Far from the center clearing, deep within the forest—
Zoya, Liyo, Horikita, Jhon, Rose, and the boy with glasses had finally stopped.
Each of them leaned against trees, breathing heavily.
Their bodies were covered in cuts, bruises, and dried blood. Muscles trembled from exhaustion, lungs burned from overexertion, and yet none of them dared to relax completely.
Because what they had just witnessed—
Wasn't normal.
It wasn't even close.
Horikita was the first to break the silence.
Her sharp eyes turned toward Zoya, her expression serious, composed despite the fatigue weighing on her body.
"Can someone explain what the hell just happened?" she asked. "That blast… it wasn't something a human should be able to produce. Anyone near that area should be dead."
Her voice carried logic.
But also unease.
The boy with glasses adjusted his frames, still staring toward the distant clearing.
"I don't think that idiot survived," he said flatly. "No way. That wasn't an attack—that was a fucking catastrophe."
Jhon stayed silent, gripping the axe tightly, his jaw clenched.
Rose, for once, wasn't smiling.
Even her usual madness had dimmed, replaced with something closer to curiosity… and caution.
Liyo, however, wasn't listening to any of them.
His head was slightly lowered, eyes fixed on the ground.
His thoughts replayed what he had sensed inside Yang Kai.
That overwhelming spiritual pressure.
That impossible density.
That ugly bastard…
That wasn't normal.
No one from a lower world should have that kind of energy…
His brows furrowed.
Even if the staff enhanced him… it still doesn't make sense.
That level… it felt like—
He cut the thought off.
Clicking his tongue, he finally exhaled and turned toward Zoya.
"What's there to think about?" he said casually, though his tone carried hidden tension. "There's no way he survived that."
But Zoya didn't respond.
She stood still.
Her gaze fixed straight ahead.
Unblinking.
Focused.
Liyo frowned slightly.
"What happened?"
No answer.
Then—
Zoya spoke.
Calm.
Certain.
"He's alive."
That single sentence froze everyone.
"What?"
All of them turned instantly toward the direction of the clearing.
And then—
They saw it.
A figure.
Walking through the forest.
Step by step.
Slow.
Steady.
Unhurried.
As it drew closer, its outline became clearer.
A half-naked upper body.
Torn clothes.
Blood-stained skin.
And those eyes—
Cold.
Alive.
"…What the fuck…" the boy with glasses muttered, his eyes widening in disbelief.
"That's not possible…"
Jhon stared, stunned.
Horikita's expression hardened, her mind racing.
Rose's lips slowly curled back into a grin.
And Liyo—
Went completely silent.
Because the person walking toward them—
Was Yang Kai.
Alive.
—
Elsewhere—
Deep within another part of the forest—
A completely different scene existed.
A large stone slab stood in a quiet clearing, untouched by the chaos that consumed the rest of the battlefield.
On top of it—
A boy lay lazily, hands behind his head, one leg crossed over the other.
Xia Niu.
Around him—
Corpses.
Hundreds.
No—
Thousands.
Bodies piled over one another, blood soaking into the ground, the air thick with the metallic stench of death.
More than three thousand dead.
And yet—
Not a single scratch marked his body.
Beside him rested his spear.
Once metallic—
Now completely dyed in crimson.
Not by design.
But by slaughter.
For a long moment, everything remained still.
Then—
BOOOOM!
A distant explosion echoed through the forest.
Xia Niu's eyes opened.
He didn't move.
Another blast followed.
BOOOOM!
Then a third.
BOOOOOOM!
The air trembled faintly even at this distance.
Silence returned.
Xia Niu slowly sat up.
His gaze turned toward the direction of the blasts.
Interest flickered in his otherwise calm eyes.
Without a word, he reached beside him and grabbed his spear.
As his fingers wrapped around it, a faint killing intent spread outward—subtle, but terrifying.
He stood up.
His long hair fell loosely over his shoulders, enhancing his almost unreal beauty.
Calmly, he tied it back.
His movements were unhurried.
