Leaving the voracious pack to their meal, John circled around the corpse-littered grass and headed to a group of Blubbersnouts in the distance.

Two were keeping watch while the rest dug into the grass with their misshapen snouts. Unfortunately for them, John chose a blitz strategy and overwhelmed their entire pack with his explosive power and unforgiving minions.

No more playing around, he thought and immediately headed for another cluster of beasts on his right.

Over the next three hours, he remained at a safe distance from the area he cleared and continued killing every beast unfortunate enough to cross paths with.

The only exception was the pack of the little buggers dutifully following behind him and—under the watchful eye of their adolescent leader—tearing up all the corpses he was leaving in his wake. At first, it was confusing, but as he observed their actions, he noticed that they were only eating a specific part of each corpse.

Another thing he realized after an hour of systematic slaughter, they were all growing up before his eyes.

Their presence turned into a symbiotic relationship where they ate his kills and in return kept every other beast coming from behind away. To his surprise, all eaten corpses that were left untouched for more than fifteen minutes got enveloped in the blood-soaked grass and pulled into the ground, leaving only pristine green vegetation behind them.

As he was closing to the third hour, he noticed a shift in the massive wall behind him, and a moment later, the vines parted and created a wide opening through which three people stumbled out.

This was the fifth time he observed a group successfully pass through, but those three were the first who came out close enough and decided to head in his direction.

Damn, I've made decent progress, haven't I? He thought, observing the area devoid of beasts.

His strategy to clear monsters in an ever-expanding half-circles proved a success and he had already passed three-quarters of a mile from the beginning. Now, estimating the survivor's speed, he had a couple of minutes before they reached him.

Taking a glance to his right, he spotted a lone Sunfire Dreadclaw change its direction.

Big mistake, buddy.

He already killed more than a few and figured out a reliable strategy to take them down. It was actually very obvious… Cut their neck with his stiletto and let them bleed out.

The reason it took him so long was because of the days fighting Rothounds. It twisted his view of how vulnerable necks were. Sure, the Dreadclaws were not as vulnerable as traditional animals, but a well-cut neck artery proved a debilitating injury that significantly hampered their offensive ability and made them fall in under a minute.

The Dreadclaws were very single-minded creatures, and John's tactic was to guide his stiletto to settle on the ground between them and wait until the beast ran over it.

Three… Two… One… Stab!

It burst from the ground point first and stabbed up to the hilt into the unsuspecting creature's neck.

Seeing the beast yelp in surprise and paw at its neck in desperation, John knew it was already done for. At first, it tried to ignore the sharp object and rush its chosen prey, but as the stiletto began sawing through the lustrous hide, the uncomfortable pain morphed into a full-blown panic.

It stopped its rush roughly fifteen meters away from him and repeatedly batted the golden handle with its sharp paws. Unfortunately for it, the stiletto could not be dislodged with its inefficient swipes and as time flew by, the beast's legs buckled and its movements became mere feeble twitches.

Looking up a pack of Flatjaws standing in the distance must have smelled blood, because they suddenly turned their sharp heads and burst into a wild rush, hopping through the grass on their powerful legs and moving their bulging red eyes in a mad frenzy in the direction of the Dreadclaw's collapsed form.

"Oh, fuck off!"

Putting everything he had to bear, John crushed the five Flatjaws before they even made it to the corpse and after that, he let the Adolescent Shimmerfang happily gorge on the feline's remains.

It was hilarious, watching the five small guys wiggling their tails and almost slobbering at the sight of their older packmate until it lost its patience and showed them its gleaming fangs in a loud snarl. Whining and slumping in dejection, they moved to the corpses of the Flatjaws instead.

Leaving them to it, John moved further out. Not seeing any beasts heading his way, he opened up his Apocalypse deck and spent the next few minutes checking out his progress.

Hmm, seven yellows, two hundred and eleven blues, and four thousand thirty-three whites. That's a respectable haul from a day's work.

He obtained four yellows, over one hundred and thirty blues, and five hundred whites. The majority of the blue piles were from the Dreadclaws because gaining eight piles for very little effort almost felt like cheating. Next, he looked over his current setup.

