The entity rose in fury as corrupted mana oozed out of its chest.

It roared and charged once more.

Victor didn't wait.

He blurred using Wind Arts to boost his movement as he dashed forward.

His sword came free in a single smooth motion.

SHRRRRAAAAANG!

His first slash tore a glowing arc across the frozen plains, leaving a line of destruction so sharp it carved through the permafrost like butter. The shockwave threw up shards of ice the size of boulders.

The corrupted monster reeled as the attack carved a gash from its shoulder to its ribs.

Another slash followed.

Then another.

Victor didn't stop for a single moment.

He landed every strike with brutality, severing chunks of corrupted flesh that sizzled upon touching the ice.

Thick, dark and foul blood splattered across the ground.

The creature was stunned by Victor's ferociousness.

How was this person so powerful? Why were they with the Kahr'uun when they were obviously of a different species?

Rhozan, seizing the opportunity, slammed his magical staff into the ground. Complex geometric runes spiraled outward, forming a glowing sigil beneath the monster.

"ROOTBINDING SIGIL—!"

Icy chains shot up, coiling around the corrupted limbs.

The monster bellowed while thrashing.

Victor continued the assault relentlessly.

He shadow blinked, vanishing from one spot and reappearing behind the creature as its massive claws slashed through empty air.

SLASH.

A deep X-shaped gash tore across its back as he shadow blinked yet again.

SLASH~

Another limb nearly gave out due to the intensity of the injuries.

The entity realized it was being overpowered, began to rippled violently like it was about to take yet another form.

Fur peeled back, skin burst and bones reconfigured grotesquely as it attempted to shift into yet another form, intending to take on a faster, more dangerous, physique capable of matching Victor's speed and power.

But before it could, Victor vanished with and appeared directly above it.

His sword swept down as wind and shadow converged onto its blade.

Victor executed one of his strongest martial technique without hesitation.

"Shadow Crescent Strike!"

The world seemed to pause and then a curved, crescent-shaped slash erupted downward with the force of a collapsing dimension.

It rammed into the creature and the monster's massive arms were severed cleanly from its body in a violent spray of corrupted blood.

They hit the ground several meters away, twitching violently as black tendrils tried desperately to reattach.

Victor landed lightly on the ice as the corrupted entity staggered, screaming in agony.

It had never been wounded like this.

Not in this world.

Not by anything living.

Rhozan stared in awe while yhe other Kahr'uun warriors trembled in reverence.

They had no doubt that Victor was the real deal. Not even the last one could match him in strength.

Victor raised his sword again with a cold expression as he closed in once more while slashing a few more times.

After a few more minutes, the battlefield was filled with the stench of blood and frost.

The corrupted entity was now reduced to a limbless, writhing carcass that twitched helplessly in a pool of its own dark fluids.

Its monstrous breaths were shallow and rough while the ground beneath it sizzled as corrupted energy continued to leak outward.

Victor stood over it with his sword raised.

One more slash was all he needed and the thing would stop moving.

He drew in a breath, causing qi to swirling along the edge of his legacy blade...

"WAIT!"

Rhozan's voice tore through the icy wind.

Victor halted mid-strike, frowning as he glanced back. Rhozan was panting heavily with his staff glowing erratically as he staggered toward him.

"Remember—!" Rhozan shouted with a strained voice. "If you kill it, it will only return stronger next time!"

Victor blinked.

"Bro… it attacked us, killed one of your people, nearly bit my head off, and now you're telling me not to kill it?!"

Rhozan jabbed a trembling finger at the corrupted being.

"You must get rid of it forever! It must never return."

Victor narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah? And how the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"You're the great Iruhun," Rhozan replied matter-of-factly, as if that answered everything. "You're supposed to know."

Victor stared.

"…Eh?"

This wasn't helpful.

Not even slightly.

He lowered his sword a bit, looking back at the quivering, half-dead monstrosity.

Get rid of it forever…? Destroy it permanently? How?

He knew how to kill things.

He knew how to obliterate things.

But apparently, this thing simply respawned stronger if slain normally.

"So what?" Victor snapped. "You expect me to just know? Why didn't you mention this earlier?!"

