The moment the cold steel fell into my hands, the world stilled.
As though time simply ceased to exist, everything vanished.
BA-DUMP!
BA-DUMP!
My heart thrummed within my ribcage in an aggressive beat, sending a rush of blood and adrenaline through my system!
The moment I felt that familiar jolt in my body, I instinctively remembered what it was.
The passive enchantment of the Fanged viper, Flow.
An immersed state which greatly increased battle capabilities and perception.
If I had to describe the feeling then doping would be a suitable word.
It felt like taking a drug meant to increase your fighting abilities.
And of course, drugs usually had side effects, in this case it was recklessness.
In a heightened state like that , it's not rare for one to overestimate their capabilities because they're feeling on top of the world.
Not me though, I rose to the top with this weapon so dealing with the effects of its Flow state was nothing new.
The world resumed moving at its usual pace.
The instant it did, the dire fangs rushed at me, with claws and fangs ready to maul the annoying human who was making a mess of their habitat.
Their claws met air.
Confused, they growled before one made the unfortunate mistake of looking up.
The instant it did, a blur of silver cut downward with a speed which was almost impossible to track.
Then came the messy streak of red that followed.
Blood splattered in random directions, turning the ruined forest clearing a deep shade of crimson.
The approaching dire fangs froze as if rethinking their decision to attack but then… retreat wasn't an option, they had nowhere to run to.
"Hahaha, that's right. You ugly mutts are cornered." I said with a grin.
Then my calf muscles tensed.
BANG!
My foot left a deep crater on the earth below as the force from my movement propelled me towards the dire fangs.
They all lunged forward to attack at once since they held the advantage of numbers on their side.
Dire fangs weren't overly intelligent, sure they were a bit cunning but it wasn't to the extent where they could outsmart a human.
Still, I had to hand it to the creatures they certainly knew how to overwhelm their opponents using an aggressive approach.
Too bad their opponent was me.
My Fanged viper moved before me, its chain coiling around an approaching dire fang.
I pulled hard, before swinging my weapon in an arc.
The dire fang in my chain slammed into the others before the sickle carved a line on its flesh.
Guts splattered in bits giving the forest a new aesthetic while blood stained the green leaves red.
I swung my chain again.
This time it left a deep gash on one of the dire fangs, I rushed past it.
"Void lance."
A burst of malevolent deep dioxazine purple construct jutted out from the forest floor impaling the dire fang.
[Ding! You have slain…]
I wasn't paying attention to the system.
Lost in the addictive sensation of the flow state all I could think of was killing the creatures in front of me.
My movements fell into rhythm.
Grab, slash, pivot and kill.
Grab, evade, kill.
Then repeat.
The more the monsters came the more the corpses became.
One had strayed from the rest, silently trying to approach me from behind while its remaining pack members were keeping me busy.
I played oblivious.
More amused than cautious.
I continued killing.
The creature remained out of sight but the faint rustle of the grass kept me updated on its approach and pace.
A dire fang approached recklessly, slamming its snout into me which knocked my feet off balance.
At that instant the dire fang which had been lying in wait, sprang forward, maw wide with teeth gleaming in bloodlust.
I grinned.
My arm shot out instantly, grabbing the creature by the neck.
Then in a swift motion I brought Fanged viper straight into its gut.
I left the weapon inside the creature before using my free hand to grab the dire fang which had slammed me earlier.
"I didn't know creatures like these had wrestlers amongst their ranks." I muttered in a low tone, then tilted my head. "Your bone structure's too complicated for a German suplex, so make do with this."
My hand moved, the creature's skull connected to the ground with a sickening crack and dear oh dear, it wished I stopped at just that.
I tugged at its tail, slamming the head of the creature into the skull of another approaching dire fang.
The impact rang within the forest eliciting a chorus of whimpers from the now hesitant creatures which had somehow lost the will to fight.
I clicked my tongue.
"Pathetic."
Clearly they've had enough, and I… had no reason to keep them alive further.
I pressed my thumb against my index finger, took a breath then locked on to the retreating dire fangs.
"Void constrictor."
A tendril of dioxazine purple slithered onto the dire fangs slowly restricting their movements before restraining them in place.
The Void's nature was already taking effect as the skin where it touched began to turn a deep midnight purple slowly spreading out while sapping the life from the creatures.
I approached them slowly, my eyes narrowed in boredom as I beheld their shivering frame then I snapped my fingers.
"Cut."
What followed next was a cacophonous chorus of howls and the sickening sound of flesh being torn apart.
In mere seconds, the entire population of dire fangs were reduced to nothing but corpses.
All expect one.
The one I had deliberately given the chance to escape.
All hidden routes had special trigger conditions.
For the dire king boss to appear.
You needed to keep at least one dire fang alive, not more than one.
If you keep two dire fangs alive they would flee in search of a new habitat, but if you allow only one, it would pester the dire king enough to bring it out.
But of course the dire king would not forgive such insolence, from a lowly subject no less, it would kill the messenger before making an appearance.
With a minute or two to spare before the dire king appeared, I retrieved my weapon from the carcass of the dead dire fang.
But before then a wave of messages from the channel popped up.
Then came the system notifications.
I didn't even bother checking it, not yet.
I knew I killed many so there was no need to notify me.
The chances of low level mobs dropping loot were close to none and that was the only thing I was interested in.
Though I briefly caught the part of the message which displayed my level.
'I'm level 5, even before the second scenario. Not bad.' I mused.
Before I could allow myself to appreciate the level I had gotten to from my efforts alone, a loud howl reverberated through the entire forest.
Then the ground shook.
Something massive was coming and I knew exactly what it was.
"My training dummy's here."