Inside Desper's room, Amal was covering her ears with her hands.
Soooshh...
Screeeeeeech…
An agonizing shriek erupted from outside after Desper impaled the wall with one of his swords. He pulled it back, and it was stained with disgusting green blood.
His clothes were drenched in sweat, and his heart was beating fast.
Crack… crack… crack…
He rushed to another spot and stabbed it after hearing a biting sound coming from it.
Screeeech…
As expected, a monster screamed from the other side.
'WHERE ARE THEY? WHERE ARE THEY?' Desper screamed in his mind.
He had been stabbing the walls like that for about ten minutes, waiting for the sect forces to rescue them. Right now, the walls looked like sieves.
The sounds of cries and screams around him were decreasing as more people died. No one could pierce through the walls again and again like Desper. Luckily, he had awakened his Origin recently, but he knew he wouldn't last long as the rats started biting the holes he had made with his swords.
Another three minutes passed. Desper could no longer hear any human voices. The holes in his walls were getting bigger.
Suddenly, a rat squeezed itself through one of the holes. Desper dashed toward it, striking with his right sword. The rat was too weak and slow to do anything and dropped dead. Desper thrust his other sword into the hole, killing another rat. Then he grabbed the dead rat and used its body to seal the hole.
'I can't do that anymore,' Desper said in his mind.
The biting sounds came from every side of the room.
"Amal, come!" Desper called while cutting his clothes with the swords.
"Wha—"
"COME!!!"
He didn't have time to explain anything. When she came closer, he knelt and pulled her close to him.
"Hold on to me!" he instructed while tying her to him using the pieces of his torn clothes.
Then he quickly climbed onto his closet and, using the handles of his swords, started smashing the roof—the only place he hadn't heard any sounds from.
Because the roof was made of wood, and because Desper's punches were heavy, it quickly cracked.
"Desper! Be careful!"
Amal yelled in fear as two rats managed to get into the room.
"Tsk.."
Desper threw one last punch into the roof and pushed himself through the crack. It wasn't big enough; however, he didn't have a choice. He endured the pain of the sharp wood scratching his body.
"Arghhh…"
He tried his best to protect Amal from it. The pieces of cloth he had used to tie them were torn slightly.
Finally, when they were outside, Desper could clearly see the situation.
Despair filled his face, and tears almost came out of his eyes.
'We are dead.'
A sea of monsters filled the streets around them. Their red staring eyes filled Desper's heart with dread.
"We are going to die," Amal cried in tears.
Her voice snapped Desper awake. He looked around and realized that, unlike normal rats, these couldn't climb the walls.
"We will die… we will die!" Amal kept crying.
"Calm down, Amal. We won't die."
He found a moment to breathe.
"No, we will die here!"
"We will not. I promise I will protect you."
"That is what Mum and Darek said to me before they died."
Desper was silent for a moment, not knowing what to say. He saw the rats piling on top of each other, and soon they would reach them.
"Amal, did I ever break a promise to you before?"
"You… you didn't."
"So when I tell you we will survive, we will survive. Okay?" he lied to her.
"O…okay," the little girl responded in doubt. "I trust you, Desper."
Desper tried to appear calm on the outside, but inside, he was about to explode.
'Where are they?! Where are they?! WHERE ARE THEY?!!!'
It had been almost fifteen minutes, and there was still no sign of the sect's rescuers.
"I trust you, Desper," she repeated, maybe to encourage him or to suppress her fear.
When the monsters finally reached the roof, Desper didn't waste time and leapt to another nearby one. He didn't stop and kept bouncing from roof to roof.
'I can do it. I can do it.'
Desper saw hope. The rats were numerous, but they were much slower than him. He had already created some distance between them.
He almost reached the outskirts of the village, and no monster could reach him on the roofs.
'I can leave the vill—'
But in the next second, his hope was crushed.
Twenty meters away stood a single monster, a single rat, but it was very different from the others.
That rat was much larger, standing two meters tall. Four long, sharp fangs protruded from its blood-stained mouth; a large red chunk of meat hung from one of them. Its tail was about ten meters long. Its large red eyes were staring at Desper.
