It was Arin's turn to smirk.

With a cold voice, he whispered:

"Alright..."

And then.

SNAP!

He snapped his fingers.

"... Corruption..."

In that same moment, Vake's eyes suddenly widened.

"Huh...? What is going on?"

But then, he clenched his fists as his veins and muscles bulged.

He suddenly began sweating, and his breathing became ragged.

And finally...

"AGHHHHHHHH!!!"

Vake let out a bone-chilling scream as he fell on the ground again.

This pain... It was something he couldn't quite describe.

It was almost as if the fire which was extinguished a few seconds ago had appeared again and was now burning his insides.

His chest began turning black.

But that wasn't all.

His skin began peeling, and a black, slimy, smelly liquid began coming out of his chest.

Arin could see it. The skin on his right arm also began peeling and exuding the same black, smelly liquid.

"Yeah, I guess I'll rarely use Corruption," Arin muttered as his nose flinched from the putrid odour coming from the liquid.

His sense of smell was really sensitive, so he was affected immensely by this smell.

Though, he just had to bear through it.

"Alright, I have no reason to delay," Arin muttered as his eyes locked on Vake, who was behind the ten Golems.

Vake gritted his teeth. "Attack! Attack that boy!"

The Golems instantly obeyed their master's orders.

Without wasting time, they began dashing towards Arin, their every step making the ground tremble.

Arin clenched his sword. "Alright. Plan two."

And then...

"... Arcane Chaos..."

Instantly, a purple energy left Arin's body, rippling through the domain.

The Golems continued rushing towards Arin, but then, two at the back suddenly changed direction and began dashing to the left and right respectively.

Vake's expression paled even further than it already was.

"What? What the fuck are you two doing?!" he roared.

Since he began using this spell, nothing of this sort had ever happened before.

And that could only mean one thing...

His widened eyes lingered on Arin as he began crawling backwards.

"H... He... He's not human..."

Those were the words that left Vake's lips, and that was the only thing going through his head right now.

"... No... He can't be human..."

Everything was making sense now.

A mere student being this strong... Stronger than a Commander.

His fearless gaze.

His confident posture.

And his formidable physical capabilities even though he wasn't a warrior.

It all made sense now.

Vake smiled... But not a smile of amusement this time.

It was a smile of fear... A smile of dread.

"He's not human..."

Arin dashed forward, his gaze unwavering.

The Golem at the front that was rushing towards him suddenly stopped and broke down, turning into a pile of rock.

Arin muttered, "Three down, seven left..."

He knew that the Arcane Chaos spell would not affect all the Golems, but he wasn't bothered in the slightest.

He instantly reached the Golem closest to him.

The Golem raised its right hand and brought it down with force, aiming to crush Arin.

But just as its hand was about to hit Arin, he suddenly slid down, whizzing past the Golem.

BOOM!

The ground where Arin was formerly standing was instantly destroyed.

Immediately after sliding past the Golem, Arin quickly attacked the Golem behind it.

He leaped up, instantly reaching the Golem's neck.

Arin's eyes sharpened as he spun.

Blood energy instantly escaped his hand, wrapping his sword, and then...

WHOOSH!

He swung his sword towards the Golem's head.

SLASH!

In the blink of an eye, the Golem's head was on the ground.

"Four down, six left..."

The Golem that Arin slid past had already turned and was heading towards him again.

Arin ignored it and continued dashing forward, heading towards the Golems in front of him.

He held his sword horizontally, gripped it tightly, added more Blood energy to it, and then...

WHOOSH! BOOM!

He launched the sword towards the Golem that was running towards him.

The sword cut through the air, instantly reaching the Golem.

BAM!

The Golem's head fell on the ground. Meanwhile, Arin was also dashing.

He ran past the Golem whose head just fell and reached the one behind it.

With an insane leap, he was now mid-air, directly above the Golem.

"... Chaos Shroud..."

A purple energy instantly covered his right hand, adding to his damage output.

He shot his fist forward with speed, and then...

BOOM!

A gaping hole formed on the Golem's head, sending it to the ground, unmoving.

