Bright sunlight shone down on the trees below. In the middle of the forest, which was covered with many trees, there was a specific area that had lost several trees because they had been destroyed by something large and powerful.
The empty area was avoided by several animals that still had their survival instincts, as they tried to stay away from something they did not understand.
Only two people were brave enough to face this terrifying thing. One was a girl in a school uniform with an injured right leg, while the other was a tall, muscular man who held a tree log as if it were a giant word.
However, it was no ordinary log. The log had a sharp edge that reflected the sunlight that hit it.
The sharp edges were not metal attached to the log, but rather the log itself had become sharp.
Arya pointed the log at the large creature, whose face had nothing but a wide mouth.
The void beast growled and then screamed so loudly that it created a wave of air that pushed the grass and leaves aside.
However, Arya was not intimidated at all. He just grinned widely and ran forward at full speed.
The man swung the sharp log with all his might.
*Trang!
Arya's eyes widened when he saw the log he swung bounce off.
The diamond hand successfully blocked Arya's attack and the void beast grinned widely.
"This is bad—"
*Bhruk!
A powerful blow was swung, destroying the log and pushing Arya away.
Arya fell and was dragged far away. His breath was held for a few seconds because the attack had crushed his ribs a bit.
"I... It's impossible... I thought void beasts were just ordinary wild creatures," said Ayu, her eyes wide and her body trembling.
Arya spat blood onto the ground and immediately got up. "Damn it, no one said they had superpowers too."
The void beast charged forward. Arya quickly touched the ground and turned the earth in front of him into a sharp ground.
It was erected like a mound of earth that suddenly formed with a thin but solid tip like a sword edge. The mound of earth formed in front of Arya, appearing and continuing to stretch far ahead toward the void beast. In the blink of an eye, the top of the mound of earth solidified and thinned, forming like a giant sword that stretched from in front of Arya to where the void beast stood.
*Slash!
The void beast's leg was cut off and purple liquid flowed out from the severed part of its body.
The void beast growled in pain, the perfect moment for Arya to rush forward. Without wasting a second, he picked up a rock the size of a basketball and turned it into a sharp rock.
Arya immediately slashed at the void beast's head.
*Trang!
The void beast's head suddenly turned into a solid diamond.
"Oh, come on!" Arya shouted, unable to accept the fact that the creature could think and react that quickly.
*Bhack!
A diamond fist slammed into Arya's stomach, sending him flying backward until his back hit a tree.
Pain spread from his back throughout his entire body, but this was no time to complain because the void beast was charging forward aggressively.
"Tsk, there's no other choice. Currency Convert, I want to take out a temporary loan and invest in the sharp slasher ability!"
A slightly transparent green panel suddenly appeared in front of Arya's face.
[ 24-Hours Currency Loan Activated ]
[ You may trade directly to currency convert with the limit of 5,000,000 Narat ]
The void beast approached and tried to hit Arya with its diamond hands, but he managed to dodge and now ran away.
"Looks like it's angry," muttered Arya, running away from the void beast that was screaming and growling ferociously.
[ Investment by : ]
[ Duration ] [ Power potential ] [ Price ] [ Custom ]
"Tsk, I don't have time for this. Custom! Give me the strongest ability for less than 2,000,000 Narat with a minimum duration of 3 seconds!" Arya said firmly as he tried to avoid the raging void beast.
[ Investment option for Sharp Slasher : ]
[ Atomic Edge ]
[ Edge: 1 Angstrom / 10^-10 meters ]
[ Price: 1,500,000 Narat ]
[ Duration: 15 seconds ]
[ Invest ] [ Reject ]
"Invest! Now!" Arya said firmly as he stopped running and stood facing the void beast charging towards him.
[ Confirm ]
[ Transaction Complete ]
Arya quickly picked up a large tree branch and some leaves scattered on the ground.
He immediately sharpened the branch and leaves he was holding by using The Sharp Slasher.
At first glance, nothing seemed different, but upon closer inspection, there was something strange about the leaves Arya was holding. The air around the leaves looked blurred and swirled like the heat haze in a scorching desert with a faint and ethereal blueish light.
The edge was thinner than the atom itself.
All the protons and neutrons were pressed into each other while the electrons were orbiting around it like one massive electron cloud, making the edge practically some sort of electron-degenerate matter.
The edge that could sever the very atomic bonds of any material it touched…
The Atomic edge blade.
With the high-pitched fizzing sounds generated from that abnormal atomic reaction, Arya grinned and immediately threw the sharp leaves to the void beast's head.
The void beast crossed its diamond hands in front of its face to block the incoming attack.
*Fhwuing!
The leaves Arya threw sliced through the void beast's diamond hands and even its diamond head.
No purple liquid came out of the gash that was created. Only thin wounds that looked like a line of grayish gooey.
The slash didn't just cut the body, it cut the cell in atomic scale. Separating each DNA and biological information, collapsing each cell into one grayish gooey material.
It is totally unnatural and stunned the void beast.
While the void beast was confused, Arya charged forward and immediately slashed the void beast's neck with his sharp branch.
The void beast turned its neck into diamonds in no time.
*FHWIINGGG!!
A high-pitched sound that shook the eardrums followed as the void beast's head separated from its body, leaving behind an open wound that looked like grayish goo.
As Arya tightened his grip, Ayu gasped in shock as she saw someone just splitting diamond like splitting butter with a knife.
*FHWING! FHWING! FHWING! FHWING!
The slashes were delivered repeatedly, cutting the void beast into pieces of flesh that were covered in grayish goo.
The pieces of the void beast's body that fell to the ground slowly disintegrated into smaller pieces, then disintegrated again into dust, then disintegrated again until they disappeared completely.
All of the void beast's limbs disappeared, as did the purple liquid that was its blood. Everything disintegrated and vanished, leaving behind a purple crystal ball the size of Arya's fist.
The man picked up the purple crystal ball and looked at it in awe.
"Hey! That's mine!" shouted Ayu, who was limping towards Arya.
Arya looked at Ayu and could only smile slightly. "What do you mean, yours? I got it fairly. I killed that void beast with my own hands, so I have the right to this crystal ball."
"But you used my power! That means it's mine!" shouted Ayu, who couldn't accept that the void beast she had targeted was taken by someone else.
"Wrong... I borrowed your power at a price we agreed on, what did I do wrong? You agreed to it yourself, right?" Arya grinned arrogantly.
Anger consumed Ayu's thoughts, but when she wanted to say something, no words came out because Ayu herself understood that what Arya said was true.
Ayu just stood there with her mouth wide open as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn't express her frustration without sounding like a fool.
Arya now put on a friendly smile. "Well then, it's been a pleasure doing business with you, Ayu."