The sound wave hit Lysander like a physical wall. The mud around him exploded. Trees on the rim of the crater snapped in half.
Seraphina, hiding behind the rock above, covered her ears and screamed, feeling the vibration rattle her very bones.
"Ugh!" Lysander grunted, digging his boots into the ground to keep from being blown away. His HP dropped by 5% just from the noise.
"Fast. Strong. And angry," Lysander analyzed calmly. "Just how I like them."
The Behemoth charged. It dropped to all fours and galloped like a rhinoscerous, the ground shaking with every step.
"Come on!" Lysander shouted.
He didn't retreat. He ran toward the monster.
Just as the Behemoth tried to trample him, Lysander slid underneath its massive belly.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
He swung Erebos three times in a blur of motion, carving deep gashes into the softer underbelly of the beast.
CRITICAL HIT!
The Behemoth howled and stomped its back foot.
THUD.
The kick caught Lysander in the side. Even though he blocked with the flat of his sword, the force was immense.
Lysander was launched across the clearing. He smashed into a pile of giant bones, shattering them.
[HP: 85%]
"Heavy..." Lysander coughed, tasting iron in his mouth. He scrambled to his feet instantly. "One hit feels like getting hit by a truck"
From the ridge, Seraphina watched with her hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide, reflecting the chaos below.
She had seen duels at the Academy. They were elegant, turn-based, and safe.
This was not a duel. This was a slaughterhouse.
She saw Zero—a blur of black shadow—weaving in and out of the monster's reach. She saw the sparks fly every time his sword hit the scales. She saw the blood—both black and red—painting the mud.
"He's... he's fighting a Rank-B Monster alone," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Even Professor Kael would need a team for this. How is he moving like that?"
Below, the fight was getting desperate.
The Behemoth had realized Zero was too fast, so it changed tactics.
[Boss skill: Earth spike ruin]
The monster slammed its fists into the ground.
RUMBLE... CRACK!
Dozens of sharp jagged rock spikes exploded from the ground beneath Lysander's feet.
"Bad move!"
Lysander leaped into the air, dodging the spikes, but this left him in mid-air—vulnerable.
The Behemoth grinned. It opened its massive maw magma breath
A beam of concentrated, molten fire shot toward Lysander.
"Shit!"
Lysander couldn't dodge in mid-air. He had to block. He held Erebos in front of him like a shield.
FOOOOOSH!
The fire engulfed him.
"Zero!" Seraphina screamed, standing up.
The fire raged for five seconds. When it cleared, Lysander was smoking. His Void-Weave Hoodie was singed. His HP bar had plummeted.
[HP: 45%]
Lysander landed hard, dropping to one knee. His skin was red and blistering. The heat had sapped his stamina.
"That... hurt," Lysander wheezed.
The Behemoth didn't give him time to recover. It lunged, its claws glowing with metallic mana.
Lysander looked up. He was cornered against the crater wall. He had no mana left for a Shadow Step.
"I have to bet it all on this strike"
He gripped Erebos until his gloves creaked. The sword sensed his desperation. The red eye flared brighter than ever before.
"Sword Art..."
Lysander didn't dodge. He stood his ground as the massive claw descended to crush him.
"...Abyssal Guillotine"
Just as the claw was about to flatten him, Lysander swung Erebos upward in a vertical arc.
He didn't aim for the claw. He aimed through it.
SHIIIING!
The sound was high-pitched and pure.
The Adamantine blade, fueled by the last drop of Lysander's mana and his desperate will to survive, sliced through the Behemoth's wrist.
It cut through scale. Through bone. Through muscle.
SPLAT.
The massive hand of the Behemoth was severed cleanly, flying over Lysander's head.
"ROAAA—"
The monster's roar of pain was cut short.
Lysander didn't stop. He used the opening. He jumped off the crater wall, vaulting onto the monster's chest.
He looked the beast in the eye.
"Go to sleep"
He reversed his grip on the sword and plunged it downward with gravity assisting him piercing strike.
SKWELCH.
The sword drove deep into the beast's left eye, penetrating all the way into the brain.
The Behemoth froze. Its massive body seized up. It shuddered once, twice... and then collapsed.
BOOOM.
The impact shook the ground one last time.
Lysander stood on top of the corpse, panting heavily. Blood dripped from his mask. His left arm was hanging limply at his side, likely dislocated from the impact. His health was in the red.
[HP: 15%]
[MANA: 0%]
"I... won..."
Seraphina scrambled down the ridge, sliding in the mud, rushing toward him.
