6 December Year 2367

It was currently 6.23pm. Telfer put his smartwatch away as he glanced at the direction of his target. The sun was setting soon and he had no idea whether the men would continue searching the forest. Suddenly, an unwelcome voice rang out.

"Oh wow, looking to kill some humans. I guess it works for training as well. In fact, I can help you out for a small fee."

Agvak continued speaking about the importance of collaboration and how money made the world turn around. Telfer's cheek twitched indiscernibly. He did not want to hear Agvak go on about his so called "method" to killing the men. It was his prey, he would decide how to dispose of them. The rage was slowly overwhleming him. Countless veins popped up from his clenched fists. However, Agvak kept going on and on for another 10 minutes.

"Anyway, I suggest that you take one of them captive to find out more about the skull. And also take all of their stuff for payment later. Thanks."

Agvak finished his speech, leaving Telfer alone. How could someone be such a money grubber? Telfer resisted the urge to yell in a fit of rage. Agvak could be dealt with after he was done killing all 100 men.

Calm down... I can't kill like this.

Telfer took some deep breaths and squinted in the direction of the nearest group. His eyes which had been burning with anger now harboured a ice cold gaze. Telfer sprinted in the direction of his target. After a while, the sun had set and the forest floor was completely dark. Just then, his target appeared in front of him. He quickly climbed up a tree and observed them.

"Put on your goggles, we are going to keep searching."

One of the men spoke. The four of them took out night vision goggles before moving on. Telfer leapt from tree to tree while observing them. It wasn't long until the men ran into a magical beast. A black leopard pounced at the men from the cover of some bushes.

"It's a Night Leopard. Everyone quickly take out your weapons."

The group stopped immediately and weapons appeared in their hands. One of the men carried a machine gun. Another 2 men carried swords. The last one wielded a spear. The beast growled and went back into the shadow of the bushes. Telfer snickered as the leopard circled the group. The heavens were helping him. The leopard had completely melded into the darkness of the forest. The men huddled up with their backs against each other. A sheen of cold sweat appeared on the head of the man carrying the machine gun.

"What the fuck do we do now? We are trapped."

The man whispered with a trembling voice.

"Dude, calm down. There are 4 of us. None of us are dying."

The spear wielder hissed at the man as they paced around. The assurance seemed to do very little for the amount of sweat on the man's forehead rapidly increased. A drop of sweat rolled off the man's face. The pindrop silence was broken.

"AHHHHHHH!"

*Brrrrrrppp*

The machine gun spat out bullets in all directions. The man screamed his lungs out as a torrent of bullets flew out. Where the bullets hit, icicles started forming.

"SHIT, EVERYONE READY YOURSELVES, IT'S COMING!"

The spear wielder gritted his teeth and swept the spear in front of him. The sword wielders eyed the area in front of them. However, the leopard still did not appear. Telfer grinned as the leopard toyed with the men. It's golden eyes popped out from underneath the bushes every now and then. Sweat poured onto the ground as the men started to lose their shape. The circle slowly split apart and the men were getting further and further away from each other. All of them were now looking everywhere. The lack of focus was getting more and more apparent as time passed. Yet the leopard did not appear. Telfer yawned and covered his mouth to prevent any sound from leaking out. It was getting way too boring, it was time to act.

"Yo what's good."

The men looked up as a shadow fell from the tree. Telfer spread out his arms and grinned as he approached the man carrying the machine gun.

"It's a ghoul, kill it!"

The machine gun sprayed bullets in Telfer's direction. Pain shot up Telfer's leg as bullets lodged themselves into his thigh but Telfer kept smiling.

*RIP*

Icicles burst out of the gunshot wounds, shattering Telfer's leg. Telfer kept smiling as he fell on top of the man. The euphoria that swam through Telfer completely overwhelmed any pain he felt. It was time for his revenge. The other men rushed at Telfer with weapons drawn.

"Fiery Edge!"

"Stone Blade!"

The men spat at Telfer and raised their weapons. The formation immediately crumbled with Telfer's entry. Dirt and soil formed around the swords while the spear took on a reddish glow. Telfer wasted no time and twisted the man's neck, killing him in a single strike.

"Take our attacks you demon!"

The men hacked at Telfer. Telfer looked at them ecstatically. They had made life so much easier for him. Without a leg, his mobility had decreased greatly. He stabbed his hand into the body and rapidly absorbed it. His leg regenerated as the weapons descended upon him.

Immortal Guard.

Telfer's body hardened up on instinct as the weapons clashed against his body. Poison spurted out of Telfer's pores as he was pushed back from the attacks.

*Clang*

The weapons bounced off, leaving nothing more than a scorch mark. The men stared at Telfer in disbelief. To have defended against theirs attacks so easily, the men had kicked a steel wall. Telfer looked at them nonchantly before dashing towards the spear wielder. The spear wielder flung the tip of the spear up as if he was warning Telfer to leave.

"FUCK OFF!"

The spear tip came crashing down as the 3 men started backing off. However, Telfer saw through their intentions way too easily. The Eternal Harmony appeared in his hand and he parried the spear.

Too slow.

The 3 men recognised the danger they were in and dropped their items immediately. Telfer smirked and stood still. The 3 men looked at him in confusion before fleeing the scene. However, a certain being was not about to let them go. As the men turned away from Telfer, a leopard pounced onto the spear wielder.

