Chapter 362 - 362: Playtime Is Over

Aiden looked at the twenty powerful monsters surrounding him from all sides, his face blooming with an excited smile.

It was almost as if he couldn't contain his joy.

And that was exactly what was happening.

It had been more than a year since Aiden had ever felt this much thrill from battling anyone.

More than a year since he had encountered opponents capable of making his blood boil with excitement and sending that familiar sensation of danger coursing through his body.

But this Portal...

This Portal had brought that feeling back to him once more.

It made him happy beyond measure.

And wouldn't it be selfish of him if he didn't share his happiness with these twenty warriors?

After all...

Happiness was better when shared.

The Ashen Commanders that were about to attack suddenly came to a stop when they saw the massive Vine Warrior King take a stance.

Aiden slowly raised his shield.

Then...

Bang!

He struck it once.

Bang!

Twice.

Bang!

Three times.

The sound echoed across the battlefield.

His grin widened beneath the Vine Warrior King helmet as he looked at the twenty monsters surrounding him.

"Come at me together..."

His voice was smooth and calm.

"And hold nothing back."

He paused for a moment.

"For your sake."

The faces of the Ashen Commanders darkened.

The blatant lack of respect in his words was unmistakable.

This human...

This disgusting human...

He was actually provoking all twenty of them at once.

The killing intent surrounding the commanders suddenly erupted.

Then they attacked with full force.

BOOM!

The ground cracked beneath their feet as twenty powerful S-Rank Monsters simultaneously charged toward one opponent.

Aiden.

The battlefield shook violently.

The twenty monsters moved together with frightening coordination, their attacks coming from every direction.

Fists.

Claws.

Weapons.

Flames.

Energy.

Destructive attacks of different kinds tore through the air as they all descended upon Aiden at once.

And without a shred of doubt...

The battle quickly turned against Aiden.

Yes.

He was extremely strong.

Right now, even without the Emerald Vine Armor he was wearing, Aiden would be able to easily crush most other S-Rankers due to his peak superhuman physique.

And in this Emerald Vine Armor...

His physicality was even more ridiculous.

His strength was about five times greater than that of the average S-Ranker.

His speed was terrifying.

His durability was absurd.

His regenerative ability was practically unfair.

Yet...

He wasn't facing five S-Rankers.

He wasn't even facing ten.

He was facing a freaking twenty of them.

And to top things off...

These weren't ordinary S-Rankers.

These monsters were at the Mid-S-Rank and High-S-Rank levels respectively.

With even two of them being at the Peak S-Rank level.

So yes...

They were no weaklings.

Far from it.

And as if that wasn't enough to add the cherry on top...

They were all attacking him with an uncanny viciousness and brutality.

Almost as if Aiden had personally murdered their children and entire families.

Their attacks were merciless.

There was no hesitation.

No restraint.

Every strike carried enough power to seriously injure an ordinary S-Ranker.

And all twenty of those attacks were coming toward Aiden at the same time.

Aiden's greatblade moved.

BOOM!

His shield rose.

CLANG!

A powerful attack smashed into it, forcing his enormous body backward.

Another attack came from his blind spot.

He twisted his body.

The attack narrowly missed his head.

Then another struck his shoulder.

Another smashed against his chest.

Aiden blocked one.

Dodged another.

And allowed the Emerald Vine Armor to absorb the rest.

Yet even then...

The pressure was enormous.

Not long after Aiden thought that...

Another loud dying scream suddenly rang out from the battlefield.

One of the Ashen Monsters fighting against his Vine Army let out a dying scream before collapsing to the ground.

Dead.

Just like that.

Aiden's eyes flashed.

"Oh..."

He glanced toward the battlefield for a brief moment.

"I guess I might be killing their family after all."

His smile widened.

"So sad."

He raised his greatblade and blocked another incoming attack.

"He should probably send them to meet their family soon."

Aiden chuckled.

"That way, I'd be doing the best favor in history..."

His grin became wider.

"The favor of death."

"Why are you laughing?!"

One of the Ashen Commanders fighting against him shouted furiously.

"Do you think this is all fun?!"

The monster drove a powerful flaming fist directly toward Aiden.

BOOM!

The fist smashed straight through the Vine Warrior King's skull.

The entire head shattered.

Emerald fragments exploded outward.

For a brief moment...

There was nothing where Aiden's head had been.

Then...

Emerald vines erupted.

They twisted together at terrifying speed.

Layer after layer formed.

The skull reconstructed itself.

The face regenerated.

The Vine Warrior King's head was completely reformed within moments.

Aiden looked at the commander.

His smile was still there.

"You bastard!"

The Ashen Commander roared and tried to strike once more.

But before he could do so...

SHING!

Aiden's sword flashed.

The commander's hand fell from its arm.

Blood exploded into the air.

The monster stared at its severed limb in disbelief.

But Aiden didn't bother pressing his advantage at all.

Instead...

He immediately raised his shield.

BOOM!

Another Ashen Commander attacked from the side.

Aiden blocked the strike.

Another came from behind.

He twisted.

Another attacked from above.

His shield rose.

Another came from the front.

His greatblade moved.

Before long...

He was surrounded once more.