[John Miles {E⋆}

Increased Focus (C)

Feral intuition (E)

Champion of the Fourfold Crucible (E)

Unbreakable mind (Unique)

Nightstalker's Awareness (Un)

Troll's blood (Un)

Black heart of Sac'ratash (E)

Cold resistance (C)]

[Universal connection

Increase Affinity effect (E)]

[Animate blessed stiletto (E)

Increase melee penetration (C)

Increased minion movement speed (Un)

Increased minion combat distance (Un)

Wicked wounds (Un)]

[Storm Wisp (R)

Increased minion attack speed (Un)

Increased projectile distance (C)

Heavy impact (Un)

Minion camouflage (R)]

[Desert Wraith (R)

Increased area of effect (Un)]

Wait a minute!

His Desert Wraith had a projectile tag, but as of yet, it never used anything like that. Thinking about it further, he realized he only commanded it to engage or create the desert storm which might explain why.

Something to check out on the next pack.

Making a note in his mind, he moved his attention to his main body card.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

[John Miles {E⋆}

Strength: E (30), Perception: E (20), Vitality: E (20)

Fate: D (70 + 1)

Dexterity: E (20), Focus: E (20 + 5), Willpower: E (20)]

Nothing changed there.

Lastly, he looked at the ever-increasing stack of unused cards. Letting them pile up created a decent stack and as he shifted through, he ended up with an interesting tally. Forty-one common, seven uncommon, one rare, one rare single-use attribute booster, and the fate-box.

It was kind of unfortunate that the Infuse Flaming affinity card was currently useless, but to get at least some benefit, he was going to sell it to Aldrul and use the yellow piles to buy something else.

His current plan was to…

"Hey! Please go around them. They don't want to be disturbed!" John yelled out to the incoming group of survivors whose path was in a direct collision with the pack. He noticed the adolescent Shimmerfang lift its head and snarl in a threatening manner, and John wanted to avoid needless conflict.

Those little guys proved extremely useful, because consuming that specific part from the corpses made all other beasts immediately lose interest and keep their distance.

"If they are your pets, reign them in!" Shouted back a bulky guy in the middle of them.

"They are not… Hey! Don't provoke…"

"We are not in the mood for some stupid games, buddy. If you…" The guy interrupted, but before he even finished his retort, the adolescent Shimmerfang vanished in a trail of bright-orange energy. Before any of the three were able to react, it barreled into him and gave a nasty bite into the guy's neck.

"What the hell!" Cried out a blonde guy on the left, reaching for something on his waist. He fumbled under the pressure and quickly became overwhelmed under assault from the five bolts of green energy that brought the rest of the Shimmerfangs the ten-meter distance to their perceived enemies.

Oh, fuck!

John momentarily froze.

This is not what I… Argh!

Understanding that the situation was unsalvageable, he willed his Wisp to strike the last member of their group.

She, having higher Vitality or increased resistance to lightning, was able to survive with an only minor injury, but because John fully committed to the unfortunate situation, he was already throwing his javelin. She might have survived the bolt, but it served as a distraction for long enough to get her impaled and moments later overwhelmed by the angry Shimmerfangs.

Having a clear presence of mind, both she and the blond guy used recall, but the bulky leader remained lying on the ground in a pool of his blood.

"Well… shit."

The adolescent Shimmerfang turned toward John and tilted its head to the side, looking like a confused dog.

"I… ugh," this was not how he expected it to go. Why the fuck would those three idiots barge into the pack of clearly dangerous breasts.

Focusing on the Adolescent one, he got another surprise.

[Sunfire Shimmerfang {E★}]

Oh…

Looking at the little guys, who were no longer so little, he saw another change.

[Juvenile Shimmerfang {F⋆}]

[Juvenile Shimmerfang {F★}]

Three were with a small star and two with large one.

"You… huh. Well, I hope you are going to help me cross this damned plain because otherwise, you fucked me over."

Seeing it tilt its head to the other side, John sighed in defeat and walked away. Waiting for other groups to arrive was still possible, but realistically, he should push forward.

Besides, staying together with the pack was working out, plus he had the benefit of having all the juicy piles of ash.

Am I making a mistake? He contemplated, but if there was one thing that has never let him down yet, it was his gut, and at the moment, going by himself felt like a good choice.

Looking behind, he saw the whole pack dutifully standing in a formation, so he shrugged and walked forward with confident strides.

Fully committing to push forward, he changed his strategy and only cleared a roughly two-hundred-meter-wide corridor. This let him advance significantly faster but with the downside of having beasts wander into the path behind him.

The next hour flew by in a blink, and his distance from the edge more than doubled. The problem was, in the last three minutes it felt like he stepped into a different sector of the plain and the monsters felt slightly more threatening.