"Zero! Zero, you're bleeding!" she cried, terrified by the amount of blood on him.
"Stay back!" Lysander warned, his voice hoarse. "It's not done"
He didn't pull the sword out.
Suddenly, Erebos began to pulse.
THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP.
It sounded like a heartbeat. A dark, terrifying heartbeat.
The red eye on the hilt spun wildly. Black tendrils, like liquid shadows, began to ooze out of the sword. They didn't drip onto the ground; they latched onto the dead Behemoth's flesh.
"Absorb," Lysander commanded.
[Soul Devourer Activated]
The scene was nightmarish. The massive body of the Rank-B Behemoth began to wither. The black tendrils sucked the blood, the mana, and the very soul out of the corpse. The metallic scales turned gray and crumbled to dust. The muscles shriveled.
In seconds, the twenty-foot monster was reduced to a husk of dry skin and bones.
All of that energy—the life force of a Titan—was funneled into the sword.
VROOOOOOM.
The sword began to glow with a blinding, violet light. It became hot to the touch, but it didn't burn Lysander.
Instead, the energy flowed into him.
"Ahhhhhh!" Lysander threw his head back, gasping.
It wasn't pain. It was euphoria.
Seraphina watched in disbelief.
"His wounds..." she whispered.
Visible steam rose from Lysander's body. The deep gash on his side sizzled and knit itself back together in seconds. The burns on his skin peeled away, revealing fresh, unblemished skin underneath.
Crack. Pop.
Lysander's dislocated shoulder snapped back into place with a sickening crunch, healed instantly by the flood of vitality.
His HP bar raced from 15% to 100% in the blink of an eye.
His Mana bar refilled instantly.
But the sword wasn't done.
The black blade began to change. The metal shed its outer layer like a snake. The new blade underneath was darker, sleeker, and sharper. The red eye at the hilt split, becoming two vertical slits that looked like a dragon's pupils.
Ding!
[WEAPON EVOLUTION COMPLETE]
[Weapon: Erebos]
[Rank:A]
[Stage-3]
[New Ability Unlocked: Darkness Wave](Ranged Slash)
And then, the notification Lysander had been waiting for.
Ding!
[LIMIT BREAK ACHIEVED]
[BOSS SOUL ABSORBED]
[Experience Overflow Processed]
[Level Up! 30--31]
[Level Up! 31--32]
...
[Level Up! 39]
[Level Up! 40]
[REWARD CALCULATION]
[Solo Kill Bonus: +5,000 SP]
[Rank Gap Bonus: +5,000 SP]
[First Boss Kill Bonus: +5,000 SP]
[TOTAL REWARD: 15,000 SP]
Lysander stood on the pile of dust that used to be a monster. He looked at his hand, clenching it into a fist. The power coursing through him was intoxicating. He felt lighter, stronger, faster. He was no longer a Novice. He was a Rank-C Elite, bordering on Rank-B power.
He pulled the newly evolved Rank-A Sword from the dust. It hummed with a deep, regal power.
He looked at the SP notification.
"Fifteen... thousand?"
Lysander froze. His robotic voice cracked slightly.
"15,000 SP?"
He had expected maybe 5,000. But 15,000? That was a fortune. That was enough to buy the cure for the village, reload his guns, buy new armor, and still have leftovers.
He looked at the sword, then at the notification, completely stunned.
"System... we need to talk later. This is insane"
Seraphina stood at the edge of the bone pile. She was shivering, but not from cold.
She looked at Lysander. Minutes ago, he was bleeding and broken. Now, he stood there radiating a power that felt heavier than Professor Isabella's.
She looked at the sword. She had seen magical weapons before, but she had never seen a weapon that ate monsters. She had never seen a weapon that healed its master.
"What... what are you?" she whispered, staring at the glowing red eyes of the sword.
She walked up to him slowly, afraid to break the silence.
"Zero... your wounds. They're gone. And that sword... it just... it Rank up?"
Lysander turned to her. He sheathed the sword, the red eyes closing, the oppressive aura vanishing instantly. He was just a man in a hoodie again.
"I told you," Lysander said, walking past her toward the exit of the crater. "I am evolving."
He checked the time.
"We have the power"
He looked toward the direction of the Demi-Human village.
"Now, let's go save some lives"
Seraphina stared at his back for a moment longer. The fear in her heart had vanished, replaced by a burning admiration. She realized then that following him was the best decision she had ever made.
"Wait for me!" she called out, running to catch up.