Berserk

After hearing that today was the day he will get out of the array, excitement appeared in Drake's face.

"Don't get too excited. Even though we will be going out, we will only stay for a maximum of one day. Also, our primary focus is for you to experience the feeling of going berserk, without seeing dreams. We need you to completely control your feelings of anger and trust me, if there were a faster way, than by going berserk repeatedly, we would have chosen it since this way is quite dangerous. If you have any thoughts of sightseeing, it is better to forget them.

Anyway, it is time to go; the hunters are waiting for us at the edge of the array. From the moment one of us goes out, the one-day countdown will start. Doko will be with us just in case."

Even though Darth warned Drake about the dangers repeatedly, he couldn't help himself. Since he has been reincarnated as a golden-haired monkey, he was trapped inside a village unable to go out. He was curious about the outside world, because all he could see from the inside, was an illusion of never-ending grasslands surrounding the village.

Soon, they arrived next to the other hunters. What surprised Drake was that even though most of them were staff wielders, he could see a couple of monkeys holding bows while Doko was bare-handed. Seeing him looking at the weapons the others were equipped with, Doko let him know a bit about his future combat training.

"All of us can handle both staffs and bows. Obviously, fighting bare-handed is also a must. That is what your combat training will include. First, we will start with hand to hand combat, then staffs and the last will be bows. If you perform well, I might teach you some minor combat spells for enhancing yourself."

Drake turned to look at Doko, since what he just told him, was everything he could ask for.

"If everyone is ready, let's head out," Darth said while leading the way. Drake was behind Darth, and even though he was pretty much expecting it, he stood there dumbfounded, since the moment that Darth passed the line of small stones which was declaring the boundaries of the village, he just vanished. Curiously, he proceeded, and he stood still for a second when half of his body was outside the array, marvelling at the fact that his half body was now invisible to his eyes due it still being inside the array.

As soon as he got out the first thing he noticed was the trees. They were everywhere; it was apparently a forest. But what he astonished him was the height and the width of the trees. He looked up, but he could see no end to them. The trees were so high, and they were so close to each other, that inside the forest, you could not see the sky at all. Obviously, he never saw trees like them before.

He went close to one to touch it, and the moment he touched the trunk, he realised that it was extremely tough. He could feel that even if he punched one with all his strength, not even splinters would scatter. Darth urged him to move so he made a note to self to study the trees when he had time, the wood from them could probably be used as a crude made weapon if he was able to retrieve it.

After they walked for around ten minutes, Darth gave a command to the hunters, and they split up from him, Drake and Doko. They walked for more than an hour and the more they walked, the denser and more abundant the vegetation in the forest became.

"From what we know, the place our village is sealed is being called "The Great Wilderness". It used to be one of the five places in the continent where beasts and animals are living. All the other places in the world are being dominated by humans. Even in the places similar to here, the beasts are living in fear of them. They are using us as training exercises, trophies or as food.

According to legends, when our ancestor and the four divine beast's ancestors were gods, beasts were having equal strength to humans. But after humanity's gods colluded and tricked our ancestor, eventually poisoning and sealing him, they turned to the other divine beasts overpowering them in the end. We do not know what happened to them but then the humans started hunting all the beasts in this world." Darth was explaining to Drake while walking towards their destination. Soon they arrived at a lake and Darth signalled them to stop.

"Do you see the herd of black-striped deer next to the lake?" asked Darth.

Drake turned his eyes to the herd of deers that were looking like a mix between zebra and deer from his previous life, slightly taller and bigger than a normal deer and with black stripes covering their bodies. One more difference was that all of them had antlers. Even the small ones. He saw many of them drinking water from the lake, which contrary to his expectations was pretty standard and had crystal clear waters.

He then turned his eyes to Darth again and nodded affirmatively.

"Go and kill them. Do not think, do not plan. You won't be hunting today. You will just charge and kill them. Either that or they will kill you. Do not think of them as prey, they are quite strong and fast compared to you, and they have the advantage in numbers. Also, they are beasts, not animals, meaning that they have sufficient intelligence, so you will have to fight for your life. Neither Doko nor I will help you."

Before Drake even realised what Darth just said to him, Darth picked him up and threw him into the middle of the herd. The deers first got startled, but that didn't last long. They all charged at him. Even though there was no coordination between them soever, there were still around twenty deers attacking Drake.

