(Moments earlier, before Kael asked Hugo how many kills he had made)
"Thirty-nine seconds," I murmured, the numbers floating in my vision like a constant reminder.
Only this much time. Thirty-nine seconds to defeat forty blade gorillas.
"And five seconds have already passed," I finally said.
Ahead of me, twenty gorillas were waiting. Their yellow eyes gleamed with that mix of hunger and confusion that all the beasts on this planet had. They didn't know what was coming.
I started running.
One step.
My feet found the ground with the precision of years of training. Every muscle, every fiber, every tendon working in perfect synchrony.
Two steps.
Speed increased. Veridia's wind whipped my face, but I didn't even feel it. Only the objective existed.
Three steps.
Energy accumulated in my legs. In my arms. In every centimeter of my being.
And on the fourth step, I felt all the effort I'd put into my big toe bear fruit.
"Fring!"
The sound was clean. Perfect. The sound of steel cutting through flesh and bone without meeting resistance.
I saw arms and heads of the blade gorillas flying. Three of them.
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ]
[ You have defeated a blade gorilla ]
[ You gained 250 EXP ]
[ You have defeated a blade gorilla ]
[ You gained 250 EXP ]
[ You have defeated a blade gorilla ]
[ You gained 250 EXP ]
Three. Seven hundred fifty less toward the goal.
Thirty seconds...
I spun around, feeling the wind wrap around me in a spiral. My short swords danced in my hands like extensions of my will.
One gorilla tried to attack from my left. Too slow.
My swords traced an impossible arc. Both arms of the gorilla flew in several pieces, cut in a way that seemed artistic. As if a serpent had wrapped around its limbs before biting.
And what followed was the neck.
Twenty-eight seconds...
[ You have defeated a blade gorilla ]
[ You gained 250 EXP ]
In the same instant, my body was already moving toward the next ones.
"Fring!"
Two gorilla heads flew through the air, their bodies falling to the ground like sacks of flesh.
[ You have defeated a blade gorilla x2 ]
[ You gained 250 EXP ]
[ You gained 250 EXP ]
Twenty-six seconds...
Five. That was five so far. Thirty-five remaining.
I remembered when I used [Speed Boost] on Luminus against the Apex. My greatest rival until that moment. The battle suit's technology enhancing my movements beyond human limits.
But now I wasn't wearing that suit.
Now it was just me. My body. My training. The fruits of years of sacrifice.
And I felt something coursing through my veins and blood vessels. It wasn't Helion. It wasn't external energy. It was something more primitive. Purer.
It was my body reaching the highest point of battle excitement.
That sensation that only true warriors know. When time slows down. When every movement is perfect. When you don't think, you just act.
"Fring!"
I shot out at full speed.
I didn't look back, but I knew I'd left a footprint in the ground. I felt my right foot sink several centimeters into the earth as I pushed off. The force was such that the planet itself had to yield.
Eight heads and arms flew in that single movement.
[ You have defeated a blade gorilla x2 ]
[ You gained 250 EXP x2 ]
[ You have defeated a blade gorilla x2 ]
[ You gained 250 EXP x2 ]
[ You have defeated a blade gorilla x2 ]
[ You gained 250 EXP x2 ]
[ You have defeated a blade gorilla x2 ]
[ You gained 250 EXP x2 ]
Twenty seconds...
"With these eight, that's thirteen," I said out loud, unable to help it.
I know I shouldn't be doing calculations at a moment like this, while the clock keeps ticking and every second counts. But I can't help it. It's part of who I am. My mind processes numbers even when my body is in combat mode.
Thirteen gorillas dead. Twenty-six remaining.
"So about twenty-seven blade gorillas left," I murmured.
Seventeen seconds...
"What should I do," I asked myself.
Options shot through my mind like bursts of light. I could continue one by one. I could try to group them. I could...
Sixteen seconds...
"I know," I said.
Ahead of me, more than thirty blade gorillas were grouped together. Not twenty-six. More than thirty. More had arrived while I was killing. The swarm didn't stop.
And then it appeared.
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ]
[ You received a reward for being last in the blade gorilla killing ranking ]
[ You obtained the title: "Lazy Hunter" ]
"Whaaaat?!" I screamed.
Not externally. Internally. A roar of indignation that resonated in my mind with such force that Omega must have felt it in every one of its circuits.
"You're joking, right?" I protested. "Lazy Hunter? 'Lazy Hunter'!?"
[ You obtained a ? ]
"...!?"
The question mark appeared in my vision, floating like a mystery. An unknown reward. Something Omega had prepared without telling me.
"Well," I said, regaining my composure. "Let's finish this."
Ten seconds...
I closed my eyes.
Nine seconds...
I crossed my arms forming an X, as if I were drawing the short swords. The gesture was instinctive, natural. As if I'd done this a thousand times before.
Eight seconds...
I bent my legs slightly. Energy accumulated in my muscles, waiting to be released.
Seven seconds...
And...
"Fring!"
A dull displacement.
It was dull for just an instant. A moment of absolute silence in which the world held its breath.
And then, the roar.
Heads flew. All parts of the gorillas' bodies flew. Arms, legs, torsos, everything separated in a choreography of death so perfect it seemed like art.
[Cut and Cut]
A powerful ultimate skill. Omega's gift, hidden behind that question mark.
I had made a cut. No, multiple cuts. On a large scale. An invisible steel network that had enveloped all the monsters that were there.
The ground itself cracked like a spiderweb beneath my feet, the marks of my cuts engraved in the earth like signatures of death.
Two seconds...
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ]
[ CONGRATULATIONS, HOST ]
[ YOU HAVE CLEARED THE TIME-LIMITED CHALLENGE ]
[ THE REWARD WILL BE DELIVERED SHORTLY ]
[ You have leveled up to level four ]
Level 3 → Level 4
[ YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE REWARD ]
[ DO YOU WISH TO OPEN IT? ]
[ YES / NO ]
"Yes," I said, without hesitation.
[ CONGRATULATIONS ON REACHING LEVEL 4 ]
"Haha," I let out a laugh.
I couldn't help it. The satisfaction of having achieved it, of having cleared the challenge, of having used that skill for the first time... it was too much.
"Better not give me anything, Omega," I said, still laughing.
But seriously. The hunt had become more fun today. Thanks to gamification. Because yes, I would have killed hundreds of monsters anyway. But I wouldn't have been this happy doing it.
"Well," I said, my voice sounding calm now, satisfied. "I feel good."
I looked around. The numbers were decreasing rapidly. More than eighty-five percent of the monsters had already been annihilated.
And I didn't even have a ten percent share in those numbers.
My companions... were beasts.
I smiled.
---
(Hugo's Point of View)
"Aaahhh!"
I screamed.
From excitement.
I couldn't help it. When the battle reached this point, when my body was at its peak performance, when the red Helion roared in my veins... the scream just escaped.
[Heavy Impact]
My fist connected with a blade gorilla's chest. A brutal impact. Direct. Perfect.
A dull sound at first. Like when you hit flesh with enough force that the air itself compresses.
But then...
"Pof!"
The strike broke the sound barrier.
The upper part of the gorilla didn't explode into several pieces, as usually happened. This time was different. This time, it simply... disintegrated.
Flesh. Bone. Blood. Everything disappeared, turned into particles so small that the wind carried them away before they could fall to the ground.
And it didn't stop there.
The impact said: "Just one? Not enough."
And it swept away those behind it.
Three. Four. Five. Seven more gorillas fell, their bodies destroyed by the shockwave that wasn't even the main strike.
"Let's continue," I murmured, a wild smile on my lips.
And I launched myself to find more.