'Calm down, Desper,' he tried to encourage himself. 'It might be as weak as the others.'
But again, the monster shattered his hope.
The huge rat lashed its tail into one of the nearby houses. The tail easily crushed the walls of the house.
Desper watched in horror when the monster pulled its tail back, and a man's body was impaled on it. The man's face was filled with shock. Clearly, he had been alive just a moment ago.
The monster whipped its tail again, throwing the body like a rocket toward Desper.
Desper didn't have enough time to react before the body crashed into the house beneath him. The impact made him lose his balance, so he quickly jumped to the ground.
Desper didn't hesitate to run in another direction. He couldn't go back because of the army of rats behind him, and he couldn't go forward because of the giant monster. He was almost surrounded.
"I trust you, Desper."
Amal's words pained him more than the injuries on his body.
While running down the street, five rats suddenly appeared and charged at him. Desper had no choice but to face them.
He swung both swords at the same time. One sliced through a rat, while the other cut down two more. Then he squatted to dodge the remaining two.
Enduring the hard whips on his back, he ignored the remaining rats and kept running.
After three minutes, Desper felt hopeful because he was about to leave the village.
But in the next moment, his running came to a halt. He quickly turned around and tried to run back, but he was shocked to see that the army of rats had already reached him. Even on the roofs of the houses around him, tens of rats were staring at him in silence.
'HOW?! HOW?!'
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEECHH...
Screeeeeeeeeeeech…
Screeeeeeeech…
Screeeeeech…
The large monster ahead let out a terrifying shriek, and then the other rats did the same.
"I trust you, Desper… I trust you, Desper," the little girl repeated in fear, tightening her arms around him.
'WHERE ARE THEY… WHERE ARE THEY… WHERE ARE THEY!!!!'
Desper felt as if his mind were about to break. The sect's cultivators should have been here a long time ago.
This would have been the perfect time for them to appear.
But in the end, they didn't.
Screeeeeeech…..
With another shriek from the large monster, only ten rats stepped forward and rushed at Desper.
Desper was utterly confused, but he saw the giant rat's tail swinging everywhere. That was when he realized the monster was enjoying their struggle.
Desper's heart sank. Tears flooded from his eyes. He wanted to let the rats end it, but…
"I trust you, Desper."
Amal's words hurt him more than ever and pushed him to raise his swords to defend.
These rats were so weak that a single swing was enough to kill them, but Desper couldn't kill all of them instantly.
"Arghhhhhh…."
He screamed in pain as fangs pierced his flesh and tails whipped his body.
By the time he killed the last of them, he was on his knees. His body was covered in his own blood. He was holding only one sword, but he made sure to keep Amal safe.
The clothes he had used to tie her were completely torn; she was clinging to him with her own strength. She was still closing her eyes, oblivious to the situation around her and placing all her trust in Desper.
Desper breathed heavily while watching the huge rat swing its tail in joy.
Screeeech…
The monster screamed again.
And just as Desper expected to see more rats attacking him, he was strangely relieved to see the very large rat's tail launched toward them like a spear.
Desper was happy. A quick death was much better than being bitten to death. He closed his eyes and accepted his fate.
But the spear never stabbed him.
"I trust you, Des—"
The sentence was never finished.
The closed eyes suddenly opened wide. The hugging arms lost all their strength. The small body fell to the ground.
Desper's eyes widened. His pupils shrank. His breath stopped. He couldn't hear anything. He couldn't feel anything. It felt as if time had stopped around him.
With trembling hands, he touched the small face. He looked at the open eyes, and tears began to fall onto the small body.
"No… NO… NOOOOOOOOO!"
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech…..
The huge monster let out a loud shriek. It opened its mouth as if it were laughing. Its long tail slammed the ground again and again. The monster had reached absolute euphoria.
Screeeeech…
Screeech…
Screech…
All the smaller monsters did the same.
Desper, as if he didn't hear them, cried.
"Why haven't they come? Why? Why? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!!!!!!!"
