The monster beyond

Krrrrrrkkkk

The sounds of various beasts reverberated throughout the atmosphere. It was bright despite the darkness of the obsidian night.

The black flames were the only source of light that illuminated—blazed that darkness-filled forest. The man standing in the middle of that huge landscape was covered with black liquid from his head to his toes.

"What a mess..."

Thnk

He muttered while pulling out the sword stuck in the body of the monster he had slayed. How much time had passed since he started killing the monsters his foes had released at him?

He had no idea at all that it had been going on for the past thirty minutes already. The countless beasts of all sizes, shapes, and colours had been running rampant through the forest.

If not for the barrier Eleanor enacted over the Elven village, there would've been countless casualties. Thanks to Eleanor's hard work, Sierra had no need to interfere with the dire situation.

The weaker monsters had already started running away from Adrienne the moment they felt his murderous intent. The corpses of the monsters that fell to the ground vanished without a trace.

'To think they were hiding 'disaster-level' monsters...'

Adrienne glanced at the huge beasts that awaited for him to let his guard down. Those monsters weren't the type to attack a stronger enemy without hesitation.

The monsters were usually classified into seven levels. Starting from the lowest level called 'domestic', then 'wild', 'mid', 'high', 'danger', 'disaster', and lastly 'catastrophe'.

If one considered it in terms of a video game, then it would mean that the first level is harmless. The next two levels might prove to be dangerous to humans.

'High' and 'danger' levels are threats considerably stronger than former ones. They are recommended to be handled as quickly as possible since they grow stronger with passing time.

In the end, there's 'disaster' and 'catastrophe' level monsters. They are the most dangerous ones out of them. Not only do they grow stronger with time, but they are also difficult to handle from the beginning.

A normal, average party of adventurers won't even be able to deal any effective damage to such monsters. That's why it was mostly recommended that, upon encountering such unfathomable beasts, one should retreat.

'And right now... there are four of those in front of me.'

His dull, black eyes coldly switched glances between the four monsters standing before him. Despite the pressure he was feeling from them, he smiled coldly.

Basilisk, whom he slayed easily a few hours ago, was considered to be in between 'high' and 'danger' levels by him. If it was on the verge of 'danger' level, then even he might've struggled a bit to defeat it.

The four beasts in front of him were simply incomparable to the ones below the danger level. His grip tightened around the sword's hilt as he pulled it backwards to place it in a horizontal manner.

"I can't let them flee, can I?"

He mumbled to himself as the black flames covered the silver blade. The monster's blood, which had drenched him wet, vaporised as if it never existed. He tried to calculate which monster would be the quickest to take down.

The first one was a huge black horse with two horns standing out of its forehead. Bicorn. A monster huge enough to trample upon a small hut built by some villager.

Next was a lion, certainly bigger in size than a regular one. The blue-golden scales of the reptile on its neck glistened because of the black falmes. Manticore. A beast with a pointy tail because of a stinger like some scorpion.

No one would even consider the third one to be a monster. If not for the fact that it was alive due to magic inhibiting a specific rock, it would've been considered a pile of rocks. Giant rock golem.

The last one was a huge poisonous dragon, often mentioned in Korean mythology. Gangcheori. It emitted tremendous heat along with its bloodlust.

Roaaaar

The loud shrieks of the beasts spread throughout the forest. Adrienne pulled his body backwards to disappear from his spot the very next moment.

"Shut up... and..."

Swish

Within a split second, he was floating mid-air, right in front of the stone body. His right eye glowed golden, along with sparks of flame, enriching his sword.

"Die."

Thnk

The stones that looked unbreakable had been shattered down to dust with a few swoops of his sword. The red stone in the middle of its head broke apart.

Swish

Next, he kicked on the pieces of stone falling into the air to change his direction. His eyes looked down at the lion pouncing at him with its huge claws and stinger coated in purple liquid.

Thnk

It didn't take him much effort to divert the trajectory of those sharp-pointed weapons. With a smile glimmering on his face, Adrienne disappeared into thin air again.

Thud

The heavy tail of Gangcheori, which was about to crash into his body, landed straight on Manticore. The two beasts cried in pain as their attacks dealt damage to each other rather than their original target.

"I haven't forgotten about you. Damned pest."

Neigghh

Bicorn writhed in pain as its horns went flying with the swing of his sword. He didn't stop at that. Spinning his body around, he cut apart the limbs of the said monster.

The black blood that got on his body only intensified with every passing moment. He spun the sword by its hilt within his grip before jumping off again.

The giant stone golem and bicorn were comparatively easier to defeat than the remaining two. That's why, to make things easy for him, Adrienne used the two's attacks against each other.

The two beasts, baring their fangs at each other, fought without caring for their surroundings. The trees continued to topple as Gangcheori wrapped itself around Manticore, rolling on the ground.

Gweeeh

Their cries were no longer heard when he moved past them at a speed fast enough to make gusts blow behind him. The bodies of the two beasts were chopped into tiny pieces.

