Classless Ascension

New Climbing requirements? New otherworldly invaders? What was that about?!

More importantly, there was Josh's new skill.

[Unlocked S-Duck Summon]

As he gazed at the tiny duck that looked incredibly cuddly, he could see a floating window above its head, but one that only brought more questions.

[DD ?!?]

DD? Was that its name?

For some reason, the critter made him feel nostalgic, somehow reminding him of the little one. Was this why the rating of the skill was so high? Because of the strong emotions that had gone into the summoning?

He felt even more lost than before, yet none of that mattered. At that moment, the priority was taking care of D-23. Josh gazed at the now fleeing mutants, fury burning in his eyes.

"Snort. Do you really think you can come and go as you please? What do you take this place to be?" He stated, as if a vengeful god, before catapulting the sleeping duck at them.

This was the perfect test for the summon.

The enemies were already fleeing, and it couldn't be that weak, considering the skill was S-tier, right?

"QUACK!"

First came the quacking, and then the duck began pecking at the enemies as if trying to Devour them entirely, blood splattering everywhere.

The crowd couldn't help but gasp as they gazed upon this scene. How could such a tiny body contain so much savagery? There was no way any of this made any sense!

"Follow lord duck!"

"Hehe, the flying death's on our side!"

"Fuck them all up. This is D-23, not their backyard!"

The roars of the allies were so loud that heads turned all the way over in Metropolis-D. As if to render the situation even more chaotic, sloths began yawning as if celebrating Josh's return.

All the yawns were aimed at the enemies, at the annoying bastards that had disturbed their protectors' rest, and now was the time of reckoning.

For a long time, mutants had been a royal pain in the ass. Akin to unkillable cockroaches, there seemingly wasn't any way to eradicate them completely.

This time was different.

They fell one after the other, their corpses decorating the school.

Meanwhile, back at the center of it, a silent counter was going up and up and up, seemingly endlessly. It was a very simple contraption that did only one thing, assign points for kills.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Mutant Slaying Leaderboard:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

1. Josh MF Malum: 6835

2. Invincible Kasha: 269

3. Sexy Tech CEO: 142

4. Calm Monk: 45

…

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Josh had barely returned that he was already Climbing yet another leaderboard. Every time his fuck flew toward an enemy, he was getting points for an assist.

Before duck: Invincible Mutant —> After duck: Easy target

It didn't take long for the battle to end, the earth turning dark from all the gore that had seeped into it. Yet, the blood-filled students were actually smiling, laughing, and cheering.

Back on the stage, the idols were frozen in dread. What the F was wrong with those people?! Were they all mentally troubled?! But it became even worse.

The smell of blood was so heavy that it attracted THEM!

A dark cloud began gathering in the sky, as ominous as the danger it preluded. Actually, it was entirely filled with deadly creatures.

"Oh god, CROWS!"

"RUNNNN!"

What was a nightmarish scene quickly became even worse.

Everyone knew exactly what those creatures were… all except Josh.

He stared at their dark lithe body that seemed almost ethereal in puzzlement. Where had they come from? Was this another enemy attack? Luckily, Kasha was there to explain.

"They're Ethereal Crows. Whatever you do, never ever touch them."

They weren't as much beasts as they were mana, an incredibly vile one. They gave the feeling that they would suck any life that came near them.

The students hurriedly scattered. They didn't just run. They desperately escaped. What should have been a victorious moment was suddenly turned into a desperate situation.

That's when the crows all dived at once. They looked like a dark tornado as they rushed to drain the fleeting life essence out of the cadavers. It looked like a natural disaster, so powerful that no human could ever face it.

"Tch— I go on vacation and return having to do pest control. First mutants, and now crows, is it? Guess that's just one more problem to take care of…." Josh sighed.

He neither panicked nor retreated.

He even seemed as if complaining about bad weather, as if he couldn't perceive the catastrophe that was happening right before his eyes.

Not only did he not escape, but he went forward instead…or tried. Beautiful glowing green eyes met his, a begging expression on Kasha's face as she held his arm.

'Please don't risk your life yet again….' She seemed to say.

"Don't worry. Those things devour one's energy, right?" She nodded. "Then everything will be fine…." He didn't let her argue anymore as he walked toward the crow tornado.

Was it reckless? Not really. Somehow he didn't feel any threat from those. He could clearly hear everyone scream, and yet even now, he couldn't find it in himself to run away.

Without a word, he calmly activated his True Serenity Ability, as well as his mana manipulation. On top of that, he thought back to why he was Climbing in the first place.

With every step he took, his spirit became stronger.

Then he finally arrived in the flock.

Just the wind they produced was world-shattering…and yet it wasn't physical, and neither were the crows. He could see and feel them, but they weren't totally in this world either.

"Aren't you all just black ducks?" He casually greeted.

— Caw! Caw! Woosh! —

They flew toward him, trying to chip away at his spirit, only to show perplexed expressions. They sensed his soul…yet there was nothing to eat?!

It was as if Josh's soul was an impregnable fortress that nothing could breach, at least not their puny attacks. But then, a smart crow finally figured out something.

It loudly cried as it called to its brethren. Under the shell-shocked eyes of the students, the tornado turned into a gigantic spinning lance…one heading straight for Josh's head!

Then it all collided with him.

His soul was suddenly battered by thousands of smaller wills trying to make it crumble.

— Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! — He could almost hear every impact on his spirit, and yet it barely registered in his mind. After all, compared to losing them, this was nothing.

But then something bad happened, something really bad.

After who knows how many crows, one finally managed to penetrate the human's defense temporarily. It dived straight into Josh's mouth, and then…

[Successfully Ate a Spirit Crow!]

[Permanently Gained 0.02 mana!]

As Josh felt his body suddenly become revitalized, he came to an understanding. The world as of now was very different from the one he knew. Even birds had enough mana to be worth devouring.

This would mean more danger but also more opportunities to become stronger. In this case, this was indubitably a good thing.

That's when he turned toward all the remaining crows, suddenly finding them very pleasing to the eyes as he unconsciously began licking his lips.

The tornado shattered.

The doom crows had finally met their match.

All this time they had been the ones eating the living, and now there was this guy that was eating them?! It didn't make any sense!

But there was no time for any understanding, none at all. The only thing to do in this situation was run….or fly away in this case!

— Caw! Caw! —

The overlords of the sky suddenly departed.

None of the bystanders could understand crow, but they were definitely saying something along the lines of 'We fucked up' or 'It's a Devil!!!'. Either way, peace soon returned to D-23, if it could be called peace.

"H-how?!" A student asked the question that was on everyone's mind. They all stared at Josh, not minding the corpses nor the smell. They just wanted an explanation.

That's when he gathered his thoughts, recalled all that had happened, and delved deep inside himself to understand his new abilities.

That's when he figured out two things:

1. His spirit wasn't the same ever since he returned.

2. That duck of his definitely possessed the ability to bypass defenses, at least to a certain degree.

Even though he didn't know the why, he could feel that it was linked to his past, linked to whatever he had seen in the dimensional fissure, the one thing he was already forgetting.

It was as if a dream, fleeting. Still, he felt that the only way to learn more was to delve deeper into the Tower. So for now, that's what he would do.

As for explaining the whole situation to his students? How was he supposed to do that? It wasn't like he had the answers in the first place?!

He looked at them, slowly opening his mouth, everyone hanging unto his every word.

"Well, welcome to D.L…."