As Arin descended, the Golem he slid past was just below him, waiting for him to land.

Arin grinned.

The Golem shot its fist upwards towards Arin.

But then, just before the Golem's fist could hit Arin, who was still mid-air, he formed two water bubbles around himself.

BAM!

The first water bubble shattered completely, while cracks formed on the second water bubble.

But well, they had already done their job.

Before the Golem could bring its hand down, Arin suddenly grabbed its fist and used it as a sort of foothold to pull himself forward.

Arin's leg connected with the Golem's face, but he knew that that wouldn't be enough.

Before he could land, he grabbed the Golem's shoulder with his left hand, and then...

BOOM!

His right hand, that was enveloped with the Chaos Shroud spell, connected with the Golem's face, creating a gaping hole.

The Golem fell on the ground.

Arin landed swiftly in a crouched position as he locked eyes with the remaining Golems.

"Seven down, three left..."

While all this was going on, Vake was still screaming.

His entire chest, right arm, and left hand were releasing the black liquid. The white of his eyes was already black, and the black liquid was also oozing out from his eyes.

It was as if he had no skin on his chest and arms.

Arin resumed his dash.

The Golem in front of him raised its hand for a punch, but suddenly, it turned back and delivered the punch to another Golem.

The Golem's head was instantly destroyed. Meanwhile, Arin had already reached the Golem that delivered the punch.

His sword flashed in the air before the Golem's head fell.

"Nine down, one left."

The last Golem was running towards Arin.

Arin was also running towards it, but as soon as he got closer to the Golem...

WHOOSH!

He leaped up in the air, his figure soaring, moving past the Golem.

The last Golem wasn't his target. Rather, his target was...

Vake raised his head, staring at the figure who was in the air, descending towards him.

He didn't realize it, but tears were already forming at the corners of his eyes.

"I... I have to survive... No matter what..."

With that last resolve, Vake did the only thing he could now.

He poured all his mana into this last spell.

Slowly, rock began forming on his neck.

The rock surface was quite smooth, to the extent that it looked like it wouldn't even stop a kitchen knife, but Vake intentionally did it like that so that it would look like it wouldn't be able to defend anything.

But in reality, all of Vake's mana was in that rock surface, so it was immensely powerful.

WHOOSH!

Arin descended, his sword ready.

Seeing the rock surface on Vake's neck, he added even more Blood energy to his sword, enhancing its strength.

And finally, Arin was now directly above Vake.

They both locked eyes, and in that moment, Arin initiated the last phase of plan two.

"... Death's Whisper..."

"Huh?"

Vake suddenly found himself in a wasteland.

The sky was purple, with purple lightning flashing through it.

"Beautiful..." he muttered, admiring the view.

For a moment, he didn't even think why and how he was here.

He didn't even realize that his hands and chest were now normal.

But just as he was about to take a step...

RUMBLE!

The ground began shaking.

His expression paled as he shuddered.

The ground opened up, and before he could scream, the ground beneath him cracked open, and he fell into the darkness below.

'Is... Is this... Death?'

Vake gasped as he came back to his senses...

But then...

CLANG!

A loud clanging sound was heard and sparks flew around as Arin's sword clashed with Vake's neck.

Vake was unable to raise his hands because, well... He basically didn't have hands anymore, so this spell was his last resort.

His eyes locked with Arin's eyes. "You... You aren't human..."

Arin squinted his eyes, noticing that his sword wasn't getting through.

'Well... If I can't cut his neck by force, then... I'll just have to use MORE force...'

Arin instantly added even more Blood energy to his sword, and in that instant...

"Blood...?" Vake's eyes widened.

He could feel it... Arin's sword was cutting his neck.

"You...! I WILL KILL YOU!"

Arin smiled. "Can a dead man kill...?"

He gripped his sword tighter, added more force...

And then...

WHOOSH! SLASH!

He completely cut off Vake's head, though his sword also shattered into pieces.

Vake was... Dead.

Arin had a series of thoughts after killing Vake, but then...

"Hmm, that was quite entertaining..."

Arin's eyes instantly widened.

'That voice... I recognize that voice...'