"Now then… it's your turn to be preyed upon."
Noah's voice echoed across the corpse-ridden wasteland, calm yet laced with a dangerous edge, his lips curling into a faint, predatory smile as his grip tightened around the pitch-black blade formed from his Ether. His stance lowered instinctively, body aligned for combat—yet his 'Mind's Eye' burned with a quiet anticipation, as if welcoming the storm rather than fearing it.
And the storm answered.
The Abyssal Creatures did not hesitate.
The moment his words reached them, their reaction was immediate and violent—thousands of monstrous bodies released their Abyssal Energy at once, their killing intent exploding outward like a tidal wave of pressure that tore through the air itself, distorting the space around Noah as it descended upon him with crushing force.
His smile faltered.
Then disappeared.
His body trembled violently as the invisible weight pressed down on him from every direction, his muscles tightening, his bones creaking under the sheer intensity of it. His knees bent slightly—not from weakness, but from raw, overwhelming pressure that demanded submission.
"COUGH—!"
Blood burst from his mouth, splattering onto the ashen ground as his chest constricted painfully, his breathing turning ragged in an instant. His senses flickered under the assault, yet his mind refused to shut down.
'…So Infinity doesn't block intent…'
The realization struck him sharply, even as his vision blurred slightly from the pressure.
'…Maybe… when I unlock more of it…!'
But he didn't have time to dwell.
Because they moved.
All of them.
At once.
Noah's head snapped up violently, his senses expanding outward at their absolute limit as he felt the Cerberus charging toward him in unison, their massive forms tearing through the battlefield with terrifying speed, each step shaking the ground beneath them.
"Shit…!"
He turned instantly, his instincts screaming as his perception caught another movement behind him—hundreds of Sand-Worms gathering unnaturally, their massive bodies piling over one another in a grotesque, shifting mass.
"…What the hell are they—?"
No time.
"I need a better position—!"
His body moved before the thought fully formed, Ether exploding beneath his feet as he shot forward at blinding speed, abandoning his current position without hesitation. The ground cracked beneath him as he accelerated, leaving behind a faint shockwave in his wake.
As he ran, his thoughts sharpened with brutal clarity.
'My Ether is draining… fast.'
He clenched his jaw.
'At this rate… I have maybe a minute before efficiency drops.'
Behind him—
The Cerberus gave chase.
Their speed increased.
Their howls echoed across the battlefield, deep and mocking, filled with a predatory excitement that sent chills through the air. They were no longer testing him—they were hunting him.
Noah didn't slow.
Not even slightly.
Within seconds—
He reached the Sand-Worm cluster.
But what he saw—
Made his instincts scream louder than ever before.
The writhing mass of Sand-Worms had formed something unnatural, their bodies twisting and stacking over one another until they resembled a grotesque mountain of flesh. Then—
Abyssal Energy erupted.
All at once.
A violent surge of purple-black light exploded outward from their bodies, illuminating the crimson sky with an unnatural glow that felt wrong on every level, as if reality itself rejected what was forming.
Noah skidded to a halt, his pupils shrinking.
"…Well… shit."
The light collapsed inward.
And something emerged.
A Giant.
A colossal Abyssal Sand-Worm, easily exceeding a hundred meters in length, rose from the collapsing mass, its massive body pulsing with concentrated Abyssal Energy. Its maw opened slowly—revealing rows upon rows of spiraling teeth, large enough to swallow entire structures.
Noah's senses screamed.
Even the Cerberus—
Stopped.
Then—
Grinned.
The Giant moved.
And despite its size—
It wasn't slow.
In less than a second, its massive maw descended toward Noah, devouring the distance between them with terrifying speed.
"FUCK—!"
[Overwhelming Attack Detected]
[Infinity Activated]
Space fractured.
Divided.
Endlessly.
The distance between Noah and the attack stretched infinitely—yet the sheer force behind the strike overwhelmed even that defense, slowing it only slightly instead of stopping it entirely.
And then—
Impact.
Not direct—
But enough.
