Chapter(13)

Episode(13): Bloodbath

SOVEREIGN OF DEATH~(13)

Nagisa advanced through the dungeon at a steady pace. As he did so he would meet monsters every floor he passed through and each respective floor had monsters stronger than the last.

The floor he was on was like an appetizer compared to the floors that would follow, however maybe it was because he leveled up or because the monsters he met were too weak when compared to the wolf variant he fought, Nagisa didn't have much trouble grinding levels.

At this rate every monster he met was just mere fodder for the growth of his skills. Especially since he now had a weapon, hunter had long become prey the moment he held a sword.

Nagisa moved through the darkness with his perception and concealing his presence he'd ambush the wolves and take them out one by one.

Since the wolves didn't seem to have as high a perception as he did this tactic worked all the way up to a certain level. The last time he tried it he was easily discovered and had to abandoned ship because the higher the floor the better the wolves were at sensing their surroundings.

Now a single wolf held an exaggerated amount of strength that even though he could still kill them, Nagisa couldn't take them lightly at all.

Even so, Nagisa wasn't too worried.

Now that he leveled up and his body underwent an evolution his strength surpassed the normal threshold of someone on the same level. If he were to be put into a category, Nagisa could probably face 15 to 20 people at the same level even with a handicap.

It was thanks to the advantages of surpassing human limits even while at level one as a major contribution factor, so now he was stronger than anyone else and in a league of his own.

It was thanks to this that he mainly had no trouble dealing with the wolves. 

'At any rate, If I'm right then the floor I'm on should be floor 28?'

From his guess Nagisa fell to floor 24. It was something he deciphered from a mark left by an adventure that he spent an hour trying to figure out but finally he found out.

But he wasn't angry, rather the fact that he now knew what floor he was on was a huge gain for him. And he now somewhat understood the theme for the 21st to 30th floors.

Wolves.

That meant the last boss should be a 'Werewolf' of some kind just like the one he faced. Nagisa thought about it and wasn't too worried. The main reason he ran before was because he didn't have a way of fighting back.

But he looked at the sword in his hand.

Swinging the sword, it kicked up a gust of wind while slicing through the air. Nagisa put the sword over his shoulder while glancing emotionlessly at the wolves menacingly glaring at him.

The wolves bared their fangs not hiding their hunger and intention to kill Nagisa and have a feast but Nagisa didn't panic.

He waited patiently and sure enough the wolves couldn't hold back. With quick strides, the wolf quickly covered the distance and appeared before Nagisa opening its mouth wide and baring its fangs.

It intended to take him down by sinking its teeth into his flesh, but Nagisa moved at last.

With a swing of the sword the wolf's blood splattered on the ground and its head flew off its body drawing a parabola in the air.

But that wasn't the end, Nagisa turned as if eye's were in the back of his head and cleaved down. With a swift and clean movement the wolf that attacked from behind was also cut in half without resistance.

Wolf blood covered the ground and the other wolves watching could no longer stay back and made their move.

A wolf with speed comparable to the variant rushed at Nagisa with a quick attack. The sharp claws swept by Nagisa almost tearing through his flesh, But Nagisa twisted his body before dishing out his own attack.

As soon as it saw Nagisa attacking, the wolf abandoned its counter and evaded as well.

Nagisa was stunned for a moment before he squinted his eyes.

'It has good reflexes'

Nagisa was amazed, but he didn't have time to play so he moved. The wolf was still in the middle of its evasion with no way to move and could only watch as Nagisa plunged the tip of his sword through its body.

Nagisa pulled out the sword after the wolf stopped struggling and turned to the mob of wolves. His sword dripped with blood but there was a smile on his face.

To have all these fresh bags of XP so willingly offer themselves up for his growth. Nagisa was touched.

It was too bad he had to kill them otherwise he would have kept them as pets.

[Alright, that's enough day dreaming]

Nagisa wasn't cocky enough to disregard his opponents and let them land attacks. No matter how powerful his recovery ability was, pain was still pain and he didn't want to willingly throw himself into the fire.

Nagisa took a stance while holding his sword firmly, then with a slight breath he stomped off the ground.

There were too many wolves so Nagisa had no chance to be too overconfident. On every floor he counted at least a thousand to five thousand wolves and that was excluding hidden areas he never explored.

