Countless scarlet eyes lit up in the dark, packed so densely that they looked like red fireflies scattered across the night.
A foul wind swept over the ruins, carrying the stench of blood, rot, and damp fur.
"They are here..."
Beside the armored vehicle, sweat slicked Alar’s palm around the hilt of his combat blade.
They had killed plenty of Voidbeasts over the past few days, and Joren stood right beside them.
None of that stopped the tension from rising when the true Beast Tide appeared.
This was no scattered pack or wandering horde. Three Rank Five beast kings commanded the black flood rolling toward them.
It felt less like an army and more like a natural disaster bearing down on the entire camp.
"Roar!"
A deafening bellow erupted from the rear of the tide.
An enormous armored rhinoceros led the charge, smashing through every ruin in its path. It came on like a heavy tank gone out of control, dragging the entire horde behind it.
High above, the Golden Dragon Falcon spread its vast wings and swallowed the moonlight.
Its piercing cry rang through the sky.
The signal for the assault.
Joren moved.
"All units."
His voice was quiet, yet protective force carried it clearly into the ears of every Antares Command soldier.
"Prepare for battle."
Before the last word had faded, he launched himself forward.
Air burst apart around him as his body became a meteor racing against the oncoming tide.
One man charging an army.
From the roof of a distant ruin, the Abyssal Blackscale Python flicked its tongue. Surprise crossed its cold eyes.
Dozens of faint points appeared in the air behind Joren without warning.
The S Class psionic weapons known as the [Voidshard Array].
Forged from void crystal and mutated cicada wings, the weapons were almost perfectly transparent beneath the night sky. Only their violent vibrations betrayed them, flashing with the faint gleam of death.
That alone was not enough.
Joren willed another power awake.
Purple Talent, [Ruinous Radiant Thunder].
Crackle!
Violet lightning poured from his body and wrapped itself around every flying blade like living serpents.
The invisible weapons became streaks of purple thunder.
Their concealment was gone.
Joren had never intended to hide them.
The air filled with pure destruction.
"Go."
His finger moved.
Dozens of thunderbolts plunged into the Beast Tide.
The armored rhinoceros at the front had trusted too much in its hide. Before it could react, a streak of light passed through its skull.
There was no time for a cry.
High voltage lightning boiled its brain the instant the weapon entered. The blade continued through the corpse and pierced five Carrion Wolves behind it without losing speed.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Steel tore through flesh in a continuous rhythm.
Guided by Joren’s vast Mental Force, the [Voidshard Array] became the deadliest weapon on the battlefield.
At times, the blades gathered into formations and ground whole groups apart.
At others, they separated and selected individual targets.
Rank Two fodder or Rank Three elites, it made no difference.
Everything in their path was cut to pieces.
[Ding! Rank Two Voidbeast Armored Rhinoceros killed. Bloodstars obtained: 20.]
[Ding! Rank Three Voidbeast Carrion Wolf King killed. Bloodstars obtained: 100.]
[Ding! Voidbeast killed...]
Notifications flooded Joren’s vision.
The climbing numbers sent heat through his blood.
He did not stop.
This was only the beginning.
Joren hovered above the battlefield, invisible currents holding him aloft through the power of [Windborne Frame].
Below him, Voidbeasts fell by the dozens.
Blood soaked the earth. The stench became thick enough to choke on, and broken bodies piled across the street faster than the horde could trample them flat.
A Beast Tide numbering in the tens of thousands had been halted by one man.
[Bloodthirst Frenzy].
Boom!
Joren’s heart contracted, then slammed against his ribs with the force of a war drum.
[Bloodthirst Frenzy activated.]
[Kill count: 10. Strength increased by 10 percent.]
[Kill count: 50. Strength increased by 50 percent.]
[Kill count: 100. Strength increased by 100 percent.]
Several Voidbeasts died every second.
Each death sent warmth surging through him. His spent stamina returned at once, while his strength continued climbing without pause.
At some point, Joren’s eyes had turned completely red.
Battle fever burned through his chest.
Buzz!
The [Voidshard Array] accelerated again. Its afterimages overlapped until they became a seamless net of lightning across the sky.
Three minutes.
More than five hundred Voidbeasts had already died beneath Joren’s blades.
[Bloodthirst Frenzy has reached maximum stacks.]
[All attributes increased by 500 percent.]
Boom!
The moment the full enhancement took effect, a violent wave erupted from Joren and shook the night.
Flying Voidbeasts struggling to circle near him were crushed by the pressure alone. Their bodies burst into pulp and rained onto the ruins below.
Joren remained suspended in the air.
Violet lightning around him had thickened into liquid streams of plasma. Every breath drew arcs of electricity between his mouth and nose.
Beneath the black sky, the [Black Dragon Nano Symbiote Armor] had fully deployed.
Smooth black plates shifted like living metal, tracing every line of his body as though the armor itself were breathing.
Yet he was more than a figure dressed in darkness.
Hundreds of violet lightning dragons thrashed around him, tearing at the air with harsh, crackling shrieks.
At the center of the storm, Joren lowered his head slightly.
His hair whipped wildly beneath the force of protective force and electricity, every strand shining with a fierce violet gold glow.
The [Voidshard Array] arranged itself into a vast ring behind him.
It turned slowly, like the halo of a war god.
Sacred.
Savage.
On the ground, Alar craned his neck.
He had served in Antares Command for years.
He had seen Kyo enraged.
He had watched Manester fight.
Neither had ever made it this hard to breathe.
Joren no longer looked like an Awakened Warrior standing above the battlefield.
He looked like something that had stepped out of myth.
A war god of thunder.
Alar’s mouth hung open.
"This is fucking incredible."