He didn’t detour. Once close enough, he leaped over the wall. Residents screamed and scrambled into their homes, but a few must have spotted him. Some pointed, their eyes fixed on the newcomer as he landed lightly on the concrete street. David caught the gaze of a young boy and winked before accelerating again, casting [Phantom Rush] to traverse the town in a heartbeat.

He vaulted over the far wall, tuning out the panicked shouts of those braving the ramparts.

Despite his intention to ignore the townsfolk, what he saw confused him.

Not all residents had joined the System. While fear of the System, monsters, and the consequences of Pantheon integration might be understandable, obtaining a Class was essential—it was necessary for survival in a place like this. Yet more than a quarter of the people he passed weren’t Classers.

He could understand that sentiment when it came to children. Teaching them about Classes, stats, Skills, monsters, and the System before they killed their first monster was smart. Kids didn’t know which Class to pick and pursue for the rest of their lives, nor how to handle their Skills responsibly. But adults?

David could picture children wielding the Basic Class, Mage, causing mayhem. Worse still, overconfident teenagers were bound to overestimate their strength and leave the safety of the settlement to explore the wilderness. Some might survive, but David wasn’t naïve enough to think most would make it out alive—unless they were extremely cautious and given enough time to prepare.

Then again, most people had no real choice. They had to take on Classes, hunt monsters, and survive the integration. Or so it should have been. But this fortified settlement was different. Too many residents lacked a Class, and even fewer seemed to have advanced their Classes properly—at least based on the life signals he detected.

He wasn’t the best at measuring someone's power, but the strength of a person’s life signal was a reliable indicator. It had always been enough.

Why are they so damn weak?

He landed on the other side of the wall, not glancing back, even though the startled screams behind him were probably directed at his sudden appearance.

David turned toward the battlefield, his frown deepening as he zeroed in on the hundreds of life signals belonging to the monster horde.

Human defenders, wearing leather armor and plates that reminded David of monster scales and other monster parts, charged at the monsters. They wielded blades, spears, maces, and other weapons that looked oddly similar to Serpent Fang, though far less refined. Whereas Serpent Fang was a masterpiece made of a Sacred Beast’s massive fang, their weapons were... lackluster, for lack of a better word.

Still, the melee fighters charged ahead and engaged the fastest monsters. Familiar Skills such as [Charge], [Bash], [Aether Slash], and the like were activated to gain the upper hand against their adversaries, but it was hard to tell whether the defenders or the monsters would emerge victorious. Arrows whistled through the air overhead and plunged neatly into their targets. Yet, as interesting as it was to watch a few monsters transform into porcupines, the archers’ deadly force was disappointing. Even their accuracy was lower than what David was used to from Protectors and more experienced archers with advanced Classes.

Still, the archers did their job and hunted a few monsters, their arrows disappearing into the most crowded areas, finding a target—though David highly doubted any were aimed at the monsters’ rears.

The Mages were also doing their job. More or less. The destructive force of fireballs made up for the lack of accuracy. They killed more monsters than the archers with each volley of fireballs, yet they didn’t release nearly as many.

If not for those with advanced Classes, David would have been certain the town had no chance at survival. Even with them, it was... unclear how they had survived this long.

So fucking weak.

David grimaced, deciding to end this misery before it made him sick. Watching this mess was embarrassing. It was a pitiful showcase of mankind’s tenacity.

He cast [Phantom Rush] and applied [Herald’s Blessing] to vanish from the spot. Moving faster than ever, he leaped at a Gnoll Giant, the Obsidian Blade materializing in his right hand, and slashed. The soulbound blade carved cleanly through the monster’s neck before it could cleave through someone with the waraxe in its claws.

David landed softly on the ground and turned to the young man wielding a mace. He smiled lightly at the young man as the Gnoll Giant’s head landed beside him with a thud. “At your Rank you shouldn’t face a monster like that alone. That’s just suicidal. Take better care of yourself and step back a little bit, will you?”

He felt like telling the man to stop being baggage but decided against it. This was the first real interaction he’d had since he’d escaped the Naughtrealm. It was the first human he had met after an eternity of roaming the Naughtrealm alone!

Blood spurted everywhere, yet it took a moment before the monster’s body realized it was dead. It stepped forward once more and crumbled lifelessly to the ground, blood pooling around it.

The young man paled and shivered like timbers, his eyes lingering on the headless corpse.

“Did you guys have a tactic, or are you charging outside like suicidal fools?” David muttered as he turned to a pair of mindlessly screaming fighters facing a four-legged creature that looked like a wolf, clad in ruby scales rather than fur.

The wolf evaded the incoming sword strikes nimbly and would have clawed through one of the screaming lad’s throats if David hadn’t intercepted. He cast [Blood Blast] and burst the scaled wolf’s head in an instant.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Looks like you don’t,” he said, accessing [Blood Manipulation] to pierce a dozen creatures with a wall of blood spikes that surged out of a monster corpse. The corpse exploded as its blood sloshed violently within before erupting in all directions, solidifying into pointy spikes, impaling all nearby enemies.

The spiked wall was enough to slow the incoming monsters, but it was nowhere close to obliterating the horde. Hundreds remained, charging the fortified town and melee fighters. Not at David, though. They avoided him like a pest. Or tried to—to no avail.

David transformed several monster corpses in his immediate surroundings and tapped into their blood reserves to create multiple spiked walls. While they didn’t impale hundreds of monsters at once, they disrupted the horde’s momentum and slowed them.

