Daniel didn’t even turn around, he simply swung his sword backward in a diagonal arc.
The creature’s body split from its waist to its shoulder, black smoke rising from the wound.
Judging by how easily they were being cut down, he guessed they were around Rank B at best. Every swing of his sword cut through them like butter.
The mist grew denser with each kill, but it no longer felt threatening, it was almost as if it feared him.
Amid the screams, silence gradually returned. The last remaining monsters trembled, stepping back. They turned away, like they regretted attacking and wanted to flee.
Why was this prey so terrifying? Weren’t they supposed to be the hunters? How did they become the hunted instead?
If they had known this human was such a monster, they would’ve never attacked in the first place.
But how could Daniel possibly let them go?
Using his mana, he locked the entire area, preventing anything from escaping. Then, calmly, with half-open eyes, he lowered his sword and walked forward among them.
Each step, a slash. Every swing, a kill. The Death Circle expanded with him, growing wider and consuming everything within. Any creature that entered was turned to ash instantly.
Within minutes, the ground beneath him was covered with melting flesh.
Finally, the aura around his sword faded, leaving only the sound of blood dripping from its edge.
"That should be all of them," he muttered, dispelling the Death Circle and unlocking the sealed area. The sense of danger vanished.
In truth, he didn’t need to kill them all, wasting this much mana wasn’t ideal. But he was worried. If he didn’t eliminate them, they might go after Drael. And honestly, he doubted the kid could survive an encounter with these things.
That’s assuming he wasn’t already dead.
"Now how the hell do I get out of here?" he murmured, staring ahead. There was nothing but darkness.
He knew that if he kept walking aimlessly, he’d never leave this mist. The only option was to force an exit.
He had noticed earlier, whenever he struck hard enough, the mist around him would momentarily pull back, and his senses would start to recover slightly.
So he reached a conclusion: maybe a full-powered strike could split the mist for a short time. That should give him enough of a window to escape this cursed place.
However, there were still a few problems and variables.
He didn’t know the mist’s actual size or how much power it could endure.
Before entering, he had taken a look and thought it was small. But once inside, he realized he was completely wrong.
This mist was either enormous, expanding, or had some kind of mechanism that managed to deceive him in some way.
Because of that, his idea might not work as planned.
Now the question was—would it actually work or not?