Chapter 158 Battle Of The Tormented (8)

Or you could say, we adapted to it.

…

A few days later and I hadn't seen any of my friends as pretty much all of them had to be brought back to base in order to have some more prolific treatment.

Everybody but Luna was in critical condition due to her illusions which saved her some time, but ultimately, she was showered with bullets as well.

"Well, it seems you're the last one, so you have the choice of going back or staying here. You're still in critical condition as one of them scraped your lungs, but you seem fine, so the choice is completely up to you,"

"Hey… We did all of that, and you think I would retreat? We're now storming their trenches… So let me at them," I muttered with a sadistic smile that sent shivers down my lieutenant's spine.

"Well said," He replied with an even larger smile, and as we stepped onto the battlefield, a few more soldiers rushed past us, pouring their all into the tense atmosphere.

We now had the upper hand, but it wasn't impossible for us to lose it, as from what I can tell… the commander was ready to make his move.

We were currently invading a slight incline and at the very top of that incline was a man standing so tall that he blocked out the last glimmers of sunlight.

His large, muscular body was somehow bigger than the halberd standing right beside him as if it was his loyal servant waiting to make a move.

"Kid, want to kill him together?" The lieutenant asked as we both stared at his almost impenetrable sight.

The pressure he unleashed onto the battlefield was like that of a landslide that was so crushing that anybody near him could barely even raise their head.

In my opinion, he looked more like a king rather than a commander.

"There's no way that guy is only a commander… Is he not the general?" I tried to confirm, and the man standing next to me gulped down a large drop of saliva before giving me a silent nod.

"Fooooooooo… Ssssssssssssss… Okay. I'll deal with him myself… If I don't improve, I guess I'll just die!" I shouted before calling my spear into my hand, ripping through not only the opposing army but also some of our army.

It wasn't much though, so nobody really cared as they were more focused on surviving than anything else.

Sensing my presence, the commander turned towards me and his beastly eyes locked onto me, burning and stating his presence into my very soul.

This guy… was so much bigger, stronger, faster, and most likely more intelligent than that thing I fought in the previous battle.

But, despite his battle-ready presence and eyes, he never charged toward me, never tried to attack me, and never tried to bug me in any way.

He was doing what the commander was supposed to be doing and not losing control over his thirst for blood.

He sharpened and honed it as he inspected the battlefield… but that didn't mean he wasn't ready for a fight.

In fact, it was quite the opposite of what I saw.

His presence basically announced that you have to be worthy to step up to him by getting past his army, and only then will you have the chance to face him.

It was a bit cowardly… but in war, there isn't much pride to hold onto.

There are only losers in war as each side suffers so much damage that they might as well just dissolve themselves from the city itself.

But I'd say there are winners as well.

Not a winning side, of course, but winning individuals: The ones who reached ease through their deaths, the ones who survived and went back to their families, and finally, the ones who had found meaning on the battlefield.

I would say I fall in none of these categories… as truly… truly… I just want to sate my thirst for battle.

FWOOSH

I swung my spear to the side, tearing through a few enemies that tried to sneak up on me as I had a glare off with the commander.

My eyes were locked onto my target, and the adrenaline only made me fall deeper and deeper into the bloody embrace of the battlefield.

A searing pain touched my left eye and right below it as if somebody was trying to brand something into my skin and eye.

It hurt, but it wasn't enough for me to lose concentration as my chest was also throbbing from several injuries.

"Sssssssss…"

Everything around me slowed down to a point where I could see the slightest drop of rainfall past my face, coating my straining eyes.

I blinked and then took a step forward, my muscles in my lower body contracting and retracting to help me gain more power in my steps.

Each time I stepped on the grime and filth of the battlefield, my heavy military boots would press past it, creating small cracks in the moist ground below.

My footsteps were like thunder, striking in tandem with the lighting cracking above, illuminating my deadly presence across the battlefield.

My skills seemingly reacted on their own, activating by themselves and creating a dark red coat that mixed with the other red auras, simultaneously mixing together to form something new.

FWUMP

I jumped off the ground causing the soldiers below me to gawk upwards as I practically flew over them.

My spear reflected the slightest hints of light created by exploding fireballs, blinding some of the soldiers beneath me.

For some reason, I felt so much freer, lighter, and at ease during this current moment.

The moment in the garden couldn't even come close to where I was now.

Mages tried to blast where I landed, but my aura was way too strong for their puny balls of magic to even scratch me in the slightest.

"Move," I ordered across the battlefield, and surprisingly, the residents of this bloody place parted like the red sea.

Some were scared, some were confused, and some were looking at me with admiration as if I was their inspiration to keep pressing forward.

Each time I stepped up this hill, the war would resume behind me, without anybody even trying to touch me.

"How admirable… your voice is like that of a god," The commander at the very top of the hill said, his booming voice shaking the trenches and rattling our bones within our flesh.

[Conditions fulfilled]

[You have acquired The Skill: [Blood of the Underworld]

[You have acquired The Skill: [Prince of Blood: Manipulation]

…

I felt a new substance course through my veins, and as if my body couldn't handle the power, my skin started to crack and gush so much blood that it almost painted the hill a darker red than before.

This blood was pitch black, with highlights of dark red streaking inside the very core of the droplets.

"[Prince of Blood: Manipulation],"

The feeling of being able to sense everything around me was surreal, and a bit overwhelming as my brain had never handled such a thing before.

[Your Item: [Magic Ring] is reacting with your crumbling vessel]

All of a sudden, the black and thorny, vine-like tattoos that spread across the top of my hand shot up my arm and entangled the rest of my body within its confines.

My skin which was about to completely split open suddenly sealed shut, and the thorny tattoos absorbed the excess blood like a sponge.

A blast of euphoria gushed into my mind, only making me smile wider as I finally reached the commander, who looked down on me from his slightly raised position… not that I would've even been looking down at him either way.

"Maybe I was right about you being a god," He muttered with a stoic expression.

"Who do you think I would be?"

"Ares,"

The tips of my mouth smiled so wide that they touched the very bottom of my ear lobes, and in just a split second, both of our weapons collided.

We were on par at this very moment, but both of us knew that was just a warm-up swing.

"Shall we get to the feast?"

"Of course,"

VWOOM

The man swung in a horizontal crescent-like shape with so much power that you could hear the air just barely managing to stay intact as his attack rushed right before my nose.

I circled around him in order for us to be on an even plane, and what I saw at the top of this hill made my expression slightly flinch.

"I was wondering why we were trying to take this hill… but it seems the government has planted something quite troublesome,"

"Indeed… And I can't let you have this," The commander muttered before rushing in, his halberd bending with the force of his charged-up attack.

SHING

But I was faster, causing me to slice through his helmet and cut lightly into the top of his head.

His skull was harder than steel, and his power…?

BOOOOM

His missed attack immediately split open the hill, causing spiderweb-like cracks to spread across three-quarters of the battlefield.

"Ssssssss…"