If all five thousand were to gang up on him, let's just say he wouldn't have a pretty death.

But even though all five thousand hadn't ganged up on him, the small group surrounding him were like a swarm of fire ants that had their nests trampled on.

Even then, Nagisa ignored the numbers. The bigger wolves with more intelligence saw his movements and immediately ordered their groups to surround him.

After seeing his power the bigger wolves already knew that their individual prowess wasn't enough so they opted to use quantity to overwhelm him in the fight. It was a good decision because no normal person no matter how much of a behemoth couldn't face so many strong soldiers at once.

However Nagisa didn't think normally. Although he'd get a big head at times he knew what humility was and knew when to bury his pride.

He knew that even with his strength he'd still lose if the numbers added up. After all, he wasn't a god.

So he created a misconception. After constantly targeting the big fish every time he met a group of wolves, they naturally thought that this was the way he would always work. 

It was too bad that Nagisa was a chef with creativity and didn't settle for one dish at all.

His body flew over the variants and into the crowd of mobs. This instantly shocked the variants and the kings that were in command of the pack. But it was that slight hesitation that caused the bloodbath that ensued afterwords.

It was a massacre.

Every time Nagisa swung his sword the blade hissed and drew blood from a different opponent.

Nagisa moved leaving nothing but a pile of corpses behind him.

Wolf after wolf died making the wolves finally realize that their strategy wouldn't work on him at all. Rather, they were being culled faster than they had even been born into this world. The wolves hurriedly separated to distance themselves but this didn't help either.

Instead, the gap they opened only made it easier for Nagisa to target induvial targets and quickly dispatch them. At this point the whole pack was in disarray and didn't know what to do.

Nagisa who finally had the chance to breathe spotted the hell spawn that was in confusion and grinned. Without even hesitating, he ran forward. 

The two bodyguards blocking the hell spawn were stunned but still quickly reacted. They rushed at Nagisa intending to take him down but it was no use. With a twist of his body in opposite directions the sword carved out a beautiful trajectory leaving two wolf corpses behind.

As it saw the two protector's fall, the wolf hurriedly howled in a panic to push Nagisa back.

Nagisa was about to scoff it off, however he quickly stopped his advance and covered his ears. The force and pitch of the howl was enough to burst his eardrums and force him back at the same time.

Grunting, Nagisa surveyed his surroundings and realized that he was the only one affected by this skill and frowned.

It was a terrifying skill for an enemy to have and normally facing this beast anyone would have been in trouble.

Yet-

Nagisa took a short breath. That breath instantly brought the space around him to a calm as he lifted his sword and ignored the howling.

Several wolves wanted to take advantage of the situation but were too unlucky. 

Tap!

With a single step forward, the rippling of water could be heard and his body vanished along with a stream of water following everywhere his sword flowed. Wolves died one after another causing all the remaining wolves to back off in fear.

The hell spawn stopped howling after realizing that its skill didn't affect Nagisa at all. It was desperate and after coming to a decision it rushed forward to salvage the situation.

Yet, it was far too late.

Nagisa moved with unprecedented speed and accuracy as he killed wolves then leapt high above the hell spawn.

The next moment, a never before warmth surged through his body. It was something unfamiliar yet something that was a part of him from the beginning of his creation.

He closed his eyes and tried to recognize that feeling. Following the surge of warmth, it didn't take long for him to take a guess.

'This is.....mana'

At the next moment, Nagisa grasped ahold of this feeling and sent it to the sword. 

Boom!*

His immense mana spread out roughly and violently, but as his body gave into inertia and he fell Nagisa slowly grasped control of the ability and the burst of mana became thin sheet wrapping silently around the swords blade. It was almost as if it wasn't there but all the wolves felt a chill when they felt the power concentrated in the blade.

The wolf turned the moment Nagisa landed and tried to rush at him to attack him quickly. But it was already too late. 

Nagisa's closed eyes opened spreading a fierce killing intent and the next moment Nagisa vanished in a stream of blue light leaving behind nothing but a cloud of dust. He moved like a storm, so much so the wolf was unable to react till its head was severed.

It didn't end there. Before he could even land, a hell spawn leapt up and tried to devour him in a single bite but Nagisa easily dodged and created a wide distance between them both.

However he didn't rush forward to attack but rather, he glanced around.

