Episode 104 Mountain Escape (2)
Muscles bulging and blood vessels writhing.
Thump!
Thick legs like tree trunks stomped on the ground, pushing his large body into the air.
A faint heat haze rose from his entire body as he soared, and the "Calcos-style Combat Tattoos" engraved all over him glowed mysteriously.
And…
Whoosh— Splat!
The axe blade, enveloped in the red flickering light of "Bio-Aura", drew a large circle and separated the head of a four-meter-tall monster from its body.
"Hahaha—! It's satisfying to cut something this big!"
Harley laughed maniacally, covered in the Troll's blood.
But his attack didn't stop there.
Immediately after beheading it, he brought his axe down on the Troll's chest, shattering its ribs, and thrust his hand through the gap, pulling out the magic stone.
He landed on the ground, jumping off the monster's large body—.
Crunch!
…And split the large head lying on the ground in two with his axe.
Boom—!
The Troll's body, which had been thrashing for a while despite its head and heart being destroyed, finally collapsed after a short time.
'The Troll's life force is monstrous, considering it's already known for its regenerative abilities and it's infected with madness.'
Harley frowned as he munched on the Troll's magic stone in his hand.
He was able to deal with it so easily because he was used to hunting giant monsters and had overwhelming physical abilities, but others would have had a much harder time.
Like those who were catching their breath as soon as the battle with the Troll group ended.
"Whew…"
"Huff, huff… Damn it. A Troll in a place like this. We're trying to escape the mountains, but it seems like we've entered even deeper than before."
As the monsters started to move south in earnest, even those living in the deeper parts were gradually being pushed outwards.
A war was already raging between the monsters on the outermost edges and the humans.
"…Let's move right away. The situation will only worsen as time passes."
The effect of the magic tool that concealed their presence wasn't that great against the higher-ranking monsters that started to appear occasionally.
They weren't originally at that level, but their instincts were amplified by the madness, increasing their perception.
They weren't weak, but there was nothing they could do in this situation with just a small party.
The continuous battles for several days had exhausted them, and high-ranking monsters that required careful handling were appearing frequently…
"Only Harley, who's been moving the most, is still full of energy. Is it because of that secret shamanistic technique? I'm envious…"
"But thanks to him, we were able to get this far. And we'll be able to escape the mountains if we just push ourselves for one more day. Let's hang in there until then."
The guide, Marcus, encouraged them with hopeful words and led the exhausted group again from the front.
But…
The situation was deteriorating even worse than they expected.
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Harley was able to understand the behavioral patterns of the monsters consumed by madness in more detail while wandering through the Northern Mountains.
The information he obtained from the other avatars outside said that they didn't fight each other and attacked in cooperation, but that was only partially true.
They were still living beings, so they needed food to survive, and the food chain among monsters was also part of their ecosystem.
It wasn't uncommon to see stronger monsters preying on weaker monsters in these mountains.
'The weaker ones might be even more reckless and charge at the stronger ones without thinking.'
As a result, there were cases where the stronger ones were hunted down.
They were extremely aggressive towards each other, to the point where a life-or-death struggle would break out if something triggered them, even within the same group.
'And when one eats another, the concentration of madness in the survivor increases.'
The loser became food in death, and the winner became even stronger due to the accumulated madness.
It was already threatening enough…
But the moment they sensed other intelligent beings, including humans,
They would join forces as if they had never fought before and charge madly to eliminate them.
Just like now.
____________________
The first casualty was Bordo, one of the Rangers who had been isolated with the Dwarf Zaonic.
Unlike his injured colleague Hans, he was relatively fine and was tasked with distracting and restraining the monsters while the others eliminated them…
"Ugh!"
He was sniped by a poison dart shot from a Hobgoblin that was among the monsters.
"Bordo!"
"No!"
Support fire poured in belatedly, but it was already too late to save Bordo, who was instantly paralyzed in front of the monsters.
An Orc, consumed by madness and unable to feel pain, charged at him even with arrows embedded all over its vital points.
The Orc collapsed on the spot after its life force was depleted, and they also embedded a bolt between the Hobgoblin's eyebrows, but…
Bordo was already dead.
'Is he using a weapon? Not just swinging it, but something like a blowgun?'
Harley, who was at the forefront, tearing apart the approaching monsters with his axe, glanced at the scene and frowned.
They would have been more careful normally, but they were caught off guard because they had never seen a monster using such a weapon even after being consumed by madness.
'Was it a particularly intelligent individual? Or was it less affected by madness?'
Whatever the reason, it was undeniable that the group's burden had increased.
Now they had to be wary of ranged attacks as well, on top of the already difficult situation.
In fact, the firepower support from the rear decreased because of that.
Mikel, who had been continuously firing bolts from a small quiver that was a subspace magic tool, started to shoot more carefully, taking on the role of guarding the surroundings.
'This isn't good. We'll all be wiped out if this continues. …Except for me.'
No matter how strong he was, there was a limit to how many enemies he could handle alone.
And they were monsters with monstrously enhanced life force.
'I've grown attached to them, and I don't want to break my 100% mission success rate… It can't be helped.'
He had to use everything he had in this situation.
'Alright, let's use this opportunity to properly assess Harley's strength. Let's see how far he can go.'
He calmed his mind and raised his power while still continuously moving and slaughtering the enemy.
