Published at 18th of August 2026 9:35 am

Chapter 238: It's Time

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Chapter 238: It's Time

The night air hung heavy, almost thick enough to feel like fog, but with the full moon overhead, visibility was nearly as good as day. It bothered James enough that he'd suggested camping for the night and starting again in the morning, but he was the youngest, and no one seemed interested in listening to him.

Even when they spotted demons unlike anything they'd seen before, no one listened. Even as they followed the creatures and noticed the human traveling among them, no one listened when James said to leave them alone. Whoever that man walking with demons was, he gave James a feeling he'd only experienced once before when he'd nearly died inside a dungeon.

James was in his early twenties, with pitch-black hair shaved close to his scalp and armor that looked more patchwork than professional. He was the newest member of the Nihilum Party. He hated the name and thought it sounded stupid, but he couldn't deny how excited he'd been when they let him join. They were a party famous for scouring the Freelands instead of diving into dungeons.

He'd seen his fill of dungeons.

So although he didn't like the situation, standing at the base of the enormous pine with the rest of the party while their scout, Tirk, spied on the demons from above, James still trusted them. Whatever happened, he had full confidence that their group could handle it.

A whistle and two clicks sounded from above, and the party tensed. That was the signal for silence. Not a breath could be heard as everyone waited, muscles tight and eyes searching the dark. The next signal broke that tension completely.

No whistles or clicks, just a single word screamed from above.

"Run!"

James looked up as he scrambled to his feet and barely caught what happened. Something like a dark shadow had pounced on Tirk near the top of the pine. The trunk shuddered beneath the impact, branches whipping overhead, and before James could make out what had attacked him, warm blood rained down and blinded his eyes.

Whatever had attacked them, Tirk was B-rank. He could handle himself. Not wasting another second, James summoned his bow in a shimmer of system light and sprinted toward their meet-up point.

In situations where escape was required, they all knew to split up. Taking different routes minimized casualties while putting them in better positions to support one another, with James playing a key role in that.

He was their long-range DPS, his class being Sniper. Though specialized around the bow, the class also gave him access to the lightning element.

Skidding to a stop, boots tearing through the dirt, James raised his bow and aimed toward the sounds of fighting erupting to his left.

His class had given him [Lock-On], a skill that allowed his vision to extend across any distance, picking out and locking onto targets even in pitch darkness.

His fingers settled around the string, ready to draw, but the moment his vision locked onto a target, they froze.

It was Layla, their mage. She was a geomancer, able to turn the ground beneath someone's feet into a weapon. She was also one of the prettiest women he'd ever seen.

Watching her get lifted into the air by her throat, then seeing her guts ripped out and tossed aside made James forget every bit of his training.

Two red eyes turned toward him, snapping him from his daze, but before he could draw, the thing attacking Layla disappeared. Her head vanished with it as her body dropped to the ground.

Two heavy thumps landed beside him, making James jump back and draw. His arrow came up aimed directly at Layla's missing head, her face locked in terror.

A scream came from somewhere ahead. James raised his bow again, heart hammering against his ribs as he scanned the dark forest. Auras and attacks flashed between the trees, revealing shapes for fractions of a seconda human running, a sword caught mid-swing. Every burst of light shifted the shadows around him, playing with his eyes and his mind.

Something hit the ground at his feet again. Looking down in panic, James found himself staring into the eyes of their tank, the man's black skin flayed to the point that he was barely recognizable.

"God dammit!"

Finally drawing his bow, an arrow of electricity formed against the string. He aimed straight up as his green aura surged around him.

"EVERYONE DOWN!"

He released. The string snapped forward, sending a shockwave through the air as the arrow shot upward like a lightning strike in reverse. It was his most powerful AOE skill. Once the arrow detonated, lightning would rain down indiscriminately. His team knew what to do, so he wasn't worried about friendly fire.

Seeing the arrow reach the required height, James braced himself, but the skill never activated.

Instead of green lightning raining from the sky, something rose from the ground. A pillar of light the color of blood tore upward and struck the arrow, destroying the attack before it could go off.

Before James could draw his bow again, the massive pillar came crashing back down. Straight toward him.

He dove aside as the attack struck, shaking the ground and throwing him through the air into a tree.

He hit hard enough to knock the breath from his lungs, but he was still alive. Dazed, he forced himself to his feet as more thumps sounded nearby.

Hyatt's severed head rolled across the dirt until it bumped against his boot.

The bold adventurer was gone. All that remained was fear, total and consuming.

Abandoning his pride and his party, James ran. He didn't know which direction and didn't care. The forest had started to burn around him, flames building behind as smoke thickened the air and burned his throat.

Luckily, visibility was still good. Sprinting as fast as his legs could carry him, he managed to stay upright and avoid the roots beneath his feet...until something hard struck him from behind. He hit the ground rolling, but expecting the worst, he went with the fall and came back to his feet in a skid, bow already drawn...

Nothing.

Only the rocking head of his final companion lying on the ground in front of him.

It was playing with him, and James knew it.

"Motherfucker!"

Firing again and again, he unleashed as many shots as he could, as fast as he could. Bolt after bolt of green lightning tore into the burning forest, explosions ripping through the trees and lighting up the night sky.

"Die! Fucking die!"

He kept firing until his mana ran low and his arm was nearly dead. Holding the last arrow against the string, James sucked in heavy breaths as sweat poured from his brow. Steam rose from his skin where it met the cold night air.

Wood snapped and crashed around him, mixed with the constant pop and crack of burning trees. All of it was expected, but there was nothing else, no sign of the demon. Turning slowly, he

Hard and fast, something brushed against both his side, the impact nearly knocking him from his feet. Fear tightened around his throat, he spun and aimed...aimed?

Something was wrong. Where was his bow?

It was then James realized with absolute horror that not only was his bow missing, but so were his arms.

His face drained pale as he slowly looked toward his shoulder and saw blood pumping from the torn stump.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh!"

"Shhh, you're ruining the mood."

A hand gripped the back of James's head and slammed his face into the cold dirt, but he kept screaming into the ground. The pressure against his skull loosened slightly, and driven by nothing but the need to survive, James twisted around and began crawling, even biting into the dirt as he fought to get away.

Pin tore through his mind as instinct took over. Spit, snot, and blood bubbled from his mouth and nose, leaving a wet trail behind him as he crawled.

He thought of his party, of their severed heads landing at his feet. He thought of home. His mother. James kicked and screamed, tears pouring from his eyes as his body dragged through the dirt.

"Mommomma... I wan... I want my"

With his mouth full of dirt and blood, his view abruptly began to spin... then bounce... then finally stop. A fog crept into his senses, numbing the pain and dulling his thoughts as his view shifted one last time.

Lifting to face his killer. A smiling demon with eyes the color of blood.

The final darkness consumed James. Just another soul lost to the dangers of the Freelands. No one would mourn him. No one would remember his passing, no stories would remain.

Only a vague memory of how he tasted.

----

Holding the human's head, Seo-jin watched the light slowly fade from his eyes. Once they completely dimmed, he tossed it into the air, and Tiamat caught it with a wet crunch.

[Feel better?]

"A little."

He'd hoped they would have put up a better fight, but instead of working together, they'd split up immediately and run for their lives. It was disappointing, but at least each of them had struggled in their own way.

This last one had been especially fun.

Kicking over its corpse, he patted the human down but found nothing. That was the problem with killing Users. They kept their loot in their inventories, and when they died, everything inside disappeared.

[That was pretty brutal. The head thing was]

"Genius?"

[Something like that.]

Breaking the human had been surprisingly easy. A couple of heads tossed his way and the pitiful thing had completely lost it.

"Next time, I'll give them a chance to live if they give me their items. I'll still kill 'em, of course."

[I'd be surprised if you didn't.]

Plunging his hand into the corpse's side, he fished around through the warm cavity before pulling out the human's liver. It was still slick and hot, thin wisps of steam lifting from its surface as he slid it into his mouth. He'd grown fond of the organ's flavor and texture.

Leaving the rest of the corpse behind, he worked his way back through the others before heading toward the brood. He'd found nothing beside weapons and armor, a small stain on his fun, but after consuming their livers as well and collecting whatever caught his eye, he decided to take his time. Nothing strange came through the broodlink, so there was no reason to rush.

The area around him was ruined. Smoke hung thick in the air and carried the smell of burned wood and death, while the usual silence of the Freelands had been replaced by the crack and roar of fire. The forests here were already broken apart by ruins from the old world, so the flames weren't likely to consume everything. Not that he would care.

Looking ahead through the smoke, he caught sight of a massive shadow in the distance. Miles away, Tomb stood at his full height, his aura suddenly spiking before his roar tore across the Freelands.

Yet instead of rushing forward or sending a scolding message through the broodlink, Seo-jin only smiled and continued at the same pace.

The possibility was always there, of course, but the chances of an S-rank or higher appearing here were practically zero. The upper end of A-rank was the most they'd likely have to deal with, and anything at that level would have the intelligence to match.

His eyes glowed as he looked to the brood ahead. Aside from the two newest additions, every one of them shone the same color. Yellow. Each of the Broodspawn had broken into the realm of A-rank. Some weren't fully there yet, like Fang or Sin, but all of them had at least one stat in A-rank.

Anything of the same rank would have to be an idiot to attack them.

"Which one do you think has the highest potential?"

[Having already analyzed them thoroughly, that's an easy answer. No idea.]

His steps paused, but the frown didn't last long. Continuing forward, he shook his head as the black faded from his skin and his body shifted back into its human form.

"It was a stupid question."

Each of his children were different. They had their own personalities, strengths, and talents, and there was no way to know how far any of them could grow, or if they even had limits. For now, they were his strongest weapons.

And like any weapon, they needed to be maintained and sharpened. Watching the violence erupt in the distance, the smell of spilled blood already reaching him through the smoke, he could tell they were sacrificing plenty of flesh to hone their edges.

"Hopefully it's enough."

Looking northeast, all he could see were the Freelands stretching toward the horizon, but he knew what waited beyond those hills. Shatterbay sat beyond them, quiet for now, but that wouldn't last much longer. Soon enough, the city would wake, and everything inside would be thrown into chaos.

He couldn't wait.

"Let's see how much they've improved."

With a little frustration still left to work out, Seo-jin threw on his coat and rolled his shoulders as the weight settled across his back.

Time was up. He'd go over their results, punish or reward those who deserved it, but that was it. Once he was finished, there would be no more training and no more delays.

It was time to go back to Shatterbay.

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