Twenty S-Rank Monsters.

All attacking him.

All trying to tear him apart.

And so...

Aiden did the only thing he could do in that situation.

He unleashed himself.

His sword moved.

And chaos followed.

BOOM!

His greatblade swept through the battlefield, wreaking havoc and dealing heavy damage to the Ashen Monsters.

His Vine Shield moved constantly, blocking attack after attack.

His body twisted and moved with impossible speed.

The vines making up his body shifted constantly.

Additional limbs emerged from his body whenever necessary.

An extra arm.

Another arm.

Sometimes two.

Sometimes more.

And each limb was branded with a weapon.

An axe.

A dagger.

A sword.

A greatblade.

A spear.

A hammer.

Countless different weapons formed from the emerald vines.

And Aiden wielded all of them.

He moved like lightning.

He struck like a storm.

Every movement carried terrifying precision.

Every attack was aimed at a weakness.

Every opening was exploited.

Soon...

Cries could be heard.

But they were no longer coming from the side of the Vine Warriors.

They were coming from the side of the commanders.

"AAARGH!"

Another Ashen Commander was sent flying.

BOOM!

Its body smashed into the ground.

Another was cut across the chest.

Another lost an arm.

Another had its shoulder pierced.

The battle...

Although it had not looked really fair to Aiden at first glance...

Was now beginning to look like the complete opposite.

The twenty S-Rank Monsters were becoming the ones worthy of being called the victims.

Because there was something they had failed to understand.

The innate ability of this mode of Aiden...

Was to grow stronger the more life force he absorbed.

And by now...

Aiden's Vine Warriors had completely decimated the entire Ashen Army.

Hundreds upon hundreds of Ashen Monsters had fallen.

Their souls...

Their life force...

Their vitality...

Everything had been sucked dry by the Vine Warriors.

The emerald warriors stood among the corpses like an army of undead monsters.

Their bodies were covered in blood.

Their warm smiles remained.

And their emerald eyes continued to glow.

"Graahhhhh!"

The last of the Ashen Warriors let out its dying scream before it fell dead.

Its body was spared, though.

Instead...

The Vine Warrior's vines stretched forward at terrifying speed.

They buried themselves deep inside the corpse.

Then they began sucking every remaining trace of energy into themselves.

The battlefield became strangely quiet for a brief moment.

Aiden's eyes flashed.

Then suddenly...

BOOM!

He was knocked backward.

His massive foot skidded across the ground, carving deep trenches into the ashen earth.

His body continued sliding.

Then he dropped onto one knee.

BOOM!

His massive body caused another enormous tremor when it landed.

The Emerald Vine Warrior King's avatar had been shredded.

Torn apart in numerous places.

Large portions of his armor were gone.

His chest had been ripped open.

One side of his body was almost completely destroyed.

Yet even in that state...

Aiden remained alive.

He looked at the twenty Ashen Commanders.

Then he let out a loud sigh.

"You really are monsters."

His damaged body slowly began regenerating.

"Even the ways you fight are monstrous."

Aiden teased.

His half-shredded Warrior King Avatar stumbled slightly before finding its footing again.

The Ashen Commanders looked at him with pure venom and hatred in their eyes.

Not in their wildest dreams had they ever imagined that they would be unable to kill a single human with all twenty of them attacking together.

It was incomprehensible.

Completely incomprehensible.

And that wasn't even the only oddity.

The Ashen Monsters looked at one another.

They were covered in wounds.

Some were not so fatal.

Others were far more serious.

Some had lost limbs.

Some had deep wounds across their chests.

Some were bleeding heavily.

Either way...

They had all been greatly injured by Aiden.

And yet...

That bastard...

They were certain he had not suffered any truly fatal injuries at all.

After all...

The real body was hiding inside that Vine Shell he had created for himself.

The thing they had managed to destroy...

Was only his shell.

And even that had only been partially destroyed.

The realization drove these powerful Ashen Warriors completely nuts.

How could a human be this difficult to kill?

How could they, twenty S-Rank Monsters, fail to bring down a single human?

Aiden looked at the warriors staring at him.

Fury burned in their gazes.

Their injured bodies were still oozing dense killing intent.

It seemed as if they really couldn't wait to kill him.

Wasn't it?

Aiden smiled.

Funny...

Because he was also starting to feel hasty.

Something was about to happen.

He didn't know exactly what.

But his gut was telling him that he needed to wrap things up in this dungeon and head out.

The feeling had become stronger.

Something big was happening outside.

And whatever it was...

He needed to get back.

Because of that...

He really needed to speed things up.

Aiden looked at the twenty S-Rank Monsters one more time.

His smile remained calm.

"Sorry..."

His voice was almost apologetic.

"But I can't play around with you anymore."

His fingers tightened around his weapon.

"You guys sure are fun to play with..."

The emerald glow surrounding his body began to intensify.

"But now..."

His eyes narrowed.

"You will have to die."

The moment those words were spoken...

Aiden's eyes flashed with a blinding green glow.

The entire battlefield seemed to tremble beneath that light.

And for the first time...

The twenty Ashen Commanders felt something they had not felt since this battle began.

A genuine sense of danger.