As if he was looking for something, Nagisa peered over the pack before a smile crept on his face. Nagisa then dashed forward.

As wolves came at him one after the other he hacked them down heartlessly. The hell spawn seeing him approach instantly sprang into action ready to send him to meet his maker but stopped in its track the next moment. Nagisa grabbed a variant by its neck and used it as a shield causing a lapse in the hell spawns judgement. 

After mulling over it the hell spawn decided to attack but it had hesitated too long. After all, a single moment of hesitation was enough for Nagisa to kill a whole army of troops.

Nagisa stabbed the wolf he was holding and threw it to the side causing the hell spawns eyes to wonder. When the corpse fell with a thud, the hell spawn was angry but when it glanced back at where Nagisa was supposed to be, no one was there.

The wolf anxiously looked to the side, but its luck ran out and it chose wrongly. From the other side, Nagisa accurately stabbed the katana through the hell spawn's eye straight into its brain.

Blood sprayed viciously as Nagisa kicked the corpse to the side mercilessly.

He looked up at the remaining number of wolves that had already gone into confusion knowing the rest would be a cakewalk.

Knowing he could easily take care of the rest he wanted to get it over with but before he could.

Growl-

A wolf walked out from the pack. Its angry eyes and ferocious vibe told Nagisa that this was another hell spawn.

Instead of panicking however, Nagisa pointed his sword at the wolf with a smile.

The wolf understood that Nagisa was challenging it and howled in disdain. But it still rushed forward. Nagisa also rushed forward matching its pace.

The two close the distance and clashed against each other.

It was a simple and brief clash but it spoke all that needed to be spoken. The hell spawn was pushed back and as the sword in Nagisa's hand danced along with his movements more and more wounds appeared on its body.

It wasn't long till the wolf was covered in its own blood.

The wolf growled in anger. It was a receiving a one sided beating and the worst part was that Nagisa was only playing with its life.

Angered, the wolf saw a gap and took it without hesitation or thought.

It thought that it could bring the fight back to a stable balance if it could land the attack, unfortunately this gap was a trap Nagisa set.

The moment the wolf snuck into his range, Nagisa's sword shining with a blue hue tore through flesh. A head flew through the air and a burst of blood spurted to the sky as the head and body fell with a loud thud.

The next moment a fanfare rang out in Nagisa's mind and he was leveling up by the second becoming stronger at every swing of his sword. But he wasn't smiling.

At the very end, the wolf howled and Nagisa knew this wasn't a desperate cry. Sure enough, it wasn't till a few seconds that hundreds of wolves decorated the passages with their presence.

Nagisa felt annoyed. But after thinking for a moment that irritation changed to glee. 

Sure, it was better to clean the trash faster but the more weeds he cut the stronger he got so what was there to complain about? 

Nothing? Alright then, if that was the case then he would just party to his hearts content.

**

Nagisa swung his sword up slicing a wolf in half before turning and decapitating another wolf with another swing half a beat later.

The ground was already littered the corpses of wolves and stained by their blood.

『Your level increases』

Even with the ensuing chaos, the familiar ringtone like announcement rang out in his mind.

Nagisa didn't find this annoying in the slightest. Thanks to leveling up his strength kept increasing real time and this made it easier to slaughter the wolves.

The only problem he had was that it was a pain having to constantly adjust his strength real time and make sure not to trip over himself by running too quickly or using too much or too little strength.

Aside from this, the only other worry Nagisa had was a red wolf that stood out among the pack.

While the rest of the mobs were rushing out like zombies out for fresh blood, that small wolves was calmly standing at the back with the hell spawns. Nagisa paid attention to this one. It seemed weak but he didn't write it off because of this.

Suddenly, Nagisa squinted and looked closer. There was a change. It was so small and subtle that it would be hard to notice at any other time but Nagisa saw the change.

The wolf's fur that was dark red had become brighter all of a sudden. As Nagisa continued paying attention to the wolf while killing the mobs, he saw the wolf open its mouth and spit out a thick ball of fire the size of a bolder.

Nagisa was speechless. He looked at the wolf trying to make sure of its identity. A wolf was a wolf indeed but why was it doing the work of a dragon?

But Nagisa didn't have space to think idly and just evaded quickly.

Boom!*

The ball of flames exploded and erupted scalding the ground. Even Nagisa felt the flames and was stunned into silence.

