Shadows of Humans

[...Wendigos.] Achilles said while the red lights within the eyes' sockets shone fearsomely.

A Wendigo was a result of what would happen if a human failed to conquer the remnants within his/her body. These Corrupted had an insatiable hunger for humans' blood, especially ones that were tainted with fear and horror.

Although Wendigos were blind, they had incredible hearings which made them able to detect the heartbeat of a panicked person from miles away.

Once reaching their target, they would activate their ability to pry into the mind of the poor prey, figuring out everything about that person's loved ones.

After that, they would the process of mimicking an individual's precious ones' voices, enticing that man/woman into falling for their trap. Then devour the prey entirely while it was still feeling terror.

That was why Achilles was still alive despite falling asleep because of their abilities.

It was for these reasons that they were nicknamed...The Shadows of Humans.

...And now, the worst thing that could possibly ever happen had occurred.

'Four...no, five of them had decided to make me their dinner.'

Currently, there were only four Lesser Evolved Wendigos standing in front of him. But Achilles felt another aura which was still deep within the forest, watching every one of his moves.

Unfortunately for him, what was in the forest was the leader of the pack, Higher Evolved.

'This...is not looking good.'

The current situation was not favorable towards him at all, since he knew for a fact that these things must have been watching him for at least two whole months now.

They clearly had known each of his moves, his fighting style, his strengths, and weaknesses.

Not to mention the overwhelming difference in numbers. It was already a problem to fight with one Corrupted of the same rank as him, now there were four of them which were led by a Higher Evolved.

'Fight or flee...which one should I choose?'

Achilles could try to go against them since it only took him 15 percent of his essences pool to use the Will on himself, he still had plenty left in store. But it was unknown how long he would last against five crazy enemies.

Fleeing was also not really possible, these creatures were designed to be much faster than a regular human Divine. He would immediately be caught up within seconds if he tried to escape.

'Haaa....Do or die.' Achilles took out his axe and gripped it tightly. The red gleam in his eyes shone brighter than ever, he said in a provocative voice that was filled with murderous intent:

[...Come, let me show you death!]

""""GAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!""""

The Wendigos, hearing his voice, responded with their war cries and jumped at him with an inhuman speed.

The bloodbath had begun!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Haa....haaa...fuck!] Achilles breathed raggedly as he cursed the damn Wendigoes.

His body which was entirely clad in black earlier was now stained red color. His skull mask was now half broken, showcasing his head which was profusely leaking blood. His left arm was now all battered up that it almost severed from his torso.

'I think a few of my ribs have been broken...and my lungs feel like breathing fire!'

He had already drunk the Water twice, but even then his regeneration still wasn't able to keep up with all the wounds he had accumulated throughout the gruesome fight.

Three of the Wendigos were now dead after the battle. Only one was remaining with some wounds on its body, but it was still in much better condition than Achilles.

The creature didn't let him rest much and immediately dashed at him, raising its sharp razor claws to tear him apart.

Achilles mustered all of his remaining stamina to dodge the relentless assault of the demon ghoul while trying to land some attacks of his own.

After a while he decided to end the chase by throwing the axe towards the Wendigo as a distraction, it proved to work wonders as the monster was momentarily confused by his action.

Achilles immediately pushed the Corrupted onto the ground and sat on top of it. Then he activated the "Mantis' Armament", and used his right arm to punch the beast's face with all his essences left.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

He didn't stop moving his arm until the fist went directly through the Wendigo's skull, ending its life altogether.

Achilles stood up with staggering footsteps due to all the exhaustion he was feeling.

It was simply a miracle that he hadn't lost consciousness yet.

He didn't allow himself to lower his guard since there was still one abomination left to deal with. He gulped down the remaining three times available to drink the Water and his body began regenerating, although it wasn't much effective but was still enough to keep him standing.

Achilles reached for his axe as he watched the Higher Evolved reveal itself, it was similar to the other Wendigos but much larger and the aura exuded from it was much more unbearable.

'Can't believe how great the gap between two minor ranks is...'

He didn't look at the monster for long but swiftly arrived at Wendigos' corpses lying around him. He quickly absorbed the remnants within all of them as a desperate attempt to close the gap, even if it was just a little.

[...Let's end this you bastard.] He mumbled with a hidden rage deep within his voice.