When the sun sets

Screeches echoed as the scudding Nightmares clashed against Savitar.

Savitar staggered back. Tanking a direct clawed strike from an eyeless monster.

He swung his blade, a single step backwards gave him the clear view. He tightened his grip on the Tsuka.

Releasing his <Amplification> without restriction.

The first charging eyeless was cleaved in two. Releasing immense shockwaves into the air.

Savitar's eyes broadened in awe. Shocked at his power.

He jolted back, evading the charging attacks. A narrow escape.

He was seconds away from being beheaded by an eyeless.

"That…that attack just now would have decapitated me if I didn't have <the power or Cognition>"

"If I wasn't fast enough. That would have been my end, I need to be careful " Savitar whispered.

He blotted. Drying his face with his left hand, he removed the excess sweats from his face.

Surrounded by screeching eyeless. They were already getting agitated.

Fangs bared against Savitar.

Since he had no effective skill, he relied too much on his Starlight Energy. Enveloping himself immensely in Starlight Energy.

He increased his speed tremendously. He accelerated, rushing through the horde.

Bloods splattered and heads were seperated from bodies.

Bloods sloshed on his face. Savitar calculated every movement he made, twisting his blade.

He impaled an eyeless who attacked him from behind. Piercing through its heart as the eyeless whimpered.

Savitar hauled out his blade. He sent the eyeless crashing into a tree, three eyeless attacked without hesitation.

Directing their claws against Savitar but he sensed them.

He felt it, the adrenaline flowing through his veins.

Savitar grabbed a Nightmare by the face, sending it crashing into the ground. Shockwaves erupted.

The rest attacked him seconds later but they were cleaved in half. Savitar budged.

The second the bodies were out of his sight came the rushing blistering waves of a Nightmare's breath.

Fired directly against him. He had to evade the blast.

Creating distance between himself and the Nightmare who fired that attack.

"Tch"

"I did hear about it but to think I would be meeting it in the flesh. Amongst the common eyeless Nightmares exist a special one"

"They call it ragdad. The big boy" Savitar voiced out.

Before him stood an eyeless Nightmare . Thrice the size of ordinary eyeless nightmares.

Equipped with brass exoskeleton armor covering every inch of its body.

The ragdad shrieked. Revealing its grey colored proboscis-like tongue. Retractable and equipped with venom.

Savitar sighed. He gently swung his blade into the air.

"After being bathed in extreme concentration of corrupted Starlight Energy. An eyeless is reborn as a ragdad"

"It loses its senses in exchange for raw power. I can kill it but I have to be quick so it won't purge me with an attack like that" Savitar muttered.

Before his village was attacked by the Empire. His mom used to tell him midnight stories about the horrors of Nightmares.

Even though he has no experience on the battlefield. He knew how to counter Nightmares.

Savitar amplified his physical capabilities and he sprinted.

His teeths gritted. He winced, amplifying his body with Starlight Energy caused his bones discomfort.

But it's necessary.

Sensing an attack. The Ragdad launched a direct breath attack, twice the force it released before.

But Savitar unleashed a preemptive attack. He circumvented, appearing behind the ragdad.

He left the ragdad untenable.

A single slash caused sliced the Ragdad in half. 

Within a few more minutes. He fell the rest of the scudding Nightmares.

**

Cataclysmal waves erupted. Scorching through the air, Savitar was frenzied by what befell him.

[You have exerted ninety five percent of your Starlight Energy]

[Penalty: You have an hour until the cooldown mode ends. Till then, you will be restricted from exerting Starlight Energy]

His hands quivered.

Savitar wheezed. His suit soaked wet by the dripping sweats.

A direct confrontation with the scudding eyeless Nightmares incurred severe injuries to himself.

Savitar winced softly.

His trench coat drenched in the bloods of Nightmares. The stench of Nightmare corpses released fetidness into the air.

Savitar breathed out loud. Surrounded by the stained corpses of eyeless Nightmares.

He clenched the Tsuka of his cursed weapon.

He had <the power of Cognition> on high alert.

Sensing any unusual movements within the perimeter.

Savitar bent down. He rolled the corpse of a Nightmare sideways, he impaled the chest of the Nightmare.

He tugged his hand. Plucking out a velvet colored crystal from the Nightmare corpse.

"Ah, so there weren't lies huh? It was rumored that Nightmares possessed unique cores, this are lower grade Starlight Stones"

"Although it contains extreme concentrated corruption. It's still efficient once the concentration has been diluted"

"They can be sold in the market. With this I would be able to survive for a week" Savitar mused.

Without haste. He dissected the corpses of other Nightmares, taking out the Starlight Stones embedded in their chests"

He made sure he didn't scratch the core so he could sell it properly if he makes it out alive.

Savitar sighed.

He rounded up all the cores he gathered. They were about forty of them, this meant he slayed forty eyeless Nightmares.

Due to his survival skills he had as a slave. He was able to create a small pouch by materializing the skin of a Nightmare.

