Once again, his kill count wass updated and it was steadily rising. Damien could already see himself completing the mission in an hour or two more.

[Kill Count: 3,711 / 5,000]

[System Objective: Eliminate 5,000 Demons – 74% Complete]

[Reward: Unlock Sixth Summon Slot + Sub-Skill Acquisition]

The battlefield had gone quiet in patches — smoldering earth, shattered terrain, half-collapsed barricades, and ash carried in the early morning wind.

But Damien wasn’t done.

He stood beneath the half-burned arch of a collapsed wall, the tip of his staff dragging through blood-soaked soil. His body ached — not from injury, but from exertion. His back burned where a demon’s talons had grazed him earlier. His shoulder was still stiff from the collision with the fused abomination.

And yet he pressed forward.

His system panel hovered silently beside him, glowing faint.

[Kill Count: 3,727 / 5,000]

“You’re still counting,” he muttered.

He knew he didn’t need to. He could stop. Greshan was safe — the field had cleared. The demons had taken off with another path in mind. Today, Greshan had survived the stampede that would have ended them.

The Dunters were already celebrating, collecting corpses and salvaging gear.

But Damien walked past them.

Past cheers.

Past the commander’s outstretched hand.

He walked into the shadows of the woods north of Greshan’s wall — where remnants fled, thinking they could hide, regather, and probably attack Greshan again or attack somewhere else. Damien didn’t care what the leftover demons wanted to do.

However, the fact that Damien still lived was enough to show they couldn’t do whatever that planned to do.

As he made his way very deep into the forest area, the first one lunged from the trees — a low-class leaping demon with malformed claws.

Damien turned his wrist and snapped its spine mid-jump.

It collapsed without a sound.

[Kill Count: 3,728]

Another came from behind.

Damien didn’t turn.

He simply spoke.

“Luton.”

A red blur dropped from a nearby tree and devoured the creature whole, slurping its remains into the dirt.

[Kill Count: 3,729]

The hunt had resumed.

What followed wasn’t a battle.

It was a reaping.

He swept through the northern forest like a myth with blood-soaked boots and eyes too steady. One by one, the demons began to realize they were being hunted — not by men, not by Dunters — but by something else.

Something cold. Focused. Purpose-built.

Damien along with Luton kept killing. Whatever he killed, Luton devoured.

[Kill Count: 3,761]

Cerbe had gone wild wherever he had found himself and wasn’t planning to stop.

[3,803]

Skylar was cooking things to crisp levels with not a single care in the world.

[3,884]

Fenrir was just like Luton, devouring without a plan to stop.

[3,947]

He didn’t slow down until he felt it — the pressure again.

A cluster.

Not just random beasts. These were smarter. Survivors.

Twelve in total — holed up in a half-collapsed ruin outside the trade road leading north.

They sensed him before he stepped into view.

And they made a mistake.

They decided to fight.

The first lunged.

Damien spun low, staff whipping around and breaking its jaw with a single hit. The second tried to flank — he caught its wrist, snapped the elbow backward, and stabbed it in the neck with a mana shard.

The third hit him in the ribs.

He staggered.

Then shoved his palm into its face and triggered Pulse Detonate.

[Kill Count: 3,971]

Then they came all at once.

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He began to breathe heavier.

But his body moved like instinct, like clockwork.

Three more died.

[3,977]

Luton swallowed two crawling demons trying to escape.

[3,979]

Skylar, from above, rained fire on a larger brute trying to climb out the ravine.

[3,982]

And then Damien had ro summon Fenrir again from where it had wandered off to.

Not for aid. Not for backup.

But for a final sweep.

“Clean up the right flank.”

Fenrir howled and shot forward like a silver storm.

The next ten minutes became a blur of death.

His cloak was tattered. His staff cracked at the base. His essence well was half-drained.

But Damien kept going.

[Kill Count: 4,119]

[4,262]

[4,504]

Each kill made his bones ache.

Each strike chipped at what was left of his patience.

But he was close.

So close.

He hit 4,800 on a back-to-back double kill, dragging his staff across a brute’s legs and shattering its skull underfoot.

[4,877]

The next ones tried to hide.

He found them.

[4,901]

He smiled once, just faintly.

And kept walking.

At 4,992, he slowed.

His breath came hard now. His knuckles bled. But his vision was razor-sharp.

He moved into a clearing. Seven remained.

They stood in a loose circle, hissing, some injured, most feral. One of them tried to speak — a growl in broken tongue.

Damien didn’t reply.

He raised his staff.

And swept.

[4,993]

[4,994]

[4,995]

A claw caught his cheek.

He backstepped, drove a spell into its gut, and flung the corpse into another.

[4,996]

He flipped his staff, slammed it down.

Bang!

[4,997]

A knife to the neck. A sweep to the legs. A pulse blast to the heart.

[4,998]

And then…

The second-to-last one — a crawli6mg demon with three glowing eyes — tried to flee.

Damien whispered, “No.”

He vanished.

Light Steps.

And reappeared above it.

The staff fell.

[4,999]

The final demon.

A malformed creature with no legs, just a serpent’s tail and too many mouths.

It saw him.

It didn’t run.

It raised both arms.

Damien looked down at it.

His lips didn’t move.

But his will did.

The air pulsed.

The demon dropped to its knees.

He didn’t strike it.

He simply reached forward.

And snapped its neck.

Crack!

[5,000 / 5,000]

Ding!

[System Mission Completed – Demon Kill Count: 5,000]

[Sixth Summon Slot Unlocked]

[New Summon Available]

[Summon Next Beast?]

[Yes] / [Later]

The screen pulsed in Damien’s vision.

The air shifted.

Essence pulled around him in a spiral — faint at first, then dense, heavier.

He felt a pressure building behind the veil of the system — like something vast was breathing just beyond the layer of his perception.

Not violent.

Not primal.

But ancient.

Even Skylar landed behind him and bowed its head, growling low as if in reverence.

Damien stood still.

Then whispered…

“…Later.”

The system faded.

The wind returned.

He looked down at the field of corpses.

And turned toward the road.

“I’m done.”

He was. At least for now.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep