Frustration and failure

"Where is everyone?" Grace asked confused as she looked around for the adventurers.

"Good question." Jacob answered her right away and walked over to where a lantern was and picked it up. After examining the old lantern, he looked at Helena who seemed to be paralyzed from shock and asked:

"Hey, are you the only one left?"

"Huh? I guess so..."

"Sigh, whatever..."

"Wait! What's going on? What happened to them?"

"They died."

"What?" Shocked by that statement, Helena fell to her knees and her life began to flash before her eyes as if it were a movie.

Suddenly, Grace felt a macabre and terrifying atmosphere hovering over them and asked worriedly:

"Jacob! Are you feeling this too?"

"Yes, but don't worry, just go put on your clothes."

"Okay." She quickly ran to her cabin where she slept next to Jacob and began to change her clothes.

After seeing that Grace had left, jacob took a deep breath and closed his eyes. At the same time, the veins around his eyes began to darken and slowly Jacob opened his eyes.

As he opened them, it could be seen that his eyes had changed color, they were now yellow and predator-like.

Jacob then looked into the darkness of the forest and said coldly:

"I sense your presence, so Reveal yourself."

After saying those words, a response came to him, a response that echoed throughout the forest:

"Oh? A human? No... Surely you are not a human, The right one would be a mutant human or a freak, a cursed one, just like me. But I feel that you have come all this way for answers... What do you want?"

"I want to know about myself."

"Knowledge about yourself? Hm... Some gods want you dead, I see that. I also see that not only they, but also other entities that it would be an insult to call them gods, want you dead."

"And why do they want me dead?"

"Because nobody likes outsiders, even more so when they are not invited, because they usually break the destinies of others."

Helena listened to all that confused conversation and tried to say something, but just as she was about to speak, Grace suddenly appeared behind her and covered her mouth.

"So tell me, what will my destiny be."

"Your destiny? You lost your destiny long ago, wanderer. All you have left, is to shape your new destiny, a destiny of someone destined for glory, wealth, love and death."

"And will I be able to shape that destiny?"

"Nothing is impossible in this world, wanderer.... But everything will depend on you." Blair muttered those words in a parting tone and disappeared completely.... She just like Jacob, was also after answers and thanks to this conversation, she got the revelations she needed.

Jacob felt blair's presence fading away and was confused, after all, this was not supposed to happen, but before he could say anything, Jacob's eyes widened in shock as he felt another familiar presence approaching him and he turned quickly in the direction of the presence. But upon seeing who owned that presence, all he did was widen his eyes in shock...

Grace and Helena began to hear footsteps that made the sound of an army walking and turned in the direction of the sound, but upon seeing who it was, they both widened their eyes in shock.

Suddenly, Jacob's expression changed to pure hatred and he spoke:

"Erick draco!"

Erick standing next to a small army and the heroes, Jacob replied with the utmost calmness:

"Hello, Jacob voss... I have come here to finish my work, so surrender and accept your death."

"Surrender me?!" Jacob muttered those words and began to release all his murderous intent. Grace and Helena were the most affected by being close to him, They felt as if someone had a knife to their throat, it was really hard to know if Jacob was an ally or not.

The soldiers, who were mere gold ranks, began to show signs of weakness in their legs, some even gave in and knelt down. But the cavalry leader, Erick and the heroes remained steadfast even under such murderous intent.

"What's that expression mister voss? Don't tell me you are still angry about our interrogation?" Erick spoke while debauching Jacob, why in his mind, it was impossible for them to lose, after all, he has 5 diamond class heroes on his side.

Hearing those words, Jacob smiled and said coldly to the heroes and the soldiers, so that his killing intent would have more effect:

"Before I start killing them, does anyone want to quit?"

"Pfffff, do you think anyone will give in because of your murderous intent and give up?" Erick again sneered at Jacob, but to his misfortune, there really was someone who gave in....

Suddenly, Ryan, a boy with blond hair and red eyes, raised his hand as if asking to go to the bathroom and asked Jacob:

"I-I can quit?"

After he said that, everyone looked at him in shock and immediately the cavalry leader drew his sword and tried to cut Ryan's head off, after all, what he did was a clear act of treason, so executing him right there would be the wise decision. But just as the blade of the sword was about to strike him, Jacob appeared in front of him with a sword in his hand and defended the attack and counterattacked at the same instant.

The counterattack was fast and accurate, Jacob slit the cavalry chief's throat in a short time and his body collapsed to the ground at the same moment.

The noise of the cavalry leader falling to the ground was very loud due to his armor, this caused everyone to look at him and become distracted. Seizing that opportunity, Jacob started killing the entire army one by one. He ignored the heroes and Erick for the time being, after all, the best is always left for last...

Erick being caught by surprise by Jacob's enormous speed, desperately shouted to the heroes:

"Kill him!"

The 5 heroes with the exception of Ryan, looked startled at the dead cavalry chief and ellie, a heroine with brown hair and blue eyes who appeared to be an archer, said:

"I couldn't even follow his movements, I couldn't even see him killing the cavalry chief.... We can't fight him."

"What? Have you gone crazy, you bitch? You are heroes! You just have to obey orders and die you bastards!"

Upon hearing those words from erick, Grace said to her former colleagues in an attempt to make them surrender:

"Don't listen to him! You don't need to obey orders, we didn't come to this world to be a weapon! We can build our own destiny and do as we please!"

The heroes looked at Grace who was their former colleague and Ellie who heard all the previous words, said again:

"But we can't, they will execute us if we don't obey."

"You can Ellie! All of you can! Help Jacob and he will protect you! But you have to prove to him that you are worth it."

Ryan who was shocked after seeing that Jacob defended him from the attack, regained his composure and desperately asked Grace:

"If I help him and decide to follow him, will he make me a slave just like the human realm does to me?"

"No! He will not make you a slave."

"Okay... Then today is the day I shout independence!" After muttering those words, Ryan started screaming like a child and jumped on a soldier and started attacking him while screaming "independence."

The heroes seeing their comrade and colleague rebelling, began to build up courage and started attacking the soldiers as well. Erick, on the other hand, who saw five betrayals at the same time, was in a state of rage and frustration, after all, how could his greatest weapon in battle have the courage to go over to the enemy side? Erick realized at the same instant that it was already declared defeat for him, so he tried to sneak away, but Grace stopped him as she got in front of him and asked:

"Where do you think you are going? Jacob seems to have business with you."

Seeing that he was stopped by a deserter, Erick growled in anger and shouted:

"You bitch! How dare you abandon your post as a hero and travel alongside that criminal! I swear that if I win, I will rape you for years while you remain chained in prison, you bitch!"

"PfffffffffHahahahaha, I don't know why, but I'm really in the mood to run my sword across your throat." Grace drew her sword as she released her aura, but just as she was about to advance under Erick, Jacob shouted angrily:

"Don't touch him! He's mine!" Jacob spoke that as he drove his sword into a soldier's throat. Blood splattered on his face, but he didn't care and drew his sword again.

"Really? How sad, I wanted to kill him..." Grace sighed sadly and put her sword away in its sheath.

Erick looked confused listening to that dialogue, but decided to take that opportunity to run away, but just as he was about to do that, Jacob appeared at his back and cut off his two legs in a single attack.

Erick fell to the ground scared, after all, he tried to run but nothing happened. A feeling of fear began to enter his heart and when he turned to see who had attacked him, the feeling of fear flowed from his heart to his mind and began to create a nightmare...

Erick looked at Jacob who's face was completely bloodied and he began to blur with fear. Just then he looked at the mountain of dead soldiers standing behind Jacob and muttered in frustration:

"Impossible... This can't be happening."

Jacob smiled like a demon at the sight of Erick's terrified face, but he wasn't satisfied with that, he wanted more! More and more! He wanted Erick to feel 10x everything he had felt! No, Jacob wanted Erick to feel 1000x everything he had felt. So Jacob took a healing potion and shoved the bottle completely into his mouth and forced him to chew and swallow.

Erick struggled not to bite down on that glass vial, but Jacob put his hand on his chin and in his hair and used all his strength to force him to bite down.

Already crying, Erick gave in to the brutal force and bit down on the bottle with the healing potion inside. The glass bottle broke and pierced the roof of his mouth, his gums and tongue. But fortunately the potion took effect and began to regenerate and heal all his injuries, including his cut leg.

The heroes who had already finished killing all the soldiers, watched that scene in surprise, including Grace who had never seen Jacob in an altered state before.

Not caring about all the stares under him, Jacob smiled when he saw that Erick had bitten into the potion and said:

"Good boy, we just started the first round, now your goal is to break my record. If I'm not mistaken, I lasted until round 1580, right? So your goal is to go all the way to round 1581. Good luck until then..."

[...]

Author's note:

Since Jacob does not have the mana to use a space ring, he had to improvise and use the power of freki: he keeps his weapons and items inside his own shadow, so when he needs to pick them up, freki opens the shadow and lets him take whatever item he wants.

Jacob didn't use freki in this battle because he considers her his pet and especially a tank. So he didn't want his pet to end up eating shit and thought it was unnecessary to use a war tank to deal with those trash.

Illustration by Ryan in the comments! New character:

Always outspoken and exaggerated, ryan seems to take the focus away from the group or a fight to some drama involving his fear of dying or some clichéd situation he saw in movies. He will always think of his self-preservation and the people he trusts, a man loyal to those who help him.