Bodies dropped everywhere that Raven passed by. Like the Devil incarnate, equipped with the sword and the devil's mask, he slaughtered everyone thoughtlessly.
Some started to run away from him, others, realising he was too strong, teamed up to sneak attack him, but ultimately it was all futile.
"Monster!!!"
"Run, you idiots."
Raven had martial power, which already did 2 times the damage that the normal strength did, and this is further elevated by the fact that his level was much higher than almost everyone he was fighting.
The only people who were even close were at the top of the leaderboard and considering the fact that they were of all different nationalities, and the fact that they could be anywhere in the massive fields of this dimension, Raven had yet to come across anyone strong.
This basically meant he could one-hit most normal players, no matter their class.
[Your level has increased]
[Your level has increased]
[Your level has increased]
'Haha, this awareness skill is great. I don't have to fear sneak attacks, and no one can run away if I don't want them to.'
Raven was happy about his abilities, yet he was more surprised at the incompetence of the other players.
'I really hope I find someone strong, hopefully a player on the leader-board, so I can kill two birds with one stone.
I'll be able to have a good fight and take out my competition.'
'Most might think that is stupid, but right now I really want a battle that would allow me to at least try a few of my abilities. And since I know I'm currently the strongest, I can keep it that way if I kill my competition, as the 10-minute revive time was still very disadvantageous even if you can revive.'
He scoured his surroundings, observing everything happening around him.
Raven noticed a few healers clinging to groups, trying to stay alive. Alone, they'd be useless, but in a team they weren't so bad.
Still, it was only a matter of time before their so-called allies turned on them. Teamwork was just a temporary convenience here.
'No one here is that strong.'
Without fully knowing how he would find a ranker (someone ranked on the leader-board), he decided to follow the trail of bodies through the trampled grass and broken trees.
Wherever corpses piled up faster than they could respawn, someone strong had to be near. This means that someone strong must be responsible.
As he searched for someone strong, killing whoever he found in his way helped him level up even further. He planned to surpass level 20 and see if he would receive any benefits for doing so.
Finally, Raven found out that he had come across someone strong, who now stood across him. The man, with his knife in hand, was ready to pounce on Raven. With no one else around them, it was clear that this was a fight between the two tigers that stood on this mountain of corpses.
The only way for others to have an item would be to open the shop function, meaning that they were over level 10. This would also most likely mean that he was a ranker on the leaderboard, which was quite useful information for Raven, as he now confirmed that the items in the system shop were random for everyone.
Without waiting any further, Raven decided to engage his foe…
…
"Haah, man, this is easy."
Roy Bricks stretched his broad shoulders as he twirled the knife in his hand. His thick, muscular frame made him tower over most players here, but he didn't care. He was already ranked 17th, and to him, this so-called battle royale had been nothing but a walk in the park.
'These scrubs don't even last a second. Invisibility, knife to the throat, and it's over. Too easy.'
Back home, Roy was the heir to Bricks International, a business empire that had its fingers in every market on the planet.
Money had always paved the way for him, whether it was the best MMA coaches, exclusive gyms, or private trainers that charged more in a week than most people made in a year. He hadn't earned his strength; he'd bought it. And he didn't see any shame in that.
'All those years of training on Dad's dime are finally paying off. Look at me now. While these losers are fumbling around with swords they can barely hold, I'm cutting them down like cattle.'
He chuckled, remembering the look of panic in the last man's eyes as the light consumed him.
Then, up ahead, he spotted someone moving calmly through the battlefield. Not panicked, not clueless, just walking like he owned the place.
'Finally, someone with a backbone. Guess I'll snap it.'
Roy activated his invisibility and darted forward, a predator on the hunt. His steps were light despite his size, the knife angled perfectly for the kill.
'One clean strike. He won't even know what hit him.'
…
Raven was extremely surprised when he suddenly turned invisible. Just before, he had started sprinting towards Raven and used the knife to stab him.
'Shit, I can't see him?'
Raven realised that he had made a mistake by being unprepared to confront such an enemy.
Not knowing where the enemy was, he got into a defensive stance and braced for impact.
When the assassin's invisibility ran out, he was already behind Raven. Raven was, therefore, unable to defend against the blow. Shwiiing!!
Raven just managed to deflect the blow that was headed towards his neck at the final moment. It instead sliced across his shoulder, ripping his t-shirt and leaving a trail of…
Nothing…
Nothing at all…
Well, upon closer inspection, there seemed to be a small red line on his shoulder, and it seemed to swell slowly, as if it had been scratched by your pet dog.
"Haahahaha."
"That was a close one."
Raven gloated after seeing that the opponent couldn't inflict any amount of substantial damage on him.
"You!"
"What the hell are you?"
"Just how are you unscathed after being hit by my F-grade weapon?"
The assassin stuttered, not knowing what to do next.
Not wanting to waste any time, Raven used this opportunity to strike using his sword. He decided to try infusing some aether into it, realising that he had yet to use this power of his.
It was just a simple swing.
Except, unlike what had happened before, it was a clean slice.
Blood rained on the floor like a fountain from Roy's right shoulder.
"Agghhh," he fell on his knees while clutching the stub that was left of his right hand.
"Urhhh."
"You f***er, do you know who I am? I'll find you in the real world… and make sure you suffer even more pain than this." He screamed, all the while pausing due to the immense pain that ravaged him.
"Oh, whatever do you mean? I was simply giving you a free mandatory lesson on how to use your weapon, considering what pathetic little damage you did with it."
"I swear you… won't get away with it."
"As payment for this lesson, how about I take this knife of yours?" Raven walked up to the knife that lay about a meter away, right next to the severed hand that was holding it.
However, just as he was about to pick it up, it suddenly vanished into small dust-like particles.
"Haha, it seems that you can't steal other people's loot here." Roy gloated through the pain at his somewhat small victory.
"You can die now, then," Raven spoke, devoid of any emotion.
"Nooo, ple…."
-Swish
It was all over in an instant as Roy's head and body were no longer attached.
'That really ruined my mood, seems I can't steal loot even if I kill higher-level players that might have weapons.'
[You have levelled up]
He exhaled.
This fight, although over quickly, helped him learn that he lacked fighting tactics and instinct, and he needed to fully grasp all of his powers.
Raven moved forward. Also, since he used everything he had, he was at almost double the kills of the person in second.
The gap was still increasing as he had come to the realisation that he could use Aether to attack many targets at once.
He infused it with the flame attribute, which was the best he could do for now in terms of damage, but it was good enough to kill players with ease.