Chapter 743: Arrival of Ascendants
Its movements were not the wild, reckless lunges of a feral beast; instead, it charged with deliberate purpose, eyes tracking Max’s every subtle shift in stance, its clawed limbs moving in coordinated strides as though it understood exactly how to breach his defenses.
Black muscles rippled beneath its slick, glistening hide, each step sending clods of earth and gore flying as it bore down on him like a living juggernaut. Yet even as the creature’s killing intent roared around him like a hurricane, Max remained calm, his expression hardening into a mask of cold determination.
He gripped the hilt of his sword, feeling the familiar weight settle into his hand, the blade vibrating faintly as he channeled his strength through it. Summoning his power, he activated his Level 2 Concept of Severing Sword, an aura of condensed, razor-sharp energy gathering along the gleaming edge of his weapon until it shimmered like a blade forged from pure starlight. With a single, precise motion, Max swung his sword.
A blinding arc of sword light exploded outward, slicing through the air with a sound like tearing silk, so swift and devastating that it seemed to momentarily cleave reality itself. The abnormal Null had barely raised its clawed limbs in a defensive posture when the shimmering blade of energy passed through its body.
For an instant, the monstrous creature froze mid-charge, eyes wide and mouth gaping open as a thin, bright line of light appeared bisecting its form from shoulder to hip. Then, with a wet, sickening shluck, the Null’s massive frame split neatly in two, the two halves sliding apart like sections of a felled tree, dark blood gushing in thick torrents as its viscera spilled onto the trampled earth below.
The monstrous halves collapsed to the ground with twin crashes, sending shockwaves of gore and black ichor spraying across the battlefield.
Max lowered his sword, exhaling slowly, his eyes flicking over the ruined carcass of the abnormal Null.
’There are so many Null corpses scattered across the battlefield... and just as many humans,’ Max mused silently, his eyes sweeping across the grisly landscape around him, taking in the mountains of twisted, blackened carcasses sprawled across the blood-soaked earth.
Gouts of dark Null blood glistened like spilled oil beneath the shifting crimson sky, mingling with rivers of human blood that snaked through cracks in the churned-up soil. Severed limbs, shattered weapons, and fragments of shattered armor littered the ground like gruesome confetti, a stark reminder of how deadly and relentless the clash had already been—and this was only the beginning.
’If I could just devour all of this...’ Max thought, feeling a dangerous flicker of hunger stir deep in his chest, echoing the dark powers lurking within him. ’I’m bound to level up at least one time.’
The notion pulsed temptingly at the edge of his mind, an almost tangible possibility hanging there like forbidden fruit, but before he could entertain the thought any further, a violent surge of energy rippled through the battlefield like a rolling tidal wave.
His Three Dimensional Body flared to full alert, his senses honing in on a sudden, powerful fluctuation of very dark energy emanating from far beyond the immediate melee.