Chapter 9
"Crap! I'm dead!" Zen said as he closed his eyes, accepting his fate.
"It is only truly over when you have no other option or hope left." A calm voice filled Zen's ears.
A sharp whistle sliced through the chaos, not a sound made by man, but the air itself parting before his presence. The sound jolted Zen, prompting him to open his eyes to see who or what had spoken to him.
Then… silence.
And out of the dust, he walked.
He was tall, towering at over six feet, wrapped in a dark, sleeveless combat coat that fluttered behind him like a predator's cloak.
The fabric shimmered faintly with woven essence threads that glowed like dying stars trapped in silk.
A massive greatsword rested diagonally across his back with the blade longer than Zen was tall, its metal etched with faint, glowing runes that pulsed with latent power. It didn't clank or drag. It wasn't just a weapon. It was a part of him.
His shoulders were broad, his frame powerful but not bulky and it was built like someone forged for war, tempered by countless battles. His movements were smooth, each step deliberate and calm, as if he feared nothing. Not even death.
Black hair, wild and wind-tossed, fell just past his ears, and a single lock of white streaked through it like a bolt of lightning frozen in motion.
His face was sharp, defined by a scar slashing from brow to cheekbone and a relic of a battle long past. Yet his expression remained unreadable, like a statue carved by war itself.
But it was his eyes that stole the moment.
Glowing silver.
They weren't just piercing, they were unforgiving.
Eyes that had seen more battles than anyone should. Eyes that had buried both friends and monsters alike. Eyes that judged and weighed everything before them.
Even the troll paused.
It could feel it the shift in the air. The sudden weight pressing down.
And then, he spoke.
"You managed to fight for so long. Why give up now, when you're so close to victory?"
His voice was low, calm, but it hit like thunder laced with authority. No arrogance. Just truth. The troll charged anyway.
"Honestly, I wonder at times if beasts don't have some sense a primal instinct to detect the aura of someone far more powerful than them." The man sighed as he saw the troll appear in front of him, swinging its club toward his face with immense speed.
"What did I expect from a beast, though?" the man muttered, as he easily sidestepped, avoiding the beast's swing, causing it to stumble forward before quickly regaining its footing.
'Who is this man? What is he doing here? No! He needs to run, damn it, otherwise he'll die!' Zen tried to scream outwardly, but he was too weak. His mouth didn't move. He was unable to say anything but only scream in his head and watch in horror at what was about to happen.
After sidestepping, the man didn't attack. Instead, he narrowed his eyes, glaring at the beast, which quickly spun around and sent a heavy kick toward the human.
"Damn it! Only I know how strong that kick is. It managed to send me fly…" Zen trailed off, his thoughts freezing because of what he saw next.
The man calmly raised his hand in front of his face and took the brunt of the troll's kick.
Without moving an inch.
A smile crept onto his face as he stared sharply at the beast with those glowing, silver-colored eyes.
"And I was here being cautious for no reason. So you are just a C-ranked beast, huh? And I thought you were something much more dangerous," the man cackled as he could now see the club heading towards his face. Right on cue, he leapt a metre away, totally avoiding the swing.
Zen kept staring in confusion at what he was seeing, his mind unable to make sense of what was going on.
'How is he able to toy with this beast so easily? Who is he? Wait a moment. I'm in the game, right? Although I played this damned game just once, I don't think I saw any NPCs or people in the game, just a wolf beast that sent me away with a single loss.
So where are these people popping out from? I'm not shocked about the troll beasts because I kind of expected to encounter beasts.
But humans? And a strong one at that? What is going on? Is this the work of the game developers or the Game Lord?' Zen thought as he clenched his hands weakly while watching the strange man toy with the troll.
"Seriously though, how weak are you being a C-rank? I mean, I have encountered C-rank beasts that did give me some trouble, but you are just too weak," the strange man could be heard saying as he was easily twisting, leaning, tilting, and leaping away, dodging the troll's strikes with ease and grace.
Despite the chaotic scene, he moved with a strange calm like a seasoned dancer in a brutal waltz of violence.
Each dodge was precise. Each movement had intent.
GROWL!
The beast growled in anger and then dashed forward with immense speed, hoping to catch the man off guard as it swung its club from down below in an uppercut style.
"Tch! Too slow," the man muttered.
The next moment, he moved so fast that it looked like he teleported. In the process, he avoided the club swing that smashed into the air, rattling it slightly and leaving a sharp hum lingering in the atmosphere.
"I just got back from another mission and I'm sore all over," the man's voice could be heard three metres away from the beast as a frown appeared on his face.
Then his hand moved, pulling his greatsword from his back as a grin slowly stretched across his lips. The troll turned around and snarled in rage at the man, its eyes burning with fury.
"Whoo! Scary," the man chuckled.
Then his silver eyes suddenly narrowed in immense concentration, and immediately, visible flames burst across the blade of the sword, burning with searing intensity. The flames danced and cracked wildly, bathing the surroundings in flickers of red and orange.
"What the freaking hell?!" Zen tried to scream out, but it came out as a whimper as he stared at the flames consuming the man's blade. His heart thudded wildly in his chest.
GROWL!
The troll, ignoring the fact that the man's blade was ablaze, dashed forward with immense speed. The man took a stance, his feet shoulder-width apart while his shoulders were relaxed, his breathing steady.
In a split second, the beast was in front of him, swinging its massive club at his face. But with just a slight twitch of the man's arms, the club split in half and crumbled to the ground, broken like a child's toy.
"Flame Veil: Fire Slash," the man calmly muttered.
BANG!
A deafening bang resounded as he dashed forward, moving like a blur, and his sword blazed even brighter. He swung diagonally at the beast, causing a huge slash made of fire to erupt out, illuminating the air with a fiery arc of destruction.
The man could be seen skidding a metre behind the beast as he swung his sword in the air, causing the flame around it to dissipate immediately. He then calmly sheathed his sword behind his back without even looking back.
Meanwhile, behind him, the beast could be seen falling apart, its body sliced diagonally as it caught ablaze and collapsed in a pile of flaming ruin.