The closest of the clearly dangerous creatures was resting on the ground in a shining heap half a mile in front and to the left. It was almost impossible to make out its shape because the beast was covered in a silver metallic sheen that reflected the sun, but from what he could guess, it was at least fifteen feet wide.

Nope, not gonna mess with something the size of a truck and potentially covered in metal.

To keep a respectable distance, John turned right and headed towards a pack of colorful birds resting on the vibrant grass. They were reminding him of peacocks but with twice the height, more slender bodies, and razor-sharp beaks.

[Bladewing {E⋆}]

This could get dangerous.

There were four of them, and even though his Feral intuition was letting him know that lightning and blunt force were their greatest weak points, he was slightly apprehensive to rush into there.

Maybe I could cheat.

His minions' maximum range was around sixty meters, but he also knew that his Storm Wisp could still attack up to its maximum range. This effectively doubled the distance, and should hopefully give enough advantage to bring the fight on his side without significant risk.

Fire!

The bolt arced through the air, striking the left wing of the closest bird and leaving a blackened mark on its otherwise unblemished plumage.

The screech coming from its wide-open beak felt ugly and somehow unbecoming of a creature with such regal bearing.

Focus up! He chided himself.

Those things turned out to be unbelievably fast. The one hurt by the lightning had trouble walking, but the remaining three were running at him and eating the distance by the second.

Reacting to their speed, John commanded his stiletto to engage the one on the left and his Sand Wraith to bombard the one on the right from range, then pulled out his javelin.

It was only four seconds from the time he called out the lightning bolt and the birds already covered two-thirds of the distance.

The core inside his Wraith rippled and shot out a fingernail-sized drop of molten glass. The projectile flew like a miniature comet, hit its intended target on its sleek neck, and splashed all over its upper body. Due to its feathers, the molten glass got stuck everywhere and emitted an uncomfortable sizzling.

Just a little more, and… Now!

Throwing his javelin with his full strength directly into the path of the one in the middle, he immediately pulled out the spear and braced for impact.

Unfortunately, John wasn't proficient enough to hit the sleek target moving at high speed and overshot, letting the weapon pass harmlessly over the bird's head.

At least his spear served its purpose, making it spread its wings wide to slow down its charge and prevent itself from impaling on the sharp tip. However, the beast followed up with an attack of its own, and with a swirl of its body sent three-foot-long feathers aimed at John's chest.

Noticing the unexpected attack too late, he managed to divert one feather with his spearhead, and lean left to avoid the second, but couldn't get into the dive fast enough. The third feather struck his side and cut through his chainmail like it was made out of butter. The nick was so smooth, John believed that it missed, but as he came out of the roll he felt a stinging sensation under his ribs that proved him otherwise.

A crunch made him glance left where the Shimmerfang was tearing through the Bladewings neck, allowing him to recall his stiletto and will it to assist against his current opponent.

The Bladewing attempted to dive in and secure the kill, but John's reactions let him raise the spear up and fend the dangerous creature away.

It tried to follow up with another barrage, but nine seconds were up and his Wisp struck the poor bird to the back of its head. The impact made it stumble and before it regained mobility, John skewered its lean body with a powerful jab.

Seeing the success, he left the spear dangling in its chest, pulled out his javelin, and finished it off with a devastating stab through its neck.

Leaving the Shimmerfang to enjoy his own kill, John refocused on the remaining two targets.

The bird with the black mark on its wing seemed fucked up and was slowly stumbling toward them and the other one looked even worse.

The Wraith was floating above its body and slowly dripping molten glass onto its head.

Yeah… that thing is nasty.

Ever since he tested its projectile attack, he fell in love with the debilitating tactic it used. It was very clear that Send Wraith is not a damage-dealing minion, however, what it lacked in pure stopping power, it made up for in crowd control and horrific efficiency.

This scene was a perfect example, where it covered its target in painful burns and as the bird tried to get rid of the molten glass, the Wraith floated toward it, enveloped it in red-hot sand, and slowly melted the sand around its core into a glass that dripped over the unfortunate beast's form.

Ouch, he winced and put the downed beast out of its misery with a well-placed throw.

Seeing its packmates perish, the last Bladewing attempted to escape, but with its mobility hampered it didn't get far. The seconds ticked by and soon the Wisp fired another bolt, making it crumple and ending the fight in John's favor.

Well, maybe that massive bird in the distance will be easier than I thought.