So much blood. So many screams. All around me.

Every place that is outside the range of my Mind Sense has been liquified by the manticore’s acid. I wasn't able to continue blocking it all, except for the area I can sense with my ability, since I also had to focus on blocking the poisoned air. Every person that has somehow survived outside my sphere of protection is being brutally torn apart by the guardian level monsters, with nothing they can do to resist them.

So far, I’ve barely managed to keep the entirety of Squad 1 safe from harm, but I don’t think I’ll be able to keep this up forever, especially when all three Guardians finally decide to come after us.

“What are we going to do?” Lys asks me.

“I don’t know!” Even I’m panicked in this situation.

“… Stay calm, Hunter. We can get out of this.” She says calmly.

“But how-” I stop because it’s finally time to deal with the Guardians.

One of them has finally entered attack range. It’s the Ant-lion. It stands just past the edge of my ability, apparently wary of entering the area that has been so far untouched by the manticore’s poison.

“SQREH!” It gives out a short screech before charging in.

I ready my knife, and stay in the same spot. I can't leave my team in a poisoned arena. At this point, I’m extremely glad I had bought a new knife just after coming home from yesterday’s dungeon excursion.

Anyway, I don’t think I should use any mana yet. I need to save everything I have for the manticore. I’m not even sure if anything I have is enough to harm it.

The Ant-lion charges recklessly into my attack range. It meets my blade before anybody in my team. The new knife, that’s shaped just like the first one, sinks into the monster’s neck without a problem. Actually, it was very easy. Lys said it was a high quality knife when she first saw it, and it was very expensive, but I didn’t ever dream that such a knife would make it easier to kill guardian level monsters. Even if it is made of mythril.

But it does. And that’s a good thing, because there are three of them today. Well, two of them now, as the ant-lion is now lying dead at my feet.

“Good job, Hunter!” Ron shouts.

“Two more….” Lys says very quietly. She looks over at them. “The Shark-lion’s head is probably the easiest to shoot into, since it’s mostly cartilage, so I might be able to take it.”

“Okay. The rest of you will be her backup when it comes in here. I’ll take on the Croco-lion.”

Barely anybody is left alive on the rest of the battlefield. Actually, is anybody left? Nope. Nobody. Nothing is alive here anymore except Squad 1, two guardians, and a manticore.

I keep my eyes on the Croco-lion. This weird freak will be the next to die.

It charges on the legs of a lion even more quickly than the Ant-lion, and quickly enters the place of its end.

As it comes at me, I position the tip of my knife into the right eye of the crocodile head. Blood comes out as the damage reaches its brain, again killing the Guardian without so much as a fight.

The fight on the back side of my sphere of influence is still raging. Grunts and shouts come from every one of my team. It seems that they’re able to fight back, but not very well.

I come to them as quickly as I can, giving them more area safe from the poison to fight, and bolstering their morale since I’m already here.

This Shark-lion is even bigger than the other Guardians, and its level is higher than theirs at 63.

I jump up into the air in front of the Shark-lion. As I come out of the apex of my leap, I bring my knife down onto the very top of the shark head. The knife enters the brain cavity without any resistance. I really should have bought a knife like this much earlier.

Everybody is breathing heavily as the fight had unknowingly drawn to a close. I land on the ground.

It takes a moment to realize what I could feel underneath my feet. Obviously, I could feel the ground, but I could feel something other than that.

Impact tremors.

Something big is coming closer, and fast.

It’s Myccysk. He’s finally coming. Now that his army is destroyed, he won’t be able to hide behind it anymore.

‘How am I going to kill him...?’ I ask myself.

[Searching...]

[Suggestion: Purchase Skill – One with Mana (25 points).]

[Suggestion: Purchase Skill – Atlas’ Strength (16 points).]

[Suggestion: Purchase Skill – Instant Hit (4 points).]

[Suggestion: Upgrade Skill – Regeneration (11 points). Lv. 9 to Lv. 15]

‘Uhh… Okay, I guess?’

[Acquired Skills.]

[Condition met. Mind Over Matter will evolve.]

[Matter Control to Control.]

[Mind Sense to Sense.]

[Regeneration has gained an extra ability.]

I can feel a rush of energy inside me. Actually, I can feel a rush of energy around me, as well. Is it mana? I can't check what the skills changed right now, as there’s no time to check.

The manticore is slowing down now. It’s several meters away from the edge of what is now Sense. It turns a sharp 90 degrees to the left. It’s circling us.

I keep myself at the front of the group, as we turn in a circle continuously.

It stops, so we stop. It saunters over to the very edge of my ability. It’s still outside of it.

Once near the edge of my ability to sense, I can feel a massive outpouring of energy from the beast as it snarls.

