by L. M. Kerr
♫ To lay down all my sorrows… ♫
Micheal's gaze was cool as he studied the Morenkai corpses dispassionately. He stepped past their dead bodies as he walked over to the old record player and turned it off.
He had drawn sufficient attention to get things started, and while he enjoyed practice while listening to music, he was going to need his complete and undivided focus for what was about to happen.
The deaths of the first wave of Morenkai had not gone unnoticed.
By this point, most of the Morenkai in the Tower were well aware that something was happening on the roof. The disturbance Micheal had caused was too noticeable to be missed.
And of the Morenkai that moved to check it out, the Abnormal Morenkai moved fastest.
From the entry shed, 8 Abnormals appeared. Several of them had large, bulging bodies while a few of them had a smaller stature. One of them was covered in black, spiky hair, of all things, while another had two bulbous hands.
From the four sides of the roof, 13 Abnormals appeared, distributed pretty evenly on each side.
A total of 21 Abnormals had reached the rooftop around the same time. Burgeoning behind these Abnormals were at least 40 regular Morenkai, climbing and shambling forward after the Abnormals.
The brief interlude between his start of the music, his slaughter of the first wave of Morenkai, and his putting up of the record had been enough for all of these creatures to reach the roof.
There was a single, tense moment where none of the Morenkai made a move.
That moment lasted less than the time it took for a butterfly to flap its wings.
The Morenkai attacked.
Micheal leaned back ever so slightly right before the chaos broke out, his powerful eyes missing nothing.
A bolt of white energy rocketed through the air where he had been standing.
He ducked his head slightly forward a moment later.
A large, black leg smashed through exactly where he had been standing, missing by mere millimeters.
His right arm flickered.
Three separate Abnormals that had closed the distance already shivered. Only one of them had managed to send in an attack, while the other two were still in the process of preparing to strike.
In unison, their bodies collapsed to the floor in pieces, black blood spattering out.
Every time Micheal struck, he automatically returned his Ashari Blade to its sheath. This was a familiar pose for him, one he'd honed many thousands of times. It wasn't the most practical technique for straight combat, but it was great for training one's control, and helped him get a better feel for his boosted state.
Another bolt of white energy shot towards Micheal's head and missed once again as Micheal preemptively ducked. The rippling energy shot through the air past him and slammed into a regular Morenkai, blasting a huge hole in the creature's chest and causing it to collapse. Micheal's eyes flicked to the side as he glanced at the Morenkai that had lobbed the energy attack.
It was an Abnormal, one with faded grey skin and a rather large head. It stood at the back of the charging Morenkai, lobbing attacks at him from afar.
By this point, around a dozen regular Morenkai reached Micheal.
Micheal mowed them down like an unstoppable war machine, killing them with almost casual ease as he focused on the attacking Abnormals.
A group of 3 Abnormals were the next to reach him. Two that had huge bodies bulging with muscle and the one that was lean and covered in spikes.
The creatures timed their attack well, attacking from different sides at the exact same time. The two large ones spread their arms out and dived at Micheal to try and hug him in their crushing grasp, while the spike-covered one struck forward with its deadly arms, aimed at Micheal's head.
Micheal attacked like he had before. A lightning-fast strike that moved so quickly his arm transformed into a mere flicker, coated in Advanced Tier Sword Energy.
His blade slammed into the two large Morenkai and cleanly cut through it.
Or, at first, it seemed like this was happening. The first big Morenkai was split in twain like nothing. However, when Micheal's blade cut into the second one, for a single, split-second, his sword got caught.
Micheal's eyes opened slightly as he saw this, a small smile forming on his face.
'Did they plan this? Is this the influence of the Monster Class Nest..? How amusing.' Abnormals were more intelligent than regular Morenkai, but they couldn't think like Monster Class Morenkai could. Using a complex strategy like this would normally be beyond them.
