Hero of Darkness
chapter-18

In a desolate area surrounded by the dense tree line, a man was facing a group of people pointing their weapons at him. However, instead of running away and cowering in fear; the man walked towards this hostile group with an overbearing demeanor.

Kahn stared at the group that was surrounding him from all directions but none of them dared to move a single step forward.

Under Kahn's War Dominance aura, the group of Groundhog adventurer team members shuddered in fear and many had beads of sweat dripping from their foreheads.

"Now which one of you wants to die first?" Kahn said as he kept releasing his chaotic and deathly aura.

Kahn's War Dominance aura had undergone many qualitative changes after he hunted down many powerful monsters and absorbed their physical and innate skills. He had already merged few abilities under the War Dominance blessing give to him by the War Deity himself. The current extent of this ability was far beyond when he hunted the pack of wolves and almost died on his first day in the forest. And Kahn had also leveled up by many levels after eating the core of the legendary Somir.

He was no longer a man who'd get surprised easily or react hastily, rather someone who always maintained a calm and calculative mind. That's why he lured these people outside of the city when they were pursuing him. This way, there would be no witnesses.

"No one? I guess I should go by my personal preference." Kahn said as he gave a small smirk and looking around.

"Fireball!" shouted the mage in the group and sent out a giant fireball at Kahn.

Kahn who had both his Survival Intent & Hunter's Intent active at the moment sensed it as soon as the mage started casting the spell.

Kahn quickly used the Side Hopper ability he created after he combined the Long Stride & Sprinter ability during the previous 2 days when he was traveling towards the Flavot city with the caravan.

BANG!

The giant fireball finally hit a human body.. just not Kahn but the man that was standing behind him.

"What the.." said the mage. His spell was really fast and his aim was accurate, but he hit his comrade instead of Kahn.

"Nice. Casting time is short and accuracy is very good as well. It'll be useful for me."

Suddenly the mage heard a voice that came from his right side, the man who spoke was none other than Kahn.

"Ahhhhh.. Help me!" shouted the man who was hit by the fireball as his entire body started burning on the spot!

Wails of a man being burned alive resounded in the middle of the dense tree line.

Everyone present had an ashen expression on their face.

"You bastard!" shouted Illya, the blonde man who brought these people to kill Kahn.

Suddenly, the locket he was wearing let out a blast of energy and the blonde man finally broke through the pressure of War Dominance aura and charged at Kahn.

"Some people just don't learn, do they?" sighed Kahn.

As soon as Illya came in Kahn's proximity, he swung his sword right at Kahn's neck.

Swoosh!

Suddenly, the tall figure disappeared right in front of his eyes.

"I already told you. You don't have the skills." a voice came from behind Illya's back.

At this time, the mage finished chanting some kind of spell and created a flower-shaped magical formation that spread around the surrounding area and nullified Kahn's War Dominance aura.

Kahn who felt his War Dominance aura suddenly fading gave a surprised look.

All the people who were rooted on the spot under the immense pressure finally felt their bodies become light and able to move again.

Terrifying! The man in front of them was terrifying!

"Oh, so it can be countered? Or am I not strong enough to maintain it when someone interferes?"

[The War Dominance blessing only works at the physical bodies of the targets. But if the targeted individual has an object with magical skill or an innate ability to break the pressure exerted, then the ability will not work on that individual.] The system which had been silent in the past 3 days finally spoke again.

"I see. So that's how the mage escaped." Kahn spoke to himself and started running towards the recovering as he activated his newly synthesized offensive ability after mixing Alpha Wolf's claws and Blue Lion's claws, one of the monsters he hunted in the forest with the help of Rudra.

Kahn's hand turned into a black and blue patterned claw and a layer of hard metal-like skin covered his entire arm.

Kahn named this ability 'Ripper Claw'. Simply because it was enough to rip through any steel or metal armor easily.

As both his arms turned to that of a monster, the surrounding Adventurers who were just about to start running at him stopped midway.

"What the hell! Is he some kind of monster?" yelled one of the people.

"Don't keep staring at him. Attack him together!" shouted Illya as he fully released some kind of offensive ability that made his sword and his entire body glow red.

The archers in the group took out their arrows dipped in some type of green poison and started shooting at Kahn.

Kahn who was already expecting such attacks hopped from one side to another and evaded these arrows without a problem. His Survival Instict blessing was acting as his own Spidey-sense. Letting him feel the oncoming attack and murderous intent directed at him.

Swish!

Kahn disappeared from his position and appeared right next to the mage who broke through his War Dominance aura first.

"Let's start with you." Kahn dashed at the mage and put his claws through the man's chest and ripped his heart out.

"Mages truly have no defense." said Kahn and charged towards the close by swordsman who was just taking his sword out of his sheath.

Rip!

Before the man could even take out the sword completely, Kahn appeared in front of him and swung his left claw at the man's neck. Taking out a chunk of meat from his neck as he swept past the man without even looking.

A small spray of red blood gushed out of the man's throat as he fell on the ground, completely horrified and surprised to even register how quickly Kahn sliced through his neck without even giving the man a chance to defend.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sound of metal and something extremely hard clashing together rang and one by one, the bodies of these adventurers who had planned to ambush Kahn fell on the ground.

In just 20 breaths since the mage broke through the War Dominance pressure, more than 8 people died at the hands of Kahn who looked like a ferocious beast hunting them one by one. His movements were no different than a Predator beast taking out his prey one by one with its swift dashes and deadly claws.

Every hit was aimed at a vital point and he'd make sure that his claws hit deep enough to kill the man on the spot.

The remaining 5 people were so scared that their bodies were shivering with fear and their hands trembled so much to even hold their weapons properly.

A monster! The man they thought was a weak nobody turned out to be a monster! His actions and the way he killed his targets were no different than the monsters these people often fought in forests or during their Dungeon expeditions.

Kahn's eyes were glowing red at this point because of his Hunter's Intent ability being active which made him look nothing like a human. His hands were drenched in red blood and the droplets dripping from his sharp claws.

"Run!" one of the men shouted as he ran for his life, trying to leave behind others before Kahn could catch up to him.

"Omega!" Kahn shouted, suddenly a giant four-legged creature leaped out of his shadow and ran towards the man running away from the crowd.

The Dire Wolf, who was the first subordinate Kahn created finally sprung up in action ever since they left the forest.

"You.. Who the hell are you?!" Illya shouted, letting out a hoarse voice as he was barely able to accept this turn of events.

This was supposed to be the other way around. He was supposed to cut Kahn piece by piece and watch him cry & beg for forgiveness as Illya tortured him to death for offending him in front of all those people in Adventurers Association hall.

But the scene in front of him was the complete opposite of what he dreamed of. Rather than being the hunter, they were the ones being hunted.

"Do you really want to know?" asked Kahn as he walked towards the remaining 3 men.

"Yes, who the fuck are you?!" shouted one of the men standing beside Illya.

"Well.. What's the point in telling to someone... who's about to die."