’fuck...’

Within the blink of an eye, the goblin was already near Adam.

Everything had slowed down as he could see his life flashing on the blade’s surface as it reached for his head.

Bump!!

Instead of his head, the blade collided with a shield made out of pure mana.

Seeing the astonishment in its eyes, Adam gathered mana in his hand and inspected the situation in the room. Two swordsmen had appeared with around ten small mounters. Eight of them were similar, while the other two looked different.

Clayra was fighting with a bunch of goblin thieves, while Vaidya had created a pillar beneath her leg, raising high above the ground.

"Mind haste"

Adam whispers as the shield around him flickers like a dying flame. Outside, the monster let out a low, angry growl before raising its blade in a bid to claim his head.

Veins bulged in his head as he took a quiet breath. In the instant everything slowed down... it wasn’t because of fear this time.

Suddenly, the towered monster’s charge felt as clumsy as it was predictable. Dodging the blade with a hair’s breadth, he stepped aside.

As the monster passed, Adam reached out and placed his glowing hand against its chest. Leaning closer, he whispered,

"Psychic detonation..."

For a brief moment, nothing happened, then the monster froze. A thin stream of green blood slipped from its nose as its eyes went dull. With a thud, it collapsed on the ground.

Having saved himself from the immediate danger, Adam began preparing another spell to lull the monster’s thoughts.

While he was busy preparing, steel rang against the steel right across the room.

Like an extension of himself, Daniel moved his swords like a man who’d been born for it. The goblin swordsman was fast, but he had already read its pattern.

It strikes from the front before creating a feint from the left. A strike to the right and rinse and repeat.

The monster may have had a good teacher, but its attack had been predictable.

Letting its blade kiss his shoulder guard, Daniel rotated into the gap, driving his elbow hard into the goblin’s jaw. Having its jaw cracked, the monster staggered on its feet.

Daniel didn’t wait, driving his sword right through its throat before.

[You have killed-]

Ignoring the whispers of the gods, he exhaled and scanned the room. The initial shock had gone away as the others had regained their advantage.

Running toward Adam, he was about to slash another goblin when something happened...

Another veil split open without warning or sound. Along with that tear three goblins stepped out and something else.

It was small, barely reaching the height of his chest. But the moment Daniel’s eyes landed on it, every instinct in his body screamed.

The little demon tilted its head with curiosity. Evaluating everyone before raising its sword. A blade too long for its size.

Locking its eyes with Daniel, it took a stance and lunged toward him.

Tang!!

The first strike nearly took his wrist off, but Daniel parried it with reflex alone. He gritted his teeth as the impact traveled up his arm like a hammer blow.

’this strength with this body...’ 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Taking a glance at its horn, Daniel was sure something was wrong with its body. This small structure should be able to produce this much force, but here it was.

With each blow exchanged, the one who was getting beaten back was Daniel. The demon moved, and he blocked and blocked again.

The room shrank as he found himself getting cornered while the three of the goblins moved around the edges of his vision. They weren’t moving as if waiting for something.

Then, the demon swung wide. A bait that Daniel almost took. Instead of blocking the attack, he sidestepped. That’s when its right hand rose.

A beam of crimson erupted from its palm.

’Fuck!!’

Cursing its intelligence, Daniel twisted his head, letting it graze his chin like a brand of failure. The smell of burning skin reached him a half-second later as he barely registered the pain.

[Skill Pain tolerance Lv. 5 has been activated.]

[Skill Greater Strength Lv. 2 has been activated]

[Skill Battle Spirit Lv. 3 has been activated.]

[Skill Battle Aura Lv. 2 has been activated...]

Burning through his reserve of mana, Daniel activated skills one after another.

Forcing a close quarters where the beam was useless. Daniel clashed again and again. For a moment, he was winning... all the skills had worked as he was taking ground from the demon.

Panicking, the demon struck forward with its sword. Blocking the incoming strike, Daniel twisted his swords slightly, guiding the demon’s strikes off course.

In that small movement, a gap appeared. Small... but more than enough for him to take advantage of. Rotating his hand, he brought the sword back and was about to slash its abdomen when it happened.

Heat appeared behind his ribs as a sluggishness crept into his finger.

[Skill Poison resistance Lv. 1 has been activated.]

The skill activated on its own as his next parry came a fraction late. Take a full step back, he tried creating some distance with the demon, but his legs gave away. Suddenly, he found his body heavy as if moving through water.

’What..’

Along with his thought, a cough appeared. Suddenly, he began coughing up blood. His world tilted as the man dropped to one knee. His sword braced against the ground while the other hand pressed to his mouth.

"When?..."

Remembering something, his eyes moved to the grazing wound on his chin. His chin had already begun darkening at the edges, with his skin turning a faint sickly violet.

’The beam... poisonous?’

The nausea crashed into him along with a wave of pain. His vision blurred at the edges.

"YOU CHEA-"

Forcing his head up through sheer will, Daniel locked teeth together and searched for something on the ground. Founding his footing, he activated his quirk.

[Quirk, Exchange has been activated.]

It was his last resort. In exchange for burning his soul, he gets an enhancement in all his stats. He had to finish the fight as there wasn’t more than a minute left for him.

Overflowing with energy, Daniel lunged forward, his blade rising fast toward the demon’s chin. It was sharp and clear, but the demon slipped aside at the last second, as if it had seen it coming.

Before Daniel could press again, three monsters rushed in between their fight.

"WHYY YOU..."

Shouting, he locked onto them. Their bodies moved wild and uneven, but his sword found a way. He killed the first goblin in a quick and precise slash. The others increased their speed, but their turn only came a second later.

Across from him, the demon did not move. Increasing the distance, it only watched calmly.

Daniel took a lunge toward the monster as it threw its sword and raised its hand. Blood twisted out from its palm, shaping into a long, living whip. Cracking it, he slashed the whip toward him.

Moving fast, Daniel caught the whip mid-swing, and pulled it hard toward himself.

Instead of resisting the pull, it gave in to the force. Now its body is rushing forward, flying straight toward him.

This sudden change broke his balance, and in that instant, the demon lifted its free hand. A beam of dark crimson burst out, aimed at Daniel’s head. He tilted away just in time, and the blast moved grazing past him.

He pulled on the whip, trying to bring it close, but the demon had already let go of the whip. From its other hand, another beam fired... this one striking toward Daniel’s sword arm.

Daniel’s eyes met the demon’s face. He couldn’t find any fear... anger or anything else. There was no expression at all. It was as if fighting him wasn’t more than a mere inconvenience to him.

"I learned something..."

A shiver ran down his spine as he heard the whispers from the monster’s mouth. Turning back, he was about to shout when he looked at the last beam.

It was aimed straight at his heart.

For a moment, everything was peaceful before... nothing was there.

[You have killed a human: Daniel Kurovetski]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

Lucian glanced at the notification before looking at the others. The sound from the tunnel was getting closer... more and more monsters were about to enter.