Challenger (IV): Start of The Bloodbath

 Meanwhile, on the other side…

 The moment Nehar had cut down the five thieves one after another and then escaped unscathed from all the attacks that rained down upon him, Chaos descended on those who were actively attacking him.

 Over a hundred people saw him killing their comrades within a minute and then retreating safely.

 Even after trying with their all, they were not able to kill or injure him.

 Well, forget about killing him, not a single spell or arrow had landed on him while he killed five thieves from them.

 They were left dumbstruck at the display of his Skills.

 They couldn't help but wonder if was he a Level 0 newcomer to this Tutorial, like them.

 While they were still baffled, the Strategist among them understood what happened very clearly.

 He understood that the man had used several Skills in succession and killed 5 people almost in the blink of an eye.

 Even his movements were a part of some sort of Skill…he was sure of that.

 But he couldn't understand how that was possible.

 Every person who received a Class at the beginning had only 3 Skills…and the Skills Nehar displayed didn't match any Class at all. 

 Only his Dagger Arts was similar to those of the thieves…but it was much more complicated and powerful than their primary skills.

 The man couldn't help but ask himself, did he make a wrong choice by joining a large group of over 100 people who were leaderless at that moment?

 He understood what happened quite clearly from the beginning.

 The world around them had suddenly changed, because of some System and they were thrust into a Tutorial where they had to choose some Class to fight against a zombie horde.

 He was shocked at first, but then he understood this was the place for him to show his real talent…commanding a group of people and becoming their unquestionable leader.

 He chose the Swordsman Class, because not only it was quite fancy, but it was also powerful.

 In this new world, where mana and magic exist, what could be more powerful than a sword?

 He didn't think that the Government or some other military crap would come and save them.

 He was sure that this Tutorial was going in the whole world right now.

 His suspicion almost became a sure thought when he saw that they were in Region C of Zone #11A53.

 He understood that there must be other Regions and Zones like this in the whole world, where people are preparing themselves to participate in the Tutorial to become powerful. 

 He also prepared himself mentally to join the others and kill zombies to become powerful as soon as possible.

 If he wanted to become a Leader, how can he remain at a lower level than others?

 It was unacceptable to him.

 But at that moment, he saw a commotion.

 Some people came running and tried to gather others…they started choosing their Classes randomly to acquire any weapon to finish their job at hand.

 He previously kept his distance from those people as he knew some of them personally.

 Most of these people were the scum of society… who lived their life by robbing, killing, and doing more heinous crimes.

 He certainly didn't want to associate with those people.

 But the Goddess of Fate had different plans for him.

 Two people, who knew him before approached him suddenly and told him that their Leader was dead.

 They wanted him to take the temporary command as they knew he was a professional gamer before who had a little bit of understanding about these Classes and other things.

 He was quite taken aback.

 He didn't know why those people suddenly approached him out of the blue… was it only because he was a professional gamer before and after they came here, he tried to calm others down while talking rationally like a Leader.

 Was that it?

 He asked himself….the more he questioned himself; he found his logic was rock-solid.

 Before these people had a Leader, so they didn't bother to listen to him.

 But now their original Leader was dead and almost everyone was vying for the Leader position, they came to him, who was a natural Leader class material by birth.

 Thus he didn't mind joining their group as the temporary Leader and led them to a battle.

 He was sure he would be able to win against three people, who were also at Level 0 like them.

 He also enquired about the person who killed their previous Leader and found that he beheaded their Leader in a single clean strike.

 There was no hesitation at all.

 He doubted that the man must have had proper training, probably military training before appearing here with them in this Tutorial.

 Thus, to be safe he made a proper plan to trap those three people and kill them.

 He enquired about everyone's Skill in great detail and formulated a plan, just as he did when he played as a professional gamer.

 First, they will encircle those three to cut off their path of retreat.

 Then they will slowly form a heavy formation by placing the Warriors and Fighters in the front, Archers and Casters in between them to fill the gaps and attack the enemy unprepared, and at the end, the Healers will be continuously performing their healing to prevent any casualty at all.

 He firmly believed that the previous Leader of this group had died just because he was reckless.

 No matter how much trained the opponent is, he is also a Level 0 participant like them.

 Was there any need to fear him?

 Not at all.

 Even if all of his plans didn't work, he thought about human wave tactics to capture and kill those three.

 When he came to the battlefield, he also formulated another plan.

 While over 100 people will keep the man busy, five thieves who were in their group will go as fast as they can to capture his team members.

 They were only two women who didn't fight at all before.

