Dominating!

Viers killed his fourth victim, a man with a big helmet. He was in the middle of doing ‘number one’. Viers didn't even have the honor to uphold the sanctity of bathroom break.

A flash of light came from the body and went up to the heavens. A firework brightened up the night sky. It was like a star shell right above Viers’ position.

Did I trigger something? Viers was being very careful but his cover was now blown.

“Guys, over here!”

The forest was dark and misty but the star shell was no common flare; it did more than simply lighting up the area. Viers was detected and sighted by his pursuers.

Viers looked to the Level 0 youth who shouted about fifteen meters away. When the youth met the eyes behind Viers’ masked face, he knew he screwed up. Viers was looking at him like a hungry lion looking at a lone baby zebra.

“AAAHHHH! HEEEEELP!!”

The lion naturally aimed for the baby zebra’s jugular.

The boy ran away with all his might but his speed was no match for Viers. A Hannya-masked man stabbed the boy through the heart from behind.

Idiot. You should think before you shout. Viers commented while absorbing his soul. The boy might be an idiot but his soul might be of some use to Viers.

A flash of thought passed through Viers’ mind. If the boy knelt down and obediently surrendered, would he kill him still? Viers leaned on letting him live, but only if he was really sincere and letting him live did not result in him biting Viers back in the ass someday.

Shame he chose his actions poorly in front of Viers and lost his life because of a lack of wisdom.

Mega Kill.

The reliable announcer announced his victory over another Radiant hero. This only happened in Viers’ head.

“There! Someone's already down!”

“Get him!”

“Set a perimeter around him, don't let the bastard get away!”

With the star shell marking him, people originally scattered all around the forest started to converge. After his Mega Kill, Viers picked up movement from all around him. The silent forest was suddenly bursting with activity.

Rapid Water Steps!

Unwilling to let himself encircled, Viers aimed for a single point breakthrough. He chose one direction and dashed.

Three people barred his path. A quick glance and Viers saw two Level 1 and a Level 0.

Viers didn’t fear them. Onward!

“He’s coming here!”

“I’ll hold him off. Arrey, do your thing. Kit, back me up!” The Level 1 young woman directed her team.

“Water Discs!”

The woman threw a pair of flat water discs from her hands. The Arte moved like chakrams. The Level 0 was preparing his Arte.

“Hmph!”

Viers parried one disc and it veered to the side, slicing a tree down. The other one Viers cut right in the middle using his sword and then the sword absorbed the water.

Viers’ sword had the ability to absorb water. All his water Arte got a boost of effectiveness because he pulled out water from his sword from time to time. He wouldn’t say no to an opportunity to replenish his water container sword.

“What the!?” The woman showed a face of disbelief.

Like a swooping falcon, Viers appeared in front of the woman, blade overhead, ready to swing down and end a life.

I’ll be killed!!

Viers radiated thick killing intent, the woman saw her life flashing before her eyes.

“Hrgh!?”

Viers suddenly had a severe headache. His swing was off the mark, the woman was slashed on her torso. A lot of blood was splashed but it wasn’t a fatal injury. It could still be if she wasn’t treated immediately.

“Yuli! You bastard!!” Arrey angrily shouted.

What the fuck happened? Was it him? D- i- e-, y- o- u-

Viers' body somehow moved slowly, just like his thoughts.

“Fireball!”

A blast of fire hit Viers from the back, it was the Level 0 Kit.

“I did it! I hit-”

“RUUAAHHH!”

Viers roared, exploding his Victa full-force, expelling the foreign sensation. The trio got blown away by the shockwave as Viers exerted his Level 2 might.

My mind was slowed? Shit!!

The woman was half dead and a water user. The Level 0 was a fire user, the remaining suspect was the Level 1 guy, Arrey.

Water Moon Fang! Viers wasted no time releasing a killing blow.

Arrey was still groggy after being blown away, he raised his head and a slash of flying water blade went through his head. The last thing Arrey saw was the sight of the masked Viers colored with blood, his very own blood.

Unstoppable!

Viers absorbed his soul then-

“Baltoreas Wind Arrow!!”

For the first time tonight, Viers felt a sense of crisis.

From the darkness of the forest, an arrow aimed towards his heart was coming with the force of a whirlwind.

FUCK! I’ve got to dod-

His thought and body reaction was not quick enough. The arrow hit his left shoulder despite his effort to evade. The wind arrow was buried on Viers’ left shoulder.

“Aaargh!”

Viers’ face was filled with pain. He got blasted to a tree by the force of the arrow, breaking a tree trunk in the process.

“For Mister Arrey and Miss Yu-”

Kit bravely approached the fallen Viers for the sake of his friends, brandishing his sword to deliver the finishing blow.

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”

Viers gave Kit an uppercut at his chin, throwing him five meters backward. Five teeth were broken.

“Huff, huff… Shit,” Viers cursed as he pulled the arrow out.

“Pain Tolerance,” Viers cast an Arte very useful for this situation.

Urgh, much better… Eh? He wasn’t dead?

Viers saw Kit still moving from where he was standing. He was forced to let go of his sword when he got shot earlier so he used an uppercut with his bare hands.

“You!” Viers heard an angry voice.

A Level 2! Not Jarret. Was he the one that shot the arrow?

Viers immediately stood up, took his fallen sword then ran away to the darkness.

“Coward! Fight me with honor!” Roy shouted.

To hell with honor, Viers naturally kept running.

Roy felt something strange, his Arte didn’t kill Cain! Baltoreas Wind Arrow Arte that he put his utmost confidence in didn’t kill a measly Level 1 adventurer.

Did he really hide his Level? Roy thought while he pursued.

After a while, Roy lost Cain’s tracks.

“Where did he go? Searching Wind!” A gust of gentle wind blew outward but even with that Roy didn’t find Cain.

“Captain Roy!” His men approached him.

“He’s still around here, search him!”

***

Viers had escaped the pursuit of the Level 2.

Thankfully I now have this stealth Arte, very practical. Aqua Regen.

After escaping from immediate danger, Viers applied a healing Arte to mend his wound. He might have a healing factor but it wasn’t as good as Wolverine’s yet, Water Regen Arte would speed up his regeneration.

Water and earth attributes are suitable for healing, nice to have. As a downside, the attack department is lacking compared to other attributes… Hm, the healing is slower than usual. That Level 2 is quite good, I’ll create chaos a bit more before the final act.

The guards now knew Cain was actually adept at hiding. They faced a dilemma, to find Cain in such a wide area with lots of places to hide they had to split up but if they did that Cain would decimate them one group at a time. The only ones that had a chance were the Level 2s but they were only two people.

“…And where the fuck is Jarret?” Roy irately said. He didn’t see Jarret since they split up at the start.

“AAAHHH!”

Roy heard another scream from a distance and another star shell lit up.

“BEEEEN!!”

“DON’T COME HERE! DON’T COMEEE!!”

Another screams from the forest depths.

“Fuck! Are we hunting him or is he hunting us? All of you, get into a group of ten. No more splitting up. Treat Cain as a Level 2 threat!” Roy gave his order and ran to the source of the screams.

He didn’t find Cain, only four fallen bodies. Roy grimaced and checked one of the bodies.

“Hey, all you alright? Help’s on the way.”

He turned the body that lay with his face to the ground upward.

“Eh?”

BOOOOOM!!!

Roy was engulfed in an explosive situation.

***

A little while ago, after Viers escaped Roy and gave himself first aid.

Wicked Sick!

Viers ambushed a party of four. Viers stabbed the first one in her throat from behind. He wasn't noticed at first but another star shell shot upwards from the woman's body, telling everyone someone had fallen.

How annoying. At least not everyone has that star shell.

“Amari!”

Her companion threw a stone blast at Viers but he used Amari’s body as a human shield.

The sight of Amari’s body pulverized by his own Arte made the man frozen for a second. Viers used that opening to hide once again.

“Fuck!”

“There!”

A masked man appeared not far from them.

“Earth Blast!”

“Thunderbolt!”

The two of them fired at the masked visage with their maximum firepower.

“AAAHHH!”

The masked man became a splash of water and broke apart. While their earth and lightning Artes hit their own friend behind the water decoy.

“Oh fuck!”

“BEEEEN!!”

M-m-m-m-monsterkill! Double Kill.

“That’s only a water clone,” Viers whispered from behind the one releasing a thunder Arte. After opening his throat with a knife and draining his soul.

GODLIKE! Triple Kill!

“DON’T COME HERE! DON’T COMEEE!!”

The only one remaining had his resolve tested and he failed. He’d fallen into madness.

Viers dodged his unfocused Arte attacks from the front and inserted his sword into the man’s heart three times.

Viers is Beyond GODLIKE, someone kill them!!

HOLY SHIT! Ultra Kill!

Done! That should be enough chaos. Ten lives were taken in one life, a true kill streak!

Of course, if Viers really counted how many kills he had since his reincarnation then the announcer would say holy shit all the time but Viers was a sporting man. This was a fresh match so the count started at zero.

The rank and file should be too scared for coming after me. Only the Level 2 would have the confidence to come after me, sooo-

Viers booby-trapped one of the bodies. It was a bomb made from the monster core of a Rank 2 fire monster that he got from way back, from his cultist days.

I hope it will get one of the Level 2.

Viers enacted his final act, and that was 'quitting while ahead'. He sunk back into the darkness, leaving the forest.

When he heard the sound of a bomb going off, Viers smiled.

Rampage?