Fenric's Strength now sat at 72.
A healthy adult male averaged around 10. In raw force, he was roughly seven times a normal man—before factoring in technique, mental power, or gear. With Black Blade Shusui in hand, he could split more than monsters. Given room to swing, he felt confident he could carve through a light armored vehicle—maybe even a tank's weaker seams.
He glanced at the looming beasts ahead and at the endless wall behind.
Personal instances really are different… No system mission popup, no timer. Free roam?
If so, the logical "objective" was obvious: taotie culling.
Six remained. They padded in, spreading out, tusks slick, corded limbs flexing. Taotie weren't brainless like zombies; they learned. The man below the wall had killed one of theirs in a blink. They meant to mob him.
"Warrior, behind you!" the wall Captain shouted.
A soldier beside him whispered, "My lord, should we send a party down?"
"…Watch first." The captain's tone was tight.
Fenric's mouth twitched. Moments ago they'd called him "intruder." Now: "warrior." Progress.
He didn't spare the warning a glance. What mattered was keeping his points from running off. Taotie were fast; if they bolted, tracking them through this broken terrain would be annoying.
My beloved points, come to daddy~, he thought cheerfully.
A bellow ripped in from behind. A taotie launched—maw gaping for his spine.
Fenric stamped, legs coiling, and exploded upward. He cleared the lunging beast cleanly—rising higher than the creature's arc. With his current explosive power and agility, his standing vertical would shame Olympic records.
The taotie hadn't expected that. By the time it snapped upward to snap at him midair, a cold blade flashed down.
Crack—pffsh!
Its massive head spun away.
"You killed a Taotie. Reward: +100 points."
Two kills. +200. The system never lied. Fenric's grin sharpened.
The remaining taotie roared and surged.
He met them head‑on, sweeping a wide cut that forced four back. They skidded, wary of the Black Blade's sharpness.
One slipped past, jaws locking onto his forearm.
Gasps rippled across the wall. No one survived a taotie bite. Bone crushed, flesh pulped—always fatal.
Except—
Armament Haki: Activate.
"Om."
His arm darkened, blue‑black steel under skin. The taotie's fangs struck what might as well have been iron plate. Two teeth shattered with wet pops.
It tried to recoil.
But Fenric's left hand shot into its mouth, fingers clamping its tongue. He yanked.
"Grrraaa—!"
The scream cut off when the sword blade rammed straight through the palate, churned once, and ripped free. The beast toppled, twitching.
Yes, the eye pits under the forelimbs are their classic weak point, he knew. But with his sword and this strength? Their whole bodies are weak points.
Another down.
Four left.
They'd learned. All three remaining frontliners bounded at once while the fourth angled wide.
"Die!" Fenric barked, battle‑heat rising.
He threw Shusui javelin‑style—and guided it with mind power. The Black Blade speared straight into a raised forelimb, slid past thick hide, and punched through the hidden eye cluster.
That taotie collapsed mid‑stride.
Three.
He flooded his right arm with Armament again and lunged into them. One swiped; he slipped under it and drove an iron punch into its skull. Bone rang. The beast reeled, stunned.
Fenric caught it by the torso—lifted—heaved. The massive body swung like a battering ram and crashed into the other two.
Every soldier on the wall flinched.
Too fierce…
The taotie look like grandsons meeting their grandfather…
Down below, Fenric recalled Shusui with a flick; the Sword tore free of dead flesh and snapped into his palm under invisible force. The three tangled beasts struggled to rise.
The terrifying human blurred toward them.