"What a pain."

He muttered after glancing at the four monster corpses lying amidst the tattered layout. At the moment, two people were witnessing the power of a sword emperor from a distance.

--------------------

"Shouldn't we run away now?"

He whispered after witnessing the battlefield in front of them. The gaze of his blurred-out eyes slowly shifted itself towards the blue-silver-haired man standing beside him.

They both could tell that fighting the man standing at a further distance from them wouldn't yield them any good results. He was simply a monster beyond monsters.

Tsk

He clicked his tongue upon realising that the monsters they worked hard to capture died just like that. Those four monsters were the strongest ones they had.

"Yes. We can take it easy. By now, those monsters must've reached the Elven Village..."

Taking advantage of the fact that Adrienne was busy handling the four disaster-level monsters, the two men released their murderous auras to stop the weak monsters from running outward.

What Jack just said was not a confirmed fact, though. It was a mere assumption based on the time Adrienne spent dealing with the four monsters.

All of that aside, they would've possibly killed Adrienne had they mobilised the entire Terminus Consortium. Leaving Adrienne alive was going to prove to be a grave mistake later in the future.

Fwoosh

The two instinctively moved their gazes towards the soft sound that fell on their ears. Someone walked closer to the two of them.

"Are you done playing around?"

His grey eyes blink twice while switching glances. His small face matched well with his small, red lips. The boy had a black tattoo under his left ear, near the neck.

Guh

Ace let out a sound of displeasure at the sight of the pale-green-haired boy. It was someone they used to receive help from from time to time. He frowned while swallowing his words.

"We aren't playing around, Club."

Jack wasn't even surprised by his sudden appearance since he was aware of his abilities. Both Ace and Jack knew that Heart wouldn't stay quiet after failing to detect Adrienne.

As predicted, Club teleported to the Elven Forest to pick them up. Now that he was here, there was nothing to fear anymore.

Even if Adrienne tried to attack them, they could easily make their escape. Jack glanced one last time at Adrienne before walking away from that spot. Ace followed him while nagging at Club.

"Take us to base, brat."

"Who are you calling 'brat'? You old man!"

The grey light glowed around the three's bodies faintly as their figures began to fade. Despite his thinking, Jack couldn't get rid of a certain uneasiness from his mind.

Surely, the monsters of 'danger' level and below must've reached the village by that point in time. There was no reason that he should've been feeling anxious.

'I must be overthinking...'

With those thoughts on his mind, Jack teleported along with the other two to the place they used as their base.

-Near the Elven Village-

Huff huff

He sat down on the soft surface while breathing heavily. The blue blade was tainted black with the monster's bodily fluids. His gaze looked down at the man holding an odd staff in his right hand.

He was simply staring at the huge pile of monster corpses the man sat on. His lips slowly curled up, and dry laughter emerged from his mouth.

"Tower Master... I suppose it's my win."

Blaise's right eye twitched after remembering what Jaden had pulled to kill the monsters that they encountered while heading towards Adrienne. He smiled awkwardly at Jaden.

Haha

He laughed while covering his face with his left hand, as if he were watching something entertaining. Well, the performance Jaden had thrown in was certainly amusing.

Blaise had put forward a bet that whoever slays more monsters would be receiving a favour from the loser. That was the reason why Jaden was motivated enough to pull such a crazy stunt.

'Frozen Rose' had surely been tainted by the black liquid, but the white shirt Jaden was wearing along with black pants had no stain on them. Of course, Blaise didn't think deeply about it.

"You win. You win."

He said this while sitting on the ground himself. The tremors they had been hearing for the past fifty minutes from the place further away had grown null.

That spot was where Adrienne was fighting off the monsters, far stronger than Jaden and Blaise. They obviously had no clue about that part.

Thud

Jaden landed on the ground along with the rain of blue and red rose petals. He turned around to observe the pile of monsters lying dead behind him.

Some weak monsters had escaped, but there was no need to worry about those since elves would've probably handled them with ease.

"Get up. We need to reach there quickly."

Unlike Jaden, Blaise had less stamina. He was out of breath when he only killed one fifth of the monsters Jaden had.

Realising that Jaden was correct about it, Blaise nodded to him while pulling himself up. He stood up while staggering into his place.

"You are correc-"

Swish

His words came to a stop when the sound of the bush nearby shaking fell on their ears. Jaden steadied himself as something was approaching them.

"You guys..."

The familiar feminine voice startled both of them greatly. Her blonde hair became visible as she walked out of the shade with her right eye closed.

"What the heck have you done?"

She pointed at the pile of monster corpses that lay just next to them. Jaden and Blaise stared at each other with blank faces.

They had no clue what she was on about. Aside from eliminating the monsters that posed a threat to the Elven Village, they had done nothing else.

Understanding that these two were having weird thoughts as usual, Diona let out a sigh. Blaise looked at her confused face when she spoke.

"Just tell me how you ended up with this pile."

"Well, that's..."