Until the manticore is not there anymore. Faster than I could imagine, it’s like a bullet would be to normal people. Except it seems like that to me, so it’s actually many times faster than a bullet.

At that moment, I can see what happened. Ron is in front of me. Impaling him thoroughly is the very tip of the scorpion tail that’s connected to the manticore. It had bust through the shield to hit Ron. How did Ron get in front of me instantly? Was it a skill?

“Ron!” Charlie shouts.

Every ounce of blood drains out of Lys’ face, and Brighton seems that he can’t even comprehend what happened.

The manticore retracts its tail at the speed of reverse lightning, leaving Ron standing there with a giant hole in his chest.

He stumbles backward, looking down at the hole in his chest, then turns to face us.

“Take care, guys.” He says weakly with a smile.

He falls over. There’s no life in his eyes any longer.

I breathe harshly. I won’t allow any more deaths today. Except for one.

‘Mana Blade. Use everything except what I need for Instant Hit.’

[-100 MP]

[-25 MP]

A giant blade, even bigger than the one I had used yesterday appears as a completely white overlay on my mythril blade. The radiance that comes from it can’t even be compared to what it was. A radiant white that seems to have reached the realm of the divine. An unnatural heat that can’t be described, because it’s not even hot, as it also feels cold.

And the attack that happens after this occurs at a speed beyond recognition. Like the name implies, I hit the manticore instantly, right where I wanted to. Like what I had imagined in my head, instantly I left the ground. Instantly, I swung my blade. Instantly, the beast was felled. Like my first Guardian, I take its head from its shoulders, leaving only a corpse where the monster had once resided steadfast.

[Level has increased by 31.]

[Mana Blade has increased in level. Lv. 5 to Lv. 7]

[Instant Hit has increased in level. Lv. 1 to Lv. 4]

“It’s... always instant…” Lys says in awe with a wry smile.

[You have gained a title: Instant Death.]

It’s not the time to pay attention to what I gained. Even though every monster on the battlefield is dead.

1,000 hunters dead.

It’s not a statistic. It’s reality. Their ruined corpses are strewn about on the burnt ground.

Ron was also alive. He was. But now, he’s lying dead on the ground. The blood surrounding him is mostly his, but I can’t tell what else is in there.

I fall to my knees.

I’m weak.

I’m tired.

I want to rest.

So much has happened today, and it’s barely noon.

“Are you okay?”

Lys. My Lys.

I look at her perfect face with tears threatening to come down my dirty face. She’s still here.

Seeing her, I stand. I reach out, and I begin a long embrace. It’s not for her. It’s for me.

She promptly returns the hug, saying, “Everything will be alright.”

Her voice cracks at the end.

She’s crying.

I pull her deeper into my shoulder.

…………………………………………………………………

- Death’s Perspective -

“Never had I imagined that free will could be so interesting.” I say.

“That’s why I made it so.” Fate says lightly.

“It is a good show, isn’t it?” Life says.

“Yes. But I wish the end came sooner.” I say solemnly.

“We agreed to have a good amount of time before that.” Fate reminds me.

“The end will come one day. You need only be patient.” Life states.

“It won’t come at all if the Old One continues on his current path.”

“All those who are on the First World have free will. They may avoid what comes later, or let it happen. We all know this well.” Life chimes. “The source of the end may be destroyed like the others.”

“Don’t talk to me like that. We all remember the plan. What will come is not inevitable. But I would like it so much better if we destroyed this creation even sooner than we decided.”

“The end is coming. The cogs are turning. Just wait.” Fate says.

‘...Maybe I shouldn’t wait. I don’t want to wait. I want to accelerate the end.’ I think rebelliously. ‘Maybe... I should send Myccysk to greet the Old One.’

…………………………………………………………………

“I’ll take Ron…” Charlie says.

“Are you sure?” Lys asks her.

“Yes.”

The army of Myccysk is now defeated, but there have been many casualties. We wouldn’t be able to recover all the bodies, so we decide on only taking the one member of our team that did not survive.

We need to catch up quickly to the evacuated citizens, so we immediately start to leave the battlefield in the direction of the evacuees.

As we walk along the asphalt streets, there is an eerie atmosphere. The once flourishing city has been turned into a ghost town.

We won’t be safe staying in a city near the breached wall, nor will we make it to another city without the supplies gathered by the citizens previously.

So, we move quickly through the town, and follow the evacuation path

…………………………………………………………………

Eventually, we come across the group of thousands.

As we arrive, the people nearest to us gather around and hail us as heroes. But once we tell the group of everything that happened, they begin to mourn for all those who were taken by the monsters.

It is at this moment that Lys sees the hunters who had run away during the fight in the large crowd, and starts to walk to them.

Before the situation escalates to violence, I decide to step in by stopping her prematurely.

