[Underground Labyrinth] (7)

SHEEEEEE...

Ken unsheathed his sword when he heard a snort from the man whose mana and heart were dancing in excitement.

BA-THUMP-!

BA-THUMP-!

BA-THUMP-!

BA-THUMP-!

....

...

While surrounded by thousands of heartbeats, it would naturally be not entirely or easily possible for him to determine whom he was supposed to kill first....

Of course, it was only if he could "only" depended on his sense of hearing that could hear the heartbeats of people near him, and although it was possible to determine which kind of beast's heartbeat he was hearing, it was impossible to determine whose heartbeat it actually was, which....

Supposedly, Ken was able to do.

Was it really the truth?

Of course, it wasn't!

"Mana," a fantazical power that every single author and the reader fantasized about wielding, was the major factor that brought the game [Last Life] its popularity. At the same time, it was also said to be an ability with infinite possibilities among which laid its not-really hidden uniqueness.

The uniqueness of mana was the fact that even though it was the same power that had eroded the world of Miorus for a long time and almost every beast existing in the world wielded the same power, the signature of every beast was unique.

As the saying goes, "Everybody is unique and incomparable."

The same quote applied for mana, each and every mana holding existence had its own unique "mana signature."

Which helped Ken differentiate person from person, or beast from beast.

Now, back to the topic, Ken was able to feel these "mana signatures" to differentiate between people; thanks to which he who lived in the world of mana, where he felt almost all kinds of mana regardless of their attributes, felt excitement and bloodlust dyed mana blobs of the crowd and, though similar, a bit more intense mana fluctuations in the ten people near him, hence he knew whom he was supposed to kill first and whom he was supposed to spare for the last.

'Was he leaning forward?' Ken questioned in his mind because whatever he cut, it didn't feel like how slashing through one's neck usually felt.

He could feel the armoured man's lump of mana raging in excitement and bloodlust, near the spot where a human's heart existed, so Ken merely aimed half a foot above the raging blob of mana and slashed his unsheathed sword in approximation, because that was were a human's neck usually was.

Since his sword slash's sensation felt different, he assumed that the man had leaned forward as his sword slash had missed the neck he initially aimed for.

PLOP.....

SPURT-!

".... AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGH!!!!" The armoured man screamed in agony, while Ken, who had appeared right beside him slightly glanced down at the lump of mana, surrounded by other different circuited mana waves, that belonged to the defence armour the man was adorning himself with.

"Hmm....." Ken hummed in wonderment, as he felt the concentrated lump of mana in front of him.

The ghastly silence that eroded the arena went unnoticed by Ken, whose thoughts were wandering around as he pondered whether he should end it faster or take his time.

"She wanted to see the miracle destroying everything that destroyed her life, didn't she....." Ken muttered and decided to end it sooner and get it over with.

"Select skills for skill toggle." Ken muttered the command.

[Command initiated....]

[Please choose the skills that are to be added to the skill toggle] The system's words, that he could somehow make out in his consciousness, manifested.

[Skill slot 1] [+]

...

....

Clicking on the [+] inwardly, Ken gazed at his skillset as he pondered over which would be the better combination. [Skill toggle], a function which was displayed on the screen as one played [Last Life]; it was the function that allowed one to cast other skills while the one used was under a cool down. The skill toggle's function was only that at the early stages of the game's launch, but as the players continued to discover hidden pieces, techniques namely: [Skill stack]s and [Skill combination]s were brought to light.

And as the strongest PVP player of the game, user [Daddy_Darkness] was the one, who was said to be at a stage of perfection in those named techniques which were used by him to defeat, no, destroy his opponents.

All the five skills that are to be added in the skill toggle function could be stacked to create combinations that could potentially one shot an enemy, hence it was recommended to be mindful on choosing because even if all five toggled skills were the strongest in the game if they didn't have the [Synchronisation] effect, it was useless.

[Skill slot 1]  [Abyssal senses]

[Skill slot 2]  [Ki control]

[Skill slot 3]  [Ki breathing]

[Skill slot 4]  [Heavenly Emperor's Sword Art]

[Skill slot 5]  [Sword Ki]

[Skill toggle created]

"Sword Ki...." Ken muttered under his breath and felt his Ki rage within him before surging out of his sword held arm as it climbed up the unsheathed sword.

The sword held in Ken's hand was seen to be being devoured by something eerily dark purple that seemed black surrounded by a purple blur.

It....was a sight that made the onlookers' feet grow cold for reasons unknown.

"Since I told them to hide at a lower ground, I can't slash down.....so," Ken muttered as his face turned to face up, at the ceiling of the cave that garnered all the attention.

"Slashing up it is...."

It was this time's mumble that snapped the forces out of their daze, Cooper, who was mingling with the VIPS, glared down at the blind man and turned red in embarrassment and rage which forced him to take a few steps forward at the glass wall and punched at the transparent wall that created a circular wind pressure that shot out behind his elbow, dispersing all his rage marred force.

BOOM-!

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DAZING OUT FOR!!! THIS IS A SLAUGHTER ARENA!! THE MORE BLOOD SPILLED, THE MORE CRAZED WE BECOME!!!! WHAT'S THERE TO BE SO DAZED ABOUT!!? IT IS MERELY THE BLOOD OF THE "WEAKER"!!!! KILL THAT BLIND FUCK IF YOU CAN OR DIE!!!" Cooper commanded in a roar, casing many to flinch in fear and understanding because what he said was indeed true.

Cause no matter what,

"THE WEAK ARE BOUND TO DIE!"

And the [Underground Labyrinth]'s job was to make it as exciting as possible for its investors.

Though they understood Cooper's words, they just couldn't get rid of that certain uncomfortable feeling that had fear hidden in its depths, and for some strange reason, they knew for a fact that they would die if they did moved from the spots they remained unmoving.

But,

The weirder fact was that they also knew that,

They would die;

Even if they didn't move.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE WAITING FOR!!!? I SAID, KILL HIM OR DI-" Cooper roared at the outrageous and motionless sight beneath him, but

CHUP.....

With a strange yet near-silent sound of something being pierced,

THUD-!

A heavy object falling to the ground resounded in the arena that was eroded by deafening silence, and the eyes of onlookers, who gazed up at the direction where the yells were sounding from, dilated to the extremes when they gazed what it was;

That had fallen.