 So, it wouldn't be that hard to capture them.

 With all these plans in his mind, he started to organize the people.

 But then two things happened one after another which he didn't expect at all.

 For the first one, all of them received a Sudden Quest or better to say, an Emergency Quest.

 And all they needed to do was defend while keeping their lives intact to pass the Quest.

 Seeing the Quest Objective, the man was quite taken aback.

 They were over 100 people altogether and the System wanted them to maintain a defensive formation against only 3 people.

 What kind of joke was this?

 He assumed their Leader position to make a name for himself, winning their first dispute through a battle of overwhelming strength and the System doesn't want him to do that.

 He cursed the System openly.

 He had become the Leader and he would not stop until he had won in this battle.

 Thus, he completely neglected the System's demand in this Quest and assumed an attacking formation to march slowly but surely from all directions.

 Meanwhile, he had dispatched those five thieves.

 Although those thieves at the beginner level didn't have any Stealth Skills, they still had Quick Movement, which was more than sufficient for this job. 

 Then, he suddenly saw the man, who was standing at least at a distance of 900 meters from them with his team members rushing towards them at an unbelievable speed.

 The Strategist was not surprised like the others in his group.

 He had already understood that the man, who was coming towards them, was able to grasp the basics of his Stats and Skills.

 His agility must be quite high…that's what he thought when he saw Nehar rushing towards them for the first time.

 He saw a white barrier enveloping them and cutting them from the rest of the people…and a man rushing towards them.

 At that moment, he didn't know why he felt something was wrong.

 Who in their right mind charges towards over hundreds of people, who also have skills to back them up?

 He didn't know.

 He asked for the Casters to become ready to rain down hell on the bastard who was looking down on them by charging alone…did he think he was some kind of hero?

 Just to win two women, he is taking some big risks.

 So, let's bombard him with the spells and then capture him to show everyone that they won't be looked down on by anyone present here.

 That's what he thought.

 But what happened within a minute left him speechless.

 Not only did the man skillfully dodge all the spells and arrows that rained down on him, but he also started counterattacking by engaging those thieves who had a different mission altogether.

 The moment he engaged those thieves, the carnage started.

 He swung his dagger continuously and people started dying.

 He saw everything that was happening with his two eyes…even then he couldn't believe it.

 One…two…three….

 They were dying, without being able to fight a single bit against that monster.

 He plunged his dagger into one's neck, backstabbed another one, unleashed hell on the third one with his powerful dagger skills, threw the dagger in his hand, and killed the fourth thief who was running for his dear life.

 And at last, he just cleaved a whole person swinging his sword at an unnatural angle and then subtly left the area.

 All that happened within a minute.

 He saw the last thief dying in their midst…helplessly, with a vacant and defeated look on his face.

 The Strategist shook all over while seeing that scene.

 He had never killed a person before, nor did he see someone dying in front of him, helplessly like that thief.

 For the first time, he understood that this was not a game.

 People can die here and that too in the most horrible way.

 Others were just as shocked as he was; they never thought that only one person would be able to kill five of their people most brutally while evading every single one of their attacks.

 Some weak-hearted people threw up everything in their stomachs, some tried to scatter and run away.

 Many pounded their fists on the White barrier to let them out; the barrier didn't even budge a single inch.

 Only then those people understood very clearly that they were now trapped with a beast, which could come and go freely while killing them at his whim.

 Once they were thieves, robbers, gang leaders, and symbols of terror to others…but now they felt how it was to be on the receiving end. 

 Although the Strategist was shaken, he calmed himself down quickly.

 He analyzed the situation rationally and soon understood Nehar's constraints.

 Nehar was powerful and a mad beast, there was no doubt about that.

 But he was only at Level 0 just like them.

 His <Stamina > wasn't infinite…he was bound to become tired.

 Moreover, his <Defence > stat had also a limit…so he was not invincible.

 And that's why he had to escape when he faced so much firepower from them.

 He understood Nehar retreated to take a rest and then he would come at them again.

 He couldn't let that happen, he mustn't let that happen.

 This is the right time to pursue the beast to surround him and kill him.

 The Strategist was actually right in his judgment. 

 But when he tried to gather everyone, he felt it wouldn't be that easy.

 While everyone understood that probably Nehar was tired and couldn't face them all together, no one wanted to become the sacrifice to let the others have a chance to kill or capture him.

 Everyone understood Nehar wouldn't sir still if they tried to attack him, even right now when he was tired.

 At last, he succeeded in convincing them to take action together after constantly bickering and assuring them for more than 2 minutes.

 When he thought now it's the time to advance…another peculiar sight unfolded before him.

 Everyone on the battlefield, wrapped inside the White barrier saw a gentle, golden light enveloping Nehar.

 The sight left them baffled…rooted in their place.

 While some people among them started to guess the reason for the sudden appearance of the golden light…the Strategist felt his blood turned cold.

 'Don't tell me…he is leveling up, somehow?'

 As a professional gamer, he had seen this type of scene many times…but it was the first time even for him watching something like this in reality.

 'This is nuts…', he cursed in his mind.

 'We need to move fast…if he's actually leveling up somehow, we'll be facing a huge problem.'

 He didn't explain anything when the surrounding members asked him…he only urged them to move fast to intercept him while he was still busy, probably in leveling up and distributing his points.

 And then again…something unexpected happened.

 The Strategist widened his eyes in shock when he saw a figure suddenly appear behind Nehar, just after the golden light on him wore off.

 They gazed over the dark feminine figure that suddenly appeared behind him and started conversing with him.

 Although Nehar was quite used to meeting with people with high standards and power, the rest of the people were not.

 The Strategist finally understood what was happening when he saw the space around the dark figure getting distorted…she is powerful, that's what he thought. 

 'A powerful figure like that…who could it be?'

 When he thought like that, he suddenly found a conclusion that he didn't like it at all…'She must be one the people who are in charge of this strange Tutorial and other things…and she is now conversing with my enemy, our enemy…'

 The unease in his mind kept growing stronger.

 He looked over the other members…everyone was staring at the duo standing far from them and obviously, no one wanted to move forward now.

 Thus he had to wait…wait for that powerful person to leave.

 He quietly watched as the figure conversed with Nehar from a distance…he also watched how Nehar became like an idiot for a split second and ultimately the departure of the figure as she vanished into thin air. 

 He ordered the members screaming at the top of his lungs, "Now…move forward, and encircle them from all sides."

 While they started moving forward, Nehar remained still…he didn't even move an inch even after seeing hundreds of Participants trying to encircle and lock him down. 

 He kept himself busy with his rewards and other notifications from the System.

---

 When they were about only 400 meters away, another golden light enveloped Nehar.

 Seeing this sight again, they lowered their speed and asked the temporary Leader once more what was going on.

 Some intelligent people had already understood what was going on.

 They even planned to desert away from the group just after the chaos ensued…they were no idiots who would lose their lives for the sake of the others. And most importantly, their Quest was only about defending themselves and its failing penalty was Death.

 When they saw only 5 minutes left while their number was still above 100, they became relaxed.

 No matter how much someone levels up…killing over a hundred people in less than 5 minutes is not possible, according to them. 

 Sadly, they were quite wrong this time.

 --- 

 While rushing forward towards his enemies, Nehar changed his off-hand sword to a dagger, the last one that remained on his waist belt.

 He did this with a plan in his mind, as his target was someone else this time.

 He looked coldly at the enemies in front of him, who were a mere distance of 350 meters at most while rushing towards them.

 He still didn't activate any of his movement Skills, like <Quick Movement> or <Shadow Steps> this time.

 His current <Agility > stat was at 25, the peak speed for Level 3 participants even without activating any Skills.

 And if he were to activate his <Quick Movement> Skill on top of that, his speed would instantly reach 40, the maximum agility for Level 6 participants.

 He could show the peak speed for Level 6 as the System only stopped the Players from increasing their Stats after reaching the maximum in a certain Level. It had no discrimination against using a Skill to break through the barrier of the next Level.

 Nehar knew it very well and intended to use it as a loophole from the very beginning of his journey in this new world.

 He didn't think about activating <Shadow Steps> this time, as it was completely unnecessary.

 Previously, he had to do that not only to survive enemies' bombardments but also to recreate the Skill perfectly while battling others.

 But now, he was at Level 5, along with his overwhelmingly powerful skills to massacre everyone in front of him.

 Thus there was no need to use that Skill to squash mere bugs.

 300 meters…250 meters…200 meters….

 While running towards them, Nehar remembered something from earlier.

 '…I can sense it; it's coming from your Soul…such pure and enormous amount of Darkness…'

 'The remnant spirit of the Blood-Fiend told me that he can sense the Darkness from my Soul…but when I tried to sense it after coming back from his domain, I didn't feel anything at all.'

 'Was he wrong?... Nah, that's not possible.'