Although Nagisa had accepted this as a fantasy world it was the first time he saw magic making him stunned. But it only lasted for a short time before he decided on his next target with a cold gaze.

With an enemy capable of spitting out flames like this Nagisa could never fight in peace and would have to constantly look over his shoulder. So there was no way he would leave the wolf alive.

He stomped heavily on the ground leaving behind a cloud of dust.

'Grrrr'

A wolf tried to stop Nagisa but died before it could even make its attack. In the next second, Nagisa appeared like a phantom at the fire wolf's side and prepared to kill it in one go.

'!?'

Nagisa noticed something wrong. The flow of mana in the surroundings were distorting and compressing around the wolf and soon it would self-destruct.

'So you're going to do a suicide charge? Crazy bastard'

Nagisa hurriedly stopped his downward slash and changed to a thrusting motion. He timed the moment of the of explosion and the very moment he predicted.

*Stab*

The wolf had exploded but Nagisa was completely fine.

All he did was redirect the flow of mana with his even stronger force so the explosion ended up going the other way and killing the other wolves instead. Nagisa was forced back a bit but he wasn't damaged at all.

He wiped away the cold sweat running down his forehead and sighed.

'That was too close'

If he hadn't realized or if his timing was off he'd have been dead by now. Realizing this, Nagisa now knew that he couldn't close the distance so casually between him and his future opponents or the same thing might occur.

Still, Nagisa wasn't out of the clear just yet. At the end of the passage, a claw extended out of the passage followed by a leg then a humanoid wolf showed itself.

Nagisa grinned.

He didn't even need to say anything as the fact that he slaughter that many wolves was already clear.

The hell spawn looked at Nagisa's provocative sneer and howled in anger before moving. Its stomp crushed the ground it was then before Nagisa in a second.

This speed was even faster than the hell spawn he had first killed. Nagisa now realized that there were even stronger monsters than the one he had first faced bit it only made him happy.

It didn't matter to him as long as he could become stronger.

The wolf struck at lightning speed intending to overwhelm Nagisa with its speed and attacked with its claws. It was unfortunate however that compared to the hell spawn's speed, Nagisa moved several times faster.

Easily, he swung his sword against the claw parrying the attack.

The hell spawn was stunned but immediately followed up striking at Nagisa's neck. No matter how fast Nagisa was it believed that he couldn't be as fast as it was but it obviously underestimated Nagisa.

With a collision, both Nagisa and the wolf took a few steps back with the wolf forced back even further than Nagisa.

 [but wow, you variants are amazing]

If he was correct then these wolves were at the least level 70 to 90. 

Although he didn't want to admit it, these wolves really had some sharp reflexes. Unless you truly outclassed them no normal move could land on them at all.

But Nagisa merely thought while tossing his sword from hand to hand. He then grinned before dashing forward and launching a kick.

The kick swept air currents and landed on the wall as the wolf barely dodged. 

Boom!*

The entire cave shook but the hell spawn ignored it and swung its claws towards Nagisa. Its sharp claws swept through the air, but Nagisa twisted his body around and spun a kick. Again, it blocked but was sent flying through the air and tumbled over a few times.

It got up with a ferocious growl before launching itself into the air at Nagisa.

Maneuvering to the ceiling, it launched itself down toward him. Nagisa smiled.

It was finally time to end this game. With a small breath, mana flowed through his body and he took a step before vanishing like he wasn't even there to begin with.

In the eyes of the wolves they could only see a streak of light, however in Nagisa's eyes everything around him had slowed to a halt in an instant.

Feeling the muscles in my legs tighten, I stomped off the ground and pushed myself towards the wolf.

The wolf was stunned, but Nagisa's speed was too fast not even giving it a chance to think before its vision twisted. In its eyes it saw its body falling to the ground with a thud while blood flowed endlessly from the stump that should have held its head. 

The wolf fearfully glanced at this scene before its consciousness vanished completely.

Nagisa landed while shaking the blood off his sword with a smirk.

The remaining wolves could only look in horror at this human while trembling and hoping for him to just go away. However Nagisa naturally ignored their pitiful looks and smiled. It was a smile like a blossoming flower that would have captivated anyone especially if it was coupled with his looks.

Now however, the wolves all just felt horrified because they knew what this smile meant.

It was a smile that said this was going to be a bloodbath.