1000% Skill Advancements, S-Rank Great Sage Skill, Ghost Town's Past

"After my B-Rank Twin Cleaver Skill upgraded to the A-Rank Death Scythe Skill, it has been shooting straight through the levels," Romulus said with satisfaction, yet also with a bit of skepticism. "The same thing has been happening for my other skills, even the S-Rank ones… It almost seems a little too convenient." Ultimately, he could no longer restrain his curiosity, so he asked the system using the S-Rank Great Sage Skill. To which it responded:

[The Host is making use of many of the hidden bonuses of the EX-Rank Skill 'Truck-kun's Retribution'.]

[1000% increase to all Skill-related advancements]

[Additionally, the S-Rank Skills require the Host to advance them to Lvl 10 in order to upgrade, so they aren't progressing as fast as they might make one perceive.]

Romulus lowered his head in contemplation. Ultimately, he looked up from his thoughts, with everything he wished to know swirling inside his head. Moreover, with the looming presence of six massive shadows in the fog, further luxury used on thinking was not permitted to him. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! They stomped through the town, destroying anything in their way, all so as to make it to the tiny ant who calmly sat above one of their own. Yet, rather than furious over the deaths of their kind, they were… hungry. So very, very hungry.

In the World of Utavia, there was a story that was passed around to all those on the Human Continent. The story spoke about the forbidden zone known as Ghost Town and how it came to be. According to legend, it all began with a beautiful woman who lived thousands of years ago. She kept to herself and was meek around those in her village, but her beauty was astonishingly devastating. Everyone anywhere in the surrounding towns had heard of this woman, and eventually, word of her had spread all the way out to the Capital of the Valerian Kingdom. Or, more specifically, to the ears of the prideful Holy Goddess…

As soon as she heard her own citizens claim this meek village woman to be more beautiful than she, an order was sent out the same day. The village of Eldermoor was razed to the ground, all the men were killed, and the women were violated before being killed as well. There were no survivors besides one — Aria, the beautiful village girl. She was personally left to the Holy Goddess herself, and when the Goddess witnessed the girl's beauty in person, her rage affected her actions.

The girl was first violated by the Goddess's highest ranking men, then she was cursed to be the Immortal Witch — forever trapped within the Ghost Town. Her powers were mighty, and she could bring back all those who had fallen. But they would come back as monsters…

"So that is the story of this place," Romulus pondered as he deactivated Great Sage. Furrowing his brows, he said, "This Valerian Kingdom is definitely a den of snakes, and the Holy Goddess Valeria is a terrible person." He paused, with his expression conveying several inexplicable emotions. "But I too am not a good person," he muttered, his eyes falling on the two hands stained with the blood of thousands. "Since gaining a mind of my own and arriving in this world, I have been killing people. Although they are mindless monsters now, it is irrefutable that they were all once living humans."

Romulus didn't know how to process this information. A part of him regretted what he had done, but the larger part of him yearned for more blood. He wanted to kill, devour, and become stronger. And most of all, he wished to leave this place with his survival guaranteed. To that end, his mind automatically adapted to his environment, which created a version of him that would do whatever it took to make it out of this cursed place alive.

"The Immortal Witch," Romulus said coldly, with thundering booms reverberating through the air. "That is who I need to vanquish. Then, I will be able to leave." His face froze over as his Elemental Dominator Transformation skill caused his appearance to turn transcendental.

BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!!

Five massive monstrous Titans thundered through Ghost Town. As soon as their giant heads poked through the dense fog wall and their nightmarish eyes honed in on the ant, their large mouths gaped open. Long, slimy tongues drooped out of them, with their lip edges widened to a disproportionate degree.

Several sharp and spiky spider legs of varying sizes appeared right behind the appearance of their heads. These legs moved eerily and stuck outward from eight different parts, looking like sets of arachnid armor.

Using S-Rank |Magic Eye (Lvl 4)|, Romulus saw multiple system tags appear above the heads of these terrifying behemoths.

[Spider Titan (Lvl 83) - Threat Tier: Red]

[Spider Titan (Lvl 82)]

[Spider Titan (Lvl 85)]

[Spider Ti…..]

After realizing that the monsters would be a serious threat, rather than retreat from the challenge, Romulus's piercing eyes lit with an unkindled fire. He vanished from his spot, causing the massive monster corpse beneath him to explode into countless chunks of meat. Lightning and fire crackled around his blurred figure as he achieved a speed of thousands of miles per hour. Above his right hand materialized a giant, fifteen-foot-long scythe. It trumped over his body like a man carrying around a truck, with energy emissions further increasing the outward size visuals.

A fierce battle between a tiny ant and several high-ranking A-Rank Monsters was drawn out for multiple minutes. Many a times Romulus was put on the verge of death, but every single time, he would come back with a newfound sense of drive and far more strength. Eventually, this catastrophic battle came to a bloody conclusion, with hundreds of buildings destroyed and five massive corpses split into even cuts. All eight of their spider legs were cut off, their legs and arms were not connected, and their heads were sliced off at their base, leaving just the large torsos, which lay at the center of blood splatters that appeared almost purposefully artistic.

Floating in the air above these Titan corpses was an aloof man who slowly bobbed up and down a dozen feet off the ground. His face emulated his immense amount of indifference, and the missing arm and absurd blood leakage showed just how tough of a battle he just experienced. Moreover, if one paid attention close enough, then they would notice his breath hanging slightly off beat, signifying his fatigue.

Thankfully, system notifications restoring his status rang out, also furthering his Battle Power.

BLING!

….