CHAPTER 183: SOMETHING DANGEROUS

Dust still hung in the air like a thick curtain.

Logan didn’t rush. His boots tapped steadily against the stone, each step ringing louder than the hammer’s earlier strikes. The mask hid his face, but the way he carried himself...calm, unshaken, made the air feel heavier than the boss’s killing intent moments ago.

The orc pushed itself up from the crater with a guttural roar. Shards of stone slid off its body. Its black-glowing eyes narrowed at the newcomer. It had taken blows from A-class hunter Gideon without flinching... yet that fireball had sent it tumbling like a rag doll.

Ronald kept staring with his mouth slightly open.

"How is this possible?! Am I dreaming? Yes.

I am dreaming for sure. Only that can explain how it’s happening."

Luna’s fingers gripped the ground. Her lips trembled. She was overjoyed to see Logan but many things about him seemed out of the place.

That body frame...

And most importantly...

That power...

Lilith managed to push herself to one knee, her gaze locked on him. She was still unsure if her mind was playing tricks. Something was tugging at her mind continuously.

A name!

Logan stopped a few paces from the crater. He tilted his head slightly at the orc, as if deciding whether it was even worth the trouble. Then he raised one hand.

A spark of crimson flame burst to life in his palm. It swirled, condensed, growing hotter by the second until the very air began to shimmer.

The orc bellowed and lunged forward, hammer swinging in a wide arc.

Fwoosh!

The flame turned into a blazing spear. Logan then thrust it forward....no wasted motion, no hesitation. "This control! And the raw power! Has the advancement in cultivation elevated my mana level too?!"

Boom!

The impact detonated against the hammer’s head. Sparks scattered. The orc stumbled back a step, its grip loosening slightly.

And Logan? He kept staring at his own hand....

In satisfaction. Like savoring the moment.

But gasps rippled through the party members who were still awake somehow.

"He overwhelmed it?! And that too in just two strikes!!!!" Ronald muttered in disbelief.

The orc roared again and rushed in with a flurry of swings, the ground splintering under each step. But Logan moved like water, flowing around the attacks, his feet barely touching the ground.

A hammer strike came down from above. Logan sidestepped, letting it smash the floor, then twisted his body and drove an ice-coated fist into the orc’s ribs.

Crack!

The red-skinned brute staggered, coughing out a wet grunt.

Lilith’s eyes widened. "How powerful!"

Gideon, barely conscious, lifted his head from the crater he was in. His blurry vision caught Logan trading blows with the boss.... and winning.

"So he finally decided to come back." A smirk lifted the corner of his lips. "But what’s with this insane power?! Had he been holding back in the past?! Or....

Did something happen...

In these last few months?"

Logan didn’t stop. He pressed forward, unleashing a barrage of strikes—fire in one hand, ice in the other. Each blow exploded against the orc’s body, chipping away at its stone-like skin.

The orc swung desperately, but its speed was slowing down.

"Unbelievable..." Luna whispered.

Ronald’s awe turned into a grin. "Kick its ass! Make that bas***d pay for what it did." His despair and helplessness which had overwhelmed him just a few moments ago had now turned into satisfaction. He didn’t care how Logan pulled it off. Only that he did....

Logan dashed in and threw a kick!

Booom!

The boss collapsed to one knee. Logan raised his hand flaring with blazing fire.

But before Logan could finish the job, the boss howled and the remaining monsters stirred. The ones that had been watching from the sidelines now lunged again..... Some baring their claws while some gnashing their fangs.

Lilith’s heart sank. "No... even he can’t—"

Fwoosh!

A wall of fire roared to life, cutting across the monsters’ path. Logan didn’t even turn to look at them. He extended one hand and the flames curved, trapping the entire horde in a blazing semicircle.

The monsters roared, leaping through the flames.

Logan vanished from sight.

A heartbeat later.....

Bang!

One monster’s head blasted with a single punch. Another’s body was sliced with an ice blade.

Logan moved through them like a blur. Like a shadow.

In seconds, half the horde was gone.

The survivors tried to flank him. He swept a hand sideways.

Whuuum!

Gravity crashed down like an invisible hammer, pinning them to the floor. Flames followed, swallowing them whole. The smell of burning flesh filled the chamber.

Even the orc stared for a moment, its weapon lowered slightly.

Ronald could only laugh weakly. "What... what is he?"

Luna’s tears had totally stopped by now, replaced by wide-eyed wonder.

Lilith clenched her jaw. "Why wasn’t he here from the beginning? Slacking off?! Tch..."

The last of the smaller monsters fell, either burned, frozen, or torn apart. Silence reclaimed the room, except for the slow, deliberate footsteps as Logan walked toward the kneeling orc.

The boss’s chest heaved. It gripped its hammer tightly, but even it seemed to sense the end.

Logan stopped just outside its reach. His right hand ignited with a pure, searing flame.

Lilith felt her throat tighten. She knew—this strike would kill it.

The orc lifted its head, baring its teeth in one last defiant snarl.

Logan took a step forward....

And just then....

Thud!

A sound echoed from the far side of the chamber.

Something stepped out from the deeper shadows.

It was tall, almost matching the orc’s height, but thinner. Its body was monstrous, scaled arms, taloned hands, and skin that shimmered with a sickly green sheen. But its head... its head was human. Pale skin. Black hair falling over one side of its face. Eyes that looked like black holes.

Ronald’s breath caught. "What... the hell... is that?"

The creature smiled. Not a kind smile...a thin, knowing curl of the lips.

"Impressive," it said, voice smooth and deep. "You’ve done better than most. But your fight... it ends now."

The orc glanced toward it... and stepped back quickly.

Logan didn’t move.

Behind the mask, his eyes narrowed.

And just when everyone from Gideon’s party assumed that a new threat had appeared and Logan might be in danger, something happened....

A low hum....

The air thickened....

Chill ran down everyone’s spine. Even the orc and the new creature that had arrived felt it.

Something dangerous and suffocating was unleashed.....

Something primeval....

Bloodlust!!!!