I hold onto her arm, and I look down as I say “It’s good that they ran away. At least some hunters, aside from ourselves, have survived.”

At this, she pauses, then tears her arm free and begins to walk away from me. I watch her as she goes a fair distance away from the group, and finds a tree to lean against. She collapses against it and starts to cry, and I become unsure of what I should do, but after a while, I decide to walk over.

Even after I get there, and sit down next to her, we don’t say anything to each other. She leans on my arm, holding desperately onto it, and then starts to cry even harder. The only thing I can think to do is hold her hand and just sit there while watching the sky. It's about ten minutes before she stops crying, and afterwards, we just watch as the sun falls below the horizon while sitting next to each other below the thick tree.

Even after it becomes dark, we remain seated. It is only when Lys has fallen asleep on my shoulder that I decide to leave.

But… I can’t carry her in one arm.

At this point, I remember that the System said that Regeneration gained another ability.

‘What is it?’

[Regeneration may now restore lost limbs at the cost of greater MP consumption.]

Oh. Well…

‘Regeneration.’

[-30 MP]

Slowly, my arm grows. In under a minute, my long lost arm is reunited with the rest of my body. After I’m satisfied with the completion of my regrowth, I pick up Lys.

I walk slowly to the tent somebody had informed me was ours earlier while I carry the sleeping form.

I pass through the opening of the canvas tent, and step over to the sleeping bags, of which there are two in this tent.

I put her inside one of them with the quick assistance of Control, and slip into mine. After that, I fall unconscious quickly.

…………………………………………………………………

More screams echo around me. One male. Another female. They’re everywhere. I can’t see. I can’t move. The only thing I can do is panic.

But then my eyes open, and I sit up.

Cold sweat covers every inch of my body. I’m breathing heavily.

I’m in a dark tent, surrounded on all sides by a sleeping bag.

I need a walk.

I get out of the tent into the chilly night air, and begin to move in a direction. While I do, I think about what had happened not that long ago. A lot. Simply put, a lot happened.

After several minutes, I have calmed myself down, so I walk back to the tent.

I go back inside, and lay on top of my sleeping bag, unwilling to get back in. When I situate myself, I realize just how close Lys was to me.

She has her body on her left side, keeping mine in front of her.

If we weren’t both covered in thick bags, we would be very close to each other.

I turn onto my right side and move my left arm closer to Lys. In the dark, I find her hand, just outside the top of the bag, and I very lightly grab it.

I'm awake for a long time, but eventually, I fall asleep while holding it.

…………………………………………………………………

[ALERT: Memory loss. Full Status cannot be displayed.]

Name:

Age: 20

Race: Human

Titles: Old One, Instant Death

Title Effect: Grants Skill Set – Mind Over Matter.

Level: 98

Experience: 1.32%

Condition: Memory Loss (Severe).

Condition Effects: None.

HP: 1600/1600

MP: 126/126

Strength: 169 (119+50)

Intelligence: 63

Wisdom: 68

Dexterity: 116 (+30% Move Speed) (-22% Inertia)

Constitution: 200 (60+140)

Unassigned Stat Points: 165

Skills

Swiftness (Passive) [F] – Lv. 30

Increases movement speed.

Sturdy (Passive) [E] – Lv. 14

Increases constitution.

Dismantling (Active) [E] – Lv. 5

Dismantles the target corpse. Higher levels increase chance for bonus materials.

Regeneration (Active) [D] – Lv. 15

Regenerate HP at the cost of MP. Can restore lost limbs.

Appraisal (Active) [A] – Lv. 4

Appraises the target.

Mana Blade (Active) [A] – Lv. 7

Create a blade of pure mana. Increases damage and cutting ability.

Cartography (Passive) [A]

Maps the area which can be sensed. A map can be applied to a medium at the cost of MP.

Atlas’ Strength (Passive) [S] – Lv. 1

Increases strength.

Mental Influence Immunity (Passive) [S]

Grants complete immunity to mental influences from external sources.

Instant Hit (Active) [S] - Lv. 2

Guaranteed to instantly hit the target. The more difficult the hit, the higher the MP cost.

Instant Movement (Passive) [S] – Lv. 22

Reduces inertia, allowing you to alter your movements much quicker.

Inventory [Special] – Lv. 5

Grants an extra-dimensional space for the storage of allowed items.

One with Mana (Passive) [Special] – Lv. 1

Increases mana capacity.

Mind Over Matter [Special]

Control (Active):

Control what you can sense with Sense and what you can see.

Skill Strength: 338 kg of force

Expert Proficiency (33.42%)

Sense (Passive):

Allows you to sense your surrounding at all times. Focus on an area to sense greater detail. You may sense mana as well as matter.

Skill Range: 6.8 meters

Expert Proficiency (99.97%)

Unassigned Skill Points: 31