Soul Corruption

The golden furred monkey had made its move, streaking towards Kael. Its heavy contempt and killing intent were evident in its eyes.

"Chill, it's not your turn yet," Kael's voice echoed across the area. Teleporting a couple of times while cunningly evading the golden furred monkey, he finally killed all the monkeys, leaving only the leader.

"Now, we can have fun!" Kael said to the beast, which stared at him with fury. "Don't disappoint," he muttered, charging forward. Leaping from branch to branch, both clashed with Kael sent crashing through a couple of trees.

"That hurts," he muttered with a smile. The monkey, seeing Kael hurt by its attack, charged forward in confidence.

"I will get rid of you and your kind, human!"

"Don't get carried away," Kael's voice echoed in the beast's ear, causing it to stop in his tracks. Swinging its hand out, it had struck the empty air.

A thin line of blood appeared in its arm, which was slowly sliding off.

ROOOAR!

Pain! The monkey felt a deep pain that invaded its senses. To its dismay, it was unable to regenerate its lost limb. The spot with the hands detached began to turn dark with black veins spreading upwards.

"Huh? That's new," Kael muttered in surprise. "Is that your doing?" He said to the scythe with a smile.

The beast now wounded was careful in its charge.

"C'mon, it won't be fun that way!" Exploding forward, Kael swung his scythe right at the beast chest.

ROOOAR!

The beast roared in pain, its body dyed in its blood. "Oh, you sacrificed your other hand." Kael muttered, stepping forward. The beast fell to the ground with the black veins appearing on its neck and slowly moving over to its face. "It seems you're close to death already."

Swinging the scythe, a blinding glow erupted from the scythe just before it sliced through the beast's neck.

"Huh?" Kael found himself back in the abyss with the monkey beasts lying weakly on the ground. "How did I get here? Did the scythe do that?" Staring at the scythe, it began to vibrate softly with the abyssal energy beginning to converge around the blade.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Kael exclaimed as a beam of dark energy was released, wrapping around the monkey beast. A cocoon of dark energy was formed with the screams of the beasts echoing from within.

"What the hell are you up to," Kael muttered, staring at the cocoon. He decided to stand back and watch before trying anything.

The cocoon began to crack slowly before finally exploding, revealing a grotesque creature with large dark tentacles in place of its hands and fur, turned into a dark, slimy swirling-like liquid.

"What just... happened," Kael muttered, preparing to take action in case the beast attacked.

Ding!

[Host has been granted a special skill by the scythe]

[Soul corrupting]

[Note: Host is unable to carry out the process due to his low level. The soul corrupting ability can only be used through the scythe for now]

"Hmm, a new skill," Kael muttered, staring at the skill description before staring at the beast.

[Soul corrupting: ??? ]

"How is the scythe able to perform that?" Kael asked with a frown.

[Absorbing the souls of slain beasts, the scythe will be able to make use of the skill. Though it's limited to host level]

"Limited to my level?"

[The ability would only work on beasts within the Rank E and F range. The success rate for higher ranks beings is extremely low but feasible]

Kael, feeling a connection to the monkey, all of a sudden was surprised. He felt the beast awaiting his order.

"Hey, system, can I get the description of the transformed beasts?"

[The beast soul has been corrupted and transformed into an abyssal beast]

[Slime Ape (Rank D+): Capable of releasing slimy vines with toxic traits from its body]

"A Rank D beast?" Kael exclaimed. Its powers were boosted. This makes it the strongest beast I have in the first layer. "Now, what will I do with you?" Kael muttered, staring at the beast.

"Alright, stay here and increase your strength." Kael commanded. With that settled, he opened a portal and walked through, appearing back at the forest.

Ding!

[Level up! Level up!]

[Rank D-]

[Exp: 37,050/64,000]

"Damn! Just from my first fight," Kael uttered in amazement. He had killed about three hundred monkeys, causing him to gain a large number of experience points. "Ugh," he felt a deep pain, causing him to fall to his knees. He felt a surge of energy within all parts of his body.

"Arghhh," letting out a groan, he clenched his fist tightly as the process continued. His blood flowed faster with the beat of both hearts thumping loudly. The process continued for a few more minutes before finally residing.

Rising from the ground, he felt his body light and brimming with energy. "I just went through an evolution, huh?" He thought, feeling his body.

[System stats]

[Strength: C+]

[Agility: C+]

[Stamina: C-]

[Intelligence: C+]

All his stats were now in the C Rank, and his main ranking was still Rank D-. "I'm getting stronger," he thought, clenching his fist tightly. Now he was pretty sure he would be able to easily fight D rank beasts without much struggle and even hold his ground with low Rank C beasts.

After accessing his stats, Kael stared around for a moment before continuing onwards. Hours passed by as he ventured deeper into the forest, battling against various beasts and easily defeating them. Most of the beasts were between Rank E and F, which posed no threat to him.

Heading deeper, he felt the number of beasts dwindling down. The area was densely covered in dark fog. Kael felt powerful beasts lurking behind the shadows.

"This, what's this I'm sensing," he thought, stopping in his tracks. He felt a dark irritating smell as if a high number of corpses had been left to rot away. The trees appeared to be decaying slowly, also adding an extra layer to the pungent smell.

Although the trees bore no branches, not even a speck of light could be seen. A thick revolving fog covered the atmosphere and shielded the area from sunlight.

"Shit! What's this," Kael thought, feeling himself getting surrounded by a group of figures. The energy he sensed within them was a spark contrast to the energy of this world. Kael felt his mind being assaulted, but his time spent in the Abyss these were nothing compared.

With a shrug, he continued forward, giving the unknown figures the feeling of doubt. He didn't mind their presence if they didn't attack him since his main aim was heading to the centre of the forest.

As if finally sensing his aim, the figures let out piercing screams, revealing themselves before him. Surprisingly, they appeared to be humans with grotesque appearance. It appeared their bodies had been merged with other humans alike.

"What's this now?" Kael muttered quite cautious. He stopped a few metres away from them slowly observing them.

"Get out of my way!" He exclaimed fiercely, watching the actions of the beasts. In total, there were five that had blocked his way.

The beasts as if being controlled began heading towards him, their mangled flesh dropping to the ground and crawling back to their bodies again.

[Don't let them touch you]

Eva's voice echoed deeply in his head, letting out a warning to him.

"Yea–"

"Shit!" Kael cursed, blinking from his spot. Pieces of flesh exploded around the area with a few lashing onto him.

"Arghhh! Shit! Shit!" Kael exclaimed with a pale expression. He felt pain, deep searing pain with the piece of flesh melting into his skin.

[What the hell! I warned you to avoid contact with them]

"What the hell is happening," Kael asked, feeling his head spinning rapidly.