"NOOO-"

The leopard wrapped its jaws around the spear wielder's head and crushed it in a single motion. The leopard raised its head and purred. It ignored the other 2 men and continued its feast.The other 2 men fell onto the ground and crawled away from the leopard.

"Please god... I don't want to die."

One of the men crawled on the ground while crying. Suddenly, he felt someone's feet in front of him.

"Oh thank you, please help me."

The man looked up and was met with Telfer's deranged smile. He stumbled onto his back and immediately started crawling in the opposite direction. Telfer smirked and swung the Eternal Harmony. The man's head flew off cleanly. Blood poured out as the headless corpse slumped to the ground. One more to go. Telfer absorbed the body and looked towards the last man. His comrade's head rolled towards him. The cold lifeless eyes stared into his own, causing him to shriek. A yellow liquid started to flow out of his pants. He grovelled on the ground as Telfer approached him.

"Please... have mercy, I have... nothing against you."

The man whimpered as Telfer sat in front of him in a pool of blood. Telfer rested his head on his palm and smirked at the man.

"You may have nothing against me, but I have something against you. Therefore, goodbye."

Telfer yanked the man's head up and slit his throat. The man fell onto the face up. He clutched his throat and looked at Telfer in disbelief. Blood squirted out underneath his hand as the light eventually left his eyes. The silence had been restored. Telfer looked at the corpse and shook his head. He turned the corpse over and looked through the backpack. He furrowed his eyebrows as he fished through the backpack. A satellite phone emerged from the backpack. Telfer's eyes gleamed with delight as he ran through the phone's functions.

"And there we go."

Telfer chopped the man's head off and absorbed the body. The SOS call had been done. He crammed the phone into the head's mouth and jumped into a tree some distance away. The leopard looked at the head and then at Telfer as if it was asking him what the hell he was doing. Telfer ignored the big cat and checked his status.

Status Window Name: Telfer Berkley Age: 12 Race: Ghoul Gender: Male Stats Health: 130/130 (60/60) Heath regen.: 13/min (22/min) Energy: 75/75 (100/100) Energy Regen.: 5/min (10/ min) Mana: 40/40 (40/40) Mana Regen.: 2/min (2/ min) Strength: 7.02 (9) Agility: 7.02 (10) Dexterity: 7.02 (9) Stamina: 10.01 (12) Intelligence: 8 (5) Wisdom: 8 (4) Skills

Ghoul:

Mass Transfer

Immortal Guard

Magic Spells:

Poison Hand (Poison Magic)

Cloak (Illusion Magic)

Illusion Creation (Illusion Magic)

Self created skills:

Yama's Strike

Absorbing 3 bodies had resulted in such a small increase. Telfer's smile seemed to twitch as he viewed his status window. The joy and euphoria from killing 3 of his enemies was slowly replaced with anger and frustration. But now was not the time. Not yet. 96 more bodies. Telfer relaxed in the tree as his thoughts went back to the fight.

If the leopard was not there, getting rid of the group would have been much harder. He would have to chase them until god knew when. He may have ran into some other groups along the way. Telfer clenched his fists. There was still a long way to go. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps and voices.

"Who made the SOS call?"

Another group arrived underneath Telfer. The leopard had disappeared into the darkness long ago. The men spread out and inspected the scene. One of them picked up the satellite phone from the head while another man walked over to the half eaten corpse. Teeth marks covered the entire body. Blood trickled out of the body in a slow stream. A chunk of flesh had been torn out, exposing the organs underneath. The man kicked the corpse and something that looked like a half eaten liver rolled out. The group of men immediately huddled with their backs against each other.

"We have been had, the phone is clearly planted."

"Be careful, it's half eaten, the beast is somewhere near."

The men looked around as they slowly made their way out of the scene. Telfer squinted at his target. One was carrying pistols, two were carrying swords, the last one carried a mage's staff, from which Telfer assumed that he was specialized in magic. The staff in particular looked really expensive. Mana crystals had been placed all over it.

*Crack*

Telfer cracked his knuckles and activated Cloak. It seemed like the noise had not gone unnoticed. The men immediately looked at the tree he was on but he had disappeared already. Telfer prepared to cast Illusion Creation on the mage. It was his first time using it and there were many unknowns. For example, how long would the illusion last? It was time to find out. The group descended into chaos as the mage fell over with no warning. With Cloak still activated, Telfer crept up on the one carrying pistols and raised the Eternal Harmony. However, it seemed like things were not to go as planned. The pistol user suddenly jumped back as the Eternal Harmony sliced down.

*Splat*

The man's flailing arm was cut off immediately.

"ARGHHH! GET HIM!"

The pistol user clutched his elbow. Everything below the elbow had been cut off. Telfer watched as the cloak started to turn red while blood gushed out. The other men who had been fixated on the mage immediately turned their attention to the pistol user. Telfer watched with glee as the pistol user tried to stifle his howls of anguish while the rest of the men dressed the wound. The mage had also broken out of the illusion. The group however, was no longer as composed as before. Their eyes darted around frantically and the weapons trembled in their hands. Telfer felt a strange satisfaction as he took in the men's suffering. However, it seemed like there were others who could not wait any longer. A tiger came out of the darkness and stared the men down. The leopard that had disappeared was now standing above the men on a rock. Countless magical beasts poured out of the darkness and surrounded the men. One of the men pulled out his satellite phone frantically and dialed the SOS function. Telfer covered his mouth and laughed quietly. There was going to be quite a show to watch.

End of Chapter