The second big Abnormal seemed to have used the first Abnormal as a way to its tactic. Micheal's blade was too quick for them to physically track, but it could sense when their fellow Morenkai were hurt or killed.
The Abnormal tensed up its body as much as possible and twisted its chest right as Micheal was attacking. This caught his sword at an odd angle and force it to freeze for a tiny moment.
That moment passed in a heartbeat.
Micheal's blade forcefully ripped through the second big Abnormal, scattering its split body parts backwards in a splay of black blood.
However, that tiny moment of hesitation had allowed the spiked Abnormal a chance to attack Micheal, an opening.
The creature took full advantage of that as its spiked hand rocketed towards Micheal's face.
When Micheal saw this, he snorted.
His left hand whipped forward in an open-palmed slap, moving so quickly the Abnormal didn't have time to react at it slammed into the creature. As it struck, he shifted his hand so that his pinky was edged out in front of his palm.
Right before the palm made contact, a flicker of red energy covered his pinky.
A resounding smack sounded off as Micheal's palm slammed into the Morenkai's head…
And then literally slapped it off, decapitating the Morenkai in a fraction of a second.
This was a clever move used to intimidate enemies, one he'd picked up on the Second Layer. The Advanced Tier Sword Energy on his pinky did all the real cutting while the rest of his hand shoved with enough force to look convincing.
The intimidation had no effect on the single-minded Morenkai, but it was an old technique Micheal relished being able to use once more. Only a person that could move as quickly as he could currently could manage to pull the technique off without butchering it.
A spurt of black blood shot up into the air as the body of the Abnormal fell backwards. Micheal ignored the successive Points notifications as he spun around, holding his sword at the ready with a small smile on his face.
He was truly starting to feel it. The sensation of battle, of fighting enemies using skills he'd trained for years, a feeling that was almost addicting to him. The feeling of making progress with his swordsmanship and relishing that progress.
Morenkai continued to charge at him.
Morenkai continued to die.
Abnormals, regular Morenkai, they attacked with abandon. First in 2s and 3s.
Then in the dozens.
Soon, Micheal had wiped out the second wave of Morenkai that had arrived. He killed the long-range Abnormals by using his Life Orbs to jerk them forward, while murdering the close-range ones with his blade and fists.
Not long after, a third wave arrived and Micheal dealt with them all the same.
The rooftop was soon coated in pools of black blood and Morenkai corpses, a death zone dominated by a single man.
He was an executioner.
He was a killer.
He was a Legion unto himself.
He was death.
Micheal's lungs burned as he killed the last Morenkai in the third wave, a fast Abnormal that was almost able to keep up with him. Almost in terms of raw movement speed, but nowhere close in terms of attack speed.
Throughout the entire battle, Micheal took great care not to take any injuries.
Micheal did not want to die.
He had the sinking suspicion that, at the moment of his death and s
ubsequent revival, his boosted stats would vanish completely. After all, his Life Orbs restored him back to full health. His current enhanced state would likely be viewed as, essentially, him being 'poisoned' and his body restored to its normal, and physically weaker, status.
And that would make things more complicated.
And finally, as Micheal was wiping off his blade…
He detected an unmistakable presence appear on the rooftop.
It had arrived.
His heart rate accelerated slightly as he jerked his head to the left, zeroing in on the Morenkai that had just waltzed out onto the rooftop from the roof entrance shed.
It was green-skinned Morenkai that was of average size for a Morenkai. What stood out most, apart from its skin color, were its unusually long arms. Each one rested almost all the way down to its ankles, far longer than regular Morenkai. Further, the hands on each arm had long, pointed nails that looked more like claws than anything else.
This Morenkai carried with it a strange presence. The air around it seemed to distort ever so slightly, a faint, harsh Aura emanating from it.
An Aura only Monster Class Morenkai possessed.
