Over time, the blue ley energy around him began to disappear. The red lines with black centers also seemed to have lost their power. The blows no longer hurt his body.
William felt as if he had bathed in energy. At that moment, he felt a sense of relief, a sense of refreshment, a feeling of flying above heaven.
William thought he was at the top, at the top of the world, the universe, even himself.
If there was a heaven, he was there right now.
Then he heard a notification from the system and opened his eyes.
...
At this time, in the vast expanse of the universe, on one of the barren planets, there was a small cave entrance opening into a huge mountain.
In this world, which was much larger than Mortalis, the only place where life existed seemed to be this mountain.
Birds were flying above it, butterflies were dancing, and deer were resting at the edge of a small puddle. A small butterfly escaped from the frogs in the puddle, rose into the sky, and then flew toward the entrance of the cave.
It was like a curious little child. It wanted to know what was in the depths of the cave.
It flew and flew and flew... It seemed like a lifetime to it, but from the outside, it wasn't even five minutes.
Finally, it reached a wide open space.
This space was not normal; someone had made it.
The walls of the huge space were made of shiny black granite, and the workmanship was so good that you could even see your own reflection.
The butterfly entered through a huge golden door that was half open in the wide space with black granite walls.
Here, the butterfly was greeted by a huge hall.
The floor was covered with a mixture of gold and red, worn by time. There were thousands of paintings that looked expensive, and a huge banquet table in the middle. On it were rotten food that would probably turn to dust if you touched it, extremely expensive-looking plates, and knives and forks made from metals used in the manufacture of the finest weapons and armor.
Candlesticks that could probably buy the world, crystal bowls, and hand-embroidered silk handkerchiefs of unimaginable beauty.
Twelve corpses were seated at this banquet table.
All of them seemed to have died suddenly, still in the positions they had last occupied.
Some were sipping wine, others were cutting their food with forks and knives.
At the end of the banquet table stood a massive throne. No human could reach its height, and even if they could, it would look absurd. Made of an unknown metal, it had a red cushion stuffed inside it.
The butterfly flew toward the throne.
It wasn't clear at first, but as it got closer, it saw someone sitting on the throne.
It was hard to tell how tall he was, but he was at least two meters tall. He had long, white hair that had been defeated by the years.
His body was covered in armor made of an unknown metal. The armor covered everything except his head.
On the black armor, right over the chest, there was a broken sword engraved with silver.
The man's hand was holding the broken sword. The tip and body of the sword were rusty, as if they couldn't withstand the corrosion of time.
The man's helmet was right next to him, on the edge of his knee. It was one of those helmets that allowed more air to pass through, revealing his eyes and mouth.
The man looked like he hadn't eaten anything in thousands of years. He couldn't fill the armor, which made him look weak.
His gray skin gave him the appearance of a zombie.
The butterfly flew and landed on the man's shoulder.
But the moment it touched the man's shoulder, it turned to ash and was blown away by a non-existent wind.
The man's eyes were gray, as if blinded by the passage of time.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he muttered something.
"Finally... how many years has it been?" The man's tongue, parched from thirst, stuck out, and he reached out his hand at the same time.
A butterfly flew out of his hand, circled a few times in the air, and landed on the man's tongue.
The man pulled his tongue back when the butterfly landed.
"Hmm... I can't see it..."
At that moment, a voice was heard from behind the throne. It was a cosmic, unfamiliar, deep, and heavy voice.
"Is it time?"
The old man shook his head. With that, a few strands of his faded white hair fell to the ground, but as soon as they fell, they disappeared and reappeared on his head.
A light appeared behind the throne. It was enormous, with huge columns inside, each covered with threads that resembled giant spider webs. Behind all this vastness, a figure hidden in darkness, except for its eyes, concealed its enormous body. The voice had come from it.
"NO!" the old man shouted, shaking his head from side to side.
Then he began to shake his head back and forth as if he had lost his mind, and soon fell asleep again. As his head hit the throne, a whisper escaped his lips.
"Not yet..."
"As you wish, my lord..." The figure in the darkness spoke and closed its enormous red eyes. Now there was nothing but darkness.
...
"Congratulations, you've leveled up! +2 SP"
"Congratulations, you've evolved!"
William stood where he was for a few seconds. He thought. What should he do next? He didn't have a clear plan in mind, but when he looked at the system screen, he thought he would fly with joy.
He didn't have any simple abilities that were suitable for his class and that he could use constantly, but he had already closed this gap a few months ago with expensive techniques.
His main and sub-statistics points were at an astonishing level, and most importantly, there was no risk of his body exploding for now.
William slowly stood up. He tried not to repeat the same scenario Marcus had experienced when he first evolved.
He then looked around him.
Half of the huge building was gone. All that remained of Joseph's office was a wall painting.
He scanned his surroundings carefully.
"Did I do this?"
As he looked around in confusion, he saw that Elura and Austin's house had also been completely destroyed.
"Damn it. I have to pay for this, but where is everyone?" William then jumped up and climbed onto the roof of the building.
And then, when he focused, he heard the sounds of battle. It was coming from far away, but it was coming from all directions.
"Damn it, it must be my fault."
William gathered all his strength and jumped. He had reached a height he could not have imagined. His jumping power alone had tripled. He had reached the sky in a single step.
But landing was another matter. He thought he might break a bone when he hit the ground, but his body was able to withstand the impact of the height, though the ground was not so lucky.
A large crater formed on the ground, and William began to run.
He didn't want to damage the fields and roads.
His running speed was faster than a sports car, that was for sure.
After a while, he reached the northern border of the city. Here he saw Joseph, Eliza, and the others trying desperately to kill thousands of zombies. There was almost no limit to this wave of zombies. He frowned and looked at the system screen.
He purchased two katana swords at Level 11.
Then, with a single leap, he reached Joseph's side. "Leave the rest to me, old man," he said.
Joseph, however, stared at him with wide eyes. "Damn it, this is all your fault! Join the fight quickly!"
William smiled. "Don't worry, I'll join."
William crossed the two katanas in front of him. Then he whispered softly.
"Twin Fang Style: Crescent Eclipse, 1st Stance: Crossed Curse!"
William lunged at the zombies. The moment he released the twin swords from their crossed position, a wave of swords appeared in front of him. His sword suddenly flashed blue, and this blue energy expanded forward, spreading out in a wide arc.
Suddenly, the heads or upper bodies of hundreds of zombies of roughly the same height were severed.
"Swooosh!" William swung his sword twice more. Suddenly, the 150-meter area in front of him was completely filled with the severed bodies of zombies.
Level didn't matter. Even though there were hundreds of zombies ranging from level 1 to level 8 in front of him, they were cut like paper.
Each swing of his sword swept a 50-meter area horizontally.
"2nd Stance: Vertical Pain!" William whispered.
Then he swung his sword vertically from top to bottom.
Again, a huge ley wave came out of the two swords and swept away everything in front of it. It didn't matter if it was an arm, a leg, a head, or the whole body. No matter what level the zombies were, they were wiped out.
This wave of swords, which advanced 150 meters forward, finally stopped, leaving a huge and long crack behind it.
William turned and looked at Joseph, who seemed to have swallowed his tongue in amazement.
"I'm just getting started, old man," he said.
Then he dove into the crowd of thousands of zombies.
It was a sight to behold, and the others saw it too.
Eliza thought it was Joseph when the first wave of swords came out. She thought he had learned a new ability, but when she saw his tall figure that couldn't fit into his leather jacket, she realized that it was William who had done it.
She was level 13. Despite that, she couldn't even see William's name on the system screen.
Seeing how powerful William was, she frowned and put all her energy into killing more zombies.
It wasn't just Eliza; everyone felt the same way that night.
When everyone looked at William, they saw the person they wanted to be.
Aron saw his carefree and wild attitude, Kim saw his fearlessness and boldness, Eliza saw his strength and confidence, and Joseph saw his youth.
Marcus saw something in William that he didn't have. Peace.
He had been meditating for a long time and had made peace with his past. Despite this, he didn't understand the peace on William's face and in his movements.
He thought about it as he blew a zombie's head off. "Maybe I should stop thinking. I should just live my life as it comes."
When he reached the western front where Marcus was, William's ley had run out. So now he was fighting with pure power.
Still, each sword stroke was enough to cut dozens of zombies at once.
Marcus was no different. He didn't envy William's power, but he wanted to feel freer like him, especially when fighting.
Marcus turned his head and looked to his right.
Hundreds of people had come from the north front to support William and Marcus.
Eliza was among them.
Eliza was sweating. A few strands of hair had fallen onto her forehead and stuck to it with sweat. Despite this, her beauty was priceless to Marcus.
She looked even more beautiful as the Ley Bolt in her hand pierced dozens of zombies.
Marcus turned his head and focused.
With a single swing of his mace, dozens of zombies were blown apart by a shock wave.
It took two hours to clear the north side and three hours to clear the west side.
Then, led by Joseph, everyone went to the beginning hotel in New Telldure.
Things were more difficult here because the zombies had spread throughout the city.
The city, which they had cleared of every stone, was once again filled with zombies because of William.
Fortunately, there were no casualties, which made everyone happy because more zombies meant more levels.
Moreover, the high-level ones did not kill the low-level creatures on purpose, leaving them space to level up and improve quickly.
When the first light of dawn hit New Telludure from the lake, the zombie cleanup was complete. The adventure of more than a thousand people killing zombies at the same time resulted in hundreds of people leveling up and dozens of people evolving. Of course, they didn't rush.
Joseph didn't allow anyone to evolve. Without his knowledge and without a few protectors around them, it was impossible for them to evolve.
William was tired but had leveled up. He instantly filled all his main stats again.
[William Aunitidis Level 17]
[Class: Breaker]
[EXP: 158,320/400,000]
[POWER: 21.6 (+++)]
[SPEED: 20 (+++)]
[PERCEPTION: 17 (+++)]
[LIFE: 17 (+++)]
[Evolution Points: 16/20]
[Level Cycle: 10/10 (Max)]
[SP: 508] (System Points)
[Abilities: Astral Echo: Soul Resonance I, Twin Fang Style: Crescent Eclipse I, Titanus Spine I, Phantom Stride I, Obsidian Veil I, Advanced Perception II, Weight Master III]
[Blessing: EXP10X]
[System Money: 280,857,720]
William looked at his sub-stats. He hadn't assigned any points to them yet. Each main stat had increased by 7 points. That meant he had to assign 21 more points to each sub-stat.
The sub-stats equivalent of the 7 points he gave to the main statistics was 1.75, which brought the sub-stats to a whole number.
[SP: 432] (System points)
William had become a slave to this feeling of improvement. In front of the beginning hotel, among hundreds of people, he distributed these points and felt his body become even stronger and lighter.
"This is it," he said.
When he opened his eyes, he saw hundreds of eyes looking at him judgmentally.