He stored the Starlight Stones in the small pouch he created. Wrapping the drawstring around his waist.

He raised his head, gazing into the darkness.

His heart skipped a beat.

"Tch"

"How am I going to survive if I can't properly use Starlight Energy? I have until a hour before I can use my Starlight Energy" Savitar hassled.

He got up from his knees. Cleaning off the dust on his knees.

"Atleast I survived clashing against forty eyeless Nightmares and even slaughtered them. To think being a player is this amazing "

"But compared to the rest I'm still a weakling " Savitar muttered.

He left the scene, walking through the jungle.

The subjugation party were all seperated the second they descended from the battleships. Left to fight through the dangers alone.

Savitar brought out the copy of the map shared to the party. 

"Our target is a fourth grade level Nightmare. The Hermagodon"

"It's located in the depths of the southern province. This meant the black desert is two miles away from where I am"

"Where I am is the Neo-Eastern Province. The Eskandar forest" Savitar analyzed the map.

"The Hermagodon is a fourth market Nightmare. This means it's a step into the Titan world"

"Now I understand why the Empire wants it taken out. Handling a titan level nightmare takes precision and time"

"And a lot of power as well, they need to kill it before it can evolve into a Titan"

"But sending us to do that? They're just feeding us to the Nightmare. To test and confirm it's strength and weakness"

"We're just test subjects to be discarded " Savitar deduced.

He sighed.

He folded the map back and kept it. He's just a trivial slave, he had no reason to be enraged at the actions of the Empire.

"I just need to kill that monster right?" Savitar asked.

"The problem isn't killing that Nightmare but getting to it. When a ragdad is present, hordes of Nightmares will be called together "

"When a single marker is present. Radgads will be called together, the same goes for double marker, triple markers and the last"

"A quadruple marker Nightmare. Once a quadruple marker Nightmare appears"

"All markers will be called together to protect it"

"Getting to the Hermagodon is one thing but taking out all this marker Nightmares is another thing entirely "

"It's impossible for me to do it alone, I'm weak"

"But with the rest of the subjugation players. If we fight together, they might be a chance. Those guys are not weak"

Savitar contemplated while walking through the darkness alone.

He covered distance on foot, to his suprise he never encountered any more Nightmare on the road.

He walked through the outskirt of the Neo-Eastern province. Arriving at the entrance of the Neo-Southern province.

That was when he saw heaps of bodies piled together.

His movement came to a halt.

"What is this?" Savitar exclaimed.

He raised his head, staring at the pillars of bodies piled up together.

"Now I see why I didn't see Nightmares on the way coming here. This guy took care of them"

Savitar voiced out.

At the top of the pillar of corpses stood a figure. Savitar recognized him through his body constitution.

Those firm muscles were on display.

"Hey. Captain Jaron, it looks like you have arrived early. Where you waiting for us" Savitar asked.

Drawing the attention of the figure towards him.

Recognized as Captain Jaron. Captain Haron dived down from the top, he made his landing on the ground.

"Hmph. To think you would be the first to arrive boy, I have few minutes ago and took care of them here"

"Got bored so I piled them up" Captain Jaron elucidated with a smile.

Savitar glanced at the pillar.

"Each time I look at this pillar, I still don't believe it. Those are ragdads and single marker Nightmares piled up together "

"Although it's a single marker Nightmare but not even I can guarantee a successful victory against a single marker"

"And yet he destroyed dozens of them and piled them up together including eyeless and ragdads"

"What kind of a monster is Captain Jaron?" Savitar asked himself.

He overheard approaching footsteps.

"Hmmm, it seems the rest of the team has arrived. It's good that everyone's still alive" Captain Jaron stated.

Out of the shadows came forth the rest of the party members.

Only Penelope and Anjui came together. Olsen. Jisyk and Skarr came from different direction.

They halted their movements. Standing before Captain Jaron.

"Hmph. It looks like the little brat isn't so useless after all, to think he suffered and came here on his own"

"Such a suprise" Skarr voiced out.

He giggled afterwards.

Savitar stayed silent.

"Party members. It's good to see y'all are still alive, I've confirmed the existence of our target and it's located in the depths"

"This is the entrance of the Neo-Southern Province. This means the target is still further away "

"This time we will be working as a team"

"If we're divided. We'll surely die!!"

Captain Jaron warned but Skarr scoffed at his words.

"Yh..Yh, we get it Captain Jaron. Show us the way to the Hermagodon already " Skarr said.

"We need to reach our target before the sunsets"

"This is day. The sky's still bright, the reason why we were able to defeat this eyeless Nightmares without much pressure is because of the sunlight "

"Once the sunsets. If we don't kill that Nightmare before then, we really are fucked"

Skarr added.

"We're all aware of that already. Let's get going then" Captain Jaron said, he led the way and they followed him.

Savitar stayed at the back, following them in reticence.

He lifted his head, staring into the evening sun.

"Sun set huh? What was the instruction of my skill again?"