Chapter 55: The Hunt Begins

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: The Hunt Begins

Inside a dimly lit cave, Aeon faced off against an eight meter tall Eldritch spider. Its eight glowing red eyes locked onto him, intelligently calculating its next move.

Instantly, it spat a torrent of green venom. In the same breath, the monster spun around and sprayed thick webs coated in dark energy all around Aeon, completely cutting off his routes of escape.

Sssprrrt! Whoosh!

But the monster had severely underestimated its prey. With a fluid, effortless motion, Aeon lunged forward to evade the venom. As he closed the distance to the incoming webs, he raised his katana and sliced through them.

Shink! Slice!

Despite a faint resistance from the dark energy coating, the blade parted the webs like paper. This was a virtual imitation of Ruin energy—the sinister force used by Voidborn monsters emerging from the gates. Though it wasn’t the genuine energy, it successfully mimicked the tenacious, resilient, and corrupting aura of the real thing.

Screeeeech!

Seeing its attack effortlessly dismantled, the Eldritch spider screeched in pure frustration, causing the cave walls to tremble. For the past five minutes, this dragon teenager had thoroughly shut down every single one of its strikes. He moved so flawlessly it looked like he was merely toying with it.

Driven to desperation, the spider launched a frantic, all-out assault. It repeated its dual venom-and-web attack while simultaneously thrusting its razor sharp, spear-like legs straight at him.

Facing the chaotic onslaught, Aeon smiled. A vibrant, multi-colored layer of energy coated his katana. He raised the blade, executing his sword technique.

[Void Sword Series: First Move — Void Cutting Sword]

Swish! Slash!

In mid-motion, the venom, the webs, and the giant spider itself were sliced multiple times in a fraction of a second. Aeon’s arm and sword blurred into an indistinguishable haze.

Instantly, glowing fractures webbed across the spider’s massive carapace. A moment later, as if the very air had delayed its reaction to Aeon’s sheer speed, a tremendous force erupted. The shattered pieces of the spider, its neutralized attacks, and the crumbling wall behind it were blasted backward in a violent explosion.

Booooooom!

As the dust settled, a massive hole gaped in the cave wall, framed by deep, jagged sword gashes scoring the stone floor and surroundings. Cool moonlight poured into the cavern through the breach.

Aeon had just used Sword Intent. Because observers were monitoring his exam performance, he purposefully withheld the fact that his comprehension had already bypassed the Intent level and stepped firmly into the Law level.

The Law of sword level allowed a practitioner to command the fundamental rules of reality through the blade. At this stage, even a basic slash carried a sharpness that defied physical limitations, cutting far beyond ordinary strength or technique.

Turning his back on the destruction, Aeon walked out of the cave. It had been eight hours since he killed the Dread Tiger, and it was time to move.

By now, he had slaughtered a total of 150 Eldritch monsters. He hadn’t wasted any time on F, E, or D-rank Eldritches, eliminating most in a single strike. His score had already climbed to a staggering 38,800 points.

"It’s time, I guess. The Voidbound Cultists are making their move. I’d better get going then." Aeon muttered to himself, stepping out into the vast wilderness.

Although this would be his first time taking intelligent, humanoid lives, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of resistance. His passive telepathy had picked up their thoughts earlier, and the sheer malice radiating from them left no room for remorse.

Even though he only heard their immediate thoughts and not their deep memories, what he caught was utterly twisted. One cultist was actively planning how to hack the young examinees to pieces; another was reminiscing about how she murdered some children. It was so sickening that Aeon could barely suppress his rage.

Furthermore, a strange, profound calmness washed over him at the prospect of the upcoming slaughter. He suspected it might be an inherent trait of his new dragon biology—perhaps the concept of killing simply didn’t affect him the way it would a normal human.

Or perhaps the millennia he had spent reading, fighting, and cultivating had fundamentally shifted his perspective on mortality. There was also the distinct possibility that, subconsciously, he had already accepted the reality of taking lives the moment he realized he had been reincarnated into this world.

"Whatever the reason," Aeon whispered, a wicked, dangerous smile spreading across his face, "I am as sure as hell going to enjoy putting those disgusting bastards down."

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Deep within a separate cavern illuminated only by faint moonbeams, the forces of the Voidbound Cult finalized their preparations.

Their leader, a powerful demon, activated a specialized artifact designed to jam and seize control of the island’s protective formations, runes, and the emergency transport arrays attached to the examinees.

"Now, our targets are ripe for the harvest. The lifesaver runes on their hands have been completely deactivated," the demon announced, looking over his fanatical minions. He raised his hand, pointing toward the exit. "Go. Slaughter every last one of them. Leave none alive."

The cultists answered in a chilling unison that made the cavern vibrate: "Yes, Sir!"

Whoosh! Whoosh!

In an instant, dark figures blurred out of the cave, scattering in all directions with a singular, brutal intent.

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Back at the academy’s command center, a wave of horror and panic swept through the room the moment Clara announced that the enemy had breached the island.