He remembered.
He remembered the first day he woke up in this village. Amal was the first person he saw in her parents' house. He remembered her smile when she greeted him. He remembered playing with her. He remembered her crying over her parents' bodies. He remembered how she hugged him at night when she had nightmares. He remembered her smile. He remembered her laugh.
He remembered…
"I trust you, Desper."
He slowly raised his face to look at the laughing monster. His breath grew heavy, his heart pounded rapidly, and his muscles twitched.
Strange green veins appeared in his eyes, creeping toward the center, accompanied by an unknown power rising from his stomach and spreading through his body.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..."
His scream reached the sky.
The huge rat stopped laughing as it sensed something strange. It looked at the furious man before it, examining him. The monster usually loved to see its prey filled with anger, but this time it felt different.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…"
Desper's scream was deafening. His breathing sounded rough. As the green veins spread toward the center of his eyes, more and more power flooded his body.
He picked up his other sword and suddenly lunged at the giant monster with incredible speed.
For the first time, the monster was alarmed and jumped away.
The jump was extremely high, which was bizarre considering its massive body. Instead of attacking him, it ordered the army of rats to charge.
"GET OUT OF MY FACE!"
Desper's face twitched.
The swords felt too light, as if he were holding nothing at all. His attacks were unbelievably fast. Within a single second, ten rats were already sliced apart on the ground.
Desper ignored the army of rats and charged straight toward the giant one.
This time, the monster didn't flee. Instead, it lashed out with its long tail.
Desper didn't evade. He placed his swords in the path of the tail. As the tail collided with the blades, the swords cut deep into it, but not completely through, so the remaining force still smashed into Desper's body.
He couldn't withstand the impact and was sent flying toward a nearby house. He crashed through the wall and continued rolling inside.
The monster didn't lower its guard and sent the rats toward the broken wall.
In the next moment, the giant rat felt terrified.
At the broken wall stood Desper, covered in blood from head to toe, holding one sword while the other remained stuck in the monster's tail. The green veins had reached his pupils, turning them from black to green.
When the monster looked into those eyes, it understood that the tables had turned.
It had become the prey.
The monster abandoned the fight and turned to run.
Desper ignored the rats attacking him and burst forward through them. Any rat that came into contact with him was crushed as his speed surged beyond anything before.
In less than five seconds, he closed the distance between them.
The monster lashed its tail again.
Desper struck with his sword.
This time, the blade sliced completely through the tail.
Then Desper leapt onto the monster's massive body, driving his sword into one of its legs and pinning it to the ground.
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech….
The monster screamed in agony.
It looked up into the terrifying eyes of the man standing over it and tried to tear him apart with its sharp fangs, but before they reached him, two hands caught them.
Desper stared into the terrified red eyes of the monster.
"HOW DARE YOU!! HOW DARE YOU!!! HOW DARE YOUUUU!!!!!!"
His muscles trembled as he pulled.
Snap!!!
Screeeeeeeeeeeech!
Green blood burst from the monster's mouth.
Desper threw the broken fangs away and grabbed the remaining two.
Snap!
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech...…
The monster lost all of its terrifying presence. Only absolute fear remained.
"HOW DARE YOUUU!!!"
Desper drove his fingers into the monster's red eyes until they burst.
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeech…..
Many rats had gathered around them, but none dared to step forward. They watched their leader being tortured by a human.
Desper began punching the monster's head with his bare hands.
The monster screamed in agony.
Desper ignored its screams and kept smashing its head. Even after the monster stopped making any sound and its features were completely destroyed, he didn't stop.
All the rats fled.
Now there was only Desper, repeatedly punching a mangled green mass of flesh.
"I never expected to find someone from the clan here."
Suddenly, a voice came from behind.
Desper didn't react and didn't look back.
"But it seems you have lost control of your power," the voice continued as it approached. "You are lucky that I was the first to see you like this."
"It is time to sleep."
When the speaker finally stood behind Desper, a hand struck the back of his head.
Desper collapsed instantly into unconsciousness.