As Silas continued to fight, his mind was consumed by a single thought: survival. He had faced countless monsters before, but this time, it was different. This time, he was outnumbered, and the beasts were stronger than ever.

But Silas didn’t let that intimidate him. In those moments, he felt like a killing machine, capable of anything.

The thrill of battle coursed through his veins as he burned, slashed, and hacked his way through the monsters.

The creatures’ agonized screams echoed through the forest, yet Silas didn’t flinch.

He had been through worse. He had trained for years, pouring his blood, sweat, and tears into becoming his best version, whether in this life or his last one.

With every kill, his body was augmented with mana, and he became stronger. His muscles bulged with power, and he knew how to use them.

Even with a broken arm, several broken ribs, and torn muscles, Silas didn’t stop fighting. He was a force to be reckoned with.

The beasts and monsters didn’t stand a chance against him. A stone cannon shot through the trees, and Silas lowered himself before jumping with everything he had.

He didn’t even bother to look back to see what creatures had become collateral damage. He simply shot down and hacked his axe into a boar’s skull.

Suddenly, lightning crackled from a different boar, and Silas could see the energy forming inside its body.

It was a combination of wind and fire, but it was also a chemical reaction forming within the boar. Silas knew he had to act fast.

He stepped to the side and sliced through the air an instant before the lightning shot out of the boar.

Spinning on his heel, he hacked his axe into the boar’s thick skull.

The boar had two tusks and bright yellow and brown fur, but it didn’t matter. It was just another obstacle in his path to survival.

Despite the intense battle raging around him, Silas remained focused.

He was attached to the magic system of this world, the knowledge he had gained, and the people around him.

He had a family, a group of people willing to love him unconditionally without asking for anything from him. He wasn’t about to lose all that to a bunch of beasts and monsters.

Suddenly, he felt something enter his body the moment the boar died.

A surge of energy passed through Silas’ body, but he didn’t even have the time to look at the emerald screen that had appeared before him.

[You are evolving]

[The Evolution blessing is reacting]

[You have absorbed the Thundertusk bloodline]

[Thundertusk: 4%]

All he knew was that he was evolving, causing a maniacal smile to tug at his lips.

‘Evolution…’ Silas thought as he turned around and sliced through the head of another wolf while slashing at several vines that were trying to stab into him.

There was a reason he always chose to use an axe. Of course, he could have created weapons out of the earth, but those were heavy and dull. However, even though he could have made a sword out of earth, he was not nearly as good at using the sword as he was at using the axe.

He had constantly used the axe over the nine months. He had adapted it into his style of fighting beasts and evolved with it.

*SCHING*

*Splurt*

Silas panted as he sliced through another beast before jumping over an incoming lizard tongue and cutting it.

His second arm was almost healed enough for him to use it.

*BANG BANG BANG*

Three stone cannons formed and shot toward him in sequence. Silas had no idea the bear could shoot in such quick succession, but like everything else, he adapted.

He quickly spun on his heel and shot a stone bullet of his into the head of an incoming bird.

The stone cannon missed him by a hair’s breadth, but there were two more.

Creating a spell under his feet, Silas made the ground sink before shooting upwards and throwing him into the air.

*SCREEECH*

Silas looked up to look at the enormous bat that had its wings wide open.

The eyeless bat opened its mouth and let out a deafening screech. The screech quickly turned into a wave of pure sound.

A tier 2 spell appeared in front of Silas before a lance made out of violent torrents of water conjured before it.

The lance began to spin at extremely high speeds, and a second later, it shot through the air and penetrated right through the sound wave, shooting through the bat’s membranous wing in the process.

The bat began to fall, and in its descent, it began to shoot soundwaves in every direction.

Trees fell, and several beasts were injured, while some even died after taking a direct hit from the dull-topaz cored bat.

Silas simply dodged the sound waves by using the tier 1 air blast spell to move around mid-air, and by the time he had touched the ground, his arm was healthy enough to be a viable weapon once again.

The ground cracked under his feet while a sword made out of stone instead of dried earth appeared at his side.

Sure, he didn’t like the sword, but he had to admit that it was a formidable weapon against many enemies; it was long and allowed him to keep his distance to a certain extent.

‘No one kills me…’ Yet despite wanting to keep his distance, the flame in his eyes wanted blood, while every muscle in his body tensed with the exhilaration of battle.

Shooting into the crowd of creatures, Silas continued to grin like a maniac while cleaving through the hordes of beasts. Every kill made him a little stronger, but it wasn’t just that.

Every slice and every slash became more efficient and more powerful. Every attack made him a little better at using the weapons in his hands.

His footwork became sharper, and his dodging became graceful and efficient.

The same could be said for all the spells he was casting. Spikes made of earth could be seen shooting out of the ground and shredding the beasts before him. The monsters were a little more tricky, though.

His attacks were filled with rage, vigor, and desperation for survival, yet they also had a spark of grace and beauty… It was strange to find beauty in destruction, but Silas knew destruction far too well to find it too strange.

A beauty covered in blood and corpses was a permanent beauty that would stain the lands for dozens of years. Or at least that’s what Seth used to say.

After every injury, a pulse of energy shot through his body and made him just a little stronger, But eventually, they began to stack up.

The blood that covered Silas was no longer just an illusion of his regret. The blood was now real, but there wasn’t a single piece of regret behind the hands that shed it.

*Thump Thump*

However, all of a sudden, Silas felt like his body was slowing down dramatically.

[The Evolution blessing is reacting]

Falling onto one knee, Silas spat out a mouthful of blood. In that same instance, he felt something bite onto his torso and draw out a large among of blood, so without thinking, he placed his hand on the floor and created earth spikes all around him.

An earth spike suddenly stabbed the beast that had bitten him and rose to the air, but Silas didn’t care about that. He just clutched his chest and tried his hardest to breathe.

For some reason, his breathing was abnormally ragged, and his heart rate was dangerously high.

*Pant Pant Pant*

‘I have a few seconds to think before an earth cannon shoots through my walls and kills me… Think! What is it? Mana exhaustion? No… I have enough mana. Normal exhaustion? No, I still have a bit of energy left in me. Wait, these symptoms. Fever. Panting. Low energy… It’s poison… It must have been the vine monster,’ Silas concluded in less than a second.

Silas tried to think of ways to counteract the poison’s symptoms. He had become too careless when he charged into that horde of beasts without a second thought. He was in a certain state of mind, but he should have controlled it instead of letting his bloodlust control him.

*Bang*

“Crap.” Silas cursed. He couldn’t think of anything.

——————

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