His already large body grew a little bigger with "Physical Transformation", and "Bio-Aura", which burned the energy he had accumulated, blazed fiercely.
"Wildness" sharpened, allowing him to instinctively grasp the flow of the surroundings, and "Regeneration" kept his body in top condition.
And the "Calcos-style Combat Tattoos" engraved all over his body glowed even brighter.
'Flame' on his chest, 'Lightning Storm' around his eyes, 'Beast' on his right arm, 'Axe' on his left arm, and even 'Running Horse' and 'Bird's Wings' on his legs, which were hidden by his pants.
"Whew—"
White steam erupted from his lightly exhaled breath.
No, heat and steam were spreading from all the pores of his body as his energy was rapidly burned.
His senses were incredibly sharp, and his hands wielding the axe felt light.
But it didn't end there…
Harley gradually awakened the 'madness' he had been suppressing.
Madness increased his physical abilities just by existing in his body, but he couldn't say he was using it properly just by that.
Thump—
He felt something flowing through his blood vessels from his violently beating heart.
It penetrated his muscles, bones, organs, and even deep into his mind—.
Yes, let's tear them all apart! Everything that blocks our path! Hahaha!
Along with the whispers of madness that started to run rampant again,
Whoosh—
His body, further strengthened, glowed red hot like heated iron, emitting heat to the surroundings, and his right eye, which had been black, turned red, and a fiery light burned in it.
The moment Harley fully awakened madness and brought it under his control,
《The individual meets the conditions and grows. The skill "Wildness" evolves into the special skill "Frenzied Beast".》
He obtained a means to handle madness more efficiently.
"Kuh… Kuhhahaha—!"
He couldn't help but burst into laughter as volcanic energy exploded from within his body.
A crazier laugh than usual.
'Ah… I thought it had calmed down a bit.'
But it couldn't be helped this time.
Still, once he deactivated this battle mode where madness was completely unleashed, his madness would return to its previous level.
…Probably.
'Then, shall we begin in earnest?'
Harley was still in the middle of the battlefield because it was an urgent situation, even while raising his power.
He extended his right hand behind him and drew the other axe he had been carrying.
He had been keeping one hand free to immediately extract magic stones, but now that he had decided to go all out, he could use this too.
Harley, gripping an axe in each hand, took a deep breath—.
"Heave-ho!"
Whoosh—! Thud!
One of the axes flew like a missile and embedded itself in the head of an Orc.
But that wasn't all.
His left eye, which had been calm unlike his burning right eye,
Started to emit a dark green light.
"Gem Eye: Telekinesis."
The axe embedded in the Orc's head was enveloped in a faint green light and floated into the air.
And…
Whoosh— Thud! Thud!
It freely flew through the air and smashed the heads of the enemies targeting his companions one by one.
He didn't even need to see them directly and control it.
His senses, enhanced by "Frenzied Beast", were already grasping the entire battlefield in real time.
'There's no problem with the attack power itself because the telekinesis in the axe is replacing the power of aura. But the fuel efficiency is terrible because I'm sending energy remotely…'
But that didn't really matter to him.
At least not in this situation where he was fighting numerous monsters.
Crack— Munch!
Harley continued to rip out the monsters' hearts with his bare hands, putting the magic stones and hearts in his mouth and continuously consuming them with "Gluttony".
The rapid consumption of energy inside his body gradually slowed down.
'To think I still can't fully recover.'
It showed how energy-intensive the combination of abilities he was currently using was.
Boom—!
"Hahaha! Die!"
Of course, the effect was also overwhelming.
His extremely strengthened body made a loud noise every time he moved, and the axe swung with red aura had already surpassed the speed of sound.
He could now smash monsters just by headbutting them.
At this point, his body was too light for the power he possessed, so he had to take additional measures to control his body properly, even if it meant increased energy consumption.
He widened the surface area of his feet, transformed his toes into hooks, and poured a considerable amount of aura to increase his grip on the ground.
Even then, the ground couldn't withstand his full power and exploded with every step he took, but he was able to unleash his power much more comfortably than before.
'But the energy consumption is terrifying. I wouldn't have been able to maintain it for long without "Gluttony".'
He hit-and-run the monsters with his explosive movements, elegantly swung his axe to dismember them, and diligently ripped out their hearts and brought them to his mouth.
And the axe enveloped in green light was flying in the sky, smashing the monsters' heads…
Crackle—!
Thanks to his efforts, the battle finally entered a lull.
The monsters' reinforcements had also stopped, thanks to the temporary barrier that the Dwarf Zaonic had hurriedly set up, which moderately absorbed the battle noise to prevent it from spreading too far.
'It couldn't be helped that the monsters nearby rushed in because it was hastily set up with a magic tool, but it's still a good job.'
If it hadn't been for that, they would have had to fight until they collapsed from exhaustion.
"Whew—"
Just as Harley was about to deactivate his current full-power battle mode with a sigh and a puff of white steam,
'Hmm?'
His extremely sharpened senses detected something approaching him fiercely.
Thump, thump, thump…
Vibrations that shook the ground, a presence that stimulated his "Frenzied Beast" instincts, and a massive amount of 'madness' contained in its body, all perceptible even from afar.
'Ah, I'm screwed.'
It was charging straight towards them.