He studied the monsters’ movements for a moment and leaped into the air. He created a crimson barrier beneath his feet as inertia threatened to pull him down again and jumped once more. [Bloodbound Bastion] triggered—David conjured another barrier beneath him, keeping him about 20 meters above the ground.

Though before the slaughter began, he noticed something odd. It was almost like he didn’t need the crimson barrier to levitate in the air. As if he could control the space—or was it the ambient Aether?—around him to solidify and heed his will.

David lifted his arm high into the air, Words of Power rolling from his lips as he cast [Blood Blast] dozens of times. His Source glowed vibrantly and stirred as the Law of Blood triggered, altering the bloody projectiles that formed all around him before he let them loose.

A bloody rain of deadly projectiles descended as his arm cleaved down, filling the sky with crimson trails resembling shooting stars—only crimson, and far more deadly.

[Blood Blast] pierced through the monsters, breaking spines and skulls, piercing hide, flesh, bones, and organs, reaping the lives of several dozen enemies with the first impact. But those bloody projectiles didn’t dissipate after piercing their targets. They did not explode either. Instead, [Blood Blast] emerged on the other side of the impacted area and continued their path of death and destruction.

Homing [Blood Blast] projectiles wouldn’t stop seeking new targets until either the energy that powered them was drained or David commanded them to stop. But he did not issue that command—not until the projectiles had expended too much energy to inflict serious damage.

Two to three eliminations per [Blood Blast], he thought, nodding in satisfaction.

Sure, he could have infused more pure Blood into each projectile, but he chose not to overclock every blood construct. It was also important to gauge the strength of his Skills against standard enemies. [Blood Blast] might be one of his weaker Skill Runes, yet it didn’t consume much energy either. Combining the potency of pure Blood with the strain induced by the Law of Blood was still formidable, to say the least.

All it took was two droplets of pure Blood to kill hundreds of monsters, and that alone was enough for him to end the horde once and for all.

David called upon [Blood Manipulation], consuming another droplet of pure Blood to command the blood of the monster carcasses strewn across the battlefield. Stakes of solidified blood, each the size of his forearm, formed across the bodies and burst outward at high velocity, taking the remaining monsters off guard. Some tried to evade the sudden barrage, so David gave them the attention they deserved—he released a spear made of pure Blood in their direction, piercing their skulls or hearts with precise lethality.

But not all the monsters succumbed to his attacks. Some survived being pierced by blood-forged stakes and spears, though none emerged unscathed.

Mini Bosses and a Rift Boss? Was that what he was seeing?

David cocked an eyebrow as he met the eyes of the strongest monster ahead. It was powerful compared to the rest. But in comparison to a Void Fragment? Forget about the Voidre—even a Fragment would tear the monsters growling at him apart with ease.

He could do the same. But he didn’t.

Instead of taking the easiest path, David opted to use some of the Skill Runes he hadn’t been able to activate in the Naughtrealm. Those had consumed too much pure Blood, so he hadn’t bothered with them before. It was a good thing he was no longer confined to that place.

He unleashed [Fearwrought], aimed at the remaining monsters, while Words of Power spilled from his lips, seamlessly weaving [Bloodlust] into the Class Skill. The Intent and Skill amplified each other and activated instantly, silencing the monsters’ angry growls on the spot. Yowls and desperate shrieks replaced the Bosses’ once-false confidence.

One of the Mini Bosses tried to flee. It spun around and flapped its wings, attempting to increase the distance between them—when a cage of blood materialized around it, confining the creature. The cage’s bars shifted into spikes, then began to shrink, resulting in pained squeals that were silenced as David released a gray crescent blade of Rend, severing both the cage and the Mini Boss’s neck in a single stroke.

No notifications popped up even after hundreds of monsters had died, but David had grown accustomed to the system’s lacking responses. He paid it no attention and moved onward, dismissing the Obsidian Blade to conjure pristine-white bolts of lightning in his hands.

David wasted no time. He pulled his right arm back and hurled the first lightning bolt at the second Mini Boss. It crackled through the air until it struck the target. The scent of burned fur and flesh filled the blood-soaked battlefield, yet David paid it no heed. Not even the monster’s pained roars caught his interest as he pulled his left arm back and released a second lightning bolt, silencing the Mini Boss forever.

More lightning formed in his hands, and he barely managed to eliminate the third and final Mini Boss with a quick volley of deadly bolts—just as the Rift Boss stirred. It had overcome the amplified effects of [Fearwrought] and [Bloodlust], and leapt at him. Watching the Rift Boss inch closer, David could only grimace.

Why is everyone this weak? Classers were one thing… but even the monsters? Pathetic.

It made no sense, but David moved forward regardless. He could ask questions later.

Serpent Fang materialized seemingly out of nowhere. It glimmered under the early afternoon sunlight as he applied Rend, [Origin Lightning], and [Herald’s Blessing] to the blade.

It felt lighter in his grip than ever before, and that sensation only intensified as he stood there. Though he didn’t remain motionless for long, David felt raw power pumping through his veins.

It was almost as though something—something within—was empowering him. No Skill Rune had been used on him. This was different. It was like he was gaining strength simply by existing.

It was a good feeling. A warm sensation that empowered him far beyond what Vitae or a simple Attribute Point ever could.

The corner of his lips curled upward as he jerked forward, leaping at the Rift Boss to face it head-on.

Serpent Fang arced through the air with flawless grace, singing as David reached top speed. The blade cleaved through the monster’s skull before Lightning Rend detonated, splitting the Rift Boss in two.