A pair of illusionary hands glowing a sapphire hue raced through the wind, carrying with it the force of tide.

BOOOOOOM!

Two beasts were smashed to pulp in a blink.

Seth’s cells tingled with power as a torrent of notifications flowed in his vision — all ignored.

Loots? He couldn’t bother. Unlike others, this wasn’t a rare commodity to him.

"Equip!" Seth’s eyes gleamed as gothic abyssal armor crawled around his body.

An obsidian greatsword was the last to ripple out of the void.

It was about god-damned time he upgraded this legendary set.

Facing a hoard consisting of high Leader-grade Boss-level figures, carrying a Shackled Rank weapon would be nothing short of foolish.

But Seth’s set wasn’t a mere Shackled Rank weapon. This was a Royal-grade Shackled Rank treasure fueled by Awakened Rank essence and buffed by an Awakened-powered gene skill.

This was a different case entirely. The blade hummed with joy as it felt familiar essence pour through its obsidian-steeled body.

This sudden reaction caused Seth’s pupils to constrict. For the first time, he realized the Grim Executioner’s legendary set had spirituality.

Seth, who was about to rush into an attack, fell into an abrupt daze, his mind submerged in a sea of enlightenment.

For the first time, he saw weapons in a new light. They were more than just pieces of carved steel used for killing.

They were more complex than that...

Seth’s eyes glazed over, almost ignorant of the fast-encroaching hoard of rabid Viagra Bulls ready to crush him into mush at a moment’s notice.

A pair of blue hands hovered around his frame as though in silent protection.

Seth felt he was at the verge of comprehending something.

It was right in front of him — he only had to reach it, and it would be his.

His eyes glowed with brilliant light, and he reached forward...

Suddenly, a sharp pain jolted through his brain, accompanied by a metallic clang.

His eyes cleared, and he saw...

Different blood-red chains bound tight around his body. They coiled tighter, hurting him in the process.

The chain on his neck choked with ruthless grip.

Seth was in shock. He had seen gene locks before, felt the distinct aura of each until he broke them.

But he still had to ask:

’What the hell is with this pressure?’

The deep crimson chains carried an ancient air, as though shackles of a god. The bonds yanked him out of whatever he was about to comprehend.

His will couldn’t even move this chain, let alone shatter it — and that was with the 20% buff from his title.

Seth shuddered. What type of gene lock was this?

And what was it gatekeeping so badly it didn’t want him to approach?

Sadly, he couldn’t ponder for long...

A loud roar rang out close to him — too close.

His pupils dilated, and his essence churned.

A bull rushed at him, its horn glinting with deadly light.

Seth’s Hands of Tide flew forth, grabbing the beast by the horns, halting its charge. His sword arced.

And stats seeped into his body...

[Awakened Slayed: 1/100]

Seth threw all distracting thoughts to the back of his mind. For now, he killed!

His visor clamped, his feet dug into the earth as he catapulted himself forward.

His blade danced, leaving trails of blood in his wake.

His weapon wasn’t strong enough. Even with all the buffs, a Shackled Rank would still be a Shackled Rank.

So naturally, he couldn’t decapitate them cleanly. Instead, he sought deadly lacerations.

He slashed at the neck, severing vital veins. Since his blade couldn’t go all the way through, his foes died slow, gruesome deaths — bleeding dry.

Stats poured in, and his body drank like a black hole, never satiated.

Loots spilled in his wake. If he spent time picking them one by one, he’d drag this battle for hours.

[Awakened Slayed: 46]

At this point, blood mist began to seep out of his armor, his frame slowly growing bigger.

His Asura body had never been completed and was still growing. The grittier the battle, the faster it grew.

His strength ceiling kept rising until his blade’s rank barely mattered.

The pure output of his strength alone crushed necks, popping heads right out of their sockets.

It was exhilarating. It was thrilling. Seth’s mind went blank as he let himself drown in this thrill of battle.

Though these beasts posed no threat, their numbers alone more than made up for it.

His essence billowed as two Bulls charged at him from opposite sides, their horns lighting up with bronze sheen.

Their hooves simmered, and Seth sensed what was about to happen. His pupils constricted.

The two Bulls burst into a flash of speed. In such a short distance, it was so fast it was as though they teleported.

Their horns gleamed with brutal light, carrying deadly momentum that assured if they met their mark, their prey would be thoroughly skewered.

But Seth’s reflexes were no joke. His hips torqued, and his body flipped into the air, their charge narrowly missing its mark.

Sweat drenched his back. The ability of these particular two was too dangerous.

He didn’t waste time. While still in the air, like shooting a javelin, his arm whipped forth, sending his greatsword flying.

Royal purple essence flamed from the weapon as oscillation cracked to full gear. The blade let out an excited hum.

With a crashing crumple, one of the Bulls died as the blade landed through its back, shattering its spine with sheer force, sinking through to its innards, and exiting from its underbelly.

Foreign essence rampaged its insides, reducing everything to mush. It died.

As for the second, it planned to flee, mixing with the crowd.

Seth’s eyes glinted coldly. "Not on my watch!"

He landed, but his Hands of Tide were already in motion, racing right behind the beast.

He caught its tail and, with a monstrous pull, threw the monster his way.

His hand outstretched, and the blade stabbed through his recent victim rattled and took flight, landing smoothly in his grasp.

The sword flashed, and the flying beast was sliced cleanly into two, its body landing in a gore of blood and organs in two separate halves.

Seth threw his blade into the air and caught it with his Hands of Tide.

"Time to end this farce!" he declared. These guys were already boring.

The Hands of Tide pulsed, wave after wave of essence building pressure into the rattling greatsword.

Fine gleaming cracks ran through its cold obsidian structure as it seemed unable to handle the power Seth was feeding it.

But Seth didn’t care. His essence flow never halted but continued to build. If not for his skill effect that made all weapons he held near indestructible, this sword would have long crumbled.

But for now, it still held, and the waves had built akin to a towering tide of power rising.

Shinnnng!

The blade cried as the Hands of Tide swung!

At first, the damage looked contained. There was no explosion, no heavy gust — everything just went still.

Until everything — monsters, trees, and hills — had their top halves fall off, severed cleanly through.

Seth’s face went bloodlessly pale. His vision blurred, but he quickly summoned essence crystals to absorb.

The cracked blade held by his Hands of Tide simmered along with the armor he wore. The entire Grim Executioner’s set vanished into his inventory as they began their evolution.

Unable to be used until completely upgraded.

Just then, Seth’s muscles tensed, his head whipping toward a particular direction where he sensed a looming presence.

He clutched the essence crystal tighter as the presence grew closer, almost as if heading right for him.

He remained silent, observing the distance, his body tensed and ready for sudden combat.

Finally, a figure burst out of the dark shadows of the trees still left standing beyond the clearing of Seth’s making.

Seth’s eyes lit up with recognition. An ally. "Jack?"