Noah's body was sent flying backward violently, his form tearing through the ground as he bounced across the corpse-filled terrain, each impact sending shockwaves through his body despite Infinity's protection.
The world blurred.
His body rolled.
Crushed.
Dragged—
Until—
CRASH!
His back slammed into a massive Abyssal wall, the force sending a shock through his entire body as blood erupted from his mouth.
"KHEUK—! Cough…!"
His vision flickered, his breathing uneven as pain coursed through him.
"…Damn it…"
Even with Infinity active—
He felt it.
Enough to hurt.
Enough to kill—if it hit directly.
He clenched his teeth.
"I have to use it… Status Recovery!"
[Status Recovery Initiated]
[91%… 97%… 100%]
In an instant—
Everything reset.
His wounds vanished.
His breathing stabilized.
His Ether surged back to full capacity.
Noah stood again.
But the battlefield didn't wait.
The Giant Sand-Worm was already turning toward him again, its massive body shifting as it prepared another attack, while the Cerberus closed in from the front, completely sealing off any escape route.
Noah exhaled slowly, wiping the blood from his lips with the back of his hand, his grip tightening around the black blade as his eyes sharpened once more.
"…So I'm boxed in from both sides…"
His stance lowered again.
"…Good."
A dangerous calm settled over him.
"Let's see who lasts longer."
He moved.
Again.
But this time—
He wasn't running.
He charged them.
The Cerberus reached him first, five of them attacking simultaneously, their massive claws tearing through the air, jaws snapping from both sides while one slammed its entire body forward with overwhelming force.
Noah didn't panic.
He calculated.
'This… is a gamble.'
In one fluid motion—
He threw his sword upward with immense force, the blade spinning as it ascended into the sky, an invisible thread of Ether still connected to its handle, thin yet unbreakable.
At its tip—
A Doom Shard formed.
Condensing.
Rotating.
Growing denser with each passing second.
Time compressed.
Three seconds.
The sword reached its peak—
Then flipped.
Tip downward.
Pointing directly toward Noah.
'Now.'
He pulled.
The thread snapped tight.
The sword accelerated downward violently, its speed surpassing his own calculations, tearing through the air like a falling star.
"Shit—!"
The Cerberus were already mid-attack.
No time.
No escape.
The sword struck.
Right beside him.
And—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A blinding white light consumed everything for a split second before collapsing inward, unleashing a devastating explosion that tore through the battlefield with catastrophic force.
Infinity activated instantly.
Shielding him.
But not completely.
The shockwave still hurled his body backward, sending him skidding across the ground as destruction spread outward like a violent storm.
The Cerberus—
Were obliterated.
Reduced to fragments of flesh and bone.
Nearby creatures were thrown away violently, their massive bodies tumbling across the battlefield, while the Sand-Worms within the blast radius were erased completely.
Nearly a hundred—
Gone.
Silence.
Then—
System.
[97 Abyssal Sand-Worms Eliminated]
[6 Abyssal Cerberus Eliminated]
[EXP Gained — Massive]
[Level Up ×11]
[LV 18]
[Combat Power — Emerald Rank (Low)]
[Status Recovery Stacked ×16]
Noah's body healed instantly once more as power surged through him, his veins bulging as a new level of strength coursed through his body, his perception expanding far beyond its previous limits.
His core pulsed.
Larger.
Denser.
Overflowing with Ether.
'…Emerald Rank already…?'
His thoughts paused briefly.
'…But the gap should be impossible…'
He didn't dwell.
Because it was still coming.
The Giant Sand-Worm.
Relentless.
Unstoppable.
Noah exhaled slowly, his sword reforming in his hand through the invisible thread as he stepped forward, his stance lowering once more.
A grin formed again.
Cold.
Sharp.
"…Good."
His eyes locked onto the massive creature.
"Now let's see…"
A pause.
"…if I can kill you too."
And he charged.
--------
[A/N: 'Mind's Eye' is Nothing more than his senses, I am sick of writing Senses and senses all the time - so I am gonna replace sense with Mind's Eyes time to time.
And one more thing - If we hit 20 collections, I'll do a 4-chapter mass release!]