Elves were tribal creatures. Most of them were ugly bastards that fed on all kinds of things. But among them existed a particularly disgusting breed.

The Depraved Elves.

These creatures were outcasts even among their own kind. Unlike other elves, they had an unnatural obsession with feeding on the reproductive organs of males for reasons no one truly understood.

After I completed my trial in my previous life, I had personally made it my mission to wipe every last one of them from the world because...

...the only good Depraved Elf was a dead Depraved Elf.

Unfortunately, these bastards bred like cockroaches. No matter how many I slaughtered, more of them kept appearing.

Eventually... I gave up.

But now, standing in the center of a clearing surrounded by ten of those depraved fucks, I was reminded of just how badly I wanted to drive them to extinction.

It was only the second day of my trial.

Although hunting them down did nothing to advance it, I still slaughtered every one I came across but, as though they could smell me from miles away, these fuckers somehow kept finding me again and again.

One of them lunged at my thighs, saliva dripping from its mouth as it muttered in a strangely human voice.

"Ba...lls!"

I immediately twisted my body, letting it fly past before slamming my knee into its head while reinforcing the vectors running through my leg.

A small shockwave erupted.

Its head exploded and the lifeless body collapsed onto the ground. At the same time, a sharp crack echoed through my knee.

I had misjudged the output. Again.

This body was still too damn weak.

As if sensing that brief opening, another elf fired an arrow at me from the nearby bushes while four more lunged from different directions.

They were simply relentless.

I reinforced the upward vectors produced by my legs as they pushed against the ground.

Mana drained from my core at an alarming rate as my body was lifted just enough to leave the ground. The instant I cleared their attacks, I cut the flow, letting Gravity reclaim me.

All four elves passed harmlessly beneath as I reinforced the vectors within my heel just before landing. The impact sent a shockwave rippling through the ground, throwing all four off balance.

I didn’t waste the opportunity and swept Kosetsu horizontally as four necks were severed in a single slash, their disgusting white blood splattering across my clothes.

I need to end this quickly.

This was already the twentieth group of elves to attack me today.

My mana reserves were nearly exhausted and somehow, after I had slaughtered nearly a thousand of them in their tribe yesterday, they had grown accustomed to my bloodlust.

I didn’t even know how that was possible.

Not to mention...

Using vectors with this pathetic body was like balancing an elephant on a glass cup, which was practically impossible without breaking something.

Even under normal usage, the strain tore apart my muscle fibers, healing them would make my body stronger.

But too much of anything was still too much and bad for the long term.

Without hesitation, I dashed toward the elven archer hiding in the bushes. Before it could even nock another arrow onto its barbaric bow, its head was already flying through the air.

The remaining four sensed their companion’s death and immediately turned to flee but I wasn’t about to grant them that luxury this time.

Because I had accidentally let a few of them escape yesterday’s slaughter and they had evolved. I didn’t know how they would evolve again today.

I hurled Kosetsu toward them.

Its shattered blade separated into countless fragments as it flew past the fleeing elves before reassembling once more in front of them.

The instant it reached them, I used Spatial Shift, switching places with the sword and then, with Absolute Recall, Kosetsu returned to my hand.

I swung.

The surprised bastards never even had the chance to react as their heads flew before they could so much as blink.

Immediately afterward, I collapsed to one knee, barely managing to support myself with Kosetsu.

Dark circles hung beneath my eyes and my body was drenched in their disgusting white blood.

...

Was that the last group?

I didn’t know.

I had nearly wiped out their entire tribe yesterday, yet somehow those that had been out hunting in the forest, along with the few that had escaped, still remained.

I counted the number of depraved bastards I had killed today and yesterday and compared it with the number I had slaughtered in my previous life.

A faint smile appeared on my face.

I couldn’t be completely certain since I had entered the Path at a different time back then but somehow... The numbers matched.

And since this was an artificial dungeon, I doubted their population was left to chance. It was probably regulated by a fixed set of rules. Or so I hoped because... I truly didn’t want to face those bastards for some time again, at least until I got my body fixed.

I let my body fall onto the cold forest floor as I stared at the canopy above. In just two days, I had accomplished what had taken me months in my previous life.

Lying there, I reached into my treasury and pulled out two bottles filled with glowing blue and golden liquids.

A mana reactant.

And a healing accelerant.

They weren’t elixirs, so they wouldn’t heal my wounds instantly. Instead, they merely accelerated my natural recovery. Not that I minded. I uncorked both bottles and drank them in one go before waiting for them to take effect.

I wanted to sleep...

But sleeping out in the open was a terrible idea.

Once I had recovered enough mana to move again, I forced my exhausted body to its feet and made my way toward the cave I had used in my previous life.

After camouflaging the entrance with an artifact and placing a monster alerting artifact, ever so graciously gifted to me by Isolde...

I finally let my body give out, crashing onto the cold stone floor of the cave as the healing potion slowly mended the damage within my body.

Rest was important.

Because tomorrow... I would enter the temple, the place where the true trial awaited.

With that final thought, I surrendered to exhaustion and fell asleep on the spot.