Dark Berserker: Rise of the Forgotten Progenitor-Chapter 5: Gathering to seek THE MOTHER

He felt something crack within him, the sound loud enough to reach his ears. Yet, the approaching zombies demanded his immediate attention.

With the dead zombie's head, he had created a hole in the large tree trunk, and he had killed it. A crisp, attention-drawing pain shot from the very same limb that had been dangling as he ran.

The abrupt force had made it collide against his toned thighs. His distorted face told the story of his agony.

Then, an unsettling sensation took hold of him. His breath halted, and his heart seized,

causing his emerald eyes to widen as he struggled to draw air. But the situation only grew worse; it felt like his body was rejecting the air.

THUD!

His knees slammed into the brown soil, covered with fallen leaves and broken branches. Gasping, he felt his heart failing him.

He could see hundreds of zombies closing in, but he couldn't even take a step, fearing that he might not be alive by the time the slow-moving zombies reached him.

While the slow zombies were still some distance away, the runners had arrived. The first two sank their teeth into the soft flesh of his neck, and the others positioned themselves around his body.

Cristian could feel his vision clouding as their venom spread rapidly. But these zombies were not content with mere bites; they tore into his flesh, causing blood to spill.

The pain ran deep, compounding the agony radiating from his heart. He couldn't bear it any longer, and his eyes closed.

[Prerequisite accomplished... Class innate abilities unlocked.]

With that text, his eyes shot open, and a bright emerald light emanated from him. Rune-like tattoos appeared on his skin, primarily on his back.

Deep black symbols etched themselves onto his pale skin, and when they were complete, they glowed for a split moment.

A thick, sinister black mist oozed from his pores, and the zombies were the first victims.

Cristian watched as they clawed at their mouths in agony, but no physical efforts could halt the decay.

In a matter of seconds, five runners crumbled to dust, their remains scattered into the unknown distance by the breeze.

Cristian panted heavily, transparent droplets of sweat running down his chin and falling to the ground. He rested his palms on the soil to regain his bearings, but to his shock, the land beneath him turned gray.

The lush grasses, bathed in the silvery rays of an abnormally large moon, withered and crumbled to dust in an instant.

The deathly transformation continued to spread. From his vantage point, destruction began, wiping out all life. Even the undead were not spared.

Cristian's eyes widened, and a gasp of disbelief and apprehension escaped his lips. He watched as the skin of the zombies turned black, cracked, and crumbled, leaving nothing but dust. Even their bones weren't spared.

[You have killed fifteen level 3 zombies; +20 agility; you have leveled up four times.]

"What!" Cristian exclaimed.

****

A pair of burning red eyes, resembling the surface of lava, opened and exhaled from large nostrils. A steaming rush of white air shot tens of meters before evaporating. The very awakening of this being shook the surroundings.

"He's back!" The being declared internally, his tone reverberating with thunderous shock.

In a vast expanse filled with ice, a lean man with long white hair that flowed down to his feet sensed a sudden chill. For a being like him to feel cold, there was only one man capable of it.

"Much earlier than expected, as always," he said in a voice that could mesmerize millions, both men and women alike.

WHOOSH!

A ripple spread through the air, creating immense pressure that could send a human flying for miles. The disruption emanated from a mighty pair of lustrous golden wings.

With each flap, the being covered hundreds of miles, landing after a short while.

Before him stood hundreds of golden pillars that stretched into infinity. The white cloud beneath his feet was immaculate.

Taking two steps, he covered a vast distance, space itself wrapping around him until he appeared in a grand palace.

The immense hall seemed to have no end, and he turned his head to find others had also arrived.

He wasn't alone in sensing the awakening.

"Hump, I never imagined the aloof Elven Queen advisor would be so generous as to leave her seat and come here," the being scowled as he faced a woman of such exquisite beauty that her mere presence could leave a man drooling endlessly.

"This is important, but I never expected to see you here. I don't suppose the war against the demonkind has ended, so your presence is not required here," she retorted with a tiny smirk on her enchanting lips.

"I should have expected you both to always quarrel. We are not here for your petty disputes, so I recommend you both remain silent," an enormous man standing at a towering nine feet bellowed. His voice rumbled like a drum, drawing the attention of every being in the hall.

"Hump!" They both snorted and went their separate ways.

Every being in the room possessed powers beyond normal limits, having transcended the boundaries of stages and entered the world of titles.

Among them were paragons, high and low-ranking gods, masters, emperors - each exuded unique and impeccable auras.

Whispers and chatter filled the hall until the massive door in the distance swung open. A woman dressed in white emerged.

Upon seeing her, gasps filled the hall, and expressions of shock appeared on the faces of even these extraordinary beings. Rarely stunned, for beings of their caliber, their jaws would have reached the ground if physically possible.

They had witnessed something exceptional: the being with golden wings walked out.

"Is he really back?" he asked bluntly, staring at the exceptional beauty whose silky black hair flowed down to her feet, her white gown seemingly endless.

But before she could reply, an echoing voice reverberated, and the winged being transformed into a hulking man with cow horns protruding from his ash-colored skin and pitch-black eyes.

"I don't heed Demons," the winged being scowled and turned his attention back to the woman, who watched the proceedings with an unchanged expression.

"Go, there's no need to alarm everyone," her soothing, motherly voice whispered into the ears of the crowd. Beings immune to almost any mental attack or allure nodded with dazed eyes and left the hall.

The angel cast a last glance at the woman and spread his wings, but before he could depart, four individuals with auras reaching the sky burst through the clouds and landed a few metres from him.

BOOM!

With a rush of wind, they vanished and reappeared near the woman.

"He did it again, he wiped out one of my domains... what have I done to that bastard!" a refined man in a sleek suit yelled, grabbing his hair and dragging it in rage and anguish.

Why must that damned bastard always do this to him? First, he wiped out an entire continent when he died, and now, a portion of his powers reacted and wiped out a large forest, a zone where he recruited talents. Many of his children, talented ones, were lost.

Out of the three beside him, two were extremely short with brownish skin, their beards cascading down to their robust stomachs.

"I told you to stop drinking, look what he's done now that he's back," the first one berated the other, who couldn't bear to be blamed before THE MOTHER.

"What? You were the one who gave me your wife's favorite brew. You know I can't resist its aroma," the red-faced man responded with a blush, though he knew that THE MOTHER's gaze was fixed upon him.

"It's alright, I'll handle it," her motherly tone soothed the man who had been tugging at his hair, his eyes lighting up with a bright smile. He disappeared with that blissful smile.

"If we had known he was coming for this, I wouldn't have left the barrel half-full," the younger dwarf grumbled with a grievance.

"So he's truly back. Otherwise, why would a relic containing his wretched affinity react? Is that why you have features on your face?" the golden-winged man inquired. His authoritative tone gave way to a question as he addressed THE MOTHER.

THE MOTHER never revealed her features. She had shown her face only once, on the day a man known as death itself touched her featureless face. But that had stopped after his death. Why, then, was she revealing her face now, when he wasn't alive?

"Go and fight your battles, all of you," the elder dwarf retorted furiously, sensing how sensitive THE MOTHER was about the topic.

"Speak not a word of Vlad," her voice echoed. "For he is gone."