Void Reaper: The Essence Apocalypse

Adam wasted no time. His experience was beginning to kick in instinctively—he didn't aim for the torso. He knew the mistakes he'd made before. 

He paused briefly and focused his mana into his hand. The Bloodshadow Dagger appeared at his side, levitating like an extension of his will. The blade was black as night, pulsing with energy, ready to strike.

Adam sprinted forward. The zombie roared and charged after him, but Adam was faster. He dashed through the corridor, leaping over rubble and overturned desks. 

In one swift motion, he veered sharply, kicked off a cracked wall on the right side of the hallway, and lunged to the side, vanishing from the monster's direct line of sight. The mutant had just begun another wild swing with its four arms, its heavy steps crushing the concrete beneath. Before it could rotate its massive torso and react, Adam was already behind it, in its blind spot. The mutant's hands trembled, its body tensed in confusion, and its head slowly started to turn, as if it had only just registered the shift in its opponent's position.

Adam launched Void Manipulation with all the force he could muster. The dagger swirled through the air, a black flash whistling as it struck one of the mutant's smaller hands. The blade didn't pierce deeply—it stopped just beneath the surface, trembling slightly like a thorn. Adam smirked at the mutant's reaction.

"Good..."

The mutant howled, its body shaking with fury, but Adam was already fading from its view.

"I need to lure it to the corpses. That's where I can make full use of Void Manipulation."

He ran without hesitation. As he neared the corpse-strewn area where he had earlier tested his abilities, he felt that it was the perfect place to unleash the true potential of Void Manipulation. The space was open, full of scattered objects and bodies—ideal for maneuvering and improvisation.

But before he could form a plan, he felt a subtle tremor in the air, as if the very space around him was warning of something inevitable.

The zombie vanished from sight again.

Adam didn't think—instinct took over. Void Manipulation activated in a blink, forming a translucent barrier in front of him. In the same instant, air exploded beside his face, and a shockwave blasted him off his feet. His body soared backward like a ragdoll, flying ten meters—maybe more. He felt the wind tear at his clothes as everything blurred around him.

He landed on his back, slamming painfully into the floor. Fortunately, most of the impact was absorbed.

"What the hell kind of ability is that?!" he growled through clenched teeth, every nerve in his back throbbing with pain. He sat up quickly, then got to his feet, glancing nervously down the corridor. The mutant was gone.

He froze. 

Slowly, he lifted his head.

The Mutated Zombie was suspended in the air, arms spread wide like a shadow looming over its prey. All its weight and monstrous strength were gathering into a single strike.

Adam felt time slow. His eyes widened as instinct screamed in his mind. He dove to the side, hitting the ground with his shoulder and rolling. A split second later, the monster crashed into the spot where Adam had just stood. Four arms slammed into the floor with such force that the tiles cracked, and rubble rained from the ceiling.

Adam scrambled up and ran, not looking back. Behind him, a deep, bestial roar echoed—full of fury and frustration. The mutant rose from the debris, its four arms twitching with rage, eyes searching wildly for its target.

Adam finally reached the corpse field. Dead zombie bodies still lay where he'd left them. Along with them—broken rods, shards, glass, metal debris.

Behind him, the thunderous steps grew louder. The mutant was only a few meters away now. Its breathing was heavy and ragged, and a terrifying roar followed—one that filled the corridor like a death cry on his heels. Adam didn't look back. He focused entirely on what was ahead.

Adam channeled his mana. Void Manipulation stirred.

He moved like a shadow among the corpses, spinning on his heels to dodge the mutant's charging strikes. Each evasion was instinctual, but his focus was at the limit. Objects began to rise around him, trembling in the air under Void Manipulation. Three, four at once—this wasn't simple control anymore. Their trajectories clashed, energy fluctuations required constant adjustment. Dodging, running, and maintaining control was becoming a problem.

He clenched his jaw, sweat pouring down his back.

It was like juggling razors at full speed. Adam felt pressure pulsing in his temples, focus slipping with every second. But he couldn't stop. He gritted his teeth, arms trembling with strain, veins burning from the flow of energy.

"If I stop, I die. That's not an option."

The first metal shard whistled through the air and struck the hand of one of the upper arms. The mutant howled but didn't slow down. Adam dodged to the side, feeling the rush of air from a missed blow. A second projectile spiraled and pierced through its forearm. The third—a rusted pipe—stabbed into the thigh muscle, halting the monster's step.

The mutant raged, but every strike missed. Adam danced around it, like performing a ritual dance. His gaze was focused, his breath short, his movements more and more deliberate.

More spinning shards sliced through the air. One hit the shoulder, another the calf. The monster tried to shield itself with an arm, but Void Manipulation was faster. Adam gave it no rhythm, no peace.

Each strike brought the end closer. Each spatial vibration marked the tension of the clash. And though the monster was still standing, its body looked like a pincushion—covered in metal, glass, and steel like a living shield of thorns.

Suddenly, the mutant howled—long and guttural—and its eyes gleamed with a new, wild light. Adam felt the familiar tension in the air and instinctively looked up.

But he smiled.

"I was waiting for this."

The creature vanished.

Adam didn't retreat. This was what he'd been waiting for. The moment he felt the tension in the air, he knew. The mutant disappeared, and Adam moved.

Void Manipulation reacted instantly, as if sensing his intent. The dagger embedded in one of the smaller arms and the metal shard lodged in the other were yanked violently in opposite directions. Those lower arms had been its balance during leaps. The pull was brutal and unexpected. The zombie appeared beside Adam, ready to strike—but its own limbs failed. It lost balance, its body twisting uncontrollably, its momentum wasted.

The monster staggered, its four arms flailing in the air, trying to recover. In that fraction of a second, Adam stepped forward, calm and focused like never before. He directed Void Manipulation toward one of the discarded metal pieces and yanked it into his hand. The blade screamed through the air. He caught it and, in the same motion, hurled it into the monster's face. It struck directly into one eye, the wet crack and scream of pain tearing through the air.

The mutant roared—but before the echo could bounce off the walls, a second weapon struck the other eye, sinking deep with a wet squelch.

The monster went berserk. Its blinded eyes pulsed with feral fury, and a deafening roar erupted from its throat. It began to flail all four arms wildly, a mad machine of destruction. Its blows shattered walls, scattered rubble, and sliced the air with such force that the wind from each strike hit Adam's face. The air reeked of desperation and blind rage, as if the monster meant to destroy everything around it to reach its prey.

Adam watched from the side—and smiled. This frenzy was exactly what he needed.

His gaze shifted to the monster's lower body. His eyes locked onto the beast's knee, and his fingers twitched, readying another wave of Void Manipulation. He stepped back slightly, ready to repeat the tactic he'd used before. But suddenly, he froze.

"Why didn't I think of this earlier...?" he murmured, not looking at the knee, but at the dozens of objects embedded in the monster's body.

His eyes gleamed. He tensed like a bowstring, his hand trembling. Void Manipulation vibrated with eerie tension. Adam's body strained to its limits, veins bulging at his neck, and he screamed like a wild animal. At the same time, he felt his mana drain at terrifying speed, like blood from an open wound.

In that instant, every object embedded in the monster began to tremble... and then all at once, like seized by an invisible wave, they plunged deeper. Rods, shards, and jagged blades pierced straight through the monster's body. The two objects anchored in its eyes slashed through nerves and rammed into its brain with devastating force.

The mutant trembled, let out a final howl, and its body convulsed, as if trying to resist the inevitable. For several seconds it writhed in place, bent over, consumed by helpless fury—then its knees buckled, and its whole body collapsed lifelessly to the ground with a heavy thud.

[Essence Record — Kill Confirmed]

[Target: Mutated Zombie (LVL 9)]

[Reward: +8 STR | +4 VIT]

[Level Up: LVL 4 → LVL 5]

[Stat Points Gained: +4]

Adam gasped, breathing heavily. He slumped to the ground, his back hitting the floor. He tried to steady his breath, but his chest rose like a blacksmith's bellows. Sweat ran down his temples, and his hands trembled from the effort and adrenaline.

He looked at the dead mutant. Above the corpse hovered a Bronze Box, slowly rotating in place. Beside it, in fractured light, floated a scroll—its surface pulsing softly with a pale glow.