 'Then there can be only two explanations left…either I'm lacking in understanding to sense anything from my Soul or it's shackled…probably due to bypassing the Principles of Causality.'

 Nehar shook his head.

 'For now, I'll go with the assumption that my understanding in the matters of Soul is still lacking even after living over a hundred years…but if that fails in the future, then I'll probably have to consider the second guess of mine.'

 Nehar removed those thoughts from his head and kept running.

 ---

 "Shit…he is running towards us…"

 "Wh-WHAT? What should we do? I don't want to die…"

 "Come on, you son of a bitch…why are you cowering right now? We've over a hundred people; do you think he can kill all of us within only four minutes?"

 A large-sized man shouted from the middle.

 "Shut the fuck up Rowell…if you are that brave, come in the front and face him head-on, why are you standing in the middle, huh?"

 A scrawny man from the front grunted in displeasure.

 The Strategist looked down on his team members and sighed internally, 'It's a fucking mess…no matter who leads them, they are gonna die if they act like this…sadly, I can't abandon them as I need to live too.'

 He shouted, "Maintain the line, Warriors and Fighters keep your backs straight. You people were used to fighting before…so don't panic and hold the line. When he arrives, surround him, and then we'll give him Hell."

 He tried to maintain the fighting spirit of those people mentioning their previous professions as the scum of the society, who were always involved in fighting and killing…but it didn't help much.

 Even with their previous experiences, everything was new to them.

 Using Skills in a battle, attacking an enemy, and properly defending yourself was not something they could learn in minutes.

 Moreover, they were terrified after seeing the horrible deaths of their previous brothers, in the hands of that monster.

 And now, the monster was again charging at them, without regarding his life just as before.

 Warriors and Fighters at the front were most tense at that moment.

 Warriors put their Inferior Rank shields in front of them, which they obtained from the System during their class choice as a basic weapon.

 They also had poor quality swords in their other hands.

 As for Fighters, they were simply brawlers, wearing nothing but Inferior Rank Leather Gauntlets on their hands as a means of weapon, for one-on-one combat.

 Behind their lines, the Casters were standing still while trying to gather as much mana as possible…but, it was still hard for them to do so without System's direct help.

 Sensing mana wasn't an easy task after all…not to mention it was their first time in doing that.

 Archers were also present to put pressure on the enemy as well helping others in need.

 And the last line comprised of Healers and Priests…who were not specifically built for combat.

 The few swordsmen at the front were tightly gripping their Inferior Rank Swords…while thinking about what they should do to stop the bastard who was coming towards them.

 ---

 150 meters…100 meters…85 meters...

 'Now'

 After reaching a favorable distance, Nehar finally activated his Movement Skill, <Quick Movement> just as he planned before.

 [System: Activating Skill: Quick Movement (Common).]

 [System: Your <Agility > has increased; Your Current Agility: 40]

 [System Alert: You've reached the Peak Speed possible for Level 6.]

 [System Alert: Warning!! Your current Level is not high enough to maintain this speed for long. Please, deactivate the Skill to reduce the strain on your body!]

 Nehar quietly chuckled while looking at the System Notification.

 His current Stats were not balanced.

 While his current <Agility > Stat was at 25, his other Stats were all at 15, leaving only the <Strength > Stat, which was at 17.

 Of course, this was not counting his <Mental Fortitude> Stat at all.

 Nehar could feel the strain on his body as his speed reached another level.

 'This is the price I've to pay to finish this…it's fine, I can endure this for 2 minutes at most…I'll take out the masterminds within that time…'

 Nehar started channeling his mana on the daggers in his hands.

 Sensing and Channeling mana from his body to his weapons was nothing new to him…and this was the major plus point that helped him to trample over his enemies, who were not even able to feel the mana inside their bodies properly. 

 [System: Skill (Passive): Mana Control (Inferior) is in use.]

 [System: Activating Skill: Dagger Arts (Common).]

 Nehar didn't reduce his speed at all and rushed forward with the same momentum while dodging the incoming arrows easily.

 'So, they have gotten wiser…they're not launching spells at me anymore as they already know I can easily avoid them. They're conserving their mana to launch a huge bombardment once they trap me inside…hehe…'

 Nehar observed coldly while deflecting an incoming arrow toward his face with the dagger.

 'As I thought before…I've to take down him first…the person in the back who is ordering and leading them…I don't know why and how, but it seems he has a general <Talent > in Leadership…it's a shame that I've had to cut him down…'

 Nehar shook his head lightly.

