"...REN!!" Mira’s voice rang through my ears.

’What is she doing here? Wasn’t she hiding in the underground chamber?’ I thought. This is bad, Mira was unawakened and can’t defend herself. If the fallen attacked her, she would die for sure.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE!!" Lyra shouted.

"Mira!! Go back and hide..now!!" A hunter nearby yelled at Mira. But Mira was rooted in her position. Tears were rolling down her face as she looked at the battlefield.

The Fallen had finally noticed Mira. Every eye focused on Mira before it attacked her.

"...Shit."

BOOOOOM.

Lyra tried to run towards Mira to save her but she was too far away. "MIRAAAAA!!"

Without any hesitation, I tapped into the Nine Void Steps and rushed towards Mira. The fallen was faster this time, even with my movement technique, I could barely keep up.

I made it in time and appeared in front of her. I swung Eclipse with everything I had.

SHING.

Countless tentacles were sliced apart. Black blood sprayed across the snow, and the fallen screech furiously.

SCREEEEEEEECH.

The scream made some of the hunters stumble backward while covering their ears. This time the attack was even more powerful as it morphed its own arms into bone weapon. I grabbed Mira and jumped backwards using Nine Void Steps.

BOOOOM.

The place where we stood a second earlier exploded from the bone attack. Mira trembled in my arms while clutching my clothes. "...I-I’m sorry... I-I just wanted to h-help..".

"...You almost died, idiot." I replied while placing her behind me. The fallen slowly tilted his head as he stared at Eclipse in my hand. The severed tentacles regenerated.

"...Regeneration too? The hell is with all these cheat abilities." The surrounding hunters looked at the scene in disbelief. Not because the fallen could regenerate but because I could manage to cut through his attacks.

"He cut through that many of the Fallen’s limbs..."

"How is a human doing that? Are all humans that strong?"

"Of course not.. I have fought humans before. They were not as strong as him."

Even Lyra and the injured Korin looked stunned by the scene. Korin managed to get himself off the ground despite the hole in his stomach. Blood continued to pour out from it, but he refused to back down. He pointed the spear at the fallen. "...Human.." he said while looking at me. "...Let’s take this fucker down."

I just smirked at his words and ignored him. I shifted my attention back to the fallen and prepared to attack it. Korin laughed weakly and immediately coughed a mouthful of blood.

The creature suddenly slammed all its tentacles into the ground.

BOOOOOOM.

Corrupted energy erupted from below the ground. Several nearby hunters were thrown away like ragdolls while the surrounding cabins collapsed from the shockwave alone. I shielded Mira and Lyra from the impact by covering them with origin qi.

The Fallen’s body began twitching unnaturally. More eyes began to appear in its body and the aura around it became more corrupted. All of the tentacles began wrapping around its body. It looked like its going through metamorphosis.

One of the hunters paled. "...It’s evolving. We can’t win anymore, it’s all over!"

’Oh god.. this thing even has a stage two.’ How are we supposed to kill it? The evolution completed and several more bone spikes and corrupted tentacles appeared on its body.

The Fallen suddenly vanished from its original position. My eyes could just barely track its movement. My instincts screamed at me to move. I pushed Lyra and Mira away before twisting my body sideways.

BOOM.

A massive tentacle brushed past my face by mere inches before destroying everything behind me. Cold sweat trickled down my face. ’That almost killed me.’ The Fallen didn’t stop its attacks. Its tentacles rained down endlessly while destroying everything nearby.

I activated Nine Void Steps repeatedly and barely managed to dodge the attacks. The battlefield became completely unrecognizable as snow, blood, and broken wood scattered everywhere.

"Ren!" Lyra shouted worriedly.

"Don’t shout, I’m fighting for my life out here.!" I shouted back while dodging another incoming tentacle. The fallen’s attacks were getting faster and faster while my qi reserves were nearing its end. If this continued, I would run out qi. Then everyone here would die, including me. The Fallen suddenly opened its horrifying mouth again.

SCREEEEEEEECH.

This scream felt different from before. This time the scream was filled with corruption energy. My vision blurred for a moment and the fallen used that opening immediately.Three tentacles shot toward me from different directions.

I barely dodged two of them. The third pierced through my shoulder.

SHK.

"...Ghk! Fuck!." Blood splattered across the snow while the impact sent me crashing towards the ground.

"REN!" Both Mira and Lyra screamed. The Fallen shrieked excitedly after injuring me. Its body twitched violently while the tentacles rushed toward me to finish the job.

’Damn it.’ I immediately pulled the tentacle out of my shoulder and rolled sideways.

BOOOOM.

Another strike destroyed the ground where my head had been moments earlier. I forced myself back onto my feet while breathing heavily. Blood continuously dripped from my injured shoulder onto the snow. The situation was getting worse. At this rate, the entire village would be wiped out. I looked down at Eclipse in my hand.

The Fallen charged toward me again. But this time, I didn’t dodge. I used Nine Void Steps, my body blurred. Instead of trying to dodge, I used the gaps between the incoming attacks to close the distance between us.

I appeared directly beneath it, I used every remaining qi within me in the attack. The blade trembled violently while qi wrapped around it like blazing flames.

"Heaven Severing Sword Art..." The air distorted, my body became calm. "First Form...."

The fallen seemed to have realised the threat the attack posed. It tried to summon its tentacles back to block it, but it was too late.

"Thousand Star Execution."

SHIIIIIIIIING.

A massive slash of qi erupted upward and tore straight through the Fallen’s head. Silence filled the battlefield instantly. The creature froze and all of its eyes blinked, confused.

Then the fallen head fell to the ground. It didn’t even realised it was dead. The entire village became silent, nobody dared move or speak.

The hunters stared at the corpse with completely stunned expressions.

"...It’s dead?"

"That human...killed an evolved Fallen?"

Even Lyra looked speechless while Mira stared at me with sparkling eyes. Meanwhile, I remained standing silently while looking at the fallen’s corpse. That final attack drained every bit of qi I had left. But then the familiar system sound rang in my ears and a screen appeared.

[Ding.]

And the moment I read it, my expression froze completely. I wasn’t expecting something like this.