Chapter 16: Frantic Ascent
The Bandit King, Higuma, pulled out a pill wreathed in black mist and swallowed it. His face turned grim, his eyes bulged, bloodshot, and filled with pure rage as he directly entered a berserk state.
After entering this state, his strength and speed suddenly doubled. He looked utterly tyrannical, like a black storm raging on the spot.
His body also swelled up like a balloon. His mouth and ears grew pointed and long, and shiny black hair sprouted all over his body. Two sharp fangs protruded from the corners of his mouth.
The Bandit King Higuma looked triumphantly at Kaizen Reiya, thinking that such a ferocious appearance would surely terrify the outsider kid.
However, Kaizen's reaction was the complete opposite. He stood there, eyes narrowed, seeming to look at Higuma, yet also seeming to have his eyes closed, almost infuriating Higuma on the spot.
"Damn it! I took a pill and used my ultimate power! And you, kid, dare to act so aloof?! Just watch how I crush you!"
He didn't know that Kaizen, after devouring three bandit leaders in a row, was in a state of cultivating at ninety times the normal speed. He could clearly feel the energy in his blood constantly growing, his body rapidly transforming...
Ding. Congratulations to player Kaizen Reiya for advancing to Level 10 Player.
Ding. Congratulations to player Kaizen Reiya for advancing to Level 11 Player.
Ding. Congratulations to player Kaizen Reiya. The Calm Sea Key's treasure detection radar range has increased to 110 meters.
Ding. Congratulations to player Kaizen Reiya...
...
"Bastard! I told you to pretend! Go to hell, kid!"
"Thirty-Six Windstorm Slashes!" The Bandit King Higuma let out a furious roar, swinging his sword violently. Instantly, a barrage of cold light, twice as dense as before, rushed toward Kaizen like a pack of mad wolves on an angry sea.
Kaizen was instantly enveloped. The attack was airtight; not even a fly could escape.
"It's over... it's over... Boss Kaizen is finished this time."
Under such a dense onslaught of sword light, escape was impossible.
The members of the Windmill Village death squad closed their eyes in despair, not daring to watch.
The surviving bandits cheered.
"Wonderful! King Higuma is invincible! He finally chopped that hateful brat to pieces!"
However, just as the sky-full of sword light was about to engulf Kaizen, his body shook and became strangely blurred, like a shadow there, looking utterly unreal.
Swish, swish, swish...
Pieces of sword light passed through his form, striking the ground and kicking up dust, riddling the earth with countless holes.
"Hahahaha...!"
"I told you to act so high and mighty! Now you're nothing but mincemeat!"
The Bandit King Higuma laughed heartily.
Yet, at that moment, he failed to notice the space behind him distort. Kaizen's figure slowly materialized, gently reaching out a hand...
It turned out that after absorbing the full combat power of the three bandit leaders, Kaizen had risen two levels consecutively. Upon reaching Level 11, his combat power surged irresistibly, and the speed of his Swift Boots instantly multiplied several times over, becoming nearly impossible to track with the naked eye.
At the moment the Thirty-Six Windstorm Slashes fell, he abruptly accelerated and flashed away. His speed was so immense that he had already crossed a distance of a hundred meters, leaving only a lingering afterimage behind.
"Look out, Your Majesty!"
"That kid is behind you!"
The surviving bandit lackeys screamed in warning.
The Bandit King Higuma, startled, tried to rush forward and escape.
But Kaizen's hand, as soft as a lover's touch, descended slowly, gentle and graceful.
In the eyes of the Bandit King Higuma, it fell like the hand of Death itself.
Higuma went numb all over, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground as if struck by high-voltage electricity.
Pfft, pfft... His body, like a deflating balloon, rapidly shriveled. The monstrous form covered in black hair and fangs reverted to a wrinkled, emaciated, and wretched appearance.
After draining the Bandit King Higuma's combat power with the Star-Siphoning Art, Kaizen's anger was not yet quelled. He stomped down on him.
Crack! Higuma let out a miserable scream; who knew how many ribs were broken.
Kaizen didn't stop, stomping down on one limb after another.
"Take that for threatening Makino!"
"Take that for hurting Luffy!"
"Take that for killing so many people of Windmill Village!"
Kaizen's eyes were red, his face ferocious, his entire body radiating violence as he stomped down again and again.
"B-Brother! You've got the wrong guy! I didn't hurt Luffy! It was my second uncle, Haig! If you want revenge, find him!"
The Bandit King Higuma was so wronged he burst into tears.
However, he was rendered speechless at that moment, because Kaizen had already kicked his jaw to pieces.
In this manner, Kaizen pummeled him for five or six minutes. He beat the Bandit King Higuma to the brink of death, gasping for his final breaths, before finally clapping his hands together.
The oppressive stench that had lingered for many days suddenly dissipated.
"Refreshing! So refreshing! Truly refreshing!"
"Come on, let's keep fighting! Don't hold back! Fight to the death!"
Kaizen called out a few times. Only then did the people of Windmill Village snap back to their senses as if waking from a dream.