My footsteps were calm on the forest ground, now darkened by blood and embers. A faint red mist still hung in the air a silent witness to the brutal slaughter that had just occurred.
Usually, the sounds of footsteps or animals would fill this silence.
No birdsong, No growls. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
I stood in the middle of the devastation—not as a victim, but as the perpetrator.
And for the first time since I was thrown into this place... I felt a shift.
They were afraid of me.
The hulking beasts that once roared and leapt at me without hesitation now only stared from behind trees, then slowly retreated. Some even ran the moment our eyes met.
"So now... I'm the one hunting you."
My steps changed. No longer steps of survival—but the steps of a predator.
But to them—the creatures hiding among the trees—that laugh was the sound of the end.
My shadow stretched and merged into the darkness between the trees. Shadow Piercing.
I shot forward like a spear of darkness, piercing through three small mutant beasts in an instant. Their bodies were flung away, black wounds spreading like burns from the point of impact.
I stopped right behind them.
They screamed. But only briefly.
"Next..." I whispered.
I started chasing the next targets. They were no longer hunting me—I was hunting them.
With every step, shadows followed. With every strike, blood sprayed like rain.
And my regeneration... was insane.
At one point, a Mutant Rhino charged at me and crushed half my left side. But before it could prepare another strike, my arm had already grown back—ripping into its face with Razor Toxic Claw.
250 HP per second. I was like an unkillable monster.
[Quest Update: 85/100]
"Ugh... still fifteen left..."
I turned north, where the scent of blood and panicked footsteps were beginning to surface. It was as if the mutant creatures had finally realized that hiding wasn't enough anymore.
They had to fight. Or they'd be hunted down one by one.
Maybe there was a leader among them calling for resistance. Or maybe... it was just the desperate instinct of beasts.
But the result would be the same.
"Come on, let's finish this."
I ran again—my body shooting like a shadow arrow. My red eyes glowed, and the world felt like a dark painting I slashed apart with my claws.
They tried to bite, claw, even gang up on me.
Nothing could stop me.
Every time I was hurt, my flesh closed again. Every time my HP dropped, the number bounced back up like it didn't care about logic.
I wasn't an ordinary zombie.
And this was my massacre stage.
[Quest Update: 100/100 – QUEST COMPLETE]
Reward: New Skill – Appraisal
As the system chime rang, I stopped walking. A soft breeze blew, carrying the fading scent of blood. The bodies of mutant beasts were now mute proof of one being dominating this place.
I stood still. Stared at my blood-soaked hand.
"Appraisal, huh? Good, Now I can see how strong the things I meet really are..."
But behind that smile, my red eyes remained sharp.