Effortless.
Then—
He stepped down from the stone slab, walking forward.
Each step deliberate.
Each step silent.
"It's time…"
His voice was soft.
Almost bored.
"…to fight someone strong."
And with that—
Xia Niu began moving toward the center clearing.
On the opposite side of the forest—
Far from the chaos surrounding Yang Kai and the others—
A different kind of battlefield existed.
One that had already ended.
The forest here was darker.
Denser.
Sunlight barely pierced through the thick canopy above, leaving the ground swallowed in shadow. The air was heavy, unmoving—carrying the thick, suffocating scent of blood.
And at the center of it all—
He stood.
A lone figure.
His back facing the world.
Clad in a Korean juvenile prisoner uniform, the dull fabric stained with dark patches of blood. His posture was straight, unmoving, like a pillar rooted into the earth.
Around him—
Corpses.
Hundreds.
No—
Thousands.
Bodies lay scattered in every direction, layered over one another like discarded waste. Some were twisted unnaturally, others torn apart, their expressions frozen in terror.
Two thousand.
Maybe more.
And not a single one of them had survived.
The forest floor had long since lost its original color.
It was red.
A faint wind passed through—
Yet even that seemed to avoid him.
Because surrounding his body—
A white-blue aura flickered.
Cold.
Sharp.
Deadly.
It wrapped around him like a living entity, pulsating faintly with every breath he took. The energy wasn't violent like Yang Kai's—it was controlled.
Refined.
Condensed to perfection.
Then—
A soft chime echoed in the silence.
A translucent blue window materialized beside him, hovering in the air.
It emitted a faint glow, illuminating his side profile just enough to reveal sharp features and cold, indifferent eyes.
He didn't move immediately.
His gaze shifted slowly toward it.
Calm.
Uninterested.
Then—
He spoke.
"Oh… it's already finished."
His voice was deep.
Low.
Carrying a quiet lethality, as if every word itself held weight.
The window displayed its contents clearly.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
〔 SYSTEM QUEST COMPLETED 〕
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Objective:
Eliminate 3000 Regulars
Progress:
3000 / 3000 ✔
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Status: Completed
Reward Issued:
→ Breakthrough Achieved
→ Rank Advanced to F-Class ★★
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
For a brief moment—
Silence.
Then—
The aura around him reacted.
The white-blue energy intensified, swirling faster, denser—like a vortex forming around his body.
Crack.
The ground beneath his feet fractured slightly.
His presence shifted.
Expanded.
Deepened.
Without any dramatic display—
Without any wasted motion—
He broke through.
F-Rank 2 Star.
A level others struggled, bled, and died to reach—
He achieved it as if it were nothing.
The aura settled soon after, returning to its calm, controlled state.
He exhaled slowly.
Not tired.
Not excited.
Just… done.
His eyes moved across the field of corpses surrounding him.
No emotion surfaced.
No pride.
No satisfaction.
Only emptiness.
Then—
He turned his head slightly, gazing toward the distant center of the forest.
Even from here—
He could faintly sense it.
That violent disturbance.
That overwhelming presence that had erupted earlier.
For the first time—
A flicker of interest appeared in his eyes.
"…So there's someone else."
His voice was quiet.
But this time—
There was something behind it.
Curiosity.
Without another word—
He stepped forward.
Leaving behind the mountain of corpses.
Leaving behind the silent graveyard he had created.
And began walking toward the center—
Where the true monsters were gathering.
A translucent blue interface flickered to life behind him, casting an eerie glow across the blood-soaked ground. The light pulsed softly, as if it were alive—observing, judging.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
〔 SYSTEM STATUS WINDOW 〕
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Yamazaki Gun
Title: Shiro Oni — The White Ghost
Age: 20
Rank: F-Class ★★
Spacial Ability: Ultrainstinct (UI)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Combat Technique:
• Yamazaki-Style Kyokushin Karate (Lowest Grade)
*Note: Your other techniques fall below the minimum acceptable threshold for your system.