The sun was beginning its descent, casting golden light across the sharp cliffs of the Azrak Mountain Range. On his way back to the Adventurers' Guild after clearing the hidden salamander boss, Alex moved swiftly along the narrow, rocky trail.
Each step was deliberate, his senses sharpened.
Suddenly—he paused.
His eyes narrowed. There was movent, faint but coordinated. The sound of tallic clinks, voices hushed in the wind, and the distant shimr of torchlight just ahead where there should have been only stone.
Alex leapt onto a nearby cliff, crouching low. From the shadowed ledge, he gazed down.
A massive, fortified cavern mouth lay carved into the mountainside, surrounded by wooden palisades, watchtowers, and dozens of tents arranged in military formation.
Bandits.
Not the usual disorganized filth. These were disciplined, ard with spears, crossbows, enchanted swords, even siege gear.
They bore a black-and-red serpent emblem—Crimson Vipers, a notorious group of rciless raiders wanted in several regions.
Alex's hand gripped his sword. One hundred of them. Probably more inside.
He smirked.
"Perfect."
The moon had risen high when Alex made his move.
The guards stationed at the outer periter leaned lazily on their spears, unaware of the ghost slipping through the shadows.
"Tch… this job's so boring—"
CRACK.
A boot ca down from above, and before the guard could scream, a blade slit his throat. Alex vanished into the dark before the corpse hit the ground.
He moved like a phantom—one step, one kill.
He scaled the wooden walls, darting from rooftop to rooftop like a predator. His black coat fluttered in the wind. His silver eyes glead like a blade drawn in moonlight.
Three archers spotted movent on the northern post.
"Hey, you see that?"
Alex shot upward like a spring.
"Wha—?"
Too late.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
Three heads rolled across the post, blood spraying in arcs.
Alarms sounded—but they never got far.
"INTRUDER—!!"
BOOM!!!
Alex raised his magical gun and fired into the central tent—a burst of fla that exploded into a sea of fire, igniting crates of black powder.
The bandit camp plunged into chaos.
n scread, scrambling for weapons.
From atop the burning tower, Alex stood still—his coat billowing, his sword glowing with twin elental runes, and his gun aid down at the scrambling mob.
"Co, scum."
Dozens of bandits charged at once.
Spearn lunged, swordsn howled, mages chanted.
Alex jumped down like a teor.
"Sword Style: Frostfire Whirlwind!"
He spun mid-air—his sword trailing fla and ice. As he landed, he unleashed the technique—
BOOOOOM!!!
A circular wave of destruction erupted outward. Flas vaporized the frontliners while ice spikes impaled others from beneath.
Twenty n fell in an instant.
"H-he's a monster—!"
The second wave arrived—archers and elental mages.
Arrows rained from above. Lightning bolts streaked toward him.
Alex sprinted forward, weaving between volleys with unnatural speed.
"Gun Technique: Lightning Chain Shot!"
He fired a bolt of lightning that struck the first archer—then chained through eight more, frying them mid-scream.
One mage tried to cast a barrier.
Too slow.
Alex leapt and drove his sword through the barrier like butter, cleaving the caster in half.
More charged in desperation—battle axes, shields, dual-wielders.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
A flurry of steel clashed. Alex parried a dozen blows in the blink of an eye, his blade dancing with elental force. He ducked, flipped, and retaliated with precision.
"Wind Step—Phantom Rush!"
He disappeared—only afterimages left behind.
SPLAT. SPLAT. SPLAT.
Bodies dropped in a circle around him. In less than five minutes, over sixty were dead.
A thunderous roar silenced the battlefield.
From within the cavern erged a towering man, clad in black armor with a serpent's scale pattern. His eyes glowed red. A massive greatsword was slung across his back, nearly as long as he was tall.
"You're the bastard that slaughtered my n?"
Alex flicked blood from his blade. "They deserved worse."
The man sneered. "I am Kuro the Crimson Viper. My bounty stretches across three kingdoms. And I'll hang your corpse on my gate for this."
Alex exhaled. "Try ."
BOOOOOOOM!!!
Kuro lunged forward—greatsword descending like a teor.
Alex parried—barely.
The force sent tremors through the ground.
They clashed.
Blow for blow.
Steel scread. Sparks flew.
Kuro's strength was monstrous, but Alex's technique was flawless.
He ducked under a horizontal swing, slid behind Kuro, and slashed—
But Kuro twisted and caught Alex's blade with his gauntlet.
"Not bad!" Kuro laughed. Then his sword pulsed red—Dark Fire Enchantnt!
He swung again.
BOOOOM!!!
The entire courtyard exploded.
Alex flew back, crashing into a ruined tent.
Smoke rose.
Silence.
Kuro grinned.
"Dead?"
But then—
The smoke parted.
Alex stood again. His coat was torn. Blood ran down his face.
But his eyes were glowing.
"No… just getting started."
He raised his sword to the sky.
"Limit Break—Soul Overdrive!"
His aura erupted—twin elental dragons spiraling around him.
Kuro took a step back. "W-what…?"
Alex vanished.
SHING!
A deep gash opened across Kuro's chest.
"How—?"
Alex was behind him now.
"Sword Style: Final Art—Dragon Fang!"
He thrust his sword into the ground.
The blade pulsed—and from it, a ring of elental dragons erupted, fire and ice roaring outward in a massive spiral.
KABOOOOOM!!!
The blast consud Kuro.
When the dust settled—
Nothing remained but molten rock and a single, shattered helm.
The bandit camp was reduced to ash. The surviving buildings collapsed. The blood of the wicked stained the ground.
Alex stood at the edge of the mountain, sword in hand, his coat fluttering in the night wind.
Behind him—not a single enemy remained alive.
He didn't speak. He just turned and walked.
His silhouette disappeared into the dark.
And the mountain was silent once more.
"Nyx why won't you co out and accompany as we walk back enjoying the scenery?" Alex sought Nyx out, the latter appeared after a mont of silence, together they walked back. He already thinking about what to do from now on, he would beco a Black rank Adventurer now that he had accomplished the final test, that thing monitoring him must have reported back by now so there is no need to explain himself.
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