Tharos looked at Clara, his expression remaining deceptively calm and composed despite the gravity of the situation. "Can you fix it?"

Clara analyzed the terminal data rapidly, her fingers flying across the interface. Locking eyes with Tharos, she nodded confidently. "Yes. I can override it. But... it will take at least twenty minutes. Because they initiated the hack from inside the island, they must be using a incredibly high-ranking artifact. They have total local control over the security system. Breaking through a firewall this complex without external authorization is going to be difficult."

Hearing her estimate, several professors turned pale. Twenty minutes? Twenty minutes was more than enough time to massacre the majority of the examinees. If they don’t do something quickly. Who ever hacked the security system will easily kill them.

Tharos turned on his heel and headed toward the exit, before issuing final commands over his shoulder. "I’ll head to the island immediately to force a breach through the external barrier. The rest of you, follow and assist me. Clara, do everything in your power to reclaim the security system. And someone contact the Vice-Dean or the Dean immediately—I don’t care where they are or what they’re doing. Now Move!"

With a resounding whoosh, Tharos vanished from the room in a blur, followed immediately by the other professors, leaving Clara alone to battle the digital firewall.

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Meanwhile, on the island, an orc examinee trekked through the dense brush, hoping to track down a worthy Eldritch monster to fight. He was completely oblivious to a dark, hooded figure that had materialized silently in the shadows behind him, closing the distance at terrifying speed.

When the cultist was barely centimeters away, raising a jagged dagger aimed straight for the base of the orc’s skull, a pitch-black spear erupted directly out of the orc’s shadow. The spear pierced cleanly through the attacker’s chin and out the top of his head, bypassing his reinforced armor as if it were mere fabric.

Without even realizing how he had died, the cultist went limp. A shadowy Nihilborn stepped out of the darkness, cleanly retracted the spear, snatched the dead man’s storage ring, and melted back into the orc’s shadow.

Thud.

Hearing the heavy sound of a body collapsing behind him, the orc spun around, jumping back in a defensive, cautious stance. What he saw left him entirely bewildered. A lifeless body lay face down on the grass, dark blood pooling quickly from a head wound.

The orc approached cautiously, prodding the corpse with the tip of his blade before flipping it over to see the face. He gasped in shock. The target was clearly a full-grown adult, evident by the thick beard and mustache on his human face.

"What the hell is an adult doing out here?" the orc muttered aloud, looking around the empty forest in utter confusion. "And who the hell killed him?"

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Similar scenes were unfolding across various sectors of the island. Some examinees managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of their attackers, only for a dark, spectral figure to execute the cultists mid-ambush and vanish into thin air.

Others remained completely oblivious, only discovering the freshly slain bodies of their would-be executioners lying in the brush along their paths.

Some who had formed groups during the test only caught glimpses of blurry, fast silhouettes tearing through the enemies. The strikes were so blindingly swift that the examinees couldn’t even register how their attackers were being slaughtered.

The smarter students among them immediately assessed the situation. The examinees was under attack, and these enigmatic figures were somehow protecting them. Naturally, they assumed these hidden guardians were academy professors or elite security forces deployed to ensure their safety.

They couldn’t have been more wrong.

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Deep in the treacherous wilderness, Aeon walked calmly through the dense forest. Suddenly, a cultist dropped from the canopy above, launching a lethal ambush. Without Aeon so much as lifting a finger or uttering a command, a Nihilborn materialized instantly from his shadow. With a single, fluid strike of her blade, she cleaved the horrified cultist in two.

Aeon didn’t even break his stride. He paused only for a brief second as the Nihilborn routinely looted the enemy’s storage ring before dissolving back into his shadow. After walking a bit further, he came to a complete halt.

"Alright, time to move. Let’s see how much I can enjoy this."

With a sharp smirk, Aeon began releasing his restraints. Instantly, heavy, dark chains etched with intricate rune patterns manifested all over his body. They groaned under an immense pressure, loosening and cracking before shattering entirely into glowing particles.

Instantly, Aeon’s power skyrocketed. Although he had capped his cultivation at C-rank across all three of his paths, he was anything but a normal C-rank. His true combat capability transcended conventional logic.

Without these seals, he possessed the catastrophic power to obliterate 900,000 stars. However, he chose to stop his release just short of continent-destroying levels.

For one, the strongest enemy on here was only an SS-rank warrior. Secondly, the island simply wouldn’t survive the collateral damage if he unleashed anything more.

As the seals crumbled, violent shadows surged across Aeon’s body. The darkness crystallized into a sleek, obsidian armor that encased him from head to toe. The shadow-matter molded around his face, shaping into a menacing helmet. From its visor, his eyes flared with an eerie, predatory purple light.

Reaching into his inventory, he materialized two katanas. The [Void Cleaver] katana and a lower-ranked blade strapping them firmly to his hips.

"It’s hunting time, baby."

With a ruthless grin hidden beneath his visor, Aeon vanished leaving behind nothing but a blur.

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