He managed to dodge them for the first few seconds, but then he made the mistake to jump up trying to get out of the encirclement. The moment he jumped, a deer from behind him headbutted him with its antlers.

Drake felt like a truck collided with his body. He got thrown four meters away and then tumbled for another two. He struggled to get up, and in the process, he realised that some of his ribs should be broken.

'Fucking hell, what is this shit. That fucking Darth threw me in the middle of the deers. No, I can't call them deers, I clearly have more strength than a bodybuilder from earth, yet one hit from them almost killed me.' Drake thought then turned to look at his opponents. Instead of attacking him they just stood there motionless, looking at him like one looks at an ant. Mockery was apparent in their eyes.

'You fuckers, do you think I am a fucking ant?' Drake felt his anger rising up. 'First, it was that bitch of a goddess looking down on me; then it was my first death, then the second. Each and every fucking time I was dying and I was looking into their eyes, be it beast or human that was killing me, they were looking down on me.

DO YOU FUCKERS HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM? I AM FUCKING DRAKE POPE.'

Unknowingly, the muscles on his body started expanding; his eyes were turning red. Drake began emitting killing intent making the deers take a step back.

'I WAS ONCE LOOKING DOWN ON THE WORLD, AND I WILL DO THE SAME NOW!!!'

Drake then screeched out loud, scaring the smaller deers into retreat. Then, he charged at them. He did not know any combat techniques, nor did he know how to fight barehanded. But his bloodline did. He started scratching and biting everything that was close to him. His body slowly started copying the fighting style that Sun Wukong had on the battlefield of the gods. He was jumping to one's deer back, scratching its throat with his hands, killing it in the process. Then he was jumping to the next one.

Every time he was getting hit by them, one could hear the sound of bones breaking, and blood slowly started covering his body. But he could feel no pain. He kept standing up again and again until he killed all the deers in the vicinity. He then stood still and lifted his head up smelling the air trying to find the next target. His blood red eyes turned and looked at the direction where Darth and Doko were standing, and immediately he rushed at them.

"Time to calm down boy," Doko said instantly appearing behind Drake hitting him at the back of the head making fall unconscious. "Darth, the plan was stopping him after going berserk, not letting him go on a rampage."

Darth looked around before replying. The area next to the lake where previously a herd of deers were drinking water peacefully, was now filled with corpses and blood. The usually calm place was now reeking with the aura of death.

"Yeah, that was the plan... But he needs to see the results of him going berserk. I want him to remember this scene. I want him to engrave this deep into his mind, as long as he recalls it he might help him calm down.

I was looking from afar when you told him about the power-up that comes with going berserk. He was looking forward to using it, but that is a wrong train of thought. It can lead to his demise. He needs to fear this strength. He must understand that this is only a last resort and not a power to be used during every struggle.

I brought along a grade two pill; it will help him wake up in the next hour and heal his injuries within a day. That way he will be able to resume his training tomorrow." Darth then took out a green pill with a strong smell that was annoying everyone close to it. Afterwards, he used his Ki to help the unconscious Drake swallow the pill.

"Gillian will kill you if she finds out" joked Doko while waiting for Drake to regain his senses.

Less than an hour later, Drake had stood up and was looking at the results of him going berserk that looked like a scene from a horror film. But contrary to Darth's expectations, the power didn't scare him at all.

'This power is so great. I actually killed all of them. I should be careful of the exhaustion afterwards though.

Too bad the last thing I remember is that deer looking down on me.

But I can somehow recall the style of combat I was using and I feel I can use it now. Is this a side effect from the berserk? But the others told me that your mind goes completely blank and you don't remember anything. I should keep this a secret from them.'

"Now do you realise how dangerous this power can be?" Darth asked him.

"Yeah, it is evil," Drake replied.

"Good, remember that, now if you are able to walk we should head back and meet with the other hunters. If they have already found some prey, we will immediately return to the village and we will come out again next week." Darth announced.

Luckily, their side has already completed their task, so the group immediately returned to the village.

Drake's life from then onwards was constant training except once per week he was going out with his father and Doko, repeating the process of going berserk every time. Day by day he was growing stronger, mastering the fighting styles that Doko was teaching him and soon four years have passed...