NOVEL NEXT Chapter 103: One-Man Genocide!
Bronze Horned Goats, Rampaging Buffaloes, and several other herbivore-type mutant beasts that had somehow turned feral were not easy to attract. Unlike the predators, they didn't immediately flock toward blood or movement.
Their senses weren't as sharp, their instincts not as predatory as the carnivores. But in the end, even they came.
It took actual effort from Bruce, layers of bait, scattered blood essence, and calculated noise, to draw them in.
But when they came… they came in herds.
In the end, every last one of those mutants was slaughtered that day. The sheer number of corpses was absurd. The entire territory of his trap was drenched in bodies, soaked in blood thick enough to seep into the soil. The metallic scent was so overwhelming that even someone with a terrible sense of smell would still gag on its intensity.
It was everywhere. It clung to the soil, the grass, the wind. It seeped into the atmosphere like a living fog.
And even worse, The dense, overwhelming scent of all that spilled blood spread farther and wider than his own blood essence, turning the entire map into a beacon for every lurking beast still alive.
Bruce's eyes, razor-sharp and enhanced by Heal, scanned the land every few minutes. Each time a new beast stepped into the death zone, lured by the overwhelming blood scent, Bruce appeared beside it in a flicker and ended its life instantly. It became a cycle, kill, scan, kill, scan, until not a single creature remained standing.
And finally… as the sun began to rise, golden rays stretching across the horizon, Bruce exhaled softly.
Every beast in the trial had been slain by him.
"Nice one," Bruce murmured, sheathing his dagger casually.
The morning light washed over him like a blessing. Though he had slaughtered countless beasts through the night, not a single drop of blood stained his skin or coat. His figure looked almost pristine, untouched, despite the sea of carnage around him.
He wasn't shirtless anymore. At some point, he had taken a neat, well-fitted coat from a recruit he'd killed earlier, the day before, after killing Claire Redwyn. He had noticed something interesting before… his bare body distracted the female recruits far too easily.
Even Claire Redwyn wasn't exempt. She'd been distracted even while facing death at his hands.
It couldn't be helped. Bruce was simply too handsome. His physique was divine, perfectly chiseled, every line sculpted. Even when Claire's life was on the verge of ending, she still stole glances at his torso… which was exactly why Bruce warned her not to get distracted.
Bruce chuckled under his breath at the memory.
"It couldn't be helped," he mused. "I'm too handsome for my own good. The versatility of my class is just too much."
He smirked lightly at the thought.
Then he lifted his wrist. "Map."
The interface appeared instantly.
He raised a brow.
All the recruits had gathered together now. Only two dots remained solitary, one belonging to Jean, and the other unmistakably Sophie.
Bruce smiled, excitement flickering across his face as he closed the map and moved to the next thing on his mind.
"Rankings."
The panel flashed.
He still sat comfortably at Rank 1. But now his points had surged to a whopping 850,000. He had gained over 150,000 points just from the beasts he'd slaughtered tonight.
"Now… It's time to face those ants." Bruce smiled.
One would think that after fighting an entire night without rest, after slaughtering beast after beast until sunrise, he would finally feel tired. But he didn't. Not even a little. Or maybe he did...
Bruce was too excited to sleep.
If anything, the all-night massacre had only made him more awake, more eager, more hungry for something actually interesting.
"1 v 1 is boring anyway…" he muttered, a faint light dancing in his eyes. "But 1 v thirty? Thirty desperate Awakened with unique classes? That should at least keep me entertained."
His mana pool? Full. Completely full.
Throughout the night, he had killed every beast using only pure physical strength. He barely used any skills, only when absolutely necessary, like when enhancing his blood or the few moments he decided to test Vitality Collapse on certain S-Rank targets.
He had been careful. Calculated. He knew today would be important.
He needed his mana for the real challenge, the challenge of breaking thirty human opponents who believed numbers meant hope.
"Heal," Bruce said calmly in his mind.
A soft wave of light washed over him from head to toe, clearing away the slight exhaustion he had accumulated. His muscles relaxed. His mind sharpened. His senses refreshed.
It felt like he had just woken up from the best sleep of his life.
As for gaining immunity from the heal he used on himself, it was just slight exhaustion to the brain and not real damage, just a tired state of mind. Otherwise, it would be ridiculous, crazy and shocking for Bruce to gain immunity to exhaustion.
Done with that, Bruce rotated his neck and rolled his shoulders, cracking his knuckles with a soft pop pop pop.
He grinned. 'Time to move.'
But before heading directly toward the recruits, Bruce took a moment to survey the battlefield he'd created through the night. The corpses. The blood. The quiet wind sweeping over the land that had once been filled with roaring beasts.
Everything was still. Silent. Almost peaceful.
Bruce breathed in slowly.
This was the calm before the storm.
"Hm." He checked his dagger again, wiped the blade, and sheathed it. "Good enough."
The golden sunlight painted his black coat in warm hues, making him look less like a butcher of beasts and more like a monarch walking across his domain. A king surveying land that already belonged to him.
Bruce dipped his stance a little, enough for his muscles to coil with restrained power.
Then...
he launched himself forward.
BOOM!
The earth exploded behind him.
He shot into the distance with terrifying speed, the air tearing apart around him as he blurred across territories like a living missile!
His destination?
The gathering of recruits.
It was two Hyena territories ahead.
With his insane speed… it wouldn't take long.
It won't take long for the One-Man Genocide, it won't take long for the 1 v 30!