“[Heat Wave]”

A wave of heat swirled around the wolf, making it whine and bolt toward the party of five. The swordsman charged it, blocking the wolf only to slide back from the force. Though, the wolf was halted, and the heat wave caught up to it.

Before it could jump back, the spearman went behind it and stopped its retreat. The archers guarded both warriors, and wherever the wolf tried to run, they blocked its path.

“[Flame Burst]”

“AWOO!”

The wolf howled as flames suddenly erupted around its body, setting its fur on fire. Its eyes turned bloodshot as it searched for Florence. It took barely a second, and its gaze locked on the long mage.

“[Engulf]”

FOOOSH!

The wolf growled in pain as its whole body combusted in flames, looking like a wolf-shaped fire. Disregarding the swordsman in shielding Florence, the wolf charged in like a bull.

WOOSH—WOOSH!

PUCHI!

Two arrows went for each of its eyes, but the wolf simply turned its head. Still, both arrows pierced the wolf's face, though it didn't halt its charge.

Florence stood in place, watching the charging wolf without fear.

“[Boil]”

“AWOO!!”

The wolf cried out, spasming in pain as the flames disappeared from its body. Smoke arose from its charred fur, and as it limped toward Florence, the wolf buckled right in front of the latter. It laid on the ground, mouth open, eyes rolled back, and a burnt smell engulfing the air.

The swordsman walked toward the wolf's hind, cutting its flesh with its sword. However, instead of blood, what was unveiled was the wolf's cooked flesh.

“There's our lunch,” the swordsman commented with a chuckle.

Florence sighed, backing toward a nearby tree and sitting on the ground. He wasn't exhausted, but his mana was drained. It'll take a few hours to recover…

“Let's rest for now,” he said. The four silver ranks didn't complain, knowing their leader's status as well.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

+

Deep in the forest was a silent kingdom. If one were to watch it from afar, they would see a “civilization” of clay men living around a “giant.” Yet, the “giant” wasn't their “king,” it was the much smaller clay man sitting before the “giant.”

“Eve, five people entered the forest and killed one of your wolves,” Kurgos said with his eyes closed. He was doing his rounds of Psychokinesis “radar,” which was also his training method.

Psychokinesis was trained via increasing mental energy, increasing psychic energy sensitivity, and daily practice. There weren't any other shortcuts. By using his psychic energy to scan the entire forest like a radar, he managed to train all three areas at the same time.

Hearing Kurgos’ report, Eve opened his eyes. “Who are they?”

Two months ago, he started his experiments. Because humans and other humanoids weren't easy to capture, he first started with animals. By transferring his primal energy into a rabbit, the rabbit's primal energy was stimulated and its size tripled. This cost the rabbit most of its lifespan, but after a successful breeding, there were now hundreds of giant rabbits deep in the forest.

‘An “Primal Rabbit” provides around a tenth of a normal human’s primal energy. It was worth it.’

With a successful experiment, he captured numerous animals and did the same. However, most of them didn't evolve properly, either dying on the spot or failing to pass their genes.

Not to mention, the evolution will expend Eve's primal energy and not return it after failure. After trying to evolve a myriad of creatures, only a wolf, a snake, and an owl managed to successfully pass their genes to the next generation.

‘For a Primal Wolf to be killed… it's detrimental to their species.’

Kurgos frowned. “Do you remember Florence?”

Eve frowned as well. “That fire kid?”

How could he forget the youth who sent his soldiers to Hades without a return ticket?

“He's leading a group of silver ranks it seems,” Kurgos sighed. “Florence definitely has the strength of a mid-silver rank, but I don't know about the other four.”

Eve pondered. A primal wolf was well within the low-silver category. Though it lacked strength, its endurance was its weapon.

‘Maybe I overestimated the Primal Wolves, or I underestimated Florence.’

Either way, Eve couldn't help but sigh.

“Kurgos, let's go greet the unwelcomed intruders.”

Kurgos nodded. “What about the captives?” Kurgos looked down at the trapdoor between him. He didn't need to use his psychic energy to hear the wails from down there in his head.

“Leave them be. They're nothing but failures,” Eve scoffed.

Kurgos paused. “Why don't you kill them? Since they're failures—”

“No,” Eve shook his head, knowing the latter's hesitation. Still, he ignored it as if he never saw anything. Squinting his eyes, a playful smirk played on his face.

“Failures or not, they're still experimental subjects. Who knows, maybe one of them will mutate unexpectedly.”

Eve stood up. “Let's not talk about this. Let's go.”

After two months of rest and training, his army was ready to resume the war.

Meanwhile underground, a basement with eight cages lay silently, each housing a single person. Five were humans, while three were elves.

A man and a woman, a boy and a girl, the elderly, the disabled, the child-bearing… there were all there, suffering silently with rocks stuffed into their mouths. None of them sported any wounds, nor were they malnourished. But without fail, all of them were crying non-stop.

Inside their bodies was a parasitic energy, feasting off of their life. Each waking second of their life, their minds were drowned with agony. Every second, they wished they breathed their last. But like a cruel hand of irony, the parasitic energy kept them alive, ensuring that they provide more energy for it to feast on.

…

But amidst the suffering of those around him, a man looked on with dead eyes, observing his “roommates” as though they were already dead. It wasn't wrong to think so. Their captor had already butchered seven pregnant women right before their eyes, and even men were forced to conceive fetuses if they were deemed no longer useful.

He was a devout man, believing in god's grace and kindness, that so long as they prayed, they would be saved.

Yet, even now, even as he prayed more times than he did in his entire life, neither the saint nor an angel brought him to light. Not even a priest did so much as whisper in his damaged ears.

‘God has abandoned us…’

And so, the man closed his eyes, defeated and dismayed. Yet in his heart, he was reluctant. Was this truly his end? Will he die like this? To a creature not bound by logic?

‘I will kill him. I'll kill him!’

Snapping his eyes open, he gnashed his teeth. In response to his rage, the primal energy within his body surged, and he felt his muscles overheating with sheer strength.

“Kill… Kill…”

Grinning, he cackled, biting down on the rocks gagging him. Even as pieces of rocks fell down his throat, he swallowed them all. However, as he flexed his wrists and arms to break the chains binding his limbs, they refused to budge.

“KILL! HAHAHA!”

Laughing madly into the ceiling, the man's eyes rolled back until he choked on his own spit, slowly quieting down. Having been already used to his antics, the other seven didn't spare him a glance from start to finish.

Or was it that they couldn't afford to do so?

Drowned in perpetual pain, only they themselves would know the answer.

Alas, the anomaly, the man that captured that monster's curious taste, fell asleep amidst anguished cries.