Bound To The Dead: The Deceptive Class-E Farmer
Chapter 91: Instinct and Inheritance

Chapter 91: Instinct and Inheritance

The battlefield was cloaked in dust and silence.

Isaac stood at its center. Hands raised. Voice calm.

Thousands of locusts hovered around him shifting, reshaping, not to kill blindly, but to control. This wasn’t chaos. This was a command.

Every motion was intentional. Every pattern is a strategy.

Formation. Tactics. Timed aggression. Energy preservation. Sacrifice rotations.

These were not just combat commands.

They were inherited protocols, techniques passed through blood, memory, and instinct.

Isaac’s eyes opened slowly.

His swarm hovered, motionless, awaiting orders.

He spoke.

"Let’s try something new."

"First group. Defensive wall. Triangle shield."

Hundreds of locusts snapped into formation midair, arranging themselves into a reinforced triangular barrier. The enemy blast struck, but the formation held.

"Second group. Feint rotation. Two-second delay. Strike left flank."

The locusts shifted instantly. One wave darted forward as bait, erratic, exposed. Two seconds passed. A secondary swarm surged from the side, punching through three enemy lines in a clean, surgical assault.

[System Update: Swarm Grid Online]

[Formation integrity: Stable. Pressure pattern optimal.]

"Keep it going," Isaac ordered. "Begin pressure rotations. No brute forcing."

From above, the enemy swarm faltered. Hesitated.

Shatterclaw’s head tilted.

For the first time, the ancient swarm commander showed uncertainty.

"Adaptation," it muttered. "He’s learning... in real time."

The two swarms circled like predators, pacing the edge of a dying fire.

Isaac inhaled deeply.

Then...

"All groups! Crush Spiral. Core Impact. GO."

Hopper shrieked, relaying the command.

Isaac’s locusts dove into a perfect spiral, tight, fast, and impossibly precise. Each revolution pulled them closer to the enemy’s core. Their wings burned with kinetic heat, vibrating at a pitch that made the trees tremble.

"Intercept!" the General snapped. "Form anti-spin net!"

But it was too late.

Isaac’s spiral formation smashed into the control core.

[Impact Registered – Core Breach]

The blue-eyed swarm broke.

And then...

BOOM!

The central column detonated in a concussive shockwave. Wings shredded. Shells scattered.

The ancient formation collapsed.

Shatterclaw stared at Isaac.

"Then it’s true," it said. "You carry more than his blood... you carry his instincts."

Isaac stepped forward.

His sickles remained sheathed.

"I didn’t come here to be him," he said. "I came to find an answer, General."

The General lowered its blade-arms.

Not in surrender.

But in recognition.

Of potential.

Isaac narrowed his eyes.

"You yield?"

Shatterclaw said nothing. Instead, it raised one claw.

And pointed directly at Isaac’s chest.

No swarm. Only instinct.

A final challenge.

A duel.

Hopper, sensing it, retreated without a word.

Isaac drew the Twin Reaper Sickles.

"...Alright," he whispered. "Let’s finish it."

The General vanished.

FWIP. CRACK!

A blade cleaved the air where Isaac’s head had been, missing by inches. He hadn’t seen it move. Only felt the wind it left behind.

He ducked. Twisted. Raised both sickles.

CLANG!

Sparks erupted as metal met metal.

The General’s movements were precise, unnaturally smooth. No hesitation. No wasted motion. Its body moved like a weapon wielded by instinct alone.

It didn’t speak.

Its movements were its voice.

And they were deafening.

Isaac countered, low sickle stance, tight footwork, rapid strikes from both arms.

Clean execution. Sharp angles.

But he was swinging at fog.

The General side-shifted effortlessly. One blade flicked upward.

SHUNK!

Pain.

A cold line ripped across Isaac’s left shoulder.

"Gah...!"

He staggered back. Blood soaked through his shirt in seconds.

Not enough to stop him.

But enough to slow him.

The General didn’t pause.

It attacked again, blades spinning in a flurry, slicing at angles no human could predict.

Isaac blocked three. Dodged two.

The sixth strike broke his guard.

Another cut. This time across his chest.

His legs buckled.

He dropped to one knee.

Then, something shifted.

A pulse.

A whisper in the back of his mind.

A memory...

That wasn’t his.

A vast, black room.

Shadowed walls. A silent throne. A being of light and dark stood in the center, locked in combat with this same General.

Each movement mirrored his own. Perfectly.

Isaac watched, no, relived. Each dodge, each parry.

The being stepped left.

Isaac stepped left.

The being blocked low.

Isaac blocked low.

Instinct without learning.

Technique without practice.

Inherited memory.

His body rose again, bloodied and unsteady. But his eyes were calm now and clear.

"I’ve seen this before," he said quietly.

The General paused.

Tilted its head.

Then charged.

[Warning: Energy Level 34%]

And then, the being’s voice.

Ancient. Heavy. Brutal.

"You think slaying thirty thousand soldiers, felling Class-S monsters, and cleaving through humanoid war clans makes you strong?"

"Fool."

"If you can’t defeat this... you’ll never survive the hosts of angels or demons."

Isaac exhaled slowly.

His grip tightened on the sickles.

Isaac hissed through clenched teeth.

’...What do you mean?’

"If we did the soul fusion..."

"...then someone else can do it too."

And then, silence.

The voice vanished.

But the words lingered like frost in his mind.

Isaac exhaled slowly.

He moved again.

Not with speed.

With timing.

He no longer reacted to the General’s motion.

He anticipated it.

Felt it coming.

Saw it, just a breath before impact.

The system flared.

[Skill Unlocked: Abyssal Hard Instinct – Lv.1]

Temporarily mirrors the enemy’s attack pattern. Reaction speed increased by 300% for 7 seconds. Body strain: High.

His body surged forward before thought could catch up.

The General slashed low,

Isaac leapt.

A strike from the right.

He spun beneath it.

Then...

CRACK!

His sickle smashed into the creature’s jaw.

Pain erupted through his arms. Muscles tearing. Bones fracturing.

But he kept moving.

Every dodge stung. Every strike burned.

But it was working.

He wasn’t just keeping up. He was surpassing it.

Isaac let go.

Let instinct take over.

One breath.

One step.

Then...

SHUNK!

His right sickle pierced the General’s chest.

The left hooked its leg.

SLAM.

The creature crashed into the dirt.

Dust rose.

Blood oozed.

Isaac stood over it, chest heaving. His arm hung limp,dislocated. His shoulder drenched in red.

But he didn’t fall.

The General twitched.

Then, knees bent. It did not rise.

It knelt.

Its blade-arms plunged into the earth.

Then it spoke.

"The Throne has waited for you."

"I waited for you."

"Lead again... or fall with the swarm."

The system message appeared.

[Swarm Authority Level: 100%]

[Stage 1 Completed: Swarm Authority has reached Master Level.]

[New Ability: Swarm Construct – Create swarm-based creatures for battle or defense.]

[New Passive: Swarm Crown – All swarm monsters gain +10% morale, partial independence, and full synergy in battle.]

[Reaper’s Boomerang: 100% Mastery]

Isaac didn’t respond.

He could barely breathe.

But something inside him shifted, clicked.

This wasn’t just strength.

It was trust.

From a past he didn’t fully understand.

From a future he would carve alone.