The strange beast, or rooster, whatever it was, looked unlike anything he had ever seen before. It was the first time such a creature appeared before his eyes, and there had been no mention of it in any of the books he had read about beasts.
Its very existence was a mystery to him.
But as his will brushed over the creature, probing its presence, the beast seemed to sense him.
The moment his will touched it, the creature suddenly lunged toward him like a streak of lightning, accompanied by a deafening roar.
The roar itself was shocking. It was not the cry of a rooster at all.
Instead, it sounded more like the roar of a lion, only deeper, heavier, and far more powerful. It shook the air as if the forest itself trembled in response.
Using its legs like springs and beating its wings to push itself forward, the beast shot ahead at a terrifying speed, and in the blink of an eye, it appeared right in front of Ash. Its sharp beak glowed faintly, giving off a dangerous light.
Ash did not panic.
His eyes remained calm as he watched the incoming strike.
At the very last moment, he stepped aside, his movements smooth and precise.
Eclipse, his Jian, moved almost like an extension of his body, and the instant the beast passed him, its body was cleanly split in half.
Green blood sprayed across the ground as the creature collapsed lifelessly.
Hmm, it is quite weak.....
From the scales that covered its body and the roar that had carried such force, he had expected the beast to possess strength at least on par with a worthy opponent.
Yet, it was far weaker than he imagined.
That made him wonder.
How had such a creature survived all alone in this forest filled with threats stronger than itself? The question lingered in his mind for only a moment before the sound of rustling leaves reached his ears again.
Turning his head toward the sound, Ash could not help but almost laugh.
From the bushes and trees ahead, more of those strange rooster-like beasts began poking their heads out.
One after another, they emerged, and the numbers only grew with each passing second until he stopped trying to count them.
So, it was a horde after all..... weaker beasts tend to stay in groups, I should have realized that sooner.....
Clicking his tongue lightly, he scolded himself for the oversight.
Then, taking a deep breath, he slowly moved forward. His steps were steady, and his mind remained calm.
He knew very well that no matter how many of them there were, a group of roosters was not enough to make him feel fear.
Compared to his strength, they were nothing more than obstacles waiting to be cut down.
And as if responding to his advance, the monsters roared in unison. Their cries merged into a chilling sound that shook the trees, and in the next instant, they all lunged at him together.
The first beast to enter his range was instantly met with Eclipse. His Jian moved with a swift and powerful swing, carrying the full force of his body, perfectly augmented by his pure mana.
The creature’s body was torn in two before it even realized what had happened.
Without pause, Ash shifted his stance. His blade turned, and with another sharp strike, he cut down a second beast that came rushing from his side.
But things quickly began to change.
The moment the second beast fell, the remaining roosters let out a piercing, unnatural screech.
Their bodies trembled violently, and then they opened their beaks wide, spewing out streams of fire.
The blazing flames shot through the forest in all directions, spreading fast, but before they could touch him, Ash vanished from his spot.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared right in the middle of the horde, in the very place where the flames did not reach.
Eclipse moved in his hand, sweeping out in a wide, graceful arc. The blade glided through the air, and as it connected, the scales of the beasts were sliced apart as easily as if he were cutting through butter.
It was not that these monsters were weak or that their defenses were lacking. In truth, the beasts were savage-ranked, and some of them were even Alpha-ranked.
Their power was real, their numbers intimidating, but none of it mattered before Ash.
His stats were far beyond theirs, and ever since he had reached the first stage of weapon mastery, he could channel more power of his body with refined precision.
Because of this, even without pouring excessive power into his strikes, his swings carried lethal force. A little body enhancement was all it took for him to cut them down.
-Swish!!
-Swish!!
-Screech!!
-Swish!!
Ash danced between the groups of roosters, cutting them down like weeds falling before a scythe. His movements were sharp and fluid, his body weaving between their strikes.
Whenever flames came toward him, he either vanished through teleportation or twisted another beast into the line of fire, turning it into a shield of flesh.
All this time, he had not cast a single spell, nor had he coated Eclipse with mana. His sword alone carried enough strength to cut through them.
Soon, the roosters changed their approach. They flapped their wings and took to the air, their screeches echoing through the forest.
Fire rained down from above, and some hurled themselves toward him, plummeting like burning comets that split the sky.
The impact of their assaults was nothing short of devastating. The ground cracked, trees shattered, and waves of heat warped the air around him.
Ash teleported into the sky to meet them, his blade flashing with every swing. He cut them apart mid-flight, but to him it was more of a nuisance than a challenge.
I wish I could fly.....
That desire stirred in him, but he knew flight was not so simple. One had to reach a certain rank before gaining that ability, and for him, it was still a little far away.
He kicked one of the winged beasts aside and used the recoil to drive himself downward, letting gravity pull him as he slashed through another in his path.
Then, vanishing again, he appeared beside the next monster, Eclipse already raised.
But just as his blade came down, a piercing shriek split the air.
-SHIREEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!!!!!
The sound struck him without warning, and his balance faltered in mid-air. Eclipse missed its mark by a few inches, giving the rooster the opening to counter.
It opened its beak wide and spewed out a torrent of fire straight at him.
The flames would have consumed him in less than a second, so he chose the only path that was instantaneous.
{Phase}
The torrent of fire phased his body, while he vanished after a second, teleporting high above.
Ash steadied himself and turned his gaze toward the source of the cry.
Looks like the dungeon boss has appeared.....
There it was, towering above the rest.
Twice their size, its body was covered in scales so black they seemed to drink in the light, and its eyes glowed with a deep crimson hue. Those eyes locked directly onto him, filled with madness and hunger.
Their gazes met, and the beast let out another cry.
-SHIREEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!!!!!
This time, the sound felt heavier, like a command that spread through the battlefield. At once, every other rooster froze, then turned their heads toward Ash in unison.
Until now, they had attacked in groups of four or five, their assaults scattered and disorganized. But the moment that cry rang out, everything changed.
All the remaining ones, nearly forty in number, launched themselves at him together. They surged from the sky, from the ground, from every direction, closing in like a tide, while Ash hung suspended in the air.
Yet instead of panic or fear, a faint smile curved his lips.
"Thanks for making my task easier, you black chicken..."
He calmly sheathed Eclipse and brought his hands together.
His will stirred deep within, sending a command to his soul.
Runes bloomed into existence, glowing faintly as they circled around his body before converging into his palms.
{Flower of Death}
The moment the incantation left his mouth, the world itself seemed to shudder.
The temperature around him dropped sharply, the warmth of sunlight dimmed as if swallowed, and an unnatural shadow spread over the forest like the presence of death itself.
Blackish lightning crackled across his palms, twisting and gathering until it formed into a black flower, slowly rotating in his hands.
Ash’s body began to sink toward the ground, falling steadily through the air, the flower pulsing with power above his palms.
The monsters’ face was struck by fear, their body trembling.
Their instincts screamed at them to turn and flee, but their momentum was already too great, their bodies pulled forward by their own reckless charge.
As the distance between them shrank, Ash lifted the flower above his head and spoke softly.
"Bloom."
The flower collapsed inward at once, compressing into a tiny black dot in the sky.
Then... it expanded.
There was no thunderous explosion, no dazzling light. Nothing loud or chaotic.
Instead, the world simply began to die.
Everything the flower touched was robbed of life. Plants shriveled and crumbled.
The air itself turned dry and brittle, as if mana and oxygen were stripped away together.
The ground cracked, the grass withered, and the trees hollowed and collapsed.
The roosters never even had the chance to scream. Their bodies froze where they were, skin wrinkling and drying, eyes glazing over as life was sucked out of them.
They simply stopped breathing.
The bodies of the monsters started to fall one by one onto the ground.
-Thud!!
-Thud!!
-Thud!!
-Thud!!
The earth cracked beneath their weight, and a thick cloud of dust rose into the air, spreading across the lifeless area.
For a moment, silence followed, and then without a sound, Ash descended and landed on the fractured ground.
His figure stood steady amidst the destruction.
"That was maybe too much..." Ash muttered as he looked around carefully.
There was not a single thing alive in his surroundings, and the forest, which only moments ago had been filled with noise and movement, now looked more like a horror scene than a battlefield.
The spell he had used was a combination of {Lightning Balls} and {Lightning Bloom}.
By merging the features of both techniques, Ash had created a new spell that carried far greater impact.
The attack was not only infused with lightning, but also carried the essence of death.
His grasp of the death affinity was not strong, yet the countless times he had experienced death himself, along with the many books he had read about it, had given him plenty of insights.
Even the books on life affinity had helped him somewhat, because understanding life had allowed him to approach the concept of death more deeply.
It was one of the overpowered spells he had developed.
If his control over death affinity improved further, then the destructive power of this spell would rise to a whole new level.
Though it destroys even the mana cores in their body...
That was the flaw. While powerful, the spell did not distinguish between friend or foe, treating everything equally.
It consumed and destroyed all that it touched, even the mana cores of the monsters, leaving behind nothing of value.
"Tsk."
Clicking his tongue, Ash was about to move when the sound of the ground cracking caught his attention. He turned his head sharply and saw that the leader of the roosters was still alive.
"Looks like you escaped after sensing the danger of my attack. You are quite smart..." Ash said slowly, his voice carrying both caution and a hint of recognition.
But the eyes of the leader rooster burned with rage, hunger, and madness. It had just witnessed the extermination of its entire pack, and the hatred in its gaze made it clear that it would not forgive.
Ash took a step forward, preparing to strike it down, but then his body froze.
His eyes widened slightly in surprise.
The leader, instead of fighting back, turned around and ran.
What the hell, is it a coward..? Ash thought, taken aback by the unexpected retreat.
"Should I follow or not...?" he murmured to himself. It would not be difficult for him to chase it down and finish it, but doing so might take more time than he wanted to spend.
Time that could be better used hunting other monsters or searching deeper into the forest.
After a moment of silence, he rubbed his neck and muttered with a sigh, "Well, I will let it live. If fate... no, fate is a bitch. If destiny... no, that is also a bitch. Anyway, if I see it again... I will kill it."
Without looking back, Ash stepped forward and moved deeper into the forest, not knowing that by letting ’it’ go, he had spared not a prey, but allowed a predator to escape.
****