"It is ancient knowledge!" Rhozan protested. "Only the Iruhun is said to understand such—"

Whatever Rhozan was saying was cut off by a sharp, wet snap.

Victor and Rhozan turned instantly.

The corrupted creature stopped twitching.

Instead, it began morphing.

Bones slithered beneath its skin like serpents.

Its dark blood crawled back into its body.

Its flesh bubbled upward like molten tar.

Within seconds, its form elongated, stretching upward and reshaping until it stood on two legs.

It took a slender yet humanoid shape, coated in a shifting black material like living shadow. Its face was blank, except for two red slits where eyes should be... burning with hatred.

Victor tightened his grip.

"So it finally wants to fight properly."

The humanoid corrupted entity raised both arms—

CLAP!

The sound echoed like a thunderbolt.

All around them, every splatter of corrupted blood on the field which numbered in of droplets, scattered across ice and snow... began to glow with ominous red light.

Rhozan's eyes widened.

"The blood—!"

Before anyone could react—

FWOOOOOM!

Tendrils erupted from each bloodstain, whipping violently toward the warriors.

"MOVE!" Victor thundered.

Two Kahr'uun warriors were struck instantly, wrapped and immobilized as if caught in tar.

It raised them into the air and slammed them across the icy pavement. c

The others sprang apart, dodging, leaping, slicing through incoming tendrils desperately.

Victor's sword severed six tendrils that were headed in his direction with a single sweep but the moment the tendrils split apart, the severed sections pulsed...

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions tore through the air.

Victor Shadow Blinked, reappearing a dozen meters away unharmed.

However, the others weren't as lucky.

One warrior was blasted sideways with half of his left torso simply vanishing in the fireball.

Another screamed as his right arm disintegrated.

A third staggered backward, clutching at a gaping hole in his chest.

The smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

Just minutes ago, ten Kahr'uun warriors stood proudly.

Now only six remained.

Six and one horribly injured who was barely standing.

Rhozan roared in grief and rage as his staff erupting with cyan flames. He proceeded to launch spell after spell at the humanoid corrupted being.

"DIE, YOU FOUL THING!"

Each attack exploded against the ice as the corrupted being glided effortlessly between them with its body bending and twisting unnaturally.

Then it raised a finger.

A magic circle appeared above and in the same instant, a beam of violet light shot downward—

FWOOOOOSH!

It struck Rhozan before he could dodge.

"ARGH!"

The Kahr'uun leader was blasted off his feet, tumbling across the ground as shards of ice carved into his flesh. His staff clattered beside him, dimmed.

Victor appeared behind the corrupted humanoid instantly using Shadow Blink once more.

His sword descended but the corrupted entity reacted faster than before.

Its right arm elongated like a fluid spear, forming into a dark blade which it raised just in time to parry Victor's legacy sword.

CLAAAAAANG!

The impact cracked the ground beneath their feet.

The sheer force of Victor's strike still sent the corrupted being hurtling backward, skidding through the snow.

However, Victor noticed the difference.

'It's adapting… fast...'

Just like Rhozan warned him days ago.

If given time, the entity would evolve to match them, and surpass them.

Victor's expression hardened.

"No more wasting time."

He dashed forward, unleashing sword strikes like a storm, leaving blurs of black steel that tore through the corrupted being's humanoid body.

Each slash exploded in destructive arcs, ripping apart limbs and cracking its shadowy skin.

The being retaliated with dark magic, conjuring spheres of corrupted mana that twisted gravity and warped the air.

Victor evaded with Shadow Blink and bent space with his Void qi, forced attacks to miss by shifting their trajectories.

But the thing kept evolving.

Its movements grew more fluid.

Its defense grew sharper.

It learned with every exchange.

"Damn parasite," Victor muttered. "Fine. Let's see you dodge this."

He raised his sword, gathering terrifying amounts of qi along the blade.

The corrupted being blurred aside but Victor suddenly split into over twenty identical copies, that speed towards the corruption like phantoms.

[ Phantom Mirage Step II Activated ]

The corrupted being, swung its dark blade made from its body parts at Victor but it went straight through.

However, some of the clones slammed their blades into it sides one after the other, like it had become a baseball they were striking.

Yet when it slashed, it went straight through causing the phantom clone to vanish.