Micheal stared at the creature, his entire body relaxing as he focused his full, undivided attention on the being. He slowly sheathed his Ashari Blade as he took up a small, open stance, resting his left hand on the sheath of the sword and his right hand on its grip.
He faced down a monster that even the S Classes would struggle to kill, with only a single feeling flaring in his heart.
Anticipation.
'How strong am I right now..?'
'Let's find out.'
.
Chapter 61
The Monster Class Morenkai made the first move.
Its body transformed into a blur as it broke out into a mad sprint, hurtling itself towards Micheal.
It was fast. Incredibly fast, even to Micheal's boosted state. This one moved at least at the same speed as the Monster Class Morenkai that had killed Micheal once before, back when he was hunting for the Black Witch.
However, unlike his first encounter with a Monster Class Morenkai, Micheal could now make out this one's movements.
As soon as the creature lunged towards Micheal, Micheal took a step forward, breaking into a sprint of his own. However, instead of continuing to run, he jumped up into the air.
At the same time, he tapped on his Spatial Ring with his left hand, pulling something out of it and throwing it out behind him at an angle that blocked it from the charging Morenkai's sight.
The green skinned Morenkai noticed his leap and calculated for it as it raised its unnatural long, clawed arms up, spreading them out to the side as it prepared to strike.
By this point, only a second had passed, but the creature had already arrived right in front of Micheal.
Its clawed arms slashed through the air towards Micheal's legs. Unlike regular Morenkai or Abnormals, which would just aim for center mass, this Monster Class Morenkai was aiming to disable him first. Micheal's performance in taking out so many Abnormals for such an extended period had likely gained some respect.
'That or it's the Nest's influence.' He likely would never know which.
However, just before the creature's claws sank into Micheal's legs…
Micheal jumped on thin air with his Cloud Stepping Shoes, taking the being completely by surprise.
Micheal's mid-air lurch took him a meter forward and just barely out of range of the Monster Class Morenkai's strike. He could feel the wind shifting beneath him as the creature's clawed hands passed less than half a meter away from his legs, just barely missing.
The Morenkai tried to adjust its angle mid-attack to strike him, but ultimately failed. The surprise nature of Micheal's movements didn't give it a chance to respond.
Micheal took full advantage of that surprise as he lashed out with an attack of his own.
His wrist flicked forward as his Ashari Blade whipped out of its sheath in one smooth motion. The attack was almost indescribably fast in his eyes, faster than any of his strikes thus far. In fact, it was the single fastest attack he had performed in his life, at least this time around.
His blade connected with the back of the green skinned Morenkai, slicing against it with the full force his body could muster. However… there was no trace of red energy, or any color of Sword Energy, running along the line of his blade.
A screeching echo sounded off as his blade slammed into the back of the Monster Class Morenkai and bounced off, not even leaving a mark. The expensive, high-quality Ashari Blade, powered by his boosted 200+ Strength stat, could not even scratch the creature.
'Wow, they really are as tough as they say.' The thought flashed through his mind as he flew forward through the air, moving more than a dozen meters away from the Morenkai. He had never personally fought a Monster Class Morenkai, not with anything approaching their level of power.
'Still… Not yet…' There was a reason he didn't use any Sword Energy. He needed to bide his time carefully.
Monster Class Morenkai were intelligent. They learned from their mistakes, they adapted to the strengths of their enemies. And, above all else, they were extremely durable and hard to kill.
As strong as he was right now, Micheal had no illusions to his overall power. S Rankers struggled to kill Monster Class Morenkai. Powerful A Rankers could only hope to stall them out while waiting for reinforcements or escaping.
The only way he was going to kill it was if he took it by surprise.
The Morenkai's body twisted as it skidded to a stop, turning around to face Micheal. Its focus was perfectly zeroed in on him, likely tucking away the fact that Micheal could jump at least once while in thin air.
Unlike the Morenkai that chased Micheal, this one didn't appear to have a habit of ominously breathing in and out. It was like most normal Morenkai, eerily silent.
A moment later…
A rippling explosion abruptly shook the rooftop.
The object Micheal had left behind was none other than a Gnomish Explosive Bomb, one Micheal purchased from the shop. It was the same type of explosive Pirate Lord Brandon had constructed a suicide vest out of, a powerful bomb that could level a rooftop.
And, functionally, that was exactly what it did. A 25 meter wide explosion of fire blasted out and engulfed the Monster Class Morenkai, once again taking the creature completely by surprise. The rooftops on the Tower-class skyscrapers were a bit larger than regular ones, giving Micheal enough space to be clear of the brunt of the explosion, but he still got caught up and flung forward in its shockwave.
Micheal took advantage of that blast, and the subsequent distraction he'd caused, as he finished traveling to the entry shed that the Monster Class Morenkai had emerged from. He landed down on the ground next to it with a resounding thump.
His back was killing him, but none of his bones were broken and he was uninjured. A close-range explosion that would've blown out a regular human's eardrums and broken a plethora of bones merely left him a little rattled, though largely because he was decently far from its epicenter.
He gathered himself quickly after he landed, his hand tapping on his Spatial Ring as he spun to face the direction of the Monster Class Morenkai and prepared-
His line of thought was cut off as his heart abruptly plummeted.
Less than 5 meters from him was the rapidly approaching form of the Monster Class Morenkai.
The flames and smoke from his explosive had blinded its vision and confused its senses, causing it to freeze. However, the creature had recovered from that explosion in a superbly scant amount of time, tanking the bomb as if it was nothing. Its body was free from injury or burns and it didn't even appear to be the slightest bit shaken up.
It had likely experienced similar bombs before and could adapt to them without trouble.
Despite its surprisingly fast recovery, Micheal didn't panic. He didn't reach for his Ashari Blade, but instead continued to focus on the Morenkai and
stood absolutely still, leaning against the entry shed.
The Morenkai arrived in a fraction of a second. Its face split open slightly as it revealed its horrifying, and normally hidden, mouth, lined with hundreds of pointed teeth.
Its two arms preceded it, stabbing right at Micheal. One aimed upward, right at his neck, while the other aimed a bit lower at his chest, making it difficult for him to block both.
However, Micheal didn't even reach for his sword. Instead, he just smiled as his Spatial Ring activated.
Instantly, something appeared between Micheal and the Monster Class Morenkai.
A large, clear glass window that spanned several meters.
A window that, until several hours ago, belonged to the 51st floor of a random skyscraper within the territory of the Godfather Organization. It was one of the larger windows you could find, an unusual specimen that Micheal had searched through four skyscrapers to find.
With a screeching echo, the green skinned Morenkai's edged claws bashed into the window and slid up and down it. The attack left 10 white lines scratched into the window and smashed it backwards till it was wedged firmly in between the roof and the entry shed.
The window did not break, however, and forcefully stopped the momentum of the Monster Class Morenkai.
When Micheal saw this, his smile widened.
What better shield than something that was nigh unbreakable?
No matter how powerful the Monster Class Morenkai were, they definitely couldn't instantly break something that even he had to slowly cut.
Monster Class Morenkai were very strong, but not on the same level as their insane durability.
As the Morenkai froze in surprise, reconciling the fact that a thin piece of glass had stopped it, Micheal took action.
The piece of glass vanished as he stored it in his Spatial Ring. In the same moment that he stored it, the muscles in his arms bulged as he grabbed ahold of the hilt of his Ashari Blade and cut forward with all of his might, twisting as he put his entire body behind the attack.
Rippling, red energy coated his sword at the very last instant as it cut towards the Morenkai in a lightning-fast blow.
The creature didn't try to dodge the blow or step aside, seemingly convinced that Micheal's attacks were unable to harm it. Instead, it ignored the attack as it raised its arms again, preparing to stab into Micheal from either side, preventing him from reusing the glass window.