 'If it was any other time, I would've tried to recruit a talented person like him…but unfortunately, he chose to stand against me, even after witnessing my skills and the death of his former colleagues…he shouldn't have done that…'

 Nehar sighed.

 "Casters, half of you cast <Lesser Ice-Shield> on the Warrior's Shield, and the rest, cast <Lesser Fireball>. Try to maintain the angle properly this time…he is much closer to us than before. And Priests, cast your Crowd Control Skills <Slow Move> once he enters the 10-meter radius."

 The Strategist ordered hastily while seeing Nehar was coming at them at full speed.

 He thought internally, 'Unbelievable…Is this his maximum speed?'

 He was tensed after seeing Nehar's speed, which was still at 25 at that time.

 He was about to issue another order…but just then, something happened that forced him to stop in the middle.

 Nehar activated his Skill <Quick Movement> at that very moment, and his speed broke every limit possible.

 Archers, who were firing their arrows nonstop, became frantic.

 They started shooting their arrows frantically, without proper aim or even using their Skill <Basic Archery> at that time.

 Nehar didn't stop and continuously dodged and deflected their arrows with his daggers.

 Some of the impatient Casters launched their 'Fireballs' without waiting for an order…and in the process they missed Nehar by a large amount.

 Some people in the group finally identified his movement skills and shouted at the top of their lungs.

 "He is using Quick Movement…but how?"

 "Just how many fucking Skills does he have?"

 "Is it even possible to have more than 3 Skills?….none of us has that much…."

 "I want to go back home…why the hell did something like this happen…"

 People started shouting and yelling frantically, seeing their attacks being missed one after another, while the monster was getting closer to them very fast.

 Fighters, Warriors, and Swordsmen in the front became most tense at that moment.

 Some of them even dropped their Swords and started running towards the back...after all, no one wanted to become the 'First Kill' of that monster.

 "Fuck…those bitches are running away…"

 "Stand still, we still have a chance…hold the Shields and bash them into him when he comes in the range…"

 Warriors in the front cursed and yelled at each other.

 The Strategist became stunned, seeing the whole 'Pandemonium' unfolding in front of his eyes.

 His whole plan to encircle Nehar and then bombard him with spells and arrows went awry at that moment.

 Nehar noticed the commotion in front of him and chuckled.

 His first plan was to make them feel fear and despair by increasing his speed suddenly and then dodging their attacks again.

 More than 90% of their attacks missed him anyway, as Nehar continued to move maintaining his high speed.

 His opponents were not that skilled Archers and Casters to hit a moving target like him with perfect accuracy.

 50 meters…30 meters…20 meters….

 Nehar covered the whole distance within a mere 5 seconds, making his opponents feel despair.

 The Priests in behind staggered…some of them hurriedly cast <Slow Move>, but they were late.

 None of them had expected Nehar's sudden increase in speed.

 15 meters….10 meters…. 

 Nehar saw 9 Warriors running towards him.

 'So they are using <Charge >…and the rest will use <Shield Wall>….huh.'

 5 meters….4 meters…

 When they were about to crash into him, Nehar suddenly kicked the ground and jumped towards the charging Warriors.

 The Warriors who were almost prepared to face him using <Charge > became stunned. 

 Nehar directly crashed onto them with his full momentum.

 Though the Warriors had higher <Defence > Stat than the others…it was nowhere enough to face Nehar directly.

 2 Warriors directly flew away…while the other one on whom Nehar directly crashed, just died from the impact alone.

 Nehar directly crushed his head with his <Strength (17)> and <Agility (40)> Stat overwhelmingly. 

 Blood and brain matter scattered all over the other Warriors and Nehar.

 [System Alert: Your Health has been reduced. Your Current HP: 373/380]

 Nehar almost laughed out hard after seeing his direct ramming only decreased his HP by a mere 7 points.

 A blood-red smoke generated from Nehar's right hand and covered the dead man in an instant.

 Soon, System notifications greeted him one by one.

 [System Alert: Bloodkin's Dagger's Special Effect: 'Bloodsucking' is in Effect.]

 [System: Your Health has recovered slightly. Your Current HP: 374/380]

 [System: Your <Strength > Stat has increased permanently by 0.2; Your Current Strength: 17.2]

 [System: Special Quest 01: Energy Absorbed: 0.73/10000 (Units).]

 Nehar looked at the notifications silently, but he didn't stop there after destroying their <Charge >.

 [System: Skill: Quick Movement (Common) is in use.]

 [System: You're disengaging from battle.]

 Nehar quickly disengaged and ran forward…after all; this time his target was someone else.