The Transcendent Godslayer
Chapter 99: Rifts: Kill

Chapter 99: Rifts: Kill

Kallen’s eyes opened, and he stood up from the grimy floor.

His movement drew attention, and the orcs looked at him as if observing a strange specimen.

Kallen paid no mind to their stares. He could already tell why they were looking at him like that.

Part of it was fascination with the black markings on his body; the other was the fact that he was naked.

He didn’t mind, though. Although he hadn’t developed any kind of weird kink or fetish, just like before, he had no choice, and would just have to...

His hand suddenly flashed to his side, catching the clothing flying toward him.

Turning his head, he saw Democles looking at him with a bland expression.

"Have some decency," he said flatly.

Kallen nodded... maybe he wouldn’t have to do it naked again. He slipped into the comfy pants handed to him, then put on the shirt.

"Here," he heard once he was done. To his right, he saw Castor handing him a hammer.

"I’ll work the ores today," Castor said.

Kallen looked at him and the hammer for a few seconds before nodding.

"Thank you," he said, accepting it. "Maybe I’ll finally be successful, in forging my first piece today" he added.

Castor simply nodded without a word, before turning around... his step, towards the blazing furnace.

He hadn’t even taken past one step, before his head exploded like a watermelon... blood, bone fragments, and brain matter flying everywhere.

A heavy silence descended upon the forge, broken only by the sound of the wind and the hammer slicing through the air with each swing from Kallen.

His expression remained entirely unchanged, his eyes placid. Blood and gore dripped down his face, and hair, the set of clean clothes he had only just worn, sullied by blood and brain matter that slowly slid down the fabric.

They watched silently; mouths agape and eyes wide open as he stepped past the corpse and picked up another hammer, now wielding one in each hand.

The moment his gaze lifted from the floor and fell on them, their souls left their bodies, and only then did they seem to snap out of the shock.

"Arrrgh!" one of them shrieked in horror.

"What have you done?" another bellowed.

Kallen, however, just stomped his foot on the ground, and in the next second, two more heads exploded.

Blood burst out, splashing on those nearby and making them freeze completely in shock—their lack of experience in combat and deadly situations becoming suddenly and glaringly obvious.

Kallen didn’t waste the opportunity. As they hesitated, more heads followed suit—cracking and some exploding into fragments.

"You bastard!" one of them roared in rage, scales tearing out from his arms and crawling up his body. His face elongated into a snout, and his appearance became akin to that of an overly muscular reptile-man.

He was the first to regain composure—the few battles he had fought helping him level up, and his instincts overriding the lapse in action.

His muscles bulged as he cocked his arms backward, then whipped them forward with a roar, throwing the hammer in his hands toward Kallen with a force no Unascended Ascendent should possess.

The hammer seemed to vanish from sight before reappearing in front of Kallen. But with crimson eyes still as calm as water, Kallen slid out of the way—his feet gliding over the blood on the ground like a slide.

His hair was blown upward by the wind force that accompanied the hammer, and he accelerated toward the young orc.

Kallen swung one of his hammers into the orc’s abdomen, making him keel over in pain, his snout meeting Kallen’s knee.

His head whipped upward but couldn’t even reach its full arc before the second hammer descended onto its temple, cracking and caving it in.

The tough scales prevented it from completely shattering.

The next second, Kallen stomped on the young man’s head and pushed to the side, narrowly escaping what seemed to be a beam of white light, surrounded by concentric white circles.

Although he dodged the main light, the concentric circles still caught him, blowing him away. His shirt was ripped in many places, as though slashed by a bladed weapon.

He flipped mid-air and landed on the balls of his feet, crouching slightly and whipping his head toward the attacker.

Democles lunged forward with the spear in his hand again, eyes completely cold.

He didn’t rage or roar or shriek like the others, but the abnormal, suffocating amount of killing intent pouring from him said more than enough.

Kallen darted to the side, keeping out of range of the concentric circles that followed, only to be met by another light almost at his face.

Kallen fell backward, leaning so far down it was a wonder his knees didn’t pop.

Tightening his core, he swung himself back up, just in time to see Democles swinging the spear like a sword.

An arc of crescent-shaped white light left the spear, shooting toward Kallen with the clear intent to bisect him in two.

Democles made another arc immediately, and then another, all in rapid succession to ensure Kallen died from at least one of them.

With eyes still calm, Kallen crouched slightly and jumped, soaring above the blade lights. Immediately, he cocked his arm back.

Democles’ gaze followed him, as though already expecting the maneuver, showcasing a level of battle experience and intelligence Kallen had not anticipated.

He pierced the spear forward again, another beam of light shooting off it like a bullet.

Kallen snapped the arm he had cocked behind him forward, throwing one of his hammers toward Democles. Using that momentum, he twisted his torso just enough to avoid being fully pierced by the beam.

However, he was still within the range of the concentric circles that appeared around it and was blown away again. His shirt was ripped into shreds, now hanging off him like rags.

His hammer, however, flew too fast for Democles to react. It impacted his chest, caving it in.

Democles’ body was blown backward, crashing through the equipment in the forge amidst shrieks and roars from the other orcs, until he collided with a wall and lost consciousness.

Kallen twisted his body like a gymnast in mid-air, swinging his legs for balance and to increase air resistance, before landing in a crouched position.

He let out a breath, feeling stings of pain on his chest. A flicker of interest flashed in his eyes, then disappeared completely as he shot toward the others.