-Vol 6: Dusk Of An Era-

-Renewing The Contract(8)-

“Gulp!” Kenshin downed an advance HP potion, refilling his HP to its fullest. After that, he downed an MP potion, which filled his MP to the maximum. The paper-thin wounds all over his body started to heal rapidly, as well his exhausting looking body that was battered due to the fight with the Boss.

A few distances away from his lay, the skeletal body of the boss that had its hands, legs, and all appendages severed except for its head on which the eyes still looked bright. Even though its HP had dropped to zero, it still hadn’t died yet. Sitting crosslegged beyond the head, Kenshin took a deep breath as he felt fatigue of the battle invading his body. Not the physical ones, but psychological fatigue. The notification and exp had yet to appear, so he was sure the monster didn’t die yet.

He stared at the sword beside him, which only had its hilt remaining, the other parts were missing, broken, or rotted during the fight. His sword, the Blackmoon Beheader, which even survived the rampage of Dilong, finally met its maker at the hands of this high-class ever-transforming skeleton.

“Sigh* such a waste… and here I am just getting the hang of the sword…” Kenshin really missed the sword. It was his second-biggest loss in terms of equipment, which he had a slight attachment after Blood Armor Set. The realm of ‘one with your sword’, the fantasia realm that many swordsmen rave about… Kenshin felt that he would have achieved that if he had used this sword in another of such intense fight.

After regaining his stamina, he stood up and head for the head of the beast, lifting the destroyed sword he stabbed it over the destroyed head. And soon, the notification about him completing the mission arrived, together with the rewards.

[You have gained 2,778,254 EXP]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have received 20 APs and 2 SPs]

Finally, his first-ever level up after his system’s upgrade.

“So, I receive 20APs every level up… that’s OP.”

Below level 50, he got 4 points per level up, from 50 to 100 he received 8 points per level up. And now that he had reached level 100+, each level up was giving him 20 points… no wonder those people were powerful as hell- thinking of this, Kenshin sighed. When one reaches level 100, even increasing one stat point was a trip in hell, in this situation, each level up would increase people’s APs by 20 points each. At that stage, a 101 level hunter could also eat defeat at the hands of a level 102 hunter.

“So… this is the realm of awakened ones…” Having enlightened a little about those who had crossed level 100, Kenshin became aware of the difference that his stats might cause at the later stage. Feeling his excitement building up, Kenshin waited for that day to appear.

[You have completed the Compulsory Quest. The rewards have been added to your stats.]

Kenshin smiled, seeing his total lives increased by 1 and becoming 6. He could now die without worry for six times. A smile tugged on his face. He couldn’t wait to see the panic of his enemy’s face when he would come back from dead and annihilate them. Besides, after each revival, he gained 10 seconds of invincibility, so total, he had 60 seconds, which is 1 minute of invincibility. Who could boast such power?

“now, I will just wait for the guardian to appear… the hidden boss.” Muttering under his breath, Kenshin sat cross-legged while waiting patiently for his target to appear.

…

While Kenshin was waiting patiently for the guardian of the dungeon he had faced the boss in to appear, a tremendous chance was occurring on the outside.

“You, captain… what the hell are you doing?” the magic skill user shouted in panic. In front of him lay the bodies of his teammates, the very ones with whom he had hunted the huge skeleton beast. And the reason for that was the person shrouded in thick red aura with pungent-smelling bloody odor coming from him.

Their team captain.

“Hanazawa, help me!! I can’t control my body… I have this intense desire to slaughter… I can’t control my mind and desires. Help me!!” the very captain was crying tears of blood, literally. Streams of thick blood were coming off his seven orifices as he steadily advanced towards the magic skill user named Hanazawa.

“C,captain! What the hell wrong with you? What was in that red cloth? Tell me what was inside that made you like this?” despite the dangerous situation, Hanazawa continued to ask. Everything started to go downhill when their captain touched that thing wrapped in red cloth, he couldn’t just let it go without knowing what’s happening.

“Hanazawa, I can feel myself rapidly melting… it's painful… help me. I beg you to help me, Hanazawa. Kill me!” the captain who was still shrouded in bloody red aura shouted with every fiber of his being. Before long, in front of the widening eyes of magic skill users, the body of the captain started to bloat unimaginably. Red rashes appeared all over his body, which fast transformed into boils.

“AAhhhhhh!!! Hanazawa, you bastard. I have been so good to you throughout our partnership. Why can’t you do one thing I asked you when I am in this state? Just kill me already… something is trying to come out of me. Kill me already. I can’t control my body. It's taking my everything to just preventing myself from attacking you…”

“b, but captain! Kill! I can’t kill you… I have never killed a fellow human. You are also our captain. I am sure there must be a solution to this. Let’s think of a solution to this…” Hanazawa was a coward, and he knew it. Despite seeing the situation his captain was in, he couldn’t make his heart to kill him and relive him of his worries.

But… not anyone can kill a fellow human. That takes even more courage than facing a lion.

Seeing this, the captain could only grit his teeth in anger and helplessness. Looking at the man, he shouted, “you bastard! Alright, since you can't kill me, then run. Don’t tell me you can’t do that…kuh!!” he coughed violently as a boil on his face bust, spraying yellowish-red pus everywhere.

“Run, Hanazawa run and warn other hunters. Ask them to hunt me and kill me… I don’t know what this thing was trying to invade my consciousness, but it's not something normal. Even now, it was flooding my mind with thoughts of slaughter and destruction to everything in my path. Run!! Don’t make me say it once again… RUN!!! AAHHH!!” after that, another of boil that was growing on the man’s torso burst, spraying pus everywhere. The skin of his face and body started to peel off and an alarming rate as blood boiled and turned into a red mist around him.

Horrified at such a scene, Hanazawa stepped back, nearly toppling over a small rock. “HIIKKK!!” letting out a scream, he turned around and ran with everything he got in his body. He even accelerated his speed with his magic. In his chaotic mind, there was only one thing… to run away as far as possible from the horrible beast their captain had turned into.

Warning others, calling other hunters for help? Those things were no longer in his head, all he wanted was to get away as fast as possible and as far as possible… he would never come to this island. With this resolve, he ran away with all his might.

ROAR!!!!

A very malevolent and bone-creasing roar was heard from his behind. It was so horrifying that Hanazawa nearly tripped over nothing and fell down face-first. But, somehow, he controlled his body and willed his magic to make him run faster than before.

If he had a system, he would have seen a notification prompting him to gain a speed-related skill, but since he didn’t have that and his mind was in a chaotic state, he didn’t realize this… even though his body was glowing faintly with transparent energy, a phenomenon when a skill awakens for the first time.

“What was that?”

“This roar was so creepy!! I nearly fell down just now.”

“What the hell could make us tremble with just a roar even though we are so far away?”

Everyone heard that terrifying roar and trembled unconsciously and felt a weird feeling stirring in their hearts. A sense of danger that usually appears when they face a very powerful monster for the very first time.