Shaking his head, Talon ran his hand through his hair only to realize that he was soaking wet in blood from head to toe. The stickiness and the uncomfortable feeling made him frown before he leaked a small sigh.
"I need a shower." He murmured with an oddly stoic expression. His eyes were as serene as a still pond that was never touched by the wind.
His heart was beating calmly as if he was asleep. He wasn't even bothered by the horrid smell of blood and flesh around him. All he felt was pure calmness. Something that a normal person would only feel if they were relaxing and yet Talon felt it in the most disgusting place one could imagine.
'That was at least 2000-something monsters right there. I didn't expect I could kill this many alone...' Looking at his bloodied hand, Talon could only feel weird.
Barely a few weeks ago, facing 2000 monsters was a foolish dream. The only way he was able to actually kill this many monsters was when he unleashed that fusion attack and wiped out a good chunk of the campus in a moment.
Yet, now, after a few weeks, he is able to actually fight against this many monsters without using that attack. Granted, his body was riddled with numerous injuries and he was exhausted beyond words. But, he still did it and did it to the highest efficiency.
Talon had actually achieved what many thought would be impossible at such a stage. To fight an army on your own. He was a one-man army through and through.
'I feel a lot better for some reason. It's like I got something off my chest just now.' He mused as he looked up.
He noticed Acrypha descending toward him as she looked at him directly. "That was... Impressive." She said with a speechless look.
Even though Acrypha's expectations were already as high as the moon when it came to Talon, he somehow kept upping that level. Now, he truly did something amazing.
'A level 25 human killed 2000 monsters on his own. Haha, this sounds so ridiculous even as a joke and yet it's true.' She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
At this point, she was contemplating not even having any expectations anymore since they kept being shattered as if they were nothing. Talon has simply transcended something as simple as 'Expectations'.
He was now setting his own league and playing in it.
'But... The way he was fighting, I couldn't understand it.'
She would be lying if she said that she felt completely happy with the way things went. Acrypha knew that even though Talon wasn't showing it now, he was still mourning his mother's death... deeply.
So deep in fact that it moved to his fighting style and made it far more brutal and unforgiving than before. He didn't hold his hand back from drawing as much blood out as possible. It was as if that was the only thing that put his heart at ease and she didn't want that.
She knew how horrible it could be for someone to get addicted to killing. It was even worse than being addicted to gaining power and the reason is simple... Power gives you arrogance while killing robs you of who you are as a person.
It chips away at someone's character and leaves him an empty, terrifying shell of their past self. It ruins them.
"Hey, you guys! Can you get me a bottle of water?" Oblivious to the girl's thoughts, Talon turned to the others and asked casually.
"H-Huh?" His words seemed to snap them out of their daze and they flinched.
"A bottle of water. I want to wash my face." He said as he made a bottle gesture with his hand.
"What's up?"
"How are you feeling?" She asked calmly.
"...? Sticky, and I smell horrible but other than that, I'm fine." He shrugged.
"No, I mean, how are you 'feeling'?" She repeated the question with a more meaningful tone.
That made Talon look up for a moment, trying to understand what Acrypha was trying to say before he pursed his lips. "I'm doing fine... Why you ask?"
Acrypha opened her mouth to speak, only to realize something. How can she even bring this up? Talon was most likely unaware of it with how nonchalant he was acting.
'Telling him that his fighting style was angry and hateful would only confuse him more... What should I do?' Contemplating herself, she found it exceedingly harder to speak.
"Acrypha?"
"... It's nothing, don't worry about it." She sighed and decided not to speak. In his current state, Talon was still not fully back to normal. Three days weren't anywhere near enough for him to forget about his mother's death and move.
'I will give him more time and then bring it up later.' She thought to herself.
"Hm, ok." Talon didn't get what she meant and decided to simply change the topic. "By the way, I think I've got a new ability from the Dimension Harvester after it leveled up again." He said.
"Oh? You did? What's its name?"
"'Berserker's Greed' it says. What an interesting name for an ability." Talon murmured as he rubbed the back of his head. 'Is it implying that I'm a greedy monster of some kind? That's mean.'
Talon could only laugh at how funny it sounded. In a sense, he can see why the skill gave him such an ability name. The way he was fighting did feel greedy and brutish as beautiful as it flowed. Even if he was making the most mesmerizing dance using his spear, it still left in his wake a path of mutilated bodies.
"Have you ever heard of such an ability before, Acrypha?" He turned to ask his most knowledgeable partner.
"Hmm, I do know of Berserker skills in general. They're similar to sacrificial skills but less in terms of consequences that come up after using them. They're very powerful abilities." She explained.
Talon still remembered his fight with Cha Kwang a while ago and how he used a sacrificial skill and gained immense power in a split second. The huge gap between them was shortened immediately and Talon almost struggled to defeat him when he thought it was going to be an easy problem to solve.
"Oh, so this could be good?"
"Most likely. Check the description."
[Berserker's Greed (Level Max): Rage is your friend and foe. The more you embrace it, the stronger you become and the more you lose. Using this ability, the host gains a 40% increase in all abilities but they will lose complete control of their minds for a set period of time.
Flaw: Overusing could lead to the host losing their mind.]
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