Pandemonium

A raven. That was what he needed.

Kaden stared at the countless black-feathered birds perched along the skeletal remains of dead trees surrounding him from all sides. It took him about twelve hours but he was finally here at the graveyard.

The Graveyard—a patch of the forest where the air felt heavier, where the trees stood like rotting husks, their gnarled branches reaching toward the sky like skeletal fingers.

And with them, the ravens.

Dozens. Maybe more.

They weren't startled by his presence. They didn't scatter like ordinary birds would have. They simply watched. Their glossy black feathers shimmered faintly under the dim light, their sharp beady eyes locked onto him, unblinking.

This was not going to be easy. No one dared to come here the last time around thanks to the many corpses on display on the numerous rotting trees. That was more than enough to keep people out of this dreadful zone. Only fools dared to ignore those warning signs and still step inside.

Even now, he could see them—tattered remains hanging limply from branches, skeletal arms still bound in rusted chains, rotted armor fused with bark as if the forest itself had claimed them. Some were fresh, their corpses twisted unnaturally, as though something had played with them before death took hold.

And the ravens? They were waiting.

They did not fear him. They did not move.

Because this was their domain.

Kaden clenched his fists, his sharp gaze sweeping across the twisted expanse. It was time to start. He reached inward and gathered his mana in his palm. Bang! A mana bolt shot outward to the nearest bird.

The next second all pandemonium broke loose.

The ravens screamed. The instant Kaden's mana bolt struck the first raven, the forest came alive. Instead of flying away from fear, the birds screeched together creating a horrendous cacophony, and came for the long human being who had dared to come here all at once.

Kaden barely had a moment to react before the sky turned black.

A storm of feathers and claws descended upon him, the sheer force of their combined movement creating a whirlwind of darkness. The air shook with their voices—not just caws, but something deeper. Something wrong.

His ears were bleeding. He leaped backward, barely avoiding the first strike as talons slashed through the air where his throat had been a moment ago. Another bird shot past, its beak snapping dangerously close to his eyes. Too fast. Too precise. These things were attacking him like there was no tomorrow.

Kaden threw up his arm as another raven lunged, its claws raking down his forearm. He gritted his teeth, twisting mid-air to land on his feet, the ground crunching beneath him. They didn't stop.

More came. Hundreds of them. This wasn't just an attack. This was a hunt and they were not planning to let him out of here alive.

That was fine with him because he was also not planning to let them live.

[Thorn Whip] Kaden cast his go-to skill as he started wildly thrashing around, his barbed whip lashing through the air with lethal precision. The first strike caught a raven mid-dive, ripping it in half before it could even scream. The second swing tore through another, sending blood and black feathers scattering into the air.

But they kept coming. They didn't fear death.

Kaden gritted his teeth. Fine. He'd give them something to fear.

His mana surged. Thorn Whip!

The whip lashed out again, splitting through the air like a living serpent. It coiled around a raven's neck, the barbs sinking deep before Kaden yanked—ripping its head clean off.

More came.

Too many.

Injuries were starting to pile up. Deep scratches lined his arms, his cloak was in tatters, and blood trickled down his face from where a beak had nearly gouged out his eye. But Kaden did not back out. He knew this was going to be a pit fight. He was going to get hit. He just needed to give back as good as he got.

In one hand he swung around the Thorn Whip like a chain of death and in the other hand, he grabbed the birds one by one with his bare hand and squeezed them to their death. He kicked, he punched, he crushed. The ground beneath him became a graveyard within a Graveyard, littered with twitching, broken bodies, their black feathers matted with blood—his and theirs.

But the ravens did not stop. If anything, they grew more frenzied, their cries sharper, more insistent. Kaden also did not back out. He knew his body and his health could handle it so he kept pushing. The level-up notification that came after a couple of minutes also helped.

His Thorn Whip snapped out like a serpent, wrapping around another raven mid-flight before he yanked hard, pulling the bird straight into his fist. CRACK. Its brittle bones shattered against his knuckles.

Kaden turned sharply, side-kicking another out of the air, sending it slamming into a tree with a dull crunch. His movements were growing faster, sharper—each kill adding more to his momentum.

The ravens may have been intelligent. They may have been aggressive. But they were still